Station Battle: Omega Supreme vs 'Cons

[Fleetwind]

Three of Swerve's shots penetrate Fleetwind's wing, near the base, causing him to spin out of control. He transforms quickly, folding out into his robot mode, his "shark fin" and whatever else going who knows where, and still tumbles out of control for several moments before he manages to regain control of himself. The character cycles air to cool himself, and shakes his head. Much more, and he's leaving the scene, orders or no orders. As it is, they've completely lost control of the situation - not that they had much to begin with - and the only comfort to be taken is that the Autobots, generally, don't have much control over it, either.

Mostly it's just a bunch of out of control mechs firing at each other.

Fleetwind decides that he should get back to doing just that, and he fires again at Swerve, darting forward and up as he does to make himself a more difficult target.

[Starscream]

Starscream turned sharply at the flash of light, and then issued some orders on broadband.

Swerve was learning to hate fliers? Well, let's just bump up the chances of that happening. Now that Starscream's heavy hitter was free (and apparently free to deal to Omega as he took down Hook!) Starscream 's attention turned to Swerve. Serves him right for being there and being an Autobot, really. Still floating in the air, Starscream fired a volley of energy blasts in the direction of Swerve.

[Swerve]

Swerve hops backwards at angles to evade Fleetwind's fire, popping off what quick shots he can in the brief pauses between leaps and taking a graze or two in the process. Dodging the yellow Seeker, however, puts him almost squarely in Starscream's line and Swerve goes down hard mid-leap to a blast in the back.

Sludge-chugging fliers. Flying is fragging stupid, anyway.

It takes the racer precious time to isolate and shut off the system alarms screaming at him. Distractions he doesn't need. It takes him more time to get his feet under him again and he slowly stands, a new hole in his hood. At this rate, he may not get to the mech shooting at Omega.

…Why am I so slagging worried about doing what that overshined old codger said? He scowls to himself as rage stirs his already seething processor. He'd just cruised right on into what Xaaron wanted without so much as a peep of protest. It had just seemed so perfectly suited to him when it was said. How'd he do that?! Swerve's grip tightens on his gun until the servos of his hand whine complaint and that probably looks like steam ekeing from the gash in his back right about now.

Frag it. He'll tell Xaaron what he thinks of this whole thing when he sees the sneaky spawn of a glitched motherboard later. Right now, he's got to focus. No way is he letting a couple of worthless flying Decepticons take him out. Why should he have the decency to fall when they don't have the decency to fight on the ground like anyone normal?

Swerve then bolts in the general direction where he last saw the Decepticon he came out here after in the first place – just a coincidence, nothing to do with Xaaron sending him after the mech, really. He moves erratically, slowly at first but gaining speed as the bulk of his processes shift from tasking internal repairs and damage suppression to enabling motor relays and shunting power to somatic controls. He shoots back sporadically, concentrating mostly on the red and white Seeker with a pot shot here or there for the yellow one; harder hitters are bigger concerns.

[Hook]

Needlenose's radio reply is all the answer Hook needs. He yanks the Cubilator off of the conglomerates within the pyramid, silently promising to go back and check it for damage when he has the time, then darts around to the side of the pyramid away from where he hears Omega Supreme.

It is probably not very good cover, but it is the best he has.

There is a lot of energon in the courtyard, as well as the happily humming geothermal taps within the pyramid. This place will go up like one of Bonecrusher's specials, given the right amount of energy and heat.

Hook hesitates, the Cubilator tucked under one arm. Fling himself into the sky and make himself a target? Or risk obliteration along with the power station?

To the sky. He can shoot the powerstation himself if he has to.

With no small amount of trepidation, Hook flings himself skyward, twisting around to keep watch on Omega Supreme.

[Omega Supreme]

Omega Supreme tips back his head, pointing his gun barrel at the sky, and roars his fury and agony to the uncaring clouds, what scanty few there are. He can see Hook! The Constructicon is just a tiny bit of green, flying away, but it has to be him. He's so close!

In anticipation, his main cannon starts charging. Oh, it would be so easy to just let that energy slip and lance Hook, immolate him in the air. Omega Supreme can almost smell the scent of charred metal, of melted insulation.

Damn Emirate Xaaron.

Perdition's flame will have to wait, burning a hole in Omega Supreme's mind, until it can find its place alight over Hook's dead body. He cannot let Long Haul fall into danger. He cannot fail him again. If only he had been there when Megatron caught them, it would have been different! If only Dead End wasn't here, he could put Hook to rest! His whole life is but a string of mournful cries of, 'If only!'

Omega Supreme unleashes the full force of his cannon on the power plant. The shockwave is immense; everyone in the area is going to feel it, be they on ground or in air.

[Needlenose]

All right! Needlenose has just run far enough away that he once more has a clear shot at Omega Supreme's foot, the same foot he injured earlier. Of course, he's only got one good arm, which would make recombining his Nebulans difficult (but not impossible - that's one up side to having self-willed weapons). But hey, Sunbeam's accuracy is better solo, anyway.

He prepares for another blinding blast¹ when Omega Supreme roars and blasts the power plant, unleashing a shockwave that knocks him back and off his feet. He lands hard against the ground, which wouldn't be so much a problem except for that previously damaged wing.

That he just landed on. Again.

Needlenose yowls in pain.

---

¹ Technically speaking, Sunbeam's shots should be blinding anyone nearby whose optics aren't shielded against it. So, like... half the people in this fight. But the player forgot all about that side effect, so we're going to gloss over it for now. >_>

[Fleetwind]

Fleetwind is now discovering one huge advantage of going to battle with Starscream. Everyone's shooting at him rather than Fleetwind! In the world of Seekers, all of them are generally thought to look pretty much alike, and are often confused with each other... except for Starscream.

Fleetwind easily dodges the few shots thrown his way, ducking and weaving through the air, while he continues to fire back. Most of the shots are hurried, and while the Seeker above par aim, he simply doesn't have the time to line up his attacks properly.

And then the huge kaboom.

The yellow Seeker is sent tumbling backwards in the air, the force of the pressure enough to put a strain on his thin armor even though he fails to contact anything. He is tossed back almost as fall as the next butte, then manages, finally to recover. The dancer shakes his head and then instinctively rockets upwards to get a better view and reassess the situation.

[Starscream]

Starscream managed to successfully dodge the assault from the red Autobot.. when the power station was blown up by Omega. Great. Starscream was still in the air. The shockwave caught him and sent him flying. Well, Hook had gone, and there obviously wasn't going to be any more energy drawn from this station. Starscream decided that enough was enough.

//Decepticons! We have gotten what we came for. Retreat! Fleetwind, grab Needlenose. If you need assistance, let someone know now or else you'll be left behind. Return in the direction we came from.//

Starscream transformed and roared over Omega Supreme. "Good luck fueling up without a power source, Guardian!" he taunted, before returning from whence he came from.

[Swerve]

It's a great thing when your enemy can't aim accurately at you. Even if Swerve isn't hitting much of anything, neither is the yellow Seeker and that's just fine by him.

What isn't fine by him is being slammed into the side of a big rock when Omega makes the power station disappear in a cloud of destruction and the resultant shockwave hits, but it happens anyway. Something in his shoulder bends where it shouldn't, tactile sensors offline from the shock of impact, and the yelp escapes him before he can bite it back.

At least he isn't eating dirt again.

[Dead End]

Dead End careens across the desert battlefield, his vehicular cannon deployed and ready to fire. He's going for the smoke, ash and dust (not to mention small pebbles and shards of metal) raining down around the blasted mesa. Even if Slingshot can chase him through that crud, perhaps he'll choke his engines on the ash. Even Dead End's radar is impaired by the sheer amount of debris in the air--but it doesn't matter very much. He mapped this ground on his way through the first time, and knows where every obstacle is.

He'll probably get crushed flat by a slab of falling sandstone. Or Omega Supreme will incidentally step on him.

Oh, hello! It's that Autobot who fancies himself a racer! Dead End dodges more of Slingshot's fire, then tosses off several quick blasts at Swerve in passing. He doesn't wait to see if they hit.

Once under the cover of the debris cloud, Dead End starts circling the mesa to the west, dodging and out of rockpiles, swerving to avoid falling rocks, and occasionally goosing his lifters to take him over an inconveniently placed boulder.

[Hook]

One hasn't survived as long as Hook has by turning his back on Omega Supreme once the Guardian blasted part of the landscape to ruins. So he sees the shockwave coming, and knows there's absolutely nothing he can do to escape it.

It slams into him, tosses him through the air like a rag doll. Debris, shards of metal and rock, fly through the air around him. One particularly sharp piece strikes his face, slicing open a cheek, before being whirled away.

Dust coats him, and he forces an arm up to shield his optics from it. Some of it gets into the cut on his face, irritating beyond belief.

Some fliers enjoy riding a shockwave. Hook is not a flier nor does he enjoy it. When at last it fades, he turns to seek out the jets and his supplies.

---

And Hook vamooses over to the Decepticons Retreating thread.

[Slingshot]

It blends together after a while - the rush of air over his wings, the blue sky above and dark rock below, the roar of his cannons as he fires on Dead End. Has he been doing this forever?

Then the shockwave rocks through, tearing at him, tumbling him, but he struggles to right himself, to point his nose in the right direction, to chase down that Stunticon and murder him.

When he flies into the debris cloud, and the ash and dust gets into his intakes, he has to admit that maybe he can't do that today.

He transforms and lands, staring intently at the ground even as the debris in the air smudges his pristine white. He's not going to punch the ground, he isn't, he isn't, he's not some petulant kid...

Blue jet. Blue Decepticon jet didn't go into the debris cloud. He went-

Slingshot turns on his heel and races towards the west, leaping into the air and transforming as soon as the air gets clear enough again.

[Omega Supreme]

What serpent is poisoned by his own bite?

Omega Supreme stands, unmoved by the shockwave. Fire washes over his frame, burning away the impurities that have accumulated there in the course of the battle. The flames feel tepid to him, lukewarm.

Hook is gone to the horizon. Omega Supreme could transform and seek him out. A fire far hotter than that paltry inferno rages inside his core, spurring him to give chase.

The mesa starts to crack underneath him, and his footing is uncertain. Grudgingly and full of grudges, Omega Supreme climbs down the mesa, which crumbles in his talons. He lands flat on his back with a massive thud when his grip gives away.

Groaning, Omega Supreme stands and squints at the horizon again. He can hit a tin can 50 miles away. Which dot is Hook? The haze of dust and partial blindness keeps him from knowing for certain. Weariness settles over him, and he finally feels his vast and numerous injuries. The Autobots will need him to play taxi. He has a duty beyond revenge.

[Needlenose]

Needlenose pulls himself upright. Again. Looking up, he can see a yellow Seeker heading his way. Must be that Fleetwind fellow Starscream mentioned. Needlenose snarls softly. He likes the s'plodies, but this having to be carried everywhere has got to go.

The not-jet holsters Sunbeam and gives Omega Supreme, who is even now climbing down the mesa, a wary look. He decides he had better not be here when the giant gets down, and he starts running away from. Then the noise of the crumbling rock structure catches his attention, and he dares a look back.

Omega Supreme is not climbing down now. He is falling down.

The not-jet's antennae perk up in alarm, and he turns and starts sprinting away at his best speed. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!" he mutters as he runs ever harder. Could this be the end of Needlenose?

[Fleetwind]

No! Fleetwind, who had been flying into the cloud of dust and debris to pick up Needlenose, reaches him and lifts him out of the way just in time for the both of them to avoid getting smooshed by Guardian robot. Whew! That was a close one.

Once out of danger of immediate flattening, Fleetwind flies straight upwards to clear the thinning cloud. This makes it easier for him to spot the others.

"Right. This has been more than enough excitement for me," he mutters to his passenger as he flies after the others. In robot mode, he'll be considerably slower than the other jets, but he can't really carry Needlenose otherwise.

The pastel wonder narrows his optics as he flies after the rest of the Decepticons. "Wait a minute..." he asks. "Who's that between us and the others?"

Dun dun DUUUUUN!

---

OOC: Needlenose and I are moving out of this thread and into the Decepticons Retreating thread, but we'll be a bit catching up. In other words, I'll be posting there tomorrow.