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| - Los Angeles Conflicting images of Los Angeles flicker across our television and movie screens: Hollywood glamour contrasts with gang violence, year-round sunny skies with smog, fast cars with traffic jams. From what travelers can gather, Los Angeles is a land of style and disaster, movers and shakers and earthquakes. Residents are accustomed to a rhythm that alternates between relaxation and stress, but out-of-towners -- fortunately -- tend to experience much more of the former.The nation's second-largest city (after New York), L.A. is a great place in which to do business or take a vacation. Marvelous restaurants, terrific nightlife, beaches, diverse cultural offerings, Disneyland and easygoing attitudes converge in a vast territory flooded with sunshine and lined with palms. Nearly everyone should see L.A. at least once, though a single trip will hardly be enough to appreciate such a vast area that's jam-packed with things to do. Los Angeles has been hit hard by the Quintesson invasion; most of the occupied sections look like bombs went off, which isn't too far from the truth. Those that survived the initial assualt have been rounded up and hauled into the spiral ship which has anchored itself within the ground. Not every survior has been taken; however. A small group of survivors, numbering less than twenty, has found shelter in an underground parking garage. Amoung them are Cobra agents Nightgaunt and Angel, and a severly battered Autobot, Lodestone. At the moment, Angel is out in the ruins, searching for essential food and supplies. Also, he looks for an opportunity to plant listening devices onto patrolling Sharkticons, hoping to learn what is happening within the spiral ship... Scourge growls as he approaches Los Angeles. This world is for the Decepticons to conquer! Neither he, nor Lord Megatron, will allow these upstart Quintessons to invade and take over their rightful domain. Also, several of his Sweeps are with him, all eager to turn the roly poly sharkballs into strips of robo-sushi. Lodestone is, as mentioned, holed up inside an underground parking garrage. He was severely damaged getting there, and although he's managed to effect some slight repairs over the last week, he's still in pretty bad shape and unable to transform. Windshear agreed to help the Sweep Leader make a run on LA. Of course he was there when it all went down initialy and he... left the fight to do something personal. And those somethings have been a real headache at base but not much he can do about it right now. Though he has put word out for someone he knows to take care of it. Now he flies backup for te Sweep formation intent on finding out exactly whats going on in LA and just who these aliens are. Thundercracker trails Scourge and his sweepish hoard, the grey and blue jet bringing up the rear. Every so often the cockpit speakers blareing his distinctively deep droning voice "Scourge, We gonna do this? If this fails....Wht's the plan, anyway?" "Who says its going to fail, Thundercacker?" Windshears own baritone replies to the blue Seekers. "Besides I think you can cause a lot of havoc to these invaders with a few well placed sonic booms you know." "The plan is, destroy the Sharkticons. The brutes have limited intellect and are easy to disassemble," the Sweep Leader replies. Thundercracker laughs, "I'm not worried about me and what I can do. I'm not even concerned with you." TC paused as Scourge replies, and once the sweep leader makes his declaration TC continues. "Fine, fine.. I'll alert them back at base to have the Medbay fully staffed and ready to receive shredded Decepticon torsos From the east, a blue and extremely speedy hovercar is approaching the besieged city. A lack of police patrolling the highway tells Blurr all he needs to know about the state of the city he's approaching. He does begin to slow down as the debris from destroyed buildings forces him to take precautions, but he continues on, knowing that the one who caused all this damage in the first place will be simple to locate: just follow the trail of destruction! Encore cruises towards LA from the south at 10,000ft, his engines pushed to their stops. In his cargo bay, he's got three pallets of emergency aid - two humanitarian, one military. He drops to 3000ft as he flies over the city, itself - crossing the Huntingdon Beah area. He banks slighty to give his passenger a view out the window at the devastation below. His loadmaster hologram peers out the window too."Look a' that..." He mutters, Encore's voice of course. "As fla' as if it'd bin nuked oot, there's... I'm nae pickin' up a single heat signature on mah scopes North o' Long Beach." He snorts, dropping the humanitarian supplies over the Santa Ana area. The ammunition and weapons remain onboard to be dropped with his passenger."Time fae a li'l mood music..." he mutters as his three guns arm up and load - servo-arms cloaked by holograms load the weapons as other holograms take their stations at the gunnery screens, while the loadmaster materialises a set of bagpipes and stands on the tailgate. Amplified, the AC130U begins to blast out Scotland the Brave on the pipes! Snaptrap is near the base of the Bellum, standing with a pair of Quintesson Bailiffs and a Prosecutor. They watch as the Sharkticons continue to bring in stragglers and other supplies from throughout the city. The Prosecutor's job is to catalog the survivors brought in. Snaptrap's job is to examine the supplies and tell the Sharkticons whether or not they're useful. Most of it isn't, and Snaptrap is getting bored and irritated. Meanwhile, the Quintessons are continuing to expand their territory. Sharkticons now raom the area from Hollywood down to Anaheim, and as far was as Santa Monica and Long Beach. The Bellum towers over the ruins of the city. A Warship deprats from the large docking back near the top, circling above the city for a few minutes before streaking off into the sky. The glow of its engines disappear into the distance as the warband approaches. Horde of Sweeps chuckle. As the supply crates drop from the gunship, a man in a specialized woodland combat suit steps up. He smirks beneath his visor, standing at the ramp and surveying the scene below, a mighty Barrett M107 cradled in his arms. He looks over his shoulder, "If you start taking fire, don't worry about me. Just rain down some hell on this sons of bitches." Thundercracker sends a radio transmission. Windshear sends a radio transmission. Angel darts inside a mostly destroyed store, his AWSM slung over one shoulder, a large dufflebag over the other. He scans the remaining shelves quickly, grabbing up any canned ffod he can get to, along with any water. All the supplies he finds he stashes in the duffel. "Dammit, this is barely enough..." He starts the trek back to the makeshift shelter, and pauses as he sees shapes in the sky. "Finally! Pulverize some for us!" he says, raising a fist to the air as he continues on. Snaptrap receives word from the patrols that a large aircraft just dropped something into the area beyond the perimeter and is now proceeding into the Quintessons' airspace. He growls behind his mask, voice bellowing out, "Get these creatures on board! We've got incoming!" He pulls his Atom Smasher from its holster on his back and starts moving around, directing the Sharkticons and other Quintessons, "Seacons, to battle stations!" High above, the battle deck of the Bellum opens up. Missile and artillery turrets rotate into place. The other Seacons move up to specialized docking clamps, transforming into huge weapons and tapping into the Bellum's power. Encore sends a radio transmission.(Radio) Encore sends you a radio transmission, 'Heat signatures, human!' A little Mini Stego is riding with one of the Sweeps! Encore circles around near Angel's heat-signature, tipping his wings in a clear signal. With a clunk, the pallet drops away, trailing a line that deploys a parachute - Encore can't control how close to Angel it drops, but it shouldn't land -that- far away."Final package is out, get yer'sel' off so I can close th' ramp an' gae lood!" The loadmaster shouts to Lowdown, pointing at the rough location he saw Angel. "Saw a survivor in tha' area!"He levels out for the Joe to jump. Lowdown nods to the holographic loadmaster, "Good luck!" Clipping the rifle to a set of specially designed quick-release fasteners, he takes a run at the end of the ramp and dives off. He spreads his limbs, aiming to get as low as possible before pulling his chute.... Angel watches the the Autobot Hercules drop off a pallet of weapons, and the drop a paratrooper. "Thank goodness, took ong enough." The Cobra Sniper grumbles, climbing up on some debris and waving in the other human's direction, hoping the other won't shoot him on site. There's always that possiblity... Scourge streaks in, in Sweepcraft mode, but when he approaches the beach and its hordes of Sharkticons, Sweeps in tow, he transforms and swoops down like an eagle after a baby goat. Talons outstretched, the Sweep prepares to strike one down and turn it into mecha-sushi. Windshear suffers through the BADpipes as he closes in toward LA with Thundercracker and bringing up the Sweeps formation. Then off in the distance he makes out the huge hard to miss sight of a certain Autobot flier. <"Thundercracker, Encore is on the scene, watch yourself -- oh yea hes where the musics coming from..."> he brings his weapons online and continues toward LA. Though hes keeping a watchful optic on the large Autobot. Thundercracker streaks into formation with Windy, tailing Scourge and his lee press on gang. "Like I said, once the boom booms start, the bagpipes will be a cherished sound.. Get ready to unleash hell." The booms start before Thundercracker may have expected. As the Decepticons swoop in for their attack run, blazing green missiles streak out of the Bellum's weapon emplacements. Artillery fire shudders the area, shells exploding into the city streets at the far reaches of the Quintesson perimeter. Below it all, Snaptrap backs up toward one of the Bellum's ramps, snarling at the order from his masters. He'd much rather be out in the streets, hunting the attackers. Lowdown spots the person trying to get his attention and shifts his decent. He pops his chute open far later than is probably sane. He swoops over Angel's position by about thirty feet, hitting the ground hard. He tucks into a roll, getting some of the parachute line twisted around his leg. However, it's only a moment before the KA-Bar comes out. Hearing a particularly icky-sounding noise from around the next corner, Blurr scoots to a stop and quickly transforms back to robot mode. "Ewwww, thatsoundslikeabunchofSharkticons, gulpingandchompingandburping! IhopeI'mnotright, IhopeI'mnotright!" He pops around the corner, and sees...a horde of hungry Sharkticons. "OhPrimus! IhateitwhenI'mRIGHT!" With that, he's set upon by the Sharkticons, and he begins trying to shake them off his chassis as they begin chewing at his armor. "Getoff, getoffgetoffgetOFF!! OwowowowoooOOooowwwwww!!" His attempts at getting the Sharkticons to relax are...kind of unsuccessful.>> Blurr misses Sharkticon Horde with Kick. <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Blurr with Pistol . << Scourge tries to slice up the first Sharkticon he sees, his talons fairly glowing as he speeds towards his chosen prey. His Sweeps transform and head for their own targets, some choosing to fire their weapons before going in for close quarters attack. "DESTROY THEM ALL!" Scourge bellows, as he closes in.The Sweepcraft splits apart, wings unfurl, and the Sweep Leader emerges forth, in all his beardy, pink-clawed glory.>> Scourge strikes Sharkticon Horde with Claw. <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Scourge with Knife. <<>> Horde of Sweeps strikes Sharkticon Horde with Laser . << "Hey, you okay?" Angel calls out, scrambling down the pile of debris he had climbed to approach the man. He notes that it is, in fact, a Joe. "Thank goodness you're here; we're holding out for now, but I was worried we'd run out of supplies before help came! I'm Angel, of Cobra Unity. I have no plans of shooting you." he finishes awkwardly. Lowdown looks up at Angel as he descends the rubble. The knife slides in smoothly between his suit and the parachord wrapped around it. The sharpened blade slices easily through the nylon. He stands up, sheathing the knife and unclipping the Barrett, "Lowdown." He doesn't extend his hand in greeting, for reasons that probably don't need to be explained, "How many other survivors are there?" Encore sends a radio transmission. Thundercracker angles in toward the newly erupted festivities. "Stay clear Windy... This whole sectors is gonna know who's come to play." Starting to decend at first gradually, Thundercracker dives suddenly. Like a mosquito honing in on a heard of bison he dives. Around 1000 feet above the writheing Sharkticon masses he levels off and his engines ignite full flame. ******BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM****** "Soooorrrrrryyyyy Scooouuurrrgeeee. Hahahahahahahahaha." he blares, possibly lost audibly in the sonic eruption that accompanies him... They don't call him thundercracker for nothing.>> Thundercracker attacks Blurr, Horde of Sweeps, Sharkticon Horde, Snaptrap, Quintesson Spiral #1736, and Scourge with Sonic Boom, striking Quintesson Spiral #1736, Snaptrap, Horde of Sweeps, and Scourge. <<>> Scourge temporarily loses motor functions from the attack! <<>> Quintesson Spiral #1736 temporarily loses motor functions from the attack! <<>> Snaptrap temporarily loses motor functions from the attack! <<>> Horde of Sweeps temporarily loses motor functions from the attack! <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Thundercracker with Kick. << Windshear sends a radio transmission. Encore sends a radio transmission. Windshear pulls up and back suddenly to put some distance between he and Thundercrackers namesake in a sense. <"Listen up, Decepticons."> he radios suddenly and then chuckles at his own comment considering what TC just did, <"Stay clear of the hercibird bot -- left side. There no reason to shoot at him anway."> He banks back around and notices Snaptrap and theres his target. The Vampire Seeker tilts down slightly and heads straight for the Rogue Decepticon. "Heads up traitor." he mutters and fires.>> Windshear strikes Snaptrap with Seeker-Laser . << Windshear sends a radio transmission. Encore raises his ramp with a salute to Lowdown, starting to circle - looking for a nice, big clump of Sharkticons to drop a few shells on. He throttles back slightly for easier targeting, scanning the streets, or what's left of them, for a nice grouping. Spotting one, he banks harder to the left - almost pointing his wing at his targets.<> He radios, sounding surprisingly calm.Then his Bofors gun wakes up.BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM-BAM!The five-round string shatters the eerie quiet of the occupied zone, five black smoke-blossoms left in the Gunship's wake by seventy-year-old 40mm autocannon.<>>> Encore misses Sharkticon Horde with Bofors Cannon . <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Encore with Knife. << Snaptrap hunkers down behind his shield as he hears the jet coming in. What little glass remains in the area shatters. Snaptrap stands back up, a bit disoriented from the shockwave. He looks up in time to get scratched by the other Seeker's laser, shaking his head to try and clear it, "You're the traitors. The Quintessons built me, just as they gave birth to our entire race!" The occupants of the Bellum barely even notice the sonic boom, save for a momentary disruption in the targeting systems. They bring a terrifying new weapon into place, the widely-rounded barrel angling toward the gunship. There's a thump, and a Sharkticon is ejected from the top of the Bellum, sailing through the air with a knife in his hands. Unfortunately, the trajectory is a little off and he plummets into the city. Slugfest eees as he drops, from the cockpit of a stunned Sweep. He can't get out! And no matter how much he taps on the inside of the Sweep, there is no response. Blurr is swinging around a Sharkticon that's munching on his arm. He swings it aroundandaroundandaroundandaround until its shape can no longer be discerned; then, he tries using it as a battering ram to keep the other Sharkticons off of his chassis. "Aaaaahhhh!! Thisain'tnodisco! Thisain'tnocountryclub, either! Thisis((L.A.))!" He takes a very speedy swipe at the other Sharkticons. "You'regonnaWISHyounevermessedwithme!! Imeanit! IreallyREALLYmeantit!!">> Blurr critically strikes Sharkticon Horde with Bash! <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Blurr with Pistol . << Angel isn't offended in the least by Lowdown's chilly demeanor; on a normal day they'd be trying to kill each other. He glances at the Barrett, and has a fleeting look of caliber-envy. Then he goes back to business. "Seventeen; fifteen civilians ranging in age from twelve to about thirty-seven. Another Cobra; a pilot codenamed Nightgaunt. His Night Raven was shot down in the initial attack, but he's unharmed. And finally an Autobot, named Lodestone. He took a lot of damage protecting us from the Sharkticons." He gestures for the Joe to follow. "C'mon, let's get these supplies back to the shelter; seems our Cybertronian neighbors are making hell for the Quints." Scourge manages to slice into a Sharkticon, but then he, and the other Sweeps, are momentarily stunned! The Sweep Leader twitches as he tries to move. The Sweeps, including Scourge, are momentarily stunned! The Sweep Leader twitches as he tries to move. "Stupid friendly fire," one of the other Sweeps groans, as the sonic blast just shuts all the Sweeps down. But the Sweeps will be in trouble if not all the Sharkticons were stunned as well! Thundercracker streaks through the air, after ample ground has been covered the gloriously loud seeker races back iinto the air, swinging back around to survey the fruits of his labor. "A job well done if I do say so myself!" he booms from high above. TC takes a moment to survey the field of battle and cherry pick his next vic...err strategic target. Windshear watches Thundercracker bank up high but his attention is caught on what Snaptrap just said. Traitor? Hes no traitor regardless of his actions sometimes. Hes just a complicated Decepticon is all. But instead of saying anything the Vampire Seeker suddenly drops down, transforms and lands a few yards in front of the Seacon. With a ghostly sneer, he extends his arms out, his hands fists and he starts walking toward the mech. As he walks blades extend from the backs of both wrists. "We will see who is a traitor, mech." he says and as walks toward the mech. At the last minute he starts to swing with his left hand but then fakes it and comes around with his right.Black and gray Cybertronian Tetrajet folds in to become pretty boy Decepticon, Windshear>> Windshear misses Snaptrap with Armblades. << Encore snarls at his miss and drops lower, down to 2000ft. This time his 105 pivots and tracks around to sight on the same group. This time it's just a single report, but a much deeper, louder one - his 105mm gun. In theory, the wider blast radius should hit more of the Sharkticons...>> Encore strikes Sharkticon Horde with 105mm Shell . <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Encore with Punch. << Several of the Sharkticons go flying from the blast. One of them tries to grab onto Encore's wing, but... well, it's about 1500 feet short of getting a grip. Nobody said they were the brightest... The Bellum tracks the blue Seeker as it begins to climb. The Seawing cannon pivots around, leading the target. His twin proton blasters open fire, a flurry of red shots streaking into the air.>> Quintesson Spiral #1736 strikes Thundercracker with Dual Proton Blasters . << Snaptrap's optics blaze as the pretty boy moves in for an attack. He moves forward to meet Windshear, raising his shield and letting the arm blades glance off. The shield drops down again, revealing a large fist traveling toward the Decepticon's face.>> Snaptrap misses Windshear with Smash. << Slugfest is still trapped inside a comatose Sweep! *knocknocknock* "Hey! WAKE UP! AM STUCK IN HERE NO CAN GET OUT!" the little stego cries plaintively. In the meantime, Blurr is still having his personal battles with the Sharkticons on ground level. He's managed to scrap a few Sharkticons, but even more seem to be coming! "OK, I'mdoneplayingaroundwithyouguys! TimetoscrapyouforREAL!" He then begins kicking at the approaching Sharkticons, with stupefying speed. Maybe his technique isn't the best, but man, can he MOVE.>> Blurr misses Sharkticon Horde with Speed-Kick. <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Blurr with Pistol . << Lowdown nods as Angel rattles off the details, stepping out after the Cobra. The nearest crate is only about 300 yards away, containing a pelican case filled with various calibre ammunition, and one rather large weapon case. Lowdown pops the cargo straps holding them down and pops open the weapon case. Inside is a prototype of a Steyr anti-material rifle. He quickly slings this over his shoulder and moves on to the ammo crate, "We're gonna have to split this up if we want to carry it all back..." Scourge rouses and rises to his feet after the stunning effect, and his Sweeps likewishe shake themselves awake and set to attacking the Sharkticons again. One Sharkticon stands shredded at his feet. A whole mess to go. He charges the next one, claws outstretched, with even more fury blazing in his ruby optics.Meanwhile, Deadfall lets Slugfest out!>> Scourge strikes Sharkticon Horde with Slice. <<>> Sharkticon Horde strikes Scourge with Knife. <<>> Horde of Sweeps strikes Sharkticon Horde with Claw. << "No problem; I've been making supply runs everyday. I'm sore, but that's not going to stop me." Angel says with a small smile. He eyes the prototype rifle, and has another bout of gun-envy. He shakes his head a bit, and starts loading up his share of supplies, carefully distributing the weight. "The civilians are pretty much past the shock, I think. Still scared, but I don't blame them." The sniper look determined. "The initial attack was terrifying." Thundercracker erupts in a wash of proton fire. smoke, sparks anmd energon trailing the sky as he is impacted with the hit. "Woah woah! Not alright!" TC shimmys in the sky for a moment trying to get his bearings and his course. Swinging back around he ques up his flaming hot heartburn pellets, strafing the Bellum.>> Thundercracker misses Quintesson Spiral #1736 with Incendiary-Guns . << Windshear hits the mechs shield and is not happy but when he sees the return swing he just veers to the side. "No..." is all he says. No one hits his face. He suddenly swings a nasty backhand toward the Seacons own face as he blades retracts on that arm.>> Windshear strikes Snaptrap with Punch. << The Bellum's armor deflects the enemy fire. As the Seeker passes by, a black ray of energy, crackling with white bolts of electricity, lances out from the top of the spire. The energy beam also contains a carrier signal capable of temporarily overriding a Cybertronian's neurological pathways, confusing friend-or-foe identification subroutines.>> Quintesson Spiral #1736 critically strikes Thundercracker with Subjugation Beam ! <<Thundercracker is overcome by injuries, losing consciousness.>> Thundercracker temporarily loses motor functions from the attack! << Encore's careful pylon turn hs been swinging him slowly closer to the Bellum. He grins to himself as he re-loads the 105... though this time he's racked up a heavier shell, and he takes a moment to aim it at the base of the spiral structure, levelling himsef out slightly to make sure he's got the shot.The M107 cannon goes off with enough force to push him sideways slightly, leaving a black smoke-ring behind and spitting a shell that can be seen as it flies through the air. Those with acute optics or cameras might even be able to pick up the 'HAVE A NICE DAY' smiley face painted on the nose of the 105mm artillery shell as it whistles, audibly, through the air - exploding with a mighty blast that rocks the surrounding area and peppers all those around with debris and shrapnel, regardless of whether it hits...>> Encore attacks Quintesson Spiral #1736, Sharkticon Horde, and Snaptrap with 105mm Cannon, striking Snaptrap. <<>> Sharkticon Horde strikes Encore with Punch. << The little stegosaur charges at sharkticons, his chainsaw blades whirring! He tries slicing one in half as he pelts little feets running towards it. "Me am going make Scooshi!">> Slugfest misses Sharkticon Horde with Blades. <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Slugfest with Slice. << Blurr is getting tired of getting bitten. But that doesn't mean he's getting *tired*. No, he's just getting frustrated...and when he begins losing his cool, it's a rather spectacular meltdown. "Owowow!! Itoldyoutogoawayandyoukeepcoming! Itellyoutogiveupandyoutryharder!! TodayisNOT*OPPOSITE*DAY!!" He begins zooming around, running all over random Sharkticons like a roller derby queen gone berserk. "DowhatIsayorI'mgonnaFLATTENyou!!" Again, his tantrum is spectacular, but his technique is just a little messy because of the emotions involved.>> Blurr critically strikes Sharkticon Horde with Speed-Ram! <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Blurr with Slice. << Lowdown nods slowly, taking his own fair share of the ammo, "We've got food and medical supplies in another drop, and the Autobots included some things for their own to use. That package might be a little trickier to move in. We dropped the supplies just outside the Quintesson perimeter. Figured it would be easier for the two of us to sneak around the feet of giant robots." Scourge is nipped by a mouthy Sharkticon, and growls, attempting to punch its teeth out. Meanwhile, Deadfall starts laying traps that if a Sharkticon steps on it, should hold them in place and make them easier to dispatch. Sunder, Bloodwulf, and Geist are in the fray, slashing wildly with their claws and attempting to avoid getting bitten.>> Scourge strikes Sharkticon Horde with Punch. <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Scourge with Smash. <<>> Horde of Sweeps strikes Sharkticon Horde with Claw. << Snaptrap's head snaps to the side from the blow, but pivots back to glare at Windshear. He snarls and raises his sword for a retort, but suddenly finds himself flying backward. As his vision clears, he looks around at the inside of the Bellum's staging deck. He growls and starts to get to his feet. However, instead of moving back out to attack, he slams an intercom on the wall, "Seacons! Get down here!" "I used to be what they call a 'street-rat', so I volunteered to be the runner. Nightgaunt and Lodestone are taking turns keeping watch while I'm gone." Angel says, grunting as he starts heading towards the underground parking lot where the civilians are sheltering. "We were worried no one with coming..." Thundercracker catches the beam as he begins his strafing run. His flight systems already charred from the first beam hit he took, this second one rips him up. Left wing shearing at the fuselage. Right wing crumpled and tearing away jaggedly and sailing toward the ocean. Thundercracker's fuselage seems to hang there in mid-air a moment. Time passes by in slow motion, as if TC is weightless.... Then reality sinks back in and the seeker is hurtling through the ravaged city. Skimming broken trees, bouncing off of shattered skyscrapers. the nose-cone of his alt mode droping like a falling arrow.. That arrow... impales into the ground amidst thousands of Sharkticons. TC is hopelessly surrounded for as far as the optic can see by the enemy, then drooling, stinking hordes of the Quints. Windshear's opponent is suddenly shot away from him. Normally he would pursue but he gets a radio message and instantly looks up. It corolates with what he got on the faction chan. He steps back and transforms streaking toward where he last saw TC and toward the water. Shortly he picks up a vapor trail you could say and is following it. <"Scourge."> he says simply though his comm. <"TCs down, Im breaking off to rescue him. I would not recommend staying too much longer in this mess, Sweep."> Encore loops around to take another crack at the spiral-tower, snarling under his breath as the Sharkticons' return fire strikes home - cracking his windscreen and punching through his armour. He circles the Quint construction as he lines up his aim, lasing the Quint structure with a PAVE Penny pod on his hull."Range one niner three five meters... twenty-six degrees depression... spin 'em up."The paired 25mm Avenger cannons begin to spin up to speed now, the grinding of their heavy bearings audible even from the ground as the Spooky lines up his aim. When the guns go loud (and loud is the operative word) he reminds everyone why gatling-gun-armed Gunships are nicknamed "Puff the Magic Dragon", leaving a long trail of thick black smoke, at the head of which can be found paired thirty-foot tongues of flame. The individual bangs blur together into one continuous buzz - or fart, in cruder language - as each GAU-12 Avenger gatling cannon spits twenty-one rounds per second downrange at the tower... and anything else close enough. It is as if explosive shells were water from a hose. Each round's impact is followed by its own supersonic crack - sounding like firecrackers on a short string!<>As he spots Thundercracker go down, he radios an old 'friend' from his rock-rat brewing days, before the War caught up with him...>> Encore attacks Sharkticon Horde, and Quintesson Spiral #1736 with Avenger, striking Sharkticon Horde, and Quintesson Spiral #1736. <<>> Sharkticon Horde misses Encore with Kick. <<Encore is also playing 'Ghost Riders (in the sky)' at volume, incidentally. A portion of the tower disappears in a shower of sparks. As the gunship finishes its run, there's barely more than a blemish on the armor. The turrets at the top begin to shift location, spreading out evenly around the battle deck. There's a moment of quiet before the turret begins to open fire in all directions. As the barrage completes, the Seacon turrets shift back into robot mode, leaping through doors into the central shaft of the Bellum...>> Quintesson Spiral #1736 attacks Encore, Blurr, Slugfest, Scourge, Horde of Sweeps, Sharkticon Horde, and Windshear with Barrage, striking Slugfest, Windshear, Sharkticon Horde, Encore, Blurr, Horde of Sweeps, and Scourge. << ...just as Snaptrap leaps upward to meet them. The sounds of joints slamming together can be heard from within the Bellum. It is not Snaptrap and his team that touches back down onto the ramp, but the mighty feet of Piranacon. Slugfest eees as he dodges a Sharkticon's blow. He runs around the offending ball of shark a few times, then tries to bite the Sharkticon on the tail!>> Slugfest misses Sharkticon Horde with Bite. <<>> Sharkticon Horde strikes Slugfest with Punch. << "Thisone'sforKup! Andthisone'sforHotRod! Andthisone'sforWheelie! Andthisone'sforeveryoneelseyoueverbit!" POW-POW-POW-POW-POW-POW. Blurr is stepping up his Sharkticon smackdown game by using them as punching bags -- as fast as he possibly can. Metal scraps and bits of Sharkti-carcass go flying everywhere with each punch, and he's not letting up, either. No, far as he's concerned, he's just getting started. "Thisone'sforME! AndTHISone'sforme, too! ThenextDOZENarefromME," he chatters. POW-POW-POW-POW-POW-POW. "Tellyourmomma! Tellher!">> Blurr misses Sharkticon Horde with Hammer-Punch. <<It doesn't do much, but it looks fabulous. Lowdown nods slowly, "I tried to get into the city about four days ago, but the patrols were too thick. Expanding their perimeter actually made it easier for us to move in. Still too thick for a full extra-" He stops and looks up as the hum of incoming energy rounds grows. A plasma missile explodes into a building above them. Lowdown reaches to grab Angel and run from the falling debris.>> Lowdown succeeds with his generic combat roll on Angel. << Scourge roars as he's hit by the wild fire from the Quintesson ship. Angrily he clutches his side while fending off advancing Sharkticons with his headcannonand backs up, into the water, though he knows the Sharkticons can swim. He might have to get into the air...>> Scourge strikes Sharkticon Horde with Blaster . <<>> Sharkticon Horde strikes Scourge with Rocket. << "I get you, they spread their forces out and tha-EEP!" Angel leets out a rather high-pitched squeak of suprise as Lowdown grabs him and drags him quickly past exploding buildings and scrapnel caused by the plasma missle. "Holy shit!" he yells. "That was close - I owe you, Lowdown. I should have been paying attention." The sniper rubs at his eyes, and it's clear that he's getting exhausted. Thundercracker lies in a heap of scrap, jet form still solidly drivien into the ground. No doubt Sharkticons by the hundreds are milling about near him. Blurr knows when he's been bested. There's just too many Sharkticons. He COULD do this all day and all night, but he wouldn't get very far. "Timetogofindreinforcements!" he exclaims, as he gets the heck out of dodge and blasts away in a blaze of motion. Windshear sees Thundercracker and makes a Bline for him and ... is hit AGAIN in the back. Thats the second time that weird ship slams him since it arrived a few days ago. He was barely repaired from the first hit and now this. And why when his back is turned? Cowards. The Dark jet falters in the air badly for a moment and then levels and continues toward the falling Seeker. Smoke trails from one engine and a couple bits of his armor fly off as he decends. He doesnt care. Hes set to rescuse Thundercracker and the smeg with a few bits of armor. Windshear drops down toward Thundercracker and extends those unique clawed 'feet' that Seekers have and attempts to grab the Blue Seeker out of the clutches of the closing in Sharkticons.>> Windshear fails his generic combat roll against Sharkticon Horde. << Scourge realizes he can't take another hit like that last one from the Quintesson Ship. And he also realizes that Thundercracker is gravely wounded. His Sweeps are not in the greatest of shape either. "Sweeps, fall back!" he says, "And take the cassette with you!" He leaps into the air and retreats, transforming as he does so! Encore continues the burst for a good thirty seconds or so... and unfortuntey that makes him a bit of an easy target for that barrage. It strikes home, of course, burning paint from most of his left side and the outermost engine on that side doesn't sound particularly happy right now. It doesn't deter the autobot, however - the moment he's got himself level and flying smoothly after the hit, he swings around to the ramp and opens up with his M107 again. He seems absolutely determined to put at least one shell through the door...<> He announces, whatever that means.This shell is painted like a Bullet Bill.>> Encore attacks Piranacon, and Quintesson Spiral #1736 with 105mm Cannon, striking Piranacon, and Quintesson Spiral #1736. << Piranacon throws back his head and roars as the shell impacts him in the chest, engulfing him in fire and smoke. Unlike his constituent commander, though, he's not sent flying backward. Instead, before the cloud of smoke can even disipate, the super-warrior lunges upward as Encore passes overhead. The tri-tipped sword is raised above his head in a two-handed swing at one of the Autobot's wings.>> Piranacon strikes Encore with Slash. <<Encore is overcome by injuries, losing consciousness. The little mini stego eeees as Sharkticons batter and chase him! He runs for the beach, runs up to Thundercracker, and starts tugging on him! Meanwhile, the Sharkticons close in on the fallen prey. As Windshear moves to grab Thundercracker's chassis, they surge inward. Deadfall scoops up the mini stego, "Come on, let's GO! Windshear will tend to that one!" Lowdown makes sure Angel's not about to fall over, "No problem. Let's get under cover before they release another assault like that..." He trails off as he hears a Godzilla-like roar echoing through the city, "What the hell was that?" "We're almost there, just another block or two." Angel says, steadying himself. As the roar sounds, the Cobra sniper's eyes widen. "That was... Piranacon." He gulps. "You know how some Cybertronians can form together and make one giant ass robot? Yeah, it's one of -those-." Thundercracker is unaware of the milling, skulking droves of Sharkticons who have surrounded him, nor is he aware of his impending doom at their claws. TC is out like a light. He is in a black happy place where even Starscreams shrill high pitched whine cannot pierce. It's like a dead mans nirvana.. and only TC can appreciate it. That being said, they botched rescue attempt goes unnoticed as well, and were he conscious, probbly would have been met with a 'You suck." Narrative. Windshear cant beleive he missed. But as warnings flash across his internal HUD he knows why he missed. Hes damaged badly right now. But hes determined to not let that stop him. The Vampire Seeker makes a shaky bank around and makes another grab for the Blue Seeker.>> Windshear fails his generic combat roll against Sharkticon Horde. << Encore yelps as the sword rips through - but doesn't quite sever the wing. He immediately loses all thrust on that side and does several rolls before he gets himself under control, restarting the two downed engines... but they're not happy. Thick, black smoke trails from both the powerplants on the nearly-severed wing as he banks aroun as hard as he dares to the south. It's cear the big AC-130 is going down and he's going down -hard- but he's determined to try his hardest to get the smeg out of the area.Wherever he goes down, it's a big crash. He drops his wheels to lessen the impact as best he can but within seconds of touchdown he's lost the damaged wing."Oh, crap." He announces as he begins to slide sideways, rolling over and sliding across the ground several times and coming to a halt at the end of a long gouge in the ground - easily half a mile of shed Autobot parts. He transforms once he's come to a halt, sat with his against the moraine of debris at the end of his trough - his basic chassis is intact, but he's not going to fly for a while and he's not going to stand without a lot of re-wiring. SSo he takes his flask from his thigh with one hand and his sidearm in the other. It takes him several attempts to light a cigar with oil-slicked hands but he manages it, swigging from his flask."Come... an'... have a go... iffen' ye think... yer hard enough!" The little mini stego squeals as he's grabbed by Deadfall and tucked into the rapidly-transforming Sweep's cargo hold. However, he soon nests and curls up, falling asleep. Piranacon lands with a thunderous impact on the ground, the sword gouging into the pavement. Piranacon hefts the weapon again, hideous yellow optics settling on a still-airborn Seeker flitting between the buildings. Another ear-splitting roar echoes through the ruins as Piranacon charges a building. The sword slices through the base before a titanic elbow smashes into the upper floors, toppling the building over... right into Windshear's flight path.>> Piranacon misses Windshear with Crush. << As the building tips, a group of Sharkticons swarm around Piranacon's feet. Claws rip into the building, hauling the spherical balls of teeth upward. They launch themselves from the building as it falls... Lowdown moves past one of the buildings and spots the Sharkticons closing in on Thundercracker. He frowns deeply, but continues on, "We gotta hurry. Once we drop these off, I'm going back for that downed jet. If we can get it functional again, we'll need all the firepower we can get." Scourge heads for home, all Sweeps in tow. What a disaster! The Sweep Leader is going to need repairs when he gets back... Windshear realizes this is going to be harder then he thought and banks around again, slowly. As he comes around to line back up for Thundercracker suddenly a building falls in front of him. The Dark Seeker has no idea he manages it but he tilts up on a wing and banks away from it. but now hes off balance and in hsi present condition hes out of control. With some effort he falls out of jet mode and makes as controled a landing as he can manage as close to Thundercracker as he can. Arm lasers firing in an ark at the sharkticons he makes his way toward Thundercracker.>> Windshear strikes Sharkticon Horde with Laser . << Piranacon does something rather unusual. The beast turns from the scene of battle and begins marching away. Slowly, inexorably moving toward the coast... Angel nods slightly, watching at another jet dodges flying into a falling building, and transforms. "That jet is a Decepticon, I don't know which one. I don't think his friend will leave him behind. Those Shakrticons eat anything..." The blond sniper stumbles a bit, and turns a corner, stopping in front of the parking grages entrace. "We made it." he says, starting to head down. "Nightgaunt! I'm bringing a Joe down with me, don't get triggerhappy; we're working together." Thundercracker sparks and spits from his destroyed body. At this point he should keep his big mouth shut. Last time he pushed for them to go survey the odd energy signatures that turned out to be Prime and Megatron returning.. This time he complained and goaded Scourge in to attacking the Quints... well... now look at him, in pieces, near dead in a hole again... and happy to have an excuse to tell his faction mates *I told you this wouldn't work.* Windshear half kneels and half stumbles to where TC is at, "Hey?" he asks as he runs a fat scan on him. "Primus youre a mess." he mutters as he scoops up the downed Seeker as best he can. Then he looks up into the sky. "Smeg..." is all he mutters as he lifts up into the air as fast as he can. He knows his firing at the Sharkticons wont hold them back long, if at all. Hes got to get them out of those vermon mechs reach as quick as possible. Piranacon wades out about chest-deep into the ocean and turns around. As Windshear collects Thundercracker, the gestalt's arms rise up above his head. With a roar, he smashes them down onto the surface. The effect isn't immediately noticable unless you're at the coastline. The water appears to be receding very rapidly. Within seconds, a 100-foot-tall wall of water has built, rushing toward the city. Lowdown looks over his shoulder as he hears the rumble of the wave. Although he maintains an impassive expression, the color drains from his face. He turns to Angel, "Move! Now!" "Nightgaunt, get everyone and everything to safe ground, NOW!" Angel hollers, rank be damned. "Up the staircase in the back, move it!" the sniper yells, rushing to help the civilians. "Angel, I'm scared!" cries a 12-year-old boy. "C'mon Kevin, let's go!" Angel grabs the kid in his arms as everyone flees to the relative safety of an interior staircase. The water *should* simply drain downwards into the garage. Angel's hoping that's the case as he holds the boy tight. "Nightgaunt! Lowdown, Lodestone, c'mon hurry! Lowdown runs down into the garrage, taking barely a moment to survey the scene. He assesses which of the survivors are going to need the most help and moves to assist them, "Unless you brought a surfboard, we gotta go!" As for Lodestone, he also hears the coming wave. He moves as quickly as his still-damaged systems will allow, literally picking people up and carrying them over to the staircase. "You guys go. I can't fit up there, but I should be too heavy to get pushed around." "C'mon, go go go!" Angel shouts, helping the civilians get to higher ground, as Nightgaunt helps the slower folks get to the staircase. "Get as high as you can!" he shouts from the bottom of the stairs. "It's coming!" Lowdown ushers people up the stairs, helping them off the Autobot's hand. He looks toward the entrance as he hears the crash of the wave against nearby buildings... Angel turns as he helps another civilian towards the staircase, eyes widening as the wall of water blasts into the ungerground garage. "Move!" he shouts, running towards the stairs franitically. Unfortunately, exhaustion has taken its toll, and he doesn't reach safety in time. The water crashes around and -over- the Cobra sniper, carrying him first towards the walls and then along them as the ocean washes in. "Help!" he calls weakly, flailing. Lowdown will probably live to regret this decision, but he dives into the torrent. He flips over as he approaches the wall, rolling into a ball and bracing for the impact. Luckily the initial rush of the wave was the worst, but the current is still strong. He kicks off the wall and tries to swim toward Angel... As the wave surges further inland, the Quintesson titan disassembles in the water. The Seacons, however, to not return inland. Instead, they scatter in various directions, gliding deeper into the ocean... Angel is dazed, and struggling to say afloat in the water. He sputters, choking on the water as he bops up and down. "C-can't swim well!" he calls out, trying to swim towards Lowdown, or at the least not drift away... Lowdown manages to make his way to Angel, slipping an arm under the enemy sniper's shoulder. He plants his feet on the floor and lifts, trying to keep Angel's head above water. Trying to swim back to the stairs against the current is just asking for trouble, but trying to stand against the current is at least within the realm of possibility. Angel coughs and sputters, but just manages to stay above water, almost entirely due to Lowdown's help. "T-thank you..." he manages out, in between coughing fits. He's barely holding on, but the water should be letting up soon... And sure enough, the strength of the current begins to ebb. The foaming water begins to smooth out, the water level starting to lower as it drains deeper into the garrage. Once he feels he's able to walk on his own, Lowdown releases Angel to do the same. "No wonder they chose a coastal city..." Angel simply collapses to the ground, his strength utterly spent. He gasps and coughs, spitting up some water. For a few moments he's completely helpless, on his knees and hands. "...The civilian." He says weakly, panting. "Did everyone make it?!" Lowdown looks over toward the stairway. The water has washed the two snipers almost down to the next level. Nightgaunt opens the doorway to the stairwell and gives the others a thumbs-up. "G-Good..." Angel says, seeing the thumbs up. "...I'm gonna have a fear of water parks now, aren't I?" He climbs weakly to his feet, making squishy noises as he does. "Ugh, I need dry clothes... tell me have dry clothes." he calls to Nightgaunt, making his way over slowly. "The supllies - how much did we lose?" Lowdown helps Angel back over to the rest of the group, "Looks like we didn't lose a whole lot. The ammo cases were watertight, but some of them got washed down to the lower levels. I'm more concerned about the supply drops outside the perimeter." "You've saved my life twice, Lowdown." Angel says, not coughing much anymore. " 'Thank you' just doesn't seem enough." The friendly blond sniper sits down on the ground, pulling off his boots and socks with some effort. "How far out were the supplies? Maybe the waters didn't reach out that far." Lowdown finds a spot near a car that didn't get completely washed out, and starts pulling off his own water-logged boots. Even though it's still fairly dark inside the garrage, he keeps his visor on, "I'd estimate about a half-mile beyond the perimeter, to the south-east. "If we're lucky - IF being the opperative word - they're up high enough that they're dry." Angel starts squeezing out his socks, looking bedraggled. "...And to think I volunteered to stay here..." Lowdown smirks slightly, literally pouring water out of his boots, "And to think I volunteered to come in." He reaches up and adjusts the sound-dampers on his visor, opening them just a little bit. The blond sniper manages a chuckle at Lowdowm. "I guess we're both a special type of crazy." Angel notes with a wry grin, pouring water out of his own combat boots. "Please tell me we have dry clothes; I'm NOT sleeping in wet clothes, that's just asking to get sick." He sighs, brushing his wet hair away from his face. "...Dammit! My radio's soaked; it's dead." Lowdown looks up, frowning slightly, "Lemme try mine..." He pulls out his own radio, and... "Any luck?" Angel asks, hopeful. Lowdown's radio appears to be a little more rugged. Must be the perks of being an E-8. He clicks it on, and although it's mostly static, it still functions. "This is Lowdown, reporting in. Encore took heavy damage and went down. I've linked up with the survivors: two Cobra, one Autobot, and fifteen civilians. Supplies were dropped half-mile south-east of Quintesson perimeter. Will attempt to retrive supplies in six hours, and will report again afterward." [G.I. Joe] Lowdown says, "...is Lowd-...heavy damage...with survivors, tw-... -obra, one Autob-...-ifteen civ-... Supplies... -alf-mile south-ea-... perimeter. Will attempt to retr-... -port again afterward." Angel's a grunt, his gear sucks. "I bet Interrogator AND Major Bludd are gonna chew my ass out of getting into so much trouble." Angel says, in a mix of worry and wry amusement. "Do you think they can hear us? I know when I managed to reach Interrogator, I could barely hear him, and he could barely hear me." "Hey, Nightgaunt! You have my phone right? Hand it here." Angel says, standing up and heading over to the other Cobra. "I need to get a hold on Interrogator, tell him we're alive and all that." Lowdown looks upward at the ceiling, "We might be able ot sneak into some of the buildings and find clothing. I'm not normall a fan of looting, but it's kind of a necessity." "Yeah, but I dunno if there's any dry clothing nearby... Ugh, just give me a pair of shorts to sleep in..." The sniper stretches. "Angel, here! I found some sweatpants that might fit ya!" the boy Kevin says triumphantly. "Thank you, Kevin. You're a good kid." Angel says softly. "I'm going to go upstairs and change, and try and get a phone call through."
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