Station Battle: Wreckage vs Kup

[Synapse]

What narrow misses that Synapse makes with his blaster increases his confidence by the barest margins. He flits back and forth in the air like and overgrown hummingbird squeezing off shots as he sees them. When the Decepticon grabs Wedge, it feels as if the bottom dropped out of his fuel tank. If the white mech has procured a shield that Synapse dare not fire at, then the scout has lost both this offensive and defensive means.

Another quick fire of his boosters take him up and over the newest stream of bullets. What can he do but dodge? There's no way he can even attempt anything close-combat, this he knows very well. More shots whiz by, it's his turn now to feel harried. If his armor were any heavier, he might not have to worry as much about these shots. But as of now, they'd tear through his plating with relative ease.

A few shots strike against his chest, sending pain lancing through his body and him tumbling through the air. Shards of black plexiglass rain down upon the desert. He can feel the bullets lodged deeply in his cockpit. No vitals as of yet, just painfully ruined seating. Synapse makes a heady attempt to gain more altitude to be out of range of those guns.

// W-what do I do? // he begs desperately over the radio.

[Wedge]

"Let. Me. Go! Coward!" growls Wedge, dangling helplessly and painfully in Wreckage's grip. His head wasn't made to support this sort of activity! Well, he's off his gun now, still can't get to it. If only Wreckage will bring his hand within some sort of proximity. Wedge could and would bite it.

// Don't just fly around! Shoot! Shoot! I'm already frozen! What's a little more pain now? Just shoot him! It's either me or him you'll hit, you're bound to hit him some time! // yells Wedge. // Shoot! //

[SceneMod]

At first, nothing. Then, as the dial goes up and up, there's a... change in the air. It takes a moment for this change to be processed on the conscious level: it's a humming, incredibly low pitched, covering several frequencies at once. It appears to be emanating from the power plant itself. And it's getting louder...

As the strange humming increases, the flowers... calm. Their firing at the jets flying overhead becomes less and less frantic. And then, when the sound reaches its crescendo, they stop all together, still and harmless as ordinary plants for as long as the strange noise continues.

[Wreckage]

"What you call cowardice, Autobot," Wreckage murmurs flatly over Wedge's shoulder, near enough for the golden ridge left of his mouth to scrape lightly against the young Autobot's helmet, "I call an efficient use of… resources."

The flier is an irksome thing. Perhaps higher firepower is the order of the day to bring him within reach? There is a repugnance in the act, if one asks Wreckage; an artlessness in resorting to the imprecise fire of his cannon. He feels too much like Brawl when he uses it. But as means to an end, it is… bearable.

The cacophony of his machine gun fire serves well to drown out the whine as his cannon powers up and draws energy; he still wants to hit one of those shoulders. But he pauses for several moments, in spite of himself puzzled by the harmonics filling the air, filling his audio receptors. The thrum seems to fill him down to his frame at its loudest point and he has to suppress a shiver at the sensation. He needs to focus on the battle.

He has little choice whether or not he wants to listen to the sound once the cannon reaches critical. He has to fire. He turns away from his impromptu shield, lowers his gunning arm, and lets loose the blast at Synapse.

[Kup]

Shortly after the massive rocket has touched down, Kup races down the ramp, transforms, and begins rolling at his best speed (not that great) south, towards the conflict between Wreckage and the two youngsters. He bounces and jumps over rocks and irregularities, but keeps traction well as he plows forward, kicking up a cloud of dirt, sand, and rocks behind him.

He made a promise to these two, and he aims to keep it.

He's never seen a Decepticon like this one before, and he briefly wonders if he's from the same reality as Bumblebee and Jazz. But no matter. All that really matters is that he's got one of theirs, and he needs to be taken down.

"Hey, UGLY!" the war horse cries out with a voice more full of gravel than the ground he charges over. "Why don't you try this on for size!"

And with that, the front end of the Cybertronian pick-up slams, full-tilt, into the body of Wreckage,¹ knocking him back, perhaps even over.² Either way, the move is enough to cause him to loose hold of the Autobot he holds aloft, and Wedge is dropped, most likely non-gently, into the ancient pick-up's bed.¹

---

¹ Done with the permission of Wreckage's and Wedge's players.
² Choice of Wreckage's player.

[Synapse]

Look, if Wedge is so eager to be shot at, there must be more than a few things rattled loose in that processor. But Synapse reluctantly sees the logic the orange mech is pointing at. He's not going to be doing anymore damage to Wedge by shooting him (though the pain is an unavoidable effect). If he's going to shoot, he'd better do it now too. Synapse frowns as his gauges alert him to his waning time left in the air.

He's about to take aim and fire at the Decepticon when a very large and very dangerous bolt of energy discharges from his attacker's cannon. Synapse's aim is off and he immediately cuts his booster power, beginning a quick tumble through the air. The edge of the rather ugly laser fire cuts over his right shoulder, searing through the thin protective covering over his surveillance node. Wreckage earns the static-laden scream that he's been looking for as Synapse plummets like a rock to the ground.

[Wedge]

Wedge shudders at the proximity of the Decepticon. The other's voice so close to his audios that it nearly makes him cringe...well, if he could cringe. "You...you Decepticon!" A stark feeling of helplessness begins to creep over him, he's fully engulfed in it by the time his captor lets loose with his cannon.

The sound of engines roaring close brightens his optics. It's him! Kup right? Wedge watches with a rising grin and hope as the strange looking battered pick-up charges over the sand. He suddenly finds the world tipping and the pressure easing up off his head. He lands with a loud and hard clang into the pick-up's bed, half drooped onto the top of the cab. A quiet hiss emerges as an edge digs into the tear in his own cab.

Synapse's scream would have caused an abrupt jerk if Wedge could move. "Argh, creep!" he grinds out over his shoulder in the Decepticon's general direction. "My gun!" he cries out, remembering his left-behind weapon. This is really not the time to be worrying about this right now as the end of Synapse's descent to the earth is accented by a large plume of disturbed sand. "His gun! Synapse's gun! We can stop the Decepticon with that!"

Never mind that Wedge can't really do a thing right now. Wait a minute, fingers slowly moving now...

[Wreckage]

At the flier's anguished cry, an expression contorts the panels and plates of Wreckage's face. To call it a smile would mock the word, but it is the nearest thing to a smile the Decepticon knows. That scream was nearly as satisfying as he had hoped.

His appreciation is cut short, however, as a gunning engine and a loud challenge draw his attention. He turns to find a green truck-like vehicle bearing down on him with surprising celerity; he has time enough only to take a half-step back. It collides hard, knocking one of his legs from beneath him; he staggers back and loses the orange Autobot for the sake of keeping himself upright. A new challenger, then?

"Your gun…." Oh, no. No getting that toy back, Autobot. Wreckage stamps hard on the weapon with a deliberate twist of his sharp-spurred foot. "What of it?"

He also wonders, as he again opens fire with his machine guns, how well this newcomer cuts.

[Kup]

Kup hits a fast reverse as the bullets fly in his direction, spraying black dirt towards Wreckage as he does. He avoids the bulk of them, some are deflected off his old hide, but some find purchase, eliciting little more than a pained grunt.

In his backwards flurry, he hits a bump, hard, hard enough to dump Wedge from him. But considering Synapse is also grounded, he can't exactly leave yet, anyway. His options are clear: either he chases this slagger off, or holds him off long enough for those two to recover.

The strange, beat up truck rolls forward again, but rather than ramming this time, he transforms as he reaches Wreckage. As he rises into robot mode, he pulls his trusty old laser-acid musket from subspace and brings it up, butt first, towards Wreckage's chin, putting all his strength and all his momentum into it. Then, whether it connects or not, as part of the same smooth motion he pulls the butt toward him and flips the muzzle up to face Wreckage.

"Eat acid, slagheap," he growls out before firing, point blank, at the strange Decepticon.

[Synapse]

It hurts! Ohhhh ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts! Synapse can feel the searing burnt ends of each somatic receptor in his right nodule echoed by the bass echo of sore pain resonating from his impact points. His back arches away from the ground, heels digging and hands clenching into the gritty sand. Tiny keens turning into louder groans as he attempts to turn himself over, attempts to get to his dropped weapon. No such luck.

[Wedge]

Wriggle his fingers, slowly move his arms and legs, get them to slightly coordinate...after a few failed tries, Wedge manages to crawl his way over to Synapse. He reaches out slowly to offer some sort of awkward comfort to the flier, but withdraws as the teal mech's breath hitches with a sound of unmistakable fear. Okay, maybe he'll offer apologies to Synapse later. Wedge looks to see where Synapse failed reaching for: that ion blaster!

"Don't worry, I'll get him for you!" Wedge attempts to grin reassuringly as his hand closes clumsily on the weapon. He's not sure quite if the sounds that the other Autobot is making are sounds of encouragement or protests.

He heaves shakily up onto his feet, only to fall back on his skidplate. He tries again and this time, maintains a shaky balance.

// Hey Kup! I got your back! //

[Wreckage]

Wreckage can spare no attention for the beautiful sounds the flier makes. Tragic, really. No, this other Autobot, the truck, has Wreckage's attention. Brave, possibly a little stupid as well to close in like this.

Or not. Wreckage avoids the gun-butt to his chin with a tilt of his head and a chill of satisfaction racing down his sensory relays. This Autobot might be able to fight up close. Such considerations are pushed aside when he finds himself with a face full of chemical fire. He growls, the acid hissing as it warred with his regenerative functions, and thrusts reflexively with a knee spike while snapping a blade into place. He swings his sword quickly at the green blur that is the Autobot seen through his obscured optics.

The acid is continuing pain on his plating, nothing overpowering, enough to either keep him focused or dull his reflexes. It goes no further; self-repair cannot completely fight it off, but it cannot overcome the repair. Not for now.

This may be a fight worth having.

[Kup]

//Wedge, you blamed fool, don't get my back! Just get back! Grab Synapse and get him to safety, then go give Swerve a hand! He needs your help!// Sometimes, getting an Autobot, especially a youngster, to back down from a fight is a right pain, but if you coach it in terms where they're not retreating so much as rushing off to help someone else, it goes a bit easier.

Of course, Kup doesn't know the particulars of Wedge's abilities or Swerve's situation. The truth is, there's no better Autobot present to help Swerve out than Wedge, but that's just lucky coincidence. Or will be, if Wedge has the sense to listen to his elder.

Kup has enough sense to determine that if Wreckage wants to fight him toe-to-toe, that's not how he wants to fight Wreckage. However, until the kids are safe away, the veteran doesn't dare open up the distance, as that'll leave the Decepticon with a clear path to them, so for now, at least, Kup is forced to fight at a disadvantage.

Not much of one, though... this guy looks like he might be more skilled going toe to toe, but he's not significantly faster. Perhaps it'll be enough for Kup to play to his own advantages of just being nucking strong and fragging tough. Which is fine, because that's how he fights, anyway.

The veteran takes the knee-spike in the lower left abdomen, and it punches through his armor, but not very deep. He is, however, able to duck under the follow-up sword swing, and he twirls his weapon in his hands to thrust forward, directly towards Wreckage's abdomen, with the butt of his musket. Judging by the reaction the acid is getting, it may be time to switch to a more conventional pistol soon, but in the meantime, the musket makes a more effective club.

[Synapse]

If he were more hale, Synapse would have sharply slapped away Wedge's hand. He's in no mood at the moment for anybody to get within any proximity to him. Of course, he can't really do anything about it.

Now Wedge has his gun, that hothead. If only he hadn't been so eager to get into this battle...Synapse grimaces. But that's how the fighters always are, isn't it? Hot-headed fools.

[Wedge]

Wedge feels sharply and rightly chastised over the radio. He lowers the blaster and takes one looks at Synapse's pain expression and then at his own clumsy movements. Right now they're both liabilities. Then there's Kup. The old Autobot doesn't look as if he's in need of any help, Wedge can't help but be utterly amazed and impressed by Kup's combat skills...and priorities.

// But...Ah....yes sir! // He's got to get Synapse back to be repaired by someone, and also retrieve this Swerve character, right?

With more than a little trouble, Wedge transforms. "Sorry buddy, I don't mean to shake you or anything." he murmurs while scooping Synapse invariably with some sand into his shovel. The flier responds with a hiss and stiffens in his hold.

// You be careful, Kup! And get him! // cheers Wedge as he trucks away, a battered bulldozer. He opens up the broadband frequency. // Wedge here. Swerve, I'm on my way, can I get your coordinates? //



Wedge and Synapse shall be moving over to Station Battle: Dead End vs. Swerve