Fireblade: Kup's Chase

[Kup]

"Mix it up, break it off!" Kup roars, the pre-arranged signal that it's time to lead these invaders on a merry chase through the city. And with that, he turns, tires screeching against the road, and suddenly darts off into one of the side roads himself. While it galls him to turn tail and run so fast, the Autobots have a better chance at picking the, erm, other Autobots off one by one than they do as a mass group.

He rolls over the too-smooth metal road at his top speed, though he's not, in fact, trying to outrace anyone. He simply knows for a fact that his top speed is slow enough that just about everyone else out there can catch up easily.

His rear sensors check to see who follows him - he has one plan for the Prime, and another for 'everyone else.' Moments later, when he sees the massive red and yellow machine roar past the street opening without stopping, though, he knows that he'll be using Plan B: "Everyone Else."

[Nightbeat-3]

Which, in this case, would be Nightbeat. He's playing it nice and slow for right now. Well, slow enough to match Kup's top-speed, a mere fraction of his own.

"You are one dead 'bot, old timer!" he calls out, opening fire with all his weapons.

[Kup]

As mentioned previously, Kup has two plans. His "Rodimus is following me" plan is to drive down this side road and make use of a spikes-from-the-road trap further on. His "someone else is following me" plan is a lot simpler.

Wait until the others are out of sight and beat the solder out of whoever it is.

"Yeah, yeah," Kup snaps back as the shots from Nightbeat blast at him. He deals with them like he does most typical weapons fire: absorbing a fair bit. Not every shot hits, not every shot that hits makes it way through his thick armor, but some does, gouging off chunks on what converts to his right foot here, his left torso there. He packs more of a punch then Kup expected, but not more than Kup's dealt with before.

Finally, the truck spins to a stop and transforms, Kup spinning into a crouched position, one knee on the ground, his musket out before the transformation is even complete.

He fires a glob of acid at the oncoming blue car.

"Better mechs than you've tried."

[Nightbeat-3]

Acid splatters across Nightbeat's hood, prompting a scream from the gangster, but mercifully leaving all of his weapons undamaged.

It is enough, however, to prompt him back into robot mode as well. He brings up his handgun, firing off a few shots, not really bothering to aim. His grin is one that, chillingly, would not look too out of place on the "real" Nightbeat.

"Ha! The old man's still got some spunk in him after all! This is gonna be fun!"

[Kup]

"'Some spunk,'" Kup snorts, releasing his muzzle into subspace.

"Let me tell you something, punk. I ain't the spoiled politician you know."

Already on one knee, it's a simple matter to lean forward and transform, rolling towards Nightbeat at the best speed he can make it, intending to ram right into the other at full force.

"I'm Kup! I've been cop and criminal, guadian and merc, and today? I'm the one who's going to put you down!"

[Nightbeat-3]

"...Aw, heck," Nightbeat mutters, mere seconds before Kup rams into him, sending him flying. He hadn't expected it to be this easy. It should have been. Nice and easy, a good quick kill to get him warmed up to the real challenges.

And now? Now he'd just felt something crack in his chestplate. Groaning, he angles his head toward Kup, his antenna swiveling forward as he fires them.

[Kup]

Kup's not challenge enough?

... Boy, that doesn't speak much of his alternate.

The veteran's windshields are blown out by the shots, and those seats inside won't be comfortable for anyone anytime soon. He hisses in pain as he transforms again.

"Heck? Heck?! I'll give you heck!!" he yells, diving for the downed mobster, right hand balled into a fist, to deliver a punch backed by strength that approaches Slag's.

Easy target, indeed!

[Mirage-3]

An exposed back. How tempting.

Nightbeat may have thought this Kup to be an easy target. Mirage had learned otherwise, both from observing their own Kup and this less-refined one.

Two shots, one slightly lower and to one side than the other, are sent winging on their way. Kup's tough. But armour piercing rounds are nice equalizers.

OOC: In and out.

[Nightbeat-3]

"..Dis is gonna be one of dose days..." Nightbeat mutters, moments before Kup's blow strikes him in the head.

The blow is strong enough to snap his head around and only his mechanoid nature saves him from a broken neck. It does, however, do sufficient damage to lock his antenna into their upright position, keeping him from firing them again in robot mode.

Deciding that this is a fight he's probably not going to win, Nightbeat lets out a groan and tries to lie still. Maybe he can fake Kup out by playing roboto-possum. ...And laying here feels pretty good right now anyway. Maybe he can get the world to stop spinning...

[Kup]

Whether you want to call it playing roboto-possum, feigning death, or, as the Onbresans of Thabian IV call it, friending the flouraks, it's one of the oldest tricks in the book, and the way to deal with Kup is not to use any tricks in the book. He's read that book, and knows them all. If you want to fool Kup, you have to start writing entirely new books.

Kup pulls back his fist to deliver another punch, this time to Nightbeat's midsection, when two shots hit him from behind, passing through his armor, to the left of his laser core, and straight out the front of his torso.

"Argh!!" he grunts, looking down to examine the exit holes. That'll make fighting more painful, but, as useful as Kup's thick armor is, he tends to rely more heavily on his sturdily constructed insides. It'll take a lot more than those two shots to take him out, even if he'll have to give himself extra time to transform now.

The elder scans the area, looking for the source of those shots, and sees nothing.

Of course, since they passed right through him, there's a chance they might also hit an entirely unintended target...

[Nightbeat-3]

If you look up bad days in the dictionary, you just might find a picture of this version of Nightbeat. He's been sprayed with acid, run-over, sucker-punched, gut-punched, and just now had two shots pass through Kup and into him.

He searches for a word, trying to remember it. It was a clever word. Useful for when one really didn't feel like getting up again. "Uh... Parley?"

[Kup]

Kup rubs his chin, as though considering Nightbeat's request. "Hmmm. Now, what is it the humans sometimes say?" Then he perks up, right finger pointed in the air in the classic, 'I remember!' pose. "Oh yeah!"

He balls his hand back into a fist, then aims said fist directly into Nightbeat's face, intent on delivering the knock-out punch in order to take the mobster out of the fight.

"Talk to the hand!"

[Nightbeat-3]

Yup, that does it. A curse dies on his lips and the mobster's head does a near three hundred and sixty degree spin, before his optics grow dim and he is very firmly knocked out.

[Kup]

There's too much going on for Kup to spend time gloating over his victory. He just notes the location, makes a report, stands up, transforms, and rolls out.

One down, but how many others to go?