| abstract
| - Paris, France You are currently standing at the wide park surrounding the Eiffel Tower, Paris's most prominent landmark. Streets extend into the surrounding buildings, with the French driving their characteristically reckless way. Off in the distance you can even make out the towers of Notre Dame. Autobot Shuttle soars down into view from the skies above. Autobot Shuttle has arrived. Redshift soars down into view from the skies above. Redshift has arrived. Autobot Shuttle is trying to descend down towards Paris, and especially towards the source of the transmission. At the helm is the newly sensitivized OPS XO, Markdown. "Hang on, new guy! I'm comin' ta help ya!" Keeper is taking temporary refuge, blockaded between two government research facility warehouses within a fenced in compound. As of yet, no alarm has been raised. But there is a sense of one coming very soon. A hole has been torn through one warehouse cargo door and it's only a matter of time before it gets noticed. Keeper is a wreck, an unrecognizable shadow of his former self. A large robot charred and mangled... diminished... missing an incredible amount of his body. A small pinpoint laser dot is the only beacon he gives off towards the clouds. A bright contrail can be seen as an objct descends from the heavens, bearing down directly towards the location supplied to him from his superiors... The location of the Autobots, as it seems. Sunder soars down into view from the skies above. Sunder has arrived. Vigil soars down into view from the skies above. Vigil has arrived. Dreadwind soars down into view from the skies above. Dreadwind has arrived. Vigil flies after sunder, firing shots at the sweep's engines to try and stall or stop the beast. Vigil succeeds in grasping Sweepcraft , throwing him off-balance. Powerglide soars down into view from the skies above. Powerglide has arrived. Autobot Shuttle had managed to avoid confronting the Decepticons in space by keeping to the atmospher of the planet. Now, though, it has to slow down as it makes its approach to the distress beacon. The shuttle passes over the warehouses, searchlights sweeping over the area. From the PA, Markdown's voice calls out, "Hey! This is Markdown, Autobot Operations XO! We are here to rescue you! Please come out of hiding!" Sweepcraft is starting to become annoyed at Vigil's interference. He quickly transforms, then does an aerial flip manuever that is intended to get him above Vigil, so that he can start tearing into the Autobot with his claws. Sunder succeeds in grasping Vigil, throwing him off-balance. Sunder shifts into his fearsome-looking robot mode. Geist soars down into view from the skies above. Geist has arrived. Vigil is grabbed and once he is grabbed, he also begins to shift, his wings going onto his back side and his head popping out. He feels his torso clawed by the sweep so he tries to grab the sweep and fly off in the opposite direction in an attempt to keep him from his target. Vigil misses Sunder with his grasp attack. The starfighter shifts and folds into itself, forming into Vigil! The Sweep refuses to be shaken so easily, and tries to dig in his claws for a better grip. Perhaps even tear a strip off this Autobot's hide? Oh yes, that would be quite fitting. Sunder misses Vigil with his grasp attack. The dread cloud of doom and despair flies to where it was ordered, though of course it's not as if it's presence will effect the outcome of the situation in the slightest. "Great i go from defending the rightS of helpless spoils to being a target for every trigger happy Autobot that is lurking in ambush." A-10 Thunderbolt comes flying out of the clouds, engines roaring as the plane comes up beside the massive shuttle he was following. "Oh snap, that Vigil guy wasn't kiddin' when he said there were Sweeps. I thought he was over exagerating or somethin'." Red wings waggle a bit in the jet equivalent of a shrug. Whatever, no big deal. He could take 'em! Sweepcraft has been following Sunder as they descend towards Paris, but at the last moment the urge to go visit a common aquaintence and spook their cattle makes him change his path... he followed orders coming this far... for the most part. Geist takes flight to the Skies above Western Europe. Geist has left. Vigil twists and aims an arm at the sweep's head, a slot opening as as a pistol slides into his hand and he fires a shot towards the sweep's head. He short wave radios to the sweep. Vigil misses Sunder with his grasp attack. Ofcourse, now the base alarms go off. French military and security personel scramble into action first to assess, then to act! Viva la revolution! Keeper, the disabled gimp from space, cranes what is left of his face upwards. He deactivates the beacon quickly, ceasing the drain on his remnent energon, and crawls ungainly out of hiding over the makeshift barricade. Now, exposed in the open, lights start going on all around the compound. He rasps, "Must hurry." He seems to say it more for the sake of the humans than for his own. Autobot Shuttle blasts out exhaust as it slowly settles down in the middle of the facility, in the nearest open spot he could find. "Ok, Autobot--" The back hatch of the shuttle cracks open. "Quickly! Get in here! Um..." Markdown then decides he should try to send a message to the humans here, as well. "Attention, French military personnel! We are here on a rescue mission! I repeat, we are here on a rescue mission! Once we have recovered our comrade we will leave peacefully!" Sunder ducks just in time to prevent the Autobot from shooting him in the head. "Well, well, well," the Sweep purrs, "Perhaps I get to finish you after all." Warming up his headcannon, he fires it at Vigil. Sunder succeeds in grasping Vigil, throwing him off-balance. Vigil gets shot in the chest and begins to fall past sunder. After reaching his level, his hand reaches into the hole Sunder made in his chest and pulls out a blade less hilt which he activates to try and stab it into the sweep. Vigil misses Sunder with his grasp attack. Red Spacecraft streaks down towards the landing site of the autobot Shuttle, his red and black armor gleaming. He careens past the 'Golden Age', his thrusters roaring as he rips through the sound barrier above the shuttle. "Come on, Autobots! Time to come out and play!" Keeper looks to the sky as he drags himself upright with one full arm and three partial limbs, beginning his rough ungraceful mobility towards the shuttle. Which shapes up to be little more than a walking pace, a little less than a jog. He growls, "Decepticons. This world has hostility everywhere." With the landing of the shuttle, the military presense is dubious in strength. A Decepticon-Autobot battle in the sky to boot. Keeper was to be a treasure find for Military Science Reasearch Division... and now it has broken free and may soon be liberated from their clutches! Several scientists shout and yell for the armed guards to stop the Autobots and retreive Keeper. A few open fire with machine guns and sidearms. F-16 Falcon finally manages to find Redshift's signature and follows much more slowly after him, it's not as if the Autobots won't be swarming all over soon enough. "Great how am i supposed to take on a shuttle without Darkwing around. Soundwave clearly has little grasp of the tactical situation." The Sweep evades the swipe of the blade, and counters by pulling out his own dagger from subspace. "Two can play at the stabbing game," Sunder growls. Sunder succeeds in grasping Vigil, throwing him off-balance. A-10 Thunderbolt descends quickly, still following the shuttle, "Forget it, man. They're French, they wont listen to you." As the Spacecraft zooms overhead, the Warthog rocks and redirects his attention, "Oh, rock on! Something to shoot missiles at!" And with that wisdom, his engines roar and he ascends, intent on following the Decepticon. From Autobot Shuttle , Markdown grumbles to himself. "Dammit all, CEASE FIRE!" he yells into the PA systems. "We are on a peaceful mission!" Scowling, he focuses the shuttle's searchlights on the French soldiers. If he can't shoot them, then maybe at least he can blind them a little. "Please, let us recover our soldier!" Vigil is stabbed and he chuckles and goes to try and stab into the sweep's arm. "Good, I wouldnt want to lose my recharging cycle cause you were defenseless!" He says, looking to the ground. Vigil succeeds in grasping Sunder, throwing him off-balance. A few choice swearwords can be heard over the stifling rumble of thrusters as Redshift is tailed by Dreadwind. "It might work better if you tried SHOOTING it, instead of complaining about it!" Redshift replies to the dull and dreary F-16. Redshift pulls up and sweeps over the area again, sensors open for targets. The shuttle is a big one, but it's not as appealing as, say, a little red A-10 Thunderbolt. Redshift ignores his depressingcompanion, and opens fire on Powerglide, firing off a wide spread of red disruptors. Redshift misses A-10 Thunderbolt with his disruptor attack. F-16 Falcon doesn't even notice the grumbled words from Redshift, "It might, but then of course they'll have a direct lock on our position then all they'll have to do is open fire bombarding our airspace till we are more hole than Decepticon. Which will of course lead to our painful crash into that horrid lanfd below. We won't survive." Dreadwind flies steadily groundwards maybe if he's low enough no one will notice him, but then again. Keeper ignores the occassional bullet that chisels away yet another little chunk of what is left of his body. Determined to make it to 'Autobot ground.' The Shuttle represents his only hope. It represents his salvation from the million year void he was banished to. A port of long missed order within this stormy sea of chaos. Hearing Markdown's urgent commands and pleas with these aliens and seeing them go unanswered, Keeper stops in his shambling tracks and drives his only remaining hand into the asphalt, gouging out a large chunk. With a twist and roll onto his back, he uses the momentum of his whole body to hurl the dug up ground towards one of the guard towers. The clump heavily impacts with the structure and crumbles part of the supporting wall. The guards there cease fire to evacuate the tower. The rest that surround are given reason to pause as well. A-10 Thunderbolt has his sights set on the red 'Con and his depressing team mate. Well, just the red one now, considering the other guy just ditched the scene. Whatever. With a few well timed (and sexy) barrel rolls, he manages to avoid the poor attempt on his life. "Hahaha, is that all you got? That's terrible!" Straightening himself out, the Warthog unlatches a missile from his right wing and sends it shooting off towards the target. Powerglide strikes Red Spacecraft with Missile. From Autobot Shuttle , Markdown rushes out the ramp of the shuttle, waving around a pair of glowing sticks, trying to get the attention of the French troops. Keeper's little retaliation might not keep them enthralled for long. "HEY! You wanna shoot someone? Shoot me! I'm right here! Go ahead! Shoot meeee!" More quietly, to Keeper, he says, "Hurry up! Get up the ramp! I'll soak up the hits as long as I can." Vigil uses the distraction from the strike to fly at top speed back down to the shuttle and Keeper. He puts the energy sword away and tries to help Keeper into the shuttle. He then raises his arm and an energy pistol slides into his hand and he fires shots at the ground, dirt and rocks being kicked up as he tries to conceal them with shots into the ground. Red Spacecraft's airframe is blasted by the missile from Powerglide's Thunderbolt mode, sending red shrapnel flying through the air amidst the smoke and flames. Under the roar of the explosion the classic trandformation sound can be heard. Redshift's robot mode emerges from the smoke, battered but still functioning. Oh, and pissed off. "Well now, you want to play ROUGH, little plane? I was going to go easy on you, pick you apart a little bit at a time." Redshift says, keepoing pace with the red plane as well as he can, being surprisingly fast for a robot-mode Transformer. Redshift whips out his oversized rocket launcher, taking aim at Powerglide. "...But, if you want to play rough, I'll play ROUGH!" Redshift shouts, and fires off a big red missile at the minibot plan. The sleek red spacecraft transforms into the winged warrior Redshift. Redshift misses A-10 Thunderbolt with his Fusion Rocket attack. F-16 Falcon spies Markdown running out of the shuttle craft and waving his arms around like a loony so he makes the sensible decision and quickly banks around to line up a kill shot on the shuttle, a missile to the innards always blows theose things sky high right? Still it's a lot more sensible than say engaging something that might fire back, lock is attained and a single and twin missiles fly towards the nice open shuttle. From Autobot Shuttle , Markdown blinks as he notices the missiles launching. Since he doesn't want the shuttle to be blown up, he does what any Autobot would do in a crisis situation like this--he flings himself in the path of the missiles! "Noooooooo--" Markdown leaves the Autobot Shuttle . Markdown has arrived. Keeper awkwardly rolls back to his original position off his back and accepts Vigil's help, hauling what is left of his carcass the rest of the way towards the shuttle. Responding to the commands of Markdown seemingly reflexively he had moved into action. The exploding Decepticon fire causes him to rear up and growl. Still, the French hold off their fire. This is more than they are prepaird for. The captee was supposed to be near dead and harmless. Instead a whole party of his kind show up and the being has broken itself free. One guard whispers, "Sacre bleu! Was it worth it, Doctor LaRoque?" A scientist steps up beside the guard, hands in his billowing labcoat pockets. "Only Monsieur Picard can say... But I think I may be fired." Dreadwind strikes Markdown with Twin Missile. KABOOOOOOM! The missiles strike Markdown squarely in the chest, throwing him against the ramp. "Uhhhh.... damn, that hurt. Autobot... get up... the ramp!" Wincing as he painfully pushes off of the ramp onto his feet, Markdown says, "I can't keep taking hits like that forever!" Most Decepticons would be overjoyed to see an Autobot sacrificing himself to save a shuttlecraft but not Dreadwind he sees it as another case of life taunting him with the fact that there is nothing he can do to resist its will. "These Autobots have the computatinal capacity of Rumble, it would have been much more sensible to let the shuttle take the hit, now it means i'll have to destroy him first, will my agonies never end?" Dreadwind breaks hard right and circles around for another attack run maybe this time he'll target a moving object. A-10 Thunderbolt hoots and hollers as his missile hits and sprays little pieces of Redshift all over the place. Okay, maybe not like /that/, but still. "Oh, you shouldn't make promises you don't intend to keep, buddy." He sees the rocket launcher come out. Oh, that's not so- then the missile comes out. Hm, that was a lot worse. With another roar of the two engines on his back, he rises into the air, narrowly avoiding the attack. "See what I mean? No integrity!" His gattling gun begins to spin and within seconds a barrage of bullets come shooting out towards the Decepticon. Powerglide strikes Redshift with Ratatatat. The Sweep growls as he's pierced, and hotly pursues Vigil. Sunder begins to grin as he sees that the Autobot is leading him to the real prize...an injured Autobot which makes a very tempting prey, indeed. Grabbing his rocket launcher, he loads the secondary firing chamber with a grenade, then lobs it towards Vigil. Sunder succeeds in grasping Vigil, throwing him off-balance. There goes Redshift's paint job; The stream of bullets from Powerglide pepper Redshift's battered body with a series of small scrapes, dents, and holes. Redshift flies skyward, propelled by little jets of flames flaring out of his boots. Redshift grits his teeth, but dosn't bother to reply to Powerglide's comments, except by firing off a volley of bullets from his own machine guns. Redshift misses A-10 Thunderbolt with his Machine Guns attack. Vigil gets blasted by the launched grenade and he raises his pistol to fire at Sunder as he continues to help Keeper into the shuttle. "Get in there, and I will see about drawing off the decepticon forces." He says to the damaged unit. Vigil misses Sunder with his grasp attack. Keeper internally spurns himself for not being able to take the hit for Markdown, and then for Vigil. "Vigil... we go now. No delay." It motivates him to haul aft and with a surge in power output, he does what he can to hurtle himself up the ramp and on board. The exertion sends him to the very edge of what remains of concsciousness. Where would they go? Away from here, it has to be better. Markdown grunts as he tries to put a hand on Keeper's shoulder to try and help him up into the shuttle. "Quickly, Dreadwind's coming around for another pass. I just hope he figures that he won't kill us anyway and won't bother firing! As for the French... well... they'll be ticked, but there's nothing we can do." A-10 Thunderbolt can't help himself from laughing as the bullets ping and pierce the 'Con, denting and generally messing up his aesthetics. Nice. "Oh, wow, I hope you have someone who can pound that out. Or just cover it with some paint. I think pink would look good, considering you're not awesome enough to sport the red look." The retaliation of his opponent was easily avoided with a sharp bank. He ascends after Redshift and lets off another missile; from his left wing this time. Sunder dodges the blast, and surges forward, attempting to grab the Autobot with his talons and shred some armor. "You're not getting away!" he hisses. Sunder succeeds in grasping Vigil, throwing him off-balance. Powerglide misses Redshift with its Missile attack. Keeper sees the incomming strange looking Decepticon. He sees what the Decepticon is coming to do. He moves, and sees the Decepticon taking hold of the only Autobot he recognizes so far on this alien world. And he sees himself lashing out his one good arm in defence of his comrade. LAshing out at the strange Decepticon. You strike Sunder with Backhand. Sunder does shred some of his armor. His energy sword falls bladeless to the ground and Vigil picks it up once Keeper struck out, sending to try and damage the sweep. "You will not get this Autobot!" He yells as he tries to stab the being. Vigil misses Sunder with his Cyberblade's sword attack. F-16 Falcon finally comes around for another attack run his earth form in no way as manoeuvreable as his combined mode, such a shame. Dreadwind draws a bead on the staggering shapes trying to board the shuttle and peppers them with thermal blasts. "Death comes to all, there is no way that we can avoid the terrible agony of survival." Markdown shakes his head as he tries to shove Keeper up into the interior of the shuttle. "Forget the Decepticons, man, we have to leave!" Once he believes they're in the free and clear, he depresses the button to close the shuttle's hatch, trying to seal them off from the Decepticons' attacks. Redshift scowls at Powerglide as the plane mocks his colour sceme, his red optics flashing brightly. He doesn't waste any time with witty retorts, as he focusses on keeping pace with the larger airborne Autobot. Redshift trades his heavy and unwieldy missile launcher for his sleek and trusty gauss rifle. He pines up one of Powerglides wings in his sights, and fires off a single armor piercing slug at the a-10 Thunderbolt. Markdown grits out, "Dammit all, I wish you'd just run off and sulk somewhere!" as Dreadwind's shots pepper his legs. Redshift misses A-10 Thunderbolt with his Gauss Rifle attack. Sunder is backhanded! He is knocked to the ground backwards, causing him to miss getting hit by Vigil's sword. Recovering quickly, he glares at the two Autobots momentarily. "Oh, I /will/ get you," he says sinisterly. Leaping at Vigil, he prepares to attempt to rake both sets of talons across the bot's armor. Sunder strikes Vigil with slash. Vigil gets slashed with claws as he leaps into the shuttle and fires a shot at sunder before the doors close all the way. Vigil strikes Sunder with disruptor. F-16 Falcon sighs heavily as the Autobots manage to close the shuttle before his shots can strike home, "You only delay the inevitable, you cannot escape the pain and anguish that is destined for you, avoiding it will only make your suffering all the more exquisite when it catches up to you." Markdown has left. Markdown enters the Autobot Shuttle . You enter the Autobot Shuttle . Autobot Shuttle The interior of the shuttle is very roomy. There is a highly technical cockpit that seats numerous bots at various stations, and a huge cargo area for additional troops or equipment. Vigil has arrived. Outside, A-10 Thunderbolt growls as his missile goes careening way, way off course, completely missing its target. Awesome. By the grace of Primus himself, another sharp bank permits him to avoid the rather intimidating shot fired off at him. "Yeeeup, I'm done with this." The Warthog scoffs and ascends higher, determined to get the hell out of here before he's actually hit. They didn't need him anymore, considering they were on their way out. Outside, Powerglide begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Autobot Shuttle . Markdown shuffles into the pilot's seat, and activates the launch codes to get the shuttle up into the air. "Hang on, guys!" Slowly, the shuttle rises up on columns of super-heated gasses. Keeper collapses as he is put in the ship the rest of the way. That lone act of protecting a fellow Autobot was enough to reaffirm his position in life after all this time alone and useless as a piece of space debris. "We meet again as we seperated before, Vigil." Wow... KEeper seems to have adopted a soft french accent when assimilating earth languages. It is a nice contrast to his deep strong voice. Outside, Sunder is knocked backwards by the final blast, and gets up in time to see the Autobot shuttle leaving. "Blast," he snarls, lashing air with claws in frustration. Ahhh well, there was always next time. Outside, F-16 Falcon turns and heads for home sure he could help out a bit more but it's not as if he's going to actually be any all on his own, he knows it, the bots know it and so do his fellow Decepticons. The shuttle will live to fight another day well unless an attack shuttle of some kind shows up. Outside, A-10 Thunderbolt takes off with a roar back to the base. Rad. Outside, Powerglide takes flight to the Skies above Western Europe. Outside, Powerglide has left. Outside, Redshift smirks as the minibot Powerglide flees before the awe-inspiring sight of his gauss rifle, bane of jet-moded autobots everywhere. Redshift is dsitracted from his reverie by the roar of the shuttle engines as the 'Golden Age' takes to the sky. Ignoring the protests from any silly French soldiers below, Redshift transforms into his spacecraft mode, and pursues the escaping shuttle, firing off a series of laser bolts at the much larger spacecraft. Outside, Redshift transforms into his sleek spacecraft mode and takes to the air. "Good to see you again Keeper." Vigil says as he puts Cyberblade's sword back into his torso, blade deactivated. "Do you know of any others?" He asks, turning to look at Keeper, unsure of how to fix his fellow bot. Outside, Redshift succeeds in grasping Autobot Shuttle , throwing it off-balance. Vigil says, "Markdown, want me to go out and keep redshift company?" Keeper succeeds in grasping Vigil, throwing him off-balance. Markdown grunts as he pushes the shuttle's engines hard. The ship may not be maneuverable but its top speed is extremely high. "Don't bother!" he says. "We'll just outrun them. No need to risk yourself when we got what we came for." The shuttle shakes as it is pelted by weapons fire, but it nevertheless continues on its course. Keeper reaches out his hand and takes a firm hold of Vigil's shoulder. "Stupid plan. Be smarter. As for others, you are the first I have seen since arriving here." With that, his hand drops away and he shuts down in stasis lock. Outside, Red Spacecraft is a little too battered to make a proper pursuit of the shuttle, as smoke trails from his engines. "Go on and run! Take you lousy half-scrapped friend with you!" He emits, over the roarof his engines. "And tell Powerglide he's a gimpy little piece of slag!" Vigil nods to keeper and looks to Markdown, looking about. "What can I do?" He asks the bigger bot. Markdown activates the rear-view camera, watching the Decepticon fade away. "Good... we lost him. Ah, just sit back and relax. We'll be back home soon. But, uh, might need some help carrying that guy, he's really big."
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)