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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 26, 2010 14:10:24 GMT -5
Day 20 - Event Horizon training room. Semi-private, so please ask before joining.
Impactor showing up, Springer lying, idiot clients who want to sue over Garbage-Os not really being made of garbage (oh, but his troops need the money, he tells himself) - all of this and more! And that's not even scratching the surface. Emirate Xaaron has a few things he needs to work through, and despite being a man of words, though not always a man of his word, he's always had a penchant for ending up right in the heart of the trouble.
So Emirate Xaaron is right now, back pressed flat against an alcove. The training room is currently simulating the Darkmount citadel as it was long ago, when Trannis reigned. Taking on Trannis alone would have been suicidal, and that wasn't how he handled Trannis when he did, but as a hypothetical thought puzzle in a simulated reality, the challenge is rather invigorating.
Or maybe that's just every system running on high because he knows Trannis is just down the hallway, bellowing, "Worthless Autobot scum! You should have died with the rest of your obsolete council!"
Emirate Xaaron looks down at the little pistol he's clutching in his hands with a death grip. It isn't his. It isn't even real. Despite Perceptor's careful and patient teachings, Emirate Xaaron still does not possess the aim of a factory fresh.
That's why he just shoots at the vague direction of the ceiling, takes out the lights, and makes a run for it, making the darkness his ally.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Jul 26, 2010 20:21:29 GMT -5
Guzzle is a mech of action, not words. He does not engage in social situations often, nor does he engage in clever discussions, or even use witty banter (no, shouting incoherently and snarking does not count). No, he shoots things, he makes various objects explode, or even set fire to stuff occasionally. He's gotten very good at it too, but most importantly, it's only in combat situations that he really feels in his element. Talking just makes him uncomfortable and sometimes even restless.
Which is why the past few days have come close to driving him nuts. Oh, sure, there's the whole 'dimensionally displaced' thing, but he doesn't really mind that, and the rescue mission was fun. No, what's making him restless is the lack of any sort of action whatsoever, and the constant talking. Oh source code, the TALKING.
Thankfully, there's a way for him to unwind, that doesn't include the Pz-Zazzians getting even more pissed off at the Autobots. He's making his way toward the training room, running a diagnostics check of his weapon systems while changing the settings so he doesn't accidentally blow up a holo-generator. But when he arrives, the strange landscape clues him in that the room is already being used.
"Huh." Guzzle stands there for a little while, head cocked to one side, before shrugging and heading in anyways. He draws the Judge and quickly dashes for the nearest cover, glancing past the corner before moving onto the next, even while he sends out a call on his comm systems. //Whoever's in here, hope you don't mind me crashing your party. But I got a nice big gun that I can cover you with.//
A gun that he's going to need, judging from the Decepticon up ahead. Body type matches that of the Seekers, but they are all officers; why would they be on guard duty, instead of a grunt? Maybe that's one of the universal differences. He certainly hopes so; he'd love the chance to take down an endless stream of Starscream lookalikes.
Speaking of annoying Starscream fanboys! Time to take this one down. Guzzle circles his vents one last time and then darts around the corner, raising the Judge. For a brief second they look each other right in the optics, but one quick 'bang' later and the Con no longer has staring on the mind. With the guard gone, Guzzle takes the chance to move into the building proper, running through the darkened hallway before jumping behind the nearest piece of cover, ready to put a round in between the optics of any Con who spotted him.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 26, 2010 20:34:27 GMT -5
The narrator would say, 'Welcome to Hell,' now, since Guzzle doesn't like talking, but Guzzle's already been to a place far worse than here. So... Welcome to Heck, Guzzle.
There is a loud humming noise as Xaaron turns the corner on the darkened hallway he was in, and he picks up his pace, throwing himself into the next hallway and skidding along the floor. Seconds later, there is a deafening THOOM that Guzzle can probably hear from all the way over wherever he is, and it blows out the entire wall and part of the ceiling and floor where Emirate Xaaron was standing.
Something stop his skidding, and Emirate Xaaron looks up to see he's slid into the feet of a baffled Ferak-type Decepticon, a Hunter-Seeker unit, staring down at him, clearly a little frightened by that blast. Taking advantage of the fear, Emirate Xaaron grabs him by the ankles and flings him back down the way he came, using the Hunter-Seeker as an obstacle for the one pursing him. He may have no hand to hand skills to speak of, but he's still strong enough to throw someone, and the guy's ankles were right there.
Back to running. Emirate Xaaron does a silly amount of running.
...and answering the radio? //Guzzle, is that you?// It sounds like a Guzzle. //By all means, feel free. I'm Emirate Xaaron. Gold and silver; no mark. You'll know me when you see me.//
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Jul 27, 2010 10:00:10 GMT -5
Heck is even worse! The political correctness makes it so boring.
When the explosion hits, Guzzle remains perfectly still, his grip on the Judge tightening just a little. But when it passes he gets up again, moving in the direction of the blast while he can't stop himself from smirking a little. "Heh...Sounds like someone's having a good time..."
But he could never have guessed just who that someone is. It actually makes Guzzle stop in his tracks, blinking in surprise before he gets the brilliant idea to answer. //Huh. Yeah, that's me, sir. I-// The Autobot stops in mid sentence as he sees another Seeker turn around the corner and while it's admirable just how quick the Decepticon is to raise his weapons, Guzzle happens to be just a little quicker. //Sorry sir, ran into a guard. What's your position?//
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 27, 2010 10:24:48 GMT -5
There is the sound of tearing metal and screams from afar, mostly likely Trannis pausing to re-educate that thrown Hunter-Seeker unit why one does not become an obstacle before one's warlord.
//Third level, south side, outer ring, headed inward. Trying to make it to the Smelting Pools,// Emirate Xaaron answers cheerily, but really, why would anyone want to go to the Smelting Pools? //Trannis is on my tail. You?//
Supply closet? Supply closet! Emirate Xaaron ducks inside, just narrowly evading the coneheaded Seeker patrolling this hallway. He rummages about the closet in the dark, not daring to turn on the lights, just using the yellow glow of his optics to illuminate the cramped space. Cleaning solution, detergent, floor wax, a shop vac...
Emirate Xaaron can work with this.
He presses his head to the door, tense as he listens for the Seeker to pass, going north to the end of the hall. Then, quietly, he cracks open the door and scrambles down the hallway, laden with cleaning supplies.
The Seeker turns and fires some shots down the hallway at Emirate Xaaron, who immediately flattens himself against the wall. Popping the caps off the bottles of bleach and ammonia, he chucks them at the Seeker, who is now enveloped by a cloud of highly reactive chlorine gas, with a bit of nitrogen trichloride, a very volatile chemical, that tends to explode in one's face.
And hydrazine, which is used in rocket fuel and the formation of which tends to be highly heat-producing, meaning that there are now a bunch of flammable and explosive chemicals and lot of heat over there, there which means...
...BOOM, but Emirate Xaaron's already running again, outrunning the blast wave, heading steadily deeper into the Decepticon stronghold.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Jul 27, 2010 11:22:49 GMT -5
//Sounds like I'm close by. I'll try and meet up with you, sir. No Trannis,-// Whatever that is, //-just a few guards. Nothing I can't handle.// He may have said that a bit too soon, however, judging from the footsteps coming down the hall. A small squad, from the sounds of it, which could make things very difficult for Xaaron.
We can't have that, can we?
Guzzle waits, staying silent as he listens to the footsteps, until they're right by him. That's when he transforms and backs up, the noise of his grinding gears and threads already attracting their attention, standing still while activating their weapons....Which is exactly what the Autobot wants.
A humming comes from his barrel before he fires off a shot at the cover that he had just used, but which blows up under the force of the blast, sending rubble flying at the Seekers. The blast and the flying rubble has them scattering, some even already returning fire, but that is all Guzzle allows them to do before he fires off another shot. This time it hits home, blowing up one of the Seekers, and in the confusion Guzzle transforms to robot mode and dashes for them, shouting like a madman as he goes trigger happy with the Judge. The other three are quick to return fire, but he just takes the shots as he keeps firing the Judge, his aim deadly and precise, making their heads blow up until he is the only one still standing.
//Heh. Yeah, I got it covered.// There, Seekers dead, gloating done...Now it's time to get moving again. He dashes ahead, keeping the Judge in hand as he makes his way down the corridors, hoping it'd lead him to the Smelting Pools.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 27, 2010 11:49:08 GMT -5
Guzzle's shouting and rampant blowing up of stuff and things is likely going to attract attention to him, but everyone in the fortress seems to be in a state of mild confusion, for some reason, like something has gone horribly, horribly wrong and they're not sure what to make of it, like they... expect the other Decepticons to turn on them at any moment.
Oh, because it has, and because the Decepticons have. There's a squad of Decepticon assassins on the loose, just to make matters a bit more chaotic, and while they're mostly interested in trying to kill Trannis, their erstwhile leader, they're also pretty happy to gun down anyone they see as Old Guard, and if they come across Guzzle or Emirate Xaaron, they can probably find a bit of time in their busy schedules to wax a few Autobots, too. Better hope they stay far away, eh?
But Emirate Xaaron has run into a dead end, and he can hear Trannis's ringing footfalls just down the hallway, sounding like death knells. Will this be it, then? To stand and face Trannis, back against the wall, like he faced Galvatron? Emirate Xaaron looks up and smiles.
No.
He unfolds the step-ladder stolen from the closet and scuttles into the air vents. Yes, even Trannis will be able to figure out where Emirate Xaaron has gone when he sees the step-ladder, but Trannis is a bit big to be scurrying about in air vents after a little resistance leader. Now, Emirate Xaaron just needs to follow the heat, and these air vents will lead him right to the Smelting Pools.
He explains, //While Soundwave wasn't around in this time period,// off taking a dirt nap on Earth, //it doesn't necessarily mean communications are secure. That said, I'd been meaning to catch up with you, ask you a few things, but... if you're willing to run with me in this simulation for a bit, I think I'll have most of my answers.//
Really, Emirate Xaaron wanted to ask Guzzle about his experiences as a Wrecker, but if the man is willing to traipse around Darkmount in the middle of anarchy, that pretty much says it all.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Jul 28, 2010 9:14:51 GMT -5
//Heh. Detailed. Can't fault you for half assing things, sir.// The channels not being secure is a shame, but at the same time: Let them come. Guzzle has bullets with their names on it.
Then Xaaron surprises him in quite a pleasant way! It even makes him stop and blink in mid step, though he doesn't let his guard down. //Don't know what you'll learn from it, but sure, I'm down for that sir.// This can only get better if they go for drinks afterward!
It's getting hotter. Good, so he's getting close to the smelting pools. Hopefully, it won't be long until he runs across Xaaron. Unfortunately, it seems he has another group of guards to deal with, and these are a lot bigger then the previous group. "AUTOBOT!" "WHAT OF IT!?" Guzzle shouts back in response even as he opens fire, his aim deadly accurate...
Until the Judge goes 'click'.
"OH COME O-" That's all he can say before their weapon fire make him stagger back, going 'Hngh!' as he feels those stings a little to deep. But instead of turning around and running away he charges, jumping and ramming into one of the guards, pistol whipping him even as they fall to the ground. It leaves the guard disoriented, giving Guzzle time to roll ahead and transform, though the others are quick to pursue the H-Tank.
Any sane mech would focus on running and not taunt those trying to kill him, but Guzzle is-"Yeah, come on, here I am you dumb pieces of slag!"- a Wrecker. He manages to dodge some of the lasers, but others hit him, burning his armor until one particularly heavy bolt shatter two of his threads, sending the tank skidding. In a desperate act, Guzzle aims his barrel at the floor and fires the most powerful blast that he can manage, the explosion rocking and even shattering the tunnel. The guards scream as they fall down into the gaping hole, but one manages to barely keep standing. One more blast (with a rather satisfying boom) from his cannon fixes that as well, however.
He groans as he stands up, shaking his head, trying to clear it from the dizziness. But then he blinks as he sees a red glow in front of him, coming from the hole he had caused. "What the..." He carefully moves closer to it and looks down, and sure enough, a few dozen feet down there's a canal with hot molten steel flowing through it. "Well, that explains the heat...." He grumbles, though he can't help but smirk at some of the still flailing Decepticons, desperately trying to escape their painful deaths. "Heh. Poor saps. Nah, not really."
But Guzzle sees one more thing that's rather interesting: A walkway! Seemingly undamaged by the blast, and it should be sturdy enough to support the weight of several mechs. Looks like he can make it too, should he be careful. It'd be a dangerous to even try, and a painful, fiery death is almost guaranteed.
So of course he jumps down!
He barely manages to grab the walkway's railing, but he doesn't even look down at the stream as he pulls himself up. He does have to cycle his vents a little faster to deal with the heat, but it's hardly the worst he has ever dealt with. "Feh...Alright, this way, I think it was...This way, yea." There are no Cons here, but he still pulls out the Judge again, reloading it as he moves.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 28, 2010 10:14:00 GMT -5
But if Emirate Xaaron takes Guzzle drinking, he'll have to take all the Autobots (and Maximals and one Mini-Con) drinking, too. He can't play favourites! Okay, maybe just a few rounds of drinks, no one will notice or care...
There is a bellowed scream of rage and a CRAKA-DOOM that echoes down the air ducts, indicating that Trannis is a wee bit frustrated at being unable to nail Emirate Xaaron when he had the resistance leader dead to rights in a dead end. Emirate Xaaron doesn't let it shatters his nerve as he steadily presses on, crawling through the ducts, taking turns that lead him to hotter and hotter areas. Soon, the heat is sweltering and oppressive, such a change from the usual cold of Cybertron, lonely, lost, wandering planet without a star that it is.
He peers out from behind a grating, looking down at the smelting pools. He's a few levels up, and the smelting fools are, for good reasons, on ground level. All that molten metal is heavy. The smelting pools mostly light the area with their foul glow, casting long, dark shadows. Even from here, Emirate Xaaron can hear the screams of those damned to a fiery death in the pools, and his expression grows hard.
This part of the simulation is accurate; the Decepticons do such things to the people of Cybertron; to their own people. Emirate Xaaron has never found it hard to justify why the Decepticons must be stopped. He need only point to such excesses of cruelty.
Emirate Xaaron carefully removes the grating and, with some rope taken from the janitorial closet, he quickly climbs down, landing on a scaffold that overlooks the Smelting Pools. He flattens himself down against it, trying to figure out how he wants to handle all of this matter. The plan, as he has it in mind, was, first, to let the roving teams of Decepticon assassins to kill Trannis, something he should have done the first time around. Then, trick the assassins over to the Smelting Pools. Next, block off the exits, trapping them here. Shut down the Smelting Pool drains such that the pools flood, killing the assassins, causing even more chaos and anarchy in the Decepticon ranks. Finally, escape somehow.
Yeah, there's not a hyperfrost's chance in the Smelting Pools that this will work, given that Emirate Xaaron is trying to play saboteur and not leaving it to someone competent, like Jazz, but that's what simulations are for, right? To work out the frustrations and the crazy ideas so that he can go back to the table with saner ideas when the time comes.
He surveys the pools carefully, looking for guards - there are bound to be a few Ferak-type Hunter-Seekers units about to make sure that none of the pitiful wretches dying in the pool actually escape - and his gaze alights on a small figure on a narrow walkway. Colours are hard to make out, given the hellish red-gold glow that the pools cast over everything, but the design is familiar, just not exactly the same...
Could just be a Decepticon tank, but Micromasters aside (and Micromasters weren't invented in the timeframe of this simulation), Decepticons generally build their tanks a bit taller than that. Emirate Xaaron chews his lip thoughtfully, rising into a crouch. This would be a lot easier for Springer, he's sure, but Emirate Xaaron takes a leap of faith, and he springs from his scaffold down to Guzzle's walkway.
He lands hard, awkwardly, and falls at Guzzle's feet. Ow. Well, Emirate Xaaron's had better ideas.
Emirate Xaaron doesn't particularly look like most Autobot leaders. He's only a little bit taller than Guzzle's head, and Guzzle's barrel ends up higher than Emirate Xaaron's head does, if they were both standing. He has no obvious weapons, and he doesn't even look particularly reinforced for war at first glance. About the helm and the torso and even a bit in the arms and legs, he looks a fair bit like Megatron, if Megatron was a short civilian, but Emirate Xaaron's gold and silver, just like he said. Hopefully, Guzzle's looked up pictures of the Event Horizon CoC in the database and won't shoot.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Jul 28, 2010 18:57:10 GMT -5
It takes a little while, but then the walkway finally leads him to the smelting pools themselves. But nothing could have prepared him for this. He has seen brutality committed by the Decepticons, unspeakable acts of horror, and of course hell itself with Garrus-9. But he has never quite seen anything like this. "...By the source code." Even during this uproar, prisoners and corpses (both Autobot and Decepticon) are being dropped into the molten steel, screaming as they melt away, their faces sometimes the last to go...It is something that both disgusts and angers the Autobot greatly, his grip on the Judge tightening considerably. "Monsters...The lot of 'em..." He cycles his vents a bit harder before turning around to keep looking for Xaaron, but then the Emirate finds him. It would seem that Guzzle does not realize who he is though, judging from how he jumps back and aims his bolt-gun, coming close to squeezing the trigger until he sees who it is. "Oh, sir, it's you." Xaaron is...A bit shorter then he expected him to be. A lot more well armed, as well. Guzzle doesn't notice the resemblance with Megatron though; after all, his looked a bit more like a warlord. There is a resemblance with his Earth form, but Guzzle never saw ol' Buckethead in that body. "Expected you to be a bit more well armed, sir. But that just makes it more fun for me." Guzzle can't help but smirk a little (managing to do so with his optics somehow), before offering a hand to Xaaron so he can get up. Whether Xaaron takes it or not is up to his mun, and the Autobot himself walks to the railing either way, keeping an optic out for any Decepticons that might happen to look down at them. "We're exposed, but we should be safe until the Cons get here and just happen to look down at us." Guzzle gives the scaffolding above them one last good look before glancing down at that blasted smelting pool again, making a disgruntled sound before turning to face Xaaron again. "So, sir, what do you have cookin' in that shiny head of yours? Anything that involves laying a lot of hurt on these fraggers?" Guzzle says that last part a bit too enthusiastically, raising the Judge to hold it besides his head in a casual action hero pose.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 28, 2010 21:42:30 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron is pretty steady as the bolt-gun is aimed at him, not wavering. Then, he grins and takes the hand up, stretching a bit, joints creaking. Ruefully, he replies, "Everyone seems to."
He missed the memo saying, 'You must be this well armed to be a resistance leader,' and was hiding behind the door when the missile racks were distributed.
"Hmm, you look similar to my Guzzle, but not quite the same. There's no time now, but if you want, I can show you him after, maybe over a cube at the mess hall?"
Emirate Xaaron laughs quietly when Guzzle asks for the plan, and he explains quietly, "As it so happens, I do have a plan. You see, this simulation is loosely based off an event from my history. The Decepticon warlord, Trannis, has been fading and growing in decadence, and his own men have decided to matters in their own hands to end him. Now, with Decepticons, if you kill the king, you become a kingmaker... or a king, yourself. So it's actually more important to kill Trannis's killers than to kill Trannis himself. I was thinking, if I could lure the lot of them in here, block the exits, close the drains on the pools - they'll all die horrible screaming deaths, and the Decepticons will be left without leadership. We take that rope up to the vents and run like blazes." He points at the rope and scaffolding where he entered.
"So, you up for it?"
Guzzle and Emirate Xaaron have been noticed, by someone who, while he doesn't have much sense, has at least enough sense not to make it too obvious that he's sneaking up on them: Macabre. It'll be his perfect day if he can end Trannis and Emirate Xaaron! Then everyone will respect him, Macabre, the ultimate assassin!
Or maybe they'll still laugh at his horrible colour scheme and complete lack of fashion sense.
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Jul 29, 2010 20:07:33 GMT -5
Guzzle isn't that terribly interested in this 'other' Guzzle; the bot may look like him, but as far as he's considered there's only one real Guzzle. Well, that and he'd rather not find out what Xaaron's GINO is like. You never know, he may be as fruity as Guzzle's roommate! (There's just something wrong with that mech.) The offer of a cube gets a grin from the tank though, giving the Emirate a big ol' thumbs up as well. "I'm down for that, sir!"
Then chrome head reveals his little plan. Guzzle listens patiently, keeping a neutral expression on his face, keeping it even once Xaaron's done talking, while he almost absent mindedly starts to reload the Judge. "So, impossible odds, only one of us is armed, and a crazy plan that most likely won't work." Guzzle nods as he finishes recapping, his optic ridge pulled up into a questioning frown...Before grinning like an idiot. "Doesn't get much better than this, sir."
Wait. That shadow looks neither like something from the hallway, or like it could belong too either of them (too pointy). Guzzle's optics go wide before he quickly spins on his feet, bringing his gun up and looking for something...There! Decepticon! "GET DOWN!" While Guzzle shouts he aims the boltgun at Macabre, ready to unleash the Judge's special brand of pure burning Justice.
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Jul 29, 2010 20:51:53 GMT -5
Before Guzzle can actually fire, however, an object comes bursting out of the open door next to Macabre, the very same walkway exit that the would-be assassin had used to sneak up on the Autobots, and impales him through the head, a shot perfectly placed to pierce the brain module. That object happens to be a silver harpoon. No sooner is it through the simulated Decepticon's simulated head than Macabre is yanked off his feet and back through the doorway. There's a crash and clatter of metal on metal as he's thrown forcefully into two other Decepticons, and then the sound of an energy blast to finish them off. Then, finally, Impactor moves just far enough through the doorway to be seen, and to see that Guzzle has a weapon trained on this spot and that he shouldn't go any farther if he doesn't want to be on the receiving end of a friendly fire incident. He turns and looks down at the felled Decepticon warriors, frown etched deep into his features, and mutters, "You know, that wasn't nearly as satisfying as I would have expected, all things considered." Then he looks back out at the smelting pit before glancing at the Autobots. "What the blazes is all this, anyway?" he demands. For some reason, he seems to be giving Emirate Xaaron a very hard, very suspicious look as he asks this. OOC: In Headfins Anonymous, Impactor mentioned having stopped by the training room. This would be that stop.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jul 29, 2010 21:32:53 GMT -5
The other Guzzle fights zombies and rescues Ultra Magnus repeatedly, but see? This is totally answering any questions Emirate Xaaron may have had about Guzzle.
Emirate Xaaron neglects to mention that he actually is armed, not contradicting Guzzle's assumption, because ah... his aim is terrible, for shame. Someday, Perceptor, someday, Emirate Xaaron will learn!
He's about to say something more when Guzzle barks out to get down, and get down Emirate Xaaron does, pressing himself against the wall and dropping to a crouch. Guzzle seems to think he has the situation well in hand, though, so they could work on getting down to start closing the drains. Emirate Xaaron should be good enough bait to lure out their targets -
- harpoon!?
As if showing up out of nowhere and brutally murdering the enemy is quite normal for Impactor, Emirate Xaaron smiles wanly at the zombie and explains, "Operation: Valkyrie, with a twist - we're after the squad of Decepticon assassins who are trying to play kingmaker, not Trannis. Or do you mean the solid light simulation room?"
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Post by Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle on Jul 30, 2010 9:42:07 GMT -5
Guzzle is about to take the shot when that harpoon does all the work for him. He just blinks and stands there, frozen, a confused look on his face as he wonders what the hell just happened, until Impactor walks into view. In any other situation he would have considered that one hell of an awesome move, but now he just grumbles as he stands down, muttering "Stealing kills, not cool," under his breath.
Guzzle looks Impactor over one more time before leaving the two to catch up, keeping a close optic on the scaffolding to make sure that there aren't any more ceiling Cons watching them. He can't see any, but that doesn't mean anything, especially with assassins roaming around. They tend to blend into their surroundings, after all. "Hrmn. Sir, can we move someplace else? I still don't like how exposed we are."
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