Fireblade: Five

[Rodimus Prime-3]

Rodimus Prime, the Demon Prime, walks down one of the narrower alleys. He's closer to his destination, he knows, but somehow the other Prime keeps giving him the slip.

He tilts his head as the sound of a Seeker's thrusters comes from behind him, and then, at something triggered by another sense entirely. Then he smiles.

To someone observing, it is difficult to say what happens next. He moves from the street to the top of one of the buildings that borders it. It looks very much like he makes it in one extraodrinarily long leap. Primes are known to sometimes exhibit outrageous feats of strength, so that may well be it, but... even considering that this is a Prime, that's a rather high jump from a standing position.

The noise of jet engines, of boot-thrusters gets louder...

[Oracle]

As far as she can tell, she has left both the Stunticons and the sniper behind her long before, but Oracle doesn't entirely relax her watch for pursuers. Or for that matter anyone else that might think a lone Autobot made a good target of opportunity.

Still, paranoia aside she had things she wanted to be doing, and she sent a quick radio call to Slingshot to hopefully avoid being greeted with gunfire by her own allies thanks to a case of mistaken identity.

One hand pressed to the wound in her torso she turned down the alley that would take her on the most direct route to the coordinates Slingshot, Skyblast and the others were supposed to be at. Avoiding some of the other fights had taken her a bit out of her way, but it should be an almost straight shot from here, assuming she didn't run into any more trouble.

She should be so lucky. If she had any idea what was waiting for her, she would have gone the longer way.

[Rodimus Prime-3]

Ah, yes, the difficult one, the one that can give them warning. She looks distracted, but she'll probably stop being distracted before even the first shot is fired.

Too bad there's very little room to maneuver in an alley-way sized for something human sized.

Rodimus sends down a blast not where she is, but at the spot where she's flying into. At the same time, he picks the most likely point for her to move to try to dodge it, and fires there, too.

And if this doesn't work? She'll hit a wall, and he can fire again.

[Oracle]

Oracle had been distracted, and now she's paying for it.

Her head snaps around and she gasps, trying to twist out of the way of the blast heading towards her on an intersect course, but only manages to avoid being utterly shredded. The hole in her wing suddenly doesn't matter any more though, since the wing, along with the arm on that side and most of that shoulder basically vanish in the wake of the fire.

The force also sends her tumbling into the wall next to her and out of control, though the loss of a wing would have torn her out of the air anyway.

Stubbornly she tries to cling to the wall and pull herself to her feet using her remaining arm, but looking up, she has a feeling she's only delaying the inevitable, and she fires off another radio message so at least the others know where the dark Prime is, even if she doesn't think anyone could get there in time to help her.

[Rodimus Prime-3]

Rodimus smiles down at his wounded prey as he takes the final two steps necessary to bring him right up to the edge of the building he's standing on. Then he crouches down, one knee on the building top, left hand touching the side of the building, right hand held up in a 'gun' gesture, like a little child playing cops and robbers with his friends.

Guess which one Rodimus is?

This time, the number comes before the fall, if only to taunt the one before him.

"Five," he says, and there is another blast.

[Oracle]

Looking up, Oracle bares her teeth at the Prime looking down at her. She's not unfamiliar with hate, and right now, she's definitely feeling it. His numbering her five only prompts a more furious snarl and a clenching of her remaining fist.

Not that it's going to help her any more then her desperate attempt to lunge out of the way will.

A muffled shriek breaks the air as shreds of armor go skittering across the alley way and her torn up form hits the opposite wall with a thump. A close look might reveal the pile of metal used to be a Seeker, but at first glance it resembles nothing so much as scrap.

[Skyfire]

Too late, just a hair too late, Skyfire banked steeply and flew on vertical wings down the street. He'd meant to do a snatch & grab in mid-air, pulling Oracle out of harm's way, but he'd gotten the warning just seconds too late for his crippled rockets.

Perhaps it's the realization of his failure that urges Skyfire to utter recklessness.

"NO! Get away from her!" Skyfire shouts, and looses two missiles and both proton beams at the dark Prime.

[Synapse]

Skyfire isn't the only mech who's arrived too late to the scene. Synapse dives in, transforming as he lands on a nearby rooftop.

// Skyfire! He shall get you too! //

Just as those words leave his radio, Synapse already has his blaster out and aimed at the Prime. A few bolts leaves his weapon before the scout jumps down from his position, aiming to check on Oracle's crumpled form.

[Rodimus Prime-3]

The proton beams, naturally, reach the Prime first and hit him in the back. They painfully scorch and boil off paint, but are not yet enough to get through his tank-thick armor. They do, however, alert him to the attack, and with lightning-like reflexes he spins and throws his hands up, blasting first the oncoming missiles out of the sky and then, before the explosion is done and the shrapnel has cleared from the air he blasts once more, at the fool who fired them.

Synapse's shots hit true, scorching his nearest shoulder, but get little reaction beyond a brief flicker of gaze that indicates that he sees the other Autobot.

His time will come soon enough.

[Skyfire]

Skyfire suddenly realized that what he was doing was very, very stupid-- then the blast of darkness tore through the root of his left wing. His virtually non-existent armor offered no resistance at all to the dark Prime's fire; it tore straight through, blasting a massive hole through Skyfire instead of lingering and incinerating him.

Skyfire came apart in mid-air, his fuselage breaking in half under aerodynamic stresses that it could no longer support even as his severed left wing went pinwheeling through the air and into a nearby building and possibly nearby bystanders. His forebody crashed somewhere beyond the other Rodimus Prime while his after-body took out another building....

--
Skippable, if not physically out-of-thread

[Synapse]

Oracle does not look good, not at all. Synapse hesitates before crouching next to her body...well, what's left of her body. One arm, one leg, her cranial as well as her thoracic and abdominal region were still relatively intact -- relatively meaning recognizable and not incinerated. Synapse's expression only flattens as he takes stock on her injuries. There's no way that he'd be able to get her out of here on his own.

Shoulders hunch and the scout's face breaks into a guilty grimace as broadband fills with orders and sharp reprimands.

But-- a sharp, shaky sigh later and he pivots to retreat from the area. Synapse barely takes a step before the sound of rending metal screeches through the air. Nodes whizzing around him, Synapse stares at Skyfire's falling form with a horrified gasp. Fans and intakes choke and struggle as dust, debris, and smoke fill the air.

// Skyfire! Skyfire just came down. Th-the Prime fired and he just broke apart. I-I cannot see the Prime, buildings are falling and... // There's a pause as Synapse forces himself to stop and calm his panicking systems. // I am in the process of leaving the area. // Or a good hiding place.

That is, if the dark Prime isn't coming after him already.

[Rodimus Prime-3]

Rodimus Prime frowns at the building sent collapsing his way, and then he displays yet another ability most definitely not shared by his alternate.

Before the building comes crashing down on the spot where he is standing, he leaps into the air and hovers, letting the structure fall harmlessly beneath him.¹

Over the radio, he gives his next count, but even as he speaks, he lifts his arm to fire an electroblast at the retreating Synapse. His 'reports' may already be falling behind reality.

---

¹ And I do mean 'harmlessly.' Due to plot contrivance and the long arm of coincidence, none of the rubble lands on top of Oracle in the alley below Rodimus.

[Spinister]

Spinister continues to follow Rodimus Prime around, lurking in the shadows. He's noticed the Ludicrous Anime Leaps, but actual flight?

Wow.

Now that's something that's getting reported to Starscream, to be certain. Spinister has a gnawing unease growing in his fuel tanks. That Rodimus Prime is situationally aware enough to notice even Spinister, can drop five Autobots (and a Maximal) in one day, and he can fly. The Decepticons are in over their heads here, he thinks.

So very skippable.

[Synapse]

It's a relief that the building does fall harmlessly to the ground. Synapse doesn't have to worry for Oracle's continued health. He also isn't in any condition to fret more about Oracle and Skyfire's state as electricity arcs and crackles over his retreating form. The sounds of circuits shorting and systems failing overbear the minibot's startled scream.

Frozen by pain of the electroblast, Synapse sways in place for a moment as the blast wears off, smoke and sparks coughing and sputtering out of his chassis. A few moments later, the scout collapses to the ground, a crumpled form of charred green and blue.

Synapse's last dazed thoughts linger on his commanders' previous warnings, leaving him with the bitter taste of disappointment in his mouth--it may just be the lubricant welling up.

Two sharp clangs hit the ground as Synapse's nodes deactivate immediately in his abrupt stasis lock.

[Rodimus Prime-3]

//Seven,// he growls over the radio as news reaches him from his hound. Then he glides back down to street level, clearing the rubble. Yes, he can fly, but even running he's faster, unless he puts an unusual amount of energy into the flight. Granted, he has an unusual amount of energy to spare, but he is still young in his power, and he still has his limits.

The moment his feet touch down, he takes off at a sprint.

---

OOC: Out of thread.