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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 4, 2010 22:35:50 GMT -5
OOC: Private thread. Day 12. Event Horizon solid-light training room. Some time after Sex and Candy.
Rodimus isn't in the best of moods. Oh, he was in a better mood earlier, before he passed by Springer's little training session.
(Actually, when Rodimus isn't being angry, he still thinks the whole idea behind the training session is pretty hilarious.)
But now he's in a bad mood and so now he's... home.
Specifically, he's in Nox, a small town in the southern region of Stanix back on Cybertron. The town's in bad shape, though it has the looks of some recent rebuilding. It would seem that this rebuilding was in vain, however, as the town is now under attack by a small group of Seeker-style Decepticons. Rodimus rolls through the streets in vehicle mode, the Decepticons firing after him as they give chase, before he disappears down a side alley. The faux-Decepticons, of course, follow him, hoping to trap the Autobot leader.
They don't get far before one of the buildings on the left topples down on several of them, thanks to the trip wire that Rodimus intentionally triggers in his fight. He screeches into a spinning halt, spins into a transformation, and, photon eliminator in hand, turns from hunted to hunter, blasting after the remaining Seekers as they start to turn tail.
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Post by Mirage on Jul 4, 2010 23:03:31 GMT -5
Mirage is in, perhaps, a worse mood than Rodimus, though for similar reasons. The tension and anger has been building in him for the past several days; normally, he channels such a mood into his words, making them into weapons as cutting as his darts are deadly. But he simply can't do that here, tries not to in order to keep some semblance of peace. And his...other outlets for such things aren't exactly practical or easily accessible.
But there is a simulation room, and he can go shoot things. Inanimate, unfeeling, fake things that will die swiftly and without so much as a whisper....
He pauses just outside the door, leaning heavily upon the wall as he shakes his head. He hates it when such thoughts cross his mind. They are rare thoughts, but they have always been there. But hunting has always been relaxing, and he can set up a tracking course, at least. Something, anything to take the edge off.
"Damn," he murmurs as he steps into the scenario already in progress, "Apparently someone else had a similar id-."
Mirage flings himself to the side, dodging a volley of fire directed at him. He comes back up in a crouch, cloaked, and returns fire without a thought.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 5, 2010 16:56:57 GMT -5
Rodimus reacts quickly and instinctively, leaping over a half-demolished wall as the shots come at him from an unexpected direction. In his movements he displays a grace and agility atypical for mechanoids of his size, but it's still not enough to avoid a grazing shot on his left thigh.
He doesn't stay put long. He starts running along the inside of the burnt out shell of a building, then jumps to the top of another ruined wall, landing in a crouch before he pushes off the wall and makes a grab for a window on the second story of a building opposite.
The scenario is designed to throw random variables at him, but he could have sworn he had spotted something out of the corner of his eye just before those shots had been fired (and just before Mirage had brought up his cloak).
//Someone else in here?// he asks over a low-powered broadband.
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Post by Mirage on Jul 5, 2010 17:28:56 GMT -5
Mirage is all ready several paces away from where he fired his shots, crouched behind a partition wall (not far from Rodimus's position, actually) when Rodimus makes his radio call. The spy freezes.
Rodimus? Really? This is Rodimus's scenario? Mirage groans inwardly. There is a Primus and he hates Mirage. That is the only explanation for the way Mirage's luck has been going lately.
//There is, and I am once more in a position where I am forced to offer apologies. I didn't realize the room was occupied, and was under fire almost as soon as I stepped in.//
If Mirage knew he had actually shot Rodimus, Mirage would be mortified.
//I suppose given everything I... should just leave you to your exercises.// Mirage's tone is a bit stiff, but there's an edge to it that seems to indicate that he'd rather do the opposite of what he says.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 5, 2010 22:22:27 GMT -5
Primus is a jerk, but it's unlikely that he harbors any particular hate towards Mirage.
Despite the distracting nature of the reply, Rodimus makes his jump, grabbing onto the ledge of the window. There's no pause. He pulls himself up into the window, pushing up with his feet. As soon as he's completely on the sill, he's gone again, disappeared into a somewhat more intact building.
Rodimus's radio is silent for a moment, and there's no telling what he's doing. Not right now, anyway. A look at the building he's in would show that the upper floors arc outwards, connecting to above-street paths and roads, some of which are still in-tact.
//Well. We're both here for the same reason, I think. And when it comes down to it, dealing with even well programmed sims isn't like dealing with people.//
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Post by Mirage on Jul 5, 2010 22:51:45 GMT -5
There's an equally long pause before Mirage replies. He's listening, however. Rodimus is quiet, and graceful, but he isn't perfectly so. Mirage begins to creep in the Prime's direction.
//You have a point. A pair of them actually. But I was in search of a hunt, not a battlefield.//
Mirage carefully eases through a door that is is hanging half open. He pauses, listening again, as his optics scan for trace of either the Prime or a simulated opponent.
//What are you suggesting?//
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 6, 2010 12:38:40 GMT -5
Rodimus reaches one of the upper level streets, one maybe five or six stories above the main road, and he becomes visible to those outside as he runs out on one, then dives into a transformeration and begins driving along it. This also makes him a lot louder.
Of course, he's driving right towards a dead end, since the roadway he's on has collapsed in the middle at some point in its virtual past.
// Hnh. As it so happens, I have some practice in evading hunters. //
Like, oh, Death's Head.
Rodimus drives right off the edge of the incomplete air-street, using the momentum gained in that mode to carry him clear across the road below, at which point he crashes directly through the third floor wall of the building opposite. And then he vanishes from sight again.
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Post by Mirage on Jul 6, 2010 12:56:14 GMT -5
Mirage's snort of disdain is clear over the radio.
//If you made that much noise, they must have been terrible at their jobs, not to have caught you.//
Mirage leaves the building, heading in the direction of that last big crash. The spy is being cautious; for all Mirage's taunts, he knows that Rodimus is skilled, and what's more, the Prime is tricky. Mirage wouldn't be surprised to run into traps.
He's also no longer using his cloak, instead employing his considerable skills in stealth.
//So you're proposing yourself as a mark, then? Could be interesting, yes. Not my preferred way to pursue you, but if I can't catch you one way, I'll catch you another. Are we playing to capture or to kill?// That makes a considerable difference in what tactics are employed.
Mirage sighs, and when he speaks again it's with wry amusement.
//I know a few therapists who would have a field day with the implications of what we're discussing.//
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 6, 2010 21:01:26 GMT -5
//Sometimes you want 'em to know where you are,// Rodimus answers smugly. He gets a lot quieter. He's transformed, and while he's no master of stealth, he's running quietly enough that Mirage will have to be a lot nearer to hear him.
Inside and out of sight, he runs towards an old, inoperative magnetic elevator shaft and forces the door open before leaping in and bracing himself in the opposite corner to begin a quick scramble-climb downwards.
//Good question. Capture makes it harder for you. Kill makes it harder for me. So I guess the question is, how much of a challenge are you after?//
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Post by Mirage on Jul 6, 2010 21:39:08 GMT -5
Mirage chuckles, the sound low and rich.
//Rodimus, I wouldn't be pursuing you if I wasn't after the highest challenge possible.//
He stops to take a true measure of his surroundings now. Before, Mirage was just heading towards Rodimus in order to catch up with him. Now...now Rodimus is suggesting he become Mirage's prey. That changes things.
And brings a whole other layer of innuendo into the game.
//I'll capture you then.// Mirage says negligently, confidently, //I'm not sure I could shoot to kill even in the sim, to be honest, not when the target is you. But I think you'll still find it challenge enough still.//
He stows his rifle back in subspace and makes a small leap, fingers catching on a ledge above him. Mirage pulls himself up and onto the ledge, then continues up to a walkway. He needs to get an better vantage point, figure out if this is a city he knows or not.
//Sticking with this scenario, or shifting to something fresh?//
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 6, 2010 22:26:42 GMT -5
//Since I've got the upper hand on the victory condition, how about we shift to a random environment.// Rodimus leaps from the elevator shaft onto the bottom floor and calls out, "End the simulation!"
The room reverts to something rather featureless and plain, and Rodimus is now standing in plain view. He smirks at Mirage. "Of course, I don't really have the upper hand on the victory condition either, do I? Because I don't have a victory condition. 'Don't get caught' only works as one if there's a time limit." He rubs his chin and considers. "I suppose I could incapacitate you, but that turns it into a more mutual hunt..."
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Post by Mirage on Jul 6, 2010 23:32:21 GMT -5
Mirage smiles back at Rodimus, a real smile, not the mostly strained ones he'd given back in the training room.
"A mutual hunt could be interesting, actually. It would allow me to learn more about how your think, and I could stand to be put on the defensive for once. Or we could set a timer, if you prefer." He walks over to stand in front of the Prime while he talks.
Mirage tries to reach his hand up to just hover over Rodimus's cheek and his smile grows a bit sad.
"I was horribly cruel to you. I hope you'll forgive me at some point."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 7, 2010 8:07:59 GMT -5
Rodimus briefly considers Mirage's proposals. A mutual hunt would swing things very, very far in Mirage's favor. While Rodimus has a good general skill set, and has pulled off a few successful 'hunts' in the course of the war, Mirage is the specialist. He has a cloaking and disguise system that Rodimus has no means to counter. Rodimus... has a much larger size and a bright color scheme, neither of which help him in this situation. For a moment prideful youth, that part that tends to push him to show off by making his own job as hard as possible, battles with tactitian, but tactitian wins. Mirage will have plenty enough advantages in this.
He hmmms and shakes his head. "Timer, or a goal location I need to reach to be counted 'safe.' I can't promise I won't try to turn the tables on you, though."
When Mirage's hand moves to hover over his cheek, Rodimus does not draw away, but neither does he move nearer. He does return Mirage's smile with a slightly pained one of his own.
"It'll happen. I can understand why you were hurt, and that you were lashing out. The situation isn't exactly fair to you to begin with. But... I'm still dealing with it."
And now, he does start to draw away. "This should help. Let's get started?"
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Post by Mirage on Jul 7, 2010 10:01:37 GMT -5
Mirage's smile turns to a bit of a smirk, "If you didn't try and turn the tables, I'd worry that you were ill, Rodimus. You aren't the type to simply run and pray."
His hand drops. "I hope it will," he says at Rodimus's assertion that the hunt will help, "Though...I think we do need to talk about things, at some point."
"But yes, let's get started. How long do you want to run it? I will give you a set time to get out before I start after you- ten minutes? Then say, if I haven't found you an hour after that, you win?"
"A goal location would work as well, but we won't be able to set the location until we see the board."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Jul 7, 2010 11:37:47 GMT -5
"We... we probably should talk," Rodimus allows reluctantly. "Leaving it lay isn't doing us much good." So talk, and talk soon.
With no simulated environment in place, there's a visible console which Rodimus now strides to. "Well, here. Now setting it to pull up a random environment from whatever's on file..." his fingers flick across the terminal and a holographic diagram of a frigid, ice and snow covered canyon area appears above the terminal. Notations indicate that the area is dotted with tunnels and caverns, cliffways and ledges, with a river at the bottom that is partly frozen over. Rodimus studies it for a moment, then points to a small cave that has no other tunnels leading to it, high up along one cliff face on one end of the canyon. "I propose that as the destination." Then he jabs a finger towards the ground next to the river at the opposite end. "My starting location. You can choose your own."
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