Firebird on the Mountain

[Rodimus Prime]

Rodimus is already in the process of circling around, ready to ambush the... whoever if they emerge from the other side of the temple.

//Damn it!// he radios back to Bambi. //I don't know why I trusted that the humans would have any sense of self-preservation. I should know better by now!// Really, he's kind of kicking himself over that.

//Well, that changes the plan, then. We can't afford to wait for them to come out and pick them off there, not with humans in danger.//

Rodimus, reaching the base of the pyramid on the other side, transforms and starts to sprint up it.

He'll probably be about halfway up at the point when Crankcase emerges from the exit above him, chased by the lava gusher.

[Crankcase]

//Got the crystal,// Crankcase answers in a tense voice, //and lava.// The stairwell is growing extremely, uncomfortably warm and ominous red-orange light fills the passage. //Leaving now, back side of pyramid.// Arms and legs pumping in a long stride not unlike Hatchet's, Crankcase barrels through the doorway and vaults over the altar in front of it. He hooks pillars and corners with his free arm as he runs to speed his turns because the faster he puts the lava behind him, the less likely he is to end this mission a half-melted corpse.

A few more cable-straining leaps and he bursts into the open. He doesn't stop there, only pausing long enough to process that there is an Autobot coming up the side of the pyramid toward him. He checks it against the files he's read and a match comes up: Rodimus Prime. Well, now he knows which Prime Duskwing was grumbling about.

//Didn't mention Prime coming up here,// he growls as he changes direction to give Rodimus a wide berth. This course will take him much closer to the humans, which could be useful – or problematic, depending on how things unfold. //Coming to your side.//

[Duskwing]

Duskwing stares suspiciously at Bambi for several moments. Now that he thinks about it, he hasn't actually offlined anyone permanently since they woke up from stasis in the Ark. And before that, he was in stasis for four million years and killed no one. His actual kill count, for a veteran of his age that flew with Megatron, is really, horribly, embarassingly low because of that long hiatus. Decepticon Air Command on Cybertron probably revoked his Ace status for lack of performance vorns and vorns ago. He sure the slag isn't admitting that to his fellow Decepticons, let alone an Autobot!

The dark blue and purple Seeker scowls ferociously. "Dat ain't none of your business, Autobot! Dat's operational information, and last time I check, youse is the enemy. F--Fur--Furthermore, Peru ain't in my chain of command, and Starscream is, so his orders is the legal ones, not Peru's!" He starts to cross his arms, a smug expression on his face--

Duskwing's arms suddenly unfold, and a startled expression crosses his face. "Whaddaya mean, lava??" His optics flicker, changing brightness rapidly and he stumbles back into the jungle. "Shaft you down a sump, I'm oughta here!" he snaps at Bambi as he jumps up and keeps going, lifters propelling him to a safe altitude before he lights off his jet engines, zooming up and over the top of the pyramid as he transforms.

// Whoa, slag!! Lotta slag! Get in the open and I'll pick you up, // Duskwing yells over the radio to Crankcase. // Hope you got something, 'cause we stirred up a mess here! And I didn't know the Prime was coming up dere, he said he was going into the jungle to protect the squishies! Autobots aren't supposed to lie like that! Optimus Prime never did. // Duskwing sounds righteously offended at that last.

[Holi]

As estimated, Dr. Suzuki reaches the top of the pyramid just in time to catch a very large shadow rushing over the edge of the far side stairs. She blinks, confused first by that odd anomaly of vision, and then by the warm glow filling the temple.

"Wh-what?" she blurts out, adjusting her glasses again. She glances over her shoulder to the panicking jet bot. "What did he say?" she asks Dr. Hoffman.

[Frenzy]

Dr. Hoffman freezes at the flash of large shadow vanishing on the other side of the temple. Damn. It was just like that encounter in the Roman sewers under London. Except outdoors in daylight. In South America.

So not like that unpleasantness at all. Which meant she had different problems to deal with than nice Miskatonic doctors disbelieving that she was fine, thank you very much.

-- Like that.

"He said lava," Dr. Hoffman says tonelessly. "We should run."

So saying, she grabs Dr. Suzuki's arm, whirls them about, and dashes down the pyramid stairs, dragging her colleague along as fast as she's able to go.


OOC: Posing and dragging of Dr. Suzuki with player permission.

[Rodimus Prime]

OOC: Swapping position with Bambi by agreement. Human scooping with permission.

A Decepticon emerges from the temple and immediately starts to run along the side, towards the opposite end, pretty obviously avoiding Rodimus. Rodimus considers changing course to try and chase the Decepticon down, but then he realizes that the way the other is running, he's liable to reach the humans on the other side first.

But then, there's a short cut, isn't there? The temple itself! Besides, that is where those humans were heading!

Rodimus keeps running up the steps, then, reaching the top of the temple just in time to see the humans disappearing from sight as they're running back down. So they were scared off by the Decepticon?

... But why can he see them so easily? Why's it so bright?

Rodimus's optics open wide in realization. He's not sure what's going on, but something scared them both. Sensibly, he should run, too, but there will shortly be far too many Decepticons, far too few Autobots, and far too many defenseless humans all on the same side of that temple. All this worked out in but an instant, Rodimus, rather than doing the sensible thing, barges forward, running full tilt through the top section. It's as he passes the downward passage that he catches sight of what's coming up, and his optics, if anything, get wider still.

"What?! Lava?!" he shouts, incredulous. He manages, somehow, to make himself run even faster, making it almost to the other exit as the lava bursts from the passageway, making it out of the temple only just ahead of the stuff.

"Run!" he shouts, doing just the same, quickly catching up with the humans and scooping them up (and thus preventing them from actually listening to them). As he overtakes Bambi, he thrusts them towards her.

"You're probably faster in the jungle than I am, and I'll need to cover you! Go!"

[Lynn Deanna Payne]

"Lava!?" Bambi shouts, optics wide as saucers. Lava belongs in an Indiana Jones movie, not in real life! Real life has horrible nanite monsters instead. Fear actually pangs her. The lava reminds her of a smelting pool, what Optimus wanted to do to her brothers.

Bambi tries to position her back so that the good doctors will land on the dinosaur's back sort of like riding an... ostrich? Provided that they get themselves settled, she'll sprint off into the jungle.

Dinobots generally don't really like humans. Humans are soft and weak. If humans can't survive, that is their own problem. Dinobots also generally don't like following orders.

Spunky girl sidekicks hate it when men cover them, like they can't defend themselves.

And archaeologists hate it when ancient ruins are covered by lava.

Rodimus Prime may get his ankles bitten later over all of this.

[Crankcase]

Crankcase comes to a stone-cracking stop to avoid colliding with Rodimus Prime as the big camper comes charging past. Saving the humans. Well, it gets the heat off Crankcase – one kind of heat, anyway. He turns again to take a different course from the Autobots. His plan, unless Duskwing miraculously finds some other solution that gets him away from the pyramid faster, is to just book it at top speed in the opposite direction as their enemies. Rodimus wants to cover the dinosaur and the humans; that's fine by Crankcase, since the Prime certainly won't be covering them from him.

//DOUBLED BACK,// he messages Duskwing. He adds, more a question, //MEET AT <coordinates>.// He sort of resents having to ask at all. He's been thoroughly spoiled by his team. He has to adjust, or risk failure; but that doesn't mean he has to like it. He scowls at the forest as he rises to both feet and half-sprints, half-falls his way down the pyramid. He takes no care with his stride now, each hurried step shattering stone. He'll spend a while after he gets back to the ship, assuming he gets back, cleaning fragments and pebbles from his legs. It'll be a welcome task if he just survives the lava flow coming after him.

Why couldn't it have been something saner? Like an explosion? Explosions make sense.

[Duskwing]

It doesn't occur to Duskwing that this doesn't really make sense--he comes from a universe where the Autobots elected Grimlock as their leader, Megatron was a crazed clone, and Optimus Prime committed suicide over a video game. What's a little lava in a (probably-not) Incan temple?

The dark blue (with purple trim) fighter jet roars over the pyramid and banks slightly, heading for Crankcase's coordinates. There's the Dread, legs pumping like a demented robo-sprinter and there's--

Lava. Pouring down the temple steps. "Fraggit, they're gonna say dis is my fault, I just know it!"

At least the Autobots are off chasing the humans, and not shooting at him. Yet. Is that Prime down there?

// Brace yerself, comin' in for pickup. Better hang on tight! // is all the warning Duskwing gives before he transforms his arms (which makes him into a very weird-looking jet with arms coming out below his engine intakes, that flies badly)¹ and grabs Crankcase with both hands.

"Hang on, I need those ducts back," Duskwing snaps as he heaves the Dread onto his back, just behind his cockpit, and quickly folds his arms back into place, before his engines flame-out completely from the interruption in airflow. He doesn't think to wait to see if Crankcase has a firm grip before he does so.

-----
Crankcase-grabbing approved by player

¹Starscream, as an F-15 seeker, has been observed to do this particular maneuver in the cartoon, so it's presumably possible

[Holi]

Lucy quite shamelessly screams in a fit of elation and terror – mostly terror – as she suddenly finds herself being carried up in a pair of hands larger than herself and then deposited on the back of a robot dinosaur. She also quite shamelessly tries to hang onto Doctor Hoffman and the dinosaur at the same time.

[Frenzy]

Susan screams along with Dr. Suzuki as she's picked up and deposited on the back of a dinosaur. She maintains her death-grip on Dr. Suzuki while scrambling to dig her toes and other hand into any grippable bits of dinosaur.

When the running and the screaming is done, she snaps, "That- that man!"

[Rodimus Prime]

Rodimus has apparently just made every female present angry at him. And when the time comes to ponder a defense, 'I didn't assume you were weak because you're a woman! I assumed you were weak because you're human!' probably won't cut it. However, since the Decepticons are fleeing, it doesn't really look like anyone needs his protection, anyway. He lifts his arm, aiming the pipes after the jet, but then scowls. There's no telling what they'll crash into if he fires, and there are still too many humans around.

He turns to chase after Bambi, instead, though he moves more slowly, making sure there aren't any humans still scurrying about in this area. As he does, he contacts the Event Horizon, trying to get an idea on who might be affected by this lava flow - hopefully, it won't last long, and they won't have to worry about any inhabited ares.

[Lynn Deanna Payne]

Bambi is also an angry female, though she's not human.

She continues running off into the jungle, awaaaaay from the lava, and she grumbles to herself, "Lava no make sense. Tectonic maps say area stable. What them Decepticons do, set off lava like that?"

Bambi is not really trying to make this comfortable for her passengers, so this is liable to be a lot less comfortable than riding a horse.

[Crankcase]

Crankcase twists with Duskwing's toss, turning himself over so that he can secure himself atop the jet, low on his knees with his free hand tight on the fuselage just behind the cockpit. He has to dig in with his claws to avoid being peeled off by velocity alone, but that's the price Duskwing will have to pay for letting the Dread catch a piggyback ride. Crankcase crouches as low as he can to reduce his impact on the jet's profile and aerodynamics, one leg tucked up to his chest, the other stretched along Duskwing's fuselage to help brace and secure him. The crystal he keeps close to his side, in the crook of his elbow.

//Secured! Go!//

[Duskwing]

"OW! Hey, watch the claws!" Duskwing complains as Crankcase's claws dig into his fuselage. "If I gotta repaint dat, you ain't gonna like it." Oblivious to the contradiction, he adds, "Now hang on!"

The dark blue and purple F-15 opens his throttle wide and roars across the sky, away from the Autobots and indignant scientists as fast as he can, toward their pick-up. They have what they came for; let the Autobots sort out the mess they'd left behind.

And maybe, just maybe, Duskwing would get credit for a successful mission. For once.

----
Out of thread with Crankcase unless stopped. Carrying Crankcase with permission.