Barricade
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Knight of the Spastic Sword
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Post by Barricade on Jan 12, 2008 11:53:41 GMT -5
The rumble and thrash of Hellbender against the ground and Cannonball's activities mask the sound of another high performance engine and screaming tires until a moment before a shiny black blur erupts from a side street. The Saleen police interceptor is airborn as it enters the fray, unfolding into the complex pattern of shifting plates and servos and sharp-edged angles of Barricade's primary form as he launches himself at the bulk of the massive mining worm.
// Inbound! Aim fore, leave me aft! // he warns Fleetwind.
A crash of metal slamming into metal as silver claws bite hard, halting his forward progress with the jarring smash of his admittedly insignificant bulk against Hellbender's side. Momentum carries him up, sliding across the smooth, rounded surface - designed for knifing through Gillanan's crust without getting caught - of Hellbender's side until he sits astraddle the mining worm's great bulk, claws of one hand sunk in as deep as they will go, the spurs of both feet stabbing in sharply to anchor himself.
No smart-aft pronouncements, no snarky cracks, just a fiercely joyful snarl and the flash of sunlight against wicked silver talons as Barricade begins to attempt to systematically rend himself access into Hellbender's bulk with his free hand.
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Fleetwind
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The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
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Post by Fleetwind on Jan 12, 2008 13:46:07 GMT -5
Fleetwind really is ready to just leave. This is obviously a distraction to keep them from getting at that team's flag, and about the worst thing they can do is let Hook dig in.
But then Barricade pops up, and Cannonball says he has an idea. Fleetwind reports, opening up his radio to them both, //I'm going to do a quick fly-over of Hook's area. If they're holed up underground, I won't see anything, but at least it will give me an idea of where they aren't. Cannonball, you have until I return to explain this grand plan of yours. I won't be gone long. Sound is pretty fast.//
And with that, he rockets out of the immediate area to begin a single fly-around of Hook's territory.
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 12, 2008 14:57:44 GMT -5
The yellow jet fled as Hellbender missed a killing blow on Cannonball. Then Cannonball transformed and flew out of reach. That just wasn't fair! Even the slagging cars could fly, and he couldn't touch them. He couldn't shoot them, he couldn't even throw rocks at them.
Hellbender didn't notice Barricade at first; his skin was insensitive, and the noise of Fleetwind's shrieking turbines and his own flailing at the ground after Cannonball drowned out Barricade's stealthy skitter up Hellbender's side.
Barricade's claws could make little headway against Hellbender's armor. Were he to find a locked access plate and open it, that might be another matter. For now, Barricade had the chance; Hellbender was unaware of his presence--though riding the enraged siege worm had its own hazards.
Cannonball was another matter; Hellbender couldn't reach him, directly--
The angry worm lunged all the way out of the street and slammed into a tall building near Cannonball, tearing into the structural supports until the whole outer facade crumpled from below and fell, hanging over the street for an instant before it all came crashing down.
// Hook, Fleetwind is flying towards your sector, // Hellbender radioed Hook and Thrust as debris and chunks of building rained harmlessly down on him.
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Cannonball
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Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
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Post by Cannonball on Jan 12, 2008 19:35:39 GMT -5
//Well, ah'll go ahead an' git started the--//
Cannonball gets cut off by the bits of crumbling and falling building around him, and by a bigger one clonking him on the head, leaving a dent and scuff in his paint. //Rassafrassin' worm! *Clonk* OW!// A few more strike him in his attempt to dodge, until he managed to get back out of the way of the debris, and rising up a little higher. "Bother..." he mutters, using his time to fire on the creature, not quite aiming for any weak points while he talks to Fleetwind.
//Y'see, lad, I got on me a couple o' flasks o' th' really good, aged high-grade. The kinda stuff that'll knock ye flat if you go too fast on it, if'n ye git me drift. Bit more explosive than the normal stuff. I reckon I manage to toss it in his smoking intake, an' ye follow it up with a rocket, that should do a fair bit o' damage. Mebbe ye come back and strafe me like yer attackin' me. I fly over t' 'im tae keep ye from getting close, drop that in and then ye bring the pain...//
Cannonball mentally smirks. Hook should've warned Hellbender that Cannonball was around when they took the first worm out.
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Barricade
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Knight of the Spastic Sword
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Post by Barricade on Jan 12, 2008 22:19:26 GMT -5
Barricade snarls as his attempt at evisceration doesn't meet with much success. This thing's armor is too tough for him while the worm is thrashing about like this. His claws mostly just score the surface, not penetrating much deeper.
Those rather significant chunks of building raining down on them both certainly aren't helping much, either.
Barricade shifts, scrambling along Hellbender's length, dodging stone and metal and concrete as it cascades down, taking a few hits here and there - DAMNIT! He'd just gotten those struts straightened!
No more Mr. Nice Killer. Time to get serious.
The edge of a panel catches his attention as he scrambles over it, sending him skittering to a halt. A fierce scowl and those claws sink home again, this time biting in deep enough to anchor him more securely into that armored side. Sharp talon points slip into the thin gap at the edge of that panel, working in quickly as he shifts to maintain balance, prying their way past the catch until, with a vicious growl and a heave, Barricade rips part of that access hatch panel free.
Oh ho... Those look suspiciously like power connectors. Battery feeds, perhaps. Let's see if the massive monster notices him now.
Sparks fly as a great handful of exposed components rip free in his claws, flung to one side as he stabs deeply in again, rending out large grasping clawfuls of cables and connectors, conduits and components, looking for something vital, a look of gleeful murderous abandon on his alien features.
Not quite ripping someone's arm off to beat them to death with it, but just as fun.
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 12, 2008 23:20:34 GMT -5
Pain knifed through Hellbender's side as Barricade tore into his battery compartment. Diagnostic alarms started warning him of power loss as reserve systems kicked in.
What the smelted glitch?
Hellbender roared and rolled over and over, then slammed his boring heads into the ground, digging back into the sewer. Whoever and whatever it was, he'd scrape his tormentor off on the close-fitting walls of his tunnels--then come back and devour him!
Meter after meter of dull black metal slithered into the hole in the floor under the toppled rubble...
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Cannonball
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Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
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Post by Cannonball on Jan 13, 2008 0:54:12 GMT -5
Cannonball just...well, watches. He can't quite do much more than that.
"...melt me down an' reforge me, that were strange."
Yeah, Cannonball kinda missed Barricade doing his thing.
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Barricade
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Post by Barricade on Jan 13, 2008 13:52:21 GMT -5
Cannonball missed his kamikaze attack? Well, except for the fact that Cannonball missed the opportunity of Hellbender's momentary distraction, that's just fine with Barricade; he wasn't doing it to impress anyone. He just wanted to finally get his claws into something and hurt them. Judging by Hellbender's reaction?
Mission accomplished.
Of course, now Barricade has a massive mining worm rolling him. And much of a collapsed building down or coming down on top of him.
Barricade hisses in pain as Hellbender thrashes and rolls, debris catching at the much smaller Decepticon and ripping him free. The coiled mass of Hellbender's bulk mashes into him as he passes, pressing him hard back into the small cavity of debris he's been scraped off into. That small cavity is the only thing preventing the mining worm from compressing Barricade into a flat smear of razor shards, although the Saleen's diagnostics array is still flashing damage warnings at him. Once Hellbender passes, he'll still be able to transform - barely - and he can still walk, stalk, and run, if needed, but he certainly won't be winning any beauty competitions, and those damned struts hurt like slag!
Barricade, however, has never been one to hold back on a fight just to save himself a little finish or pain.
First things first, though, Hellbender has to get the slag out of his way, and then Barricade can try and struggle his way free of this pile of rocks the worm dropped on his head.
And then it will be time to try and punch another hole in the wee worm's much vaunted armor. Barricade would like to find what passes for a spark for the monster.
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Fleetwind
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The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
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Post by Fleetwind on Jan 13, 2008 15:14:21 GMT -5
For those looking (but who's watching the skies when there's a rampaging mining worm running about?), a faint dot of pale against the sky can finally be seen as Fleetwind finishes his sweep of Hook's sector.
//A few sections where it looks like the supports under the roads were collapsed,// he radios to Barricade only. //They've gone underground.//
To Cannonball, Fleetwind calls, //I've read you. You'd better start setting up now. I'm on my way back, and will be in position next turn.//
That is to say, if, on the next round, the energon has been thrown, Fleetwind should be close enough to follow it with a rocket.
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 13, 2008 15:37:16 GMT -5
Unfortunately for Fleetwind's plan, Hellbender did not oblige by staying in Cannonball's reach. He had to retreat to scrape off Barricade. Now he has to retreat further to return and find the wounded infltrator and finished grinding him into scrap--
Hellbender plunged through the sewer system; his 'face' hurt where Fleetwind had shattered one set of 'teeth' and dislocated them; without all four intakes functional, Hellbender couldn't bore nearly as fast. When he'd cut his escape tunnel, the extra rubble that wasn't sucked down by the broken intake nearly jammed his head in place until he thought to roll his head back and forth so the other cutters and intakes could take up the slack.
Maybe if he'd thought to practice burrowing with one or more cutters and intakes down--but, slaggitall! It wasn't like he'd been in this body for the last million years! Hellbender didn't want to risk a long tunnel cut until he'd had a chance to practice cutting while damaged--so there was only one thing to do--circle the block.
The big mining worm slithered through the storm sewers, slowly circling the city block back to the scene of the battle. Hellbender kept his audials cranked up, listening for movement of his foes--and if they'd followed him into the underground, their conversations.
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Cannonball
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Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
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Post by Cannonball on Jan 14, 2008 5:17:15 GMT -5
Cannonball moves a bit higher in the air, rubbing his helm a bit.
//Thar be a ...minor issue with th' plan, lad. The big lug done went undahground again fer some reason...ah'll see if'n I cannae draw 'im back out.//
While Hellbender DID knock down a building, it wasn't the one he'd been messing with earlier. That one was a little way down toward the way Cannonball had come from. Flying back toward that area, he stops by it. "Le's see if this works as well as I 'ope it will..." he mutters, unleashing a flurry of laser fire at the base of the building, punching holes in the lower levels. A few groans, and the structure leaaaaaans toward the street, and crashes down, kicking up a big dust cloud and raising a big ruckus.
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Barricade
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Knight of the Spastic Sword
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Post by Barricade on Jan 14, 2008 13:52:54 GMT -5
// Understood. I hurt Hellbender, if his reaction was anything to judge by. If we can hit him again, we might be able to make him retreat back to their base and lead us right to it, // Barricade replies to Fleetwind. He doesn't bother mentioning his damages; if he's conscious, he's functional, and if he's functional, he can ignore the pain to hurt something else. // I think I feel him coming back for another attack, though, so whatever you have planned, be ready. //
For now, he maintains position, buried in the rubble. There's enough gaps of light hitting him that busting free shouldn't be too difficult - if painful - for a hasty dodge or attack, depending on Hellbender's next move.
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Fleetwind
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The Chancellor, His Eminent Grandeur, Marquis Fleetwind. The Insurgent Subduer of A Non-Threatening Cute Little Furry Kitten
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Post by Fleetwind on Jan 14, 2008 14:01:44 GMT -5
//Read you,// Fleetwind radios Cannonball. By now he's in the area, circling overhead, and the roar of his engines can no doubt be heard by sensors of sufficient sensitivity underground. //If he doesn't come up for air soon, though, I'm going to have to abort.// For now, however, the Seeker stays in position, so that he can swoop down quickly should Hellbender make an appearance.
To Barricade, he explains, //Hook's either in a building or, more likely, underground. If he's underground, following Hellbender back is our best option for finding him, but I'm not our best option for grabbing the flag. We may want to switch off between myself and Blackarachnia. She looks to be built for tight spaces, and should be good at getting in or out without notice.//
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Hellbender
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Post by Hellbender on Jan 14, 2008 16:05:47 GMT -5
About the time Hellbender was just about to turn down the drain leading back to the battle area, Hook's orders reached him:
//Reserve power? Disengage and withdraw to <coordinates of chandeliers>. I'll repair whatever has been broken.//
// Withdraw? Awww, smelt! Ah was just circlin' around to find the recycled solder-spatter that tagged me. Seriously. Yes sir, Ah'll be on my way. Hellbender out. //
Orders were orders, no matter how he felt about it. Hellbender avoided the turn and continued straight, following the sewer system back down and over to one of his cuts into the subway line... And that eventually took him back to Hook and his chandeliers.
--- And Hellbender is out of *this* thread unless y'all decide to follow him into the sewers.
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Cannonball
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Me, I'm dishonest. And a dishonest man you can always trust to be dishonest.
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Post by Cannonball on Jan 15, 2008 23:35:42 GMT -5
Several moments pass, and the creature doesn't re-surface. Cannonball makes a somewhat disappointed face, alighting on top of a building. //Donnae look like 'e be coming back up fer now...shall we go 'Ook, or regroup an' wait fer 'im tae come back?//
Sure, Cannonball leads his group, but when cooperating with others, always give them a choice in what to do.
Then if it goes wrong, you can totally blame them for it.
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