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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 7, 2011 23:24:54 GMT -5
Event Horizon sim room. Open. Month 2, Week 4, Day 3.
Impactor has already decided he doesn't like this whole space travel business. It's actually not the inactivity, not exactly. After four million years as an underground rebel, Impactor has had his share of dry spells, periods where circumstances forced them to lay low for awhile. But even then, a tunnel in the right place, a bit of careful planning, and you sneak out for a quick 'Con killing and back without bringing hell down on the base.
Not to mention the fact that back home, he didn't have to worry about falling apart in between battles. He's been in medical in the last few days getting parts put back on him, and he never even got into a decent fight to knock them off. It was infuriating.
So if Impactor is going to fall apart anyway, this time he's going to earn it, and if there are no Decepticons around, Impactor will just fight...
... Zombies?
The room is set to simulate the tunnels beneath Kalis, the place where Impactor was defiled, his body made a weapon to be used against his friends, the place where he came back to himself, back from... whatever comes after... to turn against his 'creator' and the undead legion he'd been part of.
There may well be deep psychological reasons behind the choice of settings, but the most significant factor is that at the end of the day, there's few things as cathartic as tearing into a horde of zombies, and so that is now exactly what Impactor is doing right now. Several shot through with the shoulder cannon, two more impaled with one shot from the harpoon, their bodies swung around to be used as weapons against the others.
He might bother about why he picked here and now to relive later. But probably not.
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Post by Drift on Apr 8, 2011 7:00:47 GMT -5
If Drift were a more introspective mech, it would probably bother him that he needed, periodically, to destroy things. As far as he could take it, he simply rationalized that after a lifetime of violence, it was simple reflex. And also, it was the one thing he was good at. Increasingly, since coming here, he's realized that he...doesn't really have much to offer outside of combat. He can't really manage 'friendship'. He has no other skill the way Perceptor has his science.
Still, it's a useful skill when it's needed--that whole ruthless killing thing. And he's determined not to let the weak Autobots, and peacetime, blunt that edge. He knows he's good, but he also knows--vividly--he could be better. He didn't have Wing's years of training and practice but if dogged practice could make up for that, he'd get there. Eventually.
They'd told him about these simulation rooms, so he's come down to fill some empty hours with something he doesn't suck at. But one thing he hasn't figured out is when one is being used by someone else. He figures this out as the door opens and, instead of the wide expanse of decking, it's...some cave.
He stands slightly stunned, while his optics cycle down to adjust to the dimmer light, catching red-orange optics flickering with movement. There's a blaze of weaponry, some sort of cannon and the chaotic clanging of metal on metal.
His first reaction is to draw his blades--the red optics are just too ingrained a symbol of the Decepticons for him. But a Decepticon, in a practice room, makes no sense. So he forces himself still, mouth curling as he watches the mech tear though the piles of enemies, evaluating his technique. To Drift, what he's seeing isn't practice so much as catharsis.
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 8, 2011 23:32:16 GMT -5
A Decepticon in a practice room makes perfect sense! As long as it's a hard-light holographic Decepticon.
The area isn't exactly caves, though it's run down enough, ragged enough, that some initial confusion makes sense. The tunnels beneath Kalis are like the tunnels beneath any Cybertronian city - artificial corridors that haven't been kept up in far too long, fallen in disrepair, broken edges, lights few and far between.
Impactor, whom Drift might notice lacks any kind of a sigil, Autobot or Decepticon, finally withdraws his harpoon, pulling two of the zombies towards him, and then grabs the nearest one to yank the harpoon out completely. He lifts that one into the air, supporting it with his right forearm, and throws it into severl more zombies, a move that forces the whole mass nearer to Drift. He's obviously not trying to throw them directly at the swordsman - it's more to the side - but it does still move them nearer.
"You just going to stand there watching, or what?" he grunts.
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Post by Drift on Apr 9, 2011 6:45:04 GMT -5
Drift scorns your holographic zombies. Hardlight holograms are for wusses. And Star Trek nerds. Aaaaaand, he's never seen them before. And we all know how well Drift deals with the new and different. things get stabbed,
Drift hadn't noticed the lack of faction symbols, because he was too busy trying to place the face. One that seemed vaguely familiar from Decepticon Do Not Want files. (Which in his mind were the Want To Shoot files). Which meant if the similarity was accurate, that this mech was, for an Autobot, at least, pretty damn good.
He watches the fighting, evaluating. Bowling with Zombies? Interesting technique. One of his swords finds his hands as a body or two gets shoved his way.
"Got a problem with being watched?" Drift's blade swung out, warningly. As if the holograms cared. "What is this, your Special Private Time or something?" If so, learn how to lock the door, will ya?
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 10, 2011 17:59:59 GMT -5
Impactor would much rather be dealing with Facsimile Constructs himself, but for some strange reason the medical staff seems to object to the idea of scavenging parts from the morgue to build them...
The zombie - the less mindless one - snorts at Drift's answer. "Hey, if you prefer to watch, suit yourself," he answers, rough voice hinting at amusement. Then he gets back to the battle at hand. The attacks with his cannon tend to be general, shots not wasted, exactly, but often used as much to force his opponents into the areas where he wants them as they are to actually bring down his opponents. Those attacks made with his good hand are sweeping, calculated to rip down as many of his foes as quickly as possible, brutal as a side-effect but not by intent. The harpoon usage, by contract, tends to be very precise, aimed exactly where they would do the most damage - a joint, the optic, where the brain module should be. Unfortunately, these creatures seem unphased by attacks that would kill a normal robot, and so he's adjusted, relying more on his general attacks or on hooking a zombie and using it as a flail against the others for the most part, removing limbs when he can. Those with heads still get right back up to fight, and so dismemberment proves the only way to keep them down. Still, Impactor seems to have made a fair amount of progress, and by this point, there are more zombies left unable to fight than still standing.
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Post by Drift on Apr 10, 2011 20:03:32 GMT -5
Bzzzzz, wrong answer, Impactor. The correct answer when Drift says something cutting and derisive is that you are supposed to get riled up. Then the insult battle. (Drift is okay with skipping that step, as it is not his forte) Then the punching. Then the good stuff. For Fight Foreplay? You are getting a an N. For NOT a Decepticon.
Drift grumbles, dissatisfied, watching Impactor's technique. It might not look like it, but he's taking notes on how to kill these zombie-things. Decapitation and amputation. Seems a waste to blow all that cannon blast around.
"Wasting energy," Drift mutters. Swords could do a much better job. His hands twitch over the hilts of his smaller blades, anticipating how he'd do it--quick, sharp, and elegant, and not at all like Impactor's brutality. He admires the mech's focus, and aim but...he's not going to say that. Not that it's likely Impactor can hear him over the ruckus he's making, anyway.
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 10, 2011 22:10:08 GMT -5
Oh, Impactor is generally easy enough to rile up, if you yourself have a cool head. It's those who never get hot under the rotator that torque him off the most.
At Drift's comment, he grunts again. "Yeah, that's what I keep telling Xaaron, but he keeps having the nerds put me back together, anyway." He fires the cannon again, blasting one and forcing another nearer to him. He grabs it, ripping off its arm, and then proceeds to beat one with that same arm.
"A lot easier to criticize from the sidelines, though," he growls, a note of challenge in his tone.
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Post by Drift on Apr 11, 2011 5:50:02 GMT -5
That gets an amused snort out of Drift. He's got nerd problems of his own: he can entirely relate. Well, maybe not entirely. Being that Drift isn't like...a zombie. "Maybe because you seem to be one of the few Autobots around here who's fraggin' competent in combat?"
Whoa. Was that a compliment? That may or may not have been an accident.
A sly smile spreads over Drift's face. "Sweet way of asking for help." There, that should remove any embarrassing compliment residue. He jerks his two short blades out of their sheathes, giving one sharp, fast lunge, one blade sinking into the chassis of one of the holographic enemies, pinning him in place while the other slices off the top of the head. See? Simple.
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 11, 2011 21:55:26 GMT -5
"Naw, it's because Xaaron's a sap," Impactor growls, slamming a fist through the nearest shambler. Given the condition it was already it, that's enough to send the thing down.
There are probably not many who would accuse Emirate Xaaron of being a sap, but Impactor is one.
He snorts. "Took care of this on my own before, and I was in worse shape then. Technically, there's a time limit on this. Another, oh, fifteen minutes and the planet explodes, but I don't think I'll be playing this one all the way through to the ending."
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Post by Drift on Apr 11, 2011 22:52:32 GMT -5
"Seem a little ungrateful for the mech who seems to have some interest in keeping you functional," Drift observes, his frame moving in a quick low backspinning arc, driving one of his blades into one of the staggering wrecks' waist, shearing it in half. He followed through, pivoting on his heel, coming in high with the other sword to lop off the top of a head.
This was the literal definition of 'too easy'. "If you're going to play a game," he mutters, "Why don't you at least make it interesting? These things are about as hard to outsmart as rocks."
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 12, 2011 13:29:25 GMT -5
"Soldiers keep their weapons functional because they're useful," Impactor growls. "The gun's not expected to show gratitude."
"I know what I am."
By this point, there really aren't many left, though Impactor and Drift will have to wade through body parts waist deep in some places. And those parts are still moving - hands grasp ineffectually, and if one gets too near a head, it will still try and bite. Luckily, this is not bite-transmitted zombie-ism.
Impactor fires his harpoon, severing the head from the body of one of the few remaining upright creatures. "This isn't about what's 'interesting' to you, but..."
"Nnnh. Wouldn't mind killing Flame again, but it's all fake, anyway." Then, a shouted command to the computer. "End the count down!"
He turns towards Drift, ignoring the head gnawing at his boot. "Tired of fighting mindless zombies, then? Rather try your hand against a mindful one?"
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Post by Drift on Apr 12, 2011 15:36:24 GMT -5
"Least you're still deemed 'useful'," Drift mutters. He can see why: Impactor's technique is pleasantly ruthless. "Some mechs'd be glad to have a chance to prove themselves." To be given a chance at all. Drift remembers how he seized the chance that Megatron gave him: make a difference, do something. Change the world.
He narrows his optics against the memory, lunging, letting his weight drive his blade through one of the chassis. "Just seems a waste. You can do better than this." Impactor fighting holozombies is sort of like giving a professional musician the little metal triangle to play.
Which is his way of saying 'yes'.
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 12, 2011 21:27:10 GMT -5
Impactor certainly takes it that way.
Without another word, without warning of any kind, Impactor spins towards Drift and fires. Of course, as Drift might recall, the cannon blasts tend to be herding shots - Impactor is firing at Drift's lower body, but he intends to hit the wall behind him, low enough down to cause it to collapse forward, towards the swordsman.
"I guess we'll see," he grates.
"Maybe then we can talk about chances."
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Post by Drift on Apr 13, 2011 19:14:19 GMT -5
Well then. At least, Drift thinks, we've finally moved beyond the hate-flirting around each other and straight into the action. Cheap date, huh?
Fine with Drift.
"Guess we will." Urgh. Drift. Stop. Seriously. Stop trying. Just...stab him.
Drift falls for the shot--throwing himself out of the way, realizing too late that it wasn't his hip Impactor was aiming for. Oh, cute move there, Impactor.
Drift stabs one of his swords into a fallen holozombie as he combat rolls up to his feet, skewering it and flinging it at Impactor. Have a face full of zombie, zombie.
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Post by Impactor/"Imp" on Apr 13, 2011 22:17:30 GMT -5
Impactor lifts his 'good' arm and use it to slam the zombie out of the way, in the process dislodging one of his own fore-arm panels, displaying the mechanics beneath.
First 'blood' to Drift, if only because Impactor's body parts don't stay on like they should.
He fires his harpoon at Drift. The harpoon is his precision weapon, right?
Actually, this time he's aiming for a zombie just behind Drift, hoping to slam the swordsmech from behind as he reels the body back in. He doesn't yet know much about his opponent's fighting style, but given Drift's choice of weapons, he's already decided that he's going to have the best advantage if he can keep Drift off balance and at a distance.
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