| abstract
| - A dark and forbidding place. Here, endless brick walls seal in the criminally insane. Steel pipes hiss and rattle. Rusted bars slam shut with a noise that echoes throughout the whole facility. And everything is now painted over with happier colors, like teal and amber! And don't forget those motivational posters, those things are EVERYWHERE, now. Hang in there, baby! James Bailey has arrived. Scrapper has arrived. Barrage has arrived. Thirty minutes ago, Arkham Asylum received a bomb threat from an anonymous caller claiming to be working for Compton Xabat. The caller demanded that Xabat be released, or the bomb would explode. NOW Compton Xabat is in a special interrogation room in the asylum, smirking under the harsh fluorescent lights as he leans back in a steel chair. "So," he asks, "When am I going to be released? Soon, I hope, for your sakes." The walls are painted in a teal color, like everything else, and there's pictures of flowers everywhere, as if to cover up the grim look of the asylum. James Bailey steps into the interrogation room, still wearing his flight suit. He drags a chair over in front of Compton Xabat and sits down. "I don't get it, -Lieutenant-...is the bomb here? In the asylum? Seems a little risky to me. Isn't there a good chance it would take you out too? For all your men know, we could be moving you around right now. For that matter, as a military prisoner, a diplomatic prisoner and a known terrorist, we could do just about -anything- we want with you. I doubt anybody's raise a fuss." Odds are the bomb isn't even here, but according to the instructor at an EDC on handling explosive threats that James once went to, the first rule is always to stall for more time, and hopefully get the bad guys talking. Right behind James Bailey, another man walks into the interrogation room. He can be seen looking over his shoulder, talking with one of the prison officals, "If we could maybe get some food brought in here, that would be great. Thank you." The man finally properly enters, revealing his features to be that of an older gentleman wearing grey slacks, a white top, and red suspenders. He's almost bald, and a pair of thin glasses rests at the end of his nose. "Come on, James," the man says, absentmindedly taking off and cleaning his glasses. "He's not going to fall for threats." Stepping in front of Bailey, the man addresses Compton. "Hello, Mr. Xabat. My name is agent John Thursday with the FBI, and I imagine you already know Lieutenant Bailey from Earth Defence Command. We have some concerns and we were wondering if you could help us out." Compton Xabat smirks at Bailey, folding his hands behind his head. "Oh, there's some risk, I'll admit! But you and I, we're military men, right? Risk isn't something we're unused to. After all, one little stray shot from one of the robots and, oops! There goes your head. So, no, the possibility I'm sitting right under the bomb doesn't bother me." He leans forward in his chair. "And if you're going to rough me up, go right on ahead. I *will* be free." He cocks his head a bit, watches the FBI agent, and snickers. "Oh, heheh, you must be the good cop, is that right? You... have some concerns? Heheheh! I bet you do! I have some concerns too. They involve the exit to this facility, and me walking out of it. Could you help *me* out with that?" James Bailey looks back and forth between Compton and Thursday. He suddenly leaps out of his seat...but then he just walks slowly in a cirlce around behind Compton. When he's behind the terrorist, reasonably sure Xabat can't see him, he gives Thursday a few exaggerated nods, eyebrows raised. James thinks he's being secretive, but he might as well have thrown in a wink. Then James continues his circuit, and by the time he's in front of Xabat again his face is showing a neutral expression again. Then suddenly he lunges towards Compton, getting right in his face. "Who says they're -threats-?" he calls out loudly, turning his head just slightly to the side without ever taking his eyes off of Compton. Then he turns it back to growl at Compton. "Now listen. I nearly lost some good friends because of you. If you think we're gonna let you just -walk- out of here..." John takes a seat, putting his hands behind his head as he leans back in a relaxed fashion, "I'm the one that wants everything to turn out for the best, yes. That means nobody getting hurt, you getting a fair deal, and everyone going home happy. That said, no, I don't think you're going to be walking out of here. We can make sure you're more comfortable, and of course we're always open to deals." He seemingly ignores Bailey looking about, and doesn't even flinch when James moves behind the terrorist. He puts on a show of examining his nails while James talks to him. Compton Xabat scowls as Bailey paces around him. He idly remarks to John, as the EDC soldier continues his circuit, "Hm, yes, you see, the only acceptable outcome of this situation, "John," would be for me to leave the Asylum. Forever. Oh, and if I could get a nice little, "I escaped from Arkham Asylum T-Shirt," that would be--" Then he flinches a bit as James suddenly lunges at him. "Ennh. Actually, I *do* think you're going to just let me walk out of here. But if you fellows really want me to help you a little bit, ok. Fine. I'll help. See, when I was arrested on Cybertron, some of my associates also got arrested. A few of them were imprisoned here." Xabat smiles, relaxing a bit. "One of those men brought something into the Asylum with him, something that your weapons inspections missed. Hm? Anyone remember when I bombed Autobot City? Ringing any bells? Oh, and, here's another hint." He looks around conspiriatorially, and mutters, "He's a Carbombyan!" Compton Xabat throws up his hands. "Yes, I know, not very original, but you know how Carbombyans like to blow themselves up." James Bailey's face tightens a little. "Carbombya?" He glances at Thursday briefly, unsure how to proceed. "We still don't know how their bombs are triggered, or what they're composed of. It could be anybody..." Then something seems to come to him. James looks over at the one-way mirror (unless those have been done away with by 2029, in which case he looks at the door). "Maybe somebody better find out where Fakkadi is right now? Find him and take him to a seperate room...maybe trot him in front of the other inmates to see if anybody has any special reaction?" James is thinking fast now, but still isn't sure what to do next. That stupid EDC seminar didn't go into a scenario like -this-. John Thursday furrows his brow slightly and, after several more seconds, finishes examining his nails. They are well cared for. He quickly puts one and one and one together and comes up with three. "What... one of the prisoners is carrying a bomb?" The FBI agent shoots a look at the one-way mirror. Behind that false glass, other agents and guards are already rushing to investigate any prisoners that could potentially be carrying a bomb. They know of Compton's love of copying the Joker from Dark Knight, and that movie is still well known, after all. Compton Xabat shrugs. "Yes, a bomb. It's not a bomb in the normal sense. There's no wiring, no timing devices. Just a biological compound, wrapped up in a rubber ball and surgically inserted into a helpful volunteer's body. He needs only to strike himself to begin the reaction that will eventually set off the explosive. A little harder to time, I admit, but, ehm..." He looks around for a clock, but not finding one, asks aloud, "What time is it, anyway?" As Bailey and Thursday expected, their comrades are already at work trying to find the bomb. One of them sends a transmission to the earpieces worn by both men. "Sirs, we took Fakkadi out of his cell and began showing him to the other inmates, starting with the Carbombyans. When we came to Tarik's cell, however, we found him on the floor, wretching. We sent Fakkadi back to his cell. Is this the guy we're looking for?" And yes, Xabat watches the Dark Knight religiously, every day. :(Lee-Zard has arrived. Avalanche has arrived. John Thursday taps his earpiece, shaking his head. Is that guy a moron or something? "Obviously, yes..." the agent says slowly just in case the guard in question had a learning disability. "What are you trying to accomplish, Mr. Xabat?" he asks. "No explosion is going to let you walk out of here. Either it kills you, or we're fine and you're still stuck in here." James Bailey watches Xabat carefully when he gets the message and Thursday responds. He backs slowly into a corner of the room behind Xabat, out of sight so that Compton doesn't catch sight of his worried expression. He watches Thursday carefully, happy to let the 'veteran' take over. A small part of him can't help but take mental notes, trying to learn from the experience. Assuming they don't all get blown to bits, of course. Although never much of a fan of gritty detective dramas, the Junkion Lee-Zard has heard of the strange goings-ons at the infamous Arkham Asylum. While being a giant robot lizard doesn't exactly qualify him as an investigator of bomb threats, he can't pass up this opportunity to play the part of The Hero(tm). A lot of fast talking and promises of good behavior gets him past the FBI agents at the gates(and th fact he has a yellow smiling Autobot insignia doesn't hurt either). You never know when you might need the skills of a giant robot gecko! Shockwave has arrived. Compton Xabat shrugs again. "Perhaps not, but it's a start, isn't it? Well, I suppose it was worth a try... hm. Anyone hear that noise? Sounds... sounds like something rumbling." He holds up a finger, as if for silence. Indeed, there does seem to be a rumbling noise. "Well, I'm sure it's nothing, right, guys? Heheh." The agent on the other end of the line with John mutters, "Well, I don't know how this guy thinks, I mean, who puts a bomb in their own--" Then the line cuts out just as a loud BLAM sounds out through the Asylum, and the whole building shudders. Then the lights go out. Lee-Zard probably had a good view of the fireball erupting from a cell before everything went black. Xabat's chair scrapes against the floor in the momentary darkness, and there's the pitter patter of feet. The small, mostly-harmless form of Lee-Zard is sillouetted by the flash of the explosion. The lights go out, which may or may not have been cuased by the initial explosion. In the darkness, a pair of bright yellow spotlights flick on, as Lee-Zard's optics light up like the sun. "Me, Lee-Zard think it b a bit early for the fourth of July!" Me mumbles, looking aorund with his big, light-up eyes. He looks around quickly for any sign of movement, listening intently for any further footsteps. James Bailey feels his way to the nearest wall in the darkness, putting a hand on the large revolver-like weapon he carries but not pulling it out yet. "What the--?! Status report!" He barks over the radio. He's probably only adding to the confusion. "Somebody keep track of Xabat..." Then he hears the chair and footsteps. "Damn it! Security!" He starts feeling his way along the wall towards where he remembers the front door. He bumps into FBI Agent Thursday in the dark, and takes a swing! "Thursday! I think I found him...Thursday?" Avalanche has left. John Thursday jumps to his feet as the ground shakes and the lights go off, instinctively reaching and drawing his gun. "Stay where you are." the FBI agent points at where Compton Xabat used to be. Licking his lips in nervousness, Thursday trains the gun on Xabat with one hand while raising his free hand to his earpiece. "What's the situation out there?!" he barks, obviously fazed by this turn of events. "Just st-UGH!" John Thursday is clocked upside the head and falls to the ground hard. Although the explosion has already gone off, the ground is still shaking... Elsewhere, in a location that isn't nearly far enough away, an ancient man with a splotchy bald head and a deep squint that conceals two beady eyes leans back in the overstuffed chair. The chair is lined with the leather made from a rare breed of panda. That's right. A bony hand reaches forward, clasping a lever. The lever's nob has a furry cap on it made from a Siberian white tiger. Another bony hand rests on the ivory steering wheel. Fuzzy dice hang on a rear view mirror made from twenty-eight different species of minx, several of which went extinct just for this purpose. Dinsmoore, loyal servant of the legendary big game hunter Lord Chumley, pilots a massive drilling machine as it races upwards towards the prison from beneath the Earth. He squints at a map as he holds it upside down. The map is useless, of course, being that he's underground. Nevertheless, the mole machine is on an unerring course towards the surface. The loss of power had the consequence of temporarily shutting down all the magnetic locks in the Asylum. Every cell in the Asylum pops open at once. Yes, a while ago, some genius thought that since magnetic locks are "technological" and easily controlled by remote that they are, by default, superior to good old fashioned mechanical locks. And that's why Arkham made that change. Well, that guy's probably feeling pretty stupid right now. It's pure chaos inside the Asylum and the inmates are rushing out of their cells, screaming and hollering. Emergency power flicks on and bathes the Asylum in red lighting, but it's too late to restore power to the cells. The inmates are loose! "I say," one portly old man says, twirling his mustache as he shoulders his way through the screaming mob, "I say, where's Dinsmoore? I need a lamp to see in this darkness! This is unacceptable. The next time I see him, I'm going to fire him!" Compton Xabat chuckles darkly as he pops open the door to the interrogation room. "Heh, magnetic locks. Not such a great idea, without any kind of backup, yes?" The emergency lights come on just in time for Bailey to get a look at him. "See you later, sucker!" Xabat smirks, and slams the door shut... which naturally locks again now that emergency power is on. A pair of beams continue to illuminate Lee-Zard's field of vision as he glances around furtively, looking for signs of the inmate's departure. He flicks off the high-beams as the emergency lights come back on. He makes a quick, mental note to have some enhanced sensors installed at some future date, because he keeps winding up in sticky situations like this. Lee-Zard gasps as he sees Compton Xabat lock the investigative team in the interrogation room! Briefly torn between chasing the escapee and rescueing the others, Lee-Zard pounces towards the door. The locking mechanism may be sophisticated, but it shouldn't take the Boy Genius too long to override the security and get it open. James Bailey stares in shock for a second at Thursday, realizing what happened. Then he chases Xabat, but by the time he gets to the door it's locked again. He pounds against it, then shouts over the radio, "Open the magnetic lock on the interrogation room door. Do you copy?" His earpiece is buzzing constantly with shouts and questions and orders as everyone on the channel tries to make themselves heard at the same time. "Does anybody copy?! Dammit, Xabat's getting away!" He grabs a chair and bangs it against the door, but of course it doesn't accomplish anything. Shawn Berger Jr. is already at a courtesy phone while prison guards desperately fight off a swarm of inmates behind him. "Oh, gosh, what was that number for the Decepticons, again? Um, uh... Five... two... seven..." His shaking fingers type in the numbers, then he lifts up the phone and sputters into it, "Hello, hello? This is Shawn Berger Jr! I'm trapped in Arkham Asylum, but uh, the power's out and I think I can escape! Help me, please! I'll give you anything, I will!"
* The next time I see him, I'm going to fire him!* The ground in front of the portly old man with a twirling mustache suddenly explodes upwards as a massive drill several times the width of a man appears a 45 degree angle. The drill is still spinning slightly. Half of the mole machine is exposed as the hatch on the side opens up. The interior of the mole machine is one of the few light sources in the area, and the result is a silhouette of an ancient man standing in the doorway. "Your side, sah," Dinsmoore says wearily. John Thursday groans and gets onto his hands and knees, trying to pick himself up off the ground. He fumbles around for his glasses, even though he can't see anyway due to the darkness. "This is agent Thursday... is anyone reading?" but he isn't having any better luck than Bailey had. Ramjet has arrived. What no one would notice is a small rhinoceros beetle there. And that little beetle happens to be Barrage. When it snuck in is not known yet, it may have been just now or it may have been hours ago. It's mission is to, of course, find Shawn Berger. The door opens obligingly as Lee-Zard overrides its electronics. Took only a few seconds for the Junkion to open it, but Xabat has already run off into the mob of inmates. Finding him now will be very hard. Shawn Berger Jr. listens to the emotionless voice on the other side of the phone, nodding his head occasionally, as if the person on the other end can see him. "Oh, yes, yes, thank you! You won't regret this!" He puts the phone down, and patiently waits. His eyes roam about the room as an all-out war for control of the Asylum is waged, and he whimpers a little. "Dinsmoore!?" Lord Chumley growls as he approaches the tunneling machine. "I called for you weeks ago, what in blazes took you so long? I swear, your performance is at an all-time low. I may have to find a new butler! You just aren't cutting it anymore." He shakes his head at the "ride." "And what is this? I asked for a limo!" "Get in the drilling machine, Chumley!" Xabat yells from the second level of the Asylum. "I'll explain later, but I need to round up certain OTHER individuals, and then we can all leave!" Barrage crouches down and transforms into a tiny little beetle. Lee-Zard's deft(and sticky) fingers open the fancy magnetic locking mechanism, and he throws open the door, freeing Agent Thursday and James Bailey. "Tadaa! Me says Open Says-a-me!" He quips to the ruffled-looking FBI agent. "Me is here to help the government man!" He adds. "But, um, now what do we do? Chase evil Xabaty-person? And what was that rumbly noise?" While this is going on... A guard approaches an old man with a shiny, chrome-like skull. "Back in your cell, old-timer!" the guard says, waving a baton menacingly. "By what right do you hold me, Dr. Arkeville, genius of science!?" the old man yells, shaking an clad in a cast at him. "You cannot hold me here!" "Alright, then, we do this the hard way!" the guard says, then he cries out as four Carbombyans suddenly pile on him! "Mr. Arch-ville, it is good to see you!" Fakkadi says, grinning as he oversees the beatdown of the guard from a safe distance. "Come, follow me and my men, we will escape this terrible place together!" And in another spot... "Powerglide!?" cries an old woman. "Where are you Powerglide!? Are you helping to free me? POWERGLIDE!" Dinsmoore takes the abuse from his employer in stride, replying casually, "The limo is in the shop to have its penguin feather upholstry redone, sah," he explains in his weary tone. The butler steps back into the drilling machine and carefully sits back into the pilot's chair. He looks at the map again, holding it sideways this time. How a map of New York State is going to help him dig down has not yet been revealed, but he seems satisfied once he looks at it for several seconds. Finally folding it up properly (not always an easy task, as many know), he puts it in the mole machine's glove compartment and reaches towards the passenger's side chair. A tray with fine pieces of china rests on the swan-stuffed seat cushion. "Would sahs like some tea before we depart?" he asks Xabat and Lord Chumley. James Bailey is still swinging his chair at the door, and nearly hits Lee-Zard when the Junkion swings that door open - which would have let him tie the EDC record for 'friendly fire', although with Lee-Zard it probably wouldn't be as effective as the human Agent Thursday. But James manages to pull the chair back in time. Sheepishly, he lowers it. "I've really gotta start looking more carefully before I swing," he mutters. Then he raises his voice. "Uh, thanks..." he offers to Lee-Zard, then looks him up and down. "Yeah, sounds like things are really going to hell out there. I don't know what that rumbling was, but it couldn't have been good." He steps out into the hallway, looking back and forth. "Anybody know if they keep any heavy weapons here? Any Exo-Suits?" He adds hopefully after as moment. Lee-Zard is not one for standing still, he's got too much excess energy for that. With the investigators saved from the evil locked door, Lee-Zard ponders what actions to do next. "Me thinks the rumblyness and the explosion and Compton's all be connected. So if we can find one, we should find the rest, too." Lee-Zard says out loud. He darts up the walls and across the ceiling, before heading down the hall in search for either Compton Xabat, or the source of the ominous rumbling noises he heard before. Meanwhile, aboard Decepticon Dropship .. Ramjet 'sits' at the launch-tube as much as a jet is wont to do. His oft-underused landing struts extended into grooves lining the tube, keeping him from rattling around. Beneath the cover of smoky grey glass, several lights blink on. His rightmost panel flashes a burst of alien letters with a flickering cursor beneath. The cursor inches down from left to right, leaving behind a collection of letters of their own. Ramjet passes the time responding to an e-mail. D I R G E, G O S U C K A.. the cursor stops the moment the tube is flooded with bursts of red light. "Air Commander, approaching Earth in five micro-cycles. You are cleared to launch," crackles over Ramjet's comm-circuit. "Captain," Ramjet acknowledges over the very same circuit. His engines go warm and several seconds later, that catapult he was nestled against hurtles his mirrored chassis clear through the tube! The red, white, and black YF-15 Star Eagle rockets out of the Dropship and into the vaccuum soundlessly. Landing gear instantly retracts into compartments that close smoothly. It cuts a clear, direct path -- penetrating Earth's atmosphere without so much as a first date. Ablative armor is enveloped in a capsule of bright friction, fashioning the Decepticon jet into some kind of shooting star. That shoots. FOr New York. Eat it, Jetfire. "No time for tea!" Xabat says, running off. Several minutes, he returns holding an old woman in his arms, who won't stop yelling, "POWERGLIDE!" "Calm down, Ms. Astoria!" Xabat says. "You'll, ah, see Powerglide in a moment." Not wasting any time, he chucks Astoria Carlton-Ritz into the drilling machine, and she lets out an "Oof!" somewhere in the back. He turns around, spotting a menacing guard walking towards him, and Xabat says, "Ah, actually, yes, I would like some tea, Dinsmoore, if you don't mind!" "What the bloody hell is going on!" Chumley barks. "What nerve you have to ask for *my* tea! Dinsmoore, pour *me* a cup! And turn up the air conditioning, it's quite hot in here!" The junkion tape will probably easily notice the drilling machine sticking out of the ground in the main lobby, and Xabat throwing an old woman into it like a bag of potatoes. Barrage wanders from cell to cell. Until he finds a man. He takes a image and uploads it to make sure this is the man..... Shockwave, meanwhile, descends more gently from orbit under his own power. A low rumbling sound and a slightly radioactive contrail is his only announcement as he follows the curvature of the Earth towards New York. Outside the Asylum, a squadron of EDC Talons has been scrambled in case the Decepticons did show up. Informed by command of a Decepticon entering their airpsace, they break formation, and pull upwards to meet him head-on. It hasn't yet occurred to them that this might be a bad idea, given that this is Ramjet. Inside, Barrage won't find Berger in a cell, but rather, hiding behind a pillar, shaking in fear and whimpering. Dinsmoore knows which side of the bread his toast is buttered, it seems, as Lord Chumley's orders outweigh Compton Xabat's. "Coming right up, sah," he wheezes. Keeping the mole machine idling, the elderly butler picks up the tray and sets it up on the dashboard. This, unbeknownst to him, covers up the long ranged radar screen which shows the descent of a modified F-15 rapidly barreling towards the prison from low orbit. Dinsmoore focuses on pouring tea for his master. He pours and pours until the cup has overflowed, and pours for another five seconds just to be sure. He then hands the cup and saucer back to Lord Chumley. "As ordered, sah," he says. Agent John Thursday meanwhile bursts out of the door along with James. "F--- if I know," he replies ot James. "The way this place is run I'd wager not." But it seems the wager would have been for naught, as there is an exo-suit in stock for Bailey to use. "I'm going to reinforce the guards, James," the old cop says. Catechism has arrived. Lee-Zard is the bestest explosion-mystery-asylum breakout investigator EVAR! He stumples upon the heavy-duty drilling machine, as well as an assorted collection of various nefarious ne'erdowells and villianous schemers. Time to make like a ninja and SNEAK! The lime green cassette moves as stealthily as a lime green robot gecko can, making his way around to the rear of the drilling machine, using the lobby' assortment of pillars, statues, and decorative planters as camoflage. Hmm... Chubby big game hunter... Stereotypically old an' skinny butler... and Compton Xabat tossing a crazy old lady like a sack of potatoes. Jackpot! He skuttles over to the rear of the drilling machine, and queitly opens a panel with a nifty fingertip-screwdriver. Hopefully, Lord Chumley and his tea will give Lee-Zard sufficient time to disable the drilling machine before the dastardly villians can make a clean getaway. James Bailey watches Lee-Zard head straight at the noise and commotion, and John Thursday going off to help the beleagured guards. James nods in appreciation of the FBI agent's professionalism and grace under pressure, and the Junkion's sheer bravery...then he himself turns and heads the other way. Having finally heard something recognizable over the radio - something about an armory - he shouts at that voice until it finally gives him useable directions. He manages to track down the armory and finds a Heavy Riot Suit - sort of a miniature Exo-Suit, standard issue in prisons of the future, it's armored against shivs and other makeshift weapons prisoners might get their hands on, but on the whole lightly armed and nearly useless against any military Exo-suit (and certainly any transformer). Still, it makes him feel better. Barrage approaches the man after he receives confirmation that he has found the target. He uploads the exact coordinates and begins to look for his other target. Ramjet or Shockwave should now know exactly where to find Berger. His eyes flicker with intelligence as he begins to walk the long corridors again. Yes, it is a nuissance to be so small and walk such a large corridors. But he shouldn't have trouble being noticed. In this light Barrage's armor reflects no light and would be very difficult to spot unless someone really tried to find him, at least that is what Barrage thought. And that is where he was wrong as he passes near a metal detector that begins to scream immediatly. The bug quickly begins to fly away and try to hide from sight. An alert is an even bigger nuisance. A mysterious individual stands in the way of the exo-suit, however. He interposes himself between Bailey and the armory, revealing himself to be... Twenty Face! Yes, the man whose face was disfigured horribly in nineteen different ways, with only one small section of his face being "normal." He rolls a twenty-sided die around in the palm of his hand, scowling at Bailey. "Hold it. You want this exo? You have to make your saving throw vs. *me*." He rolls the die around a bit, then drops it in his other hand. "Critical failure," he announces grimly... then advances on Bailey. The engine on the drill tank sputters and begins to stall. Xabat grumbles to himself, watching Dinsmoore hand the tea over to Chumley... then... snatches the cup, and tosses it in the eyes of the guard approaching them. The guard falls over, screaming as hot tea burns him. "Blast it, Xabat, you're a tea stealer!" Chumley says. He takes the dish into his hands and licks off whatever is still left on it. "Mm nom nom nom..." Catechism isn't being Nightwatch Catechism anymore. Instead, she's done up in city camoflage, all varying shades of grey. It looks rather like her normal paintjob, to be honest. One wonders if the IHQ medical ward has simply run of of her normal colous. She ducks under the entrance gate, if there is still an entrance gate. Late to the party? Only fashionably. Abdul Fakkadi is currently leading a small group of Carbombyans and fighting their way towards the drill in the center of the Asylum. Well, Fakkadi himself isn't doing any fighting, that's chump work. Dr. Arkeville is following behind him, angrily shoving away any inmates that get too close, and loudly complaining about the indignities he has suffered and is still suffering. Lee-Zard thinks he has done enough to disable the drill machine, as he stuffs a few key cogs and chips into a containment unit on his belly. He looks around nervously, and then collapses down into his audio cassette mode to avoid detection by the various criminal humans. Shockwave's barrel emits a barely-visible beam of radiation at a pair of EDC fighters foolhardy enough to veer off from Ramjet and approach him. Both immediately suffer total systems failure, sparking and fusing into solid lumps of metal like an iPod in a microwave oven, and fall towards the ground in fluttering flat spins. Lee-Zard transforms into a lime green cassette tape. "Ooooh dear," Dinsmoore wheezes as the tea is snatched away from him just as he was performing the transfer. "Not to worry, sah." He calmly takes the next empty tea cup in the line (he assumed that Lord Chumley's friends were going to have some, after all) and begins pouring once more. By now he has surely emptied the contents of the teapot by now, yet it doesn't seem to be running out. Has Lord Chumley and Dinsmoore mastered subspace technology in their quest to brew the perfect pot of tea? The radar screen begins beeping as Ramjet draws near and Catechism appears on the sensors, but Dinsmoore doesn't seem to hear it. Reinforced YF-15 Star Eagle rips through layers of atmosphere with nary a concern. It is the moment he crosses into the mesosphere that his radar goes berserk. Leftmost panel reads: Direction, RAnge, and DIStance on a three-dimensional wireframe tilted to the side with slices of concentric circles pinpointing every which thing that is feelin' froggy in spatial relations. Humanity sent out the welcome wagon. Again. Ramjet would smile. If jets could smile.* Several blips on Ramjet's leftmost readout are flagged with the tagline 'EDCTL' along with their respective coordinates on the spatial map. Without so much as a thought, a pair of brackets cycle through the EDC Talon blips. They rotate around several times in the span of one second and then stop, turning a slightly different shade of red upon one blip in particular. It expands, enlarging the blip to identify it as the squadron lead. Many extraterrestrials -- Quintessons in particular -- keep something important in the head. Cut the head off, the body goes limp. Same works in most military organizations. Ramjet's engines cut hot, all four blasting cones of atmo-friendly flame propulsion with such force that the air around him breaks out into a thunderous burst. He streaks toward his Talon welcoming party with so much gusto, his flight-stick wobbling around in his cockpit to align him for the oncoming Talon Lead. Ramjet transmits no warning. He simply goes after his target -- nosecone-on, in order to make his way to New York. When getting from Point A to Point B, draw a line. Draw a line right through Obstruction C. With extreme prejudice. Jets do not smile! -- ed. Shark-face jets do indeed grin! Pearly white. Ramjet left his shark-decos back at base. Never leave base without shark decos! Barrage has, without realising, entered the center of the Asylum. Too many people make it hard on Barrage to see who is who here, too much movement. His eyes flicker again, as he begins to scan each person and remove them from his memory one by one. He compares each of them to the jpeg he has. Three possible matches....... processing. And he continues to crosscheck each feature with each member to identify Fakkadi if he is here. James Bailey comes to a stop, staring at Twenty Face. "You have got to be kidding me..." James mutters to himself. He backs off a few steps...then produces his firearm. "Hold it right there..." He searches his memory for who this new nutcase might be. The EDC's certainly run into quite a few of them. A veritable gallery of rogues and villains. Nope, not one of ours, he concludes after a few seconds of thinking. I guess we can add him to the list though. "We can do this the easy way or the hard way." He finally answers Twenty Face. "Both of them end up with me in that Exo-suit...but easy means when this is all over, you can still walk." He motions with his revolver for emphasis. Compton Xabat ignores Chumley's complaining, and clambers up on top of the drill tank. He inspects an open panel on the hull and loudly exclaims, "WHO THE HELL DID THIS! When I find you I'm going to rip you apart!" He pokes his head into the panel. "Errgh! I don't have any tools or parts, how am I supposed to fix this!?" "Well, hurry up, Xabat, I don't want to be late for the Lost remake!" Chumley complains. "And Dinsmoore, are you done with that tea yet?" A chair flies over his head and crashes against something. "I swear, you are so slow it is ridiculous!" The lead Talon is simply obliterated when Ramjet crashes into him, and his wingmen are caught in his shockwave and tossed about violently in the air. However, there appear to be two more squadrons on the way right after them, and they split up, one going after Ramjet, the other going after Shockwave. As for Catechism, the Asylum guards put a Batman themed spotlight on her. "You! Uh. Stop?" says someone from a loudspeaker. Catechism tries holding very still and pretending that she is a piece of modern art when the spotlight hits her. She is random shades of grey and funny metal angles! That's totally modern art, isn't it? The slightly dirty cassette tape just innocently sits there on the floor, next to the drill tank. It's stickers are a little peeled, but can be still be read: The tape appears to be labeled "90's Mix Tape" in a child's handwriting. Dinsmoore looks back down at the tea he's pouring. Once more it's overflowed, and the entire tray is now swimming in tea. "Your tea, sah, as requested," he says, handing the cup and saucer back to Lord Chumley. The butler sets the tray back down on the passenger side seat. He peers at all the coloured lights that indicate the status of the mole digging machine. "I brought your hunting gear for you, sah," Dinsmoore slowly tells Lord Chumley. "Prisoner's clothing does not suit you, sah." Barrage has completed running a cross check and found Abdul Fakkedi, he remains at stand by waiting for further orders. It's eyes go blank for a moment as he uploads the information. And than they flicker on again, with red light. The Carbombyans are drawing a lot of attention to themselves, stereotypically yelling, "Ayiyiyiyiyiiii!" and "Durka durka!" as they gang up on and beat up security guards. Fakkadi and Arkeville are right behind them. Twenty Face looks at the gun Bailey is pointing at him in an unconcerned manner, then rolls his die again. He examines the result, scowls, and announces to Bailey, "Failed my courage check. You win, this time." Then he calmly walks off into the shadows. "Calm down, sir!" says one of the tower guards to one of his fellows, who is fixing a spotlight on Catechism. "That's just modern art." This elicits a hard slap over the head from his fellow guard. "Ow!" Catechism takes advantage of being mistaken for modern art to send a random spray of laserfire at the guard house and make a run for it. When everyone else is trying to break out, she's trying to break in! She crows, "Suck on *those* lollypops, guards!" She knows that they have lollypops. She's visited here before. Shockwave undergoes a simple transformation, safety seals interlocking as he converts into a giant "laser." If he weren't still hot from entry, the slight smear of blood across Ramjet's mirrored surface would've made for worthy reward. It sizzles before it even touches him and he sails through the cloud of smoke without having bothered to react much. He dives through the troposphere and, approaching the action at Arkham Asylum, transforms to robot mode. His engine-rimmed feet slam into the ground, just beside Catechism. Ramjet turns his cone to her, his left optic flickering in a wink at her before turning to look at the watchtower that shines a light at her. His brow crinkles in a narrow. Ramjet raises his arm up, pointing the nozzle of his black laser-cannon for the nest. His fingers fold in to clench and then he stops, when Catechism opens fire herself. "..Hnh. So much for the initiative," he scoffs in jest. The Air Commander motions with a bob of his conetip in the air and informs his counterpart, "Hostiles incoming. Have you located the human Fakkadi yet?" Dinsmoore, still not seeming to care what Compton has to say, goes to Chumley for his orders. "Shall we be departing now, sah?" he asks. "I have left out a jar of marmite for you back at Chumley Hunting Compound Beta." He is either unaware or uncaring that Xabat is trying to do some fiddly technical work on top of the mole drilling machine. Dinsmoore idly reaches forward with a bony hand and flicks the automatic defences from 'off' to 'not off'. Shockwave follows Ramjet, about twelve nautical miles behind him as the superjet simply punches through the EDC formation. This is a good distance for Shockwave to work from. His barrel pulses slowly as he microwaves each of the surviving Shrikes in turn. Methodical. Precise. They swirl and dive and launch all manner of ordnance at both the oncoming space gun and the escaping Ramjet. None of it hits anything thanks to Shockwave's jamming field and ultra-precise infrared laser. The one ruins the missiles' targeting locks, the other burns a neat hole in each missile's casing, causing a premature detonation. James Bailey gives Twenty Face a long look. He's not willing to gun down the departing inmate in cold blood, and he can hear all the noise the Carbombyans are making. And then he hears a new sound - explosions outside, that coincide nicely with panic-filled warnings of 'Decepticon!' over the prison's radio frequencies. Forgetting Twenty Face, James runs for the Exo and quickly powers up it's systems. Luckily, they all use common controls, so he can pilot this one just as well as the normal EDC models. He quickly marches it out into the prison to help the guards subdue the Carbombyans. At the same time he's calling repeatedly over the radio for Arkham security forces to fall back. The EDC Exo-Suits outside have the only real shot of standing up to real Decepticons, although James doesn't like their chances either. But at least they may be able to hold the line long enough for the Asylum guards and personnel to get to safety. "Yes, yes," Chumley says, changing into his hunting garb very deliberately, "Just give me a moment, Dinsmoore! Always rushing me, what is wrong with you? You're horrible. And where is my Transformer hunting rifle!? You'd better have brought that. And did you turn on the automatic defenses yet?! All these people everywhere are annoying me!" The humans in the guard tower hop out just before it explodes, deploying parachutes and landing safely. "Good thing they set aside some money for these things, right?" one of the guards says. "Who'd have ever thought we'd need to use them!" his pal agrees. The EDC jet formations, what's left of them, peel away from Shockwave. "He's too much for us, retreat! And someone call the Autobots!" one of the pilots orders. Catechism just beams over at Ramjet, ignoring the parachuting humans. She has an objective now: locate some random humans. Catechism tromps along after Ramjet. Avalanche has arrived. Barrage's eyes begin flickering with green light as he seems to get some info. He begins running a cross check again. And only one man could match his description. Suddenly the small beetle transforms into it's robot mode. The Bulky robot than unleashes sonic hell upon the prisoners, yes, some Michael Jackson he picked up from the internet. When Barrage is positive that most humans are immobile he would attempt to grab Fakkadi and Archeville and run through the walls with them. Transmitting his location to Ramjet. Barrage assumes his bulky robot mode. Avalanche has left. "Nothing sah, no sah, yes sah," Dinsmoore replies in turn. It's up to Chumley to figure out which answer relates to what question, but that's his fault for asking so many at the same time. With the tea tray no longer covering up the radar screen, Dinsmoore has a rough approximation of where various Decepticons are located. They show up as little dots on the screen. "Sah, we seem to be under attack by dots," he warns Lord Chumley. "Your dot hunting rifle is in the cargo area if you would like to retrieve it." Ramjet saves his gratitude for Shockwave at some point between after the operation and before the end of the universe. Nothing personal. He's just certain ol' One Eye wouldn't much care for it. He glances left and right and points his rifles a bit akimbo from each other. One high and one low, a burst of laserfire from each. "This is just a retrieval op," Ramjet mentions to Catechism over his intake-hooded shoulder. His lips twist into a grin, "Maximum terror while we rendevouz with Barrage." Ramjet promptly thrusts his right arm forward and unleashes a blast into a nearby wall, ripping it open for him to step inside. "...and I'll take Fakkadi." Fakkadi and Arkeville clutch their heads and drop to their heads, cringing from the sonic assault. They're easily scooped up by the Insecticon and carried out from the new hole in the wall. "My dot hunting rifle? Ah, yes!" Chumley beams. "You may have redeemed yourself, yet, Dinsmoore, but don't get cocky!" Stepping inside the drill tank, he rummages around a bit before he finally re-emerges with a Stinger rocket launcher, as well as a slice of toast with some Marmite on it. "Excellent!" he says, hopping out. Then Ramjet smashes into the Asylum, and Chumley grins from ear-to-ear. "Even better!" he exclaims, and aims the Stinger at the Decepticon. Jamming the toast into his mouth, he squeezes the trigger just as Xabat lunges at him. "You fool!" Xabat yells as the Stinger fires. Is the end of Ramjet!? Probably not, but still. Sheng has arrived. Avalanche has arrived. Bailey isn't left out of the chaos, either! A small machine gun turret pops up on the machine and begins to spray a stream of bullets at him. Yeah baby, Liberian Girl rocks their socks! Especially with those LOUD LOUD LOUD continuous attacks Barrage is performing, to keep the inmates crippled. His head cocks back sharply several times as he keeps smashing into walls protecting the humans as best as he can. The bad music finally ends when he steps out. "Mission accomplished. First target is still inside." He sets down the two humans and steps away. His eyes flickering with intelligence as he computes something. "I can stay here and spread terror tactics until one of you retrieve Berger. Sir." He adds. The giant "laser" unfolds back into a big purple space robot. Shockwave descends and lands in the exercise yard with a solid thump. "Deliver the objective human to our nearest base before resuming a terror campaign," he instructs Barrage with an imperious pointing finger. Catechism guesses that she is after Berger. She ponders - where would she be if she was a Berger? After a moment of thought, Catechism stalks off after the asylum's kitchen. Barrage says, "But sir. With my speed that could take some time." He points at the humans, "Even /I/ am getting sick of Liberian Girl. Are you sure it should be me?" Ramjet looks to Catechism and motions with a swing of his cone. "Locate the Booger," he mashes Berger's name in the process. "Come, Fakkadi." Ramjet says with a beckoning movement of his hand. He reaches for his canopy with his other hand, lifting it open as he eases to one knee. "Strap yourself in. No touching." He says this last part with a lift of his brows. How intimate. Fakkadi stares up at Ramjet bearily, and weakly raises a hand up to him. Then he vomits. Arkeville, off to his side, isn't doing much better. He's on the floor, on his belly, groaning. Berger isn't in the kitchen... yet. However, being scared does make him hungry, so he decides that the might as well run in there and grab a sandwich before he dies. Arkham Asylum A dark and forbidding place. Here, endless brick walls seal in the criminally insane. Steel pipes hiss and rattle. Rusted bars slam shut with a noise that echoes throughout the whole facility. And everything is now painted over with happier colors, like teal and amber! And don't forget those motivational posters, those things are EVERYWHERE, now. Hang in there, baby! Contents: Mecha Tiger Sheng Catechism Ramjet Shockwave Barrage Scrapper The missile seems to travel towards Ramjet as if in slow-motion. Pssshhoooooooooo.... Shockwave would do something about that missile with his jamming field but at the moment he's outside pointing his finger at Barrage in slow mooooootiooooooon. Catechism remembers that she has coordinates for Berger. Well... the kitchen was a good idea, anyway! She stalks off towards his cell, but since he is running toward the kitchen, and she is moving toward the cell, she nearly runs right into him. She calls out, "Hey, Berger-meister! I have orders to get you of here. Come along quietly, and there'll be an in-flight movie." A Gold hovertruck races up to Arkham Asylum and transforms. Sheng stands tall, optics sweeping the mess. Oh for the love of Primus. As some of the inmates make a break for the door she slams her talons down in front of them, rips the chunk of flooring up and sends them dumping onto their rumps. "You," she montones as she letsthe chunk of floor be sliced by her talons from gravities pull. "Go back to your cozy little cells and close the doors." Teh humans quickly run back into teh asylum as Sheng strides in. This is probably not going to end well and... Yipe, missile! Oh wait, maybe Ramjet will take the impact before it hits her, that'd be a nice way to start things. Ramjet scowls at Fakkadi's weak stomach. His lips slack just enough for a sigh of frustration to leak out as he reaches for the once-proud official. He plucks him by the lapels of his outfit with thumb and forefinger, gently-as-possibly (for a Decepticon) lifting him off the ground and placing him against the seat of his cockpit. A gentle nudge here and there to bring the seatbelts around to strap him in, Ramjet closes his canopy just in time for that Stinger Missile to slam into his back.
* BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM* "AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Ramjet's back lurches into a concave shape against the force of the explosion. His hands curl into pain-wracked claws and his expression is nothing short of agony. Armor is rended, sending shards of once-mirrored metal digging into anything it catches behind him. Flames lick every which way, burning plating and mechanics alike. As if by irony, his cockpit is entirely fine. Blast it all to hell. "....!" Ramjet stares, optics bright and red and large with all flavors of angry. He whirls around, hunched forward like some kind of horned demon. "!!!!!!!" He just speaks by -STARES- from the direction of the shot. His right arm shoves forward and those fingers clench. The rifle responds with a click-click-clack. Nothing happens. Behind Ramjet's eyes, the error message slides across from left to right. ERROR. RECEPTOR LINES DAMAGED. ERROR. He scowls as much inwardly as he does outwardly and instead, shifts to point with his left arm. The laser-cannon mounted on this arm ends up working and laserfire comes out in three-burst spurts. Barrage was speaking in slow moooooootioooooooon when the missile hit. He turns towards the source where the missile came and quickly, changing to his big beetle mode he begins unleashing a barrage(tm) of plasma bolts at everything in that direction. Hitting walls, leveling the ground and sending debris in every direction. His attacks end after a strafe of railgun fire make sure most of things over there are dead. Barrage leaps forwards and transforms into a Rhinosarus beetle. Shockwave's sensor cluster, AKA "head," swivels sharply towards the sound of an explosion inside the facility. "Decepticons, report," he booms in an amplified voice (since he's currently jamming radio transmissions). Compton Xabat shoves a complaining Chumley into the drill tank. "In, in!" he yells, "I've performed some minor fixes on the tunnelling machine. It'll have to do! Let's get going, we'll have to get the others later!" He closes the hatch on the drill tank behind him and seals it up as lasers streak overhead. "Blast..." Berger is quite happy to see Catechism. "Oh, thank you!" he cries, clutching her leg. "Please, get me out of here! I don't want to die!" Ramjet scowls. "That was highly unsatisfying." Catechism makes an expression of mild distaste as Berger clutches her leg. She really does hate humans, despite having been one. They're so full of gooey fluids. Sighing, she attempts to drop to one knee without squshing Berger and pops open her cockpit. Glaring, she dictates, "Stain the upholstery, and I will dump you in bleach." The Fiddler is struck by a laser blast and explodes into ash, ending his criminal musical career. A bunch of other Batman villain rip-offs get shaken to bits by sonic attacks. Sheng takes in as much of the situation as she can see. Alright, Ramjet popped someone into his chest and who knows if said person survived, cons everwhere. She stomps a foot as some of the inmates try and run past and glares down at them, then jogs into the main body of the area... And Shockwave ishere too. She says nothing, mostly because trying to tell the Decepticons to leave won't work and she knows it. Ramjet attempts to respond to Shockwave, but cannot. He's jamming radio transmissions. Briefly, he considers if Shockwave has a sense of humor. It must be an awful sense of humor. Barrage agrees with Ramjet. Lousy sense of humor :(Shawn Berger Jr. nods his head eagerly, and pulls himself inside, gingerly strapping himself in. "Th-thank you, ma'am!... You're a ma'am, right?" he says. Hard to tell with giant robots. A herd of prisoners slides to a halt in front of Sheng. They look up at her, gulp loudly, and calmly go to stand in front of their cells. Ramjet curls his fingers into his palm on his right hand, to ensure that he still has decent motor control. "Barrage, the moment we move out, turn this place into rubble." His cone turns to the side, looking for what's become of Catechism. Barrage nods his head and gets closer to the ground. Using his hands like bipods as the horn flares up. "Ready to fire whenever you begin to leave, Sir." Catechism sounds pleased, though Berger can't see her smile, and replies, "Ma'am works." Most of the other Decepticons below her call her 'sir', but that has nothing to do with her gender designation and everything to do with her history of violence. Berger can find an oxygen mask in the cockpit, and the cockpit hisses shut. 'Top Gun' starts to play on the main screen. Shockwave realizes after a while that no one has been giving him updates, and since even though the humans did get messages out earlier no Autobots to speak of have showed up, he may as well stop jamming. Ramjet lurches forward, making several paces until he can reach an area with exposed sky. Firing his foot-jets, he quickly lifts into the sky -- and painfully, transforms into jet-mode. Ramjet transforms! His arms fold into his chest cavity as his legs fuse together to allow his thruster housings to slide snug against his chassis. Wings link together and lock into place as his cockpit twists into position. Dr. Arkeville, who had gone unmolested thus far, manages to recover from Barrage's sonic assault. He runs back INTO the prison, yelling, "Wait, wait, don't leave without me!" The hatch on the drill tank pops open, and the mad doctor climbs inside as the engine roars back to life, and the drill tank sinks back down into the hole it made. Looks like some of the bad guys managed to escape on their own. Catechism boom-shaka-lakas it out of there. Once she reaches the outside, she transforms and hovers off the ground to watch Barrage from a safe altitude. Berger may have had money, but VTOL-craft may have been out of even his budget. F-35B Lightning II transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her body, and her wings rotate into position at her hips. Suddenly a flash casts glaring shadows behind the anything taller than the ground. The plasma bolt tears into the building and melts walls before it explodes, sending debris in each direction. He begins to fire at the far side of the Asylum so most of the population inside can still flee. The horn continues to fire shot after shot, followed by railgun fire strafing, to effectively level the ground. He is about to target the central part, but by now someone could have made it out and stop him from destroying the rest. Sheng curses mentally as the plasma blasts begin firing. Spotting the hole in the wall that Ramjet just made she races towards it. Leaping out she lands on one foot, pivots and locks onto Barrage. A quick brace with one hand and push off, trying to stop his attack. Fakkadi, still groggy, flops his hands about on Ramjet's control panel. "Americans and your music... youze... make me sick! Hnnnh!!!" The dictator grabs at the flight stick and tries to pull on it. "Where is exit, I must fly out of there!" Barrage the push causes the remaining plasma shots to streak skywards. The beetle rolls and steps sideways, aiming for Sheng. "Move, Autobot. Or you will join the ruins as a ruined ruin!" The plasma horn flares up. "If you fail to comply I'll tear out your cerebral circuits and force you to eat them with your smoldering face!" His voice, devoid of emotion, but his eyes flicker with malevolent intelligence. Barrage is, yep, a veteran intimidator. But heroic autobots don't usually just tuck their tail between their legs and run away... or do they? Reinforced YF-15 Star Eagle pulls up suddenly! "Get off that!" He snaps, wobbling his flightstick at Fakkadi angrily. Shockwave steps over the wall, strides off a short ways and stands a fair distance outside the asylum to watch Barrage work. Ramhorn has arrived. Sheng shifts her weight, lips compressing. Shifting to the left, then the right, alright, she's got a decent chance of dodging this attack... she hopes. "As threats go, that is rather poor. I have heard worse, and lived through far more terrible." Barrage growls angrily, his faceplate not showing his disgusted expression. "How about this for an threat than?" The horn discharges a white hot blast of plasma bolt at Sheng. "SCREAM! Hail the end!" Barrage shouts as the bolt travels. Barrage misses Sheng with its Burning Plasma! attack. Sheng ducks under the blast and goes to shove Barrage's plasma barrel up and away from the building and herself, talons unsheilded. Sheng succeeds in grasping Barrage, throwing it off-balance. Barrage curses silently as the plasma bolt missess and his micro processor checkers notify him of a error. He categorizes the feeling as 'uncomfirmed' and names it 'feeling stupid'. Being pushed like this throws the beetle on the back. And it flails it's legs wildly, unable to stand up. "Rargh! You'll pay! You'll pay and your friends! I will throw your remains into acid and than incinerate them when I get back on my feet! And when I get my hands on your behavior program I'll turn you into a clown! Raaaaargh!" As the robots fight, the maniacal villain known only as The Broker flees out of the hole that Ramjet put into the Asylum. "Ha ha ha ha ha!" he laughs, his face, which seems to have dollar bill patterns permanently printed onto it, grinning madly. "I predict a crash in the LIFE market!" And right behind him? A cool cat who used to have a spiffy pimp suit. "Perfect! This may be my only chance to escape!" says Prometheus Black. "Not if these robots kill us!" remarks the Angry Archer. "If only I had my bow!" Sheng goes to pin the annoying bug down, but pauses for a moment to turn, stomp, glare and point at the two humans. "you! Cells or I slice you into little peices!" and then she goes back to wrestling with the bug. After dragging half a intramural flag-football team through Central Park, Ramhorn finally answers any standing calls for aid. Tiny feet stamp on the collateral damage, and with a few shoulder checks and shoves, sends some of the still-loose inmates back into their cells. There's a disgruntled rumble from him as he tries to sort out all the sights, before he ultimately raises his snout to the air and takes a few deep whiffs of the smokey air. One ear begins perks over in Sheng's and Barrage's direction... Avalanche has left. Barrage growls once more, before he transforms into his robot form, kicking his legs upwards and spinning backwards, managing to wrestle out. He lands on his feet flamethrowers at the ready, "Burn baby burn!" He shouts as he tries to flame both Sheng and the Asylum behind it! "Yes, burn!" Barrage assumes his bulky robot mode. Barrage strikes Sheng with Burn baby burn. Reinforced YF-15 Star Eagle goes into the blue. Ramjet retreats from the area swiftly, outdistancing all pursuit and parting shots. The prisoners freeze for a moment, but the Walrus, who has some unusual deformities, says, "She's distracted by the robot! There's nothing in our way, so run!" The prisoners continue to flee... but maybe there's still someone who can stop them? Shockwave simply stands by. He doesn't seem to really care if the facility is destroyed or not. Perhaps he knows that Barrage enjoys destruction for its own sake. Is he just letting Barrage have fun, after his fashion? His single eye follows Ramhorn and Sheng alike but he has not yet determined to expend any energy on them. Tempo has arrived. Sheng doesn't try to dodge, instead widening her stance, guarding her helm, acting as a flame break, sheilding the asylm from the attack; clenching her jaw as her systems tell her just how much they dislike this plan. As the flames fade, however, she's still standing and she lunges forward to attack, talons flashing as she aims at the flamethrowers. Sheng strikes Barrage with let us see what you are made of. F-35B Lightning II is hovering in the air at a safe altitude. She has Berger in her cockpit and is making him watch 'Top Gun'. However, the show that the jet herself is watching in the fight between Barrage and Sheng. Berger watches the movie for a moment. He looks around the cockpit, frowns as if he didn't find something, then says, "So, ah... got any... in-flight snacks?" Barrage yelps half growling. He leaps forwards and transforms into his beetle mode. And railgun fire sound begins to fill the air, all shots aimed at Sheng and hopefuly to try and get a shot at the Asylum behind. Because, really, even if Barrage gets dragged out of this one he will be a lot more happier if he can smash that building down. Barrage leaps forwards and transforms into a Rhinosarus beetle. Mysteriously, a bag of popcorn appears next to Berger. The stripes are purple, not red, on the waxed paper bag. Barrage strikes Sheng with Potholes. Flame! Brightness! Well that certainly helped spur the tiny beast to action. Much like an overzealous terrier lunging at a menace to its mistress, Ramhorn breaks into a gallop and then flings himself over a pile of twisted reinforced concrete. Sparks fly from hooves as he skids hard on a landing, and then promptly barrels in between Barrage's legs in a classic quarterback sack. Ramhorn strikes Barrage with Underfoot!. There was a roar of some engines in the distance, a foriegn engine with alot of power under the hood. In the distance, one can swear they hear the music of what sounds like.. the new Knight Rider Theme? As the sound and music gets closer, the sight of a fast moving vehical comming and a high class speedster at that. Solid black, with the lights flaring bright, then slamming it tires on some debry, it uses as a ramp and flies into the air. Like slow motion the vehical designed for speed a grace hovers there, with the rev of the engine, before it transforms into the black, chromed femme known as Tempo. The autobot's own close range combat artists. She slides across the ground and spins her blades, which seem to glow in the dark like something stolen out of Star Wars, only lacking that humm. "Hope I ain't to late for th' party." She says with a grin on her face and emerald green optics flickering. Hands push down on the ground, as the hood breaks by the window, shield, and face emerges, the hands then force the body up into the air, legs kicking outward from the back in a mid-air flip, the doors swings down to her side, and then lands down on the ground in a crouch, Tempo is ready for action. "By no means," intones Shockwave coolly, raising his cannon arm to point it at Tempo. A thin, pale beam lances out of it towards her unerringly. Shockwave strikes Tempo with Infrared. Lethal Lizard stops for a moment to gape at Tempo. "Oooh. Purty," he says. "Snap out of it, ya nitwit!" snaps the tiny Colossus Rhodes, grabbing the Lethal Lizard by the arm and dragging him along. "Get moving!" "If only I had my steroid thingies, whatever they're called," Rhodes laments. Sheng is stuck agin not dodging the attack, blocking the attack from hitting the asylym, she spin to glare at the humans. ""You go back in there or I let him shoot you," she snarls. She looks at Barrage, then at Shockwave as he starts attacking. SmeltSmeltSmelt. She slams her talons itno the ground in front of Colossus Rhodes, doing the ripping ground and on your rump trick again, easily slicing the concrete easily as thick as teh human is tall as if it were water. "Get. Back. In. Your. CELLS." she turns and throws a chunk of building at Barrage. Sheng strikes Barrage with stay down!. Barrage growls like a animal and digs all his legs deep into the ground, and gets stuck intentionally, so they cannot move him. The joints on his neck lock and the wing shield folds over his head, protecting it. It's a new thing Barrage has decided to try out. From inside his head, that cannot be seen because of the wing shields protecting the horn, Barrage says. "You are soooo annoying. I'll just destroy this thing and leave for some well deserved energon!" He says as he begins to charge a bolt powerful enough to take out most of the asylum, or what's left of it. James Bailey has left. Hound has arrived. Tempo takes the shot and stepps back, gritting her mollar guards at the impact on her sensative structure. "Oh yea sugar.." She points one of the swords at him, "..Ya so goin' down!" That is when she noticed two humans running back, "Didn't ya mama ever tell ya no gapin' at a woman at work?" Then her optics flicker, "Ain't those tha.." The dark femme hrms softly, "Prisoners.. decepticon.." Tempo shrugged, before she flipped back to get in the way of the two humans trying to run while tossing out a dagger right for Shockwave. After doing so she looked down at the two humans, "Back ta ya cells! I ain't got no time ta play!" Tempo misses Shockwave with her Exploding Dagger attack. Hound shifts into his jeep mode, lowering himself down onto the ground before his arms and legs slide out of sight to be replaced by his tires, his seats and windshield pop up, and a machine gun turret telescopes upward at the back. Hound is now ready to roll. Hound has been hearing about the clamour at the asylum and so, to investigate, has driven up through New York state to the outskirts were the forbbing structure sits. He drives up the curving road to the asylum, the barrel of his gun swinging back and forth across the road in case an enemy appears, as he cuts to the left and comes to a hault in front of the asylum's entrance. After disentangling himself from Barrage's leg-joints, Ramhorn backs off a few meters, head tilted at Sheng's tenacity. Even as Barrage hunkers down, the tape lurches forward against the hull of Barrage's wings. A resounding -CLONG- sounds out as he futilely matches the hardness of his cranium with Barrage's armor. Backing up briefly, he charges again, seeking to hook his horn under the edge of one of those carapace covers. If it works, it'll be time for the hoist. Will he be rewarded with the sound of rending metal? Ramhorn strikes Barrage with The Hoist!. The concrete block smashes into Barrage's carapace and is deflected, but not without major ammounts of pain. He growls, but it quickly turns into a yelp as Ramhorn slams his horn into the headshield and rips away some armor. It is still protecting the horn fairly enough. Barrage than digs in even deeper and gets closer to the ground for more protection. "Charging.... at 66" Shockwave swings the beam upwards by just the right amount and vaporizes the dagger before it can reach him in the moment before the beam cuts off entirely. "Highly dubious," Shockwave replies to Tempo. "It can do no significant harm to inform you that the Decepticons have already been victorious here. I am simply permitting Barrage to indulge himself as it can do no harm, and with some luck, may disable or destroy one or more of you." He fires another pulse of electromagnetic radiation, a slow hum beginning as he winds up his internal reactor to battle mode. Shockwave strikes Tempo with Ultraviolet. The TFA and Batman villain ripoffs continue to flee, unimpeded. Surely there's at least ONE Autobot that can stop them? Surely one? Tempo takes the hit again and yelps slightly as part of her chrome armor is nicked by the attack and some more internal parts are exposed as it goes over her stomache region as she tries to avoid. Her emerald green optics narrow dangerously. "Come on.. keep ya wits.." The dark femme tells herself before her tires kick down on her feet and she races right for Shockwave. Sure he wasn't the main reason she was her, but what could be said-- the big boy challenged her, and who would she be to turn him down! The dark femme moved swiftly drawing and her blades one more before she leaped into the air into a spin, to bring the sword down on Shockwave in the spin. Slag, the femme was smaller then he was! What harm could she really do? Tempo strikes Shockwave with Sword Slice. Well it's worked teh last few times she's tried this... Sheng slices the ground around and under Barrage and as Barrage goes to fire, tries to shove; not him, but hte ground he's locked himself into; up and away from the building and towards Shockwave who stands off to the side... And she's REEEEAAAAALLY hopes that she's ducking enough to be out of the line of fire. Sheng succeeds in grasping Barrage, throwing it off-balance. Barrage misses Sheng with its grasp attack. Hound is the new bot on the scene and he's also not fighting anyone so he's in a good position to see the escapees on the radar screen. He guns his engine, throwing himself into reverse, before he cuts his wheel to the right and begins to barrel in the direction of the organic lifesigns at top speed. The force of hydraulics rippling through Ramhorn's neck as he rears back, slicing through the Insecticon. The force of Shen's rebuff ricochets Barrage away from the tape. It takes a few moments to sink in that he's not quite as near as he used to be. The flash of motion from fleeing inmates catches his attention, and much like a bull, he charges after the stragglers. There's a faint 'thumpa-thump' of feet on the tile behind them, which crescendos into a fierce bellow from the brown robotic rhino. Looks like they have an incentive to run faster -- perhaps into the grasp of Hound. The inmates shriek and are herded towards Hound. "Ahhhhhhh!" cries Bayne. "Run away, run away!" Shockwave stands right there. Isn't he going to dodge? Or try to shoot the sword out of Tempo's hand or something? No? Not even a little? Apparently not. The blade whisks down and skates across his armor. His reaction is only to piston his right arm forward to try to punch Tempo in the head. Presumably he was just waiting for her to come close enough that he could lay his hand on her. Shockwave strikes Tempo with Strong Right Hand. Barrage cannot help the fact that he isn't positioned well. He can't see it, but he knows that he isn't aligned well for a perfect shot. "For that. You shall die." Barrage says as he turns the almost fully overcharged horn to Sheng, "EAT PLASMA YOU UGLY THING!" The bolt almost makes the very air scream with it's heat and size. Barrage strikes Sheng with Overcharged Plasma Bolt. Tempo takes the blow in the head all right and rolls right down onto the ground with it. She lays there for a moment and moans softly as she lifts herself back up. This-- was actually a first. She never had this much trouble-- The dark femme spits on some fluid to the side before she gets on her feet, her optics flicker a few times, as she seems a little off balance at first before she lets out a war-cry and then spins around once more to slash one blade right for Shockwave, then step again to bring down the other. These are days-- someone needs to tell her-- stop playing with the big boys before you get fried! Tempo misses Shockwave with her Duel Slice attack. Hound drives forward across the ground, his wheels rising and falling as he drives across the uneven surface, as his weapon turns toward the gathered prisoners as they run form him. He doesn't open fire on them, at least not in the way they think, as the orifice of his barrel glows and projects a towering hologram of Grimlock in his dino mode in front of the galloping horde. The holo-Dino leans forward, mouth opening wide, as it emits a growling sound and snaps it's jaws. Grimlock has arrived. Ramhorn grunt-grunt-grunts rapidly in glee at the sounds of panic, tossing his head merrily. His tiny tail is arched aggressively in the air, excited to be useful in gathering humans into one spot! He bugles triumphantly in Hound's and Grimlock's direction! Sheng cries out at the impact, getting sent staggering back, a chunk of her shoulder and chest armor missing... Unfortunatly for Barrage, she's still holding onto that chunk of ground he's perched on, so he's coming along for the ride, now facing away from the asylm as she tries to twist to slam Barrage intot eh ground, the ground still attached, energon leaking down her side and arm. Shockwave intercepts the slashing blades with a swat of the back of his hand, turning it aside to drive one of his heavy feet forward in a crushing kick down at Tempo's shin. Shockwave is a scientist, and he fights like a scientist; he knows the proper ways to disable an opponent as efficiently as possible, thanks to research, theory and experimentation. All he has to do is put it into practice, like so. Shockwave strikes Tempo with Shin Splitter. Sheng strikes Barrage with and now the world will see you for what you truly are. The inmates scream and slide to a halt before the Grimlock hologram. They turn around, about to go the other, and scream again! Yes, they were still being chased by a giant rhinoceros. They look around, panicking, cornered... and just hold up their hands in defeat. Ramhorn continues bullying crazy people into behaving properly, probably for the rest of the evening. Ramhorn has left. Hound also assists in the corraling of the escapees with Ramhorn and the quite angry seeming Grimlock hologram. Bane may be tough but even he wouldn't tangle with a Grimlock. Barrage growls angrily as the block almost squishes him. His optical sensors send sparks down to the ground. The head is effectively deformed, but the horn seems to be still operational. It glows faintly and than whanes. A quick system check reveals that it needs to be charged due to damage, and it will take longer than usual. Taking off into the air, he begins to strafe Sheng with gauss fire. Offically, Tempo nearly lets out a scream in pain as his much larger foot comes down on her shin, a near crack could be heard, as she falls down to the ground. She grits her mollar guards hard. Her swords fall down beside her shutting off-line. She digs her hands into the ground, her chrome finger tips becoming dirtied by the ground. She slowly glares upward. One could swear that chrome cable hair of hers bristled slightly, before she yanks out a dagger and goes to try and stab it into Shockwave's side. This dagger seemed to hum slightly as she pressed a button on it. Barrage strikes Sheng with Gauss strafe. Tempo misses Shockwave with her Electro-Throwing Dagger attack. Shockwave steps on the arm with the dagger before Tempo can sink it into one of the vulnerable gaps between the plates in his stiff, square torso. "It intrigues me to observe that even when informed of your chances of failure, you Autobots so often refuse to account for the negative consequences. Indeed it seems that your enthusiasm for battle is inversely proportional with your chance to succeed. Are you able to explain this behavior?" He raises his other massive foot and brings it down, repeatedly, mechanically, with all the care and pressure of a car crusher. Shockwave strikes Tempo with Calculated Brutality. Sheng twists, raising an arm to try and protect her chest and helm as the bullets rain down on her, ripping chunks off of her. Then looks up at Barrage. "Have to do better then that. You say your objective is done, so leave, Decepticon." Tempo succeeds in grasping Shockwave, throwing it off-balance. Barrage's eyes glimmer with intelligence and than sends sparks down his faceplate. Most of his body looks crushed but he refuses to relent, silently charging his horn. "My objective isn't done? I have to destroy this building and I have to disable you. But not because it is my objective.... I just want to CRUSH YOU!" Suddenly the horn flashes and a bolt is sent towards Sheng's face with brutal intent. Barrage strikes Sheng with in yo face. Tempo nearly screams, but she cuts herself short of even giving Shockwave that favor of hearing her. She growls, her body nearly getting planted firmly into the ground, armor cracking, looking like a real mess. "Ya know why-- because.. I ain't.. affraid of death.." She gets her hands under his foot and then with a good heavy of what strength she can muster, she shoves his foot off and manages to somehow toss him off balance. As she does she picks up a blade and points the very end of it toward him, "Are ya?" However Tempo would stay and fight but her systems are flashing warnings all over her visuals, and she nearly finds herself nearly falling over, and with that she limps away, before kicking on her radio, <> No she wasn't a coward, but she wasn't stupid either. So with a force of her gears, in pain at that, she transforms and takes off. Tempo leaps into mid air, the hood snapping upward and connecting with the front window, hands tucking under, doors snapping back into place, and feet tucking back into place, as the Tuscan S touches down on the ground, she revs her engine, ready to go. Tempo begins retreating, leaving herself vulnerable to parting shots from Hound, F-35B Lightning II . Shockwave is not as flexible as a modern Transformer, having no soft parts whatsoever and relatively few joints, and when thrown off by Tempo's final desperate surge of strength, it takes him some time to get back up onto his feet. By the time he does, she's managed to get away. His head swivels towards Barrage as he walks away. "Do not dally so long that you sustain severe damage, Barrage. I will not send a recovery team to rescue you." With that Shockwave fires his rockets and launches heavily into the air, blasting off. Sheng raises her arms becuase, to be frank her head getting shot off is going to put a bit of a hamper on fighting. She shunts her gauntlets to subspace and teh beam slams into her arms, ripping the armor away and burning, scarring the metal of her faceplate... And revealing the interlocking crystal that forms her endostructure. In a scene that is probably the transformer equivilient of the scene where the organic-covering burned off terimnator from Terminator 1, Sheng lowers her arms to stare up at Barrage. "Leave," she monotones. The horn charges up again, and the following scene looks quite nasty, the tip begins to sizzle and than melt, and the outside alloys of the horn SPLIT. No, it was not intentional and it means nothing good. And sadly, Barrage was about to say 'no' but he found that he cannot speak a word. His processors were working overclocked to realize in what the hell does the problem lie? And it hits him, when the block of concrete hit him it must have caused some internal damage. Growling Barrage, spits out some fuel just to realize it slammed into the face plate. No, Barrage is no coward and he proves that by charging on the horn. "Fine. I'll leave." He finally says. "After I'm done with this." He fires the plasma bolt at the Asylum and as a consequence the horn explodes, stripping the armor of his head and back all the way to the skeleton as a beam of energy cuts through it. The explosion sending Barrage flying backwards and skidding across the ground, raising a cloud of smoke. Never getting a chance to even look at how extensive the damage is, but he thought it should be quite extensive by the calculations he made. As he stands up, he finds that some joints are broken and cannot operate... his wings mainly. Leaving him with no other option and weapons, since his gauss was looking like a badly warped pipe. He decided it was time to retreat. And he managed to keep his dignity by not screaming like a girl in excruciating pain. No he took it more manly. "Arrrgh, the --- thing humans call pain! Ahhh! I'll kill you!!!! Tomorrow.." Barrage assumes his bulky robot mode. Barrage begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Hound, TVR Tuscan S, Sheng, Scrapper. Sheng is backlite by the fire, watching Barrage retreat. "We battle again and I'll teach you pain once more," she threatens flately, then turns to see how bad the damage is and if anyone can be saved. Tempo has left. Sheng has left.
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