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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 3, 2008 20:45:23 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron may be considered a Rear Echelon Motherboard Fragger, a general who counts the numbers and moves the Xs and Os without any real idea of the horrors his men endure on the front lines. However, to dismiss him as such would be to ignore one critical aspect of his personality.
His natural tendency is to rush into danger, not away from it. Emirate Xaaron is no coward who hides behind the slain bodies of his men. His own soldiers knew him and knew to restrain him when trouble came knocking. These people do not know him, and they have not stopped him.
So he leans casually against a building wall, just inside of a dark, shadowed alley. It'll require a double-take for someone driving by to notice him, despite his gold, but look twice, and there he is, his 'crown' casting a shadow over his face, his optics slivers of yellow. He arms are folded behind his back, and he doesn't look half so worried as he should.
Anyone with a half lick of sense will think it a trap - and he or she will be completely correct.
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Runamuck
Cadet
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Posts: 99
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Post by Runamuck on May 4, 2008 15:26:08 GMT -5
It should come as no surprise that Runamuck does not, in fact, have a lick of sense.
Speeding down the street, the white car squeezes on his front brakes, fishtailing around to face the alley again. "Well, lookit what we got here!" he laughs, firing a volley of rockets from his sides towards Xaaron and charging full speed for the shiny mech. He's too caught up in battle fever to even stop to consider a trap.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 4, 2008 17:34:37 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron has a vague idea who Runamuck is, but he quickly decides that this must not be his Runamuck. His own Runamuck would be a lot more interested in seeing Emirate Xaaron dead.
Of course, Emirate Xaaron has always favoured the ignorance of his enemies as a weapon.
As soon as he hears a car coming, Emirate Xaaron takes a few steps back, deeper into the darkness of the alley. When the rockets come flying, he throws himself behind a dumpster, which will also serve as a buffer between himself and Runamuck.
Of the traps that the other Mirage mapped, this one was not on the map. Either it is a) very good and thus hard to find, b) new and perhaps lacking, or c) nonexistent.
From behind the dumpster, Emirate Xaaron inquires sharply, "Do you shoot everyone you meet, or am I special?"
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Runamuck
Cadet
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Posts: 99
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Post by Runamuck on May 5, 2008 6:44:19 GMT -5
"Little bit a' both, goldy!" the thug laughs back. He didn't see a Con symbol, and it isn't anybody he's been told NOT to slag. That adds up to fair game in Runamuck's book. Can't hurt to make a quick radio call about it, though.
It's too bad he didn't bother with his commander's required reading. It might've helped avoid what comes next.
Charging forward, Runamuck has enough time to let off a few laser shots into the already-half-scrapped dumpster before the street falls away under him, mere inches from where Xaaron had been standing. He manages to transform and grab the side edges of the pit, only to get tossed anyway as the bottom flies up under him, bashing him bodily into the air. The Battlecharger flies over the Emirate, submitting, in colorful fashion, that Xaaron's makers may have been faulty and his personal hygiene leaves much to be desired. A particularly vile epithet is cut short as Runamuck crashes head-first into a wall, tumbling down to the ground somewhere farther down the alley behind Xaaron and leaving a rather nicely-shaped crater.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 5, 2008 8:48:45 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron also looks queerly like Megatron, it has been observed, especially in his face and helmet design, but also in how his bodily design is laid out, down to his feet. It's something to ponder, anyway.
He stands up quickly, already looking to just bash through a wall and take shelter inside a building, when Runamuck falls into the trap. At the epithets, Emirate Xaaron calls, over his shoulder, "Does Megatron know you talk like that?"
Emirate Xaaron take hold of what is left of the dumpster, sets his feet, and swings it around. He releases it and sends it flying toward Runamuck. That ought to keep the Battlecharger occupied for a little while.
Then, he does indeed bash a hole into the side of a building. He seems to recall a sewer cover big enough for a Transformer to use just a block or so down, and the underground is Emirate Xaaron's natural home.
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Runamuck
Cadet
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Posts: 99
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Post by Runamuck on May 5, 2008 9:59:37 GMT -5
Runamuck's Megatron has obvious tank parts strapped on. Not to mention gun barrels. Plus, if it were Megatron, it wouldn't be a pit-thrower trap, it would've been the business end of a fusion cannon. See, you don't have to be intelligent to be smart! Waitaminnit.....
Slightly dazed from his impromptu flight, Runamuck barely manages to get out his rifle. Unfortunately, he's not quite paying attention to which rifle. He kicks off the wall, scrambling out of the way of the now-flaming object and climbing to his feet.
He steps over to Xaaron's makeshift exit, leading with the headlights on his foot. Probably another trap. Maybe a collapsing building, or mines, or a pile of Wreckers ready to dogpile him.
Well, at least that'd be some fun.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 5, 2008 11:33:56 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron is shy about admitting he's a tank! He keeps his barrel and turret neatly folded inside his chest and his treads covered by plating on his legs.
He glances back to see a burning dumpster - he wasn't aware they were playing prismaball, now! - and Runamuck running after him. he doesn't show any fear, just determination and mild concern. At the very least, this is a Runamuck not shooting up the base or bothering the other Autobots.
For the record, Emirate Xaaron would love to have some Wreckers. What he has, instead, are the contents of a tall-ceilinged department store. Emirate Xaaron grabs randomly at the things on shelves, hurling it back at Runamuck as he runs through the store, dodging and weaving, trying to stay behind shelves as much as possible. If he can just stall Runamuck a little longer, he can make to to the sewer, out the other side!
Fly, lingerie rack, fly!
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Runamuck
Cadet
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Posts: 99
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Post by Runamuck on May 5, 2008 18:27:16 GMT -5
Here's one more thing about this planet he doesn't get. What's the point of making some kind of throwing blindfold, even designing it to go over the eyes and around a nose structure, if the material's so thin he can still see through it?
Runamuck rips the odd cloth away from his optics, grumbling. Too much flying....junk....to use the fun gun. He shoves the friction rifle away, drawing out his laser rifle and taking a shot that'll probably go wide as a flying microwave-like device whacks into his arm.
"Ah, frag this," the thug rumbles, dropping into car mode. Spinning his tires and laying down a thick layer of rubber, Runamuck charges, scattering display racks, counters, and a gondola* or two in pursuit of Xaaron, taking potshots with his rifle as he does.
*Target aisles are built in four-foot sections called gondolas. I kid you not.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 5, 2008 19:16:13 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron takes a few hits from the laser rifle, mainly to his back. He hisses in pain and clenches his teeth, trying to not let it show. However, if Runamuck had been figuring Emirate Xaaron for a civilian, his armour definitely doesn't take those hits the way civilian armour would. There is a neat gouge and blackening, but the shots don't even go all the way through the armour.
Of course, if he takes enough of them, it'll add up, all the same.
Sighting the front window, Emirate Xaaron leaps and throws himself through the window, glass shattering with a crash and a thousand tinkles as it hits the ground. He tucks and rolls.
Rather than getting to his feet, he reaches out and grabs a manhole lid, crouching only enough to fling it at the charging Battlecharger the way a matador might a cape.
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Runamuck
Cadet
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Posts: 99
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Post by Runamuck on May 5, 2008 21:23:39 GMT -5
Oooh, looky, the guy can take a few hits. He can play even longer, then! Glee!
Seeing the Emirate fleeing, Runamuck lets out a woop, firing rockets into the storefront to clear his path. The blooming explosions block his few for a split second....just long enough for a metal disk to fly through and crash into his windshield, shattering the glass and flying straight through his rear window, taking a chunk of his spoiler with it. Runamuck has just enough time to pop out his armor before he plows through a wall to his left, transforming as he does so and sliding sideways into a storefront across the street, crashing through a display of moldering books and magazines.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 6, 2008 22:40:55 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron scuttles for the exposed sewer. Before he climbs in, he gives a cheeky, jaunty wave to Runamuck.
Then, Emirate Xaaron starts to climb down the sewer's ladder. He's especially careful, as these sewers may be wetter than usual, and he does not wish to be swept away. However, the water should be subsiding.
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Runamuck
Cadet
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Posts: 99
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Post by Runamuck on May 7, 2008 4:52:42 GMT -5
Hey, dirty magazines. Well, it's the local equivalent of a mechanic's digest, but we're talking about robots here. Slipping one into subspace.....
And then he shakes his head, clearing the cobwebs in time to see Xaaron ducking down the sewer. Runamuck grabs a handy bookshelf and hurls it after the fleeing tank-bot-in-disguise as an angry gesture, not expecting it to do much, and climbs to his feet, littering paper all over the place and fishing his rifle out of the debris.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 7, 2008 7:39:42 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron gets smacked by bookshelf and various documents on the way down. It doesn't do much more than annoy him, although he does almost slip in his climbing.
Once down, the inside of this sewer has a narrow (to a Transformer) walkway on one side, which is currently slick with putrid water, and a main channel that is roiling and rushing, entirely too high for normal. At least the entire thing isn't flooded.
Emirate Xaaron loves sewers, a little more than is strictly healthy. Sewers are so frustrating to Decepticons. They can't fly easily in them, if they can fly, and most of the time, they have no idea where they are going. The dark makes it harder to aim and harder to track.
He heads along the walkway as quickly as he dares. He doesn't want to fall into the main sewer channel, so if Runamuck follows him down, he'll still be quite visible.
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Runamuck
Cadet
I'm not as think as you drunk I am.
Posts: 99
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Post by Runamuck on May 7, 2008 8:20:42 GMT -5
Well, he hasn't shown any signs of knowing when to quit so far. Why should he now?
Runamuck clambers down the ladder, faster than would be wise and nearly dropping his gun in the process. At the last few rungs, he slips and lands with a heavy, concrete-cracking thud. Sewers don't bother him much. In another universe, another pair of Battlechargers spent a lot of time in sewers. Of course, this one isn't made of metallic marshmallows, so he's not as good at it, but at least there's fewer places to fall from. The slimy flooring is making him reconsider asking Hook about a set of antigravs, though. He won't be flying anywhere, but avoiding simple ground traps would be nice.
The darkness isn't much of a problem, considering he has headlights for toes and his opponent is so very very shiny. He raises his laser rifle, then grins behind his faceplate and draws his friction rifle in his other hand. How well will this one burn? "Any last words, Auto-bum?"
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on May 7, 2008 8:43:44 GMT -5
"You know, given that the Decepticons' Ten Deadliest Killers," that was their group name, for real, "zombies, demons, and more have already tried?" Emirate Xaaron calls back, cockily. "How well can you swim?"
With that, Emirate Xaaron dives into the main channel, which is quite deep enough to swallow him and forceful enough to push even his heavy tank aft along, especially because he isn't resisting. Is this disgusting? Totally. Will it work? That remains to be seen.
Runamuck does seem to be the sort of crazy that would dive into a raging sewer torrent for some wrestling.
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