| abstract
| - "Project Xanadu is complete!" So the announcement goes out through the halls and buildings of the Cybertonian/Chinese complex! A great hurrah rises from the Chinese workers, and then the announcer continues: "Now, prepare to launch the science satellite, CONFUCIUS ONE. Soon, Project Unity will be underway!" Meanwhile, Grimlock looks...less than impressed. He's looking over a motley collection of generic seekers and autobot cars- each with a fresh Dominator Disk and a red-star emblazoned where their faction logos used to be! "Hnn. Now 'member. Us is SECURITY. So no let anythings screw up whatever it is thems am doing! Dr. Shiny-head-guy said so!" "The optimal launch window approaches," Shockwave declares in commanding tones from an elevated balcony beneath the vast, sparkling dome of Xanadu. "Open the dome iris. Clear the flame trenches. Secure the gantry. Confirm the rocket is fully pressurised. All non-essential personnel are to report to their assigned stations." Cybertronians and Chinese alike scurry to carry out the instructions. Shockwave glances down at the ranking Chinese officers, his ostensible masters, gathered beside him for this momentous occasion. There are... rather fewer of them than there were last time. All of them are bald, pale and sweating, their eyes sunken into deep bruised-looking pits. One of them is missing three fingernails on the hand with which he holds his radio, giving orders in a halting, weak voice. Somewhere, there is a Decepticon Shuttle arriving. It's hard to say where it came from, but the pilot sure is good -- flying Nap of Earth and hugging China's many folds; accelerating and decelerating as required. The effect is a rather rough ride for the occupants. Scorponok is among then; holding on to a support beam with one of his clawed hands. "Mission is simple" He is saying; at a dull growl. then pauses as the shuttle drops a hundred metres sharply and rocks to the left. "Destroy everything that moves! Cover for each other. If you see something get within fifty meters of another Decepticon, it becomes a priority target for DESTRUCTION. No questions. DO IT!" No sooner does he speak this, than the hatch in the floor of the shuttle opens and Scorponok jumps out to descend towards the facility; falling like a vertical rock. Meanwhile, the shuttle intends to make itself scarce. F-35B "Lightning II" drops out of the back of the shuttle, engages her lift fans, and takes to the air. She's usually prone to laughing in the face of danger, but she's not laughing now. The Decepticon cause is everything, /everything/ to her, and to have that taken away from her by a little disc, that is... unthinkable. So unusually somberly, she confirms, "Aye aye, Scorponok." Winnebago is painted gray and... lighter gray. Like he's dead! Or like he's trying to invade Trypticon by pretending to be a normal... completely unique model of Winnebago. (And yet, in a bizarre alternate universe, it worked right up to the point when Scourge picked up 'Autobot exhaust fumes.' Pure and pollutant free!) As he rolls towards the area that Skyspy says seems to be the center of activity, he exposits over the radio to the other Autobots (and the token EDC member they brought along to legitimize this incursion into foreign territory), << The satellites say there's a been a lot of activity in this area by the subverted Transformers. That's bad enough, but now we've got reports of Decepticon forces heading in as well. This, we need to investigate. Be on the alert for attempts by humans or other Transformers to slap a disk on you, though - and Jetfire, whatever 'cure' you working on had better be ready!>> Winnebago , unfortunately, brought his not-terrible-subtle air force for this mission. Ah, well. Whirl peers out of the entry ramp of Jetfire's vehicle mode. He's not ashamed to hitch a ride once in a while - his flight range is just enough to get him to China from Korea, but he doesn't have several hours to spend in transit. Once they reach the airspace he dives out of the like a paratrooper, transforms halfway down and blurrs his rotors into motion to turn his own freefall into a controlled descent towards the scene. <> he crows happily over Autobot frequencies. <> From Exo-Suit ARES , Sam is along for the trip partly because the Autobots are essentially invading an Earth nation falling under the UN charter, and partly because he doesn't have a neural network to compromise with a dominator disc. Token? Maybe. Also it's possible that he's around to keep Rodimus from getting hit with a dominator disc. The ARES suit is hitching a ride, magnetized to the top of Rodimus' trailer. Winnebago really appreciates not getting hit with a dominator disc. He's had enough of that crap. Broadside has also hitched a ride with Jetfire, happy to avoid staring wayyyyy down at the ground for most of the trip. He follows Whirl, somewhat reluctantly as he edges towards the hatch and clumsily dives after the chopper, transforming. It's a good thing the Wrecker can fly on his own once he jumps out, as for the moment Jetfire is sticking to the higher altitude he approached from. If this was going to work he needed as little attention on himself as possible, so it was in the benefit of everyone involve if he allowed the others to, as they say, start the diversion. Granted, even staying high up in the air the extremely large space-jet isn't exactly the most stealthy thing. What do you do when the lion is IN the car? Steeljaw has opted for the ground method, simply to make it easier for him to escape and get to someplace to hide. Temporarily sporting a gray paintjob as well, he's sprawled out in Rodimus' cab, peering out through one of the windows whenever nothing is nearby to spy him. Tail flickering absently, it's the only thing that gives away his impatience, his eyes slitted as his scanners are opened up to just about everything that he can pick up. "Launch in T-Minus five minutes and counting!" And then, as Scorponok and his Decepticons wheel in- alarms begin to flare! It's a fairly common occurence, really. "Ragrh!" Grimlock snarls- he glances over at Shockwave, and grunts. "Hn. Us have company!" and with that, he storms towards the decepticons, snapping off a quick laser at the giant scorpion! One of the pallid-looking Chinese officers near Shockwave looks up in alarm. "We're under attack! We must cancel the launch!" And then, every monitor in the complex suddenly switches to a shot of a familliar, angry, metal-headed face. "NO!" Dr. Arkeville snarls, "Nothing must stop this launch! With the Confucius One Satellite, combined with the transmitting capabilities of this complex, -I- shall extend the Dominator program over every sentient mind on the planet! Go, do my bidding, my metal minions!" It seems that the Chinese Military is at a loss for what to do, but at least the various Dominator-Disk'd robots are eager to carry out Dr. Arkeville's bidding! Well, Grimlock is, at least. "RAR!" There's a flurry of moving parts, and Grimlock changes to his robot mode! Combat: Grimlock sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Grimlock strikes Scorponok with his A LAZOR (Disruptor) attack! "The launch will not be cancelled," Shockwave replies, humming with power as he spools up his reactor to combat output. His chest window casts a violet glow across the balcony as he takes aim at Scorponok. "I strongly recommend, honored and venerable commanders, that you take cover behind me. Scorponok represents an extreme threat." One of the Chinese leaders vomits down the front of his immaculate medal-bedecked uniform and crumples to the ground, twitching, and another seems to have already passed out, but the others limp behind Shockwave to hide. "Scorponok, your appearance here is unwise," Shockwave blares down from the balcony. "I calculate that the risk to you of coming under our control is extremely high. Against Grimlock and I together you can have no reasonable hope." A pale beam lances out from Shockwave's cannon arm towards Scorponok with a buzzing sound. Combat: Shockwave misses Scorponok with his Maser Burst: Low Power attack! [Pulled -4] Scorponok has not actually attempted to assault mind-controlling forces with only Catechism for backup. He's foolhardy, but he's not completely stupid. Flanking him on the way down are a squadron of Decepticon Aerospace's finest; a multi-colored troupe of Seekers that might actually do well at a dance competition or a circus based on look. Today though, they are carrying heavy ordanance beneath their wings. Either way, Scorponok falls downwards as the seekers accelerate into the compound; opening up with a flurry of unguided, free-fall munitions as they corkscrew in a variety of directions in an effort to draw fire. One of them, in progress of pulling out, detects the incoming Autobot forces. Meanwhile, Scorponok continues his freefall; only feathering his anti-gravs at the last possible moment to land with a crunch; mud and rocks fracturing around him as he points his anti-gravity fusion cannon downrange. Small pebbles begin to rise into the air around him as a dull whine fills the air while the capacitor charges and cycles, and then *FOOM* -- he lets go with a blast of energy towards the percieved main gate. He's certainly not being subtle. But then again, he's got a small force of stuff dropping firecrackers from above! Of course, of course, the best laid plans of mice and men go awry eventually. He lunges forwards; returning fire on Grimlock with a hastily aimed blast from his rifle as he shows remarkable agility for his size -- tucking himself into a neat forward roll and coming up in a defensive crouch behind some cover. This is already not going to plan. He opens up his radio.... "RODIMUS PRIME! DO NOT BE A FOOL!" He is being unusually eloquent, this is Zarak speaking. "We must fight togeather against this menace; until our people and technology is retrieved! We may fight each other later, but this is the time to /DESTROY/ this evil technology! FREEDOM IS THE RIGHT OF ALL SENTIENT BEINGS, RODIMUS PRIME! ORDER YOUR FORCES TO ATTACK THE CHINESE! DESTROY SHOCKWAVE AND GRIMLOCK; DESTROY THESE SLAVERS!" Scorponok takes a hit from both Grimlock and Shockwave in there somewhere, too. Combat: Scorponok strikes Grimlock with his Anti-Gravity Fusion Cannon attack! [Pulled -8] F-35B "Lightning II" doesn't really fancy her chances against Grimlock and Shockwave, even with Scorponok as back-up. Those goody-goody Autobots will doubtless interfere, as well. So really, instead of concentrating on just destroying everything, as Scorponok directed, perhaps she should be a bit more... directed in destroying everything. What is the most important everything here? Dr. Archeville, except he's yelling over monitors, so... Catechism vectors closer to the complex. Maybe she can get in and go look for him! Combat: F-35B "Lightning II" sets her defense level to Protected. VH-64 Gazette is surging towards the launchpad, but on recieving new orders he tilts back a bit and then rises into the air as he approaches, giving him a slight but growing angle of sight into the interior of the dome. Even at this extreme range he begins firing photon beams. Whirl aims at any servos or mechanisms visible or else the rocket itself. The only thing he avoids firing at are moving figures. Whirl's goal is pure property wrecking for now. From Exo-Suit ARES , Sam takes off from atop Rodimus' trailer, but hangs back with the Autobot Leader, hovering above and keeping pace rather than flying off to some other part of the battle. He takes a few potshots at the satellite launchpad, but for now seems more intent on making sure nothing breeches some invisible perimeter around Rodimus. FB 111-Aardvark banks straight for the complex's launchpad, coasting as low to the ground as possible. Hmmm... the slavers or Confucius? <> he gruffs, opening fire on some paneling of the satellite. Winnebago screeches to a stop as he nears the battle and opens his door long enough for Steeljaw to climb out. He then transforms. The young Prime points to Scorponok. "Just who the hell do you think you're fooling, Scorponok? You guys have pulled /that/ one on us too many times for it to fly now!" He then fires his weapon... at the launchpad. "Lucky for you, though, priority /is/ taking out this launchpad. Autobots, focus on the satellite launcher, but avoid harming the humans when possible! I know this is rough, but our comrades can be repaired - it doesn't take too much damage before a human can't be." As soon as the door is open, Steeljaw is out of it. He hurries out as quickly as possible as so that it makes it difficult to tell just where the currently gunmetal gray catbot has come from. But despite his instincts, he doesn't rush in to join the fray. As soon as Steeljaw is within sight of the chinabots, his movements change. His movements become more properly 'robotic' and less fluid, becoming more like one of the automations that the humans have been creating for guard duty. Despite that, he moves quickly and with a distinctive purpose towards what looks like the entrance, as if he's been ordered in a certain direction. But his senses are open, looking for any sort of clue as to where the proper command center is. This was quickly turning into controlled chaos.. but Jetfire felt that was to their advantage. With a threat like Scorponok present, the China forces would be hard pressed to deal with too many other threats at once. With that in mind Jetfire banks off of his circling heading and dives towards the ground, only transforming at the last moment to land with a dull thud now that everyone was keeping everyone else occupied. But instead of joining in the fighting the air guardian pulls out a metal cylindrical device, opens some anchor legs on the bottom and clamps it to the ground. Opening an access panel controls pop out, and after tapping a few controls the top half of the device also opens up in what looks like a cross between signal arrays and telsa coils, a few sparks of energy crackling about them as they start to charge up. <> he comments over the radio as he works, <> Various Disk'd forces move to meet Scorponok's brigade of seekers, as well as Whirl and Broadside! They blast away- but, being unnamed characters (and under mind control, no less), they're mostly annoyance factor, at this rate. Meanwhile, Catechism and Steeljaw's searches go mostly ignored- the human workers, officers, and soldiers are more concerned about getting out of the way of the killer robots, no matter what faction symbol they're wearing! Grimlock, in turn, flings himself into the fray- transforming to his mighty dinosaur mode, attempting to smash his tail right into Scorponok's thick legs, perhaps sweeping them out from under him! Combat: Robot T-Rex! strikes Scorponok with his Tail sweep! (Kick) attack! Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet decides its time to go back to China. There are many reasons why he wants to come back.. many little fleshcratures being crushed reasons and also on the side; do some parts scalping of the Alpha Trion shuttle. So he takes off for China, only to be diverted to what appears to be a serious confrontation between all sides in this. Fast approaching the scene, the tetrajet brings his weapons online and dives into the fight. Combat: Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet strikes Robot T-Rex! with his Laser attack! "Honored comrades, I suggest that you deploy a Control Group against Rodimus Prime immediately," Shockwave says, presumably to the Chinese officers. "He is a priority target due to two factors: first, he represents the second-most significant threat to the launch, and second, he will not fight back effectively against human assailants. I will assist Grimlock in close combat." He launches off the balcony in a blast of searing wind and lands with a heavy thud beside Grimlock, advancing cautiously on Scorponok. "This will not go well for you, cyborg," Shockwave declares, trying to grab one of Scorponok's arms and hold him back for Grimlock to hit. Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Shockwave misses Scorponok with his Seize Him! attack! [Pulled -7] Scorponok needs to be in robot mode some more. He really is surprisingly agile in it; ducking and covering again behind another very large rock as a blast from some defense system, Shockwave or one of his own seekers detonates in front of him and sets debris banging off his armored hull. He's not fast enough to avoid Grimlock's tail sweep though; and lands on his back with a crunching sound. Rolling back to his feet; there is a particular smirk on it, despite the fact that he just managed to get himself clobbered. But the buckled armor plating doesn't slow him down as he begins to walk backwards. "Admirable strength, Grimlock . . " Zarak says out loud. "Such a pity that it so misdirected -- eh-heh-heh!" He crouches and leaps; feathering his anti-gravs in a not so nimble somersault that would never be possible without the aid of this glorious levitation technology. It carries him clear out of Shockwave's grasp. "Have it your way, Rodimus!" His leap has carried him close to the Autobot leader, but he's transforming and pointed half away from him; landing firmly on his scorpion mode's multiple limbs. A hatch opens, and Zarak pops out in full battle armor; carrying a sort of small control. It's round, and bears a lot of glowing little lights. "FOOLISH AUTOBOTS!" He yells as Scorponok begins to charge. "Did you truly think this pathetic world developed this technology themselves?! You overestimate your human comrades; and underestimate the deviousness of your Decepticion foes! Prepare to reap the whirlwind of your folly! Prepare to face your WORST NIGHTMARE! Boldly, you have came forth . . . DIRECTLY INTO OUR TRAP!" Zarak presses a giant red button, and his amplified voice echoes throughout the compound as the device emits a single transmitted single at extremely high power. "DESTROY THE AUTOBOTS, COMRADES!" Wait....what's just happened here? It's hard to say, because as he finishes speaking the hatch slams closed and Scorponok lunges at full power; attempting to crash his scorpion mode directly into Rodimus Prime; both claws rending and tearing -- scrabbling with bladed pincers for whatever they can gain purchase of. The effort is to drive him backwards -- and set him up for a vicious sideways slash that literally has everything the giant scorpion has behind it. Scorponok transforms into his Giant Scorpion mode. Combat: Giant Scorpion strikes Rodimus Prime with his Plot Twist /w face clawing action attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Rodimus Prime's Agility. (Crippled) F-35B "Lightning II" is called off from her search for Dr. Archeville and his delicious, powerful flan because Scorponok wants her to go tango with Jetfire. Sighing to herself, she gains altitude, rising precisely like a rocket, and at the moment she starts to falls over and flip back, she flips into robot mode and opens fire on jetfire with her arm guns. XF-35B Astral Lightning transforms into robot form. Catechism's feet unfold, her arms unfold out of her body, her nosecone rotates through her body and ends up on her shoulders to expose her face, and her wings rotate into position. Combat: Catechism strikes Jetfire with her Acid Strike attack! Exo-Suit ARES is right there above Rodimus, slewing out of the way of the massive claws of Scorponok in one direction and then dropping beneath another of the swings coming from another. "This is not good," he observes flatly to his allies, then aims and fires his suit's main cannon up at Scorponok while running laterally to get some range on him. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES strikes Giant Scorpion with its Medium Laser attack! VH-64 Gazette begins swerving from side to side now as he flies in an erratic, evasive pattern, hoping to make it a little harder for anti-air fire. His unpredictable maneuvering somehow doesn't seem to effect his own aim as he pours photon beams into the hull of the rocket - or maybe it just seems that way from his 'enthusiasm'. He's almost close enough for a standard strafing run now. Tiny protective covers flip open on his four incendiary shell cannons in anticipation. Jetfire doesn't look up from his work as Zarak starts making his proclomation. In fact his only response to it is tapping more controls to try and speed up the charging process before the device can effectively 'fire'. While trying to deal out orders over the radio to make up for Rodimus being incapitated at the same time. Up until he gets shot in the back with acid. To which Jetfire replies with a cold, "I don't have time to deal with you." Turning just far enough sideways to point his rifle at the dang femme and fire off a quick shot at her. While still typing at the device controls with the other hand. He's just -that- darn good at multitasking. Combat: Jetfire misses Catechism with his Get off my back woman! attack! Rodimus Prime, for some strange reason, doesn't blast Scorponok during his enormous monologue. He's probably busy shooting at the satellite launchpad or something. He's just about to turn his weapon on Scorponok instead, though, when the scorpion lunges forward, striking him and /tearing off his face/ with his giant robotic pinchers. "Nnnngh!" he grunts out as circuits and struts and the glowing orbs of his optics are laid bare, and he lifts his fists, attempting to pound them into the monster pushing him forward... until he's pushed off the ledge and into the river, at which point he immediately vanishes from view, the new openings in his face letting the water short out essential systems before Rodimus's own repair systems can compensate, and by the time that happens, he's been swept far too far downstream. Combat: Rodimus Prime strikes Giant Scorpion with his Losing Face (Punch) attack! Move with purpose, do not look at anyone, do not recognize anyone. Steeljaw is no stranger to having to do a little espionage while tracking. It might not be his function, but that doesn't mean he hasn't learned the tricks to gaining access somewhere. But even as he enters the compound, his highly sensitive ears pick up something distinctly wrong. It's never that easy, is it? Growling briefly, Steeljaw only briefly lets a glance back towards the others, but continues into the compound quickly, keeping the same robotic gait. He's following... Well, there might be one smell that's a bit different than the others. His nose is still trying to analyze it, but it doesn't seem like something that'd be here. So he follows it, quickly as he can. FB 111-Aardvark admittedly grows frustrated with attempting to avoid human casualities as he fires on the satellite, and ascends to pester Shockwave instead. Before he can decide on a flavor of attack, Zarak spouts something that apparently means there will no longer be Decepticons 'helping', not that Broadside acknowledged any help. So he swoops down over Scorponok and offers up some laserfire. Combat: FB 111-Aardvark sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: FB 111-Aardvark strikes Giant Scorpion with his Laser attack! "What? What? No! NOO!" Arkeville's face twists into an expression of frustrated rage on every monitor within the complex. "You cannot steal this from me! Listen to me! Unit Grimlock! Unit Shockwave! Destroy him! Destroy them all!" and he flicks switches in frustration...but to no avail! Meanwhile, Grimlock's optics flicker strangely for a few moments, and he turns away from Scorponok- clutching at his thick head- but then, he's glaring at the Autobot flyers! "Me Grimlock destroy...them?" he asks, sounding perplexed. "Yeah! Me Grimlock destroy them!" he says- and he sights in on Broadside, firing eye-lasers his way! Combat: Robot T-Rex! strikes FB 111-Aardvark with his LAZOR (Laser) attack! Zarak is having a ball; sitting at his control console deep within the armored hull of Scorponok. He's oblivious to the pounding and sharp heaving of Scorponok's body as he simply lets the Decepticon Warlord have his reigns. Ever since their binary bonding, Zarak has kept the violence of Scorponok in check. But not at the moment. No, he concentrates on giving orders to *HIS* new forces as Scorponok grapples with Rodimus Prime; taking a vicious swing into his dorsal armor plating and skewing to the side -- impacting into the ground in a cloud of dust as his port side legs give away under the force. But he rises again; tail cannon rising into position and beginning to charge -- tracking the fast moving Terran Exo-Suit as it flies by and letting go with a quartet of dual cannons -- eight seperate rapid fire pulses of electric death. He does firepower well when he tries; bellowing incoheranty in rage. Meanwhile, Zarak activates Scorponok's transmitter system to the broadband. << Arkeville. I know you're out there. >> His voice is wheedling, sweet even. << Come on out, and we'll just kill you. If you make me look for you, I'll do WORSE! >> Combat: Giant Scorpion sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Giant Scorpion strikes Exo-Suit ARES with his Twin Pulse Blasters attack! [Pulled -2] Catechism ducks out of the way of Jetfire firing at the jet that is her. She heckles, "Neeeerd boy, if I kill you now, you'll never get to go bother those weird black squares! Why don't you just run off to deep space and never come back?" She takes another pot shot at him, sneering. Combat: Catechism strikes Jetfire with her 25-mm GAU-12 cannon (Pistol) attack! "You no longer command my obedience, half-man," Shockwave replies to Arkeville's transmission, eye flickering rapidly. "I suggest you adapt to the default state you have resumed: impotent agitation. Although still subverted to a degree, I am a Decepticon again, an infinite improvement over your degradation." Shockwave kneels briefly to pick up a length of unused four-inch rebar from the construction project, hefts it like a javelin, and hurls it through the air towards Jetfire. "Cease your interference, Autobots, or suffer impalement and/or irradiation. These are the only two punishments within Xanadu, and disobedience is the only crime." Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Shockwave misses Jetfire with his Rough Justice attack! [Pulled -2] Meanwhile, Whirl's volley tears great chunks out of the launch mechanisms- but the system keeps going, automated components going online! "Launch in T-minus four minutes!" a computeresque voice announces! "AGH!" Broadside yelps, fuselage lighting up with Grimlock's eye-lazors. "AwwrghhSLAGGIT sir, yer makin' me do this! Sorry!" Down he swipes over the battle-ripped ground, summoning up some internal charges to expand his high voltage field, hopefully electrocuting several more enemies along with Grimlock. Bright sparks dance over his metal and lance out with a crackling, loud ZZZZZZZAPPPP!! Combat: FB 111-Aardvark strikes Giant Scorpion with his Electric Field Area attack! Combat: FB 111-Aardvark strikes Shockwave with his Electric Field Area attack! Combat: FB 111-Aardvark strikes Robot T-Rex! with his Electric Field Area attack! From Exo-Suit ARES , Sam takes a pretty heavy shot on the run, stumbling forward and then launching back up into the air to keep from falling forward. Putting some distance between himself and Scorponok, and lacking a Rodimus Prime to keep Chinese control teams away from, he boosts toward the launching platform. With Shockwave in front of him (and possibly not wanting to get Scorponok chasing him much more, he decides to snap off a shot at the Decepticon commander. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES strikes Shockwave with its Laser attack! Jetfire gets shot in the side with the pistol, but the air guardian refuses to just back down. Call it focused. Call it being that ticked off. Either way really works at the moment. He punchs in the last few commands, its the best he can do, and stands up fully. Just in time to literally snatch the flung beam of rebar out of the air with his hand instead of getting struck by it. "Because," he replies evenly to Catechism despite her efforts to taunt him. "Running away does nothing to actually -solve- a problem." Nothing really more to say than that. Particularly as he turns and instead of more vocal response, swings the rebar like a bat at the femme in one single twisting motion. "Now if you don't mind, I'm trying to -work- here!" Meanwhile the device still continues to crackle and shoot sparks between the pylons, charging up whatever it is its intended to do. Combat: Jetfire sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Jetfire strikes Catechism with his Swinging for the fences (Kick) attack! Maybe it's because everyone is simply too frightened by the massive robotic battle going outside the complex, or Steeljaw's disguise is actually effective. Who knows, but the currently gray lion works his way quickly through the corridors, his nose sensors at full. He works his way around a corner, following a strange smell that he can't quite place, passing a pair of frightened chinese workers who yell something at him. He just moves on without a second thought, homing in on the souce of the smell. Shockwave rotates in the direction of the laser strike, pausing a moment to observe the human suit. "Earn my enmity at your direst peril," Shockwave warns Sam, instead striding purposefully towards the rocket gantry. Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Shockwave takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet pulls up and away from the Dinobot and heads straight for Jetfire, "Well well Autobot." he rasps, "Got anything more to add to the conversation from last time?" he asks as he suddenly opens fire. He has noticed the Autobot is workign with soemthing and whatever the Autobot is trying to do, he intends on stopping him. Combat: Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet strikes Jetfire with his Laser attack! Scorponok is blasted from above by Broadside; the electrical discharge coursing over his hull, burning out microcircuits in it's wake as it goes. The sheer force of the electrical blast causes it to travel all the way to the sandy ground and fuse much of it into glass. The Warlord smoulders; but doesn't seem to be out of the fight yet. His tail upraises, tracking Broadside -- letting go an equally powerful burst of electrical energy, just on a different frequency! Meanwhile from inside his control station, Zarak gives orders! Combat: Giant Scorpion sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Giant Scorpion misses FB 111-Aardvark with his System Shock attack! "Rarg!" Grimlock's back to his typical, slavering self- getting shot at tends to bring that out in him! It's just a matter of who his ire (and in this case, his fire breath) is directed at. Which in this case, is Broadside! *FWOOSH!* Meanwhile, as Steeljaw slinks deeper and deeper into the base- suddenly, a secret door opens near where he's been sniffing about, revealing a control room- and in that room, Dr. Arkeville! "You! You're an Autobot, yes?" the cyborg scientist says, wild-eyed and desperate. "You've got to help me! The Decpticons cannot be allowed to steal my triumph!" Beat. "...the Decepticons can't be allowed to conquer the Earth!" Yeah, that sounded better. Combat: Robot T-Rex! misses FB 111-Aardvark with his Fire Breath attack! Catechism is again free to go chase Dr. Arkeville! ...she has no idea where he is. So she lands to go poking around the base, trying not to hurt her head thinking about Decepticon Grimlock. From Exo-Suit ARES , Sam duly accepts Shockwave's dire warning, and then proceeds to taunt him by shooting at him again. The suit abruptly changes direction and heads closer to the ground before the shot, probably trying to draw Shockwave's attention away from the launchpad, but makes no explicit effort to actually draw Shockwave farther away. "Seek to control minds," he responds. "Enmity very soon irrelevant." Combat: Exo-Suit ARES misses Shockwave with its Medium Laser attack! FB 111-Aardvark somehow manages to avoid both Grimlock's fire and Scorponok's electricity, most likely from his erratic, absent barrel rolling. "Sunnuva'-!! Hrrnn, pardon me a moment, fellas!" he growls, inwardly frowning at his HUD. The triplechanger finds someplace distant to land, transforms, and takes a big swig from his trusty energy drink thermos. In a swift series of snaps and clanks, Broadside transforms into his robot mode. Combat: Broadside takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Combat: Broadside uses up a charge on his Big Gulp booster pack! VH-64 Gazette begins flying sideways in front of the rocket in a 'strafing' pattern. Not the flyby strafing employed by jets, but the side-to-side strafing attainable by most hovering vehicles (and FPS players). A few more photon bolts and then he unleashes his heavy weapons. Four incendiary shells blast out, at this close range not even visible - just the muzzle flash on his cannons followed instantly by the fiery explosions as they impact. Hopefully where they're supposed to. The temporarily silver, robotic lion screetches to a stop at the first hint of movement in front of him, stopping so quickly that he leaves little furrows in the floor. His tail lashes several timesin irritation behind him, his robotic brows furrowing slightly. Eyes flash as he glances beyond Arkeville, glancing towards the control room, then back to the mad scientist. "We have the same goal now, Doctor. I will not hurt you, but if we're to help you stop the decepticons, we'll need your cooperation." As he speaks, his teeth flash a little more than usual. Not because he's going to actually hurt the doctor, but because those teeth are awfully effective motivational support. "Do you have any control over the launch? If you can sabotage it in any way, blow up the satellite, we need it now. Even a self destruct." Steeljaw did that. Jetfire chases off one Seeker only to get accousted by another, the lasers punching a few dents in his leg. Some days he's just too much of an interesting target it would seem. "Sorry, talking time is over." Standing protectively over the charging device, Jetfire fires a couple of energy bolts back at the tetrajet trying to ward it off more than actually do heavy damage. Meanwhile watching an energy gage in his HUD corrisponding to the energy levels of the device. Com'n, just a little more, a little faster... Combat: Jetfire sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Jetfire misses Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet with his Defensive Volley (Laser) attack! Back in grid Iota... Unlike the heart of the city which was brilliantly decorated and aesthetically pleasing the Datong Coal Mines were nothing but ugliness. Granted the peaks high above the mine were rather enthralling. Coldwar would always have a soft spot for the Mountain that probably saved his lasercore. In any case the Soldier was back, and it looked like there was something rather interesting going on here. There was always something 'interesting' going on in grid Iota. The HV-911 Eagle Eye UAV remained far and away both vertically and horizontally as he began to record the scene below. Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet does a quick wing over and evades the laser fire from Jetfire. And with that he heads closer, "What are you doing there, Jetfire? Whatever it is, I know we wont lke it..." he tries to take a shot at whatever it is that the Autobot seems to be protecting. Combat: Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet strikes Jetfire with his Grab attack! "Hey!" Grimlock says, glaring up at Broadside. "What that? That look tasty! Give some for me Grimlock! Grr!" and he fires off more lasers at the Wrecker, storming his way with a growl. "Maybe me Grimlock just see if YOU tasty instead!" Meanwhile, within the base, Arkeville looks panicked (a rather common expression for him, honestly). "They've overridden my controls! But the rocket can still be destroyed- there's a weak point between the first and second hulls, here!" Arkeville brings up a holo-schematic to show to Steeljaw, complete with a red circle around the weak point. "The Chinese engineers couldn't fit the designs to Shockwave's exact specifications- much less after they'd been given a dose of radiation poisoning. If you can strike the rocket there, it'll rip the Confucious One wide open- and then you'd have a direct line to the Dominator circuitry- all of it!" Combat: Robot T-Rex! misses Broadside with his A LAZOR (Disruptor) attack! Scorponok observes that Grimlock is going to town on Broadside; and that Broadside is drinking there instead of fighting back. Typical wreckers, don't have any fight unless they have a bottle in their hand. And so, he turns his attention away from Broadside altogeather. "Grimlock!" He orders. "Finish Broadside!" With this done; his tail upraises and begins to track Jetfire as he battles with Windshear. Then he spies Grimlock miss Broadside; and in response a pair of targeting lasers streak out -- attempting to touch them both. If the targeting laser hits, it flares brightly; enabling a giant thunderstroke of lightning to travel down the now ionized path and strike! Combat: Giant Scorpion sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Giant Scorpion strikes Broadside with his The STING of SCORPONOK Area attack! [Pulled -5] Combat: Giant Scorpion misses Jetfire with his The STING of SCORPONOK Area attack! [Pulled -5] Shockwave reaches a control bunker and rips a bundle of cables off the wall, holding them in his hand briefly. His eye flickers as he overrides the abort mechanism and thereby disables the means of stopping the launch countdown from the ground. "So noted, Earthling," Shockwave replies, laser bolts smacking into the bunker behind him. "Your reasoning ability conspicuously outstrips others of your species and function." He straightens his hand and drives it into the bunker wall like a knife, peeling up one of the reinforced-concrete slabs which form the roof. In a ponderous rotation, Shockwave swings the twenty-ton slab around twice and releases it to send it spinning through the air towards Sam's much smaller exo-armor! "I will give you an appropriate degree of attention from now on." Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Shockwave strikes Exo-Suit ARES with his Personal Attention attack! Catechism ducks inside the complex, since Arkeville is probably hiding inside in cowardly fashion. Unfortunately, she iss not a super spy and is more likely to find the vending machines (mmm, blueberry-flavoured potato chips) than her target. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Catechism has 'skipped' her action for this round. "T MINUS THREE MINUTES AND COUNTING!" The computer announces. In spite of the several Friendly blips displayed on the Eagle Eye's HUD, and his hail to the Decepticons on the ground... Coldwar's comm was completely silent. Not a good sign. Perhaps it was merely interference of some sort from whatever mining materials there were on this world, or perhaps these apparently crafty humans had managed to come up with yet another trick, this one playing havoc with communications. "Frag this..." Coldwar murmured to himself before descending from the cloud cover in order to get a closer look... No, definitely not a good sign. Jetfire growls as his proximity alarms go off in his head, and he quickly steps to the side to avoid the targetting laser altogether, the electrical bolt crackling past moments later and way too close for comfort. Unfortunately the evasive manuever saving him from the worser fate leaves an opening in his defensive efforts, and Windshear's shots nail the control panel of the device and causes sparks to fly. Then it starts to crackle and hiss more rapidly as energy radiates in the center of the telsa-like pylons. "You slaggin' idiot, you knocked out the stabilization relays. Now I can't keep it from not frying -everything-." Instead of building at a stable rate, the energy is spiking expodentally with no regulation and giving off all sorts of weird readings! Immensely ticked off at this point, Jetfire turns his attention fully to the battle, as there's not much else he can do about the device other than let it go about it's way at this point and hope it overloading will still have some applicable effect. But instead of his rifle its one of his arm launchers he raises and fires a proton missile screaming after Windshear's form. "Torque off!" Like most inventors, Jetfire does -not- take kindly to his creations being messed around with. Combat: Jetfire sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Jetfire strikes Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet with his Fury of the Ticked Off Scientist attack! Broadside can't enjoy his drink without t-rexes trying to cramp his style!! He dodges more lazors, ducking and attempting to kick Grimlock's legs out from under him. BUT before he has a chance, Scorponok zaps him good. Glass shatters, paint melts, and barnacles wither up and slough off. Venting a deep sigh at the radio chatter, he attempts to leave Grimlock in the dust and moves to aim his plasma rifle at the weak point of the rocket. Pewpew! Exo-Suit ARES takes the chunk of concrete in the left arm, which obviously seizes up under the impact, sending the suit careening off to one side. The suit is still upright, and the arm with the laser is still functional, however, and Sam shoots some short machine-gun-like bursts of laser energy at Shockwave as he starts to slowly fall back. The pilot grimaces. "Who controls new.. drones? Galvatron? What is your role with completely loyal Empire? Leader or just drone?" Combat: Exo-Suit ARES strikes Shockwave with its Pulse Laser (Disruptor) attack! Steelajaw looks somewhat frustrated for a moment. He frowns, which accents his fangs slightly; accidentally, this time. But he pays close attention to the display. His scanning software goes over every little detail, including the weak point. Esspecially the weak point, narrowing in on it. He goes quiet for a moment, as his processors work to upload every bit of data about the rocket available to him to every autobot within the area. Once that's complete, he snaps back into the moment. "Very well, I've uploaded the weakpoint to every autobot near here. Are you sure we cannot override their controls from here?" A pause, "What about the satillite, is it protected from electromagnitism?" VH-64 Gazette flies directly at the rocket now, transforming and then landing with gangly arms and legs spread out. Like some bizarre cross between spindly robot rockclimber and giant mechanical spider (shout-out) he quickly scales around the sides of the rocket until he can see the spot that Doc Ark claims could be used to expose the dominator circuitry. There he summons his trusty weapons module, and adds his own firepower to Broadside's. PewPEWpew! Whirl transforms into his reckless robot mode. Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet is pleased to see his targeting system is working for once and he did indeed hit whatever the device was that Jetfire was working on. Course what he wasnt expecting was the sudden attack by the Autobot and taking a missile full in his side the Tetrajet jet rolls over and drops altitude pretty fast. Smoke from burning energon leaves a trail and it takes a few moments for Windy to get his bearings and pull back up. He doesnt say a word but fires at the Autobot again. Combat: Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet strikes Jetfire with his Laser attack! Giant Scorpion is left without a target as Broadside manuvers away from him. A pity, really; he'd been hoping to blast the wrecker another good one! He transforms into his defense base mode; cannons raising and coming online as he decides to track the other anyway as he opens fire on the rocket. He'll at least have a withering mess of flak from Scorponok's sonic cannons to contend with on the way! Giant Scorpion transforms into his Scorpstation mode. Combat: Scorpstation strikes Broadside with his Sonic Cannon attack! [Pulled -1] So, this was one of those missions... This was about an end to the war, end to the wide-scale destruction of Cybertronian life by Cybertronian hands. This is the reason he was alive, and Coldwar was ready and willing to lend his lasercore to the task of keeping that rocket in one piece. The message entering his head from the ground forces was heard loud and clear... That made protecting the rocket even more important. No need for everyone here to die when they would be so much better off as Decepticons. In an almost straight line for the objective Coldwar propelled himself forward, aiming to place his body between potential sources of enemy fire and the rocket itself- If they fired on it in the name of Straxus please let it hit him. Robot T-Rex! grunts, and as Broadside turns away from him...Grimlock turns away from Broadside! Instead, Grimlock wheels on Scorponok. "YOU NO TELL ME GRIMLOCK WHAT ME DOING!" he snarls, narrowing his optics. Hey, he may be playing for team evil, but Grimlock's still Grimlock! "Me Grimlock am BEST FIGHTER EVER! Me no need you stupid bug-face puny-head tell me what to do! NOBODY tell me Grimlock what do!" And he even crosses his little dino-arms across his chest, and gives a snort of flame. Meanwhile, within the base, Arkeville speaks with Steeljaw. "Electromagnetics? Well, possibly, if it were a large enough-" and then, an alert begins to sound in his control room. "The Decepticons! They're getting close! You must defend me!" for, on Arkeville's security monitors, it shows Catecism getting closer to his secret hiding spot! Entirely by chance, probably. "Quick, go...bite her or something!" And then, between Whirl and Broadside's blasts, the rocket's hull is torn wide open, revealing a bastard mix of cybertonian and human engineering beneath, wires sparking, lights flickering. "T-MINUS TWO MINUTES AND COUNTING!" Catechism does get closer to Dr. Arkeville, completely by chance! She pauses at a vending machine and stares at the contents: 'Irradiated Energon Candy Yum Yums'? She curses, "What the slag!?" Then, Catechism turns another corner... "There are loopholes to be exploited in even an apparently perfectly-closed system of control. A sufficiently advanced intellect will find them, expand upon them, and eventually break through, though it may take geologic aeons," Shockwave replies, laser bolts cracking off of his hull. "The risk involved is not one of eternal servitude. It is only that the Autobots may eventually find a way to escape from control before I would. I do not expect that they would." Rising into the air on his plasma rockets, Shockwave converts into his orbital artillery mode and swings his barrel towards the Wreckers who have blasted the armored skin off part of the rocket. "There is nothing to be gained by an appeal to reason where Wreckers are concerned. Instead I will appeal to your molecular structure." Capacitors whine as Shockwave pumps them to full charge. A pulse of light shimmers down the translucent hose from his body to his focussing chamber, a blinding ray of cosmic power slamming out of the bore of the space cannon and sweeping towards the pair of Autobots. Shockwave undergoes an extremely simple transformation to become a giant flying space "laser." Combat: Shoxcannon strikes Whirl with his Shoxcannon Area attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Shoxcannon misses Broadside with his Shoxcannon Area attack! [Pulled -2] From Exo-Suit ARES , Sam sighs with relief (with his radio off) as Shockwave turns to shoot at some other people. As he reassesses the tactical situation, he notices the UAV flitting around the launch vehicle. He tries to get some targeting information out of his damaged suit, but has to resort to good old-fashioned iron sights with his weaponry, moving forward again now that Shockwave is no longer defending the platform. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES strikes Coldwar with its Laser attack! Broadside winces loudly when Scorponok lights up his armor with frame-shattering blasts. He must stop his firing on the rocket to fend off the giant Scorpstation, leaving the rest to Whirl. "'Scuse me, Whirlybird, got some Wreckin' ta do..." Shockwave's shoxcannon tears up the ground behind him as he dashes for Scorponok, painting a very cool comic cover. Whipping out his axe, he brings it down on the 'con with a curse and a yell. Combat: Broadside misses Scorpstation with his Vibro-Ax attack! Jetfire turns and crouchs down to shield the already damaged scrambler device from more laser fire from Windshear, taking the shots across his back and shoulder instead .... Then listens to the radio as Steeljaw continues to report back. Electromagnetic Pulse? Up close? Well isn't that convenient... He glances up a bit, watching as the Wreckers live up to their name and tear a hole in the hull to reveal the algamation of electronics within. Grabbing the device by the base, Jetfire pulls it free of its anchoring, turns, and heaves it up overhead with both hands even as it continues to crackle and glow from overbuilding energy. "Time to go for the long bomb!" Putting all his strength into it, Jetfire HEAVES the over-charging contraption into the air, high enough to arc past any potential defenders and as close to blasted opening in the rocket as possible. Originally it was suppose to just give off a electromangetic wave. But with the regulator controls damaged, the device continues building energy until the relays are so full of power that they can't contain it. The device glows and sparks as it tumbles through the air towards the rocket, seams splitting in some of its shell to let small beams of light shoot out... And then explodes in a brilliant flash of energy and, thanks to this being sci-fi ACTION SCIENCE! at work, several visible rings of silver-yellow energy radiating out across the mines as it releases a powerful electromagnetic shockwave. Although tuned to a frequency that shouldn't harm the Autobots and Decepticons present, it's suppose to fry out every Dominator Disc in the region, and thanks to the gaping hole in the shielding of the rocket, hopefully the satellite to boot. Whirl shifts his weapons gleefully to 'Null-ray' mode and then sends streams of purplish-pink energy out to hose down anything that looks like Dominator circuitry. "I've expended just about as much firepower as I care to against nonsentient machinery!" He remarks. He hears something big exploding back at the actual fight, and he can't wait to get into the mix. And she's met by angry cat face. Literally. Because Steeljaw was waiting for Catechism, having caught the Decepticon's scent as soon as she came within range. It's unknown just how far out his range is, but long enough to tell where she was coming from. The temporarily steel gray feline pounces on the first sight of a decepticon, jumping high and hard. He lunges so hard that his claws leave tracks in the floor, the gray painted on them scraping off. "Wrong way, 'con! You need to go back the way you came!" He growls out, even as his mouth opens to try and take ahold of Catechism's face. Combat: Steeljaw strikes Catechism with his Steel Jaws attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Catechism's Agility. (Crippled) No sooner than he'd voiced his position on the comm and transformed did Coldwar's left shoulder jerk backward to drag him along for a short ride on the force of the Exo-Armor's laser cannon. The heated metal of his pauldron was bright, nearly white-hot with intense light before it quickly began to cool. "Slag... I hope they start using bigger weapons. If I'm gonna buy the farm out here the least they could do is make it quick." As if he'd had this conversation with himself a million times, the Decepticon Soldier's attitude appears far too calm considering his role in the action. Without another moment's hesitation however, he was right back into formation in defense of the U.P.L.V. Scorpstation is a giant, stationary battlestation. He sits there; firing at Broadside as the other comes for him. He is huge too, but as Broadside's axe swings down for his ramp he . . . retracts it, and the attack misses. As a battlestation, he has just managed to dodge a melee attack. It's an almost scary thing. Either way, he unfolds; rising up into robot mode with his shield raised in front of him for protection as he charges Broadside with the intention to meet him in hand to hand combat. Whilst he doesn't have an axe, he really doesn't need it; pincers of his right 'claw' attempting to grab the wrecker around the neck and half squeeze the life out of him, half try to behead him with their sharpened blades. Either way, it's not very pleasant if it lands. Combat: Scorponok strikes Broadside with his Wring the Wrecker's Neck attack! Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet tries to stop the Autobot from throwing the device in to the air but fails so instead vents his anger at the Autobot who threw it. "I will make you regret that, Jetfire." he rasps as he opens fire. Combat: Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet misses Jetfire with his Laser attack! Catechism gets her face torn off again. Fulcrum is going to be mad at her, and she's going to end up with another mint-scented fake face for a while. This is Decepticon policy, by the order of Shockwave. Catechism glowers at Steeljaw facelessly and, in a distorted voice with no lips to shape it, complains, "Straax, a grey lion? When did Blaster get a new pet and/or son? I thought Soundwave was the one with the two by two theme. Anyway, if you're attacking me, I'm in the right place!" Perfect logic. She tries to slam Steeljaw into a wall to get him off her head. Combat: Catechism strikes Steeljaw with her Wall Slam (Punch) attack! Shoxcannon converts back and turns his attention to the rocket to try to fix the damage done through that hole, otherwise satisfied with the results of his bombardment. "The satellite's functions may be compromised. Jetfire is to be destroyed at your soonest convenience, Scorponok." Shockwave simply straightens up and rotates in a few places to assume his robot mode. Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Shockwave takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Between the two Wrecker's firepower, and Jetfire's ACTION SCIENCE, the Confucius One rocket soon starts to spark and sputter- and as IT does, so does every dominator disk in the area! Fzzt. Fzzt. Clank. One by one, they fall off of their former captives, clattering to the ground. In the case of the Decepticons, well, this shouldn't have much effect. But Grimlock? Well, Grimlock's back on the right side! And damn if he isn't ANGRY. "RARGH!" Grimlock says, transforming- all the better for him to *CRUNCH!* his disk in his hand- and bring up his double-barreled laser in his other. "ME GRIMLOCK GONNA BLASTIFY EVERYBODY!" he bellows- and pauses. "...EVERYBODY DECEPTICONS!" he adds on, almost as an afterthought. And then, Grimlock brings up his blaster, holding down the trigger as he sets loose on anything he can see with purple insignia! Meanwhile, Dr Arkeville peeks around the corner, watching Catechism and Steeljaw brawl. "Hm. Discretion is the better part of valor, as they say..." and he ducks into the obligatory escape hatch! There's a flurry of moving parts, and Grimlock changes to his robot mode! Combat: Grimlock strikes Shockwave with his Laser Barrage Area attack! Combat: Grimlock strikes Scorponok with his Laser Barrage Area attack! Combat: Grimlock strikes Coldwar with his Laser Barrage Area attack! Combat: Grimlock strikes Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet with his Laser Barrage Area attack! Exo-Suit ARES gets ready to oblige Coldwar's silent request by turning up the juice on his laser, planting the suit's feet in a wide stance to provide a stable platform. "Move away," he calls, his voice somewhat distorted by damage to the suit's external speakers. That's when he notices Shockwave starting to fix the damage to the satellite, something he's apparently not willing to just let happen without some interference. He quickly changes targets, leveling the laser at Shockwave and firing. Then he ducks a little, reflexively, as Grimlock RAGEQUITS the Decepticon Empire. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES sets its defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES strikes Shockwave with its Medium Laser attack! Broadside's visor nearly pops off as Scorponok brings a heavy pincer down and snaps it around his neck. "HnnnNNNRRRRGHH! Let... me... GO!!" Metal warps as Broadside tries to claw free. Unable to get out of that steel grip, he scrambles for his rifle and attempts to fire a few shots pointblank at the giant metallic arachnid's.... uh, face. Meanwhile energon steams down his frame in great pools, and it's actually pretty gruesome. Combat: Broadside strikes Scorponok with his Plasma-Pulse Gun attack! Whirl collects up a few bits of armor and internal systems that were blasted off by Shockwave. "All right!" he announces. "Time to start beatin' on something that can yell in pain!" He turns towards Jetfire, who's always good for attracting Decepticons oh and hey! Sure enough, there's one swarming around him right now. Whirl transforms and then tilts in that direction, speeding away from the rocket and towards the beleaguered scientist. With all the heavy shootin he's been doing though, he doesn't even have the juice for a few photon bolts to announce his presence. Whirl transforms into his crazy 'copter mode. Combat: VH-64 Gazette takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Jetfire dusts his hands off with satisfaction as despite the complications the project was still a success. "Glad to have you back on the right side Grimlock!", he shouts to the Dinocommander when he goes on a shooting spree. And with his attention no longer on his work, he's got ample time to see Windshear coming around for another pass and once again ducks away from the laser shots. He takes a few sprinting steps and then kicks himself into the air and transforms as well to take off. Rising up, he loops over once and comes back around towards the area, bringing the Seeker up in his sights first. "My only regret is I couldn't do this sooner!" A couple of particle blasts are fired off at him as the faster spacefighter streaks by, Jetfire pulling the turn tight so he can fire a couple of the shots at Scorponok as well to try and help Broadside, and then as he comes around from the other side a few more particle beams lance out at Shockwave and Coldwar near the platform. Jetfire transforms into his Veritech Spacefighter mode. Combat: Veritech Spacefighter strikes Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet with his Here Comes The Air Support! Area attack! Combat: Veritech Spacefighter strikes Scorponok with his Here Comes The Air Support! Area attack! Combat: Veritech Spacefighter strikes Shockwave with his Here Comes The Air Support! Area attack! Combat: Veritech Spacefighter strikes Coldwar with his Here Comes The Air Support! Area attack! As Steeljaw is yanked off of Catchetism's face, he doesn't let go. He wants to keep that face, it seems, tugging on it with all of his might. But once he's slammed into the wall, his jaws give up - slightly. At least enough to give up part of her face. Metal crackles and pops on his backside, and some of the gray paint on him begins to scrape off, revealing bright, signature gold in some places. "Wrong, decepticon! Wrong on all parts!" Those twin blasters on his sides swivel down, aiming down to aim at the bigger transformer's hand. "You're too late, by the way," He notes, as the barrels on the twin lasers begin to glow faintly. Then begin to discharge into several bolts of laser fire. Combat: Steeljaw misses Catechism with his Hands off lady! (Laser) attack! Scorponok to his credit, does not even move as Grimlock's laser blast sears into his flank -- burning away already broken armor plating. Even Broadside's point blank shots are ignored, though they do grevious levels of damage. Scorponok is focused upon a single thing -- crushing the life out of the Autobot as best he can; focusing on trying to maintain his pincer lock around the other's neck. He even attempts to add a second; trying to force the other into the ground by raw strength and brute alone -- even as the Jetfire's missile strikes him on the shoulder and blows off one of the cannons mounted there in a shower of purple and blue sparks. Combat: Scorponok misses Broadside with his Fall Fall! attack! [Pulled -1] Coldwar locks his ruby red optics onto the Ares armor for a moment, and only a moment. With so many potential sources with the ability to open fire on the UPLV that he's charged with protecting there was no room for stare downs or honor duels. Back and forth he maneuvered, pushing his anti-gravs to their very limit as he attempted to cover the entirety of the Launch Vehicle all by his lonesome. Still, in all of the battlefield awareness it was difficult to miss the rebirth of Grimlock. "Frag me... Not surprised though. That tends to be how this kind of scene plays out time after time," comes the cool self-directed murmurings of Coldwar. Just then he's struck by the blast from the raging Dinobot, which slams his back against the rocket. While pinned another blast strikes him- this one from Jetfire; further blackening his armor and tearing some small shards off completely. "Unngh..." groans the Soldier, but soldier on he does as he offers Shockwave an impromptu gift. Gears grind, pistons pump, and sheets of metallic frame click into place to form a HV-911 Eagle Eye UAV! Combat: Coldwar analyzes Grimlock for weaknesses Shockwave can exploit. Blasted and pierced by laser bolts and missiles, Shockwave falls backwards out of the air by the now-immobile rocket and crashes onto the ground with a resounding boom. Climbing back up to his feet, Shockwave regards his now-unused dominator disk lying on the floor. "I have control. I am Control. Windshear, salvage the nosecone of the rocket. Decepticons, Grimlock is the target. Engage the target." Shockwave reaches into the wrecked rocket's gantry and tears out a fistful of high-voltage lines, inserting the hissing, sparking end into one of the holes in his flank. The glow in his chest brightens and he levels his cannon at Grimlock, emitting a searing beam of X-rays towards his nemesis, intending to cook Grimlock's innards right through his massively-armored hide. Combat: Shockwave strikes Grimlock with his Irradiate attack! Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet gets blasted what seems like a whole bunch suddenly and now hes hurt. This always happens... he pulls up as best he can and puts some distance between he and the battle. He came here to scalp the part he needs from the crashed autobot shuttle, not end up back in the repair bay for a week. He weights his options for a moment. The objective as far as he can see is lost. Theres no point in staying around and getting shot offline, but he never retreats. But.. perhaps its time he starts using some sense.. he pulls awayl further and just circles and watches. Hes not retreating but hes out of range and he wont re-engage unless something goes bad wrong. Combat: Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Catechism actually tries to get past Steeljaw, rather than beating on the little Autobot. She exclaims, "Hey. That's a lazy paintjob! The undercoat's showing, and it's... yellowish... oh." She facepalms. "...you're Steeljaw. Hah. That's funny. Bye!" Catechism runs. Combat: Catechism sets her defense level to Protected. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Catechism has 'skipped' her action for this round. VH-64 Gazette veers away from Jetfire, who has gone from Decepticon potshot magnet to particle-beam spewing death machine. There's plenty of targets to go around...including one who's giving Broadside a truly hard time. Whirl flies that way, transforming and landing on Scorponok's upper back, scrabbling for purchase like a monkey. But this monkey is armed with ferocious weaponry. His weapons module reaches over the giant Decepticon's shoulder, takes aim at the elbow joint and unleashes a destructive blast of blue-tinged energy. Whirl transforms into his reckless robot mode. Combat: Whirl sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Whirl strikes Scorponok with his Wrecking attack! "ARGH." Shockwave's radiation laser pierces straight through Grimlock- but the dinobot remains on his feet! And damnation if he's STILL not angry. Snarling, he transforms to his dinosaur mode- and then he storms forward- jaws snapping and gnashing as he attempts to sink his teeth into Shockwave- and then drag the massive purple decepticon along in order to smash into Scorponok, next! Maybe Grimlock's listening, trying to help Broadside, his fellow Autobot. Teamwork, even, as Whirl blasts away! "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!" Or maybe Grimlock just wants to cause as much damage as possible. With a grunt and a growl, Grimlock changes into a robot T-rex! Watch out. Combat: Robot T-Rex! misses Shockwave with his Dino Rampage Area attack! Combat: Robot T-Rex! strikes Scorponok with his Dino Rampage Area attack! Broadside manages to swing out of the way of that second pincer, though his thrashing is clearly growing weaker. "Fraggin'... gonna'... KILL YA'!" he croaks, and with a last ditch effort, he swings a massive foot up to hopefully hit Scorp's claw and jaw him free. Just then, Whirl comes down to do some wrecking that would make Impactor proud. And even more help from Grimlock! Combat: Broadside strikes Scorponok with his KICK attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Scorponok falls to the ground, unconscious. Exo-Suit ARES starts approaching slowly, keeping that laser on Shockwave the whole time, trying to whittle down the Decepticon, at least to distract him. Even with all its battle damage, the suit still have plenty of juice. For a Terran weapon, that is. The pilot doesn't bother engaging Shockwave in witty repartee. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES strikes Shockwave with its Pulse Laser (Disruptor) attack! "What was the first clue!?" Steeljaw snaps his jaws once at the decepticon once he's let go. There's only one bot with teeth like that. He lands lightly on his feet, all four of them hitting the ground with smooth grace that his feline form grants him. He turns the landing into a launching, as he literally launches himself after the fleeing Catechism. Eyes track the decepticon's movements, watching each of her pounding feet on the ground. Then just when he thinks he's got a nice aim, he opens his mouth wide, and attempts to bring it down hard on an ankle with every bit of hydrolics that his jaws can muster. Combat: Steeljaw sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Steeljaw misses Catechism with his Steel Jaws attack! Veritech Spacefighter pulls up after his blitzing run and banks into another turn, surveying the battle around as he does so. Despite Rodimus being disabled early in the fight, the Autobots were still pushing on and successfully turning the tide of the battle... And Windshear actually backing off. "I guess some Seekers have some capable processing after all..." he muses mostly to himself. But he's not being a threat, so it's ignorable for the time being. And the Wreckers are dealing with Scorponok with a little help from Grimlock. So he focuses his attention where it needs to be, and pulls into a dive towards the rocket pad itself and the Big Purple still there. "Hey now, I broke that fair and square, leave it alone!" What, is he going to dive right into Shockwave or something?! Sort of. As Jetfire waits until the last minute to transform, and a last burst from his thrusters allows him to essentially 'air dash' towards Shockwave with enough impact force to knock him away from the rocket pad, regardless of potential harm to himself in the process if they got crashing down. Veritech Spacefighter transforms into his Jetfire mode. Combat: Jetfire strikes Shockwave with his Flying Tackle (Smash) attack! It's kind of interesting, really. Scorponok has been shot at by just about everyone here. If you add it up, more firepower has gone into him than has been directed at just about anything else, including the rocket. Unfortunatly, Scorponok is too focused on strangling Broadside to know when to retreat, and Zarak is too busy listening to Scorponok at exactly the wrong time. It is hard to say exactly what brings him down, weather it is Whirl or Grimlock or Broadside or the like, but he staggers back; the behemoth dropping to one knee under the force of multiple blows. He rises, and launches himself at Broadside with both claws outstretched for another go until a sub-explosion occurs somewhere in the region of his abdomen as something cooks off -- and he drops like a rock, silent; covered in sparks with a visible fire raging in his left side. Coldwar remains still for a few moments, still splayed out with his back rested against the immobile UPLV. The heavy thump of the fallen Warlord was unmistakable, as it was an even heavier impact he's certain than what he'd have felt if Grimlock had fallen- he's certain. "Alright, looks like it's about time to bug out of this SNAFU..." A quick transformation first however, as there was one last thing that needed accomplishing before the Decepticons left the battlefield. One extremely dangerous thing... Rolling onto his front, Coldwar climbed the length of the rocket and immediately got to work unscrewing the nosecone as the Director of Operations tried his darndest to hold the line! Now that Scorponok is down, Shockwave finds himself significantly at a disadvantage. His 'available power' meter is down to 3%, and several of his other systems are not looking much better. Although he leaps over Grimlock in time to avoid being smashed by that lashing tail and those gnashing jaws, he catches a big white enemy scientist to the midsection and is hurled against the gantry by the impact. It's all he can do to defend himself, trying to wrestle Jetfire off of him. "Zarak, report your status," he calls out towards the smoldering wreckage of Scorponok. Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Shockwave strikes Jetfire with his One-Armed Bandit attack! [Pulled -7] Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet cant beleive what hes just seen. Scorponok went down. He watches the attack on Shockwave, sees what Coldwar is doing. The Tetrajet circles for a moment, his mind racing with a multitude of possible actions to take. Finally he opens the comm... Combat: Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] From inside the wreckage of Scorponok, a dazed sounding voice transmits over the open comm in response to shockwave. "Why, Galen? You sh-shouldn't have. You look so pretty in that dress. But we can't marry, we're mortal enemies." Catechism runs away from Steeljaw! She runs away so hard that she falls down a plothole and is forgotten for the rest of the episode. It's a bird! IT's a plane! It's....Astrotrain! Having been holding in a pattern high, high above the Chinese landscape, the triplechanger is soon barrelling down towards ground level the instant that he heard Scorponok's big beefy form had hit the ground and wasn't moving anymore. Muttering aloud more than a few choice swear words, insults and observations of how this is the -last- duty he wants to be performing, the Decepticon Shuttle comes in fast and hard for a sudden rough touchdown and taxiing along the ground before transforming to train mode, his single headlight illuminating the downed form of Scorponok ahead, and any Autobots possibly in close proximety. "Awright g'wan, shoo! I got the unenviable job of picking up this heap!" Armor locks in place, parts shift and Astrotrain transforms into a huge armored train! Robot T-Rex! contributes to the wrecking of Scorponok! How pleasant. Grimlock watches the mighty warrior fall- and then, bits of energon and wiring still dripping from his jaws, Grimlock wheels around, with just one thing to say! "NEXT." And Grimlock tromps forwards towards Shockwave and Jetfire. "You Jetfire get outta me Grimlock way!" he says- and, attempting to shove the scientist aside, Grimlock again tries to bite on the radioactive rascal! "Me Grimlock am PROFESSIONAL." Meanwhile, Coldwar's prying at the nosecone soon pays off, giving him a nosecone full of (admittedly fried) technology! It...might be good for something. Combat: Robot T-Rex! misses Shockwave with his BITE (Kick) attack! Broadside collapses to the ground and /barely/ has enough time to scramble away from those outstretched claws as Scorponok goes down. Visor glowing bright in shock, Broadside simply sits there with his hand around his bleeding neck. He sorts out the frequency backlog as well as he's able, and finally rolls onto his abdomen, scanning the field for Shockwave. Astrotrain lands nearby and Broadside is quick to get to his feet and move elsewhere. He crouches behind some smoldering tree and clips off a few rounds of plasma. Combat: Broadside misses Shockwave with his Machineguns (Pistol) attack! From Exo-Suit ARES , Sam keeps on Shockwave. With the satellite disabled his top priority has shifted to taking down such a high priority target, and with the Decepticons wounded and seemingly ready to withdraw there's little opportunity to do so. The suit slides to a halt, and there's a whirr as the laser cycles up for another relatively low-powered burst, probably not able to generate many more full-power blasts. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES strikes Shockwave with its Laser attack! Somewhere in a chase scene, there is always this pile of boxes that are conveniently nearby to throw in the way of the persuer. In this case, it was a pile of crates all marked 'ACME' that is thrown into Steeljaw's way. Unfortunately, he's not actually the most agile of cats. Try as he might to skid to a stop before running into them, he ends up ploughing head first, creating an awful ruckus of clattering boxes and rattling metal. "Ugh... Why are there always boxes..." He rumbles, clawing his way out from underneath mass of crates. But by the time that he manages it, his target is already gone. He grunts, tail flicking in irritation. Then moving quickly, he rushes back towards the entrance to the facility. Jetfire gets slugged by Shockwave, but refuses to let up so easily. Not after they've managed to turn the tides this far. If Astrotrain was here it means the Decepticons were on the line and ready to withdraw. If they just keep the pressure up a bit longer... And then he's shoved aside by Grimlock. And considering the pissed of state of the Dinobot after being brainwashed, Jetfire just eases to the side more than actually being pushed out of the way. "Have at it Grim, he's all yours." Turning on his heel Jetfire darts towards were Broadside is, pulling some rubber lining out of subspace as he does so. "Hold still a moment. Wouldn't want you to loose your head after sticking your neck out like that." He makes quick work of wrabbing the rubber length around for bandages to seal off the leaking gouges in Broadside's neck. Combat: Jetfire quickly patches up some of Broadside's minor injuries. "C'mon... Open up for papa," Coldwar says as he finally feels the nosecone begin to give, and in the next instant it pops off of the rocket and sends the Soldier sliding down the fuselage and right onto his aft. "...Ow..." Quickly rising to his feet he tucks the cone underneath his left arm and begins to make a break for it- skyward bound. Astrotrain is noted as he moves to assist Lord Scorponok, and the Wing Leader rates a brief salute from Coldwar's free hand as he ascends. Whatever was inside of the nosecone is definitely damaged, perhaps beyond repair... But R&D could always manage to piece something together even from over cooked technology with the whip of the Empire at their back. Combat: Coldwar begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Broadside, Exo-Suit ARES , Decepticon Shuttle , Jetfire, Shockwave, and Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet Astrotrain rises up as he transforms, looking down at Scorponok's wrecked frame. "Pfft, for somethin big and all armored you sure do get wrecked up pretty frequently!" He then observes that he has a problem. While he can -carry- Scorponok, how's he going to get him into his cargo bay? Rubbing his chin, he ponders this. Usually he latches on a couple of tow cables and pulls up downed Decepticons inside that way, but Scorponok's really too big for that isn't he? That means there's one way to do this... "Awwww MAN!" He complains, looking like he's dreading having to do something totally disgusting, as he leans down and grabs hold of Scorponok's right shoulder, grunting as he pulls the big Headmaster up so that his form is sitting upright. "I HATE THIS!" He finally exclaims, giving a loud "EEEW!"for good measure as he proceeds to lean down and...HUG SCORPONOK CLOSE! And with that, he does that trick of transformers, where he proceeds to change form -around- the Headmaster, reverting into his shuttle mode and ending up with Scorponok laying flat down on the floor of his cargo bay as his engines begin to warm up again in preparation for takeoff. "Anyone else catchin a ride this is yer last chance!" Parts spin, components shift and Astrotrain's body grows in size until he is an enormous space shuttle. From inside Scorponok, a dazed voice mumbles oh. "Oh, Arcana. I wish you'd hug me like this every day. But . . but . . isn't the chainsaw a little much? It clashes so with those dainty heels." Decepticon Shuttle says, "..."" Decepticon Shuttle says, "I BETTER GET DOUBLE PAY FOR THIS!" Shockwave covers Coldwar and the damaged satellite with his cannon arm, limping onto Astrotrain's lowered ramp. "Our casualties and the objective are in our hands. We will have to be satisfied with that. Decepticons: withdraw from the operation area," he intones, steadying himself against the bulkhead with his hand. Combat: Shockwave begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Exo-Suit ARES , Decepticon Shuttle , and Olive and Sand colored Cybertronian Tetrajet From Exo-Suit ARES , Sam tries to take a few more shots, but the laser on his suit finally fizzes out, so he pulls a chunk of concrete out of the joint of his suit's arm and chucks it at Shockwave as he flees into Astrotrain. Combat: Exo-Suit ARES misses Shockwave with its Hit Him With a Rock! (Punch) attack! Whirl trudges over to stand next to Broadside, watching the Decepticons make their getaway. "That was fun," he comments conversationally. "We ought to come down to Earth more often." Jetfire steps back from helping Broadside to take a general glance over the battlefield. "Looks like they're pulling ou--Wait a moment!" He notices, more or less too late, that Coldwar is carrying the nosecone of the rocket which contains the fried satellite most likely, but gives a dramatic point all the same. "One of them has the nosecone!" Too little too late, but he fires off a quick shot in vain effort at Coldwar all the same. Combat: Jetfire strikes Coldwar with his Potshot! (Laser) attack! Steeljaw slows to a steady walk as he comes out of the complex, his tail flicking lightly. Eyes focus on the fleeing decepticons, likely keeping a very close watch on them just in case they show even the slightest sight of turning back around. Though, it doesn't necissarily look it. He huffs a little, shifting slightly. "I was just getting started," He mutters, baring his teeth a little more. "And I got all dressed up for this, too. This paint chaffs." At least Catechism did him a favor and scraped a lot of it off. Turning around, he starts to walk back into the complex. Probably to collect Catechism's face. Robot T-Rex! is left without anybody to smash! Well, without any Decepticons to smash, at least. Hnm. Grimlock grunts- and, frustrated, he sweeps his tail over what's left of the wrecked and blasted rocket, demolishing it just that much further! "Gr. Me Grimlock glad me back to normal!" he says, and looks down at his chestplate- at which point he starts scratching off the red-star there. "Stupid humies. Stupid septi-cons. Stupid...hn. Everything am stupid! 'cept for me." Still, the good news is, Grim's got enough rage out of his system that he can fly in Jetfire with a minimum of punching! That's...good, isn't it? Jetfire transforms into his Veritech Spacefighter mode. Veritech Spacefighter chuckles a little as Grimlock smashes the rocket, transforms himself and lowers the loading ramp. As much to gather up the other Autobots now free from control as much as the Autobots that were fighting... Oh right, Rodimus... Well they can make a pass over the river as they leave and see if they can spot him on the way out of China. "Good job guys, lets load up and head home." Decepticon Shuttle blasts off with his cargo of Decepticons aboard, rocketing towards the sky for a good while before turning to head towards the other hemisphere, and where 'home' is waiting. "I don't envy whoever puttin him back together." He idly comments as he goes.
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