| abstract
| - Chaos has run amok aboard the neutral space station Station Z! While a certain level of chaos and mess are an acceptable part of the climate aboard this wayward station, the appearance of a dozen Junkion garbage ships and thier crews has upset the balance. Junkions of all shapes and sizes are swarming through the corridors and open spaces within the station, and some are even crawling along the outside of the station itself. Many are singing show tunes and catches of Disney songs, with 'Hi ho, Hiho! I's off to work we go!' being the most prevalent. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , One of the airlocks on station Q opens up. Michael in the Unity steps though with Andi. "Trust me, everything will be fine. I've got a contact here about some new technology we could use. I just need to look at it before I decide to buy." he says to Andi, "But you're better at the theoretical, so I needed you along. Nothing will go...." and that's when he sees the Junkions on the station, "...oh crap. What are 'they' doing here." Andi Lassiter would sigh at Mike's words, but you know? She should have known. "They who, Mike?" Exo-Suit Glaive Unity points to the Junkions. "The Junkions. Did we step into a convention or find ourselves on Junkion somehow?" Michael says in his mechanical echoing voice. Monstereo rushes up towards the boarding humans and moves to drape over them big chain necklaces with flower shapes cut out of aluminum cans. He says in a most serious and dour tone, "Welcome to paradise, where everyone gets Lei'd. Ha. Ha. Ha. Don't drink the water. It's safer if you stick to Juice." Among the many Junkions running amok on board the space station is Lee-Zard, who's looking a little worse for wear. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go!" He says merrily, despite the wild look in his eyes. "Accessing Tim the Toolman Taylor.wav! More power, roh ho ho! Am I right?" He asks, and many of the nearby Junkions reply with echoed shouts of 'MORE POWER', but thier speech seems rigid and forced. And just what might the gathered Junkions be up to? Just like thier previous excursions on some other nearby planets, they are RIPPING the station apart, piece by piece, and transferring the various components, metals, and the occasional weapon into thier garbage ships! Security aboard the station are confronted by terrifyingly erratic Junkions such as Barnakill and Murdeer, who are acting far more violently than Junkions are known for. Exo-Suit Glaive Unity stops at the sight of the Junkions taking the station apart. Michael says, "The hell? Are there Junkion pirates now?" as he clicks the safety off of his rifle with a quick command to his computer. The Unity flips though targets one at a time to see if there's any Junkions he recognizes while clicking over to a broadcast frequency, "This is...General Michael Briar of the Earth Defense Command. To the administration of this station, what is the situation here? Are you under attack?" From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter says, "I thought we were allies with the Junkions, Mike. Why are you...oh." She watches some of the disassembly, then spies a familiar form. "Mike, Lee-Zard's up there." The Talon's arm lifts to point in the little Junkion's direction. She's getting more accustomed to controlling this thing. Finally." Monstereo rushes up towards the boarding humans and moves to drape over them big chain necklaces with flower shapes cut out of aluminum cans. He says in a most serious and dour tone, "Welcome to paradise, where everyone gets Lei'd. Ha. Ha. Ha. Don't drink the water. It's safer if you stick to Juice." "General!" Comes a response. "This is Mmmmbitzip, capain of the security here! We've been overrun by robots yelling nonsense and ripping our station apart!" The Junkions go about thier business, spouting random lines from films along with a great deal of seemingly random jibberish. Faint traces of a mysterious blue liquid can be seen at the corners of thier mouths. The haul away everything they can get thier filthy Junkion hands on, and are quite adept at ptrying away even the most stubborn of pieces. With the meagre security drones being overwhelmed by the mass of Junkions, many of the aliens aboard the station are heading for thier ships, and a few are even joining in on the mayhem by robbing some of the merchant stalls along the main hub. One Junkion is not doing the dirty work of hauling away random pieces of the station however; And that Junkion is Lee-Zard. Lee-Zard makes a brief transformation into his rarely-seen cassette mode, and inserts himself into a station computer kiosk. Maps and diagrams flicker on the screen as Lee-Zard downloads the contents! From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar drops his jaw in surprise. He got laid! He says to Andi, "Yeah, I'm not going to attack them unless my options are limited." The Unity looks down at the flowered necklace and says to the Junkion in front of him, "Thank you...but why are you doing this? This station isn't yours Junkion. You and your people have no right to it you know." He points, "We have business on this station, so having it dismantled around our heads is a bad thing. Who's your big kahuna so I can talk to him about it." General Briar, we've lost all outside communications!" Comes another messege from Mmmmbitzip. "I think they've stolen our communica--"And the messege is cut off by the sound of blaster fire, and a voice shouting "Do the Juice! It's the one that's forever young! Side effects may include getting shot in the face!" A Junkion who is on his way back to one of the ships with an armload of stolen merchandise and spareparts quips, "Do the revolution! BANQUO is the new hotness! WreckGar is old and busted! Time to get down with your bad self!" Meanwhile.. Whatever it was Lee-Zard was after, he seems to have gotten it. The lime-green geckobot leaps out of the computer, and motions towards two of the burly Junkions nearby. "Accessing Stereotypes file 32, section five: Let's blow this popsicle stand! we've got bigger fish to fry! Ask not what your junk can do for you, but what you can do for your junk!" He says, and scampers off down a hallway, the two Junkions dropping whatever random parts of the station they were carrying, transforming into Junkcycles, and following the scampering lizard deeper into the station. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter looks at Monstereo confusedly for a moment also, then looks back toward where she'd seen Lee-Zard just in time to notice him scampering off. She sends an encrypted quick message to Mike, "I'm gonna go see what Lee is up to." Then she curtly replies to Monstereo as she moves to step past him, "Thank you for the flowers. Excuse me." Monstereo glances back over his shoulder at the activity and the quippy answeing Junkion. He turns back to the humans and leans forward with a dull look on his face as if over medicated, depressed, or labotomised. Looking at Michael he drones without any pep or natural poetical sentence rhythm, "You're a pretty lady.... but the bar is closed for the night. You missed last call. The drinks are ffffffffla-a-a-a-at." This last word sounds almost like glitch. He makes a heavy monotonous sigh. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar frowns and says, "Do that...and put him down if you have to Andi. That's an order. These Junkions are not...themselves." He pulls his rail rifle from his back maglock and says, "Ok buddy..." as he levels the business end of the rifle at Monstereo, "...it's time to put down the juice." Michael does not fire however as he moves around the Junkion and follows Andi deeper into the station, hoping to find whoever she is looking for. He does however, fire off a rail round or two at Junkions who are still ripping the station apart. "Allies or not, they're out of the damn minds." he says. It seems Lee-Zard has arrived at his destination, which appears to be an engineering section of the station. Flashing lights and strange machines fill the area, and Lee-Zard makes a bee-line for the biggest, flashiest peice of gear in the room. Along with the other two Junkions, Lee-Zard begins disconnecting the device from it's surroundings. Suddenly, red lights begin goig off around the station, and a computer voice announces, "WARNING - ARTIFICIAL GRAVITY LOST - SWITCHING TO BACKUP GRAVITY AT 33 PERCENT EFFICIENCY" Suddenly, the gravity is lost! Everything, that's not bolted down, Junkions included, begins to float off of the floor... For about thirty seconds, until the back-up gravity kicks in, at a mild one-third strength. The two burly Junkions with Lee-Zard begin dragging the stolen artifical gravity generator back towards the ship, with Lee-Zard leading he way - His sticky toes allowing him to move normally in the decreased gravity. A few Junkions are shot down by Michael Briar's rail gun, but they quickly fix themselves and continue ripping the station apart, albeit in slow motion and with laaarge, bouncy steps in the decreased gravity. Monstereo lets the Glaiver pass by peacefully, but then just as Michael opens fire, Monstereo's brows furrow in a tired expression. The gravity goes out (pose patch here) and he drifts up from the floor. "Levity. Ha. Ha. Ha." He grabs a bit of wall and waits until gravity is restored. He then removes a long chain from subspace and swings it out at Briar-borg in lassoing fashion, looking to snare the human in the exo armor. "Reduce. Reuse. Recycle." From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter is clomping along steadily, but loses sight of Lee-Zard almost right off. And then, the gravity cuts out. "Uhhhh....Mike?" Thankfully the exo suit kicks in the maglocks on its feet automatically, keeping her in place until the gravity returns, but....well, Andi's now very glad she opted to skip lunch before coming aboard this station. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar is lifted off of the ground and frowns, "Computer, mental note, advance the STEED development for the Unity." The computer chimes back . Even with the Unity's engines, it'd just go spinning out of control. It's not designed for a zero g environment. He lands with a thud, which he considers the least of his problems at the moment with a chain that wraps around his torso. Michael pushes up easily to standing as he looks at the chain. "Oh COMMON!" he says, sounding annoyed, "You 'don't' want to fight me Junkion. Trust me on that." He looks back at the Talon and Andi, "Get going and find that tape. I'll handle this guy and be with you shortly." Michael looks back at Monstereo and says, "Sorry buddy, you're leaving me with little choice." The ES-19x Glaive Unity's engines kick on and sends him screaming at Monstereo with his shoulder leading the way. Exo-suit Glaive Unity succeeds in grasping Monstereo, throwing him off-balance. "you can't make an ommelet without cracking a few skulls," Lee-Zard misquotes, and he leads the two Junks back towards one of the Junkion garbage ships docked along the outer rim of the station. He knows exctly where he needs to go, having downloaded the station schematics. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go, toil and trouble and you're gonna get double, mambo number f-ERROR, Four score and seven dwarves ago, Banquo for the win!" Lee-Zard cries, as he scampers along towards his ship. He catches sight of Andi's Talon armor briefly as he passes through an intersecting hallway, but he has no way of knowing t's his old friend Andi in there. And would Lee-Zard even recognize his friend? Dead End is also lifted off the metal decking as the artifical gravity fails, reaching out to grasp a nearby support strut, and causing it to bend as he curls his fist around it. He looks toward the severely bent strut before he sighs and shakes his head. "Once again something I rely on fails me...how typical." As he is sinking into self pity, however, a Junkion rounds the corner curiously clad in a large pith helmet and a desert shirt and shorts fashioned from tan colored metal. He points at Dead End as he reaches around behind him for his homemade elephant gun. "By Crikey, there's an abo dangling there, by Georgie." Dead End, for all his laconic personality, reacts swiftly. He leaps forward, tearing the sturdy strut off the rest of the way, as he heads toward the Junkion while pulling his right arm back. As Dead End nears the Junkion he swings his right arm forward and clobbers the Junkion which sends the other bouncing from wall to wall down the corridor as Dead End braces himself against the opposite wall. "Oh, this is such a bore." From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter says, "No, I'm....I'll be okay now." Just so long as her non-lunch stays down. The Talon continues on, Andi guessing that wherever the gravity controls are, that's where she'll find Lee-Zard. And thankfully, this base has stuff labelled with pictures, 'cause she doesn't see any signs in English. Oh, there he goes. Dangit. "LEE!" She yells, hoping that he'll hear her, and starts after the little Junkion as fast as she feels she can make the Talon run without losing control in the lighter-than accustomed gravity." Monstereo dents inward as Exo-Mikey sacks him, the impact making the sound of crumpling cans and packaging bubble-wrap popping. "He chose... poorly. You are unworthy of the Grail, Sir Knight." The Ben Stein like talking Junkion recovers his footing and stands upright. "My name is Inigo Montoya you killed my father, my mother, my brother Sid, my brother Carl, my transgendered brother Sheena and my dog Stains. Prepare to diet. You no lika the juice. No juice for you." He marches forward in an arms straight out Frankenstein like way attempting to drive Michael back. With chaos happening on the space station, Marissa Faireborn, back on the Intrepid, has assembled a squad of EDC soldiers to head out, deal with any offending Junkions, and assist any surviving aliens. From the docking bay, Marissa and a dozen marines, all in combat armour and wielding energon rifles, slowly creep out of the Terran shuttle and into the station, moving silently in a commando style. "Colonel Faireborn to General Briar and Lieutenant Lassiter. I've taken bravo team out to assist," she whispers into her comm link. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar shakes his head, "This is why I hate Junkions..." says Michael as he flexes the exo-suit which easily snaps the chain wrapped once around his body like some kinda super man...or somethin. Michael lifts his rifle, now that he's free and fires off a burst of rail rifle at Monstereo. Over the sonic booms of hypervelocity rounds he says, "Glad you could make it Colonel. We're 3 sections directly into the station. Careful though, they've got Junkions swarming the place and they're not friendly." Dead End continues to make his way down the corridor, the sound of metallic clanging that accompanies the rebounding Junkion coming faintly to his auditory pickups, before he swings into the open doorway of an empty room. While the room is empty, however, it is has clearly not been unoccupied. The furniture and various posessions in the room have been strewn about and badly damaged. "I think I can appreciate this style of decoration...if there wasn't so much effort involved." He turns around and engages his radio. Junkions all over the station continue to rip up everything they can, even the floor from beneath thier feet. They're not interested in the few remaining aliens on board the station(many having lfed to the safety of thier ships). The Junks seem unimpeded by the low of gravity, aside from moving slowly and bouncing around a little. However, the mysteriously viscious-looking Barnakill and Murdeer have finished disposing of the security drones, and are now prowling around he station, looking for some sport. The Junkion with the pith helmet bounces away from Dead End, but patches himself up as he bounces along. "I'll be bach!" He quotes. It seems that despite the Junkions erratic behavior, they sill have enough sense to know how ot patch themselves up. Lee-Zard pauses briefly as he hears his name, but his bright yellow optics flicker red briefly, and he conitnues onward, as if he had never heard her. The two junks behind him continue to haul what must be the artifical gravity generator. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter mutters something about remembering to USE the radio, guessing that Lee didn't hear her. But she continues chasing after him and his generator-carrying lackeys as fast as she dares. She tries to get the little lizard-Junkion's attention again, this time making SURE she's broadcasting so he can hear. "Lee-Zard! Wait! It's Andi!" "Jesus," Corporal Clemons mutters as he practically hops with each step, taking up a point position behind the Colonel. The light gravity is difficult to maneuver in while remaining stealthy. Low gravity combat is a part of the standard issue Earth Defence Command training, but it isn't something that ends up seeing a lot of use, so the squad's practical experience is limited. They don't have to go far before they find crazed Junkions. "Just like the ones on Krithella IV," Marissa mutters. Several Junkions are busy tearing up the bulkhead along the corridor Marissa and company are heading down to reach Briar and Lassiter. Grimacing, Marissa raises her rifle to her shoulder. "Weapons free," she adds in a hushed whisper. Small laser lights from her weapon and twelve other rifle sights fall on the Junkions before they pull the trigger, sending hot electric death streaking down the hallway. This is sure to get their attention. Dead End makes his way out of the ruined room, his usual slow and deliberate movements aiding him in the reduced gravity, before turning and making his way down the corridor totally indifferent to the shouts of the rebounding Junkion. However, several more are moving up the corridor toward him, so he launches himself in the air before shifting into vehicle mode as he uses his heavy mass to push the three of them backward. Dead End smoothly transforms into a maroon Porsche 928 Monstereo leaves himself as a dumb aft big barn sized target the way he's walking at the Briarpatch. He is cut down easily by the human's exo weaponry and is send flying back along the floor, trailing broken bits tumbling behind in his wake. He monotonously grates in a glitchy voice, "Humanity got the best of me, the bringer of suffering. Where once I tried making friends, now I make for a used ammunition storage unit." He sits up, one arm wrapped around his shot up and dented in torso. He starts gathering up nearby junk strewn about him for self-patchwork. Lee-Zard pauses briefly, looking over his shoulder as Andiagain calls him name. The other two continue on as if nothing has happened, and will likely be at the ship in moments if not halted. Lee-Zard makes a half a turn towards Andi, before his optics flicker red again. "I'm sorry, the lizard you are trying to reach is not in service. Please leave a messege after the Bwee. BWEEE!" He shouts, and runs towards Andi,ducking between her legs, and scampering away, his sticky fingers and toes letting him move quite well despite the reduced gravity. Several Junkions are shot down by Marissa's squad of well-trained marksmen. Some are able to pick themsleves up, and after reattahing any missing limbs, return to thier task of dismatling the station and bringing the parts to the ships. Some actually do stay down for te count, but thier comrades don't pay them any attention, and noe return fire on the armoured marines. Two of the Junkions do take notice, however, and they leap off of an overhead catwalk and (slowly!) fall to the floor amidst the marines. They have transformed into thier terrifying beast modes, a giant banacle covered in crusty junk, and a deer with pointy knives for antlers. "Barnakill!" "Murdeer!" "We here to-" clap! "F*** you up!" They shout, and begin to rip into the marines with thier pointy extremities. Venom has arrived. Dead End is back in robot mode again as he knocks the trio away with his bumper, using his mysterious powers of flight to slow himself down, before flying forward again. After several moments of making his way down the corridor he comes across the Terrans, currently being attacked by two of the nastier Junkions, before he comes to a halt just out of sight of them as he radios again. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar frowns at Monstereo, "Sorry about that..." and clicks on his com, <> while he takes aim and fires off a few rounds at a Junkion swinging around like Tarzan trying to pull out a power conduit. The Junkion screeches and drops to the ground as Michael glides by. He won't risk going any faster than a quick jog because of the reduced gravity. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter tries to catch the lizard as he charges and goes to dart past her, not reaching with the Taon's arms but instead scissoring the legs closed. Sadly, she's just not fast enough to catch the slippery little gecko. She considers turning to chase after him again, but that generator thing must be important if they're trying to steal it. So she takes off after the lackeys again, hoping they're not in any hurry 'cause yeah. A fast shuffling walk isn't the quickest way to get from place to place. Monstereo is picked up by the arms by two Junkions and dragged away down some cross cutting corridor, disappearing into the fray. He can be heard in an echoing droning voice through the halls, "There is no pain, you are receeding. A distant ship, smoke on the horizon. You are only coming through in waves. Your lips move but I can't hear what your..." at this point he fades out of audible range. Marissa's lower lip curls into one of disgust as several Junkions are downed. Those that get back up merely begin to tear apart the station again. The general consensus amongst her squad is that it is distasteful to gun down robots who aren't even trying to fight back. Still, if they tear apart the station, everyone times. It's an ugly job, but someone's got to disable these freaks. But before Marissa can order a second round to be unleashed, a pair of Junkions jump (float) down from the catwalks above. Scatter!" Marissa shouts as marines bolt in all directions. Being small has the advantage in that the hallway is large enough for soldiers to run in all directions to get some distance between them and the floating Junkions, though one unlucky bastard catches the unfriendly end of Murdeer's right antler. Energy bursts are sporadically sprayed upwards at Murder-Hans and Barna-Frans. Marissa's hoping the light gravity will let them just knock the Junkions off balance. "Decepticon!" Sergeant Williams barks out. Marissa shoots a look at Dead End. "Just what we need. Hey, Stunticon! Dead End!" she shouts. "We have bigger fish to fry than each other, if you catch my drift!" Dead End leans out from around his corner to train his eyeband on Marissa as she makes an indifferent shrug. "It may be a surprise to you, human, but I'm not at all interested in a scuffle. I have duties of my own here: what do you suggest?" Lee-Zard pauses briefly, looking back over his shoulder at the back of Andi's exosuit. His optics flicker and he twitches, and seems on the verge of turning back... Before leaping into a conduit and dissapearing. Barnakill, being a giant barnacle, can do little to avoid any incoming gunfire from the space marines, and he is sent tumbling away, flailing his bizarre barnacle limbs into empty air. "Help! I've fallen und I can't get up!" The murderous Murdeer isn't quiet so useless, and he ducks and bucks any incoming fire, and charges towards Marissa, who seems to be calling the shots. Marissa is only somewhat surprised by Dead End's words. If he had been here for a scuffle she suspects that several of her marines would already be smeared by the Stunticon's weaponry by now. "I suggest we deal with the Junkions - I mean, try not to /kill/ them, b-" Marissa is cut off as she's forced to dive away from the remarkably agile Murdeer in order to escape the charging robot. The light gravity causes her to lose her footing, and she slams against the other side of the hallway. "F---!" she cringes through clenched teeth. Her voice sounds tiny, as if she's had the wind knocked out of her. Dead End shrugs as he steps out from behind the very minor cover the bend in the corridor to stand in the center of it. "If you say so, human...to me it doesn't matter one way or the other." He looks up as he sees the large form of Barnakill drifting toward him before pulling out his air pistol before aiming it at the large bulk. "I suggest you all keep your heads down if you want to keep them" he says in his usual montone as he pulls the trigger. A powerful blast of air shoots out of the barrel and pushes Barankill forward in the general direction or Murdeer. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar hears the word 'scatter' from Marissa over the coms. He says, "Shit..." and takes off punching his engines hard and rocketing down the hallway leading back towards the shuttles. Now is 'not' the time to just glide around. Michael does a half second weapon check in his head, most of what he's packing will punch holes in the station's outer hull. Especially as close to the shuttles as they are, they're close to the hull. Michael slips his rifle onto his hip maglock and clenches his fists forming his glowing purple blades. As he bursts out of the hallway, he sees Marissa go down. "COLONEL!" he screams but does not charge the Junkion pirate, instead he lands and skids to a stop in front of Marissa to protect her facing out and forming his defensive energy shields in front of his fists. In case the Junk decides to turn from Dead End. At least that's the idea. Michael says, "You alive Marissa?" Tiny Cicada buzzes out from between Barnakill and Murdeer as they are swept away by Dead End's air pistol. He manages to fly up over the range of the air torrent, then flips over and clings to the ceiling. He settles in there to watch the show. Dead End lowers his weapon and starts to advance forward in his usual plodding anti-grav defying tread as he moves toward the humans. He comes to a halt just behind them, turning to look at Michael, as the other rushes over to stand in front of the felled Colonel. Dead End's optics may show no emotion but his voice reveals a fair amount of sarcasm. "Is there any point in asking if anyone is alive, human? If they are not then not getting an answer is the least of your worries." Murdeer has little time to gloat over his victory against the much smaller human Marissa... Like a slow-motion train wreck, Barnakill is sent hurtling through the air, propelled by the compressed air blast from Dead End, towards his killbuddy Murdeer. THey collide with considerable force, because even though they have less apparant weight because of the reduced gravity, they still have the same /mass/. Barnakill is impaled on Murdeer's antlers of doom, and being weak to Blade-type attacks, is ravaged by the multitude of blades. Murdeer, being weak to the rare Barnacle-type, is squished under the mass of Barnakill. Everything seems still, for a moment... Until a small green head pokes his way out of a vent above. "Junkions! Merge, to from Super-Hyper-Mega-Godmachine-Mega-BlackZarak-Zord JUNKZILLA! Junkzilla for short, don'cta now. And I'll form, the HEAD!" The Junkions below stop thier chopshopping of the station's parts, and begin to chopshop /themselves/, kitbashing thier bodies together into a hulking mass of Junkion bodies and spare limbs, with some parts of the station forming additional armored plates. Lee-Zard has initiated a gestalt merge. Lee-Zard has left. JUNKZILLA has arrived. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter keeps on chasing after the generator and the two Junkions carrying it. When she gets close enough, she takes a quick look to get a feel for the area around her before LEAPING at the generator to try and grab it away from its carriers and over the side of the platform they're walking on. It's a gamble, but there's another platform below and the reduced gravity will hopefully mitigate the fall. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar ignores Dead End, but if the con could see, Michael is giving him a dirty look. He says, ".....ok, so where do I get out of this crazy nightmare again?" He looks back at Marissa and says, "Best to head back to the Intrepid, this is getting out of our league." as he does flip up his ion cannons on his hips and launches twin ruby beams of heat at the thing. Marissa hit the wall and slumped to the ground, but she quickly picks herself back up. "Too busy to die, sir," she says, cradling her energy rifle. The human soldiers have done their best to find cover as Dead End blows Barnakill and Murdeer away with his air pistol. Marissa smirks as former gets impaled on the latter's antlers as they fly away. The other marines congregate around Marissa and Michael. "Well, we found you," Marissa jokes, as it was Michael who ending up finding them. A medic in the squad kneels in front of the marine who received one of those antlers to the gut. The soldier is badly wounded, as the blade pierced through the Cybertronian allow combat body armour, and barely conscious. The medic motions to several others to help him get the trooper back to the shuttle while bandaging the worst of the injuries here. Marissa gives the wounded soldier a sympathetic look before peering back at Briar. "Is Andi with you?" she asks. Before she can get an answer, however, the Junkions have stopped their ravaging of the staiton and /merged/. She responds to Briar's suggestion with a hand signal to the rest of the squad, and they fall back several paces. Marissa doesn't look at Dead End, being focused on taking several steps back from JUNKZILLA, but she does reply to him. "It's called being compassionate, Dead End. I guess that isn't in the Decepticon vocabulary banks, though." Tiny Cicada transmits some instructions to Dead End, then immediately scuttles across the ceiling to a different corner of the hallway from his fellow Decepticon. He rubs two of his tiny buggy hands together, multi-faceted eyes taking in everthing going on in nearly all directions. Exo-Suit Glaive Unity nods and Michael says, "She's farther back in the station." while he's covering the troops falling back. If this gestalt does go for humans, he wants to be the first one it drops its fury on. At least in the exo-suit, he can take it. Dead End stands his ground in the face of JUNKZILLA, not looking either at Marissa or Michael, as he raises his weapon and fires a blast at the Junkion Gestalt's right leg in an attempt to stagger him. "Apparently logic is not in yours, human. I suppose we are both at a disadvantage." He turns to look in the direction of Venom, shrugging, before he turns and aims another shot at the same spot on Junkzilla's leg. The burly pair of Junkions with the plot devi- graviton generator aren't in any huge rush, especially without Lee-Zard leading them alog, and are easily over taken by Andi in her Talon armour. "Did you see the game yesterday? "No, I was Krithella IV, and so were you!" "Oh yeah." And in thier chatter, they don't even notice Andi has snatched the generator until it's too late! Meanwhile, at enemy central... The monstrous temporary merger 'Junkzilla' wobbles on it's feet, individual Junkion arms and legs flailing around aimlessly. "Don't forget to eat your vegetables!" The various heads and faces intone, and the monster pull out a giant can labeled 'Juice!'. It opens he can, and begins to pour the contents all over Lee-Zard who has formed a grotesquely tiny Godzilla head. He guzzles down as much of the Juice as he can, the rest pouring over him in a deluge. "OOOOOH YEAH! STEP INTO A SLIMJIM! REAGAN SMASH!!" Comes Lee-Zard's voice, amplified a hundredfold, and echoed(chorused?) by the myriad of other Junkions. "TIME TO ROCK AND ROLL!" He screams, and begins stomping around, smashing he bulkheads and floorplates and throwing an oversized tantrum. The blasts from Dead End strike home, and a pair of Junkion arms nearby begin patching up the damage. "I suppose," Marissa replies to Dead End, not having much time to argue with the Decepticon. As the marine squadron falls back, Marissa stands her ground, hesitating as she contemplates doing either the smart, cautious thing or the brave, stupid thing. "What the hell," she mutters to herself, slinging her rifle over her shoulder via the strap and grabbing a baseball sized device off her belt. "No guts, no glory." Marissa steps out towards Junkzilla as it begins drinking the Juice!, allowing it to therefore step into a slimjim. "Keep him busy, Michael!" The entire floor shakes as the Gestalt rumbles and smashes, and Marissa is thrown up into the air several times due to the light gravity. Nimbly hitting a wall feet first, she pushes off and lands near the rampaging Junkion Super Combiner. Fighting down the fear of being where she is, Marissa slaps the magnetic tracking device to the Junkion's leg and tries to dive back away from it. The device is a potent transmitter that sends subspace communication signals along an EDC frequency. She has no idea if the Junkions will find it, but she's hoping in their delusional state that they won't. Or, won't in time before they get a clue where they're coming from. Dead End raises his weapon as he sees the leg behind repaired, starting to fire several blasts into each part of the gestalt, with the idea of keeping it so occupied with repairs that it's function is impaired. He doesn't pay attention to Marissa as she flies past him firing all the way. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar says, "Easier said than done." Michael takes off for Junkzilla and is intent on getting some of that blue fluid that's oozing out from the gestalt. He flies right up into the face of Junkzilla and says, "Hey, big rusty and ugly, bet you can't beat the high score in bash the briar!" He dives down towards his chest and makes a swipe for some of that fluid while he's here. Tiny Cicada quickly scuttles down the wall and then runs along the floor towards Junkzilla, coming in from the opposite direction from Marissa. He climbs onto the Junkstalt's huge foot and jabs his stinger into a trickle of the blue liquid, extracting a sample and storing it in an internal tank treated to be resistant to most known corrosives. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter manages to wrest the generator from the two Junkions carrying it by sheer inertia, her Talon slamming into the device and taking it over the edge of the platform they'd been crossing. Yup, lighter gravity is helping. She forces the Talon to right itself in a way that the poor exo-unit was probably never designed to do, then lands roughly on the lower platform as she'd hoped for. "OOF...." She winces and hopes that she didn't just sprain a knee, but doesn't stick around for those Junkions she just swiped this thing from to come after her. She takes off again at a run, back toward where she saw Lee-Zard come from. The burly pair of Junkions watch as Andi Lassiter takes off with the gravity generator. The Junkion garbage ships, now full of junk, are beginning to take off now, and there's no time to recover the device. The two quickly cut some parts and pieces off the wall and make a rough facsimile of the gravity generator before hopping onto one of the Junkion garbage ships. Junkzilla, which is only vaugely under the control of Lee-Zard, continues to stomp around, seemingly more interested in mindless destruction than anything else, now attempts to rip the wall apart, actually trying to tear it's way free of the space station and into outer space. Blasts from Dead End scorch deep pits into the external surfaces, and the various Junkions that comprise the monsterosity do, in fact, seem to be having a hard time keeping up with all of the repairs. In thier flurry of repair work, they actually grab Marissa's tracking device and use it to plug a hole on the machine's surface. It doesn't even seem to notice the efforts of Michael Briar, or Venom, as they take sample of the Juice. Dead End looks out between the rapidly widening gaps in the steel of the space station as Junkzilla rends it with it's hands as he continues to fire at the towering and apparently out of control robot in front of him as per Venom's...request. Also, Barnakill and Murdeer use Junkzilla as a distraction to sneak away to a departing ship! Gasp! Marissa doesn't see what happens to the transmitter once it's been planted. She won't know until they receive the analysis of the signal from Earth Defence Command HQ in Alameda. She's hoping to find where these Junkions are heading. Perhaps even their home! Marissa doesn't look back until she's safe behind Briar's Unity Exo-Suit (and Dead End, though this is perhaps not 'safe'), but the pause is only momentary. Her eyes widen as she realizes that it's only a matter of time before Junkzilla makes it to an external wall. "Colonel Faireborn here, expect decompression of this sector at any moment!" Marissa sprints back towards the shuttle. She doesn't want to be here when this area gets opened up to outer space. From Exo-suit Glaive Unity , Michael Briar sees it too and says, "Time to scoot." He turns and blasts off for the airlock leading to the Intrepid slapping the open switch. "All aboard, this place is closing." he says waiting for the humans to all clear out. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter sets the generator down and goes back to see what's going on, realizing the same thing that Marissa did. But running away isn't going to work, not this time. So instead she goes for "batshit crazy". She kicks on the Talon's flight boosters, aiming for Lee-Zard, Junkzilla's head. Maybe if she can pull him loose of that Akira-esque monstrosity, she can make the rest of the thing fall apart and not tear the space station to shreds. AND, she can take the little lizard home to Meetroplex to help figure out what this nasty blue syrup they're all oozing is about. If she heard the other two, she doesn't acknowledge them. Tiny Cicada darts back up the wall and then runs over to take a place near (and slightly behind) Dead End is. He watches the humans departing, but seems to be equally interested in the interplay between commanders and soldiers. For reasons unknown, Junkzilla continues to rip and tear at the wall of the space station. Sirens begin going off, and a voice announces, "WARNING - HULL BREACH IMINENT - OBTAIN EMERGENCY AIR SUPPLY" Weakened by the barrage of attacks(and not really very well put together in the first place), there isn't a whole lot holding the Junkzilla together. Lee-Zard first ties to bite at Andi's hands, but a confused look of recognition passes his damaged and contorted face, and he releass his grip on the shoulders of the Junkzilla, coming free into Andi's hands. As the last of the Junkion ships depart for climes unknown, laden with junk and garbage and even a few useful parts, Junkzilla breaks through the final exterior hull. A great rush of air begins to blow out the opening with a huge FSWOOOOOOOOOOSSSSHHHH, and sucks the now-headless Junkzilla out into space, along with anything that isn't bolted down or holding on. "I'll get you for this gadget! AND YOUR LITTLE DOG TOO!" The monstrosity exclaims, although it's his own fault he's being sucked out into space. Two of the ships clamp onto the floating Junkzilla, and cart it away with the rest of the junk. Lee-Zard's body is limp and lifeless, with mismatched parts and severed wires dangling from his body, and traces of the Juice clinging to him. Marissa feels a sudden rush of air slamming into her as, far behind her, Junkzilla finally smashes open the last remaining bulkhead, exposing the area to open space. Grabbing onto the inner airlock doors, she yanks herself into the shuttle with the assistance of waiting marines. The Colonel hits the deck of the shuttle - it has its own artificial gravity - and rises to a kneel. "Get ready, Andi and the General are going to be coming in fast. Get the airlock ready for them." The outer airlock doors part, waiting to receive the two remaining humans (and, unknown to Marissa, Junkion) on the station. Dead End turns and begins to trudge back tow ard where Venom has come to rest, turning to cycle a nearby airlock that leads along a different axis of the station, before turning to look at Vortex and saying in an example of dry humour: "You're welcome to stay here for further observation." From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter says, "CRAP!" She hadn't planned quite THAT far, and pushes the Talon's jets to full to keep from getting blown out the hull breach along with Junkzilla-sans-head. She pushes the exo-unit's trajectory to an angle away from the opening in the station, aiming for a nearby alcove. The Talon slams into the small space (amazingly close to the Intrepid's airlock) and, lacking free hands, hooks one leg around a support pillar to stay in the relative bit of shelter." Tiny Cicada follows Dead End into the waiting airlock. As the door cycles shut, his voice can be heard, slowly trailing off. "So Dead End, tell me what you think of Motormasterr..." Dead End's voice can be heard as well as he trudges along beside Venom. "I'm not sure what my telling would do for either of us..." "Working on it, Lieutenant," Marissa says. Unlike Autobot shuttles, Terran shuttles have drop lines connected to the airlocks for rapid evacuation and aerial deployment. The Intrepid's engines flare up as the pilot begins to prep the ship for launch away from the space station. Marissa meanwhile, standing on the interior side of the airlock, punches in several commands into the doorside computer panel. Two evac lines are deployed. The decompression makes them shoot out, dangling out roughly where Andi is hanging from. She's going to have to pull her way through the outer airlock doors. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiterhuffs softly to herself, "STOP calling me Lieutenant..." "Grab that line and haul your sorry ass back into the shuttle first!" Marissa calls back over the radio. "Until then you're just going to have to put up with Lieutenant." It might not be the most orthodox measure of motivating her troops, but Marissa just wants her friend safely back on the shuttle ASAP. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassitergrumbles, trying to figure out a way to free up the Talon's "hands" without abandoning Lee-Zard. "Um, can you throw out an extra rope or something? My hands are full!" Marissa curses the unavailability of a Starknight right around now. "Deploying," she says, tapping another line. This makes three. It won't take too long for this sector of the ship to decompress, but of course this brings other, even more worrying concerns with it. "How much air do you have left?" Marissa asks, sounding worried. Looking through the porthole, Marissa spots Lee-Zard. This, combined with the planted transmitter, might make all of this worthwhile. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter says, "Uh...." She casts about for the readout a moment before finding it. "About twenty minutes. Plenty." She snags one of the lines, and not wanting to risk losing Lee, she uses just the one hand to deftly secure a couple of half hitch loops around one of the little Junkion's arms. She gives it a tug to make sure it won't come loose, then radios Marissa again. "Okay, reel Lee in and I'm following right behind." "Bringing you in," Marissa reports through the intercom. Her finger taps the recoil button, and the lines begin to pull Andi and her prize back in. Once the pair are within the confines of the outer airlock doors, Marissa lets out a breath of relief and the heavy doors slam shut. "Tell the pilot to get us out of here," she tells one of the marines. The Intrepid backs away from Station Q, pivoting as it does, activating its rear thrusters. The airlock meanwhile pressurizes. "Welcome back, Andi. How is the patient?" From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter says, "Out like a light. I think pulling him out of that giant junkion mess was kinda hard on him. Poor guy." She waits for the airlock to finish cycling and picks Lee-Zard up again before clomping the Talon into the main hangar bay. The legs of the thing look like it suffered a VERY rough landing feet-first and it's actually...limping a little. "You know, with all of the bells and whistles these things have, you'd think they'd pad the feet or something." There's a soft klaxon sound along with a green light on both sides of the airlock turning on. Marissa taps the controls and the inner airlock doors slide open. Marissa steps back to give the Exo-Armour some room. Several marines are still around, rifles ready in case Lee-Zard is merely playing robo-possum. "It's your tax dollars at work," Marissa replies. From afar she peers at the knocked out Junkion, wondering just what happened to make him this way. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter says, "Remind me to up my withholdings, then." She looks around for a secure place to contain the little Junkion in case he wakes up, and opts for a metal storage crate with plexiglass windows in the sides and a lockable lid. But first, she hogties the poor gecko, sticking his footpads to each other with his tail trapped between, hopefully the precaution is enough to prevent him from transforming. Then she gently sets Lee-Zard into the crate and secures it closed. "That will hopefully hold him until we can get him to Metroplex." Marissa smiles despite the situation. She worries for Lee-Zard. Several marines are on guard duty, assigned to take care of the storage crate. Crossing her arms, Marissa watches the storage crate as if it somehow has the answers she seeks. "What do you think, Andi? What could have done this to an entire race of sentient beings? This can't just be some kind of culture change on their part. We would have had some warning." Marissa has always thought of the Autobots (and Junkions) as friends, not mere machines programmed to emulate sentience. The thought that they can be reprogrammed or otherwise made to go haywire conflicts with this. From Exo-Armor Talon , Andi Lassiter walks the Talon over to a storage berth and starts the shutdown sequence before opening it and climbing out with a wince. "I'm honestly not sure, Marissa. But I do know that whatever is causing the problems, the blue goop Lee's got all over him is the catalyst. So I recommend we clean it up but good before we reach Earth. I don't want to risk contaminating anyone or anything." Andi Lassiter leaves the Exo-Armor Talon . "Granted," Marissa says, still peering at the crate. "Just save some for later examination. Before you nabbed Lee-Zard, I managed to attach a tracking device to the Junkion Combiner robot. I doubt it'll last long before the Junkions discover the transmitter in it, but I'm hoping that in their delusional state they won't before we have a good idea of where they're hiding out when they aren't attacking innocent planets and space stations." Andi Lassiter nods, looking at the smears of goop on the Talon she just exited. "Should be easy enough. Lee's coated, and this Talon here has some on it too." She looks at Marissa. "You got a tracking device on them? Man, why didn't I think of that? She grins then starts to walk across toward the crate, trying to hide a wince and ever so slightly favoring her right leg.
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