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Post by Skystrike/Skylar Stringers on Aug 3, 2007 0:29:46 GMT -5
//I don't know, but he's undoubtedly on the ground.// Dry and horrible humor was what answered Sky-byte. //He'll report over the radio sooner or later.// She added, more interested in the cloudless skies around them.
A new shape caught her attention through the fading dust and she swept her sensors back at the unfamiliar jet that was coming up behind them. The sky was beginning to turn a slightly different shade of blue by now, but the silhouette against the blue atmosphere was as clear as laser in the darkness. It wasn’t Fleetwind and that was reason enough for her to worry. She didn’t hear about any new Decepticon fliers over the radio which could only mean that the new flier was not theirs. One of the Autobot’s then? She couldn’t confirm that at this distance and she really didn’t have the chance to before Hook ordered her to go find that pesky newcomer over the radio.
//Look out, there’s someone coming up behind us. Another flier, but I’m not sure who.// She paused after that, hearing Wreckage’s broadcast over the general frequency and she immediately stopped halfway through breaking away from the formation. Her guns whined online, rotating around till they were facing the general direction the new jet was in. //Is this ‘sky-painter’ a threat?// Because she was not leaving to pick up an annoying stranger over protecting the energon.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Aug 3, 2007 7:27:55 GMT -5
Fleetwind begins to get caught up with the others. He's forced to fly in robot mode, meaning he'll be slow-going, but he's here. Or rather, he's here on the other side of this Autobot flier. Sky-painter, did Wreckage call him? But why muddy the sky with anything beyond your own movements?
But then, most Autobots can't fly in robot mode, so dancing's right out.
"My guns are on my shoulders, and I'm busy carrying you," he points out to his passenger. "If you want to take a shot, though, can you do it without blinding me?"
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Post by Needlenose on Aug 3, 2007 7:33:14 GMT -5
Needlenose is being carried from battle by Fleetwind. How humiliating! What's more, he's only got one good arm, and the blasted Seeker is trying to dictate his choice of weaponry to him. Already he finds himself irritated with this stranger.
(Although the boy does have an unusually good sense of color, from the looks of things.)
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," he growls. Didn't get to kill Nightbeat, didn't get to kill Omega Supreme, and aiming with Zigzag, he probably won't kill this guy, either. What a crummy day! Needlenose draws his Nebulan and takes aim, regardless of how pointless that action may be. "I got you." He fires at Skyblast.
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Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Aug 3, 2007 17:39:44 GMT -5
//Exactly what I was thinking, Spinister.// Starscream radioed on shortwave. //Hook has been telling me information about this location, and it sounds like our best option so far. // He doesn't transmit more details because there is now an Autobot on their tail.
When Starfighter wobbles in his vicinity, he says aloud, "Noted, Starfighter."
//And Could someone please get rid of this 'sky painter' person?//
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Post by Starfighter on Aug 4, 2007 18:50:26 GMT -5
The rest of the fliers seemed to be mobbing the sky-painter in the attempt to smear him across the canvas of the ground, and Starfighter didn't particularly feel like getting involved. He'd done his bit and the Autobot might very well decide to pick the weakest one off first.
Quietly, he slipped towards the back of the pack. He could feel sparks arcing across his insides, and he was quite sure something was leaking inside him.
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Shortround
Minor
Breaker of the Fourth Wall
Posts: 272
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Post by Shortround on Aug 5, 2007 0:27:09 GMT -5
Shortround zoomed forward to get away from the sky painter, who couldn't help but remind him of one of those Omnicons from back in the day...
//I've still got the supplies, so when we've picked a base just point me there and I'll drop them off// Shortround says. He's starting to miss his robot mode.
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Post by Spinister on Aug 5, 2007 19:17:46 GMT -5
The Apache helicopter is assuredly at the back of the pack with regards to the Decepticon fliers. He is, however, ahead f the APC down there and ahead of the so-called sky-painter. He has no skepticism over the fact that one can paint a sky. If he asked Needlenose, he could get an earful on how popular or not the art was, he is sure.
Spinister pivots around his main rotor, now flying backwards. He tends to fly low to ground, underneath the range of many radars, so he tilts up a bit. There, not he has a shot lined up on the sky-painted. He notes a bit of physical similarity between his target and Jetfire, although this model is much smaller. Doesn't appear to be packing any ranged weapons, but who knows what might be lurking under a panel here or a hatch there.
The Apache Helicopter fires his automatic particle beam cannons at the mini-Valkyrie. Then, he swivels back around, flying forward again. Spinister breaks up his movements, path sinuous and twisting through the air. He can't out speed a targeting system. He just has to baffle it with a dragonfly's movements.
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Nimbus Tsura
Major
Secretary to Mr. Breakaway
Sky-Painter Extraordinaire
Posts: 735
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Post by Nimbus Tsura on Aug 5, 2007 21:11:44 GMT -5
This particularly Valkyrie is used to doing bullet time at Mach Two. It's almost insulting when the grey fellow who is being carried by the yellow takes a shot at him. Well, the grey fellow seems to be aiming, but his weapon isn't, because Skyblast doesn't even need to dodge. The shot just goes wide.
The helicopter does manage to tag Skyblast. Even the artist's great agility cannot quite shake all the shots. His left wing looks like coarse lace for a moment, before the injuries start to heal. Fine, the Decepticons are over here. That's where the blighters went. He's going to pull out now.
However, he might as well go through that grey Decepticon who shot at him. The other Autobots seemed really keen to see that grey fellow down on the radio earlier. He's being carried, so he probably can't fly on his own, wings aside. If Skyblast can hit the yellow one, perhaps he can down two Decepticons with one blade. It's certainly worth a shot.
The Valkyrie tries for a fake-out, flying away in the other direction and only swinging around and brings his blades to bear on the yellow Decepticon at the last second.
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Dead End
Major
Yes, we're all doomed. I already knew that.
Posts: 797
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Post by Dead End on Aug 5, 2007 21:30:53 GMT -5
Dead End sees the pale APC trailing along after the fliers. Ah, that must be Wreckage. He's the rear-guard and ground unit, currently.
'Low Fuel' alarms blink in Dead End's diagnostics queue. Time to put Demolishor down and switch to his more fuel-efficient wheeled mode. It would be suitably ironic to run dry of fuel while carrying a trunkful of the stuff, but Dead End isn't that fond of irony. It would be suitably convenient if he could reach his own trunk, but he can't do that easily.
"Demolishor, time to land. You can transform and roll, I trust?" Without waiting for the tan and red tank to answer, Dead End sets him down just ahead of Wreckage and to the left, then lands himself.
"Wreckage, I presume?" Dead End inquires, then transforms into his Porsche form, deploying his vehicular blasters. It hasn't escaped his notice that at least one of the Aerialbots is harassing the retreat.
"Pardon me for the distraction, but I see something that urgently needs shooting." That said, Dead End fires off a few blasts in Skyblast's general direction--not likely to hit at this range, but it might encourage the Aerialbot to go in some other direction.
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Post by Demolishor on Aug 5, 2007 21:50:38 GMT -5
"I think--" But Dead End had already let him go. It was more of a splat than a roll, but Demolishor managed to land mostly on his feet.
"Hi," he said coarsely, waving to Wreckage as he scanned the skies for any approaching Autobots. Hopefully this guy was useful and yet not inclined to picking him up and then dropping him without proper warning.
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Wreckage
Major
One of the Quiet Ones
Posts: 554
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Post by Wreckage on Aug 6, 2007 0:57:43 GMT -5
Wreckage neither slows nor offers return greetings at the arrival of two more Decepticons, one flying and in primary mode, no less. Interesting. The voice matches that of the Dead End he has heard on the radio, which makes the other Demolishor. They display such overwhelming… civility. How entertaining.
Demolishor may be comforted to know that Wreckage has no plans of picking him up at any point in the near future, much less dropping him. He has, in fact, hardly given the bizarre tank a thought as of yet, save to wonder fleetingly what planet Demolishor has been stationed on that such a form is a convincing disguise.
"Go right ahead," Wreckage eventually grinds out in answer to the car, which he at least roughly recognises as a Terran make. Let Dead End shoot at Skyblast all he likes. Wreckage may be unhappy with an Autobot being out of his reach, but with a retreat order in effect, he will hardly complain if those who are capable – and like to waste the ammunition – want to fire on the sky-painter.
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Post by SceneMod on Aug 6, 2007 8:35:25 GMT -5
OOC: This thread is a bit too large, and tends to get bogged down with the number of people posting in it. So... we're going to start breaking things off. You do not need to wait until your next post is up in this thread to jump out, if you're moving on. You will, however, be assumed to be in this thread until you've posted elsewhere.
Those characters who are dealing with Skyblast and (potentially) Slingshot should remain in this thread, and will stay in their normal order, minus those who leave.
Those characters who are not dealing with the Autobots are free to jump all the way past the travel time and into a new thread for arrival back at the Howling Mines. The description of the inside of the mines is given in the Locations Description thread. Additional notes:
* Directly outside of the Mine is a mining encampment with a road that joins with a larger road. Said larger road appears to have buildings on it near the intersection with the smaller road. A bit down the road (in the literal 'down' direction, as this area is mountainous) is a full sized down, much of which has been destroyed by Needlenose's practice shots. Luckily, the power-receiver was not destroyed, meaning there is a more or less continual, but not unlimited, source of energy nearby.
* Thundercracker's body, from just after he got dumped out of the shuttle, is somewhere between the arrival point in the Mine and the exit to the place. An examination of the spot where he is would show that he obviously crawled up from further in the mine before he died (there are trails of energon and other fluids, and perhaps the occasional broken-off piece of armor and such). Tracing this back far enough may yield the approximate location where he appeared in the mine (although asking Needlenose for specifics can get the same results).
It is suggested that either Starscream or Hook be among those who are going back right away, as they're the best suited to beginning the organization of what exploration/rebuilding needs to be done. Once more, keep in mind that ICly, 2-4 days of travel time will take place, but we're going to gloss over that for the purposes of RF frequency threads.
Skystrike, if you could please post over into the Beach Arrival thread to pick up Eye-fire and (probably) Blackarachnia, that would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks to all for your co-operation. Once folks get back to the mine, the Decepticons should be ready to start their interim RP sessions. So if there's a scene you want to run from the list, just PM the folks involved and get it started! For anyone who has questions, feel free to ask Xaaron, Hook, or Long Haul.
This thread will be kept open for those dealing with those pesky flying Autobots.
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Fleetwind
Major
The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
Twined Elf
Posts: 730
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Post by Fleetwind on Aug 6, 2007 16:06:14 GMT -5
Skyblast: The Valkyrie tries for a fake-out, flying away in the other direction and only swinging around and brings his blades to bear on the yellow Decepticon at the last second.
Fleetwind is warned about Skyblast's wing-blades over the radio, and he's all too keenly aware of the vulnerability of his position. He shifts his grip on Needlenose slightly, in preparation for the move he has planned, should it prove necessary.
He continues to fly towards the other Decepticons, attempting to rejoin them, moving as if he believes Skyblast's feint. Very clever, that. But still, as an aerial dancer with long years of practice, he knows a fake-out when he sees one.
Once he's certain that Skyblast is committed to his course, the Seeker throws Needlenose back over his right upper arm and wing, cradling him just below the shoulder. At the same time, he dips low, but waiting as long as he does means that his left wing still catches the blade along it's upper edge. Even as Fleetwind cries out in pain, he focuses beyond the damage. His free hand flashes to the upward pointed edge of his right wing and he snaps it off, activates his own energy dagger, and stabs upwards at the passing Autobot, each movement flowing swiftly and smoothly from one to the other.
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Post by Needlenose on Aug 6, 2007 16:24:24 GMT -5
Needlenose feels it as Fleetwind shifts his grip, but is still taken by surprise at the Seeker's actual move, and at being tossed over the pastel wing. "Wha- gah!" is all he can get out before he's forced to duck his head to avoid having it taken off.
"You could have warned me!" he complains as he raises Zigzag and tries to shoot Skyblast once more, this time while hanging across Fleetwind's back.
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Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Aug 6, 2007 16:39:09 GMT -5
The gray f-15 sighed internally. It's one lone Autobot. It's a tiny little one too! Fine, this was to be a test. Whoever didn't survive this encounter wasn't worth being a Decepticon in Starscream's glorious new empire. Starscream hit his afterburners and raced ahead.
On short-range: //I'm going ahead to examine our new headquarters. Try not to let the solitary Autobot beat you up too much...//
OOC: Leaving for the base surveying thread.
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