Autobots-3: Sky Transport from the Darkside

[Skyfire-3]

Skyfire-3 had filled his cargo hold once again with the spoils of his pillaging; now that they were safely stowed in his warehouses back at their own base, he returned to this brave new world full of vicious Decepticons and Decepticon-like Autobots. His personal slave and pet Thundercracker-3 accompanied him, of course.

// Incoming, Prime. We're near the Decepticon base, right? You care where I land? // Skyfire-3 radioed as he cruised toward the Decepticon base from their portal zone. It would be nice to know if there were shoot-on-sight, no-fly zones near the 'Cons, yes...

---
Off-camera timeskip done off-camera, yes. TC-3 hauled along with player's permission.

[Pee-Dee-3]

Pee-Dee hasn't bothered with attempting to socialize with the local Decepticons. None of them were likely to need her services enough to offer her anything interesting.

Besides, there's a whole junk-pile here arranged in the shape of a city. Sure, everything easily movable has already been scavenged, but some of the tougher walls can come down.

Thus, the Junkion has been doing some structural re-engineering. With her chainsaw.

[Thundercracker-3]

Thundercracker rides inside Skyfire on the ride back. He's silent the whole way... but then, he doesn't speak except to answer a question or acknowledge an order. The looting of this world had gone smoothly... or as smoothly as things ever go for him.

He remembers a time before this, when he flew free as a Decepticon Seeker, a soldier fighting for the Empire. But the memories grow hazier with every passing day. He fears there will come a day when he'll come online from a defrag and find he's lost everything -- faces of comrades, memories of his former life, the memory of flying free and unencumbered...

Don't think about that. It doesn't help to brood. Just accept this and move on.

[Runamuck]

He just doesn't get this place. One minute, he's bouncing off of buildings, scattering debris and small objects in his wake, and the next, Runamuck hits a building that can't take it. It's too bad he already threw too much momentum into it to stop. So instead, the wall topples, taking the Battlecharger with it.

"Slag-sucking spawn of a--!" Runamuck cuts off as he notices a chainsaw-wielding piles of spare parts. He stands up into robot mode, shaking his head to clear the dust from his intakes. Looks like the back wall of the building's been cut down and most of the inner structure fell with it. No wonder it couldn't take the hit. "What the pit are you doin' cuttin' stuff up like that?!"

So caught up in his annoyance, he doesn't even notice the side wall of the building falling in until it topples over, leaving him knee-deep in rubble and visibly irritated.

[Skyfire-3]

Skyfire-3 quickly spotted the large crater occupying one edge of town--it made an excellent landing zone. He spread his wings in low-speed mode and banked, preparing to land.

// Skyfire here, incoming for landing. Let's all hold off on having any friendly fire 'accidents' for now, // he radioed on the common villain alliance frequency.

"Out, TC; I'll be transforming right after I land," Skyfire said. "Be careful of letting these guys get their hands on you--they're not like your Decepticons. They won't treat you half so well as I do."

[Misfire]

The recently arrived Misfire was quickly shunted into Warfare by Starscream, then almost as quickly Sky-Byte¹ set him to patrolling the skies. There is a truce, yes, but that is no reason to be lax in security, and the interceptor is fast and agile. A good choice for a such a patrol, where chances of actually engaging the enemy is slim.

Not that Misfire is particularly thrilled that such a factor needs to be considered. He is improving, blast it.

When Skyfire enters Decepticon airspace, Misfire moves automatically to shadow him, off to one side. He catches Skyfire's quick radio, which confirms that the ship's one of the good (bad?) guys, then Misfire follows Skyfire down. Misfire transforms as he nears the ground, and lands lightly on his feet. Like others, he's curious about these not-quite-Autobots.

Misfire does, however, let his commander know what's up with a quick radio message.

¹ permission from player, etc, etc

[Pee-Dee-3]

The chainsaw slows to a stop in the settling of dust and building fragments. Nice of the D-con to drop all the bits right here for her. "Junk piles don't generate themselves, you know."

[Thundercracker-3]

At Skyfire's command, Thundercracker snaps out of his reverie and springs into action. "Yes, Master." And he transforms and flies from Skyfire's hold, assuming his usual spot in "formation" behind the explorer.

[Runamuck]

"Yer building a junk pile?" Runamuck grumbles, pulling his legs free and jumping from the pile to stand near the chainsaw-wielder. His reality doesn't have females (well, there's Arcee, but she's a one-of-a-kind experiment, and he doesn't know about her anyway), so he doesn't seem to notice the whole curves thing. Compared to the likes of Barricade, her design isn't that out there, anyway.

"Ain't there anything more important to do?" Yes, this is from a guy who's done next to nothing since arrival except for making a mess of the city. "A good wreck's always fun, but it's better when it fights back."

[Skyfire-3]

As advertised, Skyfire-3 settled into a landing in the big crater and promptly transformed.

"Wonder what created this hole?" he asked, looking around. His proton cannon was carried loosely cradled under one arm, muzzle pointed at the ground. Skyfire glanced over at Thundercracker, double-checking his status, and gave the red jet...thingy that followed him down a curious glance. Not terribly bad lines, but he lacked the sleek grace of a Thundercracker or Oracle that appealed to Skyfire.

Still, he wasn't so bad that Skyfire would refuse to take him if he had the opportunity.

Not far away, dust billowed from a recent building collapse; two figures stood nearby. Skyfire looked in that direction, and back to the Decepticon who had followed them in.

"So, you the welcoming committee?" Skyfire-3 asked Misfire.

[Misfire]

Please, Skyfire, don't mention aloud that you'd be willing to snatch up Misfire. If Starscream, or one of the Mayhems heard you, they might deliberately let it happen in the hope that Misfire's "talent" would wreck all sorts of havoc on the Autobots from within.

Misfire shrugs, "Big white spaceship entering our airspace? Ally or no, as the one currently on patrol if I didn't check up on you I'd be remiss in my duties. And I'd really prefer not to get on anyone's bad side this soon after arriving."

"You're not allowed in base," he waves his hand vaguely in that direction, "And I imagine getting too close to it won't be looked on too favorably either." Misfire seems unphased at being towered over by Skyfire, tone all business, no animosity. His superiors declared a truce, and while he isn't going to crawl into bed with any of these Autobots, Misfire will not have it said that he behaved poorly. Always trying to be a good little soldier, he is.

Misfire does, however, give Thundercracker a puzzled look, then shakes his head, "Heard about it. Didn't believe it." That's all he says on the subject, though a few lazily speculative words about Thundercracker's masculinity and loyalty emanate from the gun at his side. Misfire thumps Aimless hard, "Shush!"

[Pee-Dee-3]

"Nothing more important than making myself comfortable right now. Can't go hunting Dec- enemies, and, unless one of you guys magically knows how to dice, the only person I want to spend time with is being an absolute lout. So his moll is spending her time elsewhere, kay thanks." Her chainsaw vanishes from her hands as she talks, and she begins to pick out bits of rubble that particularly appeal to her.

"Never caught your name before," she comments when she has a good load.

---

Care to drift over to Dead End and Wildrider's thread, Runamuck?

[Thundercracker-3]

Thundercracker touches down beside his master and takes his usual place slightly behind him, keeping a watchful optic on Pee-Dee and the others. He's not familiar with the red Targetmaster or the white carformer, despite their Decepticon sigils. Then again, the reprogramming wreaked havoc with his memory banks, so he supposes it's possible he's merely forgotten their names...

Noting the red mech's puzzlement, Thundercracker might ask what the matter is were circumstances different. But he keeps his vocalizer silent.

[Runamuck]

"Dice? Those cube things the humans with the glasses play with, or the fuzzy things they leave in their cars like it's supposed to look good?" He's never seen dice that explode, so he doesn't sound all that interested. The rest of her speech is all but indecipherable, but he gets the idea that her partner's busy elsewhere.

"I'm Runamuck," he identifies himself. "Who're you supposed to be?"

He turns his head abruptly, hearing the lovely sound of things getting wrecked. "Sounds like somebody's having some fun over there. Wanna check it out?"

--------

Lead the way, copper.

[Skyfire-3]

"Yeah, sure," Skyfire said, then gave Misfire a funny look as his gun started talking. "Your gun one of those 'mini-cons' I've heard about?"

"Your base probably isn't built for me, anyway." Skyfire shrugs. "You new? I don't remember anyone like you in our universe on the 'Cons side."