Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 6, 2011 20:06:53 GMT -5
Hellbender eats Twin Twist's gravel, pushing his grinders and impellers to the maximum, but the blasted Wrecker still reaches the surface before Hellbender catches up. He almost reaches the collapse zone, though--
Far below, the spray of finely chopped coal begins to smoulder, then to burn. Not too far above, in Hellbender's wake, fine coal dust drifts in the air, wanting only a fresh oxygen-laden downdraft to feed it into the smouldering coals...
Far above, Twin Twist has broken out into the open air, and Hellbender is just breaching the collapse zone the Wrecker left behind him...
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Nov 7, 2011 12:56:17 GMT -5
Franklin snaps back at Simmons, "Maybe not, but I was kind of hoping not to spend the rest of my life down here!" That would, after all, imply fairly unpleasant things about the length of said life. "Once we get back up, we'll need some way to call the others."
Of course, it's entirely possible that Franklin is focusing on something so small to keep his mind off of the giant, evil, drill worm behind them.
"Can't see him, gravel in the way," Override answers Simmons as she roars out behind Twin Twist, bursting forth from the hole and into the open air... and not a second too soon, as the oxygen hits those smouldering coals and the tunnel bursts into a firey explosion, the force of it pushing Override further into the air. She lets out a whoop as she's thrown forward, landing heavily on her tires and roaring forward for a few moments - not for very long, because they need to be able to see what the Decepticon is doing, but with her driving, any time spent moving forward gets them a pretty decent distance away.
"So, uhm, how important is it to you guys that we get that whatever back?" she asks almost conversationally.
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Post by Tessan Toov on Nov 11, 2011 0:33:21 GMT -5
Twin Twist is also flung by the explosion and yells at the top of his volume, "Wreck and rule!"
Is there anything better to say when being flung by an explosion? He doesn't think so. Twin Twist ends up landing drills first, and he promptly starts burrowing down into the soil, quite intending to double-back underground and harry Hellbender so that Override can make good her retreat with the humans.
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Swindle
Major
This space for rent.
Posts: 571
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Post by Swindle on Nov 12, 2011 21:06:48 GMT -5
Simmons didn't think it was possible to grip something any harder than he was already gripping Override's dashboard, but apparently it is, because he holds on for dear life even more when he hears the explosion behind him. He may or may not need a new pair of underwear now.
"Not very important. I think we can scrub this operation as not being worth the benefit for the cost," he replies to Override in the same conversational tone, sitting ramrod straight and prying his hands off her dashboard with supreme force of will to straighten his tie.
His right foot is still making frantic brake-slamming motions, however.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 13, 2011 17:27:55 GMT -5
A roiling ball of fire bursts from the ground with a thunderous roar, scorching the ground and anything and anyone nearby. Black smoke billows out of the hole, upward, and outward, completely obscuring the blast zone. If any remain undeafened by the initial blast, there's a ponderous screeching and creaking of shifting metal above the crackling of the flames...
A tall figure looms out of the smoke, a dark silhouette shrouded by gargoyle-like wings. Three red coals glow in that red smoke, two side-by-side like eyes, and a third, offset and lopsided, lower down. Gravel crunches under a ponderous tread.
A vagrant breeze blows aside the veil of smoke; Hellbender, robotic warrior stands there. Twin Twist is too late. The red eye of his shoulder-gun's targeting reticule slews to train on the nearest Autobot--
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Nov 15, 2011 19:38:12 GMT -5
Since Twin Twist immediately dived back under ground, the nearest Autobot would be Override, not that she's one to present a sitting target.
As the firing starts, Override is already on the move again. Twin Twist is out of sight, so the racer is going to just assume he's attempting to undermine Hellbender's case. She roars forward, jinking left and right to avoid as much weapons fire as possible, though the occasional blast rips through her armor, and one shot pierces the canopy, though not at an angle that the humans are in any risk.
"Glad to hear it!" Override answers Simmons cheerfully. "Now, I'm not heading straight back to your men - I gotta make sure this thing isn't following us first - but as soon as we've shaken him, I'll drop you back off at your dig site." She pauses, then adds brightly. "Oh, and if anyone asks me, you didn't interact with me once!"
Franklin makes a little snorting noise of amusement, but this is cut off as he desperately clamps the side of the seat to hold on when Override swerves once again.
OOC: Hellbender firing posed with permission of player.
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Post by Crankcase on Nov 17, 2011 13:06:19 GMT -5
Back at the base camp, there are some junior officers getting a bit restless at the sudden lack of communication with Simmons and Franklin. Crankcase is likewise lacking in news from Hellbender, but he doesn't share the humans' restiveness over it. The giant worm will speak up in the unlikely event he seeks aid from an assassin. He probably wouldn't need any help at all, ever, if he had a few more snaking limbs.
Crankcase banishes that idle thought and continues listening into the humans around him.
OOC: Still skippable, of course.
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Post by Tessan Toov on Nov 17, 2011 21:32:49 GMT -5
Twin Twist is indeed attempting to undermine. He doesn't go deep beneath the surface, sticking to where the drilling is easy. He lets his tunnel collapse behind him, not worrying about shoring it up properly.
Now, he tries to dig a pit under Hellbender, to sink him back down into the earth.
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Swindle
Major
This space for rent.
Posts: 571
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Post by Swindle on Nov 19, 2011 19:14:43 GMT -5
"Whoah!" Simmons exclaims as a laserblast pierces Override's canopy, squeezing himself against the seat. "Sure, great," he says, wishing for the ride to be over.
OOC: Skippable for the moment, until he has something to do other than hold on for dear life.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 22, 2011 9:45:00 GMT -5
Override dodges and swerves like a Velocitronian Blurr, though Hellbender managed to clip her a few times. Her primary mission seems to be to protect the humans, and that's fine with Hellbender--while she's getting the fleshlings to safety, she isn't fighting him or going after the mystery maguffin. In theory.
Twin Twist is the real problem; Hellbender can feel him digging up below him. He transforms back into giant metal worm mode just the ground collapses under his feet. The worm twists and tears into the earth, aiming to come at Twin Twist from the flank.
Hellbender finally sends orders on the D-band to the other Decepticon present. // Crankcase, find and extract the 'whatsit' that we're here to bag. Ah'll keep Twin Twist busy, and hopefully there's enough chaos upstairs to keep the other one busy with the humans. The widget's at <x,y,z> coordinates and should be kinda-sorta accessible via the tunnels and the crater. It's round and metallic, that's all I can tell you. //
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Post by Crankcase on Nov 27, 2011 21:15:55 GMT -5
//Acknowledged.// Given that there are explosions going off close enough to disturb the base camp, the humans are rather busy running around and he suspects they're not likely to pay much attention. Nevertheless, he maintains vehicle mode as he starts for the nearest tunnel mouth.
It's sort of amusing, he thinks, that he's snatching a prize instead of a life. Crankcase the errand boy.
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Override
Minor
The Chancellor, Her Noble Potency, Empress Override. The Glorious Victor over Everyone Else On the Track
Shut up and drive
Posts: 476
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Post by Override on Nov 30, 2011 13:27:54 GMT -5
Override is, for the moment, silent, focused on getting away from Hellbender as quickly as possible - which, in her case, is very quickly. Once it becomes obvious that he's not following her, however, she says, "All right, good. Now heading back to your camp - I'll drop you off there." With that, she changes course.
She should manage to get there just in time to see one of the SUVs disappearing into the tunnel mouth...
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Post by Tessan Toov on Dec 3, 2011 11:02:00 GMT -5
Twin Twist, when Hellbender comes at him, just turns and books it, relying on his speed to keep him out of the way.
OOC: Hmm, maybe wrap on the Autobots retreating to get the humans to safety and the 'cons getting the... whatever?
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Dec 7, 2011 18:08:52 GMT -5
Hellbender, for his part, pursues Twin Twist for a time, chewing through the drill tank's gravel until he realizes two things: (a) he's not going to catch Twin Twist unless the Autobot runs out of energy before he does, and (b) Twin Twist is leading him away from the Autobots and humans--successfully, so far.
Slag me for an idiot! Falling for such an obvious tactic.. The mining worm silently rebukes himself, then drills for the surface, where he can easily turn back and threaten the humans. Put pressure on the Autobots, keep them thinking about the fragile humans and not what else is going on...
--- Hellbender, having been successfully distracted by Twin Twist, is off thataway for a while. Skip him next round, unless TT does something. Or if the thread wraps before then.
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Post by Crankcase on Dec 8, 2011 10:57:02 GMT -5
OOC: Whatever works best for everybody.
"Hey, Bob?" wonders one of the less discombobulated agents as he watches part of the motor pool roll off into the tunnels.
"Little busy here, Phil!" comes the reply; Bob is a little too occupied trying to grab the most sensitive equipment and run for cover to humour his co-worker.
Crankcase, so far either unnoticed as far as he can tell, or at least not yet called out, continues into the tunnels. He's quite some ways in, surrounded by darkness, heat, and several hundred feet of rock, before he transforms and begins the search in earnest. He doesn't doubt that he'll need to backtrack or potentially find his way around (or through) blocked tunnels to reach the objective. It should be an interesting hunt.
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