| abstract
| - Northern California still struggles to maintain its natural beauty, even though it is teeming with people and fighting with all the problems of a modern society. For the most part, the hilly green city of San Francisco succeeds in that venture. Still, you get the sense of vast overcrowding pushing at the seams of this place, where no privacy can truly be afforded. Even the outskirts and suburbs overflow with people. Roadbuster Fanfare Rodimus Prime Parking Lot Gated Doors leads to Entrance to Autobot City. Fly leads to Sky over San Francisco. West leads to Uptown San Francisco. Out leads to California. Kup has been disavowed in missions before and given up for dead. It's not the most pleasant of things, but given that he's had to do it to other people, in his time, having been through it himself a few dozen times at least makes it a bit easier. Getting out of the Himalayas had been hard enough. He's still a bit roughed up from Shockwave throwing him around and from falling headfirst into a snowdrift, which made catching a cargo plane hauling rubber dog doodoo a bit of a trick, but he managed it, and he hitched a ride on that rickety old bird all the way back to California. Right now, Kup's just walking up to Autobot City, as if nothing abnormal happened at all, but his optics are narrowed and considering, because he really doesn't expect a warm welcome home. Rodimus Prime was, of course, alerted the moment Kup was spotted, so now he's at the inside of the gates, frowning at one of the monitors. He looks back at any other Autobots present and says, voice grim, "Remember, just because you can't see a disk doesn't mean it isn't there - they can be placed inside, too. Which means that until... well, until we can take him apart, we've gotta assume he's hostile." Roadbuster fidgits nervously with his rifle, his optic band constanting changing focus from the expanse of city outside the gates, to Rodimus Prime's broad sillouette. At time he isn't sure if having a full battlemaks, devoid of expression, is a blessing or a curse. But, today, it lets him bury his fears and trepidations somewhat, as he worries over the fate of his allies... And the impending confortation. "I've got your back, Rodimus. If Kup has to be put down, you can trust me to put him down cleanly." Fanfare strides pu behind Rodimus at this point, his boots shivering the ground a little with every step. He pauses and peers over PRime's shoulder at the monitor, then steps back as he folds his arms. "And iffen he is?" "If he is, we take him down." Rodimus nods towards Roadbuster. "Cleanly, and with as little damage as possible. Then we still take him apart, remove the damned disk, and put him back together." Luckily, Kup is easy to repair. "Oh, and one more thing - be careful about letting him get too close to you, he may have some of those disks to use on us. Of course, if he tries it, that'll reveal him." Rodimus turns and heads towards the gate. "Come on." He pulls his photon elimantor from subspace. "Let's get this over with." And with that, he strides out them to face his mentor. Kup just ambles on towards Autobot City, all casual like, not betraying the tension inside him. Then, he sees a familiar face come out the gates, and he waves, calling, "This is a better welcome back than the last time I got disavowed, y'know? Despite that photon eliminator you're carrying." Kup's optics don't leave that photon eliminator. Roadbuster has fought alongside Kup often enough to know he's a tough son of a gun, but it also grants the Wrecker an deeper insight into how the old codger fights and where he's weak. Roadbuster has had a lot on his mind, and facing down the legendary Kup on the fild of battle is not a joyous topic, but he feesl the weight and burdens lift from his shoulders as he prepares to fight an old friend. Battle, even against an ally, always sparks up Roadbuster's curcuits. His optic band glares towards Kup, and the Wrecker waits for Rodimus to make the call. Fanfare pauses at that, looking a little bit uncomfortable. But he nods and turns to walk behind Rodimus and Roadbuster. He withdrew no weapon, but his arms were tight, and as the crew come to a stop he folds them, scowling somewhat fiercely "That's far enough, Kup," Rodimus commands. He then aims the Photon Elimantor towards the veteran. "All right, Kup. Slowly, and with no sudden movements, empty your subspace pocket in front of you and then step away." He says more quietly, addressing Roadbuster and Fanfare, "Circle out to his sides. We don't want to all be clumped together right now." Roadbuster offers the briefest of nods at Rodimus's order, and begins to circle around to face Kup's left flank. His linear blaster rifle is brought up, an his glares down it's sights at Kup, with his unblinking gaze. "No funny business, Kup. Keep it slow, and do what the big-boss says." Kup hmphs, "Still not as bad as the time I got dropped down a trip door and tossed in a variable voltage harness." But the problem is, Kup being Kup, his subspace pockets are full with old junk, so emptying them is going to take a while. Acid laser musket, lawn chair, plans for Metroplex's transformation cog, a wrench, some very expensive space rock, a hand grenade with the pin pulled out... a hand grenade with the pin pulled out? Oh, /whoops/. Kup immediately throws himself at it, but it slips out of his hand, bouncing over at Rodimus Prime. Combat: Kup strikes Rodimus Prime with his Hand Grenade (Pistol) attack! Rodimus Prime is blasted off his feet! He has enough time to roll with the blast, so it does little more than lightly singe him, but hitting the ground does knock his photon eliminator. "Roadbuster, take him down!" he shouts as he springs back to his feet, snatching his rifle back up again. Fanfare obediently sidles to the other side, Kup's Right. He unfolds his arms again, and then unfolds them in surprise "Ach!" is all he could say, turning to dart forwards as well... actually placing his huge frame between Kup and Rodimus for now. Roadbuster's honed reflexes instantly react to the sight of the grenade, and Rodimus's orders to attack are being fulfilled even before the Autobot Leader has finished giving them. Laser-fire flashes as Roadbuster opens fire, firing a short burst of laser-fire towards Kup, while breaking into a sprint to continue flanking the old mech and get into his blind spot. "Stand down, Kup! We don't want to hurt you!" Combat: Roadbuster misses Kup with his Assault Laser Rifle attack! Combat: Roadbuster (Roadbuster) used "Assault Laser Rifle": A Level 4 RANGED attack. Kup has much better reflexes than would be expected of an old man, and he springs out of the way of the assault laser shot. He protests, "That was a mistake! I never would... I never wanted to..." He looks rather upset with himself over failing to fall on a grenade, then his natural temper takes over, and he snaps hotly, "Look, you see here, if you want to ambush a suspected traitor, there's better ways of going about it-" -and, unthinkingly, he reaches for his musket, to demonstrate. Rodimus Prime aims his photon elimator towards Kup... and his optics open wide as Fanfare gets in the way. "Out of the way, Fanfare!" he orders. "Damn it, he's going for his gun! Kup, stand DOWN!" He darts to the right and attempts to fire around Fanfare as soon as he has a clear shot, though his aim is off because of the poor angle. Combat: Rodimus Prime misses Kup with his Photon Eliminator attack! [Pulled -9] Combat: Rodimus Prime (Rodimus Prime) used "Photon Eliminator": A Level 1 RANGED attack. Jayson Redfield arrives from Uptown San Francisco to the west. Jayson Redfield has arrived. Fanfare freezes instantly at the command... and drops like a stone in fromt of Optimus... albei with his bulk it was like climbing a slightly lower mountain instead of Everest: still difficult. "I said stand DOWN, Kup!" Roadbuster shouts, as the old mech goes for his gun. That acid-laser musket is nothing to laugh at, and Roadbuster knows he'll have to work quick to take down the teal Autobot subcommander. Laser rifle still recharging, Roadbuster lets loose a missile from his rack of heavy munitions to try and end this quickly, if not painlessly. Combat: Roadbuster misses Kup with his Rocket Rack attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: Roadbuster (Roadbuster) used "Rocket Rack": A Level 3 RANGED attack. Jayson Redfield peers around the corner of a building, having been alerted by the sounds of Autobots talking...and apparently attacking each other. "What the--" He slips around the corner and, wisely, keeps his distance, not wishing to be injured. "Hey!" he calls. "Why are you attacking each other?" "Kup's screwin' oop! Watch yer 'ead Jayson!" calls Fanfare, still flat on the ground until he was sure Rodimus was not going to shoot again. Kup sputters, "I'll stand down when you stop trying to fragging /kill/ me. Easy, son! You could put someone's optics out with that there peashooter." He mutters more lowly, "Which I guess is kinda the idea." His fingers close around his gun without thinking, and Kup stands up with a start, a rocket whizzing by where he was just standing, and on reflex, he fires back. He hits his head with his hand and curses, "Slagging Pit! Sorry 'bout that, but if you keeping shooting... reflexes, y'know." Combat: Kup strikes Roadbuster with his Acid Musket Laser attack! [Pulled -5] "Autobots have been subverted, Jayson! It's been all over the news!" he shouts while he takes aim with his photon eliminator. He aims now not directly for Kup, but for the musket in his hand, and fires. Combat: Rodimus Prime strikes Kup with his Photon Eliminator attack! [Pulled -9] Combat: Rodimus Prime (Rodimus Prime) used "Photon Eliminator": A Level 1 RANGED attack. Combat: You took 6 damage. "DON'T pick it back up, Kup!" Rodimus commands. Swift arrives from the Entrance to Autobot City. Swift has arrived. Fanfare rolls to one side instantly as he is cleared, his fans whirring. Opticsd flashed again as he starts to his feet. He glances ver to Rodimus and nods "Aye Aye." as he turns, leaping up into the air to transform - near-hurricane winds blast the entire area as he takes off semi vertically into the sky. Folding down and around, Fanfare turns into a A Screaming Mimi with bright pink with huge lips and white teeth CF-130 Super Hercules. Roadbuster takes a hit straight to the chest, the acid-generated laser leaving a black blast scar, but little else. "Normally I'd be glad to see your reflexes are still sharp, Kup! But today, it doesn't exactly fill me with warm fuzzy feelings." Roadbuster replies, and he leaps to the ground, folding up into his armoured battlewagon and driving a circle around Kup's position, hoping to draw his fire, but also collecting some valuable data about Kup's current condition to pass along. Roadbuster collapses into his road-bustin' jeep mode. Combat: Roadbuster analyzes Kup for weaknesses Rodimus Prime can exploit. Jayson Redfield is quite aware of the news, but Kup certainly doesn't seem like he's been converted. The young soldier looks on in horror, not moving from his position, but itching to somehow help the situation. How, he's not sure, but he's also not going to take any risks that might land him in medical. "Just...just stop fighting!" he suddenly blurts. "You guys are friends!" Kup's hand comes off at the wrist when Rodimus Prime shoots the gun out of his hand, and he yelps and stumbles, accidentally kicking over one of the things that he dropped out of subspace earlier - the lawn chair. This is not his day. Or anyone else's. Combat: Kup misses Hardcore Battlejeep with his Lawn Chair (Kick) attack! Fanfare has left. "That's it!" Rodimus shouts, not responding to Jayson because yo, crisis here. Instead, he drops his weapon, summoning his wagon from subspace instead. As he springs for Kup, he shouts, "Roadbuster! I'm going to make sure he stays down! If he slams a disk on me, blast BOTH of us!" Rodimus Prime then makes a grab for Kup, trying to slap a modelock on him. Combat: Rodimus Prime sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Rodimus Prime strikes Kup with his Modelock (Grab) attack! Hardcore Battlejeep revs his engine to propel him towards the powerful turret Rodimus has summoned(and away from the deadly lawnchair), and a blast of jumpjets sends the battlejeep into the air as he transforms, colliding with the turret with a resounding CLANG. He grabs on to halt his momemtum, gripping the gun's controls. "You got it, Rodimus!" Roadbuster shouts, integrating the gun's controls into his own targeting curcuits. "Just take it easy, Kup! One wrong move, and you're gonna get it from this gun, and even with a hide as thick as yours, it's gonna smart!" The rugged jeep becomes the gun-toting Wrecker, Roadbuster! Kup is tackled down from Rodimus Prime, and he has a mode-locked slapped on him! He points out, "Y'know, all that's gonna do is keep me outta truck mode. Sure you didn't wanna try, oh, maybe, stasis cuffs instead?" When pinned, Kup's gut instinct is to struggle, and while his gut instincts usually serve him well, they've been nothing but trouble today. So he stays reasonably still instead, but as any medic could say of his ward, he's squirming. "I'd prefer to give you the chance to prove you are what you say," Rodimus answers before he shifts position enough to reach down and attempt to open Kup's chest so that he can inspect the inside for one of the disks. "Kup, we're going to have to check any area that thing might fit, you know that, right?" Jayson Redfield falls silent, since his protests are falling on deaf audios. "Jayson, you'd better hop up here behind the blast shields, in case things turn worse." Roadbuster offers, since the platform offers superb protection from stray shots or grumpy old men. He keeps his optic on the action, but Rodimus does seem to have a good handle on it. "I've still got the two of you in my sights, Rod. Frisk 'im good." Kup is sure he's faced something more awkward than his ward threatening to cavity search him where the sun don't shine, but to be honest? He can't remember when. His mouth opens in something like stunned horror and then closes. Then Roadbuster goes and makes it /worse/, and Kup asks plaintively, "Is it too late to say I've gone evil and go sock Roadbuster?" "Yes, Kup, it's too late," Rodimus sighs tiredly and proceeds to, yes, perform a full body cavity search on Kup. He's put Kup's pieces back together in the middle of an alien world, though - this shouldn't take too long. Jayson Redfield finally breaks from his position and scrambles up onto the platform at Roadbuster's bidding. "Autobots shouldn't be fighting each other," he says quietly. "As it so happens, Jayson, I agree," Rodimus says as he finishes his search. "Sometimes, though, there's special circumstances." Then he moves back and sits up. "He's clean," he announces to the others, then frowns at Kup. "Kup. First. What the hell happened? And second, why were you carrying a grenade without a pin in subspace? How'd that even last this long?" "Kup is tough, he can take it. As grumpy as h is right now, I think he understands the necessity of this." Roadbuster muses, as the consensus sems to be 'Kup is grumpy but not evil'. "We're not shooting him because we /don't/ like him, we're shooting him because we DO- Because we don't want him tohave lost his sense of self, and we had to make sure he really was the curmudgounly Kup we know and love." Kup grits his robo-teeth together, lies back, and thinks about Iacon. Except the Decepticons blew up Iacon (again), so that just torques him off, and he ends up snarling softly as Rodimus Prime searches him. He mutters something almost inaudible about wanting to introduce Roadbuster's exhaust to a pine tree. "Well, you're the one who makes the training schedule. I'm sure you could come up with an excuse," Rodimus answers Kup's mumblings as he stands up, then he reaches down to help Kup stand. "Welcome back, old man. If you can add to Tailgate's description of what happene, we'd appreciate it. As it is, Impactor and Patchwork are still MIA." Jayson Redfield heaves a sigh, seemingly relieved. But inwardly, he's still worried, though he gives no hint of it. With the scuffle over, Roadbuster seems to withdraw a bit. The mention of Impactor's condition seems to have a ngative impact on Roadbuster's spirits, and his optic goesw dim. "Yes, Kup. Any news of Impactor would be greatly appreciated." Kup answers the earlier question first, "Uh... the grenade. I think I was about your age, actually, and tossed it in subspace to see what would happen... I did some /dumb/ stuff as a kid, but oh, you're asking about Impactor, eh? I, uh..." Kup looks away and concludes sullenly. "I failed him. I let Shockwave throw me outta window, and I dunno what happened after that." Rodimus Prime sighs. "Well, that matches up with what Tailgate says." He shakes his head. "C'mon, old man. You're still going to need a full check-up, and we've got to figure out how to fix this whole mess." His expression darkens. "Unfortunately, Jazz's team had already cut contact by the time I found out what happened with Impactor." Dun dun dun... Roadbuster's hands curl into tight fists, and he sullenly turns his back on Kup, walking off the gun platform slowly. "We'll get him back. So help me, we'll get him /back/."
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