Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Nov 2, 2008 22:43:03 GMT -5
Well, that certainly is distracting!
Override doesn't just think fast; she transforms fast, switching from robot mode to vehicle mode in a blur that only just falls short of what the Battlechargers are capable of. Once in vehicle mode, however, she moves only enough to bring her front end - and her guns - around at which point Duskwing lands heavily on top of her, crunching her windshield and pushing her roof down.
That roof... that contains her guns. She fires them - right now, that would most likely be into Duskwing's midsection. After that, if the Seeker's still in place, she'll see about taking him for a bit of a ride.
"You'd better buckle up, because this ride's about to get bumpy," she tells her unwanted passenger as she revs her engine.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Nov 3, 2008 9:37:14 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron is comfortable with what he is. He rests easily when he rests, because if he wasted his time tossing and turning, he would have less to offer his troops, and they deserve his all. Someday, when his tasks are finally complete, perhaps he will have the luxury of guilt, of breaking down with regret.
He hopes that he'll still have enough of his soul left to break down when that day comes.
But he's dealt with a Shockwave before, and he's not uncomfortable to deal with one now. He is, however, rather irritated. Shockwave is wasting his time! On the other hand, if he wasn't speaking with Shockwave, Shockwave would be out in the fray, making the lives of Emirate Xaaron's troops rather more difficult. Emirate Xaaron, if he wasn't speaking to Shockwave... has all the combat potential of a handless Micromaster.
So it is Emirate Xaaron who is the timekiller here, even if he doesn't like it.
He observes, not a hint of his internal irritation showing in his voice, "Then by default, I must reject your offer. Even if I wished to accept - and do not be so bold as to assume that I do - I have no way of letting my troops know that they would be expected to show yours mercy."
No, Emirate Xaaron does not assume that Autobots are merciful, and Decepticons are fools when they make that assumption.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Nov 3, 2008 11:34:16 GMT -5
Shockwave goes to great lengths not to waste his time, and as far as he is concerned the time taken for this discourse is time well spent. After all, did he not gather a bit of knowledge heretofore unknown even to those of the Emirate's own reality? Plus, he has the opportunity to study both Emirate Xaaron and Override up close and with an acceptable amount of risk.
No, this is most definitely not a waste of Shockwave's time.
Duskwing's rather abrupt entrance interrupts Shockwave before he can reply to Xaaron, and the sigil-less Decepticon can not help but shake his head. Well, he did say 'at whatever costs.' To Xaaron, Shockwave says, conversationally, "If I did not have Needlenose as a measure, I would swear jets in your reality could not exist without some major flaw." Shockwave only has Duskwing and Misfire to compare, after all. "And even he has more pride than is suitable in rank and file."
He leans against the jagged wall, still seemingly unconcerned. When all is done, Shockwave will not have been the aggressor in this encounter. "I did say 'at the moment.' After all, the wrathful Prime is not on the scene as of yet. But that is neither here nor there." Shockwave tilts his head, as if listening to radio traffic.
He isn't.
"Optimus Prime and Springer. You have gained power in the past days. Leaders too, I would wager." Sudden subject shift is sudden. "That is one advantage we have at the moment. We have powers, but most of those powers are not leaders. A good thing. Too many mixologists, etcetera, etcetera."
Now would be the perfect time for a random extra to swoop in with a trolly and set up tea for the two commanders, complete with a single red rose in a vase. Alas, we are in the wrong genre for such interjections.
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Nov 3, 2008 18:51:37 GMT -5
Duskwing's brutal landing on Override jars him and cracks his cockpit glass-- then Override's guns blast Duskwing right in the chest, at point-blank range, just below his cluster-bomb magazines.
He spasms, clutching convulsively at Override's roof, doors, struts, anything in reach. The only thing that keeps him functional is that Override's guns aren't all that powerful--they didn't manage sympathetic detonation of his cluster bomblets. Everything is a haze of pain as damaged circuits spark and bluish smoke spills out of Duskwing's intakes.
He grabs hold of something and hangs on, unable to understand or do anything more just yet. Greenish lubricant trickles downward, sullying whatever lies beneath him.
Duskwing hangs on.
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Nov 3, 2008 23:05:38 GMT -5
Override doesn't actually have doors - her window lifts up to let people enter. Why she has seats at all is something of a mystery, but it's one of those mysteries shared by Transformers everywhere. Either way, she does have plenty of finds and similar to grab onto, and boy is that jet getting painful.
"Grrrrr!" Override growls in frustration. If she wants to be any help at all, she has to get this oaf off of her, which means getting out of the alcove, though she's still loathe to leave Emirate Xaaron alone.
Wait. Did Shockwave just lean against the wall?
RAMP!
Translucent tires that seem adept at finding purchase whether on asphalt, sand, metal, or... or... whatever the heck the "Swerve Reality" space-bridge is made of squeal into life, accompanied by an engine's roar, and a vehicle capable of going from zero to a few hundred MPH in a fraction of a second surges towards Shockwave, her angle adjusted carefully. Either she'll ride him like a ramp right out of the alcove or she'll be driving in circles on the walls themselves. Either option should have interesting results.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Nov 5, 2008 19:57:45 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron has to admit that Override's attempt to use Shockwave as a ramp has earned her major points in his book. That's inventive and so ludicrous that it becomes stylish for being so over-the-top. No wonder she ruled a planet!
He points out, "Do you know why Needlenose is a Decepticon? Have you ever asked him, Shockwave?"
It is just about the dumbest thing ever, and he still wants to throttle Optimus Prime over it, right after he gets done throttling Optimus Prime for committing suicide over a video game.
"No. It is the alternate Rodimus Prime who is neither here nor there."
Skater would be the perfect extra for that, too. Emirate Xaaron misses him, sometimes.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Nov 5, 2008 23:53:20 GMT -5
Shockwave will admit that Override's tactic was inventive and unexpected. He is not, however, as enamored of it as Emirate Xaaron. Especially given that Shockwave, himself, is currently getting a rather intimate view of Override's undercarriage. The gun-former barely has time to tuck his arms in before she is upon him, his first concern protecting his delicate hand and his canon. As Override passes over him, he risks a relatively low-powered blast. He will scorch his own armour this close, but hopefully can hit her before she's fully clear.
After all, Override did just attack Shockwave, did she not? He would be expected to respond to such a move.
Once the Velocitronian is passed him, Shockwave slowly, and a bit stiffly, pushes off from the wall. Override's tires left tracks on his body and scraped off his paint, dented and scuffed the thinner parts of his armour. He reaches up to brush dirt from his chest as he takes a few steps toward Emirate Xaaron.
"I do not know why he chose the Decepticons. Though I will be sure to ask him, later." Shockwave's headfins flick back suddenly, "Merely a meteorite, you said? So you will not care if I take a sample of the material?"
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Nov 6, 2008 19:13:55 GMT -5
Duskwing found himself being painfully bounced and jounced as Override took off with him clinging to her roof. He very nearly slid off head first into the pit as she drove up Shockwave, but managed to hook his toes on her front grill--not to mention aggressively sinking his fingers into her sides.
"Slagging overclocked burn-out wit' more loose wires than a blown transformer! Whaddya, re-programmed wit' jet flight plans and dey forgot to tell you only got wheels? Go warp a drive shaft and have it spike ya through the cockpit and twist, fragging Auto-scum. And your TINKER-TOY PLASTIC WHEELS---ARRGGGGHHH!" 1
Duskwing howled and clawed harder at Override's body as Shockwave's blast scorched the outer half of one wing--then suddenly fell silent. Some belated tiny bit of judgment finally kicked in and advised him that cursing out Shockwave might be bad for his continued health.
----- 1 Override may have just discovered one major difference between Duskwing-1 and Duskwing-3: Duskwing-1 has a colorful vocabulary that rivals Swerve-1's...
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Nov 6, 2008 20:24:07 GMT -5
The blast from beneath rocks Override, but comes when she's far enough past that it actually manages to provide the final boost the racer needs to make the jump out of the hollow. For a few seconds, she's airborne, and then she lands heavily on her translucent tires.
"Oh, please," she sneers, the smirk audible in her tone, "you don't need wings to fly." And with that, she demonstrates, going from a dead stop to three hundred miles an hour in a fraction of a second. She rides along the floor of the crater, passing the area beneath which she knows Dead End - the 'good' one - to be hiding out, then hits her breaks and while she pulls her tires hard to the left, causing her to spin out in a full circle - several in fact. She just has time to shout, "Check the Emirate!" before she takes off again, this time making several sharp turns at high speeds, enough so as to pull at least two wheels off the ground each time.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Nov 8, 2008 9:37:16 GMT -5
Witht he Seeker and Override headed off, it seem that Emirate Xaaron and Shockwave will be alone. He keeps his barrel trained on Shockwave as best he can, mentally vowing that he has needs to get some aiming instruction from someone - maybe, oh, Perceptor.
He advises, "Do ask him. However, if tells you it was for power or glory, take it lightly. Take lightly what I say now, as well," for when will Decepticon ever trust Autobot? "but he joined the Decepticons because Optimus Prime's supporters told him he was frivolous."
Optimus Prime's supporters. As if Emirate Xaaron wasn't one of them.
Well. He would have handled that particular matter a bit more delicately, anyway.
He does, however, hope that Shockwave does examine the implications of how Needlenose's loyalty may be bought and won.
"In principle, I oppose all that you do, Shockwave, but as actions go, taking a sample of that meteorite is one of the more harmless things you could do."
See, no one ever told Emirate Xaaron that, in some realities, Cybertron is known for Cybertonium, and therefore, he is not aware that there may be traces of that chemical on the meteorite.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Nov 8, 2008 12:52:44 GMT -5
Alone for the moment, two living weapons set in opposition to one another, yet both preferring the more intimate dance of the wordsmith to the bold, noisy revel of the warrior. So much more careful, so much more cozy, and when practiced by two such experts, in just such a situation, their manipulative dance is infinitely more dangerous.
Now, where is that tea?
"On the contrary, I shall take anything you say to me during this little tete-a-tete quite seriously. Trust me not, but trust this; anything said and not said will be quite thoroughly examined and weighed, once this conflict is done."
Shockwave slowly paces in a rough arc before the Emirate, an arc that becomes tighter as the Decepticon moves closer, "I can not think highly of your Optimus Prime, if he were so foolish as to allow a resource of such skill to slip through his fingers. But then, was your Prime not the Optimus who committed suicide over a Terran video game?" A quick flick of a headfin, "I must confess, I find many things about your reality quite absurd." And as one comic book character to another, that is saying something.
As for the meteorite, Shockwave will take his sample at his leisure. It is perhaps nothing, just as the Emirate says, but to merely accept such would be foolish. There have been too many convenient coincidences to discount such exacting placement.
"But why oppose me and my doings at all, Emirate Xaaron? Prejudices against my namesake in your time? Because I chose familiarity rather than risk when I arrived on this planet?" Shockwave pauses in his pacing, hand at his hip as considers his opponent, "I merely seek what is best for my people. I have seen that our constant squabbling will do naught but destroy us, leave us vulnerable to Chaos. Can you not see the same?"
At some point someone is going to realize that "his people" are not the displaced Decepticons of Gillanan III. With a few notable exceptions, Shockwave's fellow displaced are merely tools, a means to end. Perhaps that will change, as Shockwave's role in their ranks may change.
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Nov 8, 2008 14:29:42 GMT -5
The slam-down as Override lands hard on her tires jarred Duskwing's boot-toes loose from their tenuous grip on her nose. He found himself sliding over her canopy and planting his face in her tailfins--
"OWWW! Whaddayou, a Stunti-bot? Slaggin' rusty-tailpipe wi--"
Override then suddenly took off at 300 miles per hour, and Duskwing abruptly slid over her tailfins--
And grabbed at something--sway bar, bumper, he had no idea what--as he flipped heels over head and bounced violently off the ground, clinging desperately to Override's aft with one hand.
"OWWW! Stop dat, you cheap pit-stop server!"
Wham! Bam! Crunch! Duskwing bounced, bending things everytime he hit as she dragged him at speed--
Then came the spin-out, and Duskwing lost his grip. He was flung and rolled hundreds of yards--
"YOW! Fake tin-plate-- OWW!--Peelin' paint wi'--OWWW!--More slag in your fuel injector than-- OWWWWWWW! -- take your camshaft and-- "
CRUNCH! Duskwing came to a violent stop against an outcropping of lava and rolled facedown as his right wing bent nearly double. Both of his wings were sadly bent and twisted, as were his tail stabilizers and jet intakes. One arm-gun had come off entirely and was somewhere by the crater rim; the other was twisted askew in ways it wasn't meant to go.
Duskwing just barely raised his face from the black sand when he heard the sound of another engine--the smooth, familiar rumble of a powerful sports car--coming closer.
"Slaggit! Deadster, watch out for dat Bot! She drives like one of youse guys!"
----- Addendum: left this thread.
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Dead End-3
Cadet
"We who are about to die salute you"
Posts: 63
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Post by Dead End-3 on Nov 8, 2008 14:42:33 GMT -5
Dead End-3 peels out of his hiding place with a roar of the big V8 engine and drives right over the unfortunate blue and purple Seeker.
"Why yes, I have heard of Override's driving," he points out as he buries the Seeker's face in the sand and leaves tire tracks on Duskwing's back.
"On it!" he calls out to Override, accelerating toward the crater rim. He sails off the edge and rolls, catching the crater rim with his tires and then drives in a descending spiral around the crater wall to its floor. A touch of his brakes, and he spins out, turning to get a 360 degree view without stopping.
There! A golden tank faces the fearsome purple bulk of Shockwave. How curious--the Emirate transformed into a tank. Against an ordinary opponent, he might well not need extra assistance, but Shockwave was formidable by any standard.
Dead End revvs his engine until his tires smoke, then releases the brakes...
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Nov 8, 2008 18:29:08 GMT -5
With someone else to take care of Emirate Xaaron, Override is free to keep Duskwing occupied. Although, for the moment, he's probably mostly occupied with trying to pick himself out of the dirt.
Override decides to encourage him to speed it up.
"Not sure what you mean by a 'Stunti-bot,' but they sound like folk who could get along well on Velocitron!" With that, she spins out, turns towards Duskwing, and drives right for him. Time to get moving, Seeker!
OOC: Crossposted to "The Fast and the Dubious." Out of thread.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Nov 11, 2008 16:31:55 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron neither confirms nor denies Shockwave's comment about Optimus Prime's video game suicide, true though it is. He simply states, "Truth is stranger than fiction." If Shockwave is unwise enough to assume that silly and harmless are one and the same, more the fool he.
His targeting crosshairs, those useless components of his programming, narrow. Shockwave is treating Emirate Xaaron as if he was a gullible idiot. He notes mildly, "Your choice of compatriots tell me a good deal about the structure of your character. You do not condemn, and by your silence, you condone."
Then, Dead End attempts to slam into Shockwave.
Well.
That is not an unwelcome interjection into the argument.
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