| abstract | - Outpost - Voron The terrain offers little to be desired; brown rock and dust as far as one would care to roam. Here and there can be found bits of scrap metal and other materials, but it seems as though the bulk of the area has been picked clean of remnants, perhaps by scavengers, or more optimistically, by whoever might still be living inside the small, fortified outpost that acts as the scene's sole landmark.. As the Autobots arrive they're greeted by a curious sight around the Decepticon base on the planet, a makeshift camp sprawls for a distance around the base. It's occupants are a rag tag group of individuals from a wide variety of races, some that can be recognised from the Cybertronians travels around the galaxy, and some that nobody has ever encountered till now. Right next to the base is a rather large sound system, which may look out of place, if it wasn't for the fact a lot of the occupants of the camp are dancing to the music coming from said sound system. Plugged in at the top of the sound system is a very familiar boom box. For the sheer insanity, the music playing is: Sludge is eager to get out of the transport. So he does. Stretching and stretching and... stretching some more... takes some time. There's a lot of Sludge to stretch out. He looks around and says, "That better. Place small. Needed out." He sniffs the air to try and get a feel for the surroundings in a way that's most familiar to him. Then he gets bored and asks, "Why here? What do? Where noise come from? When cookie?" There. Contribution made. Smokescreen comes out of the shuttle behind Sludge and looks over toward the 'sound system' and dancing beings around it. "Well." he says dryly. "We won't need to wonder where Blaster's at I think." As soon as the Autobots depart from their shuttle they are noticed. Though most of the camp inhabitants simply keep going about their business, quite a lot of which seems to involve dancing. A few more individuals of various species exit the Decepticon base and mingle with those already present in the crowd. Almost naturally and imperceptable to anyone who isn't some kind of detective, a barrier of the various aliens seems to form around the sound system, making approach impossible without some squishing, and that's after anyone navigates the camp itself. At this point a very different individual walks out of the base, keeping to one side the individual is very differently dressed. A humanoid coloured purple, as tall as your average alt-u human, and dressed rather immaculately in black with blue and green streaks through the clothi... wait, those aren't parts of the clothing, there's actual lightning bolts dancing over his outfit. Almost a permanent smile on his face, and a hat on his head that the human would describe as a pork pie hate. His eyes glow, with their colour shifting from blue to green, and on occasion the lighting dancing around his body, actually comes out of his eyes to join the patterns around his clothing. This different individual watches the Autobots for now, saying nothing. Indeed nobody approaches the Autobots for now. The music currently playing is: Sludge, currently unsupervised and without orders, decides the best thing to step forward and try diplomacy. Approaching the human, well, to Sludge there's no difference between this human and the others on Earth. Small squishy. Lowering his head from the peaks of Mount Sludge to as close to eye level of the person Sludge pauses, thinks, then says, "Me Sludge. Who you? Why us here?" There. See? Him Grimlock not only diplomat. Smokescreen realizes he can't stop the Dinobot from doing this and cautously walks up beside Sludge and looks at the being curiously. "Hello. Sorry to intrude on what looks like some sort of get together but can you help us?" Looking up at the Dinobot, then to Smokescreen, the strange individual smiles before replying. It's not the most reassuring smile, not as two bolts of lightning shoot out of the beings eyes, running down it's body in a wave. He voice is as crackly as one might expect of someone surrounded by lightning, almost sounding like a rake being dragged over a gravestone, "I have no idea why you're here, and neither I nor the good people here have any desire to help you. So perhaps you should leave, and let these people get on with their business." A crowd of the dancing camp occupants has begun to form around the Autobots. The music currently playing is: Prowl has been observing from afar and is now convinced that there is no danger or foul play. Prowl carefully steps out from his hiding place and walks towards the Autobots from their flank. Bit of a blindspot but he is not sneaking maybe just...testhing a theory. Hmm. Him a stoopid squishy. Him no help. These are Sludges thoughts as the man speaks. This is followed by these intellectual musings. There music. Me find. Then me find what doing. "Watch self. Me Sludge go this way. No get squished by me. Not try to but you all so small." Sludge says as he makes in a straight line towards the music. Dinobot Detective. Maybe him Sludge get series. Then cookie. Smokescreen raises his hand in a feeble attempt to try and stop the dinobot and then lowers it and looks back at the man with the static electricity problem. This one is certainly rude. "Why would not want to help someone?" is all he can ask. As Sludge moves off, the crowds of camp inhabitants also move, to create a barrier between the Dinobot and the music. However it's almost as if they don't seem to do so intentionally, their dancing merely moves them in that way. The strange one, who still has the creepy smile on his face, looks to Smokescreen, "Because, you're here to take their music away. And you can't have the music, for without the music, there would be no control. And I simply cannot let that happen." The music seems to skip a bit, clearly moving past some songs to play: The stranger darts a look over at the Boom Box, his face scowling, muttering under his breath, "Still some fight I see." The electricity flowing around the individual starts to increase. He looks back at Smokescreen, "Leave. Now." Prowl keeps approaching his Autobot buddies and eyes the stranger with the lightning bolts. Conflicting emotions. A long time ago in a galaxy far away he would have solved this quite differently but here and now...maybe some restraint would be better. Still his right hand twitches once. Sludge probably fits some kind of metaphor at this point. Even if he can't articulate it. Instead he walks up to the Boom Box and sniffs it. "Me know you. Me Sludge here. Me found you. So, now what me do?" He asks the Boom Box as seriously and with as much care as he does anyone else. His nose knows. Perhaps him Boom Box can tell him what him Sludge needs to do to get an enercookie. Which, for the giant dinobot is as big a primary motivationg factor as 'Him King Grimlock say so.' Apart from that... Sludge stands and waits. Smokescreen notices what the lightening dude says and does and glances over toward Prowl. "Nice of you to show up." he says, "I beleive Blaster is being kept against his will here..." he sees what Sludge does and then looks back at the alien, "You are holding one of my kind against his will -- that much is obvious, no we will not leave -- not without him." One minute the stranger is infront of Smokescreen, the next there is a bolt of lightning and he's on top of the speaker setup, not far from Blaster, "DEFEND OUR PROPERTY!" is all the command he needs to give, and the crowds which Sludge has somehow managed to circumvent charge at all three of the Autobots. Oddly their movements are still to the beat of the music as they use a variety of melee weapons to smack the Autobots. The music plays: Combat: Galvatron strikes Brontosaurus with Intergalactic Squatters's Crowd Beating Area attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: Galvatron strikes Smokescreen with Intergalactic Squatters's Crowd Beating Area attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: Critical Hit! Combat: Galvatron strikes Prowl with Intergalactic Squatters's Crowd Beating Area attack! [Pulled -3] Prowl nods at Smokescreen "Until we had a way out of here there was no need to precipitate confrontation but now..."and he gets cut off mid-explanation as the crowd rushes him too. "Stop that! Blaster is nobody's property. He is a sentient being with the same rights as anyone else. Can we talk this over like civilized people?" He glances around to make sure Rodimus and Magnus are not here. For the most part Sludge does nothing. Mainly because the news of the onslaught on his lower quarters has yet to travel all the way up to his brain unit. Also, in any case, it's busy. Sludge looks up then over to the squishy on the speakers. "You no steal him. You go. You die. Me no care which." The ignitor in his mouth assembly's already ticking. The diplomatic dino has moved onto advanced tactics. Issue demands and, if it doesn't work, turn up the heat. Combat: Brontosaurus sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Brontosaurus takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Combat: Prowl takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] Combat: Prowl sets his defense level to Protected. Smokescreen has just been hurt. He wasn't expecting that. He puts some distance between he and the crowd and radios Prowl <> Combat: Smokescreen sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Smokescreen takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] The crowds continue to bash away at the Autobots, however their attacks do limited damage (i.e. scratches and dents) now the Autobots are ready for them. Meanwhile the stranger looks at the relatively undamaged Sludge, electricity surging round the Stranger before he unleashes a ball of electrical energy at the Dinobot. A ball of electricity almost as big as the Dinobot flies through the air... The stranger calls out, "There is no individual here, only the collective! Leave now, or serve us!" The music plays: and the crowd continues to act in time with the rythm. Combat: Galvatron strikes Brontosaurus with Intergalactic Squatters's Flying Electric Ball attack! "Sludge say you talk too much. No make sense either. You need to be smart dino. Like me Sludge." Sludge offers as wisdom just before the inital time delayed damage of the melee assault comes through to his senses. This neatly co-incides with the additional charge he gets out of the head squishy's ball of fun stuff. Sludges expresses his feelings on the pain and assault in two ways. One is a roar that's barely softened by the second. Raging flames pouring from the beasts mouth, indiscriminately targetting anything squishy he can aim the blaze vaguely towards. Combat: Brontosaurus misses Intergalactic Squatters with his Me Sludge. Me smartest dino. attack! Smokescreen falls forward going into car mode and then begins circling the dancing crowd. As he does so thick black magnetic smoke gushes out of his exhaust and the more he circles the situation the thicker and higher the cloud of smoke gets. Smokescreen transforms into his Datsun 280ZX Turbo Rally Car #38 mode. Prowl listens to the music and lyrics and ponders the two courses of action...50/50 in this case but sticking with plan A and seeing what come sout of it. As soon as Smokescreen does his thing, the cop leaps over the crowd and makes his way towards the boom box. Hoping to snatch it and leap off the and away from the immediate danger. Combat: Datsun 280ZX Turbo Rally Car #38 strikes Intergalactic Squatters with his Smokescreen attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Intergalactic Squatters's Accuracy! (Blinded) Combat: Prowl strikes Intergalactic Squatters with his Grab attack! Somehow, due to some miracle, the crowds escape the flames from the Dinobot with but a few singed articles of clothing. However the dust coming up obscures pretty much everything. Though the crowd are still dancing. As Prowl reaches Blaster, having avoided the masses, he finds the Autobot communicator is well and truly attached to the larger sound system, a series of amplifiers and massive speakers. Disconnecting him may not be as easy as the situation would call for. Despite the smoke, the stranger is able to see the Dinobot, the current focus of his attention, "Fire does not frighten one such as I, Autobot Sludge. You will learn to service us." With that he raises his hands, and sends a series of electricity bolts from his hand at the Dinobot. As all this is going, Blaster manages to speak, barely audible as his music starts playing The Final Countdown () "Destroy... Amps..." Combat: Galvatron strikes Brontosaurus with Intergalactic Squatters's Electric Bolt attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Galvatron's attack has shocking and traumatic effects on Brontosaurus . Prowl instantly catches on and lays the smackdown on the amp setup with a rather refined police takedown move and punches, kick, elbows. "Going to get you loose in a second buddy." Electricity arcs, discharges and blackens a pattern across his casing. Then, distracted, Sludge hears some words and he makes a noise. An noise similar to two car compactors trying to crush each other to death. Sludge turns and nods at the Boom Box. "Me do. In bit. Thing first." Military tactitians have refered to the pincer movement. Sludge is a pincer movement. His head and tail whip towards the head squishy so keen to shock him. Idea being squishy gets hit by either, or both and deals with complex momentum playing out across his internals. Combat: Brontosaurus strikes Intergalactic Squatters with his Me probably miss. If hit? Sorry. attack! Datsun 280ZX Turbo Rally Car #38 continues to drive around the entire gathering and concontinues to spew the magnetic smoke out of his exhaust. He won't stop till he gets the signal that Blaster has been resuced. As Sludge's tail and head come crushing towards the stranger, he pulls another very quick shift. Only this time while he's gone from where he was, he's replaced by one of the crowd in the blink of an optic. How is something nobody paying any attention may be able to explain. The member of the crowd takes the full force of the Dinobots attack, collapsing to the ground in a pile of broken parts. Meanwhile the stranger appears over the entrance to the Decepticon base, quite a distance from the Dinobot. That creepy smile back on his face, though it's wiped off as Prowl smashes the amplifier and speaker setup Blaster is attached to. Instead it becomes a scowl. So annoyed, he doesn't attack anyone. The music plays, only now just from Blasters speakers: (Numb - Linkin Park). As the system around him is destroyed, so the connections to Blaster simply drop out, allowing the communications expert to transform. And then promptly collapse to his hands and knees The crowds, suddenly stop in their tracks, looking very much dazed, indeed some collapse to their knees or completely, others steady themselves. All of them look confused as they look around. Except the one currently unmoving in a heap from Sludge's attack. Prowl as soon as he hears Blaster call out the target. The Autobot strategist gets his acid rifle out and aims at the electric freak. "You had your chance." He flicks the switch and fires a three-round burst. Datsun 280ZX Turbo Rally Car #38 hears Blasters comment and turns toward the alien in question. The smoke stops and he transforms, pulling out his rifle and taking a shot. Datsun 280ZX Turbo Rally Car #38 transforms into his Smokescreen mode. Combat: Smokescreen strikes Intergalactic Squatters with his Disruptor Rifle attack! Combat: Prowl strikes Intergalactic Squatters with his Acid-Pellet Rifle attack! Sludge turns from his last minute replacement target. He doesn't consider it much further. They fight Sludge. Sludge finish fight. Radio waves make a voice appear in his head. He looks up and says, "Voice? You no sound well. Rest now. Speedy ones run and catch sparky squishy. When me get cookie you can have." Sludge turns his attentions to the other squatters with a look. The look speaks volumes about how they were beating him recently and the exception he took to it. To aid the visual... he growls. Combat: Brontosaurus takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass] The scowl becomes a growl as the stranger finds himself the target of multiple attacks. Getting knocked back significantly, he takes a moment to steady himself. He considers, looking at the crowd, who as they recover are turning to look at him, the intent very clear in their eyes. And some are already picking up weapons and moving towards the stranger. And so he takes the smarter route, and rises in the air, electricity surrounding him till it is a solid ball of energy. The ball crackles for a moment, and then shoots straight up into the air at a rather insane speed. Very soon it is out of sight. With the stranger gone, the crowds look around, one of them looking up at the Autobots, nodding politely, and then the crowd is heading to their tents or into the base. Meanwhile Blaster has full on collapsed, having used up what energy he had to transform and try to warn the Autobots of the danger. While still conscious, he ain't moving too far by himself. Ghetto Blaster plays Footloose from his speakers (). Smokescreen turns to look at Blaster and the rest. "Welcome back, Blaster." he says quietly. Sludge looks down to him Boom box now him Blaster gone. "We go. Then cookie." With that he grabs Blaster by his handle and carries him towards the shuttle. Then there will be cookie. Prowl pats Blaster on the shoulder. "Let's go home. Can't wait to get out of here myself."
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