| abstract
| - Andi Lassiter is doing some gardening in the back yard of her house, weeding out the vegetables while a sprinkler rains on the flowerbeds. From an open window of her house a radio can be heard gently playing music intermittently broken by news reports and commercials. Tiny Weevil is buzzing through San Francisco, just scouting out the area, in search of potential Autobot activity when he spots Andi. Recognizing her immediately, he buzzes in lower, knowing this is the one that caused Air Raid to go into such a fit of rage, a weakness easily exploitable, yeeeessss... Barrage decides to do some observation, so to learn more about this one that carries such weakness for the Autobots. Barrage swings low (Sweet Chariot) and lands between a bunch of flowers. Andi Lassiter of course doesn't notice the tiny insect arrive and just keeps on doing her weeding, humming softly with the song playing from the radio. She picks up a hand trowel (tiny shovel) to move some of the garden soil around. Tiny Weevil watches intently, focusing on what Andi is doing, and taking mental notes, "Such a fleshy could be easily used against them..." he quietly says to himself, planning things to do with his new position. Andi Lassiter finishes with the weeding and gets up to move the sprinkler, dusting off her hands and tucking her gardening gloves in a back pocket. Tiny Weevil quickly lifts off to follow Andi, swooping down onto the gloves. Andi Lassiter again doesn't notice...why would she notice just one insect amongst so many out here? She moves the sprinkler then heads back toward the house, not at all hurried. Tiny Weevil moves around on the glove, trying to get a secure position so he doesn't fall off. Knowing this won't be too useful, Barrage flies up a little, so that he's just behind Andi's left shoulder, and watches from there. Andi Lassiter cleans up the garden area, taking the weeds to a compost area, sweeping off the small square of concrete patio...things like that. Tiny Weevil yawns, but records the coordinates of the house so he knows where it is. Tired from flying like this, Barrage lands on Andi's shoulder, walking around slowly. Andi Lassiter feels something on her shoulder and brushes it off carelessly before heading up to her back porch to dust off and go inside. Tiny Weevil slides off Andi's shoulder, but regains his balance and flies back towards her, moving to the porch quicker than her. Andi Lassiter sets her gardening tools in their rack and the gloves with them, then dusts off her jeans...where is the insect landing? Tiny Weevil lands on the porch and somewhat hungry, proceeds to take a nice chomp out of it. Andi Lassiter sits on a porch chair to take off her sneakers and sees the insect on the wood of the porch. . o O (Hello, what's this?) She watches it for a moment, then reaches for one of the empty and clean mayonnaise jars she keeps for carrying fertilizer. Tiny Weevil continues chewing pieces out of the porch, oblivious to Andi. Andi Lassiter turns the jar upside down and slowly moves it over the insect, then...*BAM!* She slams the jar onto the porch, trapping the insect inside. Tiny Weevil hears the sudden slam and nearly jump 12 feet in the air, except the jar stops him. Barrage begins grumbling angrily and rams into the sides of the jar, like a normal stupid bug. Andi Lassiter hms, watching the bug for a moment, then getting a piece of paperboard to slide under the opening in the jar. While the bug is flying about and bumping against the glass she slides the jar onto the paperboard and picks both up, quickly flipping the jar upright again. She sets the jar back down on the porch to reach up to the railing and get the jar's lid. Tiny Weevil looks up, and seeing a flimsy piece of something or other, flies up to hit it, but miscalculates and strikes the lip of the jar, bumping both the paperboard and the jar at the same time. The effect just knocks him crazily back down to the bottom, dazed and confused. Andi Lassiter repeats the slide procedure, this time pulling the paperboard away to let the jar lid fall into place. She closes the lid tightly, then carries the jar inside to the better light to get a look at her catch. Tiny Weevil rams the newly placed lid, over and over, denting it. Tired, Barrage stops, his mind racing to solve the problem, although the solution is simple. Andi Lassiter goes inside to the kitchen table and sits to look at the insect, then is amazed to see that the lid is dented. "What the heck?" She shakes the jar then leans close to get a better look at the insect. Tiny Weevil flies up to the top and rams the bottom, cracking with impact. Andi Lassiter gasps at the sudden cracking of the jar and quickly move to get another container to put it in..a larger and thicker glass jar. Andi Lassiter just drops the smaller jar into the bigger and caps the new jar tightly as well. Then she gets up and leaves the kitchen, moving into another room. Tiny Weevil grumbles at his new predicament, and ponders revealing himself to spook Andi, and destroy a nice section of the fleshie's house. Barrage, thinks for a moment, then begins chewing on the lid, eating a large enough hole in it to begin on the next lid. Andi Lassiter walks back into the kitchen quickly, phone against her ear, sees the bug is eating the jar lid and hits the lid HARD with a fist to knock him loose. Tiny Weevil is knocked onto the second jar, and angrily flies up, ramming the lid like a bouncy ball, up-down-up-down-up-down, until theres a reaonable sized hole in it. Barrage works on eating the lid so he can get out. Andi Lassiter watches this in horror, then grabs up a glass lidded air tight jar. She again dumps the whole mess into this third, largest jar, and seals it shut. This last jar is glass with a glass lid, almost none of the rubber sealing ring available to be chewed on, and clamped shut by a steel wire set up. (You're seen the kind.) Andi Lassiter picks the phone up again, hoping that will hold for a few moments. She dials on the phone then waits for a moment. Tiny Weevil can't dent glass, and therefore can't cause anything he can use to chew on, instead, Barrage rams the glass, cracking it all over in large web-like cracks. Andi Lassiter looks shocked yet again. "Stop that you psycho insect! That's my best jar!" Tiny Weevil gets more determined, smashing on one side over and over until chunks of glass begin to fall to the floor. This is one seriously determined bug. Andi Lassiter uh ohs softly, phone still to one ear. She snatches up a cast iron skillet and returns the attack on the jar, slamming the broken section with the skillet at the same time as the insect hits again. You transmit a message to Sheng: Hello? Please pick up... Transmission from Sheng: Andi? This is Sheng.. What's wrong? You transmit a message to Sheng: Hi, it's andi...could you come over as quickly as you can? I have an...unusual insect I found outside...and it's very aggressive. Transmission from Sheng: How aggressive? Smash! And it's a low flying object sailing over the floor! The bug goes all over the place, and SMASH! the jars break apart. Barrage lays there for a while, not feeling very aggressive anymore... Andi Lassiter is speaking into the phone as she peers to see what her skillet against the jar did to the bug. Seeing it's loose but not moving, she quickly moves to get one of her best Pyrex (that's STRONG glass) cookpots. With a pair of metal tongs she picks the bug up and drops it in the pot, then puts the lid on it and gets out the duct tape. You transmit a message to Sheng: *Over the link you hear a loud smash, like something hitting glass...hard.* I think I just made it stay still for a bit. How soon can you be here? Tiny Weevil bounces around inside the container, but this is much harder than the other stuff, and even with more room, Barrage can't break it. Andi Lassiter says into the phone as she is getting the cookpot, "I think I just made it stay still for a bit. How soon can you be here?" Transmission from Sheng: I'm not sure. Redshift shot my knees... and the rest of me a bit... But I'm being repaired right now... Andi Lassiter holds the phone with one shoulder as she leans on the lid with her knee while duct taping it down as securely as she can. Into the phone: "Oh...I'm sorry to bother you. Is there someone else who can make it in your stead?" You transmit a message to Sheng: Oh...I'm sorry to bother you. Is there someone else who can make it in your stead? Transmission from Sheng: I'm not sure... And you're not bothering me. You paged Sheng with 'While Andi's talking you hear an odd noise, and she sounds mostly distracted. Is that...duct tape you hear?'. Sheng (she) pages: oh dear.... Transmission from Sheng: Andi, that WASN"T duct-tape was it? Transmission from Roadbuster: hey you got a bug mind if i come see? Andi Lassiter sighs and sits down for a moment, watching the bug bash about futilely in the pot. "Yeah, that was duct tape, I just had to recontain this insect in something stronger....Uh, yes, of course you can come as well. I'll be at home, come around to the back, I'm in the kitchen." You transmit a message to Sheng: Yeah, that was duct tape, I just had to recontain this insect in something stronger....Uh, yes, of course you can come as well. I'll be at home, come around to the back, I'm in the kitchen. You transmit a message to Roadbuster: Uh, yes, of course you can come as well. I'll be at home, come around to the back, I'm in the kitchen. Tiny Weevil thinks for a moment. considering his options, a faint (due to his container Harmony follows after Roadbuster, but a lot more distant from him. Admittedly, he wants to keep the big guy out of trouble, as well as see his human friend. Gold hovertruck has arrived. Harmony is also followed by a Hovertruck. ;) Andi Lassiter is sitting at her kitchen table, a pile of shattered glass swept to the middle of the floor and one of those NICE Pyrex glass cookpots on the table...with the lid duct taped down with about five pieces of tape. Gold hovertruck drives up... Looking much better then before... Although now she's missing her paint. Tiny Weevil is sitting in the pot, thinking of his alternatives. Andi Lassiter taps her phone against her hand impatiently. . o O (Where are they?) Gold hovertruck drives up to Andi's house and transforms. Reaching over, she knocks as gently as possible at the door.. Although it's the equivilent of a human pounding with a fist. "Andi?" With the traditional transformation sounds, Sheng transforms from an updated hovertruck to her sleek and deadly battle-mode, ready for whatever may come. Andi Lassiter startles and looks up, then carries the cookpot with her to the front door, which she opens immediately. "Oh, I'm glad you made it. Who all is here?" Sheng says, "Roads, Harm and me..." Harmony follows the femme. oO(I thought I told her to stay put. Well, at least she waited 'till she was fixed. That's something, at least.) Sheng ducks down to try and get a good look at the weevil. Andi Lassiter peers and sees the others. "Good. Let me come outside." Tiny Weevil spots Sheng, Harm, and Roads and chuckles to himself before realising the severity of this problem... Roadbuster says, "what ya got andi" Harmony isn't happy that Sheng is up and about, but will complain later. He decides that finding out what the calls from Andi were all about will put Shengs' mind at ease, and that's just as important as healing her body. Andi Lassiter walks out to the middle of her front yard so that everyone can see the cookpot she has, with the tiny insect inside. "I found this on my back porch and promptly put it in a jar. It ate through that jar, and another, then broke my best glass mason jar. I slammed it with a skillet then put it in here. It seems to be caught for the moment." Sheng glances over her shoulder and glowers not-so-angrily at HArmony. While her chest wound has new armor on it, as do her knee wounds, the shoulder wound (while repaired) does not have fresh armor on it. The lid of the cookpot has been duct taped closed, so there's no easy way to open it again. Tiny Weevil backs slowly away from the Autobots, not out of fear, but to try and conceal himself. Sheng picks the pot up, the deadly talons curling around it and locking into place. Unwittingly, Sheng has made it impossible for Barrage to transform without suffering major damage from the said claws as he grows... "There's something familiar about this bug... Harmony looks a little puzzled. "Okay, normal insects don't eat through jars. And Sheng's right. Something feels familiar about that insect. I could swear I've seen it before." Andi Lassiter lets Sheng take the pot. "At first I just thought it was some unusual new critter, then it dented the mayonnaise jar lid. That's when I figured something was fishy, and called you." Roadbuster says, "wait a min a weevil .. don't barrage turn into a weevil?" Sheng stands up and turns so that the other two Autobots can see the bug clearly. Again, she has unwittingly protected Andi... Even if Barrage manages to transform, he'll be literally surrounded... Tiny Weevil looks almost just like himself, except cuter, cause he doesn't have some huge guns. Sheng frowns. "As a matter of fact... Yes, he DOES..." You say, "Wait...are you saying that that's Barrage in there?" The claws tense slightly, now actually touching the pot, although it does not cut anything. "ANybody know what Barrage's small mode looks like?" Harmony nods. "More than appearance, I recognize that feeling. It's the same one I always get whenever Barrage is around." He zooms his optics in on the bug. "And that thing does bear a strong resemblance to Barrages' big bug mode." Tiny Weevil turns to face Sheng, looking her straight in the optics dead on, with that same cold, maniacal stare he always has. Barrage flashes her a toothy smile, a little bit of fluid dripping onto the pyrex bottom. Roadbuster says, "I do he landed on my face once" Sheng frowns as HArmony and Roads support her idea and puts her other hand around the pot as well... "This could be bad... I suggest we move further away from Andi and her house... Andi Lassiter looks up at Sheng. "May I see that pot again for a moment?" Roadbuster says, "Wait no!!" Sheng shakes her head, and notices the grin. "Oh blast it..." Roadbuster says, "I say we crush it" Sheng starts walking towards and open area at a quick pace... "Andi, stay put... Roads, stay with her... just in case..." Harmony looks at the other bots. "I have an idea. I can carry a jar like that pretty high up. What say we let that bug drop from about, oh... 100-odd feet. If it transforms to save itself, we'll know for certain." Roadbuster says, "got you" Andi Lassiter sighs. "Sheng, wait...drat." Sheng shakes her head. "Then it could shoot down at the humans..." Harmony shakes his head. "If does, it'll have me above it shooting at him. I think he'll find me a much more diffucult target." Sheng says, "And humans would be easier targets... I won't risk it... Let's at least go further away from human habitation first..." Andi Lassiter looks up at Roadbuster. "I need to go along if she does that." Harmony considers this, and nods. "Very well. I suppose you know best." He looks down at the jar. "But, if you don't mind me saying so, if that thing is Barrage, I wouldn't mind seeing him fall like that." Sheng says, "Nor would I... Although I'd rather see him in something he couldn't break out of... THEN drop him..." Harmony grins. A predatorial grin. "I knew we thought alike in some respects, m'lady. Yes, that would be more.... satisfying, wouldn't it?" Andi Lassiter looks a little angry and annoyed. "I just want to rattle him about in that pot for a bit, pay him back for the things he's done." Sheng says, "Andi, no offense, but rattling him won't hurt him..." You say, "So? It'll make me feel better." Sheng frowns and considers... "You're safty is more important Andi... I'm sorry." Andi Lassiter sighs. "I know." Tiny Weevil begins quietly chuckling to himself, the sound dampened greatly by the pot, Barrage begins slowly laughing louder and louder, eventually the sound is loud enough to be clearly heard outside the pot, Barrage knows he's caught, so there's no point to hiding it anymore. Barrage breaks into one of his trademark classic cackles sounding like some twisted freak. "That won't help! You can't stop me from doing whatever I want to you, Harmony, Roadbuster or HER!" Barrage begins to grow, regardless of whether he gets clawed or not, it's nowhere near as bad as what he'll do to Sheng. Barrage is laughing all the way like a demented Santa Claus. Barrage bends folds, twists, turns and drops down into a large Weevil. Sheng instinctivly tenses her claws, driving the harder then dimond claws home.... Roadbuster says, "BARRAGE!!!!!!!!!!! GET ANDI OUT OF HERE !!!!!!!" At first Barrage begins to get bigger, then his cannons suddenly fold out onto his back, and his antennae crackle, as he reaches the confines of the pot it cracks and shatters under the stress, leaving Barrage to Sheng's hands, but Sheng can't stop the force of Barrage's transformation, she can only claw Barrage as he changes. Sheng says, "ANDI, RUN... NOW!!" Roadbuster says, "Ok barrage we have you now!" Sheng says, "Roads... Guard andi!" Andi Lassiter uh ohs softly and turns to run. Thank the gods that Tigger was left at Autobot City. Roadbuster says, "Andi Get behind me!!" Cyber-Weevil feels the claws dig into him, but resists it completely, "Not enough!" he shouts, roaring a little as he laughs, Barrage's cannons track Andi, while his antennae charge up, "Step away, or else I not only give you an electric paintjob, but the fleshy gets blow to messy chunks!" Sheng backs away from Barrage fast, trying to give herself some fighting room. Andi Lassiter turns and ducks behind Roadbuster and hopes that that'll be enough cover. Sheng shifts so that she's standing beside Roadbuster in front of Andi. Sheng gets into a fighting stance. oO(This is getting repetative...) Cyber-Weevil steps slowly back, "I assure you, I won't miss on either account." Harmony snaps into action in qucik order. He hops backwards, besides Roadbuster, to protect Andi. "Andi, get moving, I'll cover you. He can't get to you without going through me." He snaps up his arm-blaster, and centers the little red dot of the bugs' head. "That's what you think, bug!" Given the positions of the three fighters, there's no way Barrage can shoot the smaller human... Sheng transmits a message via radio to Roadbuster. Roadbuster receives a radio transmission. Roadbuster transmits a message via radio. Sheng receives a radio transmission. Cyber-Weevil looks at Harmony, "Do you wanna test your luck Autobot? Would you like to have the death of this flshy hanging on your conscience?" the high explosives Barrage uses would cause shrapnel and flames to shoot about the area, showering Andi with various extremes in temperature, raining chunks of materials, while at the same time damaging the Bots. Sheng transmits a message via radio. Roadbuster receives a radio transmission. Andi Lassiter actually tries a feint. Since Barrage saw her duck behind Roadbuster, she uses the multiple cover to dart behind Sheng and knock on her Achilles' tendon before starting to climb the back of the femme's leg. Sheng stands still, watching Barrage's every move. Roadbuster transmits a message via radio. Sheng receives a radio transmission. Harmony grins. "You don't know who you're dealing with, insect. In battle, I'm a lot different than normally. And look around you. If I were you, I would seriously be considering a retreat, Barrage. You are surrounded. Do yourself a favour, and save yourself the pain of having us beat on you. Not that I would mind seeing you get what you deserve, so you should be glad we're giving you the chance." Cyber-Weevil continues backing away, watching the Bots carefully, he didn't get chosen for his new position for being underprepared. He had expected this, "What is this? The 'I got Beat By Barrage' Club? I laugh at your attempt to protect this fleshy, but regardless, my work here is done." Barrage pushes off with his front feet, transforming in midair to propel himself forward, past the Autobots. A dangerous move, but one that allows Barrage to use one of his rifles to blast a car or two as he goes by, just for good measure. Barrage begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Sheng, Harmony, Roadbuster. Sheng spins around, keeping andi behind her. She fires a few shots off from her pistol. Sheng blasts Barrage with her pistol. Barrage expands, turns, and unfolds into his Robot mode, holding both Sonic Rifles. Barrage gets hit, but shrugs off the attack, continuing to fly away. Harmony allows himself to chuckle. "Yet who's the one running? At least he has some intelligence. I would have hated to fight in such a crowded place. I would have, if it meant getting at him, but I would have had to hold back. Oh, well...." He looks back up. "Not letting him go completely empty-handed.." He fires off a pair of optical lasers. Harmony blasts Barrage with his Souped up Piffle Blast. Roadbuster blasts Barrage with his pistol. Roadbuster Snaps of a barrage of pistol shots at barrage Sheng glances back at Andi. "ARe you alright?" Roadbuster says, "andio you ok?" Andi Lassiter nods. "I'm fine, just really annoyed...and, um...I don't know if I can get down from here." Sheng blinks. "Ummm.... Barrage takes another couple shots, but once again shrugs them off, his systems report some minor structural damages, nothing that won't fix themselves within a few cycles. Barrage laughs, he has enough information for now, useful information, regardless of what some may OOCly think!
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