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Post by Mirage on Jul 7, 2010 16:13:20 GMT -5
The solution, of course, is for Mirage to talk to Prowl about throwing stars.
But that's for later. Now is for the Rock Lord who has been thrown at Mirage.
Mirage doesn't step aside much, just enough to make it easier for him to wrap his arms around Pyrite and catch him. Inertia pulls them both down and over the couch before him. Pyrite might notice that even through the tumbling, Mirage cradles the actor to keep as much of the shock off of Pyrite as possible.
Mirages uses the momentum to roll back up to his feet, Pyrite clinging to Mirage in half-faint, their bodies backlit by the light streaming through the leaded glass window just behind them. More distance between them and their assailant is good yes? Mirage holds his rifle pointed at his shadow self.
"I don't need help to hunt guttertrash like you. And I'm finding this entire exchange extremely tiresome."
His arm swings back, shattering the window, and Mirage and Pyrite tumble backwards out the impromptu exit.
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Post by SceneMod on Jul 7, 2010 16:27:48 GMT -5
Pyrite does notice, and it boggles him. Why is Mirage protecting him, worthless little coward that he is? He murmurs weakly, "I was wrong. You really should just run." He looks like he'd like to say more, maybe even to touch Mirage's face, but saying that much seems to have driven daggers behind his optics, the way they roll up into his head in pain.
As Mirage drags Pyrite out the window, however, Pyrite jerks and swoons, hitting a fear overload, he looks dazed, at best, and he'll need a swift smack to the head at least to get back to sorts.
//Oh, waves and wrack, this is fabulous,// purrs the skinwalker. //You dragging a limp machine out a window? Fantastic.//
The skinwalker does not appear to pursue Mirage and Pyrite, but someone with a good view of the window would note that the skinwalker also does not appear to be inside the flat anymore, either.
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Post by Mirage on Jul 7, 2010 17:38:05 GMT -5
Please. Mirage isn't foolish enough to think he can fall out a window and not be conspicuous. This is why he cloaks almost immediately upon leaving the window. He won't be able to be completely inconspicuous, but he will be able to hide them both for a time.
Oh that's right, they're falling aren't they?
Mirage's hand reaches out and snags a jagged outcropping (probably the former home of some gargoyle) before they can build up too much momentum. He grunts in pain as the sudden stop wrenches something in his shoulder. His fingers scramble for purchase, slide off and they fall another foot before he grabs another ledge.
The pair's fall is stopped for now, though. It's going to be hard, scaling down the building with only one hand; Mirage doubts Pyrite has enough strength to cling to Mirage without help. There's a small part of Mirage, though, that is thrilling at the danger inherent in this entire situation.
"Shush about that. I'm not in the habit of letting people I'm responsible for get kidnapped. If that bastard manages what he plans, it won't be because I didn't try," Mirage says quietly, the words hard as steel, "But if we manage to shake him, you and I are having one very. Serious. Talk."
Mirage doesn't reply to the skinwalker, because his radio is busted.
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Post by SceneMod on Jul 7, 2010 19:11:44 GMT -5
Bugger, thinks the skinwalker. Mirage was a horrible, nasty little gossip, but with his radio out, Mirage cannot be taunted without giving away his position. If only he could throw his voice! He'll have to ask the eggheads about that later.
The clone carefully climbs down the side of the tower. He can see Mirage perfectly well, even when the other is invisible, hear him, smell him - even sense the electrical currents in his body, feel the vibrations in the air, the pull of magnetics, and senses yet more exotic than that. He likes to operate on a policy that, were he ever to run into his own duplicant, that he'd be able to see himself and tear his shredding throat out.
He creeps down just above the ledge where Pyrite and Mirage are sheltering and silently flicks out a blade, studying Mirage quietly.
Pyrite clutches at Mirage with his good arm, like a man terrified of drowning, but he clearly doesn't have much strength to him, and he whimpers, rocking a bit back and forth, "Hurts." What Mirage wants him to talk about hurts a lot, and he doesn't mean emotionally, though it does. He means it literally hurts.
The duplicant climbs down, makes sure his hand and feet are in a good three-point grip, and snaps out the blade to try to hamstring Mirage. He doesn't want Mirage unable to climb down, just unable to run far or fast once he does make it down.
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Post by Mirage on Jul 7, 2010 19:45:48 GMT -5
Mirage tilts his head sharply to look at Pyrite, "Your wounds hurt, or it hurts to speak aloud about it?" Mirage starts to shimmy along the ledge; there's another ledge just to the left that he can drop down onto. His mind returns to Pyrite. This could be a problem. If speaking certain words are tied in such a way as to cause Pyrite pain, then....
Mirage hisses sharply in pain as a knife is drawn across the back of his thigh. He lets go the ledge and drops before the blade can do too much damage, but still, it's a sensitive area, and his leg buckles when he hits the stone ledge below. His grip on Pyrite tightens. For a moment, it seems that they are both about to tumble of the edge, but Mirage recovers, his innate sense of balance serving him well.
He shoots a look of pure disgust back up the wall, knowing full well the skinwalker can see him- not fear, not anger or pain, but disgust. Honorless cur, he snarls to himself. Mirage never could stomach bullies, and that's exactly how the other mech comes across.
Mirage readjusts his grip on Pyrite, turns and leaps again, this time intending to grab a balcony railing on one of the lower tiers.
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Post by SceneMod on Jul 7, 2010 20:33:09 GMT -5
Pyrite looks away from Mirage, silent and guilty. He can't answer that, no matter how much he wants to, no matter how much Mirage deserves an answer. His expression turns to dismay when Mirage hisses in pain and then shoots that look of pure disgust off at nothing and then to terror, which he seems to be feeling a lot lately, as they almost tumble. So Pyrite, miserable and self-loathing, settles on saying something he can manage, "I'm sorry. I didn't want you to get hurt."
The naagloshii, no relation to Shagnasty, withdraws a bit from Mirage and his prize, in case Mirage decides to fire any warning shots. His hip is aching from the earlier wound, but he is unencumbered, so he climbs below Mirage's path a few levels to lie in wait on the other side like an ambush spider. This time, he thinks he'll pop one of those tyres, hobble that little falcon and prepare him for the hood and the jesses.
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Post by Mirage on Jul 7, 2010 21:39:46 GMT -5
Mirage makes his jump, grabbing the lower railing of the balcony and using it as leverage to swing himself to another. He takes a moment to get his bearings, and to listen.
The shifter is good. Really good. Better than Mirage, really.
Mirage needs to start hitting the sim room more.
But if roles were reversed...Mirage would be trying to head off his prey, not follow it. It's already been established that the clone doesn't want Mirage dead. He just wants Pyrite, and Mirage to frame.
Mirage hears the roar of motorcycles and looks down. Speeding toward the apartment are three streamlined motorcycles that look entirely too small for the local vehicle set. Mirage smirks at Pyrite, tilts his head and murmurs softly.
"Trust me."
Mirage swings out, further over the street. Then....
Mirage lets go, decloaking as he does so.
OOC: Mention/posing of the 3cees done with permission.
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Post by Arcee (RotF) on Jul 7, 2010 22:33:51 GMT -5
Or have Mirage find them, it seems!
Arcee doesn't boggle, falter, or stop at the spy's sudden appearance, just pushes on harder. She was only going to get one chance at this--Mirage might be a smooth operator, but she didn't think he'd want to get intimate with the ground.
They all transform at once, but Elita-1 and Chromia brake hard and deploy their weapons, training them on where Arcee will land with Mirage, while the pink bike keeps going, keeping her eyes on the prize. Putting on a burst of speed, she jumps under the spy wrapping her arms around and under him as best she can before touching down with the ground and riding the momentum out before hitting her brakes.
"I guess this is the part where I say 'So glad you could drop in.'" She says somewhat wryly.
_________
OOC: Just thought I should note that while Arcee is smaller, she is a lot stronger than what you'd expect from looking at her. Seriously.
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Post by SceneMod on Jul 7, 2010 23:27:53 GMT -5
Pyrite swoons again, but since Mirage asked him so nicely, he at least manages to not scream. Weakly, he asks, "Friends of yours?" The way he looks at the Arcees is very wary indeed.
Fact: Mirage is defending Pyrite, even when he knows what a gutless coward Pyrite really is. Fact: These three new robots have arrived to assist Mirage. Fact: Two of the three appear to be armed. Conclusion: Take them out.
The replicant drops down lightly from where he was waiting for Mirage, tossing the knife from hand to hand, and he quietly circles around the three gallant motorcycle women. Then tries to rake the knife into Chromia's lower tyre to pop it, which looks rather important to her continued stability, and she's the one with the Compensator in hand.
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Post by Mirage on Jul 8, 2010 10:58:05 GMT -5
Ever the dashing spy, Mirage manages to smirk at Arcee as he and Pyrite are caught. "You could say it, but you don't mean, not after I treated you so ill." he says in High Iaconian, which hopefully- between the language and the words themselves- should suffice to ascertain his identity.
He's serious again in an instant, scrambling out of Arcee's arms. "We need to move, and quickly. His cloaking abilities outstrip mine. I don't want you three hurt, not because of me." He really, really wishes Rodimus hadn't sent anyone, but... Mirage can't deny that he's grateful for the help as well.
He looks down at the actor in his arms and murmurs, "What can you tell me, Pyrite? I don't have time to dance around trying to ask the right questions?"
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Post by Arcee (RotF) on Jul 8, 2010 22:27:37 GMT -5
Arcee looks worriedly at Pyrite, then at the wound in Mirage's shoulder. If that's where Mirage was keeping his radio, it would explain why Rodimus lost contact with him, though she can't say for sure. "How's he holding up there?" she asks a bit guardedly.
While she's still on her guard, hearing the language sets Arcee somewhat at ease, though the words themselves give her a bare moment's surprise. Not because Mirage isn't right, but she just wasn't expecting it. It's a good thing the spy is speaking Cybertronian, she doesn't know him very well and her knee-jerk reaction just might have pegged him for being the fake.
"Terrific, what can we expect of him? And if you're the real Mirage--" Arcee starts warily, optics scanning above and around them as she deploys her pistol.
Chromia continues, "--then where's the--damnit!" and doesn't finish as she suddenly moves to jump back the moment she feels something against her lower wheel, firing a few rounds around and in front of where she just was. Her mobility was everything, and taking out her wheel was one of the quickest ways to try and take her out of a fight, or make things a lot more difficult.
Quickest. Not easiest. If this faker thought that it'd be that simple, he had another thing coming.
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Grimlock
Major
There's no crying in Basebrawl!
Posts: 637
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Post by Grimlock on Jul 8, 2010 23:01:53 GMT -5
Swooping in low, Grimlock enters the airspace of the group, transforming in mid-air to dinobot mode, dropping the rest of the way, cracking up a good chunk of sidewalk.
He plods over to where Mirage and the 3cees are, rumbling a bit as he attempts to speak Iaconian. "Faker him not?" he asks of the 3cees, looking around. "Grimlock me need know who to smash." The fact that he's having to use a weird language has the Dinobot irritated.
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Post by SceneMod on Jul 9, 2010 1:19:08 GMT -5
Pyrite looks hesitant and queasy at Mirage's inquiry. Optics dimming with pain as he summons what willpower he has for this move, he reaches back and unlocks one of his cranial panels, exposing a delicate crystalline computer, most likely his equivalent of a brain module. Most of the structure is comprised of crystals ordered in logical harmony.
Some of the crystals have been cut, cracked, carved, or etched, and there are some pieces that look rather like additions, as their metal doesn't match the colours or textures of his internals at all, diseased wire tendrils protruding into otherwise pristine crystal.
He convulses and bites his lip. Pyrite shouldn't be doing this; the defiance is utter agony.
The phantasm is gone, and Chromia's shots net nothing but the air and the ground.
The new player on the field looks big, tough, powerful, and unafraid. The invisible stalker switches tactics, withdrawing an armour piercing dart rifle that would look awfully familiar where it able to be seen. He studies Grimlock for a moment quietly, really looking at him with more senses than most could handle and stay sane, and he shifts his position, stiffly moving around just behind Arcee, Mirage, and Pyrite. He takes aim at Grimlock, sighting his target by the electromagnetic glow of Grimlock's electrical lines, aiming for where the voltage drops is the largest, which means the most current is being consumed - whatever is drawing the most current will hopefully be rather important. Now, if these angles are lined up just right, and he is extremely good at what he does, the shot will appear to have come from the general vicinity of Mirage, such that Mirage could have made the shot himself, will pierce that thick armour, and sink right into whatever vital component his electrosense has identified.
Of course, it could go bugger-all wrong, but that's why he can improvise, isn't it?
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Post by Mirage on Jul 9, 2010 20:02:01 GMT -5
Mirage's own rifle swings to bear in the direction of Chromia's firing, but he doesn't shoot. Mirage is of the school that you never shoot at something you can't see. It's the hunter in him.
Then Pyrite unexpectedly bares all.
"Oh, oh you poor, poor dear..." Mirage murmurs, "This happened after our first meeting, or before?" He reaches up to try and gently close that panel.
Then Grimlock crashes the party.
Grimlock. Rodimus sent... Grimlock. Grimlock who lacks subtlety, and is nothing more than a giant, flying sledgehammer...wait.
Grimlock can fly!
"Grimlock!" he says, still using the Iaconian dialect, "Take Pyrite and-" Mirage's expression suddenly stiffens, "Move!" He tries to push Pyrite toward whichever triplet is closest and turns...
...right into the path of the dart.
OOC: Players are welcome to pose seeing Mirage get shot through the torso and go down. Grimlock, the shot going through Mirage will be deflected slightly in direction, but could still hit Grimlock with enough force to pierce his armour if you so desire.
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Post by Arcee (RotF) on Jul 11, 2010 6:59:29 GMT -5
Arcee doesn't entirely share Mirage's initial apprehension at Grimlock's arrival, but then, she doesn't know better yet, so the tripartite is happy to see the Dinobot in the area. "No, Grimlock, that's the real Mirage! Don't attack him." Elita-1 makes sure to be especially clear with that last statement.
Chromia frowns frustratedly, optics darting about as she cautions, "Be careful, though, the faker's ar--"
Elita-1 and Chromia twist to look at what they've already seen through Arcee's optics.
"Mirage!"
Arcee quickly moves to catch Pyrite when Mirage pushes him towards her, while both Elita-1 and Chromia quickly roll to either side of him. "Mirage--Mirage talk to us!" They needed to get clear of the area and fast, but they'd never really be clear until they took care of the damned faker first!
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