abstract
| - Summary: Sixknight deals with a very unhappy Fusillade Sky Lynx once more rests outside, however, his optical band is dim as it gently glows from where he lays. Watching the world go by, he lets out a huff of smoke, before he repositions himself where he lays. Sixknight stands amongst the wasteland, still as the smokey air whirls around him, hands behind his back. As if a statue he watches the barren land burn and settle, taking in every motion of every creature and insect that crawls over the blackend surface, the fires reflected in the red of his visor. Sky Lynx picks up 'something' on his scanners, most likely one of the reapers moving about, however he investigates as he slowly rises up to his large feet. Cracking his neck joints side to side, before he walks on casually. He then comes upon the wasteland and the source of the signature being indeed on of those of the Reapers. He looks over the area, then back to the Cybertron. Wanting to form words, all he manages to get out is a grunt before he speaks, "Alone?" Though what he wanted to come out and say was more along the lines of, 'Do you come out here to be alone or do you find this wasteland ever so plesent?'. Moonracer comes shooting out from the ravages of the outlying metropolitan Detroit. Her cybertronian and battlescarred chassis gleams brightly in the hazy smog infused afternoon sun and she kicks up an impressive roostertail of soot a few hundred yards away from the Inquisition tearing off across the wastes. On the southeastern shores of Lake Michigan, quite some distance away from the ivory tower of Praxis, a few bubbles rise to the surface, weaving their way through rusting overpasses and emptied shells of wrecked, submerged cars. A silhouette ghosts toward the speaking Sky Lynx and Sixknight, although nowhere near as noticeable as Moonracer's hasty departure. A sibilant croon escapes waters as a disembodied radio remarks, "Such a small pittance -- hardly seems worth the effort to cleanse." "Beast" Sixknight mutters, still staring out across the landscape as he picks up Moonracer's trail. "Do not tire me. Of course I am alone, what does it look like. The land is dead, my birthright is turned to ashes, and your kind still stalks like the twisted remains of a corrupt and dying race. Do not test me or I will break you." He pauses grimly. "And we all go with them," he quotes "into the silent funeral" Moonracer doesn't hear Sixknights ridiculous posturing over her own 'alternative fuel source' burnt motors, acrid white smoke pouring from her back pipes as she banks behind a mound of crumpled buildings and debris, but if she could hear those words she'd not likely trust gothic poetic imagery and a stranger who doesn't even bother with the pretense of candy. Sky Lynx growls lowly at Sixknight, also catching Moonracer's form in the distance. He snorted out air to Sixknight, however what caught his attention was not Moonracer or Sixknight's challenge but rather a broken voice from the water itself, which he made his way over. His internal systems kicking on the radio to speak into it, attempting to contact whom ever that was, ""Cleanse?"" It is not Sixknight's fault that Moonracer can't tell the difference between ridiculous posturing and being awesome when it stares her in the face. After all, Sixknight can transform into a gun that has a twenty foot barrel. Tell that to the kids. He starts to stalk away purposefully from Sky Lynx as the creature seems more interested in the water. "Drink the water, beast. It is as filthy as you" Sky Lynx looks over his shoulder and growls at Sixknight, "Beast--" He hissed and then just gave up, returning his attention back to the water. Getting closer to the water to the point of nearly seeing his reflection below. Moonracer's engines continue to fade out into the horizon, a thick column of smoke and kicked up dirt identifying her path of passage easily in the hazy evening air. But Somewhere along the way she's met up with a few other roadies in Grimlock's crew and they're making like a convoy back across the wastes. Except if you really zoom in you'll notice that while a convoy is racing the same line, Moonracer's not in the pack, but hopefully you're not paying that much attention as the spunky little chica creeps along the rocky wastes carefully backtracking herself and getting well behind enemy lines. Sixknight is not just any Cybertronian however. He is not even a Cybertronian. He was built on Earth, and this is the only home he has ever known. His advanced visor system scan the convoy as it departs and he shakes his head sadly. "Ah, it gives me great sadness to see them struggle for such a lost cause" he mutters to himself, before suddenly detecting Moonracer moving the other way. None may escape a sixchanger, not even Moonracer. Quickly, the sixchanger moves from still to motion, as he leaps into the air, his jet mode barreling in a straight line, directly for Moonracer. "So you return?" he emits loudly Accelerated, Sixknight transforms into a sub-orbital jet. "The blue and white one has already summed it up," the alto voice modulates on radio, before the looming form finally breaches the surface. The first details of the hunched back emerge, ICBM turrets flanked on either side with apertures of torpedo tubes. As water sheets over the orca patterned dark grey and light grey form, streaming in rivulets from cybernetic details of car parts, airframe, and several other currently indistinguishable forms. There's a lazy whorl of glittering yellow-orange optics, and the plesiosaur half-beaches itself, resting its four rhombus-shaped intakes on the concrete. It doesn't seem particularly interested in aiding Sixknight. Moonracer hears that, but tightens immediately at the unexpected immediacy of her detection and crumples her frame against the rocks as tightly as she can and becoming completely still to avoid giving her position away. The Sixchanger jet halts in an instant in mid air, flipping round and dropping into the huge form of Sixknight. Bulky yet lithe, his pale blue and white frame some of the only brightness in this land. His hundreds of sensors all whirr and scan as he walks past Moonracer's hiding place on purpose. "I thought you had changed your mind, Cybertronian. But you have returned to hiding like a rat" he speaks, clearly. Sixknight springs up into his massive robot mode. You receive a radio message from Fusillade: Creative recruiting techniques? Moonracer would be taking shallow breaths if she needed to breathe, as such she's not making any noise as she clutches her pistol tightly in one hand not moving and attempting to determine just how close the Sixchanger might in fact be, her finger tightens and unclenches worrisomely across the trigger You send a radio message to Fusillade: Unlike Quickswitch, I see no point in recruiting the unwilling. If one will not accept the gift, they do not deserve it Sky Lynx steps back as the strange creature emerges. He cranks back his neck and tilts his head to the side. He reconizes the voice, and slowly approuches-- it was just yesturday.. is this what they did to her. Lowering his head down in a slightly passive manner he attempts to speak once more toward this new being before him, "Fus-i-llade?" Quick as a flash, there is a blaster in Sixknight's hand, and his fist starts to glow again, with crackling blue energy. Slowly, he starts to walk backwards until he is in front of Moonracer's hiding spot, gun outstretched towards her. "You have a weapon. I /am/ a weapon. Pride comes before a fall, Cybertronian" Moonracer smirks and aims at the weapon in Sixknight's hand. She carefully lines it up and then squeezes the trigger sending red hot laser, hopefully accurate enough to just knock the gun out of his hand, it's right there, she can see it, *BLAMMO* "If you're a weapon what do you need the toys for?" The alien hovercar flips foreward into the lithe form of Moonracer accompanied by a familiar sound. Moonracer strikes you with laser for 6 points of damage. Sixknight gives a wry smile, and then a laugh as the gun is blasted from his hand, flexing his smoking fist slightly. "The 'toy' is so that I do not inadvertantly atomise you. It would be a poor thing to die twice in as many days, don't you agree. Now, why are you here. And this time, I will use no toys." His fist starts to glow again, pink and blue energy crackling around it. Alas, Sky Lynx's stilted greeting is rather quickly brushed aside as the orca-patterned marine creature gapes its maw, revealing spikes for teeth as it recieves quite the nasty rebuke by radio. Well, the temper certainly is recognizable. The classic sound of ratcheting sounds, as the creature pitches forward to form a sports car that looks like it's coated in spare parts, with a laughably diverse number of armaments slung on either of its sides. Tires squeal, and a rabid, "You take that back, NOW!" emits from the vehicle as it tools down the ruined streets, jinking left and right along dogleg corners as squeals toward the other six-changer. You evade Fusillade's Low Output Shot attack. Sky Lynx steps back as the creature transforms and goes after Sixknight-- just what was this all about. He leaped into the air and followed the vehical, thus landing ontop of a near by building which could support his wieght. From the looks, it say she was helping Moonracer-- from the sounds of the word, Sixknight said something very wrong. Moonracer drops the gun in her hand, her point having been made. Magnetics pull the tiny white zapper gun back to her waist where it holsters itself unthreateningly. She shrugs nonchalantly, keeping her palms out and in full view, "Just checkin' out the scenery, no one delivers the newpaper anymore, you know?" She might be described to be shaking her hips a bit suggestively as she crouches to look up at Sixknight as she delivers the last couple words inquisitively, looking him dead in the eye, but you'd be wrong cuz robots ain't like that. Sixknight looks down at Moonracer. "No, that is because there is nothing worth reporting bu-" he is stopped as he turns, a laserbolt from his sixchanger 'colleague' flying past him. He stand, half turned almost frozen for a second, energy crackling around him, and then looks from Fusillade to Moonracer and back again. Caught in a pincer movement, it seems. "No Fusillade," he bellows. "I will not take anything back. To override the will is an abomination, which is why we do not endure the Church of Primus. You will never learn the /true/ nature of the sixchange if you cannot know yourself." He raises his fist, still crackling with energy. "You will forever be a Transformer with six modes, not a sixchanger. See this as a warning to test me no further." And with that, a pulse runs down his arm as a bolt of pure Tenchokon energy arcs towards the creature You strike Fusillade with plasma. Moonracer coughs quietly and murmurs to herself, "Well he's not kidding that really was a toy." Sky Lynx growls lowly, his claws dig into the building above as he watches Sixknight blast Fusillade. 'And he calls me a beast.' Sky Lynx thinks to himself as he lowly growls, tempted to pounce on the Sixchanger and teach him some mannors. "Override the will?" The vehicle queries to itself, as if the idea is indeed very new. Something akin to that was probably delivered during the conversion, but she most likely wasn't paying attention at the time in favor of squirming and and screeching bloody murder. As the energy bolt sizzles out, she tries to evade by going to the side - oh oops, tires don't work that way. There's a shudder as the energy crackles, popping out several transistors, and grating out a tart, "Eh? There's a difference?" before transforming back to plesiosaur mode. With a ponderous thud, it rocks forward a bit top heavy, before slapping down front flipper-wings in a targeting mortar brace. With a rapid beeping that flatlines into a drone, a flare of fire and smoke balloons out from its back, before a cone-shaped nose splits out of its back, and a ballistic missile soars off into the skies above. She totally missed! However, golden optics churn like fiery lava as she stares pointedly at Quickswitch, waiting... You evade Fusillade's Cuban Missile Crisis attack. Sixknight looks towards Moonracer. "Excuse me, I have to deal with this. Stay exactly where you are, I need you to deliver a message for me." With that, he turns and runs at Fusillade, dodging the missiles and leaping into the air. But he does not fly, instead he transforms to drilltank mode, drilling straight into the ground and tunnelling towards his fellow sixchanger, attempting to drill himself out of the earth underneath her. The old undercarriage trick again. Sixknight rapidly transforms into a hulking drill tank. You strike Fusillade with ram. Moonracer begins to scuttle away sideways like amidst the chaos. Gnashing teeth, the creature hisses to itself as the strikes fail, before emitting a faint 'baroo?' in inquiry as the tank disappears. She can't be that stupid, can she? She has gotten stuck a few times, though, and its with a laborious huff that she hops a few times as she tries to get airborne. It's with a slow kind of horror that sees the mound rolling toward her, asphault cracking and flying away, and it's with a frantic windmilling of wing flippers that she gets reamed. The force of the impact lands her on her side, and it's with an awkward roll and flop that she flounders back into water, a faint wail and plumes of leaking fluids drifting away in her wake. Sixknight transforms to robot mode, standing firm on the ground as Fusillade makes her escape. "You are still new at this, do not try to run when you are still a child. I can teach you the way of the sixchanger, but it is not the way of the bestial creature. Then you will turn out a failure, like Scorch." He gives a grimace at this, looking back at Moonracer. "And I told /you/ to stay still!" Moonracer giggles innocently and waves her left hand at Sixknight whilst rubbing her elbow with the right exhibiting only the slightest nervous waver. "Just trying to get a better view, you know, really get an appreciation for the inevitable glory of the future!" She kind of drones a bit monotonously towards the end but then she's finally got it out and she smiles and waves and leaps up in the air once, letting her heels fan back a bit. Sixknight starts to stalk towards Moonracer, not really seeing the joke. His fist starts to crackle again with arcs of power. "Yes, but trust me, there is a much better view from inside. The change against your will, will create only a beast at best. It is not a power to be treated lightly" Moonracer grunts and kicks some dirt up as she backs up a few steps, "I don't know what that means, but I thought you had a message?" Sixknight nods slowly, folding his arms as he walks towards Moonracer, stopping a respectful distance away. "That is right. I wish to meet with Grimlock, alone. I feel I can convince him to turn away from his self destructive path, and we can all worth together for a better Earth. Start to live, rather than just exist." Moonracer shrugs a bit, "Isn't your way away from our self destructive path, a path where you will destroy us? Is that just supposed to be like mercy in sparing us the energon we don't have to do the deed?" Sixknight tilts his head, frowning at Moonracer. "That... that is what I just said. I will convince Grimlock to throw down his arms and join us. Together we can be a force for the good of this world, rather than fighting to stop the rightful destiny of Earth" Moonracer nods, "So you're going to kill us?" Sixknight gives a smile at this. "If you saw a wounded, dying creature, that in its death throes injured and killed even more, would you not put it down? Would that not be the kindest thing to do? to prolong the resistance is to prolong the existance of this arid wasteland" Moonracer grins, "No I'd take it home and feed it some of the applie pie Grimlock likes." She takes this moment to shift her weight back and reach behind her shoulder briefly, "You know-" She throws a rock at Sixknight and with the familiar transformer noise transforms and zooms off. Moonracer strikes you with slap for 1 points of damage. Moonracer does a backflip folding up into the compact rotund chassis of cybertronian transportation.
- Surveying the burnt out wreckage of the former Decepticon base, Starscream and company are very pleased with themselves. Well, most of them — Mighty Mindwipe and The Terrible Triggerhappy still look like they're about to lubricate themselves, even in victory. As Starscream tries to provoke his troops into action, he leaps into the debris and begins digging through for survivors. Unfortunately, he finds one: Scorponok is not happy. Underground, Optimus Prime is just beginning to come to after the blast destroyed the bunker. As he watches the Decepticons gird themselves for battle with a new enemy, Prime quickly realizes that his alliance with Scorponok may prove useless if the Decepticons get caught up with another war. He readies Kup and Hot Rod to search out the other Autobots in the mess, and prepare them to salvage the situation as best they can. Back on the surface, Scorponok quickly casts aside Starscream and all the flunkies under Shockwave's command. Their battle quickly carries them into the river, and all the way across to Manhattan Island. Shockwave, as always, beats his chest in the name of logic, claiming his leadership is for the greater good of all Decepticons. Scorponok, meanwhile, is more interested in tearing his opponent to shreds than debating politics. Interlude 1 — On Hydrus Four, the Dinobots have all been successfully revived by the Nucleon, and so Grimlock has ordered them to stockpile the substance with specially-designed energy siphons, to bring enough of the Nucleon back to the Ark to fully revitalize their ranks (and rub Prime's nose in the brown stuff). As the loading continues, though, Grimlock suddenly finds his leg frozen up, paralyzed. He flashes back to the little robot's words: "Time will tell..." Interlude 2 — Deep in the bowels of Cybertron, Emirate Xaaron is on the run from Galvatron and the heralds of Unicron who ransacked Autobase on the surface. In classic horror movie fashion, Galvatron literally crashes through a wall to capture Xaaron. What follows, however, is a surprise (to Xaaron, at least); Galvatron claims to owe Unicron no loyalty, and is just as interested in stopping him as Xaaron and the Autobots are, if only for his own selfish reasons. After Galvatron informs him that the Matrix is lost as a tool, Xaaron mentions a second legend, the notion that all of Primus' children united in opposition could do the trick as well. As Prime and the few Autobots he could gather emerge from the Decepticon bunker, they are confronted with the worst of possibilities. The war is over, and the war has begun — it is now Decepticon against Decepticon, and Prime's surrender has done nothing to end the in-fighting among the Children of Primus. He takes Nightbeat with him to Manhattan in hopes of stopping the loss of innocent lives, and possibly talking down Scorponok so that the alliance can continue. In the meantime, Scorponok has gained the upper hand against Shockwave, his passion and fire for combat apparently enough to bring down the "computer on legs", at least momentarily. Their battle is interrupted when Prime drives in between the two combatants, and begs for a cease fire. Instead, Scorponok states his terms: Shockwave must die at his hand, or else the alliance is finished. While Optimus consults his moral compass, the decision is taken out of his hands when G.B. Blackrock arrives with his new team of superhumans: The Neo-Knights!
|