| abstract
| - The Crystal City Stockyards. At one time the district of warehouses and loading pads on the outer region of the Industrial Park was part of the city's economic susitance, as it had relied heavily on the manufacturing and trade with other worlds to maintain its neutrality in the ongoing Autobot-Decepticon War without going to one faction or the other for support. But that changed when the Decepticons came, and managed to draw some of the more disgruntled workers into their sleeper cells. Agents that allowed them to seize control of large portions of the storage district from the inside and begin stashing away goods and hardware to supply the underground movements. Until the Autobots found out about them. Things changed, hidden agents were recruited properly, control points established and guards appointed. It was at one relay point that a couple of new recruits stood guard at the sides of the gate, looking somewhat annoyed that this was turning out to be no more glamourous than their previous jobs as cargo loaders. The deep bellow of a horn thunders across the evening, echoed by the mechanical growl of an approaching heavy engine. The guards turn to look as bright lights flash across the gates, only to have just enough time to dive to the sides as the glistening metal of a large desiel propelled plow comes crashing through! Roaring across in his heavy truck mode Horsepower was only marginally slowed in his charge across the roadway between the warehouses by the smashed gate crumpling under the plow and thudding beneath his wheels. "Looks like yer info was right on the mark, Repugnus.. so Ah ain't gonna question much just -how- ya got it right now..." The wrecker pulls to one side, knocking over a stack of empty crates and sending a few more unarmed loader drones scrambling for cover. "Let's find the goods and scram before t'much trouble shows up. Yeeeha!" Repugnus is riding on top of Horsepower at the moment, kneeling on top of the passenger section and holding on to the sides since his alternate mode is actually *slower* than his robot mode. "You're a smart mech, Mr.Horsepower," Repugnus says as he fires his Venom Laser on a low setting to keep the guards' heads down--if only they knew it would barely scratch their paint. "You might get a finger waggled at you too, if you knew! But yes, what's important is the *goods,* which should be stashed somewhere in this here stockyard. The boxes we're looking for should have forged serial numbers--they do that so that when you scan 'em, they look like something a lot less valuable than what's really in 'em. Neat trick--trouble is what happens when your pals are "convinced" to blurt it out!" Armored Locomotive is currently right in the middle of moving a shipment of weaponized energon-grade explosives into Crystal City. Naturally, he doesn't have the explosives actually -inside- of him, but he's pulling them behind him on a specially modified and heavily armored transport car with an enhanced rugged suspension system. He's not suicidal afterall. Now just why is he bringing explosives along with him? Well clearly he intends to blow -something- up, or give them to someone who intends to blow something up. You don't just bring explosives along and NOT blow something up, of course. Having a dangerous cargo like this in his belly and flying over the city would be pretty much suicide as he offered himself to some enterprising Autobot with a surface-to-air weapon of some sort. So here is the triplechanger, going the ground route right now as he rumbles between streets, roadblocks of debris or wrecked vehicles being simply smashed aside with his armored front end. He's so focused on his goal that he almost didn't catch the ruckus going on nearby, not until he locks up his wheels and skids to a halt, pausing to 'listen' as he falls relatively silent. As silent as his chuffing internal works will let him, anyway. "...great, just what I need. Fun happy times nearby and me hitched up to enough boom-boom to level two skyscrapers." Sitting recklessly atop the cargo, shouldering his lightning rifle, is Rampage. "Well, then the Autobots will get blown to smithereens, too," he says, "Now wouldn't that be great? That's even better than merging into Predaking and stomping them flat! It's like, watching TV!" The Predacon would be grinning from audio to audio if his faceplate didn't hide his mouth. Meanwhile, the stockyard finds itself host to a scuttling swarm of robotic lickspittles and their monocular master! Shockwave is here to examine the new holdings and tabulate their contents, staff and production capacity, and a few dozen drones have come with him to do the drudgework of actually examining all the boxes and checking their contents to build a manifest. Shockwave loves manifests. "Continue with your normal standard of efficiency," Shockwave instructs the civilian warehouse workers within, who are awed and alarmed at his appearance here and of course do no such thing, accelerating their labors threefold. One might think the network of roads and docks between warehouses would give a large truck like that trouble, but Horsepower was still a racer at the core even if his chassis wasn't entirely built for it. You don't spend as much time as he did on Velocitron without picking up a few high speed skills in the process. Case in point, as he barrels out between two buildings the entire vehicle careens sideways in a controlled skid, orienting in the new nearly perpendicular direction of the previous motion with only a little loss of speed as his spiked fenders grind sparks against a loading dock. Straight in front of him, another large warehouse. "Hang on pardner, this is gonna be one hell of a stop!" Did he say stop? Because one would swear he isn't necessarily slowing down! Smoke blasts out of exhaust stacks as the wrecker truck takes the cargo doors head-on.... Needless to say, the guy with the big ramming plow sort of wins in cases like this. Sort of. The doors peel open inward as they're split down the middle by the plow and pushed apart by its wedged shape. But then screech and squeal as the rest of the Autobot's bulk gets partially wedged between them, grinding him to a halt. There's enough clearange for Repugnus to climb over his cab and into the warehouse proper though. "Go'on, start lookin'. Need a moment to get m'self unwedged here." Repugnus watches the doors approaching at ludicrous speeds, cackling madly and grinning. "HAHAHAHA! YES! YES, HIT IT! HAHAHA!" And he doesn't seem to heed Horsepower's advice to hold on, because the door is breached Repugnus is flung right off of the bulky Autobot by his forward momentum and into the warehouse. The Monsterbot takes it in stride, though, as he turns his dive into a roll, tumbling across the floor towards a sleeper agent frozen with terror at the abrupt entry. Repugnus springs up in monster mode right in front of the poor guy, and, catching his head between his talons, quickly decapitates him, ignoring his cry of, "Wait, n--." "On it!" Repugnus says, catching his latest victims' head in his maw and scrambling about the warehouse, waving his talons about and kicking over boxes while stockyard workers panic and flee from the horror that has been brought upon them. "I heard about that guy!" one says. "Run for it, FAST!" Repugnus twists and flips around into his horrific creature mode! Armored Locomotive can hear the telltale sounds of squealing tires and a roaring engine not all that far away. Now does he go about his business, or does he go investigate? Well, truthfully when it comes to potential firefights, there's really no contested in what he's going to do is there? He -does- take a few moments to "safely" stow away his cargo, however, backing up and unhitching from the ground-car when he's moved it into an alleyway under a shielding 'roof' of collapsed debris. "There, that oughta keep it safe till I get back!" And with that, without even waiting politely for Rampage to grab onto him instead, the Triplechanger is already moving, the ground rumbling as he picks up speed. "I know my audials aren't fooling me! It's JUST on the other side of this wall!" And with that, he goes right -through- the nearest wall in an explosion of debris in all directions. Unlike Horsepower, the big locomotive doesn't get stuck as he goes straight through and comes to an abrupt halt, "AH HA!" And the sudden screams of a femme civilian who was in the middle of a chassis overhaul filters out into the street beyond, soon followed by Astrotrain running full tilt in robot mode, his arms raised to shield his head from the various thrown items that are following after him, "Ow! OW! Sorry! I SAID SORRY!" Skidding to a halt when he's in the clear, Astrotrain scowls, then points to the -next- building over, "Okay, it's THIS one!" And this time he goes in through the door. Carefully. In a chorus of shifting and spinning parts, Astrotrain's body spins and lifts up into his large robot mode. Rampage takes a flying leap off the suddenly unhitched cargo to land on the ground, transforming as he does to afford him more speed. "Oh, sounds like we're going to have a good time tonight," he says, leering at the femme civilian briefly as he chases after the Triple Changer. Rampage collapses down into his Tiger mode. "Mighty Shockwave, there has been a perimeter breach," one of the drones reports, alarm lights spinning nad flashing inside its dome. "I will investigate and dispatch Decepticons if necessary. Continue to build consensus," Shockwave replies, and opens a radio channel, otherwise uninspiringly immobile. Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig makes a bit more racket than intended as the truck jostles back and forth a few times, screeching and rending the metal bent around him farther. But it finally makes enough room for Horsepower to transform into a crouched position, grabbing the busted door on either side of him and pushing it open. "Tarnation, that was annoyin'." As Repugnus scurries off to 'play' with the workers he's about to follow, but the mechanic is distracted by a glint in the other direction from under a pile of crates and junk. "Well now, what do we have here?" Tromping over he shoves a few boxes off the top and starts digging farther into the pile, taking a few moments to uncover a small energon converter. It looks like it's seen better days, though hard to tell if it was broken when they stashed it there or just suffering from neglect. "Bet we can use this." Hoss pulls the device free of the stack, and stuffs it into the storage space beneath the tow-boom on his back. Then goes back to rummaging through the crates for anything else useful. The wrecker rig heaves up and rearranges into a heavy Autobot form. "Your little tricks can't fool me!" Repugnus cries as he stalks through the stockyard, kicking aside boxes, continuing to wave his arms about, searching. "I can SMELLLL the goods, and I'm gonna find 'em!" He makes his way through the piles of goods, coming across someone that was hiding behind the boxes. "Wait, I just work here! I'm not a part of this war!" the robot cries, but Repugnus laughs and sprays him down with sparks. "Liars get set on fire!!!" Repugnus cackles at his writhing victim before leaving him there. Clearly, it's not good to be a gumby when you're in this Monsterbot's presence. Eventually Repugnus reaches a corner of the warehouse, and sees a bunch of boxes stacked upon each other, all of them labeled as "distilled water." But Repugnus, heedless of the labeling, rips one of them open, and a bunch of energon fuel rods tumble out. "Ah, jackpot!" He kneels over to snatch one in his teeth and chew on it. "Mmmrfff, whatfa gottff therrff?" he asks Horsepower, voice muffled by his treat. "Ohf, neatf." Twin-Nosed Jet comes swooping in with his armor patched up and almost looks whole. Misfire begins to circle in the sky, for the time being he does not seem to notice much of anything as he begins a standard patrol pattern. Astrotrain makes his way through several hallways, until he finally comes across some of the local workers running in the -opposite- direction, "Hey what's going o...who's the....where's the fir..." His attempts to get an answer pretty much end in failure as the figures keep running, so the triplechanger switches over to a more diplomatic approach as he grabs one by the neck and proceeds to choke-slam him against the nearest wall. "HI THERE!" he says in a WAY too cheerful tone, "Sounds like you're having a great time here. Wouldja care to tell me what's going on!?" And there's a CREEEEEEEEEEPy smile to go with it. **A few minutes later** Horsepower is still no doubt dutifully going through the crates like a kid digging to the bottom of his toybox. Perhaps Repugnus is still nomming on whatever treats or handy severed limbs he's managed to pick up in the meantime? Either way, the camera shifts -just- slightly to one side to suddenly show Astrotrain standing there now, hands folded behind his back as he's leaning over and eyeing Horsepower's efforts idly. "So. Need a hand with that?" He suddenly asks oh-so-dryly. Combat: Astrotrain sets his defense level to Protected. "I smell bugs. BAD bugs," the Tiger snarls, and runs off to find the source of the stench. Namely, Repugnus. "Hey, you dirty Autobot," he calls out, "Come out come out wherever you are!" "Do... do you want to do this another time?" one of the foundry workers asks Shockwave nervously. "No," Shockwave says, over the sounds of weapons fire and screaming from down the block coming through the open window. "Continue with standard procedures. I have Decepticons assigned to restore local safety norms." Horsepower finds a few useful pieces here and there, but it looks like most of this pile is scrap being saved for melting down and reforging later. He was in the process of dumping one's contents onto the floor when the Triplechanger speaks up behind him. "Nah, Ah'm doin' just fine--" And stops as he turns his head just enough to glance over his shoulder from the corner of an optics. Looks like they were found sooner than he had hoped. "Ah'm sorry, is this yers?" In a burst of motion Horsepower stands and twists around, flinging the mostly empty crate in Astrotrain's direction open in forward, scattering metal bits about in the attempt at throwing it over his head or something. "Here, have it back then!" Then quickly backpedals a few steps, not wanting to get caught between the taller space warrior and a corner. Combat: Horsepower sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Horsepower misses Astrotrain with his 'Box'ing (Punch) attack! Bug Creature has, in the time it took Astrotrain to get there, chewed on a few more fuel rods and carved up two more workers who also thought that hiding was a better option than running, and that just goes to show that you should always listen to the advice given in safety videos--they advise the opposite. One of those workers is tossed at Rampage, minus his armor plating, leaving him a twitching, skeletal wreck. "I'm over here, you stupid bastard, hahaha!" Repugnus says, popping his head over a box and fixing the Predacon with an ugly grin. "Yeah, turns out you've got a Monsterbot infestation!" And to make it clear why that is an undesirable thing, the Monsterbot sprays a stream of sparks at Rampage and Astrotrain, more designed to inflict severe pain than damage. That's Repugnus for you. Combat: Bug Creature sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Bug Creature strikes Robot Tiger with his Spitting Sparks Area attack! Combat: Bug Creature misses Astrotrain with his Spitting Sparks Area attack! Astrotrain leans back suddenly as bits of stray metal debris come spraying in his direction, not to mention a shower of sparks that has him suddenly tucking and rolling to one side, coming up gracefully on one knee and making it all look oh so second-nature. "Hah! You expect you're gonna get me with tha..." *PLONK!* And now Astrotrain has an empty crate upside-down on his head, freezing him in mid-sentence and even with one finger raised and pointed for good measure. "...okay fine!" Wrenching the crate from his head and tossing it to one side, the triplechanger quickly looks around for a makeshift weapon, possibly completely forgetting about the fact that not only do his fists serve as effective weapons, but he has a -gun- slung over one shoulder as well. Instead he reaches out and grabs onto....a fire hose from the wall. "...really? I mean...REALLY? Ah the heck with it, it'll do. Whip it, WHIP IT GOOD!" And with that, he unravels more hose and swings it about, bringing the big heavy nozzle-head arcing around in an attempt to clip Horsepower good and solid in the head! Combat: Astrotrain sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Astrotrain strikes Horsepower with his It ain't a Licorice Whip! (Punch) attack! Twin-Nosed Jet continues to circle above the carnage and begins to alter his course to the other Decepticons, Misfire's engines burn brighter as he closes in on the fire fight and fist fight occurring below. Misfire should be in range momentarily. "Spit at me will ya?!" the Predacon Tiger snaps, as the sparks sizzle on his armor. "Maybe I should chop off your head!" He transforms, draws his thermal sword and attempts to hack the Monsterbot's head off. Rampage rises up into his robot form. Combat: Rampage strikes Bug Creature with his Thermo-Sword attack! Shockwave walks to the window of the foundry while the drones perform motion analysis, picking up Misfire's emissions circling overhead and transmitting coordinates to the hapless Targetmaster. Bug Creature 's thick head doesn't even come close to getting lopped off, though to Rampage's credit he did slice a rather nasty gash into it. "Or maybe I should chop off yours!?" Repugnus retorts before trying to trap Rampage's head between his talons, and, like a pair of scissors, snip away! "Oh, Horsepower, thanks for taking care of Astro this time, I had to deal with him last time and half the Decepticon army to boot. I needed a break!" he says casually. Combat: Bug Creature strikes Rampage with his Shearing Claws attack! Horsepower holds up an arm to shield his face, but the strength behind the swing puts enough force into an otherwise mere emergency hose to knock the mechanic backwards a few steps. Shakes some stray water that drizzled out of the hose off his arm. ".. Y'all wanna play like that? Fine." But he doesn't have to grab up something at random. Instead the mechanic reachs behind his back and pulls out one of his heavy chains, the hook on the end glinting a bit as he pulls the length out with his other hand and starts spinning it overhead. "At least do it rawght!" With a hefty whip of the arm he swings the heavy hook and chain out of the momentum building twirls, swinging it in a wide arc to try and clip the Triplechanger with it as he turns and flings the end in the direction of Rampage next. "Incomin'!" is the only warning Repugnus gets to duck out of the way. Combat: Horsepower sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Horsepower misses Astrotrain with his Chain Reaction Area attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Horsepower strikes Rampage with his Chain Reaction Area attack! [Pulled -1] After picking up on the situation as it was unfolding, the Air Guardian decided not to wait to be called in... instead he made a preemptive entry. Engines burn bright, creating a blue halo around the red and white starfighter as he makes the fast jaunt from the Spaceport to here, weapon systems already starting to come online, "Repugnus, Horsepower, report locations to allow for optimal air support." he declares, skimming over the tops of buildings - too big to get down into the middle of them. Rampage gets a nasty nick in his shouder and part of his neck. "Ow! Stupid bug," he says crossly. Then he gets clobbered by the other Autobot's chain weapon. He puts his sword away so he can attempt to punch the Monsterbot's head. "Someone should make a roach motel just for you," he adds, "But now I'll have to settle for squashing you myself!" Combat: Rampage misses Bug Creature with his Street Fighter Sagat Punch! (Punch) attack! Astrotrain guffaws like an idiot as he hears the satisfying clonk of metal on metal from the hose's nozzle making contact, "Hah! you see? I can make -anything- deadly and...WOAH WATCH IT!" Ducking again, the triplechanger lunges down just in time as the hook goes whipping past overhead, whistling as it goes, then giving off the telltale noise of making purchase on the Predacon. And is Astrotrain the least bit concerned for the wellbeing of his fellow Decepticon? That's a silly question. "Haw haw! Looks like Razorclaw's been slacking on his team's practice with fancy footwork! For a cat, you ain't very agile! And as for you..." As quickly as one shifts gears, Astrotrain shifts the focus of his attention back to Horsepower again. Which isn't necessarily a good thing given that the big triplechanger is suddenly thundering forward into his favorite place. That being close quarters combat. "...let's have a change of scenery!" And by change of scenery, Astrotrain means through the wall into the street outside. Which he's big and strong enough to accomplish with frightening ease as he throws one shoulder down and literally tries to tackle the Autobot through the wall with him! Either way, Astrotrain is going through the wall. The question is whether Horsepower managed to avoid going with him... Combat: Astrotrain strikes Horsepower with his Walls are for sissies. (Punch) attack! Twin-Nosed Jet alters his course to intercept the Autobot Air Guardian. Misfire kicks his engines to full burn as he makes a beeline towards the much larger airplane. Misfire emits over the sounds of his engines, "Jetfire nice of you to show up. Today you learn that we Decepticons own the sky!' Misfire opens up with a random laser barrage peppering the sky near Jetfire. Combat: Twin-Nosed Jet misses Guardian Starfighter with his Random Aimless Laser Parade! (Laser) attack! Bug Creature normally doesn't bother dodging the Decepticons' attacks. He just doesn't care. Hell, he likes the pain. It reminds him he's alive, after all. However, with the odds somewhat against them Repugnus finally decides it's time to put on his A-game and sidesteps the punch. "Ha! No motel could hold me, silly Decepticon!" Repugnus gloats. He turns his head to the left, and sighs as Astrotrain puts his partner-in-crime through the wall. "Ehnnnnh. Nuts. Hold on a sec, Rampage, I'll be right with you." Transforming into robot mode, he hustles after Astrotrain, but not before scooping up a remnant of one of his earlier kills. And then, before long Astrotrain will find the crazy Monsterbot trying to leap onto his back, and wrapping his legs around his torso. "You wanted a hand, Astrotrain!?" Repugnus raves. "HERE YOU GO!" And he begins whipping what looks like a severed hand with cables sticking out of it--which Repugnus is using as a grip--at Astrotrain's head. "There's a few more back in there if you needed them, hahahaha!" The creature spins and twists about into Repugnus's robot mode! Combat: Repugnus strikes Astrotrain with his Dirty Fighting attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Astrotrain's Agility. (Crippled) The Air Guardian only jukes slightly, skating his massive bulk side to side as Misfire's attacks pepper the air around him, none of the lasers scoring, though a couple come close enough to reflect off of his nicely polished armor, "Really now..." he intones, the turret on the underside of his body humming to life, the red optical unit scanning and locking onto Misfire, "You should ask Cyclonus how that turned out for him last time." With those words, his attitude adjusts from entry and air support to full on attack, the scramjets on his back popping open to reveal additional maneuvering boosters, "Allow me to demonstrate the -proper- method of asserting air superiority." all four barrels of the laser turret open up, each one aimed slightly differently, intending to cut through wings and fuselage both. Combat: Guardian Starfighter sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Guardian Starfighter strikes Twin-Nosed Jet with his Quad-Lasers (Laser) attack! Horsepower gives the chain a final yank after the impact to reel it in after clonking the Predacon one, hopefully buying Repugnus a bit of a reprise. He's still holding the hooked end ready in his hand to use as he turns back to Astrotrain. Just in time to get the larger mech crashing into him, and the force of both heavy robots enough to smash through the wall behind them. The wall crashing outward with a plume of dust and debris is probably a better signal to Jetfire's inquiries for a location than any radio reply would of been. As they hit the ground outside the impact seperates the two, Horsepower skidding backwards several meters to tumble over into one of the maintenance pits they park cargo transports over to work on and hits the bottom. "Ugh. Big palooka hits hard.." He grabs a nearby workbench and uses it to pull himself up to his feet, eyeing it over a moment. Then looks back up towards Astro's big purple form at the edge of the opening. Grabs a large crowbar off the worktable, winds back, and takes a swing at the back of Astrotrain's knees while he's distracted, seeing as standing in the work bay the Triplechanger's lower legs are at his eye level instead of his head, despite how much Horsepower would love to slug that, too. Combat: Horsepower sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Horsepower strikes Astrotrain with his No Holds Crowbared (Smash) attack! "Oh no, you're not ignoring me and getting away with it!" the Predacon says. As Repugnus goes for Astrotrain, Rampage points his lightning rifle at the Monsterbot. "Never turn your back on an enemy! Especially not a Predacon!" Combat: Rampage strikes Repugnus with his Lightning Rifle attack! [Pulled -3] Twin-Nosed Jet continues to pepper the sky around Jetfire, completely missing the Air Guardian. Misfire emits, "Ugh, Aimless focus! Like we practiced!" He attempts to bank to the right as he notices the giant turrent and the laser blasts come his way. Misfire's gun, Aimless emits, "Primus, what is that? Dodge you fool! You are going to get us killed, Misfire." Misfire is far too late in his manuever as the laser blasts tear through his wing a lower fuselage. "Ahhhh, Slaggit that hurt...Its going to be cycles before I get a normal paint job. Misfire continues his turn as Aimless rotates to track Jetfire as he lets loose another laser blast. Combat: Twin-Nosed Jet misses Guardian Starfighter with his Sparkling Dancing Laser Barrage (Disruptor) attack! Astrotrain straightens up as he gloats over Horsepower's state of affairs, "Hah! How's that feel, ya little smarmy Autoscrap? Ya ain't no match for me, so ya may as well give up! But I'd prefer ya don't. It's more fun this wa..." And then Repugnus is on him, leaping on his and smacking him in the face with the severed hand! All the tugging on the cables causes the hand to actually -grab- and gyrate in a way that looks like Thing from the Addams Family were trying to make sweet sweet love to his face. "MMmfphghgl!" Unable to talk with a faceful of hand, the triplechanger stumbles from one side, then to the other as Repugnus keeps clinging to his back. Just into the perfect position as Horsepower takes the crowbar to the back of Astrotrain's knees with a deafening crash of metal on metal. "FNCKNGMVVRFFKR!" Comes Astrotrain's sudden exclamation of pain as he drops to one knee, and rather than keep squirming about like a helpless con he finally resorts to that plain old brute strength he's got in generous quantities. Reaching back with both hands, he suddenly seizes Repugnus by the shoulders, and WRENCHES forward with all of his might. And conveniently of course, the Monsterbot's trajectory is aimed at Horsepower nearby, the close proximety not so much making it a throw as a 'physically smash one Autobot down on top of the other' sort of move. "Gyyaaagh! Gettoffame!" Combat: Astrotrain sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Astrotrain strikes Repugnus with his Ruckus Area attack! Combat: Astrotrain misses Horsepower with his Ruckus Area attack! Combat: Astrotrain (Astrotrain) used "Ruckus": A Level 2 AREA-MELEE attack. It really is kind of sad, in a way - Cyclonus several days earlier had struggled, and now Misfire thought he'd do better? Jetfire's ego was not taking any kind of a beating of late, if anything he was starting to get up there near Sky Lynx! "C'mon, why don't you go get a couple of your flying buddies and maybe you can enforce some air superiority on me." he muses while one of the missiles on his wings beeps to life, a thin trail of smoke starting as it's rocket starts to ignite. The incoming attack meets very much the same fate as the earlier one, subtle jukes and slides throwing the starfighter around in ways that no craft that big should be able to move, "If you're having trouble aiming, I'm not the best target to practice with..." he adds, the sudden burst of flame and smoke filling the air as his missile drops off the pylon and smokes towards Misfire. Combat: Guardian Starfighter strikes Twin-Nosed Jet with his Armor-Piercing Missiles attack! You know, if it was any other Autobot, Horsepower might of tried to catch the guy. But it's Repugnus, who would probably complain about being helped anyways, so the mechanic ducks out of the way of incoming Monsterbot instead, backing up against the work-station and kicking it with his heel. In a flourish of cybertronian technology the workbench retracts and folds in on itself, collapsing down into a portable container roughly the size of a large toolbox. To transformer scale, that is. It's at least small enough for Horsepower to kneel down and wrap his arm over the hardware to grip the bottom edge and pick it up. Though instead of standing up just yet he props a heel against the ground and reachs over his shoulder with the other arm to pull one of his inventions off his back. It looks like a rifle at first, but when he hits the start-up switch the barrel parts and expands into three rails with glowing tracks with-in. "Yippie aye kay ya mother--" The THWMP of the device firing a high speed magnetically charged slug at the Triplechanger also conveniently cuts off the line before it could be offensive to the censors! Combat: Horsepower misses Astrotrain with the Horsepower-forged Magnetic Lancer attack! Combat: Used up 1 Charges. 1 remain. Repugnus cackles at Astrotrain's misfortune. "Ooh, lookie, he's getting a little friendly with you, Astro! Heeheee, and it's not even me doing it! You must be just that--ack!" He's forced to relinquish his grip on Astrotrain as he gets shot in the back, and of course this helps Astrotrain rip him off of his back and slam him into the ground just shy of Horsepower. "Whuff--damn, that's gotta hurt!" Repugnus grunts, rubbing his dented skull as he staggers back up. "Heheh, well, hope you can take him from here on out, Horsepower! I gotta keep that Predacon busy..." Pulling out his Venom Laser, he fires a blast back into the warehouse at Rampage, at pretty much the same time as Horsepower fires... though perhaps his own weapons aren't as spectacular. Combat: Repugnus strikes Rampage with his Laser attack! "Ew, yuck!" Rampage grumbles, as the venom laser burns into him. "Hey, go find a nest of Terrorcons. Maybe Blot'll throw up on ya!" he says to Repugnus. He transforms back to his Tiger mode and opens up his gun ports. "Dance buggy, dance!" Rampage collapses down into his Tiger mode. Combat: Robot Tiger misses Repugnus with his Gun-Ports attack! Aimless emits, "Misfire, MISSILE, MISSILE!!! Dodge you fool?' Misfire contemplates a witty retort to Jetfire. "Oh yeah, well I'm just getting started Auto-FOOL! Wait, what, Missile?"
* BOOM* *SMOKE* *FIRE* *DAMAGE* *OH MY* Out of the smoke and fire, Misfire appears in robot mode clutching Aimless close to his chest. "Ohhhh Primus, that hurt." Misfire's wing is sheared off and smoke is pouring out of his body as energon leaks at the joints. Misfire seems to being flying directly at Jetfire. The Non-Terran Plane quickly begins to unfold. The rear engines slide down and form two bulky legs. The arms unfold from underneath the plan's body. The front spires on the cockpit slide up the back and sit above his head. Where there was once a plane there is now Misfire. Combat: Misfire misses Guardian Starfighter with his Targetmaster Projectile! (Ram) attack! Astrotrain is one of those elite warriors who never took an ounce of advanced hand to hand combat training in his life. Others spent countless centuries perfecting swordplay, or Metallikato, or being able to shoot a fly off the top of a needle at a mile away. The triplechanger is one of those freaks of manufacturing that is just a combination of raw ability and natural fine-tuned programming (or instinct, if you will) that has him not so much thinking about a situation or a fight as just reacting to it in an instant. As the slug fires out towards him, Astrotrain leans backwards in a very Neo-esque move that sends him crashing to the ground as it hurtles straight overhead...and punctures a nearby storage tank full of hydraulic fluid. ...which starts to bubble out and hiss as it coats Astrotrain in a thin film of oily gunk. Completely harmless, but it does have one side effect that the triplechanger notices when he stands up again. "...green? Green! GREEN!?!?" Sure enough, Astrotrain is a nice looking lime-green color, "I LOOK LIKE A CONSTRUCTICON REJECT!" Throwing both arms out to the sides, Astrotrain suddenly grabs onto the storage tank that is still leaking...and is -several- times his own size, and proceeds to rip it right up out of the ground with a tortured shriek of metal. It keeps leaking gunk all over him too, making him even greener as his voice rises up, "RRAAAAAWRGH! ASTROTRAIN SMASH!" And with that, he turns and hurls the huge tank straight at Horsepower! Combat: Astrotrain strikes Horsepower with his You won't like him when he's angry! attack! Combat: Astrotrain (Astrotrain) used "Astro-Beating": A Level 3 MELEE attack. "Chemical spill detected as airborne particulate," one of the drones tells Shockwave, sirens flashing again. The civilian foundry workers look increasingly alarmed. Shockwave raises his voice, which does not change its tone at all, but consists of simply becoming much louder as if a switch had been dialed up (which one has). "Safety standards are now below acceptable minimums. All personnel in this facility will take the remainder of the shift as an unpaid leave. Depart in an orderly manner. I will organize a cleanup. You will be contacted when safe return is possible. You may go now." They go, as orderly as they can considering the panic and the battle going on just across the street, streaming out of the foundry and hurrying to their homes- or out of the district entirely! The Guardian Starfighter swings wide around the fight, scanning below with half of his attention - he feels that at this juncture he doesn't need to dedicate full cycles to his engagement with the Decepticon, after all. That being said he loses track of Misfire for a few moments, until the cretin is nearly atop him. It is at this point that - rather than dodge - Jetfire makes several complex calculations in his head, mere nanoseconds used, "Yes, that will do nicely." he decides... And with those words, the guardian transforms - flightless though he be in robot mode - and moves to catch Misfire before using his thrusters to spin them around once and then jet towards the ground, his knee planted in the Decepticon's midsection and his hand around his throat, "You don't seem to understand the folly of the situation. Allow me to enlighten you." Combat: Guardian Starfighter strikes Misfire with his Smash attack! "It looks better on ya than purple!" Horsepower retorts as Astrotrain freaks out, hefting the collapses work equipment up under his arm. He was hoping for more actual supplies, but between this and the generator he might still be able to come up with something useful... If they get out of here. More greenish colored liquid splatters about as he gets clobbered with the thrown tank and falls on his aft again after being smeared in goo and banged up farther "That was perf'ctly good hydraulic refill ya ruined, too!" With a snort the mechanic scoots back to the far end of the pit, for a moment seeming as if he's been cornered. Until he transforms, depositing the collapsed utility in his bed next to the generator he'd wedged between his truck kibble backpack earlier, and slams the pedal to the metal. Tires scream as his overpowered engine roars like an angry mechanical beast, building speed faster than any truck that size should rightfully be able too! And it all comes hurtling up the ramp out of the work pit towards Astrotrain with that big spiked plow leading the way. Horsepower drops his bulk to the pavement, converting into a modified wrecker rig. Combat: Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig strikes Astrotrain with his Combat Driving attack! Repugnus ducks under the incoming rounds, smirking. "Sorry, the only dances I know require a long metal pole attached to the floor and ceiling. But I'm not that into you right now, anyway, Rampage..." He vaults back into the warehouse, transforms, and begins spraying sparks indiscriminately in every direction. He mostly focuses on the boxes with the fuel rods, but many of the other crates within also appear to contain volatile goods of some form or another, and before long they're bursting open in flames all over the place. "Watch yourself, Pred, gonna get a little hot in here!" he says as the warehouse starts to erupt in flames! Of course, the fire might reach and damage Rampage or even Repugnus himself! Repugnus twists and flips around into his horrific creature mode! Combat: Bug Creature strikes himself with his Spitting Sparks Area attack! Combat: Bug Creature misses Robot Tiger with his Spitting Sparks Area attack! "Begin chemical cleanup protocols in a radial pattern beginning at your current locations," Shockwave orders the nearest drone at his normal volume level as he descends the stairs and heads to the foundry door. "I will find the origin." The drones' dome lights switch from flashing yellow to green, and extruding tubes and scrubbers, they start revolving in slowly expanding orbits like Roomba vacuum cleaners. Misfire drops Aimless as Jetfire cleanly snags the hapless Misfire out of the sky. Misfire haplessly claws at Jetfire grip. "*uRk*...Aimless...*urk* In a fury of motion, Misfire gets hammered into the ground as he lets out a scream! An Energon chilling scream. Aimless continues to fall near the Misfire and Jetfire. Aimless fires a small thruster as he targets the spinning and falling Misfire and Jetfire. Aimless emits, "I knew you would get me killed Misfire!" Aimless lets out what seems a near endless barrage of Ion Particles Blast form. Combat: Misfire strikes himself with his Friendly and Unfriendly Fire! Area attack! Combat: Misfire's Friendly and Unfriendly Fire! attack on Jetfire goes wild! Combat: Misfire strikes Robot Tiger with his Friendly and Unfriendly Fire! Area attack! Astrotrain is usually the one who's running people down. So sweet, sweet irony comes back on him as he's crashed into by the speeding plow, picked up and hurled across the street as he skids along in a shower of sparks and finally comes to a stop in an alleyway between two buildings. And by 'comes to a stop' we mean he crashes hard against an obstacle and comes to a SUDDEN stop. "Oof!" Down but not out. The big Triplechanger is as damnably sturdy as he is agile at times, and he's already pulling himself up to one knee and glaring at the Autobot's vehicular mode nearby. "Oh I got somethin RIGHT here for ya..." he growls, pulling out something that ALMOST looks like a technological stick of dynamite, complete with a fuse which he starts to put a blowtorch to. And now ladies and gentlemen, let's draw your attention to the alleyway Astrotrain came to a stop in. It's a familiar alleyway he parked something in before. And that obstacle he hit? It was the same car of explosives that he was pulling earlier. He hit it so hard that its cargo spilled out around him. And now? NOW there are sparks from the blowtorch he's using, raining down on the explosives. Somehow, the Triplechanger happens to look down at JUST that moment, noticing as one of the sparks suddenly takes light at the base of his feet. "...oh no." O_O
* KA-BWOOOOOOOOM!* Just as the Tiger smoothly dodges the spitting sparks of Repugnus, he finds himself pasted by friendly fire. From Aimless, no less. "GAH! Misfire, keep control over your gun, for Primus' sake!" He picks himself up and flings himself at Repugnus, clawing and scratching. "Time to kill this bug dead!" Combat: Robot Tiger strikes Bug Creature with his Mauling attack! A humungous fireball rises into the air as the explosives go off, shattering the sides of the two multi-story buildings on either side of the alleyway. Contained as it is, the explosion goes more upwards than outwards, and actually forms a miniature mushroom cloud as it goes up, and up, and up some more. And when it all clears, Astrotrain is still standing at the center. Blackened, and ash covered, wide-optics blinking a few times. "I'm alive...I'm alive! BWAAAHAHAHA I'M STILL ALIVE!" The ground begins to rumble and shake suddenly as the two buildings on either side of him begin to shift, then crumble, then start to collapse with tons and tons of debris falling down towards the triplechanger like an avalanche of boulders. Astrotrain looks up, twitches once, then pulls out a tiny umbrella over his head before he disappears underneath the collapsing structures.
* THWOOOM!* For his part, Jetfire took a bit of damage in that plummet as well, but it's clearly a case of 'you should see the other guy'. The Guardian stands up slowly, turning his attention to Aimless as the little Nebulon shoots everything -except- the target he was aiming for, including Rampage, "Heh... your aim is well earned, little one." he declares before a boost from his jump jets throws up into a parabolic arch away, "For now, I need to cover the retreat of my comrades." he pauses, "Yes, I suppose that includes Repugnus." he laments, "Tell Cyclonus I said hello, Misfire! I'm eager for another lesson in Decepticon 'Superiority' from him." Combat: Jetfire takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig is really glad he's already on the move when that explosion goes off, drifting around another corner to dive full-tilt between two different warehouses for a brief moment of cover. Even then the shockwave rolling away from the detonation rattles his frame a bit -- good thing, as an inventor, he's built Tonka tough to absorb explosive blasts! Another turn brings him back out into the larger area most of the fight had been taking place in, smoke and flames rolling past as they lick across the truck's form. "Ah think we wore out our welcome 'nuff Pug!", he drawls as he passes by and skids to realign in the direction the originally came from. A turret deploys out of his back, mounting the same weapon he tried to use on Astrotrain before. Except this time he swings it towards the Predacon and fires another magnetic shell, trying to by the Monsterbot some cover fire. Then he revs back up and starts driving again, getting ready to get while the getting is good once he's back up to speed in a round or so. Combat: Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig misses Robot Tiger with the Horsepower-forged Magnetic Lancer attack! Combat: Used up 1 Charges. 0 remain. Bug Creature figures now is the time to run, what with flaming shrapnel showering him from every direction. And yet, that might be hard with the tiger clinging to him, scratching and clawing. "Ach, get off, busy--" he grunts, more annoyed than anything. Then, a massive blast from outside shakes the ground and obliterates a good section of the wall behind him, and while this sends Repugnus down to one knee to stop himself from falling, it does at least also shake off Rampage. "Ha! Sorry we gotta cut and run--" He observes one of Shockwave's drones orbiting towards him, tubes and scrubbers flailing about as it tries to contain a disaster that is now vastly outside of its capabilities. "Here, this guy needs some help," Repugnus says, grabbing the drone and shoving it at Rampage, trying to knock them both over. "You get on that! Can't have a dirty warehouse, right?" He then hops onto the side of Horsepower as he drives by, giving Rampage an obscene gesture as he goes. "Hahaha, screw you!" The creature spins and twists about into Repugnus's robot mode! Combat: Repugnus misses Robot Tiger with his Dirty Fighting attack! [Pulled -2] Shockwave comes out of the foundry just in time to catch the blast wave coming down the street from the warehouses Astrotrain's wayward explosive shipment demolished. He plants his feet and rocks smoothly forward into the pressure, then back upright as it passes. "This is an unacceptable degree of disorganization," Shockwave announces as he passes the spot where the comically-scorched Astrotrain is buried. "I do not want to be distracted with taking over this military action, Astrotrain. Are you still capable of prosecuting it yourself? Report on your progress." The Tiger evades the drone, and bats at Repugnus in retaliation. "Well at least I don't have to clean it up!" he retorts to the Monsterbot. "And no, SCREW YOU, and the horse you rode in on!" Combat: Robot Tiger strikes Repugnus with his claw (Punch) attack! Misfire lays on the ground as Aimless's blast nails Misfire straight in the left leg, destroying all of the leg's armor and most likely crippled the servo joint, rendering Misfire nearly inmobile. Energon begins to seap out from underneath the Targetmaster and pools in a small whole hole in the street. Misfire's optic bar flashes as he semi-processes Jetfire talking to him. Misfire flashes Jetfire a weak thumbs up. "Can do boss...." It isn't clear that Misfire knows anything. Aimless hits the ground with a *THUD*. Aimless transformers quickly moves towards some rubble to hide. "Primus, I think I hit Rampage....He is going to be pissed...." Aimless seems unconcerned about poor, downtrodden, grossly misunderstood Misfire. The rubble pile shifts just a bit in one spot, then a little more, and a battered, dented and blackened hand slowly emerges from within, one finger pointed towards the sky. "...think...the bots...are pulling out..." Astrotrain's muffled voice comes out. "...so if it's okay...I think...imma take a little nap..." The hand flops over with a soft *CLUNK*. Repugnus gets batted by the punch on his shoulder, but it doesn't seem to phase him much. He just cackles as he gives Rampage another gesture which is incredibly obscene on Nebulos, so much so that doing it in public could get you arrested. "No, SCREW YOU HAHAHAHA! In fact, I hope that you get ****** by Razorclaw while Tantrum ****** then Divebomb ******* then Headstrong ******* then you merge into Predaking so that you can *****!!!!" Fortunately someone seemed to keep blasting a horn whenever that got REALLY dirty, otherwise this wouldn't be PG-13 anymore. "So what, now?" Repugnus says to Horsepower as he clambers back up to the top of the truck. "We taking the ground or air taxi?" "Hey, Ah resent that remark!" Horsepower drawls as the cat's horse crack while trying to swipe at Repugnus one last time while the latter is clinging to him. "Speakin' of horses, time t'let a few more loose. This time boy, ya better listen when Ah say HANG ON!" The overcharged engine partially protuding from his hood rumbles and roars as he shifts up to full gear, plumes of thick smoke belching out of exhaust stacks as the futuristric truck barrels away at high speed, making an exit out the same way they came in. Almost, as he plows through the security booth right next to the gate they originally plowed in through. Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig is also REALLY good with the timing of that air horn Combat: Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Combat: Repugnus begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Cyberpunk Wrecker Rig , Robot Tiger , Misfire, Astrotrain, and Jetfire After exchanging words on the com channel, Jetfire alters his plans slightly, and at the top of his high parabolic arch, the Guardian transforms, engines firing as he takes up a station keeping patrol, ready to cover the Autobot withdrawal. As he see's both of the Autobots pulling away, his own engines throttle up and he shadows them, defensive turrets online and ready. Jetfire goes through a series of contortions, expanding considerably as he transforms into his starfighter mode. Combat: Guardian Starfighter begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Repugnus lets out a "YEEEEHHAAAAAWWWWW!!!" as the booth is obliterated upon impact. "I will expect a full report within two decacycles," Shockwave emits behind himself, continuing into the wreckage to make an estimate of the cleanup and repairs necessary. Astrotrain's hand just wiggles a bit before returning to its state of unconsciosness. He'll be dug out later, no doubt. By roombas. Robot Tiger looks around at his scattered comrades and groans. "Oh slaggit," he mutters, "This doesn't mean I have to write the report, does it?" Misfire as if in a loop, Misfire weakly holds up a thumbs up. "Can do boss......." Little Aimless runs towards Misfire and strips the Mech of his credits. "Free booze for me!" Aimless then wonders off.
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