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| - Log Title: Settling the Score Characters: Convoy, Over Kill Location: Houston, Texas; Cobra Island Date: 1 December 2007 TP: Non-TP Summary: Convoy encounters Over Kill, who has come looking for revenge. Convoy has found himself a nice truck stop to park himself at, for the moment choosing to observe the truckers and their vehicles. "Hmmm.. it would seem these were the basis for my construction. They are obviously not sentient, needing these flesh creatures to operate them." Over Kill is out again, watching highways, looking for that odd Decepticon who bested him a week before. There's been no sign of him, and he's not about to get too close to cities and let the authorites know hes in the US. He's in a battered, covered jeep, and has with him a small contigent of BATs. He seems to be trying to keep it low. He pulls into the truck stop. "Perhaps this is a good time to refuel. I have the coat, so the humans will not suspect." He places on his trench and his ski mask, as if that makes him look any less suspicious. Convoy notices the battered Jeep arriving at the truck stop. His optical sensors focus on it, and its unusual driver that steps out. "Odd... my research has shown that such cranial apparel means one of these flesh creatures is about to engage in criminal activity. Perhaps there is some merit to some of these flesh creatures after all, at least those who are given to acts of random mayhem." Over Kill heads over to the pump and starts to fill the jeep. He scans the other cars nearby. Would he be so lucky as to find what he's looking for here? Over Kill finds the truck he's been looking for "Identity confirmed." He motions towards it. "Stay in the Jeep. I'm going to approach." He heads towards the truck. "You." He calls to it. "I've been looking for you. I know what you are." "Hmmm.. vocal identity confirmed. You are the primitive mechanoid who dared to challenge me." Convoy states. "Have you come to offer yourself for dissection? It would be a wonderful experience to determine your inner workings." Over Kill motions, and the four BATs exit the veichle. "No. We have come to settle the score." he says, removing the mask and trench. "Are you prepared?" "Your arrogance is astouding, however your courage is noted. If you wish to offer yourself for total destruction, then I can comply." Convoy says. "Prepare for termination." The BATs advance, weapons drawn. "No." Over Kill calls. "I'll take him on myself. If I need you, I'll call you in." He approaches. "COme forth then. We'll see who destroys whom." "Very well then. Let the contest begin." Convoy says. A pair of hatches along the side of his trailer open to reveal a pair of turrets that extend and begin to acquire a lock on Over Kill. With a rumble, his engine cranks up, and he begins to approach Over Kill. "Let the lesson of your impudence be forever burned into your memory circuits." With a whine, they charge, and unleash a stream of purple energy towards Over Kill. Over Kill takes the purple energy to his side, rolling for a moment. He staggers back to his feet, looking at the melted left side. He begins to think this was a very bad idea. Too late to back out now. He switches to his machine gun arm. "You'll be sorry you started with me, Decepticon. Your kind do not frighten me." He fires back, trying to avoid more of those nasty melty alien shots. The bullets ricochet off of Convoy's armored cab, and he presses his accelerator down. By now, the truckers at the truck stop have begun to run like mad as all hell breaks loose. Families run for cover, truckers dive under their trucks, it's every man for himself as Convoy aims himself at Over Kill. "Your weapons are useless against me, cyborg. This contest is pointless, you are no match for me." With a rumble, his engine roars and his gears shift as he rolls on, Over Kill's reflection in his grille getting larger... Ever have Deja vu? Well this is kinda like that. Only once again, Over Kill is visiting Convoy's grill. When will the thing ever learn? He bounces off the grill, with a sickening crunch of metal and circuitry. Something sparks internally, though the thing rises to it's feet. "Not..quite yet, Cybertronian." He aims a missile launcher on his left shoulder, trying to hit the semi's tires. Stupid, but brave little thing. The missile explodes against Convoy's trailer, but does little. Slowly, he comes to a stop... The 1975 Kenworth begins to unfold, the trailer unhitching and disappearing to parts unknown as the cab begins to rise up, a pair of arms unfolding from the sides as the engine compartment slides inwards. A head appears from the top of the cab roof as the rear frame breaks apart and forms a pair of legs, leaving Convoy standing in its place. Convoy turns to face Over Kill, his face a scowl. "Enough of this pointless exercise. Your lesson is learned. Now, begone." Lifting his foot, he looks like a football linebacker about to belt a football to the goal posts. His foot comes down, heading for Over Kill. Over Kill chuckles, a sound like static against broken circuitry as he flies backwards. He staggers to his feet. "Is..that the best you can do?" If he were larger, he'd make for one heck of a con. Coming like that against impossible odds. Instead, he's just this tiny little thing. With a flamethrower attachment. He tries to set his opponent on fire. "I'm just getting started." Convoy easily sidesteps the billow of flame, which strikes a family's RV, setting the luggage and the tires on fire. Some of the people frantically try to put it out, as Convoy steps forward and leans down, placing his middle finger on his thumb in a flicking configuration, and puts it in front of Over Kill. "You test my patience." With that, he flicks at Over Kill. Over Kill rolls out of the way of what could be a deadly flick, crouching for a next attack. He replaces his machine gun arm with a large machete, hoping to cut right into the giant robot. He leaps forward, blade aimed at the first wound he can get to "Go on. Get out of here. I'll give you a chance to run." Convoy jumps back a bit as Over Kill attempts to cut into his armor, the blade whistling past him. "It is time to end this charade." With that, he reaches over and picks up a Cadillac Escalade SUV, much to the chagrin of its owner, who literally bursts into tears. "I salute your courage, mechanoid, but you are out of your league." With that he raises the SUV into the air, and throws it down at Over Kill Crunch! And there goes the cyborg's fight. THe Escalade smashes into and through him, impaling it into the vehicle. It struggles for a few seconds, trying to free itself, before it simply starts to go limp, it's power systems failing immediately. It sparks and leaks something black and viscious looking. As Over Kill is knocked off-line, the BAT units stop their movement as well. His connection to them must have been severed. They stand still, like robotic statues. As the people in the truck stop scatter to avoid a possible explosion from the SUV, Convoy walks over to the BATs and picks one up, poking at it a bit and turning it around in his palm to examine it. "An interesting concept, but it apparently has its flaws." he says. "Perhaps some experimentation is in order to determine its basis of operation." Over Kill sends a slow, fading distress signal. The BATs are very still as they are examined from the outside. Convoy flips over the BAT, and opens its access panel, tapping into the BAT's memory core. "Hmmm.. most interesting. It would appear there is an entire hive of these creations, including those who built them. Perhaps I can obtain more data from them without having to spend time dissecting them." With that, he lifts the Escalade off of Over Kill, grabbing the mechanoid's feet and pulling him out with a wrenching of metal. Placing him with the other BATs, he grabs them in his fists and lifts off, heading for Cobra Island. Convoy sets down on the docks, looking around. "Interesting." he states simply, as his optics take in the surrounding area, watching carefully for any sign of difficulty. Over Kill is silent as what's left of him is dragged along. One of his hands twitches. He seems to be going for some sort of command, but can't reach it. Over Kill knows someone's messing around his BATs. THough his backup systems aren't enough to give him full mobility, he is trying to initate a self distruct on them. It probably wont stop the enemy from gaining information, especially now that hes on the move, but it might slow him down. Convoy feels Over Kill squirming in his grip, and looks to see his arm sparking as he makes attempt to move it. "Cease your attempts at movement, or I will tear your limb off to ensure it." he says simply. Over Kill murmurs something distantly, trying to move again. "Cant let you..information. BATs.. destruct pattern.." He coughs roughly, unable to form the vocal command fully. "Won't let you take them in." Convoy reaches down and pits Over Kill's shoulder joint between his thumb and forefinger, appling pressure to the joint, in an attempt to squeeze it into ceasing operation. "I am not given to idle threats." Over Kill winces, arching his back painfully as the shoulder joint pops and sparks, going useless. He cries out in pain, slumping against the hand. "Know..know what to do. WHo to call. Vector..Vector six shoudl be nearby. Call her in she'll ARGH.." He shakes badly, and remains silent for a moment. "Interesting.. what is this... vector?" Convoy inquires. As if to answer the question, a large blue dragonesque BAT carrier comes flying into view. The thing lands next to the transformer and it's fallen commander. It swishes it's tail, giving a meanacing look, lowering it's gatling guns into position. It growls a bit. Over Kill groans. "Five. Wonderful. Don't..talk to it. Just get me to saftey." Convoy raises an optic ridge. "An intersting vehicle. A mechanical reptile?" At this point, his curiousity is peaked, and his fear is obviously in check. "Disassembling it would provide an bounty of information, I am sure. Learning flesh creature technology is first and foremost on my list, so that when I go to destroy them, I know what I am facing." Vector tilts it's head at Convoy and takes a protective step forward. The twenty foot thing tries to look eye to eye with the Decepticon and growls out a single word in what sounds like a threatening tone. "Hal-lo." Convoy smirks. "Curious. A greeting, yet your posture and your tone suggest you intend to attack. If so, then I would advise against it. I will crush this cyborg and toss its mutilated body at your feet if you proceed." Vector seems to understand, though it has lack of communication abilities. It motions with a clawed forepaw to Over-Kill. "Hal-lo." it states as if to say 'he's already mutilated'. It's gatling guns do retract though and it wraps it's tail around itself. It reaches for the cyborg with one paw, as if trying to claim it. Convoy sneers. "You desire this mass of metal and flesh? Then you will have to prove yourself worthy by taking it from me." The Vector's optics glow bright red "Hal-lo!" It growls loudly, spreading it's wings wide and hovering. It starts to circle a bit, as if to prove it's a better opponent, just by the sake that it can fly. Convoy creates a pair of puffs of dust on the ground as he rises up into the air to the same level of the Vector. "Do you fear me, mechanical thing?" The vector chuffs. "Lo." It says, throwing it's head back. Did that sound like a laugh? It starts to increase the power to it's turbines, flying higher and higher. Apparantly it likes the challenge. Over Kill from below calls. "Five. Be careful. Call your sisters..." His voice is weakening however. He isnt sure she cna hear him from down there. Convoy rises up even higher to the altitude of the Vector. "Your flying skill is impressive, but you seem to forget that from this altitude, I can drop this creature and watch as he disintegrates upon impact with the ground below. In fact, I think that would be a most useful experiment, wouldn't you say?" Taking Over Kill by the head, he holds him out over the ground below... The Vector starts to lower slowly, keeping it's eyes on the downed cyborg in Convoy's grasp. "Lo." It grumbles. It lands, without a landing strip, keeping it's feet together. "Lo?" it asks pointing to itself and snickering. It then starts to phantomine shaking in fear. Convoy sneers. "Foolish creature." With that, he tosses Over Kill into the air. "Catch it... if you can." And the vector is off. It doesn't seem to need a landing pad to take off either. ) to Mach 1 in seconds, and apparantly it can go faster if it wants. It flies at Over Kill, mouth open, catching him between it's jaws with a snapping sound. Hopefully that didn't kill it. The cyborg isn't moving much after that. The vector brings the cyborg back to Convoy. Is it playing catch? Does it care that it's her commander or that it found someone new to play with? Convoy performs a golf clap. "Very impressive, although it would appear that your catch has only done further damage to the cyborg. A pity. I was rather looking forward to him arrogantly attempting to seek me out and 'settle the score' as he so eloquently put it." It seems to dawn on Vector 5 that it wasn't playing catch. It was playing revrieval. It lowers the cyborg in it's mouth t the ground and starts to push it with a paw. "Hello?" It asks quietly. "Hallo!" Convoy tilts his head to the side, and puts on a rather sad looking expression, and says "Awwwww..." in a rather mocking tone. The Vector hisses softly, moving the Gatling guns back into place. "Hallo." It picks up Over Kill in it's claws and opens a hatch in it's belly. Apparantly it's getting ready to go somewhere with the cyborg. It looks to hte BATs. "Hallo." It says, and motions to the sky. Apparantly its going to take its prize and will try to stop anyone who gets in its way. Convoy looks at the BATs still in his hand, and gives an evil sneer. "You desire these metal monstrousities as well? Then here... take them." With a vigorous toss, he throws the lifeless BATs into the air, scattering them in all directions. The Vector shrieks and launches itself after one bat and then another. It's movements are inhumanly fast. If there was a human pilot, he'd be dead from the G forces the way the serpentine thing moves. In what appears to be one fluid movement, it catches one BAT right after the next in syncronization and returns them to it's chest. "LO!" It snarls, perching atop a radio tower like a stone gargoyle. That's one heck of a pilot. Convoy is gaining a bit of respect for this mechanical creature. "Impressive... most impressive. Your skills are formidable." he says, lowering down to look at the Vector. "Perhaps you would be a worthy adversary... for another time." he says with a bit of admiration in his voice. "Well met. I would strongly suggest that you talk your friend out of further attempts to hunt me down. The next time I may not be so... lenient." With that, he lifts off and begins to head off, his arms out in front of him as he heads into the air. Vector 5 decides to handle this as best she can. She turns around and gives Convoy a rude gesture. She lifts her tailflaps and shows him her turbines. "Hel-lo!" Convoy catches the movement out of the corner of his eye, then stops and turns to face the vector. "Your courage is admirable, creature. You do not know who you challenge." He summons his rifle, and flips a switch which causes it to power up and begin to glow along windows in the main body. Swinging it around, he aims at the Vector's turbines. "Perhaps a lesson is required here as well." The vector chuckles, and aims her gatling guns at Convoy "Hel-lo!" she says in a 'finally' tone, returning fire once he starts to fire at her turbines. Luckily, she moves quite fast. Convoy shudders back several times as the Vector opens fire with its gatling guns. "Impressive.. but too little." He returns the rifle to his storage pocket, and begins to fly straight at the Vector, his fists clasped before him. Vector barrel rolls out of the way, with a chuff. It moves forward with that fluid speed again, claws aimed and ready to tear into Convoy's side. Convoy retrieves his rifle, getting highly perturbed now. "Impudent mechanical beast." He takes aim once again, pulling the trigger to send a ball of plasma towards the serpentine creature. The vector dives down into the water, barely avoiding a shot of plasma. What a quick little monkey. She comes back up out of the water, missile launchers ready. She waves. "Hello!" she chirps before releasing her rack at Convoy. Convoy lands and transforms, a missile launcher of his own emerging from his trailer. "I can play that game as well." With a click, one streaks from the turret and heads towards the Vector. The vector avoids the missile, once again heading towards the semi with it's claws. The deadly little thing growls, moving like a flying dagger towards her opponent. Convoy transforms... The 1975 Kenworth begins to unfold, the trailer unhitching and disappearing to parts unknown as the cab begins to rise up, a pair of arms unfolding from the sides as the engine compartment slides inwards. A head appears from the top of the cab roof as the rear frame breaks apart and forms a pair of legs, leaving Convoy standing in its place. ... and lifts off into the sky. "Impudent beast... I will give you this round, but the next we meet, rest assured you will not get off so easily." Vector chuffs "Lo!" it says, waving its claws at Convoy as it departs. It lifts its head in proud victory.
- "Settling the Score" is a short story by dracosgem.
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