| abstract
| - Arizona The Grand Canyon state consists of terrain from the high desert plateau in the northern and eastern sections to the desert basins and jagged mountain ranges in the southern and western parts, broken only by the high, forested mountains in central Arizona. The spectacular Grand Canyon, for which the state is best known, displays its timeless beauty close to the border between Arizona and its northern neighbor, Utah. To the south are the major cities of Phoenix and Tucson, irrigation from the Colorado and Salt Rivers making them green oases in the southern desert. Contents: Arizona State University Grand Canyon Obvious exits: Fly leads to Skies above the Western United States. South leads to Mexico. Out leads to Southwestern States. Nevada California Marissa Faireborn arrives from California to the west. Marissa Faireborn has arrived. Fleet has arrived. Grimlock has arrived. Dirge has arrived. Dreadwind has arrived. Fireflight has arrived. Silverbolt descends from the skies above. Silverbolt has arrived. It's a bright day in November at a United States Air Force base in Arizona. The base consists of barracks, numerous support buildings, hangars, radar installations, and various airstrips. There's numerous F-22s and F-24s, either parked on the ground or in flight, either leaving or arriving the base. Currently the Air Force base is being appropriated by Earth Defence Command for additional tests on their new aerospace jet fighter program. A heavily modified F-24 Shrike is currently performing flybys over the base. The Shrike, having been completely rebuilt with new navigation, propulsion, and shielding technology, is fully automated, being controlled from the ground. After an aborted run over a gas giant a week ago, the tests have moved to a more conventional venue. Flying a moderate distance behind the Shrike are a pair of EDC Talons, here to escort and watch over the test. In the lead Talon is none other than the Colonel herself. Masked behind the flight helmet and darkend visor, the Colonel is observing with mild interest as the Shrike tends to outpace the slower exo-armours. On the ground, energon refreshments are being served out of an oversized tent to keep any visiting Autobot security personnel interested. Grimlock, CAN fly, but he's not a 'flier' per se. He has wings (in robot mode, at least), but is not a jet. Yes, Grimlock is truly a philosophical puzzle. Or something. But, in the meanwhile, he's standing along the airfield, peering upwards at the goings-on. "Hnnn. That jet no look so special." he grumbles. "Me Grimlock no understand why it so 'portant." The Concorde's nosecone snaps backward, arms and legs emerge, and finally Silverbolt's head pops up, looking slightly relieved. Experimental F-15 is just a momentary bright speck in the sky as it breaks orbit and descends through the atmospheric soup towards the test site. "Skydive would be able to explain it a lot better than I," Silverbolt notes as his optics track the three Terran jets. "The sum of it is, they're testing several upgrades." And Skydive's likely to quiz the Aerialbot who *are* here for details for the next decacycle or so, come to think of it. "In those holy fields/Over whose acres walked... Huh? " Fireflight stirrs from his musings, bringing himself back to focus now. Snapping his wings sideways he moves back into place behind Silverbolt. "Oh. Upgrades? " he focuses on the three jets as well, only mildly interested. Or perhaps mildly distracted "What kind of upgrades were they again?" F-35B Lightning II doesn't have much to do with Earth these days, but even now, she sometimes gets assigned out here to run patrols on the blue dirtball. So now she slices through the air, peering down at the gathering. That Shrike... certainly doesn't look normal. It's worthy of Decepticon investigation, she feels, and she summons the other Decepticons over the radio to come take a look-see. F-16 Falcon flies along through the terrible bright sky, so utterly utterly alone, after an extended duty on long range communications, of all things Dreadwind has now been sent on 'recon' which more than likely is just an excuse to get him as far away from the base as possible. Having ignored Catechism's broadcast and not bothering to reply Dreadwind has unfortunately ended up in the right place at the wrong time not that there's ever a right time. Still with any luck no one will notice the dismal smudge flying high above them. Shockwave has arrived. Shockwave is here, look busy. Kup has arrived. The modified Shrike, seemingly without warning, suddenly turns sharply, barrel rolling multiple times to the right while hardly losing any velocity. It's an impressive maneuver, but one that would likely cause health issues for any pilot inside. One problem at a time, apparently. One problem at a time. Colonel Faireborn and her wingman follow suit, streaking after the test vehicle. Below, several US Air Force personnel go around asking the Aerialbots and Dinobot if they're interested in any of the refreshments. Standing there being useless is hard work, after all. Alas the lack of work is not to continue, as the voice of a radar technician is sent over the shortwave allied broadband. <> The coordinates of Dreadwind, Catechism, and Dirge (and maybe Fleet) are fired off. Shockwave arrives more slowly than the other Decepticons responding to Catechism's call. It's not just that he's not as fast, but he also was checking to make sure the Deputy of Operations had gotten the Combaticons to fill out their insurance paperwork for this fiscal quarter. The faded green cybertruck springs up and splits apart, revealing the ancient Autobot, Kup! Gears has arrived. Kup is sort of hanging around in the background. His hands are shaking and he looks a little bit out of it. When an officer asks him if he wants a refreshment, Kup just looks at him, and doesn't say anything. The officer looks perplexed and a little weirded out by that, so he just backs away slowly. When the alarms are sounded, Kup's head jerks up and he stares at the sky. "Wha--" Fleet arrives considerably after Catechism. Not his normal prompt response - he almost certainly was farther away from base (and considering where base is, that's pretty far). He does, however, eventually arrive (adding a fourth blip to the poor radar operator's screen), a little yellow and blue triangle off in the distance, but closing fast. Grimlock ignores the little humans scurrying about his feet- he's got an energon cube to sip on- "Hn." he grunts at Silverbolt. "Me bet him Swoop fly betterer." he says, watching the humie-jet twirl about in the air...but then- cooridnates! Decepticons! Yay! "Ooo, you Silverbolt hear?" Grimlock says, kicking back his energon in a *GULP!* "Maybe this no be so boring after all!" "Oh wonderful. Just fragging wonderful. We're not here five minutes and already the Decepticons have come to spoil the party," Gears complains. Ok, he's probably been here /longer/ than 5 minutes, but nobody said Gears' internal chronometer was working. In fact he'd probably tell you no end of how badly it was glitched. "I guess the fun's over." "Maybe they'll let you finish your drink before they start shooting." Silverbolt isn't even looking to see if Gears has one, instead readying his rifle as he calls, "Fireflight, do they have more backup coming?" "If all the year were playing holidays/To sport would be as tedious as to wo-What? " Fireflight stirrs once more, the aerialbot having been airbone this entire time as he banks around sharply, and the Phantom suddenly accelerates, engines rumbling as he lifts up into the air overhead, circling wider and higher every second. HIs own radar bleeps repeatedly as he does a sweep - both with the radar, and with his own optics. "Only the four of them so far Silverbolt!" The lone aerialbot radios down. Step 1: Get Grimlock overenergized. Step 2: ??? Step 3: Attacking Decepticons all die. This is EDC Defence Plan #48, anyhow. The Colonel breaks away from the Shrike while her wingman stays with it. The automated fighter has received the Return to Base command and has altered course back to the airstrip. <> she transmits, <> There's an alarming number of high powered Decepticons in that list, but Marissa knows there's an alarming number of awesome Autobots back at base as well. Kup opens the passenger compartment on his chest, and begins to assemble his rifle. He accidentally drops a piece, and curses as the small component clatters against the tarmac and rolls under a table. He stoops over and reaches under the table for the part, but his shaking hand knocks the table over, knocking over the human refreshments and snacks. "Ah... ah... geeze," Kup mutters to himself. "What the frag has gotten into me..." But Kup does in fact know what's gotten into him. It is, after all, what's bothering him so much. Further proof that he's out of it lies in the fact that he doesn't tell Gears to shut up, quit his whining, and start fighting... instead, the old warrior just glances at him, and resumes assembling his weapon. Fleet puts on an extra bust of speed in an attempt to catch up with Catechism, stretching his longer ranged sensors to their limit as he does. Hmmm. Some fairly powerful Autobots about, and Fleet never was able to consistantly judge the power levels on those blasted EDC toys. "So what's the plan, Catechism?" he asks. "Smash the toy, wreck havoc, cause confusion, and leave?" "Capture it intact if possible," interjects Shockwave now that he has arrived, locking onto the experimental EDC craft with his sensor suite. "Destroy it if not." F-35B Lightning II is a craft that might still be in service somewhere on the globe in 2029. She does not, however, have any human codes. Moreover, she doesn't wear the paint scheme of any sane human country. So it's inevitable that she'll be identified as a Decepticon, and she knows it. The F-35 breaks after the modified Shrike and its escort fighters. She issues to her fellow Decepticons - at least, to those who care to listen - Shockwave will do as he wishes, as always, <> Shockwave transforms and touches down atop a mesa well outside the base perimeter, sweeping the plains with his radar. "I wish to know the state of current human technology. Catechism's find was timely. I am aware, however, of the limitations of battle. Do what you can." He picks out each of the Autobots by their own unique signal returns. "Be aware: Grimlock, Kup, Silverbolt and Fireflight are present. Battle will be inevitable." He powers up his reactor with a soft hiss and a slow ticking. The giant "laser" unfolds back into a big purple space robot. F-16 Falcon's sensors pick up the harsh burning caress of a radar sweep, Dreadwind instinctively knows that he's been spotted by someone who intends to make his terrible existence even worse. Almost immediately he comes up with several devastating moves to throw off anyone that may be lining him up for the kill and then executes none of them, it's not like he's going to be able to avoid his fate. He does however angle his flight path slightly to eventually join up with the other Decepticons not that there is any safety in numbers, in fact so many Decepticons so close together is just asking for trouble. Dirge takes flight to the Skies above the Western United States. Dirge has left. "Hnn!" he glances over at Silverbolt- and then to Kup. "How come you Kup all fumbly? Don't you know you s'posed to have gun already in one piece?" he grunts- and then proceeds to pull his blaster out of subspace, waving it menacingly at the jetfighters so high, high above. "Like me Grimlock!" and with that, he takes to the skies, very slowly lumbering up to meet the Decepticon invaders! Faireborn's Talon veers off, not wanting to engage the Decepticons alone. She meets back up with Fireflight and falls into formation with the Aerialbot. Reaching forward with a gloved hand, the Colonel flicks several switches. On her HUD, the rocket and laser weapon systems go from red to green. A green targeting crosshair floats across her vision, slowly gravitating towards one of the approaching Decepticon fliers - in this case, Catechism. <> she transmits, <> The green crosshair turns red as it locks onto the Seeker. A single missile dislodges from under the Talon's wing and streaks towards its target. Meanwhile, the modified Shrike the Decepticon has her eye on is making a beeline for the airfield. Kup walks off to where the Decepticons were last reported, rifle in hand. He can hear their engines roaring already. "Let's.. let's defend the airbase, Autobots," Kup says, trying to sound leader-like. "Someone shoot those jets down. I... I'm gonna take care of another problem." Though his optics aren't as good as they used to be, he can still spot Shockwave standing on that mesa off in the horizon. "Heh, nice of you to highlight yourself like that, Blinky," he mutters. "And maybe if I can get close enough to you, I can figure out why you lied to me..." As Grimlock berates him, Kup snaps off a few light shots at Shockwave, and replies to the Dinobot, "Eh, sorry, I don't trust subspace as much as you guys do. Prefer to keep my weapons on myself. Shoulda just brought the one that folds itself up... Eh. And as for... nevermind." He's not ready to confide in Grimlock, yet. "With my luck, they'll take a pot shot from way out there and knock the cup right out of my hand," Gears sighs, "Alright, I suppose we should do something about them. Even though they're probably going to pound our fenders in in the process. He scans the skies to pick out the various targets and idly wonders which one of them is coming for him. With his luck, they'll all jump him at once... Kup misses Shockwave with his Musket Laser attack. Silverbolt raises his rifle to cover the Terran aircraft's landing, ready to snap a warning shot at any Decepticon coming after it. He doesn't respond to the grousing of all the older models around him, not this time. Wobbling a little as Fairborne comes up nearby him, Fireflight steadies out, watching as the rocket zips off. The Aerialbot grins a little mentally at this as he starts to accelerate and pull away "We need to buy it more time to get down there." he murmers, and peels off without any warning, perhaps coming too close to Marissa's own jet as he homes in on Fleet himself, small pinpoints of lasers escaping his nosecone in the tetrajet's direction. Fireflight misses Fleet with his laser attack. Shockwave has that much in common with Kup. He doesn't like subspace. He isn't even willing to carry a gun in it, preferring instead to build his sole weapon into his own body. Also like Kup, he is an old campaigner. And like Kup, he is a lot harder to hit than he looks. Shockwave's active-sensor early-warning software may not work on Kup's old rifle, thanks to Kup and his gun not /having/ an active targeting system between them in the first place, but Shockwave has an eye for things that are out of place. He spots the glint of the sun on the musket laser's lenses, analyzes the angle of the bore, and returns fire at precisely the moment that Kup pulls the trigger, taking a single step to the side as he does so. The two beams of radiation pass eachother, Shockwave's outgoing shot warping Kup's incoming shot so that it passes harmlessly by. Shockwave strikes Kup with Ultraviolet. As the Shrike turns to head back towards the airbase, Fleet turns after it, trying to bleed altitude faster than the unmanned jet does. He's forced off-path, however, as the Aerialbot approaches him, firing at him head on and forcing him to jink up. He makes a soft 'tsking' noise as the Autobot comes rather close to Marissa. "Clumsy... you wouldn't last long at all in the Dance with moves like that," he observes, returning fire before pulling up. Fleet misses Fireflight with his Wing-Mounted Rifles - attack. F-35B Lightning II manages to barely evade that missile that is fired at her but cutting up hard, but her evasive manoeuvre takes her farther away from the three EDC planes. Luckily for her, it looks like that Shrike is headed for the landing field, so she heads directly towards the landing field, hoping to cut the Shrike off before it can safely land. F-16 Falcon finally falls almost into line with his fellow Decepticons and yet he still feels that he is totally alone in the sky. Then the weapons of the defenders open up pouring their deadly ammunition into the air and everyone else moves to intercept their targets of choice. Transmitting on an open frequency for any and all to listen too, Dreadwind assesses the situation, "We're all going to be blasted to pieces before long and even if we do secure that craft, it'll probably be booby trapped and explode as we leave, maiming whoever is carrying it away. That is as long as this whole thing isn't a completely elaborate trap to ensnare us all in it's intricate web." Marissa Faireborn cranes her neck as Catechism blows past her. <> The Talon makes a wide loop before pursuing after the Seeker. The Colonel's Talon exo-armour is able to keep up with the Seeker, but only just. Her wingman, who is escorting the Shrike back, similarly turns away in order to focus now on Catechism. The Decepticon Seeker now has a Talon in front of her and a Talon behind her while the target is making preparations for an automatic landing. Both Marissa and her wingman cut loose with their laser guns, spraying energy bolts towards Catechism. US soldiers are ready on the ground. The small arms fire isn't able to reliably damage a Decepticon warrior, but handheld rocket launchers might. Whoosh! And so, the Dinocommander soars through the air- ostensibly, to protect the Shrike- but really, he's heading up to break some Decepticons! He flexes his hands- and then his optic band catches sight of...Dreadwind! And perhaps Grimlock's here to prove the nihilist right- well, he's firing his blaster at the 'con jet! Kup watches, unbelieving, as Shockwave avoids his shot by millimeters, and he is immediately blasted in the shoulder in turn. He was sure he had him lined up perfectly, and the big Decepticon didn't even dodge out of the way! "Damn Decepticon and his fancy little tricks," Kup mutters, figuring Shockwave must've somehow bested him with science. Realizing that Shockwave isn't anywhere near pummelling range, and also realizing that there is a great distance between him and the Decepticon of mostly wide open space, Kup considers his options. He knows that he can't beat Shockwave in a ranged fight, so he needs to clear that distance somehow and get closer. Running over to a large service truck, normally used to pull large aircraft along the tarmac, Kup reaches inside the vehicle, switches the gear to neutral, then crouches beside it as he pushes it along. "It's not the best cover," he grumbles, "But it'll have to do. Now let's see how ya handle THESE babies, Shockwave." Aiming his rifle over the top of the truck, Kup fires off a salvo of acid pellets at Shockwave and yells, "Will someone knock those fliers out of the air, already?" Grimlock strikes F-16 Falcon with Double-Blaster!. Kup strikes Shockwave with Acid Pellet. Gears grumbles under his vocalizer as he spots Dreadwind. The one Decepticon that makes Dead End look like Mr. Happy Sunshine. The minibot rises up on his compressed air jump-jet-thingies, looking to introduce his fist to Dreadwind's nosecone. "I'll wipe that frown right off your cockpit!" Gears snorts. Fireflight drops his own nose in alteration to Fleet's action as the Decepticon returns fire "I dont dance anyways. I just FLY." he replies. Not the best of come backs to be sure. He turns sharply, erratically dropping more altitude to try and catch up to Fleet now, his weapons starting to fire a near-constant stream. Then they cut off as he follows Marissa's idea. A red missile drops out of his bomb bays, and with a whooosh of its' own, accelerates past him towards the tetrajet. "Eat Firefog!" Fireflight misses Fleet with his Firefog Missile attack. <> Silverbolt was expecting at least one Decepticon to come after that jet, and doesn't sound surprised to see Catechism doing the dishonors. "For all your talk about Decepticon superiority," he comments as he opens fire, "you spend a lot of time trying to steal others' technology." He moves slowly toward where it looks like the Terran jet's going to land, firing as he goes to interfere with Catechism's approach. Silverbolt strikes you with laser for 15 points of damage. Shockwave was watching the truck and waiting for Kup to emerge. Here comes his gun, Kup must be soon to follow... but no, he's just firing blind! He couldn't hope to hit Shockwave at this range like that- but he did! Shockwave files this away as a lucky shot since it is clearly a statistical outlier, and crouches behind the edge of the mesa to make himself a smaller target for those below. If Kup is behind the truck, however, the truck will have to serve as a weapon as well as cover. Shockwave pumps his reactor, causing geiger counters to crackle and nearby baccharis sarothroides shrubs to wither and burn. He extends his left arm and fires a powerful maser beam into the truck down in the valley, resulting in a sudden explosion as the truck is nuked like an iPod in a microwave, setting off its fuel tank in a blast that Shockwave hopes Kup will be ill-placed to avoid! Shockwave strikes Kup with Indirect Explosion. "And /that's/ why you don't deserve the sky, Autobrat!" Fleet snarls. He transforms swiftly, and indeed, almost seems to dance as he spins out of the way of the missile, a kick that seems lazy but for its speed getting him those last few inches out of the way. Then he pulls his knees to his chest, kicks them both out, and falls below the plane on which Fireflight is currently flying, firing up at the jet's 'underbelly' as it passes over head. Fleet strikes Fireflight with Shoulder Mounted Laser Rifle. Talon to the front, Talon to the back, and the F-35B is stuck in the middle. She can't evade everything, even nimble as she is, and energy bolts rip into her body. Then, Silverbolt's laser knocks her about in the air. The VTOL craft drops directly down, hoping that the Talon behind her will perhaps run into the Talon in front of her - or at least change their flight plans. Despite the Aerialbot firing on her, she doggedly flies after the Shrike and opens fire on the airfield itself, which may may it hard for the Shrike to land. The quick split of formation leaves Dreadwind suddenly very exposed to enemy targetting and fire, especially considering that he's travelling at a speed only slightly higher than stalled. The blood thirsty Dinobot commander takes advantage of that and scores a direct hit, melting away the shielding on the side of his nosecone, then to complete his miserable day a garish red autobot jumps up and punches him dead on the nosecone. Not bothering to try and realign his flight pattern he instead transforms and plummets quickly to the ground landing with a heavy thunk. "Great with all these targets around i get the dumb and the cheery, why can't i ever be attacked by someone that i won't have to talk down to? I was made to suffer." With a smooth practiced action Dreadwind draws his weapons and fires in the direction of Grimlock ignoring the happy one, for now. F-16 Falcon suddenly halts it's forwards momentum and pulls up as it bends in half. The body of the jet twists and unfolds to become legs, while arms extrude themselves from the fuselage sides. Dreadwind strikes Grimlock with compressed_air. "Ow! That almost hurt me Grimlock!" the dinobot swears- (honestly, compressed air? It's like a glorified hairdryer!). He follows Dreadwind down to the ground, however, and closes in. "So me Grimlock hurt you BACK!" he snarls- and attempts to land a punch on Dreadwind's blank faceplate! Grimlock strikes Dreadwind with Punch!. Fireflight is so startled by Fleet's sudden transformation and attack, that he was struck cleanly by the rifle. A yelp as his underbelly is scored, the Phantom drops his nose to follow after Fleet, twisting and spinning around as he growls "NOBODY calls me Autobrat. Not even AIR RAID." he notes, angry now. Fireflight misses Fleet with his fire attack. The Colonel and Joe (her wingman) are good enough pilots that there's no threat of them running into one another, though as Catechism passes by him, Joe has to slowly circle around so he can get back on the Decepticon's tail. <> Marissa says as she sticks with the tricky Decepticon's maneuvers. VTOL is impressive, it's true, and most jets can't follow something like that... but then, most jets can't transform, which Marissa does right now. Her Talon spins around into its power armour mode, and Marissa hovers. The laser cannon on her left arm tracks the Seeker as she cuts loose. Meanwhile, the airstrip the Shrike was ordered to receives rocket and laserfire. Huge divets appear in the runway, and the automated jet's primitive programming detects that landing would be unsafe. It pulls up and enters a circling pattern. There's enough airstrips here that once the operators back at mission control figure out what happened that it will be able to land, but Catechism's bought a bit more time of it being in the air. The truck explodes, and Kup was clearly engulfed by the flames as a result. However, it may be difficult to tell what happened to Kup after that, since the smoke from the explosion makes it rather difficult to see. A FEW MINUTES LATER Kup, in fact, is still very much alive, if blackened and shredded by shrapnel from the blast. Hoping that Shockwave would lose sight of him thanks to the explosion and all of the smoke, the wily old man snuck around the mesa, trying to come up from behind the cyclops. Crouching behind an outcropping, Kup briefly wonders if Shockwave, with his powers over radar, infrared, and other means of detection, already knows he's there and is just waiting to punch the old man in the face when he makes his move. Well, he's committed himself to taking this route, so he might as well see it through. Doing a SWAT turn past the rock, Kup rushes for Shockwave, and leaps for him at the last few meters, trying to pin him to the ground. "SHOCKWAVE! You slagging lying bastard!" Kup strikes Shockwave with Sneaky Kup. It's raining Transformers! One over there, one over there... and here's Silverbolt without an umbrella. Or, more usefully, a forcefield - but anyway, it's also raining assorted weaponsfire, intentional and otherwise. <> With that, Silverbolt begins to fold and transform into... a sitting target? The landing platform finishes unfolding and starts to bring weapons to bear. <> Silverbolt twists and unfolds into a large and well-armed landing platform. "Is that so? Well at least we agree on something," Gears quips, "Now let's make you a self-fulfilling prophecy!" He gets out his sword and prepares to skewer Dreadwind with it. Gears misses Dreadwind with its sword attack. Fleet lets gravity take him for just a moment, arms spread to either side, back to the ground - he just 'lies' back and the fire passes easily over him. "You've got my transistors trembling, fool," the Seeker sneers as he turns back on his antigravs and 'sits' up in the air before spinning back to face Fireflight, looking something like a crouched ice-skater, save that his feet touch nothing at all. When he finishes his manauver, he's facing Fireflight, arms outstretched. "In fact, I think it time you cooled down just a bit," he adds before firing his freeze ray at the Aerialbot. Fleet strikes Fireflight with his Freeze Ray attack. Shockwave is focussing on his narrowband sensors, trying to penetrate the dense smoke of the petroleum fire left behind by his destruction of the supply truck, and consequently doesn't pick up on Kup (ha ha) until the old man is right there. He turns around swiftly, bringing his gun up towards the blip on his sensors just in time to catch a crotchety old coot in the chest, crashing backwards to the ground! "Which lie do you refer to?" asks Shockwave in his distant, disinterested voice, as he tries to seize Kup with his right hand and slam him into a rock. There are quite a few lies to pick from. Shockwave strikes Kup with Strong Right Hand. F-35B Lightning II has been transforming since before humanity first started jumping off tall objects, trying to fly. She twists in the air, trying to evade the shots of Marissa and the dreaded Joe, though some do land home. One EDC fighter, she could deal with, easily, but two is a tricker proposition. Two while trying to capture a Shrike intact? Oh, not so good. She does a vertical tail stand, flying straight up, again on the hunt for that Shrike. Dreadwind is payed in full for actually trying to alter the outcome of his pitiful fate as Grimlock connects once more smashing him in the faceplate, probably would have broken his nose, if he had one. As he staggers away by sheer coincidence he avoids the sword swing from Gears, his dull yellow optics turning to the minibot. "As always i am forced to fight against those that can barely compute their aft from their processor unit. I am doomed to walk this pitiful dustball alone for the rest of my excruciating existence, the universe is malicious indeed in the suffering it deems to inflict on us." With that he points his arm in the general direction of Gears and his wrist weapon opens fire. Dreadwind strikes Gears with Single Wrist Blaster.
* SMASH!* The aerialbot jerks his wings about, but was too slow. He gasps as ice crystals start to form over his white wings... his candy apple red armor...a nd inside all his little gaps, nooks and crannies, jamming up his systems and shivering his circuits. He grunts, wobbling as his engines wind down, unable to turn from the ice... and Fireflight starts to free fall "Aw s-s-s-s-s-slag..." The wind roars by him as he continues to plummet, engines churning to try and bring power back up again "Come on... c-c-come on..." Finally: "SILVERBOLT!" The modified Shrike is in a holding pattern above the airbase, flying in a slow circle. As Catechism rises up after it, its handlers realize that landing is not going to be a safe option with the Seeker lurking about, and engage the computer's maneuver tests. The fighter suddenly lurches out of its lazy route and streaks forward, zig-zagging this way and that. The original purpose of the programmed flight is to show off the evasive capabilities, but it serves well to make it difficult to get a bead on. Is Catechism mech enough to keep up? Colonel Faireborn rises upwards after Cat, but in its power armour form isn't fast enough to keep the Seeker in target range. She shifts the exo-armour back into its jet form just as Joe picks back up on her wing. The pair race after Cat. <> Marissa then picks up another transmission. This one is from Fireflight. <> Marissa tells Bolt. His fellow Aerialbot needs him!
* SMASH!* The dinocommander lays into Dreadwind- and then glances around- "Hnnn." he grunts, and looks around. "You Gears keep fighting this guy! Me Grimlock do better stuff!" and with that, he takes off again...and heads towards Shockwave! A more fitting opponent, no less. "Hey! Hey you!" he snarls, and touches down on the mesa...or, rather, the part of the mesa that Shockwave is standing on. Or, rather...Shockwave. Grimlock strikes Shockwave with STOMPY!. It's just before his face impacts with a rock that Kup realizes that the only problem with getting in a fistfight with Shockwave is that he's no slouch in that area, either. The rock splits in two, with Kup's face apparently made of harder stuff, but it still really hurts. "Pthtoo!" Kup spits out a bit of oil. "Yeah, that's right," Kup growls, smacking away Shockwave's arm. "I know, you lie all the time." Trying to pin the cyclops down with one arm, Kup tries to hammer down on Shockwave's face with the other. "The BIG one. The one where you told me Nightbeat sabotaged the space bridge. But it was a Decepticon who did it, the whole time. And you KNEW about it all along! Why'd you idiots put our whole planet in danger just to frame Nightbeat?!" Kup strikes Shockwave with I Demand An Explanation. Gears yelps. "Hey, that smarted! Which is more than I can say for you! If you're such a fragging genius, what are you doing on Team Evil? Then I wouldn't have to kick your aft!" So he rears back in order to deliver a mighty boot to Dreadwind's backside. Kup yells as Grimlock throws himself into the fray, "Ah, for crying out loud, Grimlock, you almost got me!" Gears strikes Dreadwind with kick. Silverbolt hears it all, Fireflight's yell for help and the humans' continued difficulties. <> The battlestation's lasers swing from their initial near-vertical position towards Fleet and open fire. <> Silverbolt strikes Fleet with laser. "Was it, in fact, a Decepticon then?" asks Shockwave rhetorically after he shoves Grimlock off of him and stands up, rising into the air to transform. "I was not aware of that fact at the time although intercepted Autobot transmissions have strongly suggested it since then. Nevertheless, it is of no account. I always have a backup plan and that scenario was no different." The hot downblast from his lift rockets makes it a little difficult to hear him, and the dust it kicks up tends to get in one's eyes. "If the saboteur, whoever they were, had succeeded in derailing the project, it would have meant merely a delay to me. I had other means at my disposal." During Shockwave's exposition, his barrel has been steadily glowing more brightly, and upon pronouncement of the word "disposal" unleashes a brilliant wave of radiation, which burns a hot blank patch into the top of the mesa that won't grow grass for a thousand years. Shockwave undergoes a simple transformation, safety seals interlocking as he converts into a giant "laser." Shockwave strikes Kup with Gamma. When the Shrike takes evasive manuoevres, Catechism has a few options. The F-35 can try to follow it - but she has already learned that this thing is faster than she is. Chasing is something of a futile proposition. Or she can try to force it to go where she wants it to go. She opens up with a spray of laserfire to the left of the Shrike, trying to force it right, already moving toward the right, herself. Dreadwind would breath a sigh of relief as Grimlock takes off for opponants new, you know if he actually breathed or really cared enough to be worried about his final termination. Besides he still has to deal with that disgustingly bright and cheery Autobot Gears who decides to kick him right at that moment, almost as if the universe held him back just long enough to connect when Dreadwind's thoughts turned to him. "Oh i'm not a genius, so i know more than most, i see beyond the veil of lies to the cold dark truth of reality, but it's all pointless, others prefer to fool themselves, they never listen. Evil, good? What's the difference? Each tries to inflict their will on the other, each fights and maims and kills the other in an endless and wasteful battle following the twisted delight of existence. It is far better that we should just sit down and await our fate rather than struggle against the inevitability of it all." As if to make a point he lashes out with a large foot trying to return the favour and maybe score an extra point with the minibot. Dreadwind misses Gears with his kick attack. With Fireflight falling from the sky, Fleet is at least momentarily freed to take off after the original objective. Or so he believes, but then Silverbolt turns his attention on him instead. The Seeker, taken off-guard by the Aerialbot's display of bloodthirst, is struck by the battlestation. Fleet snorts. "That's brotherly love for you. Go after the Seeker while you let your teammate crash and burn! You Autobots are real pieces of work!" He twists and aims, not for Silverbolt but for Fireflight. "I'd have moved onto other things, but keep my focus here, and it's your brother who'll suffer for it," he says, firing. Fleet strikes Fireflight with Shoulder-Mounted Rifle - Heat Vent. The Shrike wobbles in the air as laserfire cuts past its left. Its programming doesn't include any combat information, but its sensors are programmed to respond to changes in its environment. The sudden unidentified energy surge from behind and to the left causes the Shrike to automatically slow down and veer slightly to the right while it waits for confirmation from Mission Control about whether to continue with the maneuvers or abort. In this current situation, this is an unhelpful choice by its AI for the EDC. Marissa and Joe are hot on Catechism's tail and are able to match her speed in fighter mode. The Seeker is going to have to act quick as there's a salvo of short ranged missile fire heading her way as the pair approach in formation. Grimlock is tossed aside! But not forgotten! Or, at least it's within Shockwave's best interests NOT to forget about the giant murderous dinosaurus robot. "Raargh!" Grim says- and he transforms to his dinosaur mode. "You come down here so me Grimlock SMASH YOU!" and with that, he opens his mouth and spews a stream of superheated flame at the space 'laser'- more of an inconveiencing thing, if nothing else! With a grunt and a growl, Grimlock changes into a robot T-rex! Watch out. Grimlock strikes Shockwave with BURNINATION!. "You first, Sunshine," Gears growls, "If your fate is set, and there's nothing you can do to change it, then why do YOU fight? Hmm? Why not go to Paradron with the rest of the pacifists?" The minibot then decides to try to pummel Dreadwind again with his fists. He just hopes the 'cons have not invented the sport of minibot-tossing. Gears strikes Dreadwind with punch. Kup lies smouldering on the ground, in the epicenter of that collossal blast from Shockwave. His body twitches a bit as it tries to recover from the surge of electromagnetic radiation he had been hit by. His brain is a bit scrambled, too, and thoughts swirl around in his mind. (Take a look at this security footage, boss. It explains everything.) His hand twitches, then balls up into a fist. (Good job on solving that case, Nightbeat. Never woulda figured the Decepticons would try something so stupid when our whole planet's risk.) Wait, was that what he said? (Was it, in fact, a Decepticon, then?) Kup's optics flicker online. (If the saboteur, WHOEVER they were...) Wait... Shockwave doesn't know who the saboteur is? Why wouldn't he, if Galvatron authorized this operation? "Stop trying to mess with me!" Kup suddenly roars, leaping to his feet. He looks over to Grimlock, then, thinking quickly, runs up the T-Rex's back and vaults off of his head, flying right at Shockwave. "You knew!" Kup screams as he tries to land on Shockwave. "YOU KNEW! You knew all along! There's no reason for you to lie anymore, damn you!!!" If he lands, Kup will take his musket laser and try to violently ram it down into Shockwave's gun barrel. <> Fireflight focuses on trying to pull out of the spin, the world whirling about him. His systems start to thaw out, but the paniced Aerialbot doubts they could in time. His spinning slowly, painfully slows, but he was at a mere tenth of his original altitude. Then the plasma hits, and his circuits are, indeed, thawed out at time. With a shriek of pain he snaps his airfoils into place, body groaning as he pulled up tightly, nearly taking the tops off some of the largest cactus he flies over. About to respond, he chooses not to, instead merely turning towards Fleet once more, and firing again at the seeker without a word. Fireflight misses Fleet with his fire attack. Kup strikes Shockwave with Everyone Step Away From Kup. The battlestation seems to rustle at the joints as if starting to transform as Fireflight cries out in mid-spin. But as the smaller Aerialbot rights himself, the battlestation settles himself, <> and turns the weaponry back upward, where it looks like Catechism's not going to back away without further... discouragement. Shockwave finds he has a musket laser jammed in his cannon! It's his only cannon. Without being able to fire that he's... effectively disarmed. He's strong, of course, but strong only goes so far with Grimlock. Consequently, Shockwave blasts away from the battle, having tied up Kup (and to a lesser degree Grimlock) for about as long as is reasonable. "Your opinions are irrelevant, Autobot. I have given you this information because it cannot do me any harm now. Accept it or not, as you choose." He raises his voice. "You may proceed to destroy the target if you cannot capture it in the next breem," he announces to the Decepticons as he departs, rocketing straight up on a pillar of radioactive steam. Silverbolt strikes you with rocket for 20 points of damage. Shockwave begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Fireflight, F-35B Lightning II . Fleet spins out the way of Fireflight's blast in aerial pirouette, even raising his right arm as he does. He laughs when he sees that Silverbolt's returned his attention to Catechism and says, "Left on your lonesome once more? What a shame." With that, he lowers his arm, fingers open and relaxed, and fires once more at the battered Aerialbot. Fleet strikes Fireflight with Shoulder-Mounted Rifle - . The universe seems to really hate it when you try to give away it's secrets and shows it by allowing Gears to somehow avoid Dreadwind's attack. Not that Dreadwind expected it to connect in the first place, in fact he's pretty sure that Reflector is filming him right now and he will turn up on a Decepticon special report on how not to fight minibots. As if on cue Gears punches him right in the kneecap, no he's not that small it's just that Dreadwind stepped away from the blow so it landed on his leg. "I fight because i am forced to you Autobots inititied the fight first Grimlock and then you, such viciousness and thirst for combat, are you sure you aren't a double agent? As for pacifists if their cheery can do attitude wasn't enough to totally depress you the fact that they delude themselves into thinking that the universe is caring and welcoming is pitiful, the only truth to existence is that it is pain and suffering." As the thought drags his mind further into the abyss Dreadwind kind of grinds to a halt mid flow, looks like he was about to throw a punch but instead, nothing. F-35B Lightning II is, luckily for her, equipped with a GRAPPLOX brand grappling hook and line. Now that she managed to force the Shrike just where she wants it to go, she shoots out the grappling hook at the other jet, hoping to snare it. Not unaware of the missiles hot on her tail, she transforms, apparently evident on dragging the Shrike down with her if she snags it, like some giant cowgirl roping a flying cow. "Rargh! Stupid Shockwave! Me Grimlock GET YOU!" He shakes his tiny little dino-arms at the departing Shockwave- but to little avail! This done, he grunts a bit, and peers down at Kup. "You Kup okay?" he asks- but before the old timer has the chance to answer, Grimlock decrees- "Me go smash more septi-cons!" And with that, Grimlock just walks off the edge of the mesa, landing with a *THUD!* some distance below, and he starts stomping back towards the airfield! Not...particularly fast, however- lacking wheels or wings in this mode, it's more of a purposeful amble. Kup tries to hold onto Shockwave as he ascends higher and higher, faster and faster. "Wait, you little glitch! Stop pretending you don't know! YOU KNOW! Ahhhh--" Then, Kup's hands lose their grip, and the old warrior falls to the ground. With an unhealthy-sounding crunch, he lands right in the middle of the blackened, irradiated patch, head-first. Falling onto his side, Kup lies still, groaning, his mind delirious, feverish, even. Vaguely, he sees Grimlock in his field of vision, and raises a hand out... to stop him? "Get away... from me!" Since Grimlock does go away, though, he probably didn't hear what Kup said to him. Fireflight growls in annoyance as he continuously misses, and his opponent continually hits him. Battered, scorched AND frozen, Fireflight loops about, trying to pull a quick roundabout to get behind Fleet, another of his firefog missiles loading to fire at the con "Please hit, please hit." he murmers in a mantra-form, starting to grow a little disheartened perhaps. <> Fireflight misses Fleet with his Firefog Missile attack. "Sonuva bitch," Marissa mutters as Catechism drops a hook and line. Although the Shrike is veering away from the previous laser shots, its programming isn't sufficient for it to take evasive action from Catechism's approach. The grappling hook slams into its fuselage, tearing a hole in the midsection. The jet's emergency protocols respond by cutting power to various systems and slowing down to avoid catastrophic damage. Gears fumes at the despondent Decepticon. "Well, go on then, get lost! Go think about what you're doing! And don't let the door hit your aft on the way out!" He slaps at Dreadwind, to encourage him to either give up, or run. Gears misses Dreadwind with its slap attack. That rocket shot would have made Silverbolt very happy indeed, if only he hadn't seen Catechism reach out for the Terran jet with her grappling hook an instant *after* he fired. <> The Aerialbot commander transforms, glancing over to check on Fireflight as he moves to intercept the Decepticon and her target as they appear about to be landing together. Catechism now has a Shrike strung to her via a grappling line. She snaps back into jet mode and attempts to deploy in excess of 40,000 thrust to drag the Shrike out of the area. Commander Shockwave wanted it intact, and once the scientists are through dissecting this thing to see how much progress the human germs have made, the Seeker thinks she may have a use for the remains. Catechism begins retreating, leaving herself vulnerable to parting shots from Fireflight. Dreadwind remains immobile for quite some time lost in the dark depths of swirling depression, the pain in his battered body only serving to confirm that which he already knows. Oddly, even though Gears somehow manages to miss the immobile Decepticon, the flailing bright primary coloured arm does register in his optics and reflexively he reacts, attempting to melt the disgusting thing out of existence. Both arms raise and his fingers caress the triggers of his thermal melters, almost as an after thought his mind is snapped back to the here and now, saved from oblivion by his reactions. Dreadwind misses Gears with his Twin Melter attack. Another missile is fired at Fleet, and the Seeker holds still, as though he intends to /let/ it hit... and then, at the last moment he reaches forward, actually 'touches' it just behind the warhead, and flips himself over, knocking the missile off-course and moving himself clear all in the same graceful motion, and move that might bring to mind the bull dancers of ancient works of art (like this one: ). Once he's flipped over the thing he starts to spring at Fireflight, and as he moves, his arms reach out to either side, hilts flip out from his forearms, and he activates two bright and glowing energon daggers with which he intends to gut the Aerialbot... And then retreat is called. Fleet blinks. His daggers de-activate and flip back into place, he 'skids' to a stop in mid-air, turns, transforms, and takes off! Too many high power Autobots still active on the field, anyway. Fleet begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Fireflight, F-35B Lightning II . The blackened patch Kup landed on is mysteriously vacant. Where did that crazy old bot get to? Detecting complete failure in its planned route, the EDC Shrike responds by cutting its engines, trying to enter a hover pattern, and waiting for a pick-up by friendly sources. Stupid AI! Colonel Faireborn and Joe tap the afterburners on the Talons, but Catechism has too great of a lead, and slowly but surely she begins to outpace them. For good measure Marissa fires off another salvo of missiles before the Decepticon falls completely out of range. "Rargh! That right! You run! You run away from ME GRIMLOCK!" he snarls- and ambles after the fleeing decepticons, shaking his little claws in anger as they flee out of his range! "Me get you next time!" Shoot the line. Shoot the smegging' line. Shoot the thin, narrow cable line with a thin band of energy. Fireflight already knew he was depleting his energon stores, and he didnt have much of a chance to hit that line before the Decepticons could escape. His iced and burnt body wobbled in midair and he grumbled, finding it hard to keep stable with damaged aerofoils. Swooping about, he instead chooses something he was GOOD at - carefully aligning himself with the decepticon and her cargo as he accelerates to full speed, aiming his own NOSECONE at that thin cable. After all, a Phantom is much wider than that cable, and thus, he had a better chance of actually connecting with it with his body, right? RIGHT?? Fireflight strikes you with ram for 20 points of damage. Gears growls as his slap misses, and decides to do it again. He ducks away from the blast that is directed at him before running back up to Dreadwind and delivering the makings of a mighty slap. If it connects. Gears strikes Dreadwind with slap. Looks like Fireflight's decided not to hit Fleet in his retreating tailfins! The yellow and blue pyramid is out of here! ZOOOOM! It turns out that Gears has little trouble hitting a moving target as he successfully slaps Dreadwind, perhaps he should get that checked out. He sighs heavily as his radio crackles to life, "Great now i'll have to go and submit myself to the tender mercies of the medics it won't be a painless exercise that's for sure. I'll probably leak myself into stasis long before they bother to tend to my injuries and get a nasty rust infection in the process too." With that Dreadwind's arm dangle limply at his sides as he rises up and transforms heading for what the other Decepticons call home. Dreadwind leans forwards allowing his body to fall towards the horizontal as his chest flips upwards concealing his head, while his legs pivot and his arms join to form the lower fuselage, to reveal a deadly F-16 Falcon. Dreadwind begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Fireflight, Fleet , F-35B Lightning II . Silverbolt has disconnected. Marissa Faireborn watches with annoyance as Catechism outruns the missiles, but nods grimly as Fireflight at least gets in a parting shot. On the downside it looks like it probably hurt the Phantom as much as it hurt the Decepticon. <> the Colonel reports. Her radar shows only allies and Decepticons who have fled. She and Joe circle around back towards the airfield. Ouch. That hurt. Fireflight runs into Catechism instead of the line, now wobbling crazily out of control as he struggles to keep in the air. Engines fluttering due to his low energon, the Phantom dips and rises erratically as he works to maintain his speed enough to avoid crashing - especially with the base and humans not far below. <> He rasps, both frustrated and dismayed that the chase must end here, a bitter taste indeed. He slowly comes about, allowing Marissa and Joe to land first before he begins his own approach, working to cut his speed as fast as possible once his landing gear was down. Kup has disconnected. ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/81 Posted Author Kup's status Thu Nov 20 Kup ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ (OOC: After the battle at the EDC airbase today, Autobots might find themselves wondering where everyone's favorite old man is. He certainly isn't in any of the medical bays, and one might think he would be, considering the beating Shockwave gave him, and that nasty fall where he landed right on his head. Where did he go?) ============================================================================== Fleet vanishes out of reality. Fleet has left. Marissa Faireborn has disconnected. Dreadwind takes flight to the Skies above the Western United States. Dreadwind has left. Gears folds down into the shape of a 1983 Chevy S-10 Truck. Gears moves west to California. Gears has left. Fireflight moves west to California. Fireflight has left. Grimlock vanishes out of reality. Grimlock has left. ================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/47 Posted Author Shrike captured Thu Nov 20 Catechism ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Catechism appears, and there is rather less of her than usual - various parts that would compose her jet mode have been shot off. She reports, despite the injuries, "Fleet, Dreadwind, Commander Shockwave, and I came across the EDC debuting a modified Shrike. The EDC and their Autobot masters jealously protected their new toy, but it was to no avail," the shot pans over to the Shrike sitting in the NCC medical ward. "Two Talons, however many EDC ground soldiers, Gears, Grimlock, Kup, Silverbolt, and Fireflight weren't enough to keep it from our clutches. One request. Once our engineers have taken it apart to see how far the fleshlings have come since Kitty Hawk, might I have the remains of the craft? Catechism, out." ==============================================================================
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