| abstract
| - Brussels, Belgium In the walled city of Brussels, the passage of time seems to have stopped a century or two ago; step-gabled guild houses, gothic churches, and antique shops from the 14th and 15th centuries line the cobbled streets. At the city's center is the Ilot Sacre, the Sacred Isle, the old merchant heart of Brussels with streets named for the merchandise they sell, such as the Rue des Bouchers (Butchers Street) and Rue des Marches aux Herbs (Herbs Market). Tourists, strollers, and artists crowd the streets, the sound of the French, Dutch, and English languages attesting to the varied heritage of the people. Yet Brussels is the seat of the European Union and of NATO, in direct contradiction to its quaint atmosphere. It is very unlikely, Shockwave decides, that Earth Defence Command and the Autobots are going to see this next move coming. Shockwave himself certainly didn't. When he was given the order, he initially balked at it for being unnecessary and a waste of resources, but upon reflection he began to see the benefit of it. Striking out at the Hague's prison was a way of sending a message to the humans: The Decepticon Empire will not be cowed by any mere native's words. This is what's going through Shockwave's mind as the Decepticon drop ship Nightsiege blasts down from Earth's orbit, glowing red as it penetrates the atmosphere. Shockwave is at the co-pilot's seats, but there's enough windows on the drop ship that anyone can look outside and see the wind and fire rushing past them. Up ahead, the Hague comes into view. It isn't a densely populated city, it is at least spread out and covers a lot of ground. The shuttle viewscreen's HUD highlights the prison itself, making it easier to see in the early morning's sunlight. <> Shockwave announces. Break open the prison, let anyone they want out, and otherwise make a mess of the area. That last bit is what most Decepticons are built for. Buzzsaw, for his part, merely bobs his head at Shockwave's command, claws shifting as he hops off of his shoulder. <>. Really, it is a nice division of resources! Shockwave stomps around and looks menacing, Buzzsaw cheerfully gets to sneak in while he's being a giant target and open up as many prison cells and the like out as he can. Easy-peasy. Surely, this mission will be a cakewalk! Decepticon Hubris. Gotta love it, huh? Anyways, Buzzsaw's calmly cleaning his beak as they begin final approach as he prepares for Sneak-Sneaking! Yay! Elsewhere, Apocryphacius is in an EDC hanger in France, doing some materials testing, looking at the bond strengths of some exotic alloys. He is checking which spectra of radiation excite the alloys' electrons violently enough to cause destabilization of the alloy and induce weakening. Then there is a red alarm klaxon. He rushes to a briefing room, his engineering testing put aside. There is someone squawking out that the radar has a hot unknown inbound headed towards the Hague. Maybe it's just an old satellite crashing? They could never be that lucky. After the 'demonstration' the Decepticons put on last night at the UN meeting, the EDC was on maximum alert. Which meant getting most of those delegates back to their home countries safely. And of course, Cross's biggest supporters got the primary choices for escorts to stand guard at their nations and nearby other regions. Now Talia had no love for the man, but Cross's directives -did- make her job easier when it came to shooting bad metal aliens to keep them from doing bad things to proper people. So when Apocryphacius (boy that's a mouthful) got to the briefing room there's a short fill-in on there being a decending large object in atmospheric entry, but the heat and composition makes it impossible to tell what it is for certain, just that it's headed for Hague. The Quintesson is quickly picked out and sent back down to the hangers to grab a pilot with an aircraft and get over there to deal with it. Even just a piece of space junk hitting the fortifications could lead to a criminal disaster. Fortunately the same ship he'd been sent over on was still on the tarmack, having just finished being refueled and ready. That was... well that was earlier. Who's paying attention to actual travel times? The Firehawk was making full speed towards the predicted dropzone, because Talia was an expert of getting her bird in the air and -fast-. "Hope the accomidations back there are enough, boy. This ain't a luxury transport," she comments over her headset. Lucky Quint gets to ride in the rear cargo/troop section. But at least there's guns at hand... er... tentacle, right? Perceptor doesn't get out and about very much, but this solar cycle one of his research probes had identified a small deposit of a rare mineral in Europe. He had set up his equipment and had been busy procuring as pure a sample he could get when something came hurtling out of the sky toward the Hague. He sighs and turns his scopes in that direction, zooming in on the vessel. A Decepticon dropship, it would seem. Now what could they possibly want here? The Nightsiege comes to a halt, hovering over the prison while side doors on both starboard and port slide open. Decepticon Seekers pour out of both. They're well organized, with some automatically racing towards the prison and others setting up a perimeter around the soon-to-be battlefield. Shockwave is last out, though he quickly makes his presence known. "Attention citizens of this planet," he announces, amplifying his voice so all in the area can hear him. "The Decepticon Empire has considered your presumed judgement over our status and found them lacking. I have been commanded to inform you in detail what we think of your opinion." Shockwave shifts, arms and legs collapsing as his barrel slides over his hands. There's a bright flash and half a guard tower erupts into flame. The other half is simply gone. Shockwave's done his part of being a giant target who looks menacing, Buzzsaw. Your turn. Buzzsaw drops from the dropship as Shockwave makes his declaration, the cassette condor zipping his way towards the prison sectors, attempting to keep in the dark as best he can. C'mon, who's paying attention to a single dark shape that's skulking about in the shadows when there's SHOCKWAVE over there proclaiming proclamations? Pay attentiont to the obvious threats! Now, if Buzzsaw can just find a control room to get into...Scanning, scanning~ Perceptor couldn't possibly have missed the explosions, or Shockwave, for that matter. Now what could the other scientist possibly be after? He approaches the scene, watching as the ship touches down and the Decepticons emerge, and Shockwave begins announcing stuff to the humans. It appeared that this was some sort of power display. Heh, Shockwave must have been ordered to this by Galvatron...it didn't really seem like something the logician would dream up himself. But then he notices Buzzsaw sneaking into the prison...hm, perhaps he was here for more than just 'proclamations' after all. He watches the Casseticon from a short distance off, to see what he might be up to. The bright flash of Shockwave's blast is like a big violent beacon as the VTOL craft comes into range. "Sure as hell ain't no meteor," Talia grumbles, even as the Firehawk powers up fully and multiple holo-screens flicker to life around the cockpit. The protective shielding slides open at the sides of the crew hold, followed by the secondary guns swinging into place in front of the openings. Naturally as soon as the scanners lock onto Shockwave's form it starts blaring >> WARNING << across several of the screens, and some dribble about High Priority Risk Target... until she reachs over without even looking up from the main console to slap the controls to shut it off. "Shockwave. Wonderful." Apoc probably heard that over the internal radio thanks to the headset mic being right next to her mouth under her helmet. Not going to stop her at the moment, though. The Firehawk shudders briefly as it slows out of full transit speed, VTOLs thrumming fully to life to take over keeping the craft aloft at maneuvering speed. The aircraft angles as it comes in, little targetting recticles lighting up Shockwave's form on Talia's screens, and then several of the gumbies past him on the ground, thanks to it's angle of approach. Catching the end of big purple's broadcast, she just grunts, and retorts over the external speakers, "Firehawk's got somethin' t'say to y'all about that attitude." Which is said in the secondary guns sliding out of their housings on either side of the cockpit and raining Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk strikes Laser Gun with her Strafing Lasers (Laser) attack! Apocryphacius has been in cramped quarters with poor seating before. He's been in the EDC for six years now. Cramped quarters and poor seating are a quintessential part of military life. When he hears about Shockwave, his ichor runs cold. One tentacle snakes out over the controls for the gun in the bakc of the Firehawk. Combat: Apocryphacius sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Apocryphacius strikes Laser Gun with VSC-25 Firehawk 's Tracer Machinegun attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Laser Gun 's Agility. (Crippled) The Autobots have arrived, Shockwave notes. Well, one Autobot at least. Earth Defence Command appears to be in a better position to respond to this, and he spies the incoming Firehawk as it pulls into range. He can't tell how many EDC troopers are on board, but he's well aware of the strikecraft's specifications. The space gun initially tries to outmaneuver the Firehawk, but he can't outrun either the laser cannons or the machinegun firepower, and so Shockwave is forced to revert into robot mode, albiet covered in dings and scorch marks. Taking note of where Perceptor is focusing his attention, he fires a quick transmission to Buzzsaw to warn him. The mission takes priority, and so Shockwave does the unusual thing and takes aim at Perceptor rather than the ship that's been strafing him. Holding his gun arm with his hand for support, Shockwave fires a quick blast down towards the scientician, hoping to deter him. Shockwave's handle separates into legs as his barrel splits into arms. Straightening out, he completes his transformation into robot mode. Combat: Shockwave sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Shockwave strikes Perceptor with his Irradiate attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Shockwave (Shockwave) used "Irradiate": A Level 4 RANGED attack. Hmm. Spotted. That's not good. Still, heck with it. Maybe Perceptor will get distracted by something Scientific or whatnot. Buzzsaw's got a job. Still, he does do his best to try and lose the meddling Autobot, diving for cover behind a building and attempting to ditch his pursuers using the dreaded 'Pay no attention to the Condor hanging under a roof overhang' trick. It's worked before! Combat: Buzzsaw slips into the shadows and out of sight... VSC-25 Firehawk is unable to follow directly after Shockwave as he transforms and goes after the Autobot, the strikecraft tilting sideways to evade return fire from the Seekers and briefly bank away from the prison. "I hope ya kind don't get airsick back there!" Does he even have the biological parts to get sick? Not important right now. As the Firehawk is making its turn Talia takes a few moments to consider. Supposedly this guy is a walking nuke just waiting to happen. So punching holes too deep in him likely isn't a good idea. After that consideration she moves one hand to the controls for the main gun and flips a switch to change which ammo bin the gun is loading from. But instead of turning to face the Decepticon directly the Firehawk continues it's banking arc. It doesn't -need- to face a foe head-on, when the main under-turret swivels more than far enough to point towards the oversized calculator as it churns to life, and the autocannon unleashes a volley of more specialized munitions. "Time t' bring the rain and bring the pain! Yeeehah!" Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk strikes Shockwave with her Spitfire APIRs attack! "I cannot speak for anyone else of my species, but airsickness is no longer a problem I possess," Apocryphacius replies. He tries to get a lock on Shockwave's /head/ for Talia, figuring that Shockwave's head is probably a safer target than his generous bosom. Combat: Apocryphacius strikes Shockwave with VSC-25 Firehawk 's Tracer Machinegun attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Shockwave's Agility. (Crippled) Perceptor is struck by Shockwave's blast, and is knocked into a lamppost, which promptely falls to the ground from the impact. He tries to spot Buzzsaw again once he recovers, is unable to find him. Sighing, he aims for Shockwave instead. Combat: Perceptor sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Perceptor strikes Shockwave with his You made me lose him! (Laser) attack! As Shockwave duels with her, Decepticon Seekers home in on Talia, hassling the Firehawk and spraying laser fire in her direction. Other Seekers have landed in the prison's courtyard and have begun kicking down walls and harassing anyone trying to evacuate. Talia and Apocryphacius may have to worry about them as well. Shockwave, meanwhile, receives more autocannon firepower. His ultra-dense armour deflects the vast majority, but with each hit (and there are many of them given how many bullets are flying) a new dent is born. Although he hasn't been slowed just yet, Shockwave charges up towards the Firehawk, arm cannon blazing away as he tries to melt large chunks of the ship. On the inside, it's possible Apocryphacius may have to deal with the walls melting around him. Now above the Firehawk, Shockwave lands on the hovering Nightsiege and aims downwards just in time to take Perceptor's laser blast to the chest. Shockwave retaliates, trying to snipe the scientist from way up here. Combat: Shockwave strikes VSC-25 Firehawk with his Full-Auto Area attack! Combat: Shockwave strikes Apocryphacius with his Full-Auto Area attack! Combat: Shockwave strikes Perceptor with his Full-Auto Area attack! Combat: Shockwave (Shockwave) used "Full-Auto": A Level 2 AREA-RANGED attack. Peeking out from under the overhang that he'd ducked under, Buzzsaw clacks his beak in satisfaction, running along the edge of the roof, letting the general hub-bub of Seeker Gumbies Dying Horribly To Fulfill Shockwave's Terrible Will as he peeks over the edge of what looks like one of the control rooms looking over one of the prison yards. Smirking, he drives his beak right through the armored security glass and any shutters trying to keep him out, burrowing into the room as he hisses at the /Meatsacks/ inside, threatening any who lack the sense to flee immeadiately...and possibly showing them just /why/ Buzzsaw's got that nickname! Breaching the room, he quickly extends a data probe, smirking at the EDC Computer. "What's the phrase? Ah. Yes, I recall now. 'Say 'Ahhhh!'" Plugging in, Buzzsaw starts working away, wings folded flat along his side, optics glinting menacingly in the control room's emergency lighting....This probably won't end well. Combat: Buzzsaw appears from the shadows... As soon as Buzzsaw crashes through the roof of the prison and begins attacking the humans inside, Perceptor spots him. He'd been keeping a keen optic out, despite getting hit once again by Shockwave's barrage of laser fire. He dives behind the building, hoping it will provide him with some cover and takes aim at the Casseticon who is clearly the one responsible for the objective of the mission, whatever that might be. Combat: Perceptor misses Buzzsaw with his Laser Cannon attack! [Pulled -2] The Firehawk has a semi-open back, and this is unfortunate, because those Seekers' bullets not only piece Apocryphacius and draw forth his ichor but also sever his crash webbing. He falls out the back of the Firehawk and smacks into the roof of a building. The building is fine, but Apocryphacius looks like a cracked egg, oozing life. His tentacles twitch spasmodically. His everything hurts. /Science/, why did he take this job? The roof made slick by Apocryphacius's fluids, the Quintesson starts to slide down the roof. He weakly flings out a tentacle and latches onto an eaves trough, staring out at Shcokwave's rampage. Oh, that is why he took this job. Apocryphacius rummages and pulls out a large pumpkin. It is a bright orange and pleasantly spherical. He flings the gourd at Shockwave. Combat: Apocryphacius sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Apocryphacius sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Apocryphacius strikes Shockwave with Transgenic Exploding Pumpkin's Huge Explosion #9637 attack! Combat: Apocryphacius's Transgenic Exploding Pumpkin is destroyed! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Shockwave's Agility. (Crippled) VSC-25 Firehawk is a nimble craft, but even an ace pilot can't entirely evade a swarm of skilled fliers -and- a big guy taking shots in middle of the firefight. The Seekers seem to be faultering a bit at hitting something that can fly like a jet yet move like a helicopter, but Shockwave has little problem in shooting several structural integerty issues through the side bulkheads while Talia is trying to shake off the fliers trying to tail her. Apoc is going to have to handle himself for a bit. Hope none of those convicts get loose and decide to go after him.... he IS an alien scientist with tentacles, after all. Brrr. With a growl Talia dives her craft low briefly, then noses up towards the Decepticon spacecraft, several Seekers still in pursuit.... Until the Firehawk abruptly pulls up and back with its hover-turbines, so the faster Cons suddenly shoot past underneath it. The autocannon locks onto the first one that passes in front of it's targetting scanner and opens fire, Talia trying to hit the gumbie so he's knock out of his flight path and crashes into Shockwave standing on the ship. Coming in on a shuttle, Hardhead looks over area, sighing as he wishes the shuttle could arrive sooner. However, the laws of physics do not bend to Hardhead's will and he has to be content to wait. Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk strikes Shockwave with her Dropping your own troops on you? attack! [Pulled -2] Buzzsaw squawks in annoyance and ducks down behind a console as Perceptor sprays laser fire. Rather than returning the volley, Buzzsaw instead keeps up his Aggressive Computer Interaction. In another part of the complex, the prison has, naturally, gone into lockdown as the Decepticon blitz hits. Most of the guards have redeployed to ensure that outside entrance to the prison is minimized. Which is why a soft, computerized voice announcing 'Lockdown conditions have been lifted'. One of the guards blinks, glancing outside. "Wait, what the /hell/, who lifted that? We're still under attack!" The automated voice continues talking. "Cell Block 1, please prepare for your morning exercises in an o-orderly fa-fashion." Another guard turns, eyes widening as the unmistakeable noise of lock after lock releasing as heavy doors start to slide starts to echo out over the noise outside. "...Oh /shit/." Shockwave weathers the autocannon shots well. His armour is simply too strong for that weapon, and the bullets deflect off harmlessly. Apocryphacius, on the other hand, is an entirely different matter. The pumpkin is thrown off the Firehawk and lands on the Nightsiege. It rattles around briefly before detonating, causing the entire shuttle to shake violently. A gigantic hole has been blown in the roof of the shuttlecraft, and Shockwave was caught almost on the source of the explosion. Through the smoke, one may have seen the large purple figure get blown off the side of the ship. As the Nightsiege's pilot puts out a general distress call and struggles to keep the ship in the air, Shockwave reconfigures himself in mid-freefall, returning to his space gun mode. The laser gun swoops up around the Nightsiege, rising upwards to face off against the Firehawk. Shockwave's targeting array picks up two targets now. The Firehawk itself and a dangling, helpless figure that's the source of all this sudden chaos. Shockwave recognizes the latter instantly and acts accordingly, firing a bright pink beam towards him. Shockwave's legs combine as his back unfolds. A wide, silver barrel appears out of subspace and connects to his arms, completing his transformation into ray gun mode. Combat: Laser Gun sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Laser Gun strikes Apocryphacius with his Shoxcannon attack! [Pulled -2] Combat: Apocryphacius falls to the ground, unconscious. The Autobot shuttle burning at full tilt, arrives depositing Hardhead and a few techs. The Techs scatter to find cover and provide any technical assistance that may be required. Hardhead begins to jog towards the fray, the on-scene tactical feeds are spotted. He continues to run into the batter, his processors calculating all the different tactical scenarios. He summons his Shatterblasters which he points up towards the sky, as he prepares to fire on the Decepticons assaulting the facility. ... Did he just fire on the Quintesson that fell out instead of her craft? Not that she's all that found of the space squids herself, but really... Granted that bomb did do a bit of a number on their craft. But Talia's unaware of what's going on inside the prison yet, so the Firehawk pulls around to make another banking pass at the primary threat, unloading several volleys of low caliber fire as it pulls along the Nightseige once more. Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk strikes Laser Gun with her Ineffectual Ratatatatatating (Pistol) attack! Apocryphacius was looking like a cracked egg when he fell out of the Firehawk and hit the roof. Now he looks like a /scrambled/ egg. Incandescent radiation tears through him, immolating his form. A piece of charred tentacle is left attached to the eaves trough. His main body splats down into the street below with a wet thump and the stench of grilled fish and burnt plastic. Components go flying, hitting the street and fall down drains. Pain rips through Apocryhacius's making his still-functional optics surge brighter, white hot, and then shut down as his five-part mind utterly fails to comprehend the magnitude of the pain that he is contained by his form. They will need a spatula to scrape him up. Perceptor notices that the cell blocks are opening. So -that's- what they were after? Could that be it, though? It didn't seem like something Shockwave would do, but then again it certainly could've been something Galvatron might order his troops to do. He curses quietly to himself as he misses the Casseticon. It was too difficult to get a lock on such a small mech. He needed to get in there and undo whatever damage Buzzsaw had done to the humans' systems and try to get the situation under control before too many prisoners escaped. Perhaps he could try to lock the outer doors/gates and keep them inside on prison grounds, at least. He clambers to the roof, stepping on a few dumpsters and/or lower sections of the building to boost himself up to a window with access to the control room where Buzzsaw is. Now this is not something that Perceptor usually does, but this time around he just needed to get that bothersome Casseticon out of the way so he could access the system. The scientist puts a fist through the window, attempting to sock the smaller mech away from the computer. Combat: Perceptor sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Perceptor strikes Buzzsaw with his Perceptor -punches-? No WAY! (Punch) attack! Dum de dum dum, ducking under the laser fire, dum de dum!~ "C-C-Cell Block T-Two, Prepare for morning E-E-Excercis-" Well, it /would/ get farther, but before he can crack /all/ of the cells in the second block open, Perceptor /actually punches him/. What. Buzzsaw squawks in annoyance, hissing as he skids backwards across the control room floor, crushing an amazingly comfortable chair in the process. Glaring up at Perceptor, Buzzsaw spreads his wings, then /lunges/, claws spread outright as he attempts to grab onto Perceptor's chest plate and /peck him most severely about the face and shoulders/. YEAH. TAKE THAT, YOU BULLY. Meanwhile, the riot in Cell Block 1 is still in gear. One guard pulls his rifle into line with a group of menacingly advancing inmates, gulping under his breath. "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE, CRIMINAL SCU-URK!" Oooh. Yeah, that'd be the noise of another inmate clocking him in the back of the head with a length of pipe. The guard is quickly stripped of gear and the scum advance onwards. Similar scenes are repeated all over the cell block, as there are just too many prisoners suddenly free to deal with easily with the lockdown still ongoing in other parts of the prison. Mind, not everyone's rioting. Some prisoners are just staying in their cells, others making for the nearest exit to the prison they can find rather than stick around to cause trouble. Delicious chaos! Combat: Sneak Attack!! Combat: Buzzsaw strikes Perceptor with his Diamond Beak attack! Combat: Buzzsaw (Buzzsaw) used "Diamond Beak": A Level 3 MELEE attack. The Nightsiege, missing its roof, is struggling to stay in the air. In the cockpit, a Decepticon is frantically gripping the controls in a desperate attempt to avoid crashing it. "No no, not that way," says his co-pilot. "Go up. /Up/." "Wow, thanks, that's super," the pilot mutters. Alas, the Nightsiege does not go up. Instead it stays right where it is, but with Talia strafing it again that might not be the case for long. Shockwave meanwhile also has Talia's Firehawk to worry about. The bullets ding off his frame harmlessly... until one of them strikes the targeting array on the rear of the laser gun, cracking it. Several more bullets hit, and Shockwave can feel his scanners going haywire. Shifting back into robot mode, the Decepticon hovers in place, badly damaged from the firepower he's taken so far. He gazes downwards with a hazy optic. He sees the Quintesson hit the roof and then the pavement. Hopefully he's dead. That would be yet another accomplishment on the list of things the Decepticon Empire does better than the Autobots. He also sees Hardhead has arrived. He fires off a transmission to Buzzsaw, telling him to make his move now or risk getting left behind. "Redline, Blackout, see to the Headmaster," he orders. A pair of Seekers strafe downwards. These are two Seekers Shockwave has no faith in. The cyclops himself, meanwhile, fires at the Firehawk, though it's a severely weakened blast. Combat: Laser Gun sets his defense level to Guarded. Shockwave's handle separates into legs as his barrel splits into arms. Straightening out, he completes his transformation into robot mode. Combat: Shockwave strikes VSC-25 Firehawk with his Pew (Disruptor) attack! Upon receiving the communication from Talia, Hardhead begins to alter his course towards the pinging IFF of Perceptor. He begins to hurry his gate, when the Seekers, Reline and Blackout begin to strafe him, their blasts shred through through the outer layers of his armor, exposing bits and pieces of his back shoulder endoskeleton. He pivots on his heels, rotating to track the Seeker and he fires his Shatterblasters into the air, sending round after round at the Seekers that torment him from the sky! As Shockwave transforms and turns to fire, Talia yanks hard to the side on the controls. The Firehawk effecitvely tips on its side in mid-air, the low level shot pelting a scorch mark along the underside of its fuselage that runs almost the entire length of it. But it was that or let it hit the already weakened sides and possibly do something really damaging. Well at least now she got their attention. Surviving it is going to be a toughie though. Good thing she likes a challenge! The strikecraft diverts power to it's flight systems and takes to more evasive mauneveurs to try and keep those Seekers from getting a good draw on it. Fortunately most of it's weapons are designed to not have to point the same way the ship is going, point made as one of the side machineguns swivels to pelt Shockwave with another barrage. Nicks and dents are still nicks and dents, even if the lack of getting through that armor is an annoyance... and also a bit of relief, when one thinks of potential radiation leaks. Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk sets her defense level to Guarded. Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk strikes Shockwave with her Tracer Machinegun attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Shockwave's Agility. (Crippled) Perceptor rushes to the console while Buzzsaw is sent careening across the room and into that comfy chair. He manages to get a couple of sectors closed off. Unfortunately though, there's so much chaos that a few of the prisoners attempting to escape actually get crushed by the closing gates, which Perceptor had actually reprogrammed to pretty much slam shut as quickly as they possibly could by dialing up the power to the mechanisms that operated the doors and cutting the time allowed for them to close down by 75%. But then Buzzsaw recovers and clamps his beak onto the scientist's chassis. He cries out in pain and attempts to rip the Casseticon off of himself, but loses his grip on the side of the building in doing so. He falls and will take Buzzsaw with him to the ground if the bird-con doesn't fly away in time. Combat: Perceptor strikes Buzzsaw with his Going Down... (Smash) attack! Apocryphacius is alive, even if no one here is happy about that fact. Smoke wafting gently from his battered and deep fried body, one tentacle twitches. His fine-part mind starts waking up slowly. Imagine a raw hamberge with a CD on top, placed into microwave, so that the hamburger cooks up to a lifeless grey, and the CD starts arcing electricity, shatters, catches on fire, and melts, rending the hamburger 100% nasty. Apocryphacius feels that way. Everything that can possibly hurt does. The things than cannot hurt tingle unpleasantly with excess radiation. On top of that, he feels like someone wound him up like a top and spun him. His vision is a blurr of streaks, and every sound seems much too loud. He can even taste his own cooked flesh in his mouths, which makes him gag. Airsickness is not a problem, but this... Furious Cassette Bird Is Furious! This explains why, instead of flying out of range (Well, okay, he meant to, but Perceptor's BIG STUPID FACE is int he way), he instead goes plummeting a bit, managing to avoid being belly-smashed at least. Still, he bounces a few times, before flipping up onto his feet. Hopping backwards a few times, he narrows his eyes, then flaps up into the air, diving towards Perceptor, laser a pew-pew-pewing at Perceptor...and then over his shoulder, Buzzsaw attempting to slag the console before he slams his pointy-edged body right into the scientist's chest, with luck, sharp claws and wings scrabbling as he tries to claw at Perceptor's optics. "I'll rip out your OPTICS!" The best threats are /classic/. Combat: Buzzsaw strikes Perceptor with his GO FOR THE OPTICS BUZZSAW! GO FOR THE OPTIIIIIIIIIIICS! (Ram) attack! Combat: Buzzsaw (Buzzsaw) used "Ram": A Level 3 VELOCITY attack. THE FUTURE: A Decepticon grunt pushes in a cart full of burnt out Seeker parts. Looking around the Absolution's medbay, he calls out, "Hey, what's up with this? Where do you want this crap?" Hook stands up from the medical chief's desk and steps over. Peering into the cart, he picks up an F-15 wing that's been plugged full of holes and tsks. "Take it out back to the trash b- I mean funeral home. Put it in the bucket labeled 'Hardhead'." Hook heads back to the desk to finish his Sudoku. THE NOW: Redline and Blackout break away from one another... and then suddenly break apart as Hardhead's shatterblasters tear them into teeny tiny pieces. Parts rain from the sky aroudn the Headmaster. Shockwave meanwhile has his attention divided. The Nightsiege's thrusters are starting to fail, and he's calculated that the odds of the ship surviving are rapidly dwindle. <> Seekers are now starting to pull back. For his part, though, Shockwave still has that /other/ problem: The Firehawk. The machineguns slam into him, with a few bullets lodging themselves in his translucent chestplate. Shockwave's reactor going critical isn't the problem Talia should be worrying though, though. It's the arm cannon. Combat: Shockwave misses VSC-25 Firehawk with his Pew Pew Pew (Laser) attack! Perceptor groans as he hits the ground. Ugh, that certainly wasn't pleasant. And now, on top of that, Buzzsaw was pecking at his optics. -This- was why he did not prefer combat situations... Well, at least he seemed to have bought the humans some time to get their reinforcements in to contain the situation further. He attempts to swat the little bird away from his face with the barrel of his concussion rifle, moving it in a sideways fashion so as not to smack his own face in the process (as Computron once had, despite being, well--Computron. Well Perceptor's smarter than him, anyway, of course). Combat: Perceptor strikes Buzzsaw with his Get out of my face! (Punch) attack! It doesn't take being a professional pilot to tell that ship is in trouble, but it does help. The arm-cannon shot hisses through empty air as the Firehawk abruptly pulls vertically away, putting that VTOL aspect to good use to spare itself from another puncturing blast. At least the retreat call takes some of the heat off her tailfins as the Seekers start to scatter. But Talia isn't breathing easy just yet. Big purple and ugly is still out there. "Ah don't know what y'all was up to here, but that don't mean Ah ain't gonna frag ya for it." Anoter volley from the sidemounted laser ports ring out to emphasis the remark. Hardhead lets out a grunt as the bits and pieces of the Seeker's who are so far down on the org chart that Backfire is their boss's boss's boss's boss. He gains little satisfaction from his attack as he resumes his path toward's Perceptor. He fails to notice the alteration of the Decepticon ship, as he pushes his way into the building. He lets out a grunt as he observes the Chaos around him. "Primus..." Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk strikes Shockwave with her Because everything has lasers in the future. (Laser) attack! Apocryphacius thinks, hazily, that he is redefining the word 'woozy'. The thing is, he is in multiple pieces, and not all of them are connected, and some of them are just barely connected, dangling by a few wires. So when he tries to move, he does not move as one piece. He moves as a loosely connected aggregate of pieces, some of which are constantly falling off. He feels like he is on a heavily gravity planet, in a funhouse, after ingesting recreational chemicals. It is amazingly unpleasant. If his fuel was not already spilled all over the place, he qould be queasy enough to lose it another way. Apocryphacius manages to drag his broken body into a dark alley, where he can sit out until the chaos is over or until Shockwave blows up the whole city, whichever comes first. "Abandon ship, abandon ship," the Nightsiege's pilot announces as the shuttle begins spinning slowly, unable to maintain its position. Flicking off the intercom, he leans over to his buddy. "Alright, lets do this evacuation procedure by the book. I'll handle crashing the ship into the ground, and you handle panicking like a little femmebot." "IEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" "Good work." The Nightsiege's port engine finally gives out, spewing flames and wreckage away from the ship. The shuttle plummets. Though it was only five or six stories up, the impact is immense as it smashes into the courtyard in a mildly controlled crash. Dirt and metal fly in all directions, threatening to bury anyone on the ground. As if Apocryphacius didn't already have enough things to worry about. Shockwave rises upwards as the Seekers are all bailing. The loss of the Nightsiege is bad, but at least Decepticons are able to evacuate on their own power. "Your confusion and inattentiveness is noted," Shockwave replies in a loud voice. The Decepticon studies the Firehawk for a few moments even as lasers ding into his frame. He sloooowly takes aim at the closest VTOL turbo-fan before trying to shear it off with an x-ray laser beam. Combat: Shockwave strikes VSC-25 Firehawk with his X-Ray Laser Beam attack! [Pulled -3] Buzzsaw is smacked off of Perceptor, his chassis looking distinctly dinged as the disgruntled cassetteicondor swoops away from immeadiate melee range. A sad day when Perceptor beats someone in a fist fight. Ah well! Still, landing on one of the nearby buildings (That is on fire, due to a bit of debris and half-exploded Seeker), Buzzsaw just /glares/ at Perceptor...and then the dual mortars on his back swing around, Buzzsaw beak-clacking in annoyance as he aims at Perceptor and the general area of anything Collateral (People, places, plants, pets, prisoners...Whatever! It's all good, as far as Buzzsaw is concerned!) "I hope a thousand scraplets devour you from the intake valves outwards, Autobot!" Annnd...*PHOOM-PHOOM-PHOOM-PHOOM*. ...Yep, those sure look high explosive, alright. Combat: Buzzsaw strikes Perceptor with his Twin Mortar Cannons attack! Combat: Buzzsaw (Buzzsaw) used "Twin Mortar Cannons": A Level 5 AREA-RANGED attack. The shockwave from the crashing Nightsiege is enough to knock, the Headmaster, Hardhead off his feet. He slowly pushes himself back up as he begins scanning the area for Apocryphacius transponder, leaving Perceptor to continue to fend for himself. He begins trudging through the rubble and wreckage, searching for Apocryphacius. "Aprocryphacius, can you hear me?" Hardhead bellows. There would be a sound effect here, but the sound of an x-ray beam doesn't translate well into text. Or even really have anything to -see-, being, y'know, x-rays. Visible reference only works for lasers maybe? Regardless it clearly does -something- as one of the turbofans starts to smoke... Though Talia has a different problem to worry about as her console sparks and several of the holo-screens crackle and static. "Dammit!" Some of the backwash from the energy waves must be scrambling a relay somewhere. Quickly Talia tries to adjust for the damamged VTOL by throttling up the thrusters a bit, though it means less fancy aerial acrobatics for now. The burst of speed does help to keep it aloft though even as the Firehawk turns to bear down on Shockwave, and opens fire with its main cannon and it's fiery explosive shells once more. "Ya talk a lot for someone with no mouth." Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk sets her defense level to Neutral. Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk strikes Shockwave with her Pyrestarter Cannon attack! Perceptor has decided that he's taken enough punishment for one cycle. Buzzsaw is tougher than he looks, and the scientist had already taken some sizeable hits from Shockwave before going after the Casseticon. In addition, that dropship had just crashed nearby, and he'd only just managed to dive away from the flying debris, only to be assailed by Buzzsaw's mortar cannons. The attack didn't do a lot of damage, but his chassis was already dented and sparking visibly. Reinforcements were moving to contain the prisoners by now. Not exactly perfect timing, but he wasn't unconscious yet. Combat: Perceptor begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Shockwave, Buzzsaw, Hardhead, and VSC-25 Firehawk By now there are Decepticons fleeing in all directions, shifting into their various jet modes in order to high tail it out of here. Several Decepticons can even be seen evacuating the wreckage of the Nightsiege and taking to the skies. Shockwave scores a direct hit on the Firehawk, but fails to down it. Taking out the Quintesson was well worth it, though, given the devices at his disposal and the general message it sends to his human keepers. There is a price, though, and that price is receiving high explosive rounds to the chest. Talia's aim is dead on, and hardly a bullet fails to hit the Decepticon's frame. The HE ammo does very well, finally cracking through the armour and ripping little bits of purple and silver off him. "Nnghg!" Shockwave exclaims. He fires his boot thrusters, taking him away from the Firehawk. <> He's unsure whether this is going to satisfy Galvatron or not. Things could have gone a lot better... Combat: Shockwave begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Buzzsaw and VSC-25 Firehawk Buzzsaw hisses in annoyance as Perceptor attempts to turn and leg-it. Damn Autobot. Grumbling, Buzzsaw flies down and along the ground, a long line of laserfire ripping up as much of the walls and the like as he can, attempting to leave some more holes for the prisoners to escape from. His final target, however, is a series of parked vehicles. A well placed mortar causes a nice explosion and distraction, which Buzzsaw takes advantage of to quietly slip out of everyone's gunsights in preparation for proper exfiltration! <> Combat: Buzzsaw begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. The ship is down, and Shockwave is retreating. As much as Talia would love to chase him down and put a few more shots into a Decepticon ranker, with a damaged VTOL engine it wouldn't be worth the risk. Sighing at the prospect she noses her craft down and slows to sweep over the wreckage, looking for any lingering Cons that didn't escape the crash. She doesn't necessarily -like- Cross's insistance on prisoners/test subjects, but orders are orders.... "Apocryphacius! Apocryphacius!" The Headmaster continues to bellow out, as he searches for the EDC Quint. He lets out a sigh as he rechecks his battle feed. The Decepticon IFFs seem to be leaving the scene, along with Perceptor's. He lets out a grunt as he begins to make his way towards the IFF of the Ranking EDCer. "I have not locating your missing member." He calls out across the battlefield, his optic bar narrowing on Talia. "What are you doing?" He calls out as he continues to stride through the area. "Checking the wreckage of a crash is standard proceedure," Talia replies, her voice crackling over the external speakers. Pauses a moment as she uses a hand to turn off the external radio in her helmet, and relaxes a bit once no one faction-wise is going to overhear. "If there is any mechs in there still, y'all take 'em. Ah'm here to fight a war and protect a planet, not poke moral shadows..." Hardhead studies Talia and her ride for a very long moment, before nodding his head towards her. "I understand, I do not detect any active Decepticon transponder." He begins to move towards the wreckage, his optic bar scanning the wreckage. Very quietly, he tight beams to Talia. "I also, only wish to fight a war, tell General Cross, that I wish to speak to him, about improving our...*tactics*." VSC-25 Firehawk emits what could be a sigh of relief from the pilot, or just a sigh in general. "Good. Then it's only a wreck to clean up, and whatever mess they made inside lettin' those punks free. Ah hope the guards get thin's back under control, Ah ain't geared for non-lethal." Followed by tightbeaming back. "Will do." Perceptor gets a good distance away from the fray, back to the shuttle he came here in. Thankfully, the Decepticons have retreated. He attempts to board it but ends up slumping against the side of the research vessel, energon leaking freely from his frame. "..." Shockwave stands on the landing platform half way up Darkmount. The Decepticon Heavy Cruiser Titanus, still covered with scaffolding, is being worked on by a Decepticon construction crew. The air is filled with fliers. "With Galvatron's message to the Earthlings delivered, Buzzsaw," he says to the bird, who's location I can only hope for, "We can focus on our Cybertronian and galactic territories: The newly discovered asteroid field, Iacon, and beyond." Hardhead speaks into his radio, to the techs. "Move to assist the EDC in restoring order. DO NOT harm any of the humans." He then looks up towards Talia, nodding towards her. "I will assist will cleaning up the wreckage, until we can get additional troops." He then gives Talia the slightest of nods of gratitude. ======================================================================== Autobot City - Repair Bay This is the main repair bay for the Autobots. Several operating tables lie in a row here, and a long bench lines one wall. On the bench are assorted tools used in repairing damaged Transformers. Scattered throughout the room are various repair bots, awaiting the arrival of more wounded to repair. The room gives you the perception of being immaculately clean, not a tool out of place. On the left side of the operating arena are wide sliding doors that open into the recovery ward. Less frantic than the busy repair bay, it consists of two rows of immaculate beds on opposite walls for those needing peace and quiet to rest and recover from their repairs. The sounds of quiet conversations between medic and patient, or between visitor and patient, are about all that disturb the quiet. For having a hole blown through her the size of a brawny fist, Elita's doing remarkably well. While she's had optical errors and energon leakage, she seems somewhat functional still. Of course she's been in the repair bay enough times of late that she's actually had enough dark humor to annotate a specific repair bed as 'Elita's Room'. That's where she is at the moment, thumbing over a data module, still on her hunt for Cross' wrongdoing...if there is any to be found. Her legs are crossed as she reposes, almost casually. Perceptor is practically dragged into the repair bay by a couple of gumby members of medical. They position him on a berth as carefully as they can and connect him to an energon reserve. He doesn't look good. His armor is charred and punctured in several places, energon and other fluids are leaking everywhere. And Primus, he hadn't even gotten that leg fixed up from the UN incident... Elita One raises her head in concern. "What?" She sits up, turning her legs to look towards you, careful that her energon drip doesn't detach. "Perceptor...these are new injuries, what has happened, soldier?" She pushes forward against the bed, onto her feet, then approaches the mangled scientist. "Don't tell me you did something foolish." The gumbies are fussing over him, but Perceptor waves them off, albeit weakly. He had been meaning to speak with Elita One. Something foolish? Well, maybe getting attacked by Galvatron, and then getting attacked by Shockwave the very next solar cycle without getting repaired in between. Maybe that was foolish, but it wasn't as if he'd -wanted- to get shot at by the Decepticon logician today. "Eh...." his voice is barely there and laced with static but he continues. "Shockwave--" But he doesn't manage to finish. She repeats the name, "Shockwave." Elita looks over the wounds, "Fire based damage...puncture wounds. Either Shockwave decided there was logic to mixing up his attacks or there was more to it." She shakes her head, "Damn him, for all his knowledge, he's a fool." Suddenly remembering the situation, E1 looks down at you, "Stay strong, Perceptor, I've survived worse, no excuses for you fading now." She puts her hand on his arm comfortingly, "I've got some mobility still, anything I can get you? A hundred new staticistcal theorums of principles of energy conservation, or such?" She gives a weak smile. Perceptor nods and smiles weakly up at Elita One. He really appreciates her concerns. "Th-thank you..." He intends to continue, but has to pause to gather his strength. Primus, a simple sample procurement excursion that turned into this? He cursed his luck inwardly. Elita One 's receptors flicker. "I see. Hardhead just uploaded a report about the incident. I wasn't aware we have political prisoners on the Cons side currently. Always more going on than I'd expect..." She hands off her datapad, placing it in Percy's hand then curling his fingers about it. "It's nothing much, just a list of easily obtained reports from the EDC, and some of our own from the same timeframe. Been looking for inconsistencies, something to help link Cross or someone else at the EDC to Violen's plague virus." She sighs, "Primus willing, we'll either vindicate or expose Cross, and then move on to the real threat again. Feel like the Cons are just playing and playing, trying to turn us against humanity." Perceptor sighs. "Yes...they are well aware that our alliance with the EDC is indispensable." Some of his automated repairs are starting to kick in, fixing up some of his internal injuries. "Elita One--" he pauses, wincing a bit before continuing. "I have been meaning to speak with you. Your objective of rendering Galvatron's fusion cannon useless....it--it is feasible." She adjusts the firm line that feeds into Perceptor, turning it just a hair. "They underestimate the humans, but they do know us well, any attack aimed at humanity means we will be in there to interfere...if they were all smarter, they'd play that angle harder..." Elita turns her gaze down towards you, "Have you now? I thought it was a enerpipe dream, to channel all that power back against him. How'd you manage that?" "It will not cause the weapon to backfire, but it will cut him off from its primary source of energy." Perceptor explains. "I trust you read the report regarding the prototype I had developed to counter Cross' weapon, yes? I am fairly certain that a similarly functioning mechanism may be effective against Galvatron's primary weapon." Elita One considers the idea, "The EDC disintegrator works on similar principles as Galvatron's cannon? A scary thought that. However...if there is a way to nullify his weaponry, perhaps it could work for others. Granted null rays and plasma discharge are different styles of energy...So a nanocore reaction within the barrel itself could disrupt particle flow..." She considers the possibility for a few moments, "There's other ways to use this too...demolition negation perhaps, power plant shutdown...at least of Cybertronian design. It feels so petty to design a weapon to eliminate a single foe, doesn't it?" Perceptor nods a bit gravely. "Yes...yes it does. I have also been devising a self-destruct mechanism that will cause an explosion with an energy level correspondent to the force of the weapon's usual discharge...a single foe, perhaps, but--this -is- Galvatron we are speaking of." ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/133 PostedAuthor EARTH: Rumble in Brussels Sat Sep 15 Hardhead *TEXT ONLY REPORT* Autobots, the Decepticon's have conducted a quick and destructive strike on Brussels in Earth. A flight of Seekers, Shockwave, reports indicate that Buzzsaw was there also, struck a protected facility in order to free political prisoners. This appears to be some kind of statement by the Decepticons. Expect more attacks on Earth, as the war continues to get back in gear. The EDC forces lead by Captain McKinley managed to destroy the Decepticon ship, Nightsiege and drive back the Decepticon forces. Perceptor also responded to the scene and provided our initial tactical position. People, we will continue to have to respond to these attacks, we have to show the people of Earth that we good allies. *Classified and Encrypted* Autobots, are raids of Cybertron are of vital importance, we must open up a second front against the Decepticons and go on the offensive. Give the Decepticons something to worry about for a change. *HIGHLY ENCRYPTED*Autobots, Apocryphacius was on the scene and appears to be working against us with the EDC. I want to know what this Quintesson's end game objective. Do not engage, but see what we can uncover. ==============================================================================
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