| abstract | - Breathtaking deserts, the megalopolis of Mexico City, and stunning beaches lie wide open for exploration if Transformers dare descend. The Central American nations have kept their teeth after the Militants' departure. Regular patrols by the Mexican Militia try but don't necessarily succeed in ensuring that Autobots are on their best behavior and that Decepticons stay out entirely. Lush mountain rainforests nestle about the Panama Canal. For the most part, flying weather tends to be predictable in a tropical sort of way. Closer to the equator, cumulus clouds dump plenty of rain, spiced up by the summer hurricanes that sometimes flounder into the Yucatan Peninsula. The skies above Mexico are, as usual, fairly clear. It's warm, clear, and there's very little wind. There are a few clouds in the sky, including those which might be concealing the Decepticon sensor. More clouds are being produced, in four thin white trails, by the engines of an AC130U gunship, cruising along and blasting out Pinball Wizard by the Who as he cruises along happily, waffling slightly in the wind currents as he flies. <> Currently flying along with Encore is the red-hulled tech-jet shape of Cloudraker! His stubby wings are swept back for velocity but his engines are only running at about half, making for a very inefficient configuration! Hardly caring, he is consulting his mission reports. "So, uh, I got assigned to . . . let's see, where's the mission . . . okay, date time . . Enbore? Who wrote that? What the glitch kind of name is . . OH! EN-CORE. Okay! Hi, Encore!" He accelerates. "So, Encore what do you want me to do? This is like my second time out, did you know that? It's my first real mission as an Autobot Soldier, but it's my second time out, the first time I shot this guy named Backfire so Victory Leo could blow him up and it was really, really cool." He executes a nice loop and is currently flying upsidedown under Encore now. "So, I can shoot things and you just . . Encore? Where'd you go?! Heeeey Encore! I can't see you anymore!" Oblivious to the fact that he is now upsidedown. "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeencore? You wanna hear about when I shot Backfire? Come back and I'll tell you all about it, I did a real good job! Victory Leo even patted me on the shoulder and said I'd be a general someday and and and and ... come back and I'll tell you!" Sergeant Encore says, "CLoudraker? Please don't take this the wrong way, but shut up, please. You're drownin out my music." Normally one would find this Seacon in the water. But today, he's flying. Every once in a while he likes to do that. He can always dive back in the water any time. Hinder is passenging with the ... air shark? yeah. Air shark. It's not obvious, though, as she's currently nothing more than a tiny off-white rectangle maglocked to the top of Overbite's head. AC130U Spooky II Gunship hasn't spotted Overbite and his passenger /just/ yet as he circles where he /thinks/ the sensor is, scanning around for signs of trouble. <> He radios, shutting off his music. <> His big black-and-green airframe is clearly visible, of course, with the white contrails behind him. Encore has told Cloudraker what to do, and the 'rook' is defenatly going to do it! He pulls his stubby wings tight to his hull and drops about a thousand feet instantly. He is so happy to have been elevated to the prestigious rank of rook that he has forgotten he's actually afraid of the ground and coming that much closer to his mortal enemy -- said ground -- would normally send him into hysterics. "Weeeeeeee!" He says as he dives, banking around in a crazy series of spirals that leave contrails squirrling all around the sky. "Sensor! Right! Sensor! Hey, Encore, Boss!" He calls out a second later. "I don't see nothin' like a sensor but I do see a big purple guy flyin' along like that guy on TV. Do you watch terran TV? It's pretty awesome. There's this guy in a cape and he wears a blue suit and he flies with his arms over his head like this guy does. Autobots don't fly this way... heeeeeeeeyy.... you don't suppose . . . " He dives even more and pulls up alongside of Overbite. "Hi there! I'm Cloudraker! Excuse me, but you aern't a Decepticon are you? I've never met one before at short range and could you just sort of . . . roll over so I can look at your brand and then I know if I should shoot you in the head or not?" Overbite gives a start at the Autobot that's now in his personal space. "Yes, yes I am," he says, "And you do know what Decepticons do, don't you?" He glares at Cloudraker's suggestion for him to roll over. If this was down in the water he'd be in walking shark mode by now. "Perhaps I should blast you in greeting!" "EEEK!" That is what Cloudraker says. Orange fire blossoms around his red nosecone and canopy as his retro rockets burn full tilt! It cuts about a hundred knots straight off his airspeed and he drops back sharply as though he was standing still, trying to slip in behind Overbite! A pair of little green bolts of magnetic plasma energy flicker from the guns mounted at his wingtips! They fire a pair of small metallic darts that try to graft to Overbite's hull . . . and dramatically increase the pull of gravity on him. Dramatically. "Where's that sensor, you ugly git? It's here somewhere!" Redshift has arrived. AC130U Spooky II Gunship drops down, much slower of course, to meet Cloudraker, engines growling loudly as he does so. His weapons begin to track the roboshark, and at first, especially to the inexperienced Rook, it might look like he's turning away from the Decepticon, putting him on the left side of his chassis. THe reasons become clear after a moment; all his weapons are there. His gatling gun, only a standard M134 minigun right now, opens up with a rather rude noise, ripping through the air towards the Shark-Con. <> "I don't know what sensor you're talking about," Overbite says. He's hit by both Autobots and frowns. "But if there's something to be had, then I will find it first! And I won't be turning it over to the likes of you." He aims his jawbreaker cannon at Cloudraker. Cutting down from the stratosphere is the sleek red and black starfighter designated Redshift. Never one to hide his arrival, his approach is signale by a pair of long bright contrails and a thunderous roar of space-engines. <> He emits, while scanning with his meagre sensors to look for the supposed sensor array. Cloudraker proves to be quite manuverable! He yipes; folding his wings all the way back and accelerating past the incoming fire! He hauls his nose up, engines powerful enough to move him upwards purely vertically as he gains a good thousand feet. Then he wings over, and flying upside-down again makes a sharp dive -- about to open up on Overbite when he gets new orders. He is entirely happy to get away from the ocean as he accelerates up up and away, leaving a trail of green plasma. As he centers his weapons on Redshift, a pair of wing mounted laser cannons flicker out at him! "Hi, there!" He says, waggling his wings. "Did you get your altmode from a TV show?" He seems genuinely curious despite his probably ineffectual attack. AC130U Spooky II Gunship growls and banks hard as he hears Redshift's engines and sonic boom, trusting the Rook can, for the moment at least, keep him under control while he deals with Overbite. He growls quietly and continues firing at the shark-bot. He opens up again, this time his fat Bofors 40mm firing - but it's a single shell. A large, fat shell wistles out to explode near Overbite. <> The warning shot misses, and Overbite now has a new target to worry about. "We'll see whose land this is," he says to Encore, "The skies belong to the Decepticons! And the water, too! And the land!" He pulls out his laser and starts firing at the gunship. Red Spacecraft is about to check out a fishy-looking cloud formation when a pair of lazers come zipping his way. He changes his vector to avoid the beams, and lines up a shot on the red techjet. <> He dives through Cloudraker's flight path, firing lasers before diving toward the ground. Cloudraker has just admitted that he never completed the air combat module of is Autobot Academy work. And yet, he sees Redshift coming and performs a trick that he saw in the movies -- he cuts his engines completely and drops verticaly. What this does is enable him to not only dodge Redshift's incoming fire but transform as he drops, turning into a robot with a rifle in each hand that spew tiny green darts at his UFO opponent. If one connects, it attempts to vastly increase the pull of gravity upon him and slow him down! AC130U Spooky II Gunship grins narrows his eyes a little at Overbite, snarling quietly as the blasts score his hull. He steps up the stakes and lets out a full clip of the 40mm gun -spitting the fat 40mm shells towards the shark-con. It's a five-round burst of the fat shells, set for gated proximity - so, in theory, they should explode around, ahead, and behind him. <> Technojet got the call and is hauling aft to the scene. A chance to shoot up Decepticons! What is more fun that that? With engines at full capacity the twin nosed jet screams into the sun lasers blasting. "I'm here! I'm here!" Do planes even have tape decks?... Actually considering the music tastes of Encore and his brother, it would probably be stranger if they -didn't-. Or maybe it's just a factional accessory considering how often Blaster and his merry band need a ride. Regardless, there's one in Encore's cockpit, and it ejects an orange and brown minicassette and tumbles back into the main area of the plane as it turns into an equally orange and brown armadillo. "Tarnation man, ya shoulda told me ya'd run int' trouble a'ready, Ah'd come out sooner." Cream-colored cassette tape isn't being very helpful yet. << What can I do, Overbite? >> "Perhaps there's a mech you can bite, when I get in range," Overbite tells the little creamcolored ferret-cassette. "For now, hold on!" He tries punching the Spooky Gunship right in the nose. Sergeant Encore says, "Srafe! Gooda see you mate!" Red Spacecraft tips a wing and rolls free from the Autobot's gravity beams, and the red ship makes a tight circle to come around for another attack. <> Redshift screeches as Cloudraker plummets. Not content to leave him alone, however, Redshift deploys his firebombs, firing off a spread of incendiaries towards both cloudraker and the newly-arrived Technobot. Cloudraker falls like someone from an action movie, blasting up at Redshift all the way and all the while! His own green gravity rods pass Redshift's bombs, but neither seems to connect. All at once he transforms again and sets his engines on full afterburner with a tremendous *KRAKBOOM* of exploding fuel. His fall is arrested and he shoots straight back up in the air, attempting to ram Redshift right out of his way as he goes. It's probably not going to connect, as it's a pretty wild move, but he is doing his best not to give any air -- or ground to the Decepticon. "You gotta hit me first, uh uh . . roundwings!" Okay, he is new. His insults aern't the best yet. Technojet banks around and heads for Cloudraker, "Im here to lend you a hand, Cloudrak--" he pauses as he notices a Redshift looking.. shifty, "Hang on somethins up with that con!" and he suddenly changes direction and train of thought and takes off after Redshift. Gotta love ADD, right? AC130U Spooky II Gunship snarls at the punch to his nose, which crumples his radome and snarls, transforming and grabbing hold of Overbite's ankle! He begins to climb the shark-bot, aiming to slam his fist into the Decepticon, and give him something to think about. Spindrift, meanwhile, locked inside Encore's tapedeck will find himself in the cockpit, which is Encore's right shoulder now - with plenty of room for him to get out when he needs to. This is probably Overbite's first taste of really fighting a Suicide Jockey. Encore really doesn't care how hurt he gets, so long as the mission is complete. Monitor and Shockwave have already learnt that lesson - now it's the shark's turn! Cream-colored cassette tape is waiting for Overbite to give her something to do with a glob of phosphorus from Redshift's bombs lands on her. IT BURNSSSSSS! Bursting out of cassette mode, she actually spends a second dancing in place on top of Overbite's head trying to shake off the caustic substance before leaping across at the only other surface available to stand on -- Encore's shoulder that Spindrift is trapped inside. The cream colored cassette tape opens out and unfolds into the weaselly shape of Decepticon Hinder. "Go back to flight school, autobot twerp! you'll never be able to compete in the air like a -real- aircraft!" He emits, twisting easily away from Cloudraker's ill-aimed collission. "Leave THAT trick to the PROFFESSIONALS!" <> Redshift emits over a Decepticon tightband. <> hopefully the bursts of his flammable bombs will help to cover his retreat. Spindrift ends up just hanging on Encore's shoulder somewhere when the bigger bot transforms. He's a tape, he's use to doing the not getting squished when someone transforms thing. Overbite gets punched in return and shakes his head. "I think I shall have to teach you a very chilly lesson," he says, and pulls out his freeze beam blaster. "I know it gets cold up here in the atmosphere, but you're about to be much much colder!" Technojet sees the Decepticon flier turn aft and run. He starts after him. "Hey! You cant get away that easily! Come back here!" He starts firing at the Decepticon as he chases him. Cloudraker seems pleased with himself by his running off of Redshift, even if it never really happened that way. He can think that way in his own little head for as long as he wants! Either way, the engagement has taken him some distance away from the fight and he quickly reverses course, heading back to Encore and company on full afterburner. Encore snarls and leans aside from the cold ray, drawing his huge revolver and, while hanging on with one hand, attempts to fire at Overbite. The big-bore handcannon makes a hefty bark as he fires four or five shots at Overbite, grinning. "I'm gonna give you a kiss in a minute..." he warns. It's not gonna be the kind of kiss Overbite will like; more akin to the kind you'll find in Glasgow or the seedier energon bars, forehead-to-forehead. "Pucker up, arshole." "Well would y'all lookit that, she's been so kind as t'set herself on fire fer us already." Good thing Encore is a big guy with big shoulders compared to the tapes. As Hinder lands nearby Spindrift turns partway around, and snaps his tail at the annoying little tuberat of a 'Con like a long metal bullwhip. "Sorry li'l lady, already got the hitchhiker quota here." Hinder digs her little claws into Encore's shoulder, not even realizing she's landed on someone less than friendly. But then Spindrift speaks up and swings his tail at her. It's a maneuver she's seen Slugfest do many many times, so despite the freak-out-worthy pain of the stuff on her back, she manages to flatten herself against Encore to duck under the attack. Then she's on her feet again and lunging forward to snap back at the armadillo with an enraged hiss. Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet is heading toward a squaky little call he got. On his way he passes Redshift and some odd twin noseconed Autobot but hes not interesetd in that right now. Hinder distress call is what hes more concerned about and coming into the scene hard and fast he starts scanning for her, "So help me Autobots, I will teach you to pick on mechs your own size. WHERE. is HINDER?" Encore growls up at Windshear "Get 'er off my shoulder, ya numbnuts, she just jumped on here after being bombed by one of yer own - Redshift done it." He laughs quite happily at this, plainly happy that it was a Con that burned Hinder, who he's got no problem, really, with. She's fairly pleasant, in a bar situation at least. When Overbite headbutts him, the big Autobot snarls, blinking a moment and attempting to throw Overbite towards the arriving Windshear! "Oi! Windy! Catch!" Sigh. Cloudraker was really feeling good about himself. He'd managed in his own mind to drive off Redshift, which means that he's done, right? Of course he is! All he needs to do is just claim victory aaaand.... Windshear goes by him like a cat on smack and he gets orders to deal with him too. Man, being a Rook is the suck! Anyway, he punches his afterburners and chases off after the silver Decepticon! "Hey!" He calls. "You come back here! I got told to shoot you, so now I have to shoot you, so hold still and do me a favor and just . . get shot!" He's new, his insults need work. Spindrift leans to the side a bit to avoid Hinder trying to chomp on him, turning his head in the direction of the shouting. "Hey, Ah am her size ya jabberin' wingnut!" Then shifts his attention back to Hinder as he swings at her with one of his clawed, shovel shaped forepaws. "Go get ya own ride!" Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet hears Encore's comment and veers over toward the large Autobot transport. He completely ignored the shots going off around him, aimred at him and zeroes in on the little white cassettescon. "You say Redshift did this?" he growls. "And why should I beleive you?" he pulls up and snaps out of jet mode. Now hovering in root mode he moves in to take Hinder, "Stay still, the quicker you do the quicker I can get her off of you." His arm lasers twitch slighlty and he reaches out in such away where she can either hop onto him or he can take her. Somehow Overbite manages to wriggle out of the attempted throw. "Not so fast there, boyo," he says, attempting to blast the Autobot with his Jawbreaker cannon again. Hinder slips when Encore tries to throw Overbite toward Windshear, and that's the only reason Spindrift's digging-claws don't rip her face open. She scrabbles for purchase, sliding a bit before catching her claws into Encore's armor again. She uses her grip to hop forward and try to bite at the armadillo again, not yet really aware that Windshear's trying to pull her away from the Autobots. It is a special moment now, for Cloudraker. This is to say that he feels his first pang of.... irritation! Windshear just flew by without even noticing that he was being shot at? Why, this isn't going to do . . . angling forward he hits his afterburners, and simply tries once again for a mid-air ram as the other is preoccupied with getting Hinder away from Encore. It's got quite a velocity behind it, as he angles in towards the other! "Pay attention to me, dammit!" He yells to him on the way in. AC130U Spooky II Gunship snarls at the Jawbreaker cannon, trying to reply to Windshear "Phosphor bombs, Windy. You know anyone who's got them but Redshift?" He yelps quietly at the damage and then pushes off from Overbite with his feet, transforming as he does so. The two Tapes will find themselves fighting on his spread wings, like a video game - Super Smash Tapes. He ignores the pair fighting on him - they've got their own fight to deal with - and resumes fighting, his gatling gun strafing across both Windshear and Overbite. <> Spindrift shifts again to move the part of his body Hinder is trying to chomp down on out of her way. Then Encore thankfully transforms once more to retake flight, giving them a lot more room to work. Or more importantly, build up momentum. The armadillo does what armadillos do best, rolling up into a ball. Which spins in place for a few moments before blasting across the wingspan towards Hinder in hopes of hitting her hard enough to launch her off finally. Hinder finds herself with more room to move suddenly, and takes a moment to flip over quickly and scrape her back on Encore's wing in an attempt to get the caustic substance off. THis moment of inattention costs her, though, and Spindrift-ball barrels into her like a bowling ball thrown by a professional. She YEEEEEEEEs! as she's flung cleanly off of Encore's wing. She doesn't have the presence of mind to activate her anti-gravs -- there are too many warnings and alarms from her systems distracting her. Overbite seems to be a little low on fuel. The gatling gun peppers him with shots, and he tries blocking off the damage while he recovers energy. "Hinder!" he shouts, when he hears the tape YEEEE-ing. Windshear watches in fury as the Autobot totally ignores him and transforms to plane mode and moves. But before he can do anythign hes suddenly toppled over by Cloudraker. His optics blaze in red and he rears back a fist to smash into the nose fo the jet all in his chest right now. "Im busy Autobot!" he snarls as he throws a punch. And then he sees a little white mech free falling but hes all tangled up in Cloudraker right now. "Hinder!! Your ANTI GRAVS!!" he yells hoping she hears him and activates them. Tech-Jet is exactly where he doesn't want to be! All tangled up with an ugly Deception! At least he knows what to do now, transforming and struggling with Windshear, bleeding off altitude all the while. He is not as strong as Windshear, most likely, and smaller, but he is tenacious, eventually working one hand free. A pistol appears in it as he attempts to shoot the other in the face at close range. "Why do you care so much about that little mech? She your girly life partner? I thought the Decepticons didn't do that!" AC130U Spooky II Gunship would've had the same response for Windshear; had Overbite not shot him, there's a chance he'd probably have stayed still long enough for WIndshear to get Hinder. As it is, he circles around to keep firing at Overbite, a pair of point-defence lasers folding out from concealed ports in his sides to open up at the sharkbot! <> Spindrift thankfully successfully hits Hinder, the recoil of the impact bouncing himself back towards Encore's central chassis instead of shooting off the end of his wing. Unfurling to a stop, he gives the plane-bot a light rap with his paw. "Got rid of yer li'l infesashun fer ya, pard." That there's gunfire going off all around them doesn't seem to bother him very much at this point. Overbite gets shot at again. "Oh my, you are getting to be quite the annoyance," he says, "Hold still so I can shoot you!" He tries once more to turn Encore into a block of ice. Hinder just barely hears Windshear's yell to turn on her anti-gravs and actually manages to do so, slowing her fall until she's hovering barely a few hundred yards above the ground. She's a LONG way from the others now, and she still feels really not good. Try to climb again to where they are? Head for the ground? Or just stay right here and sulk? Door 3, please. Windshear doesnt have time to see if Hinder heard him or not. Theres a pistol aimed at his pretty pretty face. Then the pistol goes off. Whether it was just training of sheer vanity that drove him, no one knows, but the Seeker managees to get his precious face out of the way of the laserfire blasting out of that pistol. But hes still tangled up with the Autobot and he wants to help hinder, "Shes.. my friend." he seethes to the Bots comments as he extends an arm blade and rears back to plunge the blade deep into the bots but. Yes this Decepticon just said 'friend' and he was dead serious. When Windshear comes for Cloudraker, he is actually ready for him. He's still in free fall, but he remembers a trick he was taught by one of his hand to hand instructors at the academy. When the arm blade lashes out for him he slaps it away with his right arm, and grabbing Windshear's forearm in both of his own hands twists to the side in an effort to stay inside of where the blades can reach him! He actually manages it, but that kind of leaves him with a question of what to do! Summoning his courage he activates some systems and the air seems to 'ripple' around him. It's a very odd effect and the distortion is almost like something from the old terran matrix movie when Neo flexes in the hallway at the end of the first. But what the end result is, is punishing waves of force that blow outward from Cloudraker -- attempting to launch Windshear off of him and away, while pulling and pushing on every single part of his body at the same time like a minature black hole. It's a fairly inaccurate attack and may or may not cause damage, but hopefully it will be successful at getting the stupid seeker off of him! AC130U Spooky II Gunship grins widely and banks to put Spindrift on the edge of one wingtip. THen he rolls the other way... and continues the roll, doing a full 360. It should, in theory, roll the armadillotape all the way down that wingtip and launch him straight at Overbite, really hard. <> He cackles, putting on a 'death metal growl' to make it sound even better. <> Spindrift gets flung by the plane in a rather impressive display of aerial handling, even if it didn't get an actual connect. But that doesn't mean it's a lost effort! As the armored ball hurtles past Spindrift spins around the launchers that form the sides of his spherical shape, and fires a couple of explosive shells at the Seacon as he flies by. Overbite dodged the first blow, but unfortunately is struck by the rebound. "How annoying," Overbite says, batting at the spinning aerial ball and attempting to smack it back over to Encore. Windshear is impressed when his bladed attack was avoided by the Autobot. The following return attack on him took him by surprise. WAves of air, compression, force hitting him everywhere. No other way to explain it. The Seeker is thrown back from the waves of compressed air/space? and he feels somethign in side break. But as per his tendences, Windshear ignores it and the warnings and decides hes going to find Hinder. He's sure the bot will continue the attack and thats fine too. Hes ready for it. "Hinder?" he asks as he spots her and catches up to her. Hinder is just hovering in place looking as miserable as is possible for a mechanical ferret to look. Spindrift gets tossed back and forth and probably back again. That's okay, all the rotational force of being thrown around also allows his systems to build up more power to keep him going, working like a sort of gyroscopic dynamo. Transforming quickly, Cloudraker arrests his fall by spreading his wings to their maximum extension and then punching his jets and rocketing away towards Windshear. "Okay, so." He says to the Decepticon. "I was gonna let you go and look for the sensor, but now Encore says I have to shoot you some more, so, here!" Small cannons in his nose flicker a pair of ruby energy bolts towards the Decepticon. "But, if you want to take your Ferret and go away, that'd be great too. I think your other friend down there, Overbite or whatever, has about had enough!" AC130U Spooky II Gunship catches Spindrift on his wings and fires again at Overbite, determined to hit him at heast once with that damn Bofors gun. It's a good gun, and it hits hard. But with its current mountings, it seems, and the Autobot's current target sensors, it might as well fire wet sponges... right? Either way, still set to Gated Prox, Encore fires the 40mm cannon again, concentrating harder on hitting. <> Overbite gets nailed again. He is running low on fuel, so he pauses again to replenish a bit of his reserves. Windshear ignores the next shot that hits him and concentrates on scanning Hinder. "This is the worst Ive seen you get hurt, Hinder." he says quietly as he indeed confirms its Redshifts acid thats eating on her back. He gets a reading on the acid and thinking fast he pulls out an enercig, and lights it. He takes a long pull off of it and then leans forward and blows the smoke on the acid on her back. "I know you don't like it but its the only thing I have to neutralize the acid." he takes another reading and sees that the acid has indeed gone inert. Windshear looks up at Cloudraker and gets busy for a second on his internal comm. Then he lifts an arm and fires at the Autobot flier again. Hinder sneezes a few times, but at least the burning on her back has eased some. She paddles her feet in the air to move closer to Windshear, digging her claws into his shoulder when she's close enough. Cloudraker is quite the manuverable sort and as Windshear targets him he executes a neat little corkscrew and the thermal blast goes through the hole at the center of the manuver and misses the Autobot entirely. He keeps the engines on full afterburner for a moment or two then loops around, rolling back to horizontal as he puts Windshear straight in his sights. As his systems beep a lock, two green darts are fired from the barrels beneath his wings -- attempting to embed themselves in Windshear's hide. If they hit, they actually do little to no damage at all . . but Windshear will find that gravity . . ceases to exist for him, and he will float aimlessly! AC130U Spooky II Gunship grins widely as he watches Cloudraker. <> He calls out to Windsheer, laughing joyously at the thought of what he's about to do to his bud. Checking Spindrift is ready, he starts to roll - the first one of which is designed to build up speed, while the second is fast enough to creak his wing-roots and provide Spindrift with, in theory, the momentum required to launch him at Windshear like the medicine ball from hell! It actually takes Encore three more rolls to shed the momentum and level out properly!<> Windshear can't help but smirk when Hinder sneezes. "For your own good." He wants to do a field patch on her. He can. Hes not that good but he can. But no. Gravity suddenly betrays him as hes hit with some darts? He feels Hinder latch onto his shoulder and he feels himself drift of the ground. Then .. then.. this round plated ball of autobot slams into him. "You owe me a case..." he mutters to Encore as he tries desperately to shake the stun, the zeroG and to fire back at anyone wearing the red smily face brand. It's a good thing he's built for taking multiple rotations in various directions and high speeds and that rolling can't make him sick. Spindrift holds on for the first spin with his claws, waiting until they're into the second roll before he finally lets go and curls up, resulting in his being catapulted into the Seeker dead on the mark this time! Then as he rebounds off, all that built up centrifugal force is let loose, causing Spindrift's entire body to briefly vibrate enough that he emits a brief sonic concussion wave even as he's falling away from the Seeker on the rebound Overbite transforms to Shark mode in order to thrash around. Sure, it's in the air, but he can still lash out with teeth and tail and claws. "Where is it?" he shortranges Windshear, "Do we have possession of the sensor?" Hinder isn't even trying to get back into the fight. She just has her claws wedged into the seams of Windshear's armor and her face hidden from everything around them. She occasionally yips as Windshear is still in the middle of a fight, but she's just done with the whole thing. Well, unless someone does something extra stupid and tries to pry her off of the Seeker's armor. AC130U Spooky II Gunship cheers at his strike, circling above the trio and playing a brief soundbyte from a certain Wierd Al song. #Just eat it!# Which, unfortunately, Overbite decides to do. As he circles overhead, the Autobot finds a large chunk taken out of his hull by the plummeting shark. <> He transforms into robot mode and DROPS like a rock, cocking back a fist in an attempt to land on, or at least drop past, Windshear, and thump him one with a massive fist. During a steep dive as he recovers his energy from his last shot, Cloudraker is assaulted by Overbite. Just because he happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. He comes out of it with deeply slashed armor and leaking fuel from a ruptured tank. But he is apparently still in the fight and still willing to cause trouble for the Decepticons as he works to shunt fuel from the damaged tank to his undamaged one, all the while corkscrewing in an evasive manuver to try and keep himself from getting shot some more. He arcs back then and setting his sights on Overbite, attempts to let him have an extra long burst from his laser cannons to convince him his feeding frenzy was a bad idea.
* clunk* During all that maneuvering Cloudraker just happens to past by Spindrift while he's on the rebound from smacking into the seeker, and the little guy is quick to take the oppritunity by grabbing on. But this tape isn't going to be dead weight, don't worry. Once he's settled in place the emitters in his shell glow to life as they activate to shield the Clone for a bit. "Ya ain't outta this fight yet." Windshear feels the zeroG wear off right as he gets clobbered by Encore as he goes down. "Cheap shot..." he says as he works to recover from the latest hit. "Transform and magnalock, Hinder. And Overbite, I don't have a reading yet but if I have to be the last one standing to claim it, so be it." He says and after taking a moment to read his system status in his internal HUD he comes to a decision and lifting further up in the air aims am arm cannon and fires. Shark Mutant gets hit by Cloudraker, and keeps plummeting. It looks like the Seacon is in a dramatic freefall. Whether he'll hit land or ocean is anyone's guess. <> he shortranges to Windshear, <>. Hinder does as Windshear instructed, transforming down to a very badly battered cassette tape and maglocking to Windshear's armor. Encore transforms again and begins to climb. Unfortunately for him, he's fallen about a thousand feet, and it's going to take several minutes to climb back up to the point where he can get back in range to carry on the attack. <> He radios, laughing. <> He laughs Bumblebee is soaring through the air. On most days, this particular Bumblebee does not fly. But today is not one of most days. Today, he is out, joyriding, enjoying a jet pack he borrowed from Sideswipe or another aeronautically gifted Autobot. A cloud of white smoke follows him as he travels through the air. Though it looks like he's still trying to get the hang of it. His flying is a bit erratic, "Wait, no, that's not it. Come on, come on, level out. There!" Tech-Jet can feel the surge of energy as Spindrift's forcefield shimmers into being around him, as well as the weight of the Armadillo. His cockpit opens, and Spindrift will find himself surrounded by a very technological looking control station with all sorts of screens and status displays. One marked 'Thrust' begins flickering red and a long bar extends into the red as he spies Windshear aiming at him. "Hope you're holding on there, little guy." Cloudraker says as his aft end blossoms a huge spike of fire. The sudden G forces of acceleration are just like hitting a wall as the tech-jet goes from subsonic to transonic in a few seconds, Windshear's attack falling away far, far behind. Cloudraker slows, then loops back, aiming a barrage from his nose lasers at the Decepticon! "Don't worry pardner, Ah ain't easy to shake up -or- shake 'part!" replies the 'dillo as he plops into the futuristic cockpit, still projecting his forcefield out around the ship itself. Spindrift even throws in an ethusiastic "Yeeehaaaw!" as Cloudraker punchs the throttle for the ride. Windshear is hit again. What else is new? He puts some distance between he and the bots and weighs his options quickly. "Hinder Im about to transform." he says suddenly and then goes into jet mode. Windshear transforms and then goes full military power. He climbs up a bit and then starts into a wide holding pattern, picks a target and fires. Once again, Cloudraker comes under attack from Windshear! This time he punches his right under-wing manuvering thruster hard and goes into a rapid spiral to the starboard side. The shot goes wide, taking out only empty air instead. "Hey, Decepticon!" He calls out. "Is that your targeting system, or a cyber-rat stuffed into your cockpit?!? YOU CAN'T HIT NOTHIN! HAHAHAHAHHA!" He rolls, and it's probably good that Spindrift can't get airsick as he inverts -- flying upsidedown for a few seconds -- and dives, coming up with his forward guns still blazing at Windshear's aft end! Encore circles up higher, growling quietly. <> He grins, still climbing. He'll be at this for a while, now that the Tetrajet has climbed too. <> Hearing a commotion above, Bumblebee presses a button on the controls to his jetpack, and suddenly gets a boost of speed, "Ya-ah-ah-hoo!" And he climbs towards the heavens. Sending out a short range radio signal, he states, <> Spindrift is just along for the ride at this point. Though if Cloudraker somehow doesn't manage to evade a shot, his shielding will be there to take it. Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet watches the shot whiz by and sees Encore slowly trying to get up to where hes at. He laughs at the offer, "Not happening, Encore." he says and fires at him. Cream-colored cassette tape is really just an off-white rectangle somewhere in the Seeker's pilot compartment, but Cloudraker's rude comment at Windshear not only gets her attention, it makes her MAD. She abruptly sends out a short range radio burst of surprising intensity, a shrill electronic screech of, "NOT A RAT!!" Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet hears Hinder's comment and then gets rattled by the soundwaves of what she just did. Its enough to break his concentration for a moment. AC130U Spooky II Gunship banks hard to one side as he watches Windshear take aim. He grins as the shot goes wide and returns it with his gatling gun, the M134 taking a few seconds to spool up to speed before spraying its fire towards the Decepticon. <> His pilot grins, then winces at the electronic screech "Ow, jeez." It is actually Spindrift's forcefield that protects Cloudraker from the burst of sound -- the field flickering in intensity as it absorbs the interfering shock. He executes a neat Wingover, wing and side guns firing a volley that is meant to stitch a line of craters in Windshear's hull. "Just go home already, man! You can't win this, and there isn't a point in getting your rat killed over a stupid sensor because of YOUR pride!" In the few seconds that Hinder's attack rippled though him, it was enough to get nailed. Windshear shutters slightly as the gatlin gun ammo blasts thruogh his fusilage. "Don't do that again." he says as he conitues his high altitude holding pattern and takes another shot. "Im in this for the long haul Encore..." if there was just some way he could grab the sensor and haul aft. AT this point that is what hed rather be going not hot happening. Spindrift just blinks a couple of times, and glances off to the side. "Did y'all hear somethin?" Between his resistance to sonics and being a bit one the tone-death side to do, he barely even registered that radio burst trying to bypass the field. Finally he just shrugs and looks out of the cockpit again. "Boy that sure is a stubborn one, ain't he?" Bumblebee continues to fly upwards, trying to play catch up. He taps his finger against the microphone portion of the jetpack harness that gives him flight, <> Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet hears Cloudraker and replies, "Its not exactly pride, Autobot. I dont want ot have to face my Lord over this.. ok? Deal with it." "The way I see it . . " The Tech-Jet states as he lines up for another attack himself. " . . is that you're gonna meet your maker over this, and your little rat too, and it just isn't worth it. GO. HOME. YOU. MORON. You're not provin' anything to anyone!" He decides not to fire this time, recharging a bit of energon instead. << "Hiya, Bumblebee. We've got it under control. Was some trouble, but is just one holdout now." He then wings over again. "Hey, Spindrift. Gonna make a pass and open the canopy if you want to bomb him." And he attempts a quick flyby past Windshear, the canopy popping open! Spindrift likewise adjusts his forcefield, it's designed to allow him to make 'holes' for his own attacks to get through, right over the cockpit. It only stays up a few clicks before closing back up, but it's long enough for him to fire a couple of explosive charges out at the Seeker as his ride flies by. AC130U Spooky II Gunship snorts quietly as he circles Windshear. <> he radios to the Con. <> Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet laughs at Cloudrakers comment, "Then why don't the lot of you just go and let me finish what the rest of the cowards turned tail on and ran from?" yes he just called his teammates cowards. Bumblebee phews when he finally gets through to somebody. Repeating into the microphone, he says <> Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet reads his HUD as circles and realies its already beyond the point of leaving as far as hes concerned. He cant go back to base empty handed. No. He spins and fires at everyone not con. Hinder transforms back out of her cassette mode to look around, peering out of the pilot's canopy. "Where did Bitey go?" At this point, Cloudraker has taken a page from Encore. He has some terran music blasting through his speakers. Specifically, the song for today is 'Hard Rock Hallelujah' by Lordi. And as he rounds on Windshear this time all of his firing ports click open and a veritable fusillade of energy comes forth. He begins at the tetrajet's tail, trying to walk the fire down the other's frame -- and straight over the cockpit that Hinder is peeking out of. One might think he's actually trying to shoot the 'rat'. But it's hard to say. Might be an 'accident'. Hinder is peering around when she's startled by the sound of the canopy shattering above her and then she's yelping as she's hit by weapons fire where the phosphorus had already caused heavy damage. Spindrift continues to mostly just sit and focus on soaking off the stray shots that actually get close to hitting the tech-jet with his forcefield, and making sure it's approriately allowing passage for Cloudraker's attacks as well. It actually takes a bit more focus than one might expect when you're doing it for someone else. Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet gets hit again by that accursed Cloudraker. He hears Hinder shriek and he falls back over, levels out and is just coasting. But if one looks closly the Tetrajet is fighting to stay in form and after a few agonizing moments the jet comes apart and Windshear is in root mode disorianted, leaking, obviously damaged. He fights to keep his altitude and looks at the bots defiantly. But what can he say? He knows hes lost and now hes got ot face his leader... he thinks here is safer at this point. he makes sure hinder is locked onto his shoulder and tells her she will be ok. AC130U Spooky II Gunship growls at Windshear and flies over him, transforming at the last moment. He grabs hold of Windshear with an angry growl, climbing up the Decepticon's form until he's face-to-face with him. Then he draws his big-bore revolver and places it, carefully, under Windshear's chin. "For a Con, you're an OK guy by me, Windshear." He enunciates carefully, blowing cigar smoke in the Decepticon's face. "But frag me, man, you are one STUBBORN asshole sometimes. So let me put this in simple language. If you don't swear to me that you're going to retreat, right now, and carry it out, SO HELP ME PRIMUS I will pull this trigger and blow your core processors out through the top of your head. Are we clear?" Windshear almsot loses it as the bot climbs up his battered and very damaged form. But through sheer will power he doesnt cry out. And then they are face to face. Windshear regards the gun without a hint of aprehension and stares at encore steadily. "You.. dont leave me much choice." he says thickly as energon pools in his mouth. He resists the urge to spit at Encore. An impressive opponant doesnt deserve that. He glances past encore to the rest. "And the rest? Hold them.. back?" he asks this not in a defeated tone but in a pure conversational manner. Cloudraker chimes in as he flies an orbit around Encore and Windshear; holding his fire for the moment. "If you'd have retreated like a sensible person instead of a stubborn idiot, we'd have let you both go half an hour ago, man!" Windshear gives Cloudraker a glare, "You just don't understand..." Encore nods to Windshear and lets go, transforming back into his altmode but staying close to Windshear, just in case he needs to re-apply the treatment. "You know what?" Cloudraker says. "I do understand. You're afraid that Galvatron's gonna be mad at you, or shoot you or something, or you're afraid of losing face for not being successful. But you know what? You did your best, and this time, it wasn't enough. Who cares if it's about you? If you keep this up, we're gonna have to kill not just you, but your ra -- /ferret/ too, and I can't see in anyone's head how that's worth it. Just go, will you? I don't want to have to do this." Spindrift huffs, slumping in Cloudraker's cockpit as the forcefield finally flickers off. True it didn't take a lot of direct damage this time around, but holding it up for that long constantly has still wore him out. Windshear hangs there in mid air for a long moment. Hes screwed up badly and he knows it. He sluggishly calculates the shortest route back to base and then slowly turns his back to the Autobots to fly slowly away from the scene. "I will see you get repaired, Hinder." he says more concerned for her then himself. Tech-Jet simply lets Windshear go, curving around in a sweep to pick up Bumblebee if he needs it, and then carry him and Spindrift back to base. AC130U Spooky II Gunship watches Windshear go and shakes his pilot hologram's head, chuckling quietly. <> he radios. <> He begins to hunt for the sensor by the simple expedient of flying in a grid pattern, making sure his wingtips overlap the last leg of the pattern slightly. He'll find it by flying into it. Bumblebee seems to have been distracted by a radio broadcast, so much so that he forgot about his need for fuel. It looks like his jetpack is having trouble keeping him aloft. In fact, it conks out a few times before picking back up again, forcing him to lose some altitude, "Ahhh! Some help would be nice guys!" He's so worried about the falling, that he forgot to send that over the comms.============================ Autobot =============================
Message: 3/107 Posted Author Sensor Retrieved! Sun Jul 10 Encore
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* AUTOBOT SPINNy**** Encore's face appears on the screen, replacing the spinny. He appears to be smoking a Victory Dance cigar. "Reporting successful retrieval of a Decepticon sensor unit from the skies above Mexico! Rookie Cloudraker performed admirably for a recruit, even if he does need to learn when to be quiet. Kid done good though. Strafe also showed up and helped stop Redshift from finding the sensor. Decepticons Hinder, Overbite and Windshear tried to stop us finding the sensor but failed, with Windshear sticking around longer than most even when outnumbered three to one when Bumblebee showed up on a jetpack." Encore grins, holding up the sensor. "Here it is, I'm passing it to the right people as you see this message."
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* AUTOBOT SPINNY**** ==============================================================================
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