| abstract | - Outskirts of Crystal City The vast Sagros Plain yields to more broken ground at its northern border, where grim evidence of war reasserts itself. Craters of various diameters with rusted, torn rims become more and more frequent, especially in the territory around Crystal City and the badly-damaged roadway leading north from it, but around the city itself, it is mysteriously clear. Or not so mysteriously; the city has been completely rebuilt. From nearby, it is difficult to see much more than the massive city walls and the upper stories of its tallest buildings, but from further away or from the air, the graceful indigo steel-and-crystal towers are more visible. Blurr has just sneaked past the outer perimeter guards with some intel from the Resistance as well as having just dropped some munitions off with his contacts. They've been forced to move to a different complex while the original one was being repaired, after that scuffle with Outbound and the Vehicons earlier. Fortunately, though--Blurr was able to warn them as soon as the charges had been laid, so they'd had plenty of time to get out. Now, if he could just get to the entry to the hidden passage leading to the ancient Guardian Repair Bay just below the Highroad without being spotted... The blue speedster zips from alleyway to alleyway, ducking behind whatever cover he can find and doing his best to avoid the patrols. Most of those guys could be taken out easily, if they became a real problem but that should only be done as a last resort! It could attract unwanted attention, and all that... The metallic plains of Ragis IV had become all too familiar a sight for Hawkeye and although it wasn't that big of a change, the sharpshooter was glad to be back on Cybertron. If nothing else, he was at least back in the thick of military operations instead of lonely sentry duty. "Alright Blurr, I'm right behind ya! Well sort of!" Hawkeye whisper shouts as he tries to keep up with his speedier teammate. Almost caught in one of the lazy-moving spotlights, Hawkeye leaps into the air up and over the bright beam ahead. "Whew! That was close! I'm moving into position to cover us!" Pausing for a second to look over his shoulder, Hawkeye bolts up and out into the open. He's a sitting duck for a bit, but as luck would have it (imagine that!), he slides out onto the road and behind some conveniently placed storage crates. Snapping out his coveted sniper rifle in the blink of an optics, Hawkeye taps his helm, activating his targeting visor, "I'm in position!" he calls out over the radio. Tottering around in the sky, because he's a plane and stuff, Backfire cuts through the air about as graceful as one with a hundred or so Insecticlone pods in his cranal cavity can. Perhaps he should have taken it easy, instead of racing out on patrol within cycles of the operation. << Backfire to wingmates Viator and Windshear.. no signs as of yet.>> he dutifully reports, getting the hang of multitasking.. he is a new single mother afterall. Windshear transforms into a dead black McDonnell Douglas F15A. Munitions can be heavy. And Blurr isn't exactly the model of immense strength, let's be honest. So who do you call? A truck of course. Torque is still wary about helping him, since she isn't the sneakiest, but she doesn't complain too much as she tries her best to keep up with Blurr and Hawkeye. "Erf.. I never did like sneaking missions.." The femme mutters while keeping to the shadows, dark purple paint at least helping somewhat against the scenery. <> She tightbeams ahead to the blue mech, antennas folding back as she peers around a corner. Viator transforms into his tetrajet mode! <<"No sign of what?">> The Zombie Seeker asks in his signature baratone as he flies to the side of the clumsy flying Seeker. Occasionally Windshear has to shift to the side or tilt up slightly to avoid getting smacked by said clumsy Seeker. Decepticon Tetrajet makes a weird sound somewhere between snorting and coughing and death. <> The oldest thing in the universe drops out of formation so that he can be irritated by Windshear without the hassle of the Seeker's immediate presence. <> << Understood, Hawkeye. Torque, it shouldn't be much farther, we're almost clear of the outskirts. After that it should be a straight shot to the Highroad and our ticket out of here.>> Blurr answers the comms as he slips silently from the side of the run-down building he'd been plastering himself up against for past two astroseconds to join Hawkeye behind the conveniently positioned storage crates. <> Hmm, one of the crates is partially open... Blurr glances at its contents, and finds a series of small personal holographic projectors. <> He points one at a passing 'empowered' citizen, then slaps it onto himself. Ta-da! The perfect disguise! Except someone might get suspicious if they touched him. Actually make that someone would certainly get suspicious if they did, well except maybe Backfire. Anyway, he nods to Hawkeye and Torque. <> While Torque was the brawn of the operation and Blurr the speed, Hawkeye was more of the tactician. Well that's the nice way of putting it. If Kup was around, he'd call it being the mech who drew the short pipe. Hawkeye already has the seekers in his sights when Blurr pipes in with his discovery, "That's something you don't find everyday! Just don't tell Hound about this. He might get green with envy!" And there's the pause for comedic timing. Throwing his rifle back into subspace, Hawkeye reaches for the peaceful alternative and does exactly what Blurr did with a passerby. Or did he actually miss the citizen he was aiming for?! Whoops! So now there stands the perfectly disguised Blurr next to a pink alien with feathers. "Uh...I'm not sure how to tell ya this Blurr, but I think mine's broken?" Honestly, if she can (previously) trust Whirl enough on a dangeorus mission, it's safe to say she has an immense amount for Blurr as he sees them through. Torque stoops low after reaching the last wall, creeping along to take up a spot beside the two mechs at the crates and peek over with forcibly dimmed amber optics at the guards. "Seekers are the last thing we need." She frowns, hating the fact she doesn't even have a gun. Maybe First Aid will lend her his flashlight at least sometime. But the discovery of holo projectors has her raising a brow. "Kinda weird how they'd leave these out in the open.." She muses, but doesn't complain, immediatly snatching one up and scanning one of the guards, who just happens to be a beefy tank mech. Like some Brawl knockoff. "Always with the mechs.." She puffs softly in a sigh, though Hawkeye gets an odd look. "Er.. Maybe we can pawn you off as a prisoner?" <> Backfire fires back (hahahaha, best pun ever.. get it?) at the antique Decepticon while he dips lower to run a more comprehensive scan. <> <> the fool reports, transforming and landing on the ground with a THUD a ways from the Autobots. Peering around oddly, the Seeker tip toes from alley to alley.. checking down each of them suspiciously. The F-16C Agile Falcon transforms with that ever-familiar sound to reveal.. BACKFIRE!! Combat: Backfire sets his defense level to Guarded. F-15 Streak Eagle snorts, <<"Who cranked your turbines into a twist, Viator?">> And then Backfire makes his comments. He resists the urge to laugh and pulls up slightly and then decends and transforms. Unlike Backfire, he lands quietly and cant help but stand there watching the goofy Seeker tryign to 'tip toe' for a moment, "You do that." he mutters at the 'anomalies' comment and then looks around at the mechs walkign by and the general activity going on around them. Surely the Autobots wouldnt be crazy enough to try another weapons run so soon and in nearly the same place as the one busted the other cycle would they? A dead black McDonnell Douglas F15A transforms into Windshear. Decepticon Tetrajet lands with a thud behind his compaions, and scowls as his hip servos freeze up. Begrudgingly, Viator activates his enercane, and starts hobbling forward with it. "Blasted Crystal Cold air... Waste of time, anyway. Not a single damn Autobot on our lawn and if they were, I'd tell 'em all to stay clear of it!" Viator transforms into his robot mode and gets everyone off of his lawn. Blurr stands up, moving out of cover now that his disguise is solidified. Or, at least...he thinks so. He glances at Hawkeye. Well..hum. Maaaaybe those projectors were out on the streets in partially-open storage crates for a reason. "Um, yeah...sure. He's our prisoner. That works. We'd better make it quick, I have a feeling in my circuits these things are defective or something." he grabs the pink feathery Hawkeye forcibly by the arm. "C'mon Torque...play along." And then those seekers are landing nearby. "Frag it...quick get into character! ...AHEM." He pokes fake-Hawkeye-prisoner in the back with his electro-laser and speaks in as gruff a voice as he possibly can, "MOVE IT, YOU...YOU...FURRY PINK...um...BIRD-THING!" For an agent in the Autobot Intelligence division, Blurr is not very good at acting like a Decepticon. But to his credit, he was certainly no Punch! He could sneak, infiltrate, steal data, and whatever, but he's no double agent. Combat: Blurr sets his defense level to Protected. Oh slag, are those the seekers they were worrying about? And is that.. Backfire?? Slagslagslag. Things are never good when he's around, even if he's being flanked by a pretty boy and an elderly mech. "Er.. right right.." She nods to Blurr, trying to hurriedly get into character while standing upright, her tank mech form standing well above the average Cybertronian. "Yeah-- Er.." She coughs, trying to deepen her voice and make it sound more gruff, ala Joyce Hyser in Just One of the Guys. It's not the best, but it works. "Yeah, more along!" She/He snarl, a large hand stretching out to shove the birdy Hawkeye. Combat: Torque sets her defense level to Protected. "SQUUAAAAWKK!! Umm....SQUAAAWWK!!" Hawkeye belts out as he's prodded in the back by his newly-christened guards. The sharpsthooter doesn't feel like an alien bird, but that's what he looks like to everyone else around him thanks to his hologram emitter. "I think they're buying it..." the alien whispers as he pretends to struggle a bit. "CAWWW!! CAWW!!!" Hawkeye didn't remember going through an alien bird linguistics class back at the Academy, but hey he had seen plenty of those Godzilla movies in Jazz's office. Being shoved forward by Torque, the hologram alien drops to his knees letting out another long crow, "SQUAAAAWWWWKKK COOOOO COOOO!" Viator pushes past the two Seekers to the three Autobots. "No Autobots here, idiots! Just this stupid mechabird!" He start thumping Hawkeye in the head with his cane. "Stupid bird!" Windshear takes a last look around. Nothing seems out of the ordinary and he turns to follow Backfire when he gets shoved aside by the older Seeker. He doesnt say anything until the old mech starts harrassing the alien. Wait? Why would thered be some pink feathered mecha-bird alien under arrest? He frowns and watches Viator and the prisoner, "Oh thats real brave..." he cant help but saying. "Hey, you there.. stop!" Backfire calls out to disguised Blurr, rushing over with as much speed as he can muster. Padding to a halt in front of them, Backfire heaves a heavy not-breath and stands at attention. "Where is this prisoner going?" he sneers, giving the guy a once over. "Because I was trying to have this birds and bees talk with Triggerhappy earlier, and well.. if I had a bird and a beebot as visual aids, it might be easier to explain to him." he finishes, smiling.. leaning a bit closer to add, "Triggerhappy's a bit slow on the uptake, if you know what I mean." "So like, where is he going and can I like.. borrow him for a couple cycles??" Backfire casually states, resting an arm on Blurr's disguised shoulder. Oh, great Primus. Blurr immediately cringes away from Backfire's arm, because--well, sure Backfire's an idiot from what he's seen but still might get suspicious since his form doesn't feel the way it looks, at all. Again, he lowers his voice and tries to sound gruff. "HEY! No touching, pal! And no, you can't borrow the prisoner for a stupid presentation about Earth creatures! It's...a very important member of the Raptorian elite with potentially sensitive intel!" Squawk squawk...caw...right, sensitive intel. He dusts himself of and synthesizes a cough. "Now," he shoos. "Lay off of us. We have a job to do." Torque is lucky to be the only one not being touched right now, lest they reach through her big disguise. Of course it doesn't help that the others are now being beared upon. "Right. He uh.. He's under suspicion of working with the rebellion." Torque/Brawl rumbles out, mustering expression into a deep scowl to help the illusion of some strong, intimidating brute. "Please step aside, we have to deliver him to holding immediatly." "SQUAAAACK!!! Don't like Bees! SQUAAACK! Allergic to their stingers!" That's the only thing Hawkeye can come up with as Viator clanks on his armored helm. It might be easy enough to pull out his pistol for a quick hit and run, but the sharpshooter decides begrudgingly to follow Plan A for now. It's a good thing there's no cameras around to get embarassing video of this for later. "CAWW! CAWW!! POLLY HAVE INTEL!! SQUAAACK! "Hey!" Backfire reacts, jumping back. "Don't yell at me like I was trying to feel you up or anything dude, I was just being friendly." the Seeker defends himself, looking hurt. "Sensitive intel? Name and model soldier." Backfire scruffs out, crossing his arms over his chest. If -he- can interrogate the prisoner and get intel out of him, maybe he'll get back to co-captain of Aerospace and be the boss of Sir Happy! "I just need to make sure you're capable of handling such sensitive information, you know.. procedure and all." Turning to Brawl, Backfire frowns. "HEY!" he astounds, "I just became a mother to Insecticlones today, they live in my head. I'd appreciate some consideration here." Windshear twitches a wing. Its a very frustrated and annoyed twitch and he just looks at Backfire like 'you have got to be kidding me.' He looks back at the mecha bird and raises an optics ridge. "Since when do we have creatures like this here on Cybertron?" he brings his weapons on standby, the only indication he done so might be a very faintly decernible(sp) hum as power starts feeding into the cannons. Viator groans and coughs. "See?! A waste of time! Of course, that's what I've come to expect from most of you. Especially you, Backfire. I don't know this Windshear that well but from what I've seen, he's an idiot, too!" He points right at Windshear with his cane as if the Con wasn't there. "What's a zombie seeker anyway?! Is he from the dead universe?! Maybe the brain dead one." He raps his cane against Windshear's chest. "Idiot. Worthless idiot. In my day..." A chime goes off, and Viator checks a dial on his wrist. "Blech...time for my medicines." He glares at Backfire. "You! King Moron! You finish things up here. I have to go see Harrow for my meds." Viator transforms and lifts into the air! Viator transforms into his tetrajet mode! Ugh, this was getting ridiculous. Blurr is certainly beginning to feel the same way Hawkeye is. He'd be much better at just stunning them all and taking off running. But...Torque was here, there was no way she could keep up with him. And there was no way he was leaving her behind, of course! And since they appeared to be falling for the trick for now, he decides to just run with it. Oh, slag--but now he was asking for names! He hadn't thought about that. "Uh...er...it's Speed Demon," The disguise doesn't exactly look like a speedster. But it was the first thing that came to his mind, of course. "Look, we don't have time to deal with procedures, Command wants this prisoner at HQ in five breems!" And he is also tripping up with his voice--his impatience is starting to show, and thus his voice gradually gets higher and higher until it's almost to his typical tone. An indicator light is blinking on the projector, underneath the holograms, warning that its power cells were draining quickly. Talk about inefficient. Well, they'd been tossed out onto the street, so he supposed he should have expected that... Torque's expression becomes rather... unnerved when Backfire speaks of Insecticlones. "In.. your head?" Her voice wavers a little from its deep tone. She's a medic, she's used to gross medical things. But.. but bugs in his head?? Her Brawl face is already looking a bit ill with its deepening grimace. << Blurr, we really need to get out of here fast.>> She tightbeams to the two of them, looking worriedly at the hologram flashing on her chest. Okay, time for action. "Look uh.. sir." Torque/Brawl finally steps up, using imposing size to overshadow Backfire. "We're not looking for any trouble here. We're just following orders to bring this alien in as soon as possible. You know how it can be keeping the higher ups waiting, yeah?" Deciding that it might be best to avoid any more SQUAWKING, Hawkeye just falls to the ground and lies there motionless "CAAAWWWwwwww...." And just like that, the alien appears to zone out into stasis mode. That is until some radio messages are received! The whirling of transformation is heard just before the visuals hit. The visuals being this pink alien bird all of a sudden becoming an AH-64 Apache Helicopter!! Ta da! <> Hawkeye leaps into the air, transforming into an AH-64 Apache Helicopter. Combat: AH-64 Apache Helicopter begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Blurr "I totally can relate, Brawl." Backfire replies, clicking open his data-pad and making a few notes. "Tell you what, Speed Demon.. I'll let you run him in, but put it in the report that I.. BACKFIRE, captured him. Yeah?" he shrugs, closing the datapad with a snap. But then Hawkeye reveals himself, and flies away safely. "BY STRAXUS' BEARD!" Backfire states, staring first at Hawkeye and then at the other two 'Decepticons'. "Did you guys know he was an Autobot?" he asks, casually. "Anyhoo, I guess you can go your way now." the Seeker states matter-of-factly, walking off. Windshear takes a step back and brins up his arm cannons at the alienmechabird now the Autobot Hawkeye and hauling aft from the area. HE starts to fire on him but then turns his arm cannons on the two 'guards.' "Where theres one there -- BACKFIRE!" he looks back at the Seeker. "What is you problem? What the smegs going through your head, mech?!" << I know...these things are fading alrea-->> Blurr begins when suddenly--BLIP. The indicator turns red and the hologram disappears completely, just as Backfire asks if he realized the 'bird' had been an Autobot. Blurr stands there, smirking a little for about two astroseconds before grabbing Torque and transforming with her on top of him. "Fooled ya." he says smugly, before taking off toward the Highroad. "Hold on Torque!" FWWBOOOOOOOOM And he's gone like the wind. In a flurry of moving parts, Blurr folds down into a pale blue-colored supersonic hovercar. Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit. Welp, thanks a lot, Hawkeye! Their cover is blown, especially when Blurr's disguise suddenly fades as well as hers, Brawl melting away to show the average sized femme. "I.. uh.." She stares wide-opticed at Backfire in particular, antennas upright like a deer in the headlights. Thankfully Blurr is here to save the day, yanking her off her feet and atop his hovercar mode. "Ack!" Speed isn't her thing, so her hands clamp down with a force when he zooms off, leaving the seekers to eat his dust! Meanwhile the medic is just mildly freaking out about this whole thing. Never again! Combat: Torque begins retreating, leaving herself vulnerable to parting shots from Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> and Backfire Backfire turns to wave goodbye, "Later Speed Demon, see ya soon! Stay, uhh.. strong, Brawl!" he shouts out, grabbing Windshear by the arm and marching towards an alley. "Alright, there might be Autobots about in the area we shou.." he pauses, turning around. "Oh slaggit.. the other two were Autobots, weren't they?" Windshear stands there mouth agape watching the autobots retreat. He looks at Backfire and then plants his feet firmly to thei ground when the mech tries to take his arm and drag him toward the alley. "The Autobts WERE RIGHT HERE!" he motions toward there they are fast disappearing. At the last moment, Backfire blows Torque a kiss. "I'll get you soon my pretty, and your little Catfire too." he whispers. Combat: Backfire strikes Torque with his KISS-BLOW! (Laser) attack! [Pulled -2] Windshear stands there mouth agape watching the autobots retreat. He looks at Backfire and then plants his feet firmly to thei ground when the mech tries to take his arm and drag him toward the alley. "The Autobts WERE RIGHT HERE!" he motions toward there they are fast disappearing. "Well, if you want to get -technical-.." Backfire replies to Windshear, "They were over there." he points to the spot the three disguised Autobots were standing. Silence. "Well, have fun writing that report Windshear. Also, if you could make it Viator's fault.. I'll consider that favor you owe me for being your lawyer repaid." Windshear stands there stupified for a long moment. Then with a grown he transforms and blasts off, uncaring who gets caught in the blowback from his afterburners when he takes off. Backfire shouts, "I'LL TAKE THAT AS A YES!!" BACKFIRE detaches his head and tosses it at you. As you cradle the decapitated Seeker's cranium, it laughs maniacally shouting: "YOUR RP HAS FURTHERED MY GOAL OF BEING A GLORY TO THE EMPIRE!!!" and burps up a +nom. Quick, toss it back before his idiotic ways rub off on you! ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/119 Posted Author Intel Report: Crystal City Thu Feb 28 Blurr ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ A text report from Autobot Intelligence. About 10 cycles ago, a team consisting of myself, Torque, and Hawkeye traveled to Crystal City to deliver a few more munitions crates as well as retrieve intel from the the Resistance. On the way out we encountered Backfire, Viator, and Windshear. Fortunately, we were able to make use of some holographic projectors we found in storage crates on the street. However, the projectors must've defective or something, because Hawkeye's made him look like some sort of pink mecha-bird, and the power cells on the others fdidn't last very long. We fooled them by pretending Hawkeye was our prisoner, though. Anyway, as soon as the disguises failed we bolted. Took 'em off guard. Needless to say, we escaped fairly easily. ...I think Backfire was in charge of that squad. Guess that just shows how idiotic the Decepticons can really be. Well, that's about it. Keep up the good work, 'Bots! Blurr, out. End transmission. ==============================================================================
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