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| - 9/11/2011 07:15 PM (Iahex City) --- Crackshot walks through Iacon, humming a little to himself. The smaller, rustic town-city setting of Iahex was a nice change for him as he made his way to one of the workshops there. Despite being amongst other scientists, he was still the odd one out - an astronomer, not a weapons technician. But he still carried his circlet with him, just in case he found that neuromechanic who could assist him. It was a quiet day, and not very much had occurred in Iahex in a while. Chains is neither a scientist nor a mechanic of any sort. He's not even a city type in the slightest. He's just here temporarily logging data from his last scouting run before he heads back out. He seems on edge... but then quiet usually bothers him. It’s a bad sign. Jackknife has been working on the weapon project for quite some time now. After the little glitch with the weapon being hacked into though, they had to totally redo the software for the weapon to lessen the chance of being hacked. Then they had issues with the power core. The weapon has been nothing more than a big processor ache, but she and the others were determined to see it work. She offers a wave toward Crackshot as he walks up. "Good cycle." "Good cycle Jackknife.." he looks over, blinking as he sees Chains "What's grinding your gears, Chains? " he asks as he pulls out a few chips "I was asked to bring these with me to this station. That one's got your tag on it." Iacon was swarming like a turbo hornet's hest that someone had kicked, but the only difference between this and any other day at Iahex was fewer Cybertronians visible in the shooting ranges and proving grounds, a number of mechs having been released from their normal duties to join the searchers, although they were slowly trickling back as it became evident that the missing mech was nowhere to be found in his normal places in Iacon or Cubicron. The defenses of the city are still staffed with a minimal guard including Chains, and the science team working on developing the latest anti-aircraft weapon was continuing to work on the latest prototype, now nearly ready for testing on one of the nearer proving ranges. Jackknife smiles a bit as she notices Chains as well, then turns to her work on the weapon. "Wish Eon was here." she huffs softly, "But I guess I'll make do with Perceptor or Wheeljack, maybe both of them, to show up and push this weapon to the next level. Only so many things I can do with this thing by myself after all." Megatron flies down over the proving range, observing the positions of the remaining Autobots and, especially, observing the weapon. He already knows quite a bit about it from the intelligence reports, but now he's seeing it for real, humming with energy it may well soon set against the Decepticons who have come to destroy it. He frowns grimly and then speaks. "Decepticons, there is our target. The sooner we destroy it -- or ensure that none of this small Autobot guard can man it -- the sooner we prevent our enemies from using it on us. But beware of its power, especially those in the air." His speech finished, he dives toward the proving ground, roaring the command to attack. Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Calliope rolls a 2! Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Calliope rolls a 9! Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Calliope rolls a 14! Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Calliope rolls a 11! Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Calliope rolls a 20! Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Calliope rolls a 4! An alarm goes off somewhere in Iahex, sirens external to the main buildings screaming to life a moment later, indicating incoming aircraft- presumed to be hostile until the base command staff orders otherwise! Jackknife smiles a bit as she notices Chains as well, then turns to her work on the weapon. "Wish Eon was here." she huffs softly, "But I guess I'll make do with Perceptor or Wheeljack, maybe both of them, to show up and push this weapon to the next level. Only so many things I can do with this thing by myself after all." She pauses at the alarm going off, "Slag." she sighs, pulling out her own personal weapon from subspace before trying to begin pushing the huge weapon out of line of sight, hopefully with some help it'll be pushed quicker. Chromia glares at the anti-aircraft weapon with animosity, slapping the barrel of her rifle of the same function. "Don't see why we need that when I got this baby, here." Never mind the fact that Chromia's luck of shooting things has been nonexistent at most. " Chains paces about on the walls. He hates guard duty. Hates, hates, hates. It’s not that he's not good at it. He's as sharp-sensored as ever. He just always feels restricted when mobility is one of his big advantages. "Too quie..." he starts to respond to a question... then the alarms hit. He instantly shifts his attention towards the perimeter, turning on his force field and crouching under cover, waiting until something comes into reach of his chain so he can spring into ambush, since he lacks any ranged weaponry otherwise - but he is quite good with ambushes. Knifepoint chuckles darkly over the comm. //Of course, Lord Megatron. Glory to the Empire. Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Calliope rolls a 17! Knifepoint chuckles darkly over the comm. //Of course, Lord Megatron. Glory to the Empire.// He responds, diving down to open fire at the weapon. The femme trying to get it out of the way really just gets caught in the crossfire. Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(its dexterity) against Jackknife's agility. Knifepoint's roll succeeds! Nova Black's engines roar in some combination of excitement, anger, and trepidation. She nearly got scrapped by one of these damned things, after all. That time, she never had a chance to shoot back at what downed her. This time, she can. Crying out to Knifepoint in encouragement, she follows him, taking aim at the weapon as well. Nova Black picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Jackknife's agility. Nova Black's roll succeeds! Running out of the office near the gun, Crackshot’s' optics flash. He fishes out his combat visor and clicks it into place as the band lit up "Jackknife!" he calls, seeing her taking the hits. He lifts both of his pistols, starting to jog quickly in her direction. The dizzying three-sixty world swam around him as he lifted one hand, firing at the first one that caught his ... band. <> Crackshot picks up the dicebag and rolls its dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Crackshot's roll fails! Chromia glares at the anti-aircraft weapon with animosity, slapping the barrel of her rifle of the same function. "Don't see why we need that when I got this baby, here." Never mind the fact that Chromia's luck of shooting things has been nonexistent as of late. "I agree with Chains. Been too quiet. All we need are some 'Cons right about now." Hearing the siren, she glances up, quite a feral grin adorning her features. She's been out of commission since being thrown down that hole by Nova Black, and her trigger finger has just been itching for some usage. For sure, that look didn't belong on any Autobot. "Speakin' of the slaggers, here they come. Get ready ya' glitches!" Her speech is coarser than usual from her battle-felt adrenaline, filled with Cybertronian profanities. "Especially you." She narrows her eyes at Nova's frame as the Seeker fires at Jackknife and the weapon. Chromia picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Nova Black's agility. Chromia's roll fails! Elita One races toward the epicenter of the combat from one side, having split off to scout around before Megatron arrived. Stopping and transforming she hastily scales a section of wall then uses the cover to get a solid bead on Megatron. He's trying to mess with their fun, she'll make sure he ends up being the one not having fun. Elita One picks up the dicebag and rolls 5+(its dexterity) against Megatron's agility. Elita One's roll fails! The alarm brings guards swarming to their posts on the walls of the base, and a barrage of laser fire erupts at the Decepticons- most of it from small arms fire, the occasional more powerful shoulder-mounted weapon among them. :D Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Megatron's agility. Calliope's roll succeeds! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Nova Black's agility. Calliope's roll fails! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Calliope's roll fails! Jackknife picks up the dicebag and takes out a D10. Jackknife rolls a 2! Jackknife took the shot meant for her and the weapon both, grimacing slightly in pain as she leans against the gun and tries to trigger the weapon just to make those Cons still in the air think twice about pursuing this any further. Click.. nothing... "Slaggit." she mutters. Chains sees the others taking their shots - and decides to work on keeping the Cons' big gun off of their big gun, like his usual M.O. as of late. "You guys get that slagging thing working!" he calls, before firing off his chain, trying to snag Megatron well enough to pull himself after it when he retracts it, going for a full on flying kick at the Con commander. Chains picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his dexterity) against Megatron's agility . Chains's roll fails! Megatron took a hit from one of the Autobot guards already, and has no interest in taking another. The chain catches, but he twists to avoid the small Autobot's kick, leaving Chains hanging from his own frame. Chuckling with dark amusement, he clenches a massive fist and aims it straight for the dangling minibot. Megatron picks up the dicebag and rolls his strength against Chains’ strength. Megatron's roll fails! Megatron picks up the dicebag and rolls 5+(his strength) against Chains’ agility. Megatron's roll succeeds! Megatron picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his strength) against Chains’ agility. Megatron's roll succeeds! Knifepoint manages roll out of the way of both shots aimed at him, turbines rumbling angrily as he levels off. He banks around to line up another shot at the weapon, firing off a blast at the mech who tried to shoot him mid-turn. Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(its dexterity) against Crackshot's agility. Knifepoint's roll succeeds! Nova Black swerves out of the way of Chromia's shot. Another shot from one of the guards goes wide as well. Her engines rev in triumph. But should she shoot at the weapon, or at the blue Autobot who always seems to show up to fight her? She can't deny the second is more fun, but she knows what these weapons can do. She circles around for another pass at it, deciding to save attacking Chromia for when the damn fool actually manages to hit her. At least for now. Nova Black picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Jackknife's agility. Nova Black's roll fails! Yelping in pain as the blast slammed into his shoulder form Knifepoint, Crackshot stumbled a step before shaking it off, somewhat. Moving up next to Jackknife to watch her back (And front, and sides...) he lifted both his pistols, head not even turning in Knifepoints' direction "try again! Is it turned on? " part of him saw the panel, but most of his attention was on the seeker overhead. Crackshot picks up the dicebag and rolls its dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Crackshot's roll succeeds! Chromia nasal ridge crinkles in irritation as the Seeker blatantly ignores her. How dare she! What good was an anti-aircraft rifle if Chromia couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with it, nonetheless her nemesis. Snarling, she watches Nova's path to the weapon and runs with her to keep in her line of sight, even though her shot goes wide. Now who can't hit anything? Roaring in frustration, she fires off another shot. Chromia picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Nova Black's agility. Chromia's roll succeeds! Elita One makes a face at her own inability to hit the broad side of a Megatron and readjusts her aim to take into account Chains' proximity before firing off another shot. Her specific target this time? Megatron's elbow joint on the arm he's got the small Autobot dangling from like a toy. Elita One picks up the dicebag and rolls 5+(its dexterity) against Megatron's agility. Elita One's roll fails! The guards continue firing at the Decepticons, orange laser fire streaking through the sky towards the flyers. Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Megatron's agility. Calliope's roll fails! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Nova Black's agility. Calliope's roll succeeds! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Echo's agility. Calliope's roll fails! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Calliope's roll succeeds! Jackknife picks up the dicebag and takes out a D10. Jackknife rolls a 3! Jackknife checks the weapon over visually to see how badly the Cons have hit it already. "I'm trying!" she yells in frustration. She checks everything over quickly to find the weapon was barely scuffed from the two shots it took. She vents a sigh of relief and tries to get the weapon to cooperate. "Of course it's on." she huffs at Crackshot's question. Again the weapon refuses to fire. "What the slag..." she mutters harshly. On one hand, this is a bad spot to be in. On another hand, Chains has a force field for a reason - such as getting it pounded by Megatron's fist. The big mech is strong enough to set the shield sparking, even hinting at buckling for a moment - but it holds, and saves the minibot from worse damage, for the second. On another hand still, he's attached to the con leader for the moment - which means Megatron isn't destroying their super weapon, and he isn't cannoning anyone, including Chains. All things considered, since he's not trying to win... no hope of that, just buy time for more even matchups, Chains will count this as a win. The hit sends him flying like a pinata - but, with the chain hooked, he comes back, trying to kick his legs into building up momentum like he's on a swing set, trying to plant both feet in Megatron's mid-section on his way back at the commander. Chains picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his dexterity) against Megatron's agility . Chains’ roll ties! Roaring, Megatron shakes the annoying Autobot off of him. Chains is nothing if not tenacious, which he's learned very well in the last few battles, but wasting time engaging with someone who is obviously only there to provoke him will only impede his ability to achieve his true objective. Once he has shaken the Autobot free, he too flies for the weapon, letting loose a bolt of bright lavender energy from his cannon. Megatron picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his dexterity) against Jackknife's agility. Megatron's roll ties! Knifepoint snarls as the Autobot scores a hit on his wing, barely managing to avoid it ripping through major sensor clusters. The pain is enough to distract him from one of the guards, however, and another shot slams into his underside. With a loud shriek, he pulls higher, opening fire on the slagheap who hit his wing. Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(its dexterity) against Crackshot's agility. Knifepoint's roll succeeds CRITICALLY! Nova Black snarls in pain as the Autobot scores a hit on her underside. "Okay, you piece of scrap, that is *it.*" The weapon forgotten for the moment, she streaks toward Chromia, her lasers blazing. Nova Black picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Chromia's agility. Nova Black's roll ties! "Yehaa!" shouts Echo as he bursts out of the clouds below the ceiling. His white form cleaves the through the air easily as he starts to pick out his target. Noticing the small mech assaulting his Emperor, he banks around as he calls "Allow me to take care of that scrap for you sir!" Whirling about the leader, he targets Chains with his lasers, letting loose a fierce blast. Echo picks up the dicebag and rolls its dexterity against Chains’ agility. Echo's roll fails! Crackshot screams as the blast hits him, the power splashing off as paint sizzles and peels "Ugh..." he grimaces, dropping to a knee. He didnt have to look to know where they all were "... Please hurry, Jackknife." he groaned, stepping a little closer, as though hoping to 'hide' behind that huge gun as he lifted his weapon to fire a third time at Knifepoint "Back off, Decepticon! Ugh... Last chance!" Crackshot picks up the dicebag and rolls its dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Crackshot's roll fails! Nova's shot skims Chromia's armor, leaving a nice long, brown scorch mark in its wake. "It should have been *it* many battles ago, 'Con," Chromia replies coolly, running further away from the weapon to lure the Seeker out of her firing range. Hopefully the others will take the same course. Primus knew how long the weapon was going to last under so much 'Con fire, especially if Megatron had his focus on it...particularly when the weapon wasn't working very well either. "Come on, 'Con!" Chromia picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Nova Black's agility. Chromia's roll succeeds! Elita One grumbles at a second miss, blaming herself for overcompensating. But then Megatron moves toward the AAG and she curses lowly, jumping down and racing after him, attempting another potshot at the broad side of the Decepticon leader. Elita One picks up the dicebag and rolls 5+(its dexterity) against Megatron's agility. Elita One's roll fails! The guards fire again at the seekers and Megatron! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Megatron's agility. Calliope's roll succeeds! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Calliope's roll succeeds! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Nova Black's agility. Calliope's roll fails! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Echo's agility. Calliope's roll fails! Jackknife picks up the dicebag and takes out a D10. Jackknife rolls a 4! Jackknife checks the cooling system over then the power itself, it shouldn't be off.. that'd be embarrassing if it HAD been off all this time. Not really finding anything amiss, but she gives the side of the weapon a slap just to tell it who was the boss here. "C'mon work slag you." she hisses at it. The sound of that impact that Crackshot took is not missed, but her focus is on the weapon and coaxing it to work before it was too late. Again the weapon refuses to fire. Chains is, indeed, highly tenacious, and perfectly willing to suffer some damage for the sake of others. Fast or strong for his frame as he might be, his courage has always been his strongest point. Still, he can't be everywhere at once. If he's going to get back to Megatron, he has to deal with a seeker first. Chains fires his chain off at Echo, trying to yank back, if he can manage to catch a hold, to try and pull Echo off course. A crash would be nice, but he'll settle for 'out of attack formation' or 'not protecting Megatron'. Chains picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his strength) against Echo's agility. Chains's roll succeeds CRITICALLY! Megatron snarls in frustration, first as his shot goes wide, and second as the guard's fire catches him in the chest again. Those guards will continue to harass the Decepticons until they're put down -- which is exactly what he decides to do, taking aim at the one who just shot at him. Megatron picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his dexterity) against Calliope's agility. Megatron's roll succeeds! Performing another roll, Knifepoint manages to avoid one shot only to wind up squarely in the crosshairs of another. He shrieks as the blast scores into his underside, and he turns sharply, opening fire on the guards as well. Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(its dexterity) against Calliope's agility. Knifepoint's roll succeeds! Nova Black roars in frustration and pain as Chromia scores another hit and follows her, not even noticing that she's being led away from the weapon. She does notice, however, that the others are going after the guards. She'll have to do that too -- once Blue has paid for irritating her, that is. Nova Black picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Chromia's agility. Nova Black's roll fails! "What the - AUUUUGH!" CRUNCH Much like a young child trying to do the hammer throw at the Olympics, this goes just as swimmingly for Echo. The wing is clamped onto by the chain as he starts to get yanked around, spinning wildly in a much tighter turn than his frame was intended to withstand, somehow Chains counterbalancing his own thrust quite easily as the jet is whipped about, before nose diving abruptly and slamming into one of the buildings in a great explosion, disappearing from immediate sight save for the chain trailing from Chains to the seeker. Crackshot mumbles, the seeker moving onto another target. He turns then - mostly to face himself in the right direction as he moves to help Jackknife "We gotta get this going!” he winces, hearing the crash of the Seeker. "Come on baby... Just like a telescope. up, calculate, fire! Please?" Crackshot picks up the dicebag and takes out a D10. Crackshot rolls a 9! Crackshot picks up the dicebag and rolls 8+(its dexterity) against Megatron's agility. Crackshot's roll fails! "Maybe if ya' come down, you'll have better luck, Seeker?" Chromia provokes Nova. "The sky ain't all ya' flyboys make it out ta' be, is it?" She aims her rifle again to the underside of Nova's wing. "Otherwise I'll make ya' come down, and I'm sure ya' don't want that." Chromia picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Nova Black's agility. Chromia's roll fails! Some of the guards have fallen, offline. Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D4. Calliope rolls a 1! Calliope picks up the dicebag and takes out a D4. Calliope rolls a 4! Guards fire at Knifepoint and Megatron! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Megatron's agility. Calliope's roll succeeds! Calliope picks up the dicebag and rolls her dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Calliope's roll fails! Jackknife is glad for the moment of respite that the guards and others are buying her as she checks the wiring now, trying to find where something may of not completely connected. Once she's done with that, she allows Crackshot to give it a go. "Well I'll be glitched." she mutters, barely heard over the weapon unleashing the pit upon Megatron.. and missing. Elita One keeps racing after Megatron, cursing again when he turns to go after the guards. She aims another hasty shot at the Decepticon leader, hoping to at the very least get his attention. Stupid pistol, work! Elita One picks up the dicebag and rolls 5+(its dexterity) against Megatron's agility. Elita One's roll succeeds! Chains deals with Echo for the moment - leaving things a little more clear. "Think you guys can figure out aiming that slagging thing?" he calls, as he runs towards Knifepoint, seeing the con has had the most luck hitting their positions, and trying to occupy more of the enemy without being too close to Megatron when they try and drive him off with the big gun. He fires off the chain at the next dive, not able to plant as well, but hoping he can retract it and pull himself into a shoulder collision with the seeker in flight. At the very least, maybe he can occupy the con for a bit. Chains picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his dexterity) against Knifepoint's agility. Chains’ roll succeeds! Megatron dives hard as he sees the flare of orange fire from the weapon streaking toward him. He's nowhere near as agile as his Seekers, but the crude move gets him out of the way of the weapon's fire, and that's all that really matters to him. He snickers with amusement as heat and flame roar by just above him -- and his gloating is his undoing, as not only another of the guards but also Elita One manage to hit him as he's diving. Twisting to keep himself from falling too far off course, he decides the wisest thing to do for the moment is aim for the largest target: the weapon itself. Megatron picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(his dexterity) against Jackknife's agility. Megatron's roll succeeds CRITICALLY! Knifepoint watches Echo down with a loud crash and mutters a rather foul word in response. Well, he might be dead. Too bad. Banking sharply, he avoids another shot from the guards, but the gun going off catches his attention. Right then Chains' weapon catches him, and he snarls static over the comm, rolling in an attempt to shake the minibot off. Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(its agility) against Chains’ strength. Knifepoint's roll succeeds CRITICALLY! Nova Black swerves to avoid Chromia's latest shot at her... and manages it, despite still listing a little from her damaged wing. She's struggling to keep Chromia in her sights when a very familiar bolt of very large orange weapon fire streaks through the air toward Megatron. "Slag," she mutters "slag, slag -- what in the Pit? It missed?!" Then she sees Megatron's cannon fire hit the weapon, and notices one of its energy cells flaring brightly and then going dark. That makes up her mind for her and she turns around, gunning her engines as she streaks toward the weapon, guns blazing -- if in a less straight line than she'd like. Blue can wait. She actually has something she's supposed to be *doing* right now. Nova Black picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Jackknife's agility. Nova Black's roll succeeds CRITICALLY! After a few moments, Echo bursts out of a window, landing in the street. He shook his head a little bit to clear it, looking severely bent out of shape. He staggered sideways, in time to see Megatron fire and hit the cannon "... Well done sir!" he calls out, before shakily taking to the air to rejoin the other Seekers, holding his fire for now as he regrouped with the others. The prototype AAG goes up in a shower of sparking electronic controllers! Having been focused on the circuitry when it exploded, Crackshot was thrown back as the thing blew up. He lands on his back and rolls, coughing as he straightens carefully there, his faceplate singed '... ow... Jackknife? " he picked up his own guns again, staring at the smoking ruins of the huge gun. He growls a little, lifting up his gun to find a target. He fired as he moved to check on Jackknife who may have been hurt as well. "We need to fall back into Iahex!" Crackshot picks up the dicebag and rolls its dexterity against Knifepoint's agility. Crackshot's roll fails! Chromia stands stock still, stunned. "No. No..." The words are whispered on her lips before frustration overcomes her and she throws her rifle down, fists pounding into the metal of the ground. "Slag! Slag it!" Can't they just win one? As if this thought spurs on her, she picks up her gun with renewed fervor, gripping it until the servos in her knuckles squeal. The word she says is hissed out between clenched teeth. "Die." And she fires off the rifle at the Seeker that destroyed the weapon. Chromia picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(her dexterity) against Nova Black's agility. Chromia's roll ties! "Retreat to the walls!" The guards send over the Autobot comms. The alarm klaxon changes, signaling a 'find-cover' alert. The guards begin laying down cover fire for those caught outside the walls to retreat. Jackknife was checking the controls over briefly when that shot from Megatron his. She too is thrown back from the explosion and lands next to Crackshot. "Ow." she grimaces, "Yeah I'm here." she mutters, frowning at what remains of the weapon. "Well there goes cycles of work up on smoke." she huffs softly, scrambling to her feet and making the retreat to Iahex proper. She's no warrior, after all. Elita One gasps in surprise and shields her face when the AAG explodes. "Smegit!" She snaps out a quick radio message, then aims for Megatron again in hopes of making the bastard just LEAVE. // Everyone okay? // Elita One picks up the dicebag and rolls 5+(its dexterity) against Megatron's agility. Elita One's roll succeeds CRITICALLY! Megatron watches Nova Black race toward the weapon, despite obvious instability due to a shot in her wing that still smokes faintly. It's a daring move, but one he's not entirely certain isn't also a stupid one -- if the weapon goes off again, he has no doubt she'll go down, and she admitted in her months-old report that she'd nearly offlined thanks to one of these weapons. Then he sees her barrage of fire envelop the last pair of fuel cells. They flare brightly, and the weapon itself bursts into flame. "High risk, high reward," he murmurs with a small smile. But just as he opens his comm to order the Decepticons to leave with their victory, a flare of energy from Elita One's laser rifle catches him full in the face. Sparks crackle around his optics and they flare impossibly bright before slowly going dark. As static overwhelms his vision, he fires his cannon a last time -- both in frustration and the desire to destroy the one who did this and as a signal to the others so that he doesn't have to admit aloud that he can't see. /Decepticons,/ he comms, his voice raspy with pain but still pleased at their success, /we have done what we came here to do. There is no reason to remain. Return to Polyhex immediately./ Watching the Autobot who latched onto him drop off with a deep sense of satisfaction, Knifepoint almost misses Echo getting back in the air. //Oh hey, you're not dead.// He says over the comm to the other seeker, sounding genuinely surprised at the fact. Then Nova's shot hits the weapon, and he whoops as it goes up with a satisfying boom, avoiding Crackshot's fire he rolls. Pulling higher, he takes one last shot at the other mech before banking to follow Megatron's orders. Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and rolls 3+(its dexterity) against Crackshot's agility. Knifepoint's roll succeeds! Nova Black's engines roar in triumph as she watches the weapon go up in flames, her spark crackling in vindication. One of these weapons nearly killed her; now, that score is settled. She hears Megatron's voice over the comm, proud but ragged. What is...? She banks to look at him, magnifying her vision and noticing that his optics look... dark. Then she notices his last shot, obviously going wide. One or the other, she could excuse. But both? Something must be wrong. She hastily comms everyone who isn't Lord Megatron. /Uh -- guys? I think that hit shorted out Lord Megatron's optics. I -- think maybe we ought to form an escort around him, just in case his directional sensors alone aren't -- enough./ She clicks off the comm, flying closer to him to do that. Echo back rolls back into altmode as he moves up alongside Nova Black, not speaking about that as he starts to pull out with the others now, murmuring to himself as he victory rolls again. "Takes more than that to kill me." comms Echo simply at Knifepoint, smugly "I was just diverted momentarily." his nosecone was crunched severely. Struck again, Crackshot coughs. Smoking heavily he drops to a knee just inside the gate of the walls, leaning against it as his body sparked heavily, even his visor flickering in a bad way. Elita One can't help it. "YES. It's about smegging time." She then rushes over to join the remaining guards to help them keep laser fire on the now-retreating Decepticons. Have to make sure they don't get any bright ideas and choose to stay longer. Chromia snarls lowly at Nova's retreating form, growling invectives under her breath, and she almost fires off another round again, but seeing Crackshot out of the side of her eye, she grudgingly decides against it, rushing to her comrade and slinging his arm over her shoulder and lifting him to his feet. "Don't ya' dare go down on me, Crackshot. Gotta' keep ya' and that energon movin' until we can get ya' to proper medical attention. I'll do some emergency patches once we get ta' full safety." The remaining guards are assisting people into Iahex, setting up a triage area, and carry the wounded and offlined to the safety of the walls. A pair hurries over to Crackshot and Chromia, the larger a hover-truck form large enough to carry Crackshot back with no problem. Jackknife keeps running until she's safe, but by then the order for retreat is called and she turns to watch the Cons fly off. Her optics narrow, thinking just how quick she and the others could rebuild the weapon... or if it was even possible to do so with the supplies on hand. She clicks on her comm. "Jackknife to medical bay, you'll have some incoming injured within a few breems." Megatron hears the distinctive sound of Seeker engines as the other Decepticons slide into an impromptu formation around him. It's slightly humiliating, and that annoys him, but he understands very well that it's necessary. And he has to admit that he's pleased that his warriors have done it so quickly and so efficiently. Engaging his directional sensors, he waits for them to just barely begin to move, so that it's less obvious they're guiding him, and then follows their movements as he heads back toward Polyhex. Crackshot is carried to the truck, trying to shake off their hands "I'm fine... fine..." he mutters, and sighs "This happens WAY too often returning to base under someone elses' power.” he admits finally. "A mech can hope." Knifepoint grumbles to himself, turbines rumbling as he slows slightly to assist in escorting Lord Megatron back to base. The fading sounds of laser fire catch his attention briefly, and he'd probably be smirking if he was in robot mode. Willing to ignore the pain he's in just for now, he can't resist a small bit of gloating over the general Decepticon comm. //Unending glory to the Empire and its rightful leader.//
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)