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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 18, 2007 8:30:26 GMT -5
A body, large, even, by Transformer standards, larger than Optimus, lays off-line in the swamp, part way on a patch of relatively firm ground, legs dipped into the putrid water. Then pale blue optics come online, and in an instant he's upright, balanced against the poor footing and scanning his surroundings.
Once the red and orange robot determines that there's no immediate threat he straightens and relaxes slightly, spitting out a black blob of swamp-muck as he does. Ugh, but the sort of places this job leads to...
And what sort of place is this? Not Cybertron, certainly, and not Earth. How did he get here? A terrifying possibility makes its way briefly into his mind: had He gotten control again, gone on a rampage, and then dumped him here? But no. If He had gotten out, he certainly wouldn't have gone back in on his own volition. He would have to have been forced back, and so Rodimus would have known about it. Unicron is many things, but subtle is generally not one of them.
There really are far too many explanations for why he could be here; the universe is a very strange place. But if he's here, there could be others, and they could be in trouble. Rodimus Prime spots what looks to be a pathway of some sort nearby... a road? And heads toward it, activating his radio and tuning it to the general Autobot frequency as he does.
//This is Rodimus Prime. If anyone is reading me, respond with status. I repeat. This is Rodimus Prime. If anyone is reading me, respond with status.//
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Post by Sable Conolly on Oct 18, 2007 9:08:57 GMT -5
The black sky of night, barren of clouds, vaults above the black desert. The myriad twinkling stars do not stop at the hard-packed black soil tonight. Instead, their celestial beams caress a polished, gleaming black form that is slowly losing its shine to the drifting dust.
Red optics snap to life, and powerful fingers twitch. Scourge snaps to a defensive crouch. The situation takes him aback. A prepared commander is a successful commander. Scourge knows his Terran geography. Nowhere on Earth is there a sprawling desert so dark. He looks up, and the stars just look back blankly at him. He does not know them; no familiar Polaris or Southern Cross shines down to guide him.
Perhaps this is an illusion, but Scourge knows of two factions on Earth with the resources to so completely trick a Transformer, and he belongs to one of them. He will work off the assumption that he is on an alien world for now, but he will keep vigilant for any signs that the experience may not be real.
Scourge knows of exactly one space-capable Transformer, and the humans' space facilities are easily dismissed from consideration. There may be more crashed Cybertronian ships on Earth that could have been salvaged, but he keys up a radio transmission to Movor first. His voice is patient, like the sword that sits above the head of the king, as he asks, //Movor, report.//
There is nothing. If Movor did dump him on another world, perhaps he would be shy of replying, for fear of punishment. Scourge moves up the chain of command and tries, //Mega-Octane, report.//
Nothing.
Next up the chain before he hits Megatron himself is Sky-Byte, so Scourge attempts, //Sky-Byte, sir, what is the current situation?//
Scourge pauses. That radio connected, unless he misses his mark. While waiting for a response, he considers the possibilities. Whatever took him was fast enough that he didn't even see it coming and that his commandos had no chance to save him. However, it either wants him alive or is over-confident about being able to handle the threat level that Scourge possesses. If not Transformers doing this to him, that suggests an alien entity of redoubtable power and uncertain motives.
Scourge cannot say that he is happy, especially considering that he has a dam to blow up that does not exist here.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 18, 2007 9:51:18 GMT -5
A brief but rather surprising radio exchange with, of all people, Emirate Xaaron yields some answers, if no real explanations.
Rodimus Prime rather wants to blame Time Wars on this. Of course, in his case, he can blame a lot of things on Time Wars fallout, so it's a pretty understandable reaction.
By the time the conversation is over, the Prime has reached the metal road. He climbs onto it shakes as much of the swamp mud, water, and worse off himself as he can. It's not so much vanity, although he does have some leftover threads of that from Hot Rod, but he's not sure how long a ride he's looking at and there are places, frankly, where slime can get downright uncomfortable when one has to move to alternate mode.
Rodimus scans the area once more, committing as much of the area as possible to memory, then dives forward to transform. His powerful engine roars into life, and he is off along the metal highway and into the night.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Oct 18, 2007 20:05:31 GMT -5
After a brief radio conversation with Sky-Byte, Scourge has a heading. He shakes the dust off himself and transforms. He can cover a lot more ground in semi-truck mode than he can in robot mode, and he's faster, too.
The massive black tanker truck rolls, a dust cloudy wafting lazily behind him. The stars streak light across his glossy black and shining chrome, and his headlights cut the night. Any native animals seem quite spooked by the alien machine and stay well away, leaving Scourge alone in the night.
Something or someone has taken them here, and they don't seem to have the foggiest what. He wonders if the Sky-But he just contacted is at all the Sky-Byte he knows. Will he even be able to recognize the Transformers here as Transformers?
His thoughts stretch out in the darkness, filling the emptiness. After what seems like ages of driving, and the stars wheeling overhead say it to be so, the tanker truck comes to a metal road stretching across the desert. There's a slight bump as he transitions onto the surface, but one his wheels are on there, he finds himself immeasurably thankful for the smooth surface. Free of the bumps and arroyos of the desert, he can really put the hammer down now.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 18, 2007 20:55:00 GMT -5
Prime's pace is, at first, cautious, as this is an alien world with unknown dangers. However, never a mechanoid known for his patience, eventually Rodimus moves to closer to his top speed.
He wonders about the missing people, the individuals who built these strutures. There's life everywhere, but no sign of the inhabitants, and more than once he finds himself worrying over that. Still, there are no answers to be had on his own - if he wants those, he'll have to find the other Autobots. Well, Emirate Xaaron and Grimlock, the only ones he's heard so far.
Of course, he also takes a moment now and again to wonder about that oddly enthusiastic Grimlock. Different universes, Xaaron had said...
The possibility that the voice on the other end of the radio might not be Emirate Xaaron also occurs to him. He could be heading right into a trap... but if so, it's rather an elaborate one. Presumably, a force powerful enough to suddenly pluck him from his own place and time and plunk him here wouldn't need to resort to such a bizarre deception on top of everything else, but still, it would be wise to approach with caution.
The sun rises, and swamps turn into farmland. Periodically, Rodimus stops at what he manages to identify as charging stations of some sort. The process of making use of such an energy source is unpleasant, but without a proper energon conversion process available, he's forced to make due. And then it's off again.
The sun crosses the sky, and farmland turns into scrub as the land grows drier and drier. The sun grows tired, and scrub turns into desert. Rodimus eventually gives into temptation and keys up his music. Fortunately, when the Matrix saw fit to turn Hot Rod into Rodimus Prime, it left the youth's sound system intact.
The sun starts to set, and the desert sky lights up in a blaze of colors. Oranges to reds to violets to velvet blacks, and through the haze of heat wafting up from metal road and black desert, far in the distance up ahead, Rodimus Prime spies the first sign of non-organic life he's seen on this organic world. Another vehicle, large, from the looks of it, but through distance and heat-haze, he can make out nothing else...
Prime turns his music off, and begins to slow down to a more cautious pace.
OOC: Some liberty taken with how long this trip should take, for the purposes of drama and fun.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Oct 18, 2007 21:10:26 GMT -5
Scourge has had to stop at times in his travels. Luckily, truck stops along lonely highways seem to be a universal constant. It took him a few tries to figure out how to get himself fuelled up, and he broke a few charging stalls at the first station, but he is a clever boy, and he eventually figured it out. The charge has a lingering nasty flavor, but it will suffice for a soldier.
What disturbs him is the lack of people at these stations. He took the roof off one to check and see if they were all cowering for fear of him. He knows that he could look strange to whoever lived here. Inside, all Scourge saw was rotten food left out on the tables. These people left in a hurry, and they did not leave long ago.
Scourge nips into station after station, day after day, and the story is always the same. Could what made these people leave be the same force as what brought him and his kind here? It's too soon to tell.
He sees the advancing blur in the distance, and the tanker truck wonders if he's seeing a mirage. By Vector Sigma, he knows that he has seen enough of them, mostly just shimmering pools on the road that vanish when he approaches. Scourge does not slow at all and keeps the pedal to the metal. That's definitely a vehicle of some sort. Perhaps a native at last?
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 18, 2007 21:52:18 GMT -5
That... is a Terran vehicle. That most certainly is a Terran vehicle. A big, black, long nose tanker.
The best explanation that Rodimus Prime can come up with for the presence of a large, black Terran truck on this alien highway is that it's another displaced Transformer. Rodimus isn't going to doubt the possibility that there's other explanations, because the universe is a very weird place at times, but the displaced Transformer is his working hypothesis.
Maybe Xaaron sent someone out to meet him? But he wasn't warned about it, so whether it's Xaaron or something else, it pays to be cautious. Rodimus doesn't slow down any further, but he does activate his radio, transmitting at low power (so it won't carry far beyond the immediate area) on a general band, //Unknown tanker, identify yourself.// The tone is firm but professional, no hint of sharpness, but one expecting to be followed. Rodimus rarely makes requests these days.
It shouldn't be too much longer before the Autobrand emblazoned so proudly on his hood becomes visible to the other...
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Post by Sable Conolly on Oct 18, 2007 23:00:09 GMT -5
The black tanker truck peers across the distance at the other rapidity approaching vehicle. An Autobot symbol resolves in Scourge's field of vision just after he hears the radio transmission. Scourge notes that there is no video component. This Autobot is not from his future then, but one of those realities that did not develop video radio.
Scourge does not reply. His own symbols are on his doors and cannot be seen when he is driving headlong at someone. He does not need to give away information to this Autobot, even if it is only his name.
The tanker truck merely continues down the road, right at Rodimus Prime, full bore. He'll test this Autobot's mettle, and even if his mettle holds, his metal may not.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 18, 2007 23:27:05 GMT -5
No reply, Terran alternate mode, and it's speeding right towards him.
Right then. In these circumstances, he really doesn't need to see the faction symbols, does he?
//If that's the way you want it,// he answers, and his engine revs louder as he once more increases his speed, pushing towards his own maximum.
So it's to be a game of chicken? Rodimus can play that.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Oct 18, 2007 23:44:44 GMT -5
Scourge replies crisply, //It is rude to ask for a name and not to tender yours first.// His voice is cool and professional, belonging not to any Transformers Rodimus Prime would have ever met.
The other machine seems intent on playing chicken. Scourge will have to hand it to him for that, right after he hands him his aft. Scourge has no such intention of following such a patently obvious plan.
With an unavoidable cry of, "Transform!" he does just that. Why do they have to do that? It totally ruins surprises. His overall look should be hauntingly familiar for Rodimus Prime, but the Autobot won't have long to gawk, for Scourge is in motion from the word 'transform'. His movements are swift, sure, and brutal.
Scourge springs forward, somersaulting on one hand and withdrawing a wicked red blade just a bit similar to Grimlock's with the other. He aims to land by smashing his feet into Rodimus Prime's hood and driving the sword into his cabin.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 19, 2007 15:36:51 GMT -5
The possibility that the other had no intention of following through on the game of 'chicken' certainly had occurred to Rodimus, and when the other transforms, so does Rodimus. Not only did Rodimus Prime rudely demand a name without giving his first, now he transforms without bothering with a warning!
Once in robot mode, Rodimus twists-spins to his own right (Scourge's left, and opposite the hand Scourge is presently favoring, the idea to force him to swing wider and farther in order to get a hit in), ending at Scourge's side and just behind the other, his own right arm already raised and pointed at his opponent.
He is just about to fire when his brain and optics finally process the appearance of the robot he is facing under the fading, fire-painted sky, and Rodimus hesitates, gasping softly, "Optimus?"
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Post by Sable Conolly on Oct 19, 2007 15:55:11 GMT -5
Scourge notices that Rodimus Prime does not have to shout, 'Transform!' to transform, and he's honestly pretty envious. The shouting to transform thing really lets the cat out of the bag, and it's pretty inconvenient when he wants to be sneaky. His feet hit the metal road with a resounding clang, as Rodimus Prime is no longer where he would have been.
At the mention of the hated Autobot commander he so resembles, Scourge tosses the sword from one hand to the other and flips his grip on it. He wrenches the sword around like a particularly determined cheerleader with a baton and then jabs it straight back and hopefully into the Autobot who thought to try to get around behind him.
Scourge kicks off with his far foot as he does so, pivoting around such that he can face the Autobot and then lunge with his full force if he blade connects true. Given how gob-smacked the resemblance seems to make the Autobot, Scourge decides to drive the nail home with what is no less and no more than the truth. He grinds out, "A part of him."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 19, 2007 16:56:31 GMT -5
Rodimus Prime may be shocked, but he's not stupid, and it would be a poor service to the part of Optimus Prime that he carries for Rodimus to allow himself be killed by the dead leader's dark duplicate. Whatever else this other might be, he's a Decepticon, and a Decepticon obviously intent on doing him grievous bodily injury and/or death.
Rodimus slides more fully behind Scourge, though the other's sword still catches him on the left edge of his torso, and although it doesn't penetrate his thick armor, there's a great screech of metal as the blade-tip slices a gouge in the paint and shaves off thick curls of metal as it passes between his arm and his chest.
"I take it it was the parts he didn't want," Rodimus sneers back, clamping his left arm close to his chest and around the sword as he drops, sweeps out a leg, and brings his right arm up to point at his opponent, trying, in a single motion, to rip the sword out of Scourge's hand, sweep the other off his feet, and blast him with an electro-blast aimed low.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Oct 19, 2007 18:04:46 GMT -5
Scourge is only gripping the Sword of Fury with one hand, so his grip isn't as good at it could be. The sword comes free, and the leg sweep knocks Scourge over, given his precarious balance. At the shot, however, Scourge slams himself down flat on the road, and the blast just barely misses him.
"Oh, no. Optimus Prime very much wants me back," Scourge growls. Optimus Prime won't be getting him back, however.
He pushes off with his hands, returning to his feet. His arms swing back, a natural reaction, but when his arms swing forward, his left hand comes back holding his plasma gun. Scourge snaps off a crossover shot at Rodimus Prime's left shoulder and lunges forward, right hand extended to reclaim his Sword of Fury from the Autobot's left arm.
Scourge is hearing some very interesting things on the radio. Either Sky-Byte is lying to him, the Predacons on channel are lying, or there are two groups. Given that the people on channel have little reason to be lying, he is forced to assume that Sky-Byte is lying, as he did not mention two groups. He definitely needs the sword back. Looks like he'll be making some shark sashimi in the future.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Oct 19, 2007 19:30:04 GMT -5
"Your Optimus seems to have questionable taste, then," Rodimus replies as he continues his fall, ducking himself out of the way of Scourge's shot. Mostly. The blast does take off the left tip of his spoiler, causing the young Prime to hiss in pain.
Really. Can he not have a battle that messes up his spoiler? Would that be too much to ask?
Since he's low to the ground anyway, at Scourge's lunge he falls back lower, flipping the sword under his arm to point the blade towards his opponent as he does. This way, even if Scourge grabs it, he'll still be grabbing the blade. As he falls back, Rodimus pushes up with the weapon before releasing it, even as he kicks up powerfully with both legs, attempting to make use of the tanker's momentum and throw him up and over his head.
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