Berger Time

 Markdown says, "Huh... This is odd... I'm not expecting trucks at this hour. I mean, I've taking shipments at strange times, but..."

 Saboteur Foxfire says, "Wha...? Markdown?  Trucks?"

Entrance to Autobot City

The massive structure of Metroplex looms in front of you, a gigantic battlefortress and Earth headquarters of the Autobots. Large towers relay

information from around the world and the large communications tower in the center keeps Metroplex in contact with the rest of the known universe.

Security cameras and gun emplacements surrounding the entrance make sure that only those who are welcome enter. Scorch marks and small holes in the wall

are reminders of the last battle here at Autobot City. To the north is the landing pad for flights to and from Earth.

 Grimlock says, "Hrr. What in Trucks? Trucks have pie?"

 Nightbeat says, "I'll take a looksee."

 Markdown says, "Ah, no, just, ah, special equipment."

 Powerglide says, "Sedatives?"

 Silverbolt says, "I'm coming too...."

 Saboteur Foxfire says, "Always with the pie, Grimlock..."

 Markdown says, "Dammit, Powerglide, you can't possibly need that many!"

 Powerglide says, "I have, uh, a bad back."

 Wheelie says, "Large monster trucks that do not suck?"

 Markdown says, "...no. Semi trucks."

 Nightbeat says, "Oh really, Powerglide? Mind if I pull up your medical file and check that?"

 Wheelie says, "Semi trucks arrive right on time, tell me though. Do they resemble Optimus Prime?"

The puzzle pieces of Porsche 959 rearrange into the hard-boiled Autobot detective, Nightbeat!

 Grimlock says, "Hrr. Semi Trucks. That...that mean they not REALLY trucks?"

 Powerglide says, "If you really want."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "But, can't you take my word?"

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "In a word? No."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Aw, don't you trust me?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "I don't think sedatives will make your back better, Powerglide."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "You. Shut up."

<Autobot> Nightbeat breaks out laughing uproariously.

<Autobot> Markdown says, "Remember the truck massacre of 1989, when Megatron went berserk and started blowing up any semi truck that looked like Optimus

Prime? Yeah, they don't make that model anymore."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "That answers that."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Oy..."

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock 'member that!"

Powerglide enters from the Main Lobby - First Floor to the east.

Powerglide has arrived.

Skydive arrives from the Outskirts of San Francisco, California to the west.

Skydive has arrived.

Skydive walks into the room, paying attention to every detail.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "I don't. I wasn't on Earth at the time."

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Me tried putting on truck-disguise, but it not work. Shoulda used more crayons."

Just as Markdown warned, a big fleet of trucks has arrived. There's a huge number of them, all of them trying to roll right into the city. Markdown

steps out, however, waving them down, and the fleet comes to a halt.

A human leans out of a window, and says, "There a problem? Got a shipment for ya."

"Yeah," Markdown says, "You just arrived at a strange hour, is all."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Other than the fact that 99% of the time, he was wrong, Megatron had a good idea goin'."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Did you try markers, Grimlock?"

<Autobot> Nightbeat states calmly, in the way of public service messages, "And that why you shouldn't do drugs, kids."

<Autobot> Markdown says, "What, blowing up trucks that look like Optimus?!"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire giggles at Nightbeat.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Well, yeah."

Silverbolt is calmly walking his way out of Autobot City. "What's going on Markdown?' he says as he approaches the business.....opportunist.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "I mean, it was bad."

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> arrives from the Outskirts of San Francisco, California to the west.

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> has arrived.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "You know what? Nevermind."

Markdown shrugs. "I dunno. These guys showed up, said they had a shipment for us."

Jayson Redfield is hanging around Autobot City at this time. His exo is nearby in case he needs it, but he doubts that he will. Can't be too careful,

though. Curious about the situation, he too approaches, and peeks around Markdown's leg, for now staying quiet.

Skydive enters behind Silverbolt. On his wing even though they are not in the air.

Nightbeat sidles out of Autobot city, his datapad, Muzzle, out. It seems that he has pulled up Powerglide's medical file. Abuse of power? Maybe.

Nightbeat would call it justified. Now, the chatter on the channel's quite concerning. Unexpected shipment? Some people say once is chance, twice is

coincidence, and three times is conspiracy. Nightbeat always just skips straight to conspiracy.

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "A shipment of... truck bombs, perhaps?"

"Me Grimlock not see shipment!" The dinocommander stompastompastompas up. "Me Grimlock see TRUCKS." he nods sagely at this, and crosses his arms across

his chest. "You no feel me Grimlock! Me am too smart!"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "...Truck bombs?"

Powerglide is only here because he was really hoping there was something super cool in the trucks. If there isn't, well, screw it.

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "C'mon, someone needs to run liscence-plate checks on these guys."

<Autobot> Markdown says, "Now, that's being a bit paranoid, isn't it?"

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Maybe him Motormaster trying to get in city! HIM TRUCK."

<Autobot> Defcon says, "What the blast is goin' on? Can't a chap get some shut eye during guard duty without bein interupted?"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Why not just...open 'em up?"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "I nominate Grimlock."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "It might be a possibility, but I have to agree with Markdown. Don't be so paranoid."

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Ask Oklahoma City if I I'm being paranoid."

Flying Saucer suddenly appears out of the sky with a blur of motion and that oooweeeeeooo kind of noise in that way he has, and hovers over the trucks

curiously shining a bright light on them.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Oh."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Wow."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Nightbeat."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Geez."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Hey, Defcon, here's a suggestion--help out Markdown. Then you can get your 'shut eye'."

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "What? Are we a military operation or a daycare?"

The human driver says, "Look, ah, can we like, park this in your shipping area, or garage, or whatever you have? I'm burning diesel over here and--OH

GEEZE!" He screams in terror once he notices the UFO flying overhead. "HELP ME! AGGH!"

Markdown facepalms. "That's... that's just Cosmos! He's one of us!"

Jayson Redfield blinks. He winces a bit at screaming. "Yow...calm down, mister!"

Flying Saucer's bright shaft of light envelops the truck and it starts to slowly float up into the air!

"Tee hee," says Cosmos quietly while spinning his running lights rapidly.

Powerglide crosses his arms, "Actually, Markdown, Cosmos is more like the orphan we found turnin' tricks on the street. We just kinda..adopted him."

"OH MY GOD!" the driver screams as he involuntarily levitates.

Jayson Redfield just stares. "H-hey! Cosmos! Put him down!"

Nightbeat wanders along the side of the road, surrepetitiously writing down the license plate numbers. Then, using the wireless card in his datapad, he

checks something with his good buddies at the DMV... well. Not his good buddies. It's kind of dubious if he's even street legal. They probably hate him.

Slaggers. So he waits for them to get back to him, idly kicking a rock and looking casual.

Silverbolt is.....torn on whether to laugh or yell at cosmos for.......being himself.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Geez, Cos, even I'm not that big of a prick."

Defcon saunters out from Autobot City, still rubbing him optics. He quickly notices the assortment of Autbots and the convoy on their doorstep. "Hey

Nightbeat, why don't you start directing traffic?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "What's going on now?"

Grimlock hmmms, and peers at the fleet of trucks. "Grr!" and if Cosmos' traumatizing wasn't enough, Grimlock starts stomping down the line occasionally

giving the trucks pushes & pokes- enough to make them rock on their axels. "You Motormaster no fool me Grimlock! Me SMART!"

"Where did all these trucks come from?" asks Cosmos. "Hey guy, where did you come from?" he asks the guy in the truck while gently flipping the truck

around in three-dimensional space.

Markdown sighs, rubbing his head. "Cosmos, please, let him down gently? Uh, the rest of you guys, maybe you wanna look these trucks over real quick,

just to be sure?" He turns to look down at Jayson. "Uh, you got experience doing that in the EDC, don't you?"

None of the drivers in the other trucks seem to react or complain as Grimlock knocks them around a bit. Which is honestly kind of odd.

Blurr enters from the Main Lobby - First Floor to the east.

Blurr has arrived.

Skydive watches the truck float and calculates the aerodynamics....not a good atmospheric craft.

Powerglide feels a little left out as everyone else terrorizes the trucks. He pulls out his pistol and waves it around a bit, "Hey Grims! Get outta the

way! I wanna get a good shot on that last one!"

Flying Saucer wobbles in a sort of shrug as he carefully lowers the truck back onto the ground. The bright shaft of light from his tractor beam narrows

and winks out. Cosmos floats there for a moment overhead, spinning slowly, then suddenly flashes over the horizon and is soundlessly gone!

Nightbeat looks over at Defcon, looking up at him in the optic, and he replies, "Why don't you go catch some shut-optic, bounty hunter, since that seems

to be the most important mark on your list right now?" No, Nightbeat wasn't happy about that crack about sleeping during guard duty that Defcon made.

The DMV finally gets back to Nightbeat, and he curses aloud, "Camsfat-cranking, sluge-chugging, mis-compiled creations of a crackhead Quintesson!"

Nightbeat is now less happy. Congratulations.

Silverboltfacepalms and sighs....before making his way over to the trucks. "so what IS this shipment, markdown?"

Jayson Redfield silently notes that the rest of the drivers aren't reacting. He blinks again as Markdown speaks to him, and nods. "Yeah..." He pauses

for a bit and subtly taps Markdown's leg. "Those other drivers," he says lowly. "They're not...*doing* anything."

Flying Saucer comes right back however and hovers next to Markdown making a crop circle in the grass as he extends three spindly landing pods and

touches down. Then transforms into a fat little Autobot. "I was just playin'. Seriously though, what's in the trucks?"

Cosmos changes from a round vehicle into a round robot.

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "So I actually ran that licence plate check."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Yeah...?"

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "The one that you called me paranoid for."

Cosmos sounds like he's hoping it's a birthday party or something.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "And?"

Defcon cracks a smirk and some laughter. "Hrm, quite observant for a detective Holmes... ..." he replies. Cocking his head to the side, the carefully

starts to scan the trucks sitting outside of Autobot City.

Skydive continues to stand and watch Cosmos, "Great Velocity."

<Autobot> Nightbeat really doesn't sound all that pleased to be right, oddly, "Those plates are fake as the mileage on a used car."

Markdown hands Silverbolt a datapad with shipments he's been expecting. "Everything on this list. Numerous parts for..." He whispers, "The SECRET

project." When his leg is tapped, Markdown stares at Jayson. "Huh? Well, maybe they're just scared of Grimlock. And you..." He frowns at Cosmos. "Yeah,

I know, but we need these guys for our parts. Well, I'll know what is in them when I get a look at the shipping manifests."

<Autobot> Silverbolt says, "Hostile?"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Eh, I'm sure it's fine."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "What could possibly go wrong?"

Jayson Redfield raises a brow. "Well, I don't know about you, but *I'd* be a little freaked out if I was in a truck and a Dinobot suspected it of being

Motormaster." He shakes his head. "Never mind. It's probably nothing."

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "It is so not fine, Powerglide."

<Autobot> Markdown says, "Say what?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Powerglide, hush. What's up, Nightbeat?"

"Bah!" Grimlock says at Powerglide. "You no shoot! Me Grimlock am VESTIGATING." he says, and then hmms. He looks back at Markdown for a moment. "Me

Grimlock find out what inside!" he says....and then abruptly puts his hand through the roof of one trailer, peeling it open like the proverbial sardine

can!

<Autobot> Nightbeat repeats, a little more simply, "Their plates are fake."

<Autobot> Defcon says, "Hey Sherlock, where did the other drivers go?"

Blurr winces a bit as Grimlock vestigates his way through the truck's trailer, but he doesn't comment.

<Autobot> Silverbolt says, "nightbeat....obviously....start asking questions. Foxfire....start looking at the trucks.  Markdown...STALL THEM!" Cosmos ooohs and doesn't ask what the secret is at first. But then he remembers he's in the Intelligence community and he's supposed to know this kind

of thing. "What's the secret project?"

<Autobot> Markdown says, "Uh, ok, sure. I can do that."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "What about me? What should I do?"

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Whaddya think I'm doing, Silverbolt?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Don't think I...can leave my quarters right now."

Defcon pauses as he walks by the seventh truck, peering into the carriage. He mutters something into his comm, then continues his search... ...as if

nothing is amiss.

<Autobot> Silverbolt says, "It's either you or Grimlock could get a potential 'splodey-face."

<Autobot> Defcon says, "Where did the other fifteen drivers go... ....?"

Markdown mutters to Cosmos, "I'll tell ya later," before he shuffles over to the driver of the first truck. "So, ah, our receiving area is full right,

now, ah, might be half an hour before we can clear it out, so if you'll just wait here..."

"Um," the driver says, sounding nervous, "I REALLY have to deliver this as soon as possible..."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire sighs...

"Yo, Grimlock!" Jayson hurries over to the Dinobot. "Quit that! Stop ripping the trucks apart!"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "What's the deal, Fox-face?"

"Is it a surprise party? Is it ice cream?" asks Cosmos, wondering why the driver's in such a hurry.

Defcon cocks his head to the side, then it's as if a light bulb appears over his head. "Something fishy... ....Hey, Get Back!" he blares over the com-

link. The bounty hunter rushes back towards the city, trying to put some more breathing room between himself and the convoy.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Huh? Oh, it's...nothing."

<Autobot> Defcon says, "Hey, GET BACK!"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Good."

That would be the sound of metal rending as Grimlock wrenches one trailer apart! "Hey!" he says, "This not Motormaster. Dang. But...ooooh! Blinky
 * creeeeeanch!*

thing!" and with that, Grimlock starts tossing barrels of...something out of the trailer, at which point he finally *WRENCHES!* some little blinking red

light from inside! One of the barrels, forgotten by Grimlock, rolls over to the side- where one can read the label. AMMONIUM NITRATE.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Uh.."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "What's 'Ammonium Nitrate', guys?"

Nightbeat looks over at the drivers now. He's been focused on the licence plates. He's a car. It's how he thinks. Okay, lack of drivers. He wanders ove

to the last truck in line and very gently taps on the bar door of the truck.

<Autobot> Markdown says, "WHAT!!? RUN!!!"

<Autobot> Cosmos says, "I don't know, but we sure ordered a lot of it!"

Hovering upwards, Cosmos assumes his saucer mode.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Why would you guys order so much of it?"

Daniel Witwicky has arrived.

<Autobot> Nightbeat laughs, like he wants to strangle someone. "...explosives."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Oh."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "..."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "OH GOD"

Flying Saucer transforms and whisks into the air at Markdown's shout, streaking straight up in a sudden quiet rush of cold air. Markdown gets a transmission over his radio, gapes, then turns around and runs off without a word.

The driver realizes he's been had, and runs out of the truck, looking like his life depends on it. "Oh, shi--"

No response to Nightbeat's tap.

Powerglide has finally figured out why now would be a good time to run. He hauls ass after Markdown, "WHY WOULD YOU ORDER SOMETHIN' LIKE THAT!?"

Flying Saucer zigs back down and snatches up the driver with his tractor beam, then zags back up into the air with a booming sound.

Silverbolt turns. "MOVE SKYDIVE!" he yells as he transforms and takes off into the sky.......

Silverbolt transforms into his plane mode

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Do we have a bomb squad, or do we just have Foxfire?"

Markdown yells back, "I DIDN'T!"

Meanwhile, the driver is screaming his head off. "OH, GOD! Just leave me there! Anything but the probing, please!"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Fox! Stop being such an emotional wreck and do somethin'!"

Jayson Redfield lets out a gasp and instinctively backs off, awy from the barrel. "Grimlock, get away from that thing!"

<Autobot> Red Alert says, "I can scan it...but that's best i can do, Nightbeat. do I need to put Metroplex on alert?"

Blurr peers at one of the barrels -- and gghhks. He knows from Perceptor that this isn't good. "Uhoh. Notimetolose, notime!!" He zooms over to the

truck's driver, scoops him up protectively, and begins rushing him away from the danger. It's a reflex.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Aw, jeez...what happened to making fun of me for *not having opposible thumbs*, huh? Fine...I'll take care of it."

Grimlock stays put! Dummy. "Huh?" he says, looking up from his blinky-thing. "Why everyone running? Hey! Hey you!" and with a single stride, he puts himself in the driver's path,

scooping the panicky human up with one hand. "Hrr. Why you bring stuff?" he asks- even as he crosses over to the next truck, hmm-in.

<Autobot> Blurr says, "I'vegothimI'vegothimI'vegotthedriver!!!"

<Autobot> Markdown says, "No time!!! Put Metroplex on alert!"

Skydive slides so that he is behing Grimlock now.

<Autobot> Nightbeat grumbles, "Rassafrassin'... call the humans' bomb squad or something. I don't want my porch exploded."

Flying Saucer hangs about three thousand feet in the air with his lights spinning and making a deedle-deedle sort of sound (unintuitively, he's louder

the slower he moves) with the driver suspended in his tractor beam as he winches him up into the circle of blinding light in his belly where he keeps a

bunch of little grey big-headed puppets that he can fit onto his cargo manipulators just for such a purpose. "We'll find out what you know one way or

the other!"

The spacebridge doors shut and lock in anticipation of an arrival from Spacebridge Terminus <Cybertron>, and the control panel goes temporarily offline.

The spacebridge doors unlock and slide open as the transport concludes and the control panel comes back up.

Impulse has arrived.

Sheng has arrived.

<Autobot> Markdown says, "Grimlock, don't just stand there! Those trucks are going to blow!"

Nightbeat backs aaaaaway from the truck, very slowly, due to all the channel chatter. He's pretty good with technology. Heck, Nightbeat could be a darn

good medic, if only he actually cared more about saving than lives than solving murders. But he'd have a horrible bedside manner, so it's better for all

that he's a detective and not a doctor. However, days like this... yeah, he kinda wishes he knew enough to disable a bomb. He turns around, trying to

see where the other drivers could have gone off to.

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Wait, bomb?"

"Aw, hell..." Jayson decides to get as far away as he can. Well, not TOO far. And he's still got his exo if he needs to make a run for it.

<Autobot> Intel XO Impulse says, "... okay, just what is going on, exactly?"

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Hmm, Red? Jam all radio transmissions in this area. If the trigger's a radio control, it won't get through."

Then, something bad happens. The lights on the trucks all switch on at once, their engines rev up, and then they begin to accelerate for the city!

Inside Cosmos--I guess the Autobots were handing him the driver back and forth a bit--the poor human is screaming and thrashing at the site of the

"aliens." "No, please, no!"

<Autobot> Red Alert has encrypted this channel.

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Impulse, there are trucks with fake plates outside, and they're full of ammonium nitrate."

<Autobot> Markdown says, "And they're MOVING!"

Defcon is crouched from a distance, still purveying the scene with careful optics. Trust your gut feeling... ...served him so far... ...never failed

before... ...why would this be any... ...different? "We need a bomb squad! Also, if anyone has forcefield shielding capabilities... ...I'd suggest

protecting the city... ...and us!"

<Autobot> Intel XO Impulse says, "... oh great. Fertilizer bombs.  How many?"

Grimlock pauses, and glances around- finally listening to his radio. "Trucks am bombs!" Grimlock says. "Me Grimlock know how to fix this!" and wth that,

he transforms! Now, there's a heavily armored dinosaur in the way.

"Me Grimlock SMASH bombs!" And with that, he stompastompastomps forwards- aiming to rend one of the trucks to bits with his teeth, while his tail


 * SMASHES!* down on the cab of a second!

With a grunt and a growl, Grimlock changes into a robot T-rex! Watch out.

There's a really nice car driving up, not brand new but certainly not old enough to be considered worth replace. Daniel, who happens to be driving the

car, is whistling, and for some reason not bothering to pay much attention to the Autobot broadband. He is even whistling as he spots the collection of

Autobots, who by looks of it are playing a game (well, why else would Blurr be running away with a driver as Grimlock reaches for him... well actually

that may explain itself right there). So Daniel heads for the group of Autobots.

Jayson Redfield now happens to be in the way of the trucks at the moment. "WHOA!" He dives out of the way to avoid getting hit, and afterward he

promptly straightens himself, eyes wide. "SHIT!" And then there goes Grimlock. "I don't think smashing them's gonna work!"

Meanwhile, inside Cosmos' cargo bay:

An alien puppet flops its spindly arms around like Kermit the Frog, waving a big black rubber "probe" around too. "Why were the trucks full of bombs,

hoo-man?" asks Cosmos through an internal speaker. "How are they turned off?"

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Grimlock, don't smash the bombs!"

Impulse emerges from the spacebridge, looking far better than he did a couple of days previously. Sheng is with him, but apparently heading inside

Autobot City while he remains outside. When it rains, it pours.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire sounds like he's trembling.

<Autobot> Markdown says, "There's 16! How are they moving without drivers? They can't be Decepticons, can they? This would be a suicide mission!"

<Autobot> Blurr says, "Ihaveadriver, Ihaveadriver!"

<Autobot> Cosmos says, "I have one too and he's really scared of getting probed! I think I can get him to talk!"

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock solve problem! Me smash trucks!"

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Could be radio control, could be some sort of primitive programming..."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire groans.

<Autobot> Cosmos says, "Oops, I hope he didn't hear that. I gotta see if my P.A. is still on."

<Autobot> Intel XO Impulse says, "Grimlock, don't you dare."

<Autobot> Daniel Witwicky says, "Hey guys, why's Grimlock smashing trucks outside the city?"

<Autobot> Cosmos says, "They're full of bombs!"

<Autobot> Wheelie says, "Wheelie thinks Grimlock has good idear, send those trucks into the atmosphere!"

One of the trucks is totalled easily enough, but the barrels of ammonium nitrate go flying everywhere. And its brethren roar as they proceed onwards to

the gates of Autobot City!

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Don't smash the bombs, Grimlock!"

<Autobot> Wheelie laughs over the com.

<Autobot> Daniel Witwicky says, "Wait... bombs? Your saying someone... including someone who may be squished now, is... was driving those trucks at the

city with bombs in them?"

Robot T-Rex! <Grimlock>, despite the cries of protest over the channels, continues to wreck things up! He leaps forward and attempts to *STOMP* down on

one truck- and then kicks forward with a clawed foot to try to topple a second truck! "This -EASY!-" he says. "Stupid humie-trucks am WEAK!"

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Me Grimlock not smash bombs."

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Me smash truck bomb IN."

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Uh, that could set off the bomb."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Apparently, Daniel."

<Autobot> Intel XO Impulse says, "Grimlock... the trucks ARE the bombs... *facepalms over the open channel*"

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Grimlock, pick up the trucks, *gently*, and throw them in a lake or ocean, okay?"

<Autobot> Cosmos says, "They were but Blurr and I rescued the drivers. I mean, imprisoned the drivers. Kind of both."

<Autobot> Daniel Witwicky says, "So do we know how the bombs are to be set off?"

<Autobot> Markdown says, "I have a good idea of WHEN. We can't let them inside the city!"

<Autobot> Red Alert says, "That does it. I'm locking up the city."

<Autobot> Daniel Witwicky says, "So they have no drivers. Okay guys, so that would mean remote con... okay guys I'm shutting radio transmissions down in

the area. See if that buys Grimlock and co. time to catch up with the trucks."

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Bah! Me Grimlock no have TIME to throw things in ocean!"

Impulse just stares for a moment as Grimlock goes nuts over the radio, and actually facepalms. Then he starts looking around for Nightbeat. Might as

well report back in with the chief.

Sam leaves the Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey>.

Sam has arrived.

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "'sides. Me Grimlock smart! Me bet bombs not 'splode 'less they on inside of city, where they do lots damage! So stop trucks,

and they not splode!"

<Autobot> Wheelie says, "Lock up the base, close it up tight. If those monster prime trucks want in, they're gonna get a fight!"

<Autobot> Markdown says, "Oh, you can do that?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Do I need to come out there and bite someone?"

Having finally listened into the Autobot broadband, Daniel hits a switch on his wrist com, sending out a jamming signal in the hope it stops whatever

signal may be controlling the truck with the bomb. And then, being Daniel and having about as much common sense as people believe he has, speeds up to

try ensuring the jamming signal is close enough to cover the truck.

Blurr places the truck driver down in a place he hopes is remote enough to keep him safe from possible massive explosions. "Stayhere, don'tgobackthere,

it'sabadplacetoberightnow! A badplacetobe -- human! Yes." With that, he rushes back toward the trucks, to see if anyone else needs an immediate

relocation.

<Autobot> Wheelie says, "No Foxfire, don't leave the castle. Come to the command center, and we can thumb wrassle!"

Markdown huffs and puffs as he tries to outpace the trucks, which have built up plenty of momentum.

Elsewhere, Grimlock KO's two more trucks, their contents flying everywhere as they crash spectacularly into concrete barriers and the like. Fortunately,

there don't appear to be anymore drivers in danger.

Something odd happens when the jamming starts. The trucks don't stop, but they do lose control, beginning to veer off, and bump into each other. It

looks like they might crash, as well!

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "..."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Don't have thumbs, Wheelie. Well, not opposible ones, anyway."

Robot T-Rex! <Grimlock> continues to rampage! He's good at that. "Hey! You dumb autobots help me Grimlock! Me can't smash ALL of them!" He pauses,

however, as two of the trucks careen out of control- Grimmy upends the both of them with a flick of his tail. "...or maybe me can."

<Autobot> Wheelie says, "Oh Foxfire, don't be so abrupt. It's okay that you can't give a thumbs up."

Sheng jogs out from teh spacebridge, arriving just in time to see the trucks loose control. "Remote control?" she asks the area in general.

Jayson Redfield tries to stay out of the trucks' path. "My god..." He's still trying not to get killed! How successful he'll be, however, remains to be

seen.

Silverbolt changes into his robot mode.

Flying Saucer picks up a truck with his tractor beam and floats it away, flinging it into the Bay. SPLOOSH

Silverbolt lands after circling the area a couple of time and.....just....looks like he's confused.

Nightbeat sighs heavily and puts away his datapad. He withdraws a metal flash and takes a swig of the contents. If he's going to be playing with fire

around explosives, he doesn't want to justify why he did it sober. Nightbeat then withdraws one of his photon pistols and carefully takes aim at a tyre

of one of the trucks before squeezing the trigger, muttering to himself, "Don'texplodedon'texplodedon'texplode."

Defcon charges out from his position, opening fire on the trucks. "You heard the bozo..." he raps off, charging up his head cannon and letting loose a

couple of blasts. "Lend a hand!"

Without any warning whatsoever, Blurr zips into view and makes an abrupt stop next to Jayson. "Hi!"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Just...just be quiet, Wheelie."

Jayson Redfield blinks up at Blurr. "Uh, hi." One of the trucks is a bit too close for comfort. Instinctively, he ducks behind Blurr. "It sucks being

human sometimes!"

Sheng runs towards teh trucks, using her talons to rake the wheels of the cabs as she passes by. So long as she doesn't strike the trailer wheels the

trucks SHOULD remain upright and thus... less likely to explode... or at least until teh timers or what-have-you go off.

<Autobot> Blurr says, "WHEELIE! ForPrimussake, welcomeback! I'llcatchupwithyoulaterwhenI'mnotshieldingpeoplefromgettingblownup, mmkay?"

Powerglide waves his gun around like a moron, "SO DO WE SHOOT 'EM OR WHAT?" Why is he yelling.

Silverbolt can't do much. His rifle would cause the explosives to go boom....and he doesn't have that much strength to work with.

Zipping past Jayson and Blue in his car Daniel calls out, "Hi Blurr!" Well, no need to be rude just cause your driving really fast towards trucks with

bombs and jamming their radio control mechanisms. Pulling his car up alongside one of the trucks, Daniel hits a button on the dashboard, well a series

of them. His own car promptly retracts the steering wheel. Daniel proceeds to slide his door back and make to jump at the trucks cab. He doesn't look

down, though he also doesn't jump and merely comments, "Okay, this is possibly a bit nuts." He looks around, "Even by my standards." But hey, Autobot

City, bombs in trucks and he is here. So what the hell he jumps for the trucks cab.

Skydive still stands where Grimlock was and watches a bit amused.

THERE'S AN EXPLOSION! On the tire that Nightbeat shot. Not a fiery explosion, fortunately. The tire is ripped right off and the truck plows into a

barrier, coming to a crude halt. Two trucks behind it plow into it and cause a huge mess. Grimlock flips over two more trucks, and they land on their

backs, spinning their wheels.

Sheng tears up the tires to two more, and they slam into each other until they've piled up into each other. Daniel commandeers another, and then Defcon

shoots the last truck in the cab. It starts to burn a bit. Uhoh.

<Autobot> Wheelie says, "Slow it down Blurr, one syllable at a time. Wheelie has a hard time understanding if you don't rhyme."

Markdown yells, "Shoot the tires! Or something!"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "You need to pick up a Blurr-ese translator, Wheelie."

Markdown adds, "Not the one Daniel is in!"

"Me got it! Me got it!" Grimlock, to judge by his toothy grin, is having quite a time! And so, he lunges forwards to try to nab the last one, his teeth just barely able to sink

into the back of its trailer... At which point he neatly *SHEARS* off a chunk of trailer-metal, allowing the rest of the truck to keep going! "Oops."

Silverbolt blinks his optics. 'oh right. Forgot lasers." he says doing a rather cool (HA! yeah right) move to pull his rifle off of his shoulder and

does the flip level-action shotgun load that Schwartzenegger did in terminator 2......and fires a laser at one of the front tires of the trucks....one

of the ones still moving.

<Autobot> Wheelie says, "What a great idea Foxy, I'll give you a high five. At least without thumbs, you haven't lost your jive!"

Blurr wavewaves as Daniel greets him, then smiles down at Jayson. "You'llbefine,

don'tworryaboutexplosionsortrucksorthingsgoingboomorfertlizerbombsormayhemorimminentdeath. We'rethegoodguys. We'reincontrol!" He grins cheerfully.

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Hahahahhanothumbs"

Nightbeat claps his hands over his antennae as the sound of explosion rings and rattles in his metal skull. He blows smoke off the tip of his photon

pistol and mutters, "Not bad. Guess I'll go for two." He aims over at a truck at the back of the pack and fires again.

Sheng's optics widen and she jogs (her recently repaired leg telling her that it does not LIKE this very much, thank you) to teh burning cab, and slices

the connection between burning cab and trailer and begins to shove the burning cab clear of the trailer

Somehow, Daniel didn't fall and end up horribly scarred on the road. This is probably a bad thing as he'll do this sort of thing again. He spots the

burning truck, looks at the steering wheel and remarks to himself, "Nah. That would be dumb." SO instead of trying to ram the last truck he slows and

stops the one he is in, looking for any remote device and removing it if he finds it. His car meantime has come to a halt, avoiding any other traffic as

it does so.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Shut it, 'Glide."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Hahaahahaha"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Oh God, we're all gunna die."

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Powerglide? Quit it."

<Autobot> Focus says, "We all die, but not all of us live."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "I still have so much I have to do."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Powerglide, no one's gonna die! Just stay calm!"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Like file for divorce!"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "And get drunk again!"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "And furthur my Anti-Aerialbot agenda!"

Impulse zips up, glancing at Nightbeat for a moment, his own blaster pistol drawn. Fertilizer bombs, though... shooting them doesn't seem to be the best

idea. "Great," he mutters, before aiming at another truck and try to shoot out the front tire at it... and then he zips forward, hoping that perhaps he

can grab the truck and help stop it before it flips over and potentially explodes.

One of the tiny dots in the sky overhead isn't moving in a constant speed or direction like the others... those with especially fine-tuned optics might

notice that it's an F-4, but even an organic Mark I eyeball can see it suddenly turn and dive towards the goings-on near Autobot City.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Say, Powerglide, I've been meaning to ask...do you have a mouth under that faceplate?"

<Autobot> Wheelie says, "Foxfire, Foxfire, don't sound so hurt. It's perfectly fine you can't pull a Siskel or Ebert!"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "And-waitwhat. What an odd question."

Jayson Redfield blinks as Daniel drives past. "Hi Daniel, 'bye Daniel." He looks up at Blurr again, a look of determination crossing his face. "I could

run to my exo, but I don't think I'd reach it in time. I've got another trick up my sleeve, though." He darts out from behind Blurr and then stops,

drawing the gun that he usually keeps on his person. With skilled marksmanship, he fires a single bullet toward the tire of one of the trucks. "Should

help..."

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Is that F-4 cleared to be in our airspace?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "I was just wondering, that's all."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Of course I do! What do you think I am? Some sorta mouth-less freak!?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "F-4? Isn't Fireflight an F-4?"

Nightbeat has really good optics, it should be noted, and a little wobbly from that drink, he gazes up. Jets. Why does it always have to be jets? Why

couldn't it be forklifts or garbage disposals? And that's a F-4. Nightbeat squints up at it, looking for national markings and colours.

Blurr watches Jayson as he gets a shot in at the truck. "Hey! Niceshootingthere. Yougotskills!"

The trucks all seem to have their tires shredded, or are flipped over, or totaled, or trying to drive through a wall and failing, or what have you. The

last truck's cab is forcefully seperated from its trailer by Sheng, and rapidly outpaces. The cab rams into the barrier just outside the guardpost and

explodes. Fortunately, though, the trailer containing the bomb is slowing to a halt behind it, so the blast isn't anywhere near as bad as it could've

been. Then, a bullet from Jayson bursts one of the trailer's tires, and it flips over as well.

Looks like the good guys have wrapped up this little crisis pretty well.

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Fireflight, izzat you?"

Defcon is still standing amongst the others, firing randomly into the oncoming vehicles until the last have been taken care of. He just continues to

stand there, surveying the scene before him. It doesn't make sense... ...what a strange turn of events... ...what a moronic way to try and destroy AC?

Powerglide has been standing there with his gun pointed, making 'pewpewpew' sounds the entire time without firing a single shot. Why bother? Everyone

else seems to be taking care of it just fine. "So, we outta the woods yet?"

Sheng straightens and goes to look at the trailer. "Does anyone know if these things have remote detonators or triggers connected to the doors opening?" Jayson Redfield smirks. "I'm a sharpshooter. It's what I do." He watches in satisfaction as the trailed flips over, then cranes his neck. "Hey...isn't

that...?" Now there's a mech he hasn't seen in awhile. Then again, he's only met said Autobot once. "Fireflight?"

Nightbeat shakes his head at Sheng's question, and he replies, "No clue. For all I know, they could be on a timer or a vocal command or temperature-

sensitive..."

Markdown phews, as he approaches one of the downed trucks. "I think we might be, Powerglide. I think we might be. Ah, we need to find out who's behind

this, though. We still got those drivers?"

The F-4 pulls up mid-dive, flipping into a sloppy-looking loop as the last of the trucks is stopped. <<Hi, Nightbeat. Yes, it's me... are people

praticing for the Olympic demolition derby down there?>> Fireflight's voice responds over the comm channel.

Defcon looks oddly at Powerglide... ...the 'pewpew' sound coming from his mouth, and his blaster is cold as ice and not firing. He shrugs the thought

aside, then speaks into the comlink.

Sheng frowns. (Never a explosives expert aroundwhen you need one.) "Then maybe we should start moving them further aprat form each other and teh city.

If one of them goes right now it'll take the others with them."

<Autobot> Defcon says, "Hey Dick Tracy, can we get a Sit-Rep?"

Robot T-Rex! <Grimlock> grunts, and transforms back to robot mode, now that he's done smashing! "See!" he says. "Me Grimlock SAVE THE DAY. Me am hero!"

he grins, and then smooshes a barrel of ammonium nitrate under his foot. *STOMP*

Removing some radio equipment, Daniel exits the truck, looking around to see that there are no more trucks in motion (well except the odd wheel rolling

across the ground) Daniel head over towards the Autobots, keeping the jamming in place since well there is likely to be detonators. But Daniel ain't

going anywhere near those. "So, you guys think you can do anything with this radio receiver? Or even better, disarm the bombs?"

There's a flurry of moving parts, and Grimlock changes to his robot mode!

The jamming signal in the area disperses.

Though it doesn't really disperse.

<Autobot> Nightbeat says, "Sure thing, Blueboy. A-hem. We have a bunch of trucks with fake plates wrecked up in front of Autobot city, and they're full

of ammonium nitrate. We have two humans in custody."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Stop reading old comics, Defcon."

<Autobot> Defcon says, "It's the only thing I can get a hold of. Grimlock hoards all the funnie pages!"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Grimlock must like his funnies..."

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "I blame Scattershot for everything that's happened so far."

The barrel Grimlock stepped on EXPLOOOOODES! Fortunately it was far enough way from the others to not cause a chain reaction.

Grimlock is...relatively unscathed, no less! "Huh." is all he has to say, taking a moment to eye the bottom of his foot as if he stepped in something

unpleasant.

Sheng's optics widen. "Right. A suggested plan? Someone takes whoever drove these trucks up for qestioning, and we sepperate teh trailers far enough to

prevent a chain reaction. Ver. VERY carefully."

Powerglide raises his hand and waves it around, "Oh! Ohhhh! Pick me! I am SO good at being careful!"

"Iputthedriverinasafeplace! He'sverysafe!" Blurr pipes up.

Sheng says, "And that safe place is somewhere we can ask him some nice, polite questions... right?"

Markdown nods at Sheng. "That's a good idea. And we have to keep that jamming up. I'm pretty sure they'll detonate the instant it goes down. Uh, Daniel,

maybe we can. I mean, I can't. But I'm sure we have an Autobot here smart enough to do something with it. Also, Grimlock, please stop exploding

things?..."

Grimlock aaws at Markdown. "You no fun!"

Jayson Redfield just shakes his head, looking mildly amused. "It's no fun for *anyone* if the whole city gets blown up."

"Ithinkso, yes! Unlessheleft. ButIdon'tthinkheleft." Blurr looks uncertain, gazing down the main road where he had zoomed minutes earlier.

Sheng says, "Why don't you go check, Blurr?"

Down the main road, that guy is hoofing it like crazy.

"Okay!" Blurr grins, and takes off down the road like the Roadrunner on methamphetamines.

Nightbeat has a headache. He mutters, "Think I'd like to be in on that questioning." Someone else can worry about disassembling the bombs. "LEAVE ME ALONE!" the driver says. "I DON'T KNOW NUTHIN'!"

Powerglide shakes a fist, "BEAT IT OUTTA HIM, BLURR!"

Sheng says, "Well, do we want to bring our questionee into the city, Nighb- No DON'T beat it out of him, Blurr!"

Powerglide says, "No! DO beat it outta him!"

Markdown grunts as he begins to shove apart some of the trailers. "Probably not safe... to disarm... probably best just to blow them up..."

F-4 Phantom II <Fireflight> waggles his wings as he passes overhead. "So what do we do with them to keep them from..." Fireflight's voice trails off as

the implications of Blurr's musings sink in. Oh look, there he goes now... and there's a power line! The F-4 pulls back up with bare meters to spare.

You say, "In a safe place, of course..."

Powerglide says, "Texas."

Grimlock looks over at Markdown. "Oooh! Me Grimlock can 'splode things real good!" and with that, he's got his double-blaster out! Thankfully, he

doesn't start shooting. Yet.

Nightbeat suddenly looks a bit more lively, and he roars, "No beatings! And that's an order. Slagging Miranda rights..." He takes another drink. With his gun now holstered, Jayson folds his arms and just watches. "You guys need me to do something?"

Daniel nods to Markdown, "Controlled explosions. Normally what the military and police bomb squads do. Bit safer all round."

Powerglide snorts, "Yeah. Go away."

Sheng says, "Powerglide... why don't you CAREFULLY take that trailer," she points at the trailer that already fairly far away from the others. "And

carefully move it as far from Autbot City, human homes and the other trailers as you can?" the gold femme goes over to one of hte three trailers that

crashed into a confused mess and starts to drag one of them away. "Come on, this close together we are asking for trouble."

Markdown yells, "NO! Not yet!" as he waves his hands around. "Wait until the trucks are all clear of the city, then we'll destroy them!" He nods in

return to Daniel. "Thank you. Uh. Don't suppose you could park that truck you hijacked over..." He gestures at some open countryside. "...there, or

something?"

Jayson Redfield sticks his tongue out at Powerglide.

Blurr catches up to the driver, and gently scoops him up in his hands. "Hithere!" He peers back toward the others, pausing briefly as the driver begins

protesting. Then, he returns to the others just as swiftly as he left. "See? Hereheis," he says, presenting the driver to Sheng.

Sheng in the process of dragging a trailer full of explosives, blinks. "Why don't you introduce him to Nightbeat?"

Markdown peers at Jayson as he begins to shove a trailer along. "How good are you at, uh, technical stuff, Jayson?"

Powerglide responds to Jayson's RUDENESS with an obscene gesture, and then he runs over to where the /highly-explosive/ trucks are. "I wasn't listenin'.

Where are we taking them?"

Sheng pauses in moving the trailer again to point to the nice open country. "Over there."

Nightbeat puts away his pistol and his flask and holds out a hand to accept the human. Of Jayson, he inquires, sounding doubtful, "Don't suppose you

have human-sized cuffs on you, do you?"

"I'm just a hapless truck driver!" the driver says. "And I don't know anything, ack!" He kicks at Nightbeat's hands.

Silverbolt is mostly standing off to the side with the Aerialbots (unless they have poses done already) watching what's going on.

Defcon is still standing there, lost in thought. His processor is trying to draw logic from this illogical attack plan... ...what was the purpose? How

does getting them all outside of the base... ...Oh crap.

"Oh, rightright." Blurr zips over to Nightbeat. "Foryou." He plops the driver into Nightbeat's hands. (OOCly, goes before the driver kicking pose) 8) Silverbolt touches his helmet as he looks up.

Skydive casually moves over to Silverbolt and also continues to watch.

<Autobot> Silverbolt says, "hey Fireflight? You getting a radio signals up there?"

"Eh?" Jayson shrugs. "Not my forte. Why?" Then, to Nightbeat, he nods. "Happen to have a pair that I grabbed earlier--didn't actually think I'd need

'em, but I had a feeling." He produces said handcuffs.

Nightbeat holds the driver by the scruff of his neck and hoists him up to optic level, ignoring the kicking. He says slowly, "Y'know, if I was a human

cop, I'd have to read you your rights. An' I couldn't question you right now. Thing is, I'm not human, and tech'nically speaking, I ain't a cop. So, you

didn't think there was anything weird that none of the other trucks had drivers, huh?"

Daniel gets back in the truck and drives it over to a nice safe position to have it blown up. He then gets out and walks swiftly but calmly back to the

Autobots. As he walks past Jayson who is getting the handcuffs out Daniel comments, "You know people will start to talk if you carry them around all the

time."

Defcon moves over towards some of the others assisting in the 'clean up'. He mutters something else into his radio, then continues to search amongst the

crowd.

Powerglide begins the tedious and rather uneventful task of moving a truck over to where Sheng designated. That is all.

Exo-Armor Talon <Sam> has arrived.

Sam drops Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>.

The driver ulps as he stares back at Nightbeat. "I uh, well, I didn't look, I mean, it's none of my business who's in the truck, ya know?" He doesn't

quite look scared enough, yet.

Sam has left.

Sam enters the Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>.

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> Robot zooms out from the direction of San Fransisco, EDC central command finally having gotten word of something unusual

going on outside of Autobot City.

The Hermes reconfigures into hover-tank mode.

Jayson Redfield glares at Daniel. "It's just a one-time thing--nothin' wrong with grabbing a spare."

Exo-Armor Talon <Sam> Jet cruises slowly (for a jet) along, directly above the Hermes hover-tank!

Silverbolt looks up to Fireflight and waves him down....Obviously he wants to give Fireflight some orders.

Sheng finishes dragging her trailer to a clear zone and heads back for another, passing Defcon as she goes. "So, anyone know what this was about beyond

trying to blow us up with remote controlled trucks?"

Nightbeat is still holding onto the driver, but he lowers him low enough that Jayson can cuff him. He half smiles, but there doesn't seem to be anything

happy or amused about the expression. Instead, he continues "Uh-huh. Could I see some ID, please?"

Powerglide wags a finger, "I'm tellin' yeah. Scattershot's faaauulllt."

Grimlock vanishes out of reality.

Grimlock has left.

The driver mumbles, as he is lowered and cuffed, "Uh... it's in my wallet? Look, MAN, I know my rights! You ROBOTS can't just kidnap me! That's ILLEGAL,

metal-head!"

Jayson Redfield casually puts the cuffs on the driver. Don't say *anything*, Daniel. "You know that Shawn Berger guy who was in the news? Didn't he say

something about wanting revenge?"

Blurr watches Nightbeat, Jayson, and the driver curiously. For the moment, this conversation is more interesting than fertilizer-filled trucks.

F-4 Phantom II <Fireflight> circles a bit before heading to a nearby open highway to land. It's a bit bumpy, perhaps bue to the scattered bits of tires

and metal on the road, but the F-4 lands and transforms. "It's pretty staticy even close in," Fireflight answers while walking to join his teammates. "I

had no idea any of this was going on until I came in from patrol, got visual long before I heard anything at all." He looks questioniningly around at

the others on-scene, but waits for further word from Silverbolt or Skydive.

The driver blinks and looks a tad more anxious at the mention of Berger's name.

The F-4's nose and tail fold up as white arms and legs emerge from the jet's underbelly. The landing gear retracts as Fireflight's head pops up from the

robot torso.

Nightbeat wags a finger, and that mirthless smile widens. He replies, "No, *I* know your rights, and there ain't anything in there about space robots."

To Jayson, he suggests, "Get his wallet out."

Smiling at Jaysons reply, Daniel looks at the driver, "However, technically your trespassing on land which effectively belongs to them. And, since they

are a recognised foreign government, that means this counts as their embassy, which gives them the right to arrest you under their laws." Okay, so maybe

that wasn't entirely true, but Daniel is a damn good liar.

Silverbolt looks over to Redfield. "Berger? Who the slag is, Berger?" he then looks to Fireflight and Skydive. "You heard of this guy?"

Markdown shoves another truck into the safe zone, muttering to Powerglide, "Oh, come on, now, this is a good work out, isn't it? Heh."

Skydive shakes his head, "No Sir."

Powerglide scoffs at Markdown's words, "Well, it would be if it weren't for my TERRIBLE BACK."

Jayson Redfield smirks a bit as he complies with Nightbeat's request, grabbing the driver's wallet. "Hit a weak spot, did I? You look nervous, mister." Impulse returns right about the time Silverbolt asks. "Maybe the Berger, Jr. fellow from the news a few days ago?" he suggests. "I recall seeing a

report about him, got pretty steamed at the Autobots for apparently 'inheriting' the land his father had held, after the American government ceded the

land to the Autobots. Sounded like it was for Metroplex... don't recall the exact locale, though."

Sheng looks over at Silverbolt as he speaks up. "I think I saw a news report on that. Something about the land we're on used to belong to him or his...

what's teh wrod... father?" she grabs another trailer and starts hauling. Ow ow ow.

Blurr remembers from Earth television that an arrest isn't valid unless someone reads the arrested his rights. "Hey, arewearrestinghim? Isthisanarrest?

Youhavetherighttoremainsilent, anythingyousaymaybeusedagainstyouinacourtoflaw --"

<Earth> ZBC News says, "This just in, the Autobots are casually dumping what looks like semi-trucks off to the side of Autobot City. Environmentalist

groups are calling this the worst case of Truck littering by the robot faction since the Truck Massacre of 1989, where a berserk Megatron began to

destroy any semi-truck that looked like Optimus Prime, prompting the Autobots to appropriate and discard the trucks for the safety of truck drivers

everywhere."

Fireflight looks lost in thought for a few millicycles. Or maybe he's watching the Terran planes or something. It's hard to tell sometimes, with

Fireflight.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam taps on his radio. BzzzwwooWWWWwwoEEEooo. He frowns, boosting the Talon ahead of the Hermes, and cuts a wide circle

around the collected mass of Bots, humans, and trucks. Banking to get a better view of what's going on.

The driver gapes at Daniel for a moment. "Wh-what? Well, then why's that fast talking guy reading my rights? I mean, what?" The driver's id lists him as

Freddy Kwanzer. "Look, I, uh, I'll call the President!" he yells at Nightbeat. "I totally will!" He struggles uselessly in Nightbeat's grip.

Jayson Redfield gives the driver an odd look. "Yeah...I'm pretty sure the President would *love* to hear how you tried to blow up Metroplex."

Sheng hauls another truck, muttering about speedsters and jets that need to get off their skidplates and help.

Nightbeat gets out his magnifying glass, because every private eye has one, and he asks Jason of the wallet, "What's he got?" He snorts and replies to

the driver, "Go ahead, make my day." The President? The President doesnt want to know what dirt Nightbeat can dig up. Nobody's clean.

"Ifyoudon'thaveanattorneyonemaybeappointedforyou," Blurr continues in the background, helpfully letting the driver know his rights.

"His ID says 'Freddy Kwanzer'," Jayson explains. "Too bad he doesn't have a card saying why he tried to pull this shit."

Keeping the jamming on, partly till he knows the bombs are dealt with and partly so the driver can't try making a call, Daniel smiles widely at the

driver. "Sorry mister, but they don't even need to afford you any rights. Their laws remember. Which, if I recall, if you were convicted of trying to

blow up Metroplex, well they would ship you off to some planet with lava and... well mostly just lava."

Defcon saunters back towards Autobot City, this has obviously wasted enough of his time as it is. "Let me know what you find out... ...." he mutters

over his shoulder, stepping into the spacebridge and closing the door.

Markdown grumbles back at Powerglide. "You don't have a bad back, get off it, already." He grunts as he shoves away at yet another trailer. "Hm. And

I've heard about this Berger guy. Big time businessman. Blew it all trying to make it big with Decepticon help. Serves him right, though."

Nightbeat raises an optical ridge. This Danno guy has style, even if he hits a little close to home. Nightbeat was *stuck* on that lava planet. idly, he

adds, "I used ta' live there. The lava planet. It doesn't even have a name, just a worthless string of numbers." He pulls out his datapad to run a

background check on 'Freddy Kwanzer'.

"I can't understand you!" the driver shouts at Blurr. "And the rest of you guys are bluffing! You know I can't live on a lava planet, that would be

MURDER! So screw you, you stupid robots! You got NUTHIN'."

Impulse's gaze flickers towards Sheng, and he shakes his head slowly. "Yeah, yeah, keep yer armor on, li'l girl," he calls after her. Though likely he

could at least try to do something, but the medtechs will give him hell if he strains anything too much, given his own recent repairs. "We need a

janitor Cybertronian who transforms into a giant, industrial-grade wet/dry vacuum cleaner," he murmurs as he starts to help. With an apologetic look to

Nightbeat, he starts to head towards the trucks.

Nightbeat points out, too cheerily, "We have your credit cards."

Exo-Armor Talon <Sam> Jet finishes its second trip around the circle, then spirals in to land. As it nears the ground, it transforms into a robot and

then touches down relatively lightly.

Exo-armor Talon <Sam> Jet shifts into robot mode.

Sheng walks back from the latest trailer and smirks. "Really? You can't? But humans live near volcanoes, and you are impressive and adaptable beings. So

I for one do not know if you could succesfully live there or not. Let's experiment." And with that... she starts hauling hte next trailer. Shaking his head, Daniel sounds disappointed, "Well, I'd hoped you would be smart. But hey, can't help you if you don't help yourself." Daniel looks at

Metroplex, "You know, probably a bad idea to hold him here, a quick extradition to Cybertron." Daniel points to the Spacebridge, looks to the guy, "Ever

had your atoms flung across the galaxy before?"

Silverbolt looks to Daniel. "We could always tell Metroplex someone tried to blow him up."

"Takes some getting used to," Jayson remarks. "Hang around with Blurr for awhile and you'll understand him perfectly." He smirks and jabs a finger at

Freddy. "We have enough evidence to get you locked up for a long time, I bet. Who put you up to this?" Given Freddy's earlier reaction, he suspects that

it is, in fact, Berger.

The driver scowls at Sheng. "Yeah, YEAH!? I don't buy it, man, you wouldn't! And... and..." He stares at Nightbeat, gulping loudly. "You... you probably

don't even know how to, uh... use them, and..." His increasingly fearful glance follows Daniel's gaze. "Uh... huh? Do what with my atoms!? No, no, I

will not talk!"

Powerglide shrugs, "We can always get Cosmos back here.."

Dee-Kal enters from the Landing Pad to the north.

Dee-Kal has arrived.

Dee-Kal looks about.

"Thespacebridgeisallkindsoffun! -- Untilyougetinit." Blurr nods sagely.

Nightbeat hoists the driver back up and starts to saunter in the general direction of the space-bridge. He folds up the human to his face, and he

replies, deadly serious, "You wouldn't believe what I can do." This little punk thinks he can slip something past someone who has been a detective since

before humanity climbed out of trees? Nice try.

Impulse snorts, looking back at Sheng. "Next, you'll want to give him SPF 5000 sun-block and hope he'll last more than ten minutes on the golden sands

of Alteron," he comments wryly, starting to move stuff around.

Sheng grins at Impulse="No, the radiation would kill him faster then that."

Daniel looks over his shoulder at Silverbolt, and grins, "Well, that would be risky Silverbolt." He then looks back at the driver, "What do you think?

Want to take your chances with the big transforming city? Or a quick trip to Cybertron. Hope you didn't have a big lunch, you always lose the contents

of your stomach the first few times through." Daniel looks mildly concerned as he also admits, "And well, sometimes humans don't quite go through

intact. Not mad for us afterall, organics are tricky for Cybertronian tech you know."

Silverbolt clears his throat. "Impulse....nightbeat. we have a more LOCAL threat here. We could introduce the guy to the Autobot he just tried to blow

up, after all."

Jayson Redfield is looking a little smug right now. He goes quiet for the moment.

Fireflight 's navigational lights flash surprise at Silverbolt's suggestion, and his optics brighten a bit as he looks over at Metroplex, almost as if

his circuits are glowing with the unasked questions.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam taps on his radio again. Man, those Hermes tanks are slow. He sighs quietly to himself, then turns the Talon toward the

group interrogating Mr. Truck Driver and approaches.

Freddy Kwanzer starts to snivel, eyes watering as he tries to squirm out of Nightbeat's grasp. "YOU PEOPLE ARE CRAZY! I don't want to meet your city! I

don't wanna go in that... ring thing!!! I don't wanna go to Altron, or something! Stop making crazy threats, I'll talk, I'll talk!!!! Yes, Shawn Berger

hired me to drive those trucks here! Well, he was controlling the other ones by remote, and we were going to blow them once they were inside your city!

We heard you were taking lots of shipments and we thought you'd just mistake us for one of them!"

Nightbeat grins over at Silverbolt, triumphantly, as that smug son of a Cessna is proven wrong, "See? Our way works just fine." He snaps his fingers and

looks back at Freddy, asking, "So... what was your exit strategy? Just curious. You don't look like the fanatic type."

Impulse chuckles. "That sounds like a confession if I've ever heard one. I want to see the look on this human's face when you play it for him, and then

arrest him, Nightbeat."

Dee-Kal sidles up into the gathering.

Freddy Kwanzer shrugs. "I dunno, I was going to run, or something." Suddenly, he yells at Impulse, "HEY! I helped you, you have to let me go, now!"

Jayson Redfield just points at Freddy. "*You*...are quite suicidal."

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam can't use his radio, and using a loudspeaker is a little gauche, so he cracks the canopy on his exo so he can interact

with the outside world a little more directly.

Daniel looks at Freddy, "Let you go? Are you like, totally stupid or something? You really are under arrest you know that yes? And these guys? They

really can hold you for triel under their laws." Daniel smiles, "But they're more likely to hand you over to the EDC or local police. Which is possibly

worse since you'll be treated as a terrorist." Daniel pats the driver on the shoulder, "Hey, least you'll get your meals made for you for a while now." Dee-Kal h'ms.

Sheng is just finishing hauling one of the explosives packed trailers to a clear space and she blinks up at Dee-Kal, before straightening and leading

her 'neice' away from teh boom-trucks. "A human who wanted the land granted to the Autobots decided to try and kill as many as possible with

explosives," she says sadly. "we managed to stop them in time and are now moving the trucks to a safe distance from teh city, humans and each other."

Nightbeat looks over at Daniel and suggests, "Book 'em, Danno." Because Nightbeat has been dying to say that ever since he heard about Daniel Witwicky

and watched Hawaii 5-O. To Impulse, Nightbeat orders, "I want Berger's whereabouts, and I want them yesterday."

"Sohe*IS*underarrest! Iknewit!" Blurr exclaims as Daniel speaks to Freddy.

Impulse stops his work. Finally, a way out of the menial labor! Though, Impulse has the good sense to not exult in the fact -- especially NOT in front

of his sibling. "On it," he replies, before zipping off. Yes, he's the Intelligence XO... but he's still so used to doing his own work that he doesn't

stop to try and delegate such things. At least not yet.

Freddy Kwanzers sniffs a bit before he breaks down crying.

Just Kwanzer, actually. What-ev.

Fireflight flicks wing-flaps idly, "So this Berger person helped the Decepticons before, and nobody ever caught him?"

Jayson Redfield stares. And stares. And stares. "What the HELL are you crying about?"

Dee-Kal glances at the trucks, then at the presumed culprit, Freddy. She wrinkles her nose. "Wow... a species of human that I thought was extinct or

dying out. Can we keep him in a cage? for further study?"

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam cranes his neck to look out over the control panel of his Talon to the humans on the ground. "Er.. everything okay

here?" he asks. Probably at Jayson.

Freddy Kwanzer sputters, "I'm going to jail! I'm... I'm too pretty for prison!"

Powerglide says, "Hey, I'd be crying too if Nightbeat was interrogating me."

Dee-Kal chuckles.

Silverbolt blinks. "This reminds me of something that I saw recently......uh.....the Assistant DA from Boondocks. The guy who's petrified of being anal

raped in jail."

Jayson Redfield facepalms. "Shouldn've thought of that BEFORE YOU TRIED TO BOMB THE PLACE." He sighs, and looks over to Sam as he arrives. He jerks a

thumb toward Kwanzer. "This guy tried to blow up Metroplex."

Powerglide stares at Silverbolt. "Ana-WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?"

Markdown stomps back in, wiping his hands off. "Uh, supposedly he disappeared after that whole incident where he helped frame the Autobots and..." He

grimaces at Silverbolt. "Thank you, I do enjoy hearing about the less pleasant side of human life, thanks."

Jayson Redfield snort-giggles at Silverbolt's commentary.

Dee-Kal says, "...Ewwww...!"

Powerglide wonders if Silverbolt found his 'other' magazines.

Sheng pauses as Impulse leaves teh truck he was moving halfway to where it is SUPPOSED to be. Annoying shirking siblings! He's going to get painted

Decepticon purple and PINK for this, so help her... She pats Dee-Kal's shoulder and smiles gently. "Deeky, if you could go over to speak with Nightbeat?

I'd like to know if there's a way of tracing the signal Daniel was jamming to locate where Berger was."

Dee-Kal doubts it. She would have found them first if they were that badly hidden.

Fireflight looks over the crying human, listening to his protests a bit before turning to his teammates. "Two eyes, mouth, the usual number of

fingers... I know there's a little variety in size and some in color, but they really don't look that much different, aside from all the types of

exoplating they use," he murmurs, sounding a bit confused.

Daniel refrains from laughing at Nightbeats book 'im comment. He looks to Jayson, "I think this is one for you?" He smiles, "Your handcuffs after all." Badly hidden? Dee-Kal would be surprised.

Powerglide really just leaves them all over the place. It's a really bad habit.

Dee-Kal will have to find him a magazine rack, at least. She heads over to Nightbeat to ask as instructed of him.

Nightbeat makes people cry! That's slagging right. For once, Powerglide talks sense. He inquires, "So, you EDC folks got jurisdiction to handle this

punk, right? Because I'd for him to walk and suffer a... car crash." He smiles nastily.

Jayson Redfield stares at Daniel for a moment, then begins to flush furiously. "For God's sake...WHY do people keep teasing me?!" It's not *his* fault,

after all! He huffs and folds his arms, looking a bit pouty.

Freddy Kwanzer continues to cry like a baby. "What are you people going to DO to me!?"

Silverbolt shrugs at markdown then looks to Skydive. "you remember that episode right? I think Fireflight was playing video games with Slingshot that

night and we were bored."

Powerglide waves his hands around, "Okay, Bolts? We're done. No one wants to hear about anal rapings with your brothers."

Dee-Kal places a hand on Night's arm, softly. "AUnt Sheng requests; is there a way to trace the signal MASter Daniel used to locate the nemesis

burger..?"

Dee-Kal places a hand on Night's arm, softly. "AUnt Sheng requests; is there a way to trace the signal MASter Daniel was blocking, to locate the nemesis

burger..?"

Daniel looks at Freddy, "Well, you get taken away, put in jail and since you're so pretty you probably become good friends with some guy with a name you

won't want to remember when you finally get out."

Skydive nods, "Of course I do Silverbolt."

Dee-Kal glances skywards. This is a perfect day...

Nightbeat just stares over at Dee-Kal and tries to snatch his arm away. He sputters, "I - what - oh. It's probably died out now." He looks over at

Daniel and asks, just to be sure, "Can you track the signal you were blocking?"

Daniel shakes his head at Nightbeat, "I couldn't even be sure there was a signal. All I was able to do was block anything in the area and hope it

helped."

Markdown shoves the last of the trucks over to a safe area and stomps back over to the group, giving a thumb's up. "They're all clear of the city." Silverbolt blinks at Powerglide. 'we're talking about TV shows. Not your warped sense of humor, powerglide. This just reminded me of the episode." he

then looks to Fireflight. "How far DID you get on that.....Warcraft game with Slingshot anyways?"

Sheng mutters and grumbles as she finishes hauling the second to last of the trucks to the clearing and looks around to make certain that all of the

trucks are far enough apart to stop a chain reaction and... nope, three are WAY to close.

But, oh well... moving clear JUUUUST in case.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam glances over toward the trucks getting ready to explode, then looks down at Jayson and Daniel. "Er.. what -is- penalty

for attempted bombing?"

Fireflight 's wing-flaps flick a shrug. "Not very. He said I had to kill a bunch of boars before I'd be ready for any of the raids and dungeons and good

stuff."

Powerglide gapes, "Now BOARS are involved!? What is WRONG with you guys!?"

Nightbeat shrugs. Oh well. He points out, "What we can do, however, is a nationwide search of places where large amounts of ammonium nitrate have been

sold recently. Also, we need to figure out where those trucks came from." He hollers over to Sheng, "Oi, Sweetheart! Can you get the cab off one of

those trucks, intact? Wanna check the serials."

Jayson Redfield just grins. "Personally, *I'd* kick the guy's ass. But I'm not sure if anyone would let me."

Hearing Markdown give the all clear, Daniel cuts the jamming signal once the Bots are all clear of the trucks.

Dee-Kal says, "IS that not a bird thing..?"

Dee-Kal says, "I am quite sure I have heard about ammonium nitrate with reference to birds... h'mph. Ah, well."

Jayson Redfield glances to Powerglide. "They're talking about a video game, dude. Chill."

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! The trucks all explode the very instant the jamming ceases. And Daniel picks up something on his radio... there was definitely

someone trying to send a transmission out and it finally got through!

Sheng is thrown forward a few feet by the concussive force of the blast, rolling until she's back on her feet to stare at what was once several trucks.

"Okay, NOW can we trace teh smelting signal?!"

Dee-Kal grabs Jayson and crouches.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam uses an arm of his mech to shield himself from the glare of the explosions. "Eh.." he mutters.

Powerglide throws on a pair of roboshades as he watches the explosion.

Nightbeat is sent woblling a few steps forward by the blast, and he curses, something involving the insertion of a truck's axle into its smokestack. He

looks over at Daniel expectantly.

"OH SHIT!" Alarmed by the explosions, Jayson ducks behind Sheng. He breathes heavily as he tries to slow his heart rate down to its normal pace. "Jeez!" Impulse has reconnected.

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> is rocked back and forth by the blast, until it's stabalization systems kick in and bring it back under control. Once the

explosions seem to have completely stopped, the hover-tank transforms into it's less protected robot form and walks over, inspecting the remains of the

trucks.

The Hermes reconfigures into walking-tank mode.

Silverbolt blinks at the explosion. "Signal?"

Powerglide pulls out a robocigar too, trying to light it on the explosion, but it just burns up ):

Engrossed in discussion with his fellow Aerialbots, Fireflight wasn't really watching the trucks until - "Ooooooh. Wow!" The force of the explosions

does make him shift a foot to steady himself, but Fireflight hardly seems to notice that in the case of big glowy explosions.

Skydive raises an optic ridge and says, "IT looks as if the fire will not be a threat."

Dee-Kal bows her head over her passenger, teeny bits of shrapnel flying all around. TRust me, he's lucky I posed catching him up, I think..!

Impulse zips back out, optics wide as the explosion goes off, and the first Autobot he looks for is Sheng. Sorry, Autobots, but Impulse's siblings come

first. He darts over, a blur of gold, black and red, looking to make certain Sheng is okay. Then his gaze snaps up to see where Nightbeat is, and zips

back over to him. "Hotel room, here in San Francisco," he tells the detective. "I've already informed the San Francisco PD, they're on the way to try

and catch him." He doubts Shawn Berger, Jr. will actually be apprehended, but at least Impulse did try.

"OH SHIT!" Alarmed by the explosions, Jayson ducks back, only to get snatched up by Dee-Kal. He breathes heavily as he tries to slow his heart rate down

to its normal pace. "Jeez!" He looks up at the Junkion. "Thanks." <FIXED POSE>

Skydive has disconnected.

Nightbeat comments, deadpan, "That was fast," and so is Impulse. "Good work. Guess we'd better head that way." He transforms. Dee-Kal grins.

Nightbeat slouches down into Porsche 959 form. Time to roll.

Sheng offers Impulse a nod and faint smile. She's alright, just go knocked around a bit. "Blurr, how fast could you get to that location?" and as an

after thought. "Does anyone have an image of Berger so we all know who to look out for?"

Dee-Kal says, "More than welcome. What are friends for?"

Markdown holds up a datapad with a picture of Berger Jr. on it. "Right here, guys!"

Dee-Kal says, "Powerglide, big bro, did I do right?"

From Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey>, James Bailey gives up looking for clues in the tiny bits that are left of the trucks, and then clicks on it's

external emitters. "San Fransisco? We'd better go check it out as well. If he's inside a building, most of you guys will have a hard time going in

without ripping out a wall or two."

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam frowns at Jayson.

Powerglide pulls off his shades and stares, "Did what right? I wasn't payin' attention."

Markdown frowns as he shakes his head at the craters the trucks made. "I'm, ah, gonna stay here and help with clean up." And that also helps avoid alt

interaction, that way.

The Hermes reconfigures into hover-tank mode.

Dee-Kal stands up, Jase in her arms. She can just *guess* what Powerglide will say when he finds out what she did..!

Powerglide says, "Ew, Deeks. Put that thing down. You don't know where it's been."

Dee-Kal says, "You said never smurf up a humie without permission *unless* it was to save a life or to protect."

Sheng walks over to Dee-Kal and puts a hand on her shoulder, smiling at her. "I think you did exactly the right thing, Dee-Kal. Thank you."

Porche 959 <Nightbeat> comments to James, "That'd be mighty sporting of you." That said, he wheels out, off the trail of the Burgermeister.

"Dee-Kal?" Jayson ventures. "Could you put me down?"

Fireflight leans over to get a good scan of Markdown's datapad. "Well, that should help." With a cheery wave, Fireflight turns back toward the highway

he used as a landing strip earlier.

Dee-Kal says, "Of course. On condition you are polite to my brother Power. He is not *always* a pain in the aft."

Dee-Kal says, "Just some of the time."

Jayson Redfield clasps his hands together. "I'll behave! Honest!"

Dee-Kal sets Jase down, quite happily.

"Thank you!" Jayson chirps, then hurries off.

Dee-Kal grins, amused.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam looks around. He's an engineer, not a policeman. "Ah.." he ventures, looking at the nearby Bots, et al. "What assistance

is required?"

Markdown waves off a couple gumbies towards the craters. He replies to Sam, "We're trying to apprehend Shawn Berger Jr. in San Francisco, but we have no

idea what to expect when we get there."

With the traditional transformation sounds, Sheng transforms from her battle-mode to her highly updated hovertruck mode, ready to move out. Dee-Kal says, "Sam, you look different. New suit?"

Sheng leaves to the Outskirts of San Francisco to the west.

Sheng has left.

Dee-Kal lets the others get on with it. She's no patrol car.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Sam>, Sam nods to Dee-Kal. "Er.. yes. Had suit previously, however was destroyed. This one is new."

Dee-Kal walks round him. "Fancy duds. I like it. Not as good as a hover car with anywhere ability, but still... very stylish."

<Earth> ZBC News says, "In another breaking story, war has again returned to San Francisco. The citizens of that city are thus far evacuating to safe

zones in an orderly fashion, having had plenty of practice thanks to periodic Decepticon attacks."

MEANWHILE...

You send a radio message to Blitzwing: *you get a crackling radio transmission from.. someone* H.. hello!?

You receive a radio message from Blitzwing: I don't own any gutters, I don't want any siding, I live underwater in a giant mechanical shark. Take this number off your lists!

You send a radio message to Blitzwing: N n no! This is Shawn Berger, ah, Jr.! Look, a long time ago, I, er, I mean, MY FATHER helped you guys out with something! So... um, I don't suppose you could return the favor? The Autobots are gonna get me!

You receive a radio message from Blitzwing: Name seems kinda familiar. Where do I know your dad from? Was he that guy that hunted Autobots with an elephant gun or am I thinking of a different guy?

You send a radio message to Blitzwing: No, uh, remember, the fake video, uh, the sham trial, all the Autobots being blasted off towards the sun? That was me--er, me father! Yes, me father. I'm... slightly Irish.

You receive a radio message from Blitzwing: Oh right, ha ha, that was a good one. Too bad about them not actually getting all burned up. Right, so what can giant war robots do for you, then?

You send a radio message to Blitzwing: Ok. Um, so I tried to blow Autobot City because it's on my land, right? But, uh, something went wrong. I just know they're going to come after me!

You receive a radio message from Blitzwing: Well, our planet doesn't really have air you can breathe, so... unless you're in a wheelchair, wheelchairs also protect you from acid rain. Have you got a wheelchair? If not I dunno what you expect. I guess you could come hide out in our giant underwater shark.

You send a radio message to Blitzwing: Oh, blast it. I can't live on your planet, and I don't know about a giant shark, either! Oh, no, what do I do?!

You receive a radio message from Blitzwing: If it's just like, a couple Autobots and they're not too big I could swing by and beat 'em up for ya. But you know how they travel in packs. Lemme see if I can wake up any of the boys.

You send a radio message to Blitzwing: Oh, thank you thank you thank you! You Decepticons aren't really so bad!

Blitzwing has arrived.

Long Haul has arrived.

With a loud clanging and clunking Blitzwing rearranges himself into his imposing humanoid form.

You send a radio message to Blitzwing: Ok, I'm at the Dayton Hotel in San Francisco, room 215. Well, still, you're a pretty, uh, powerful Decepticon, right?

You receive a radio message from Blitzwing: Oh yeah, yeah, you know, I'm no slouch.

A sonic boom shortly precedes a loud CRUNCH as something very heavy lands in the street outside the Dayton Hotel, crushing a Lexus in the process, and knocks on the second floor with giant steel knuckles while pedestrians run in terror and drivers crash into one another in their intense desire to not get anywhere near that. "Hey in there," calls Blitzwing. "I'm here and I brought a Constructicon, you know, just in case."

Nightbeat arrives from the Outskirts of San Francisco, California to the east.

Nightbeat has arrived.

Shawn Berger, who looks almost exactly like his father, save for the goatee, runs out of the hotel for a moment, then stops, yells, "Wait, I forgot my bags!" then runs back inside. Not much for priorities, is he?

"Just incase what?" drones a gruff tone as Long Haul's green form decends from the sky.. He was nowhere as fast as Blitzwing.. but plot had brough him flying with the speed of a god. "You need someone to carry his luggage?" he asks as Shawn darts back inside.

Jayson Redfield arrives from the Outskirts of San Francisco, California to the east.

Jayson Redfield has arrived.

Dirge has arrived.

Blitzwing racks the bolt of his gyrojet carbine, loading a rocket-propelled explosive bullet into the chamber, and looks at the ground impatiently. "Okay, well, make it snappy," he replies, listening to the sound of police sirens approaching.

"In case I need someone to cover me while I make a fast escape with this schmoe," Blitzwing says to Long Haul, raising his carbine and firing a single shot down the street to the corner, where the first police car has come screeching around the turn. The bullet penetrates the hood and detonates, flipping the car end over end in a fireball. "Nothing's ever easy in THIS town."

Fire and ambulance sirens are audible now in addition to police.

Sheng arrives from the Outskirts of San Francisco, California to the east.

Sheng has arrived.

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> hums along through the city streets with Nightbeat, able to keep up (barely) with the sportscar due to highly customized propulsion systems. It swerves back and forth through traffic, leaning into the turns more like a motorcycle than a tank, finally coming to a 'skidding' 5-foot high stop in front of the hotel. Inside, James frows at his tactical displays.

Dirge touches down behind Blitzwing. Darkly, he murmurs, "And so we return to this miserable city. Whom shall we kill today?"

An ice cream truck is also audible. Driver made a wrong turn, in more ways than one.

Blitzwing is standing right in front of the hotel, which means that when James comes screeching up he practically runs into Blitzwing's shin. "This guy, for a start," says Blitzwing, drawing back his foot.

Porche 959 <Nightbeat> comes screaming on in, and when he sees a police car get torched, he transforms, a deep frown on his face. Nightbeat may be blue, but he not just a regular boy in blue. Human cops aren't made of metal. They can't just walk it off when you set them on fire. It's gotta take real guts to drive onto a scene swarming with 'cons. He draws a photon pistol and calls out, "Hand over Shawn Berger, and no one gets hurt!"

Blitzwing strikes Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> with Putting the Boot In.

The puzzle pieces of Porsche 959 rearrange into the hard-boiled Autobot detective, Nightbeat!

Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) hovers along a good ten feet above the rest of the traffic... which gives her a good view of the Decepticons arriving. "Oh Smelt."

Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> has arrived.

Jayson Redfield drops Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>.

Jayson Redfield has left.

Jayson Redfield enters the Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>.

Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot is soaring toward the scene, the pilot having decided that NOW is a good time to use his exo unit. Oh look, there's James getting attacked. "HEY!" he shouts to Blitzwing. "Leave him alone!"

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> is sent skipping back across the street by the kick, hover systems inadvertantly allowing it to be knocked back like a giant air-hockey puck. It finally comes to a stop when it crunches into a parked car, crumpling the front end. Inside, James waits for the ringing noise to fade before hitting the transformation control and returning fire.

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> strikes Blitzwing with Medium Laser.

Long Haul grunts, "We're a rocket launch away from Autobot Central and you would expect it to be easy?" remarks Long Haul. The heroes arrive as if in punctuation of his claims... and somewhere inside, Long Haul feels a sense of glee. There was nothing to lug, nothing to tote, just Autobots to be broke. Blitzwing is already playing kick the can, means the terran-made trash is claimed.. The Autobot however. "Do you expect that to work?" asks Long Haul, his optics flashing as he pulls a purple pistol and fires.

"And we're just gonna give him over for the asking?!" Blitzwing shouts back at Nightbeat as he boots the exo-tank across a rapidly emptying street and into a car. "You want him, you come and get him!"

Long Haul strikes Nightbeat with laser.

Shawn Berger, within the hotel lobby, frantically mashes the "up" button on the elevator as people scream and flee in every direction. "Open, dammit, open!" he growls.

Nightbeat is shot. Oh joy. He says, tone maddenly patient and reasonable, "You coulda had it easy, boys. Just remember that." Nightbeat makes a run for the hotel, attempting to shoulder-check Blitzwing out of the way.

Blitzwing catches a laser in the arm from the now-transformed tank which he had THOUGHT was out of the way. "Siddown, you!" he snaps, whipping up his carbine and firing off a BRRRATT of gyrojet bullets from the hip.

Jetfire arrives from the Outskirts of San Francisco, California to the east.

Jetfire has arrived.

Silverbolt arrives from the Outskirts of San Francisco, California to the east.

Silverbolt has arrived.

Nightbeat strikes Blitzwing with Shoulder Check.

Blitzwing unleashes his Gyro Carbine (full auto) attack on Nightbeat and Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey>, striking no one.

Dirge turns slowly as the Bots and EDC filter up the street. A slight smirk crosses his dark face, reflected in the glare of his harsh yellow optics. "Terrans.." he hisses softly, spotting the Talon. The jets in his feet fire, sending him flipping in a lazy arc high in the air. Heavily he lands behind Jayson's mech, and swings his fist at the exposed waist joints. "How long will this one last?" he asks, pretty much directly into in the audio sensors of the Talon.

Dirge strikes Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot with Kidney Punch.

Long Haul's optical slit narrows, his mouthplate shifting in a absent grunt of displeasure. "It's rude try and pass over dance partners, Auto-Punk." muttered Long Haul even as he stepped up to intercept Nightbeat, a black fist clenched and drawn back befor he let fly.

Blitzwing is slammed into at just the right moment with a resounding CLANG (that same clang that everyone makes when they knock into something)! He stumbles into the hotel, masonry and glass crumbling into the street as Nightbeat socks him a good one, the blaze of automatic fire raking into a (hastily evacuated) consignment clothing store across the street. The sound of glass breaking is immediately followed by a tearing roar of gyrojet shells exploding, and the building goes up in flames forthwith, shreds of cloth fluttering down from the explosion!

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> Robot kicks into motion as the big Decepticon opens fire, running on it's oddly-designed legs and just keeping ahead of the barrage...which sadly leaves a trail of punctured masonry and exploding cars behind him, but hopefully they have insurance from the same company as Andi. Seeing that Nightbeat is ready to take on Blitzwing, James turns the Hermes to head for the hotel entrance, trying to get around Blitzwing. Long Haul misses Nightbeat with its punch attack.

From Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>, Jayson Redfield grunts a bit as his exo is hit. He whips around and hovers, facing Dirge. "Sorry," he mutters, "but I don't have time to play with you!" He kicks out at the Seeker, then rockets straight up into the air, toward the roof of the hotel.

Nightbeat is fuelled by righteous detective rage, which allows him to dodge both Blitzwing and Long Haul. Hoo-hah! He pivots and tries to kick Long Haul, commenting, "Now the real mystery is how you don't blind yourself whenever you look in a mirror." That lime green really hurts Nightbeat's sensitive optics, so he hopes that the kick hurts.

Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> strikes Dirge with kick.

Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) speeds up races up to Dirge, fishtailing in a circle around Dirge, level with his helm as she opens fire with her lasers. ...And... gets radioed. Right. Finishing the fishtail Sheng scans teh area for a way to the back of the building.

Nightbeat strikes Long Haul with Rubbish Bin.

Sheng misses Dirge with her awwwww, did the poor baby get a burn? attack.

Shawn Berger lets out an uncharacteristic girly scream as he sees Nightbeat charging for the hotel, and luckily for him, the elevator doors open. He shoves his way past the people piling out, getting inside, and hammering away at the "2" button.

Fury has arrived.

Dirge's optics flicker at the Talon's foot dinks off his leg. "Coward.." he rasps, turning away to go pick on.. wait, lasers! The Seeker does a sidestep, gliding across the ground on his foot-jets as the lasers pepper the air around him. As the hovertruck floats away, Dirge pulls out his machine gun and opens up with it on Sheng. "Yes.. all flee my presence, or face death..."

Dirge strikes Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) with Fear's Fury.

Blitzwing scowls as he pushes himself back up out of the hole in the wall of the hotel. Who's this blue and yellow punk and why is he whipping two of the strongest Decepticons around? Blitzwing tries to grab Nightbeat and sling him into an alley- detectives are vulnerable in darkened alleyways!

Blitzwing strikes Nightbeat with They Came From Behind.

Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey> Robot comes to a stop in front of the hotel entrance and kneels down so that it's canopy is closer to the ground.

It's still a few feet in the air, so James is able to vault out acrobatically before dashing through the doors. He skids to a stop in front of Berger's elevator just as the doors close. "Damn it!" He waits until the little number stops changing, then runs for the stairs, pulling a fire alarm along the way so that the elevators stop working!

James Bailey leaves the Exo-Tank Hermes <James Bailey>.

James Bailey has arrived.

Nightbeat gets slung intot an alley, which is his weakness, it is true! Also, he's orange, not yellow! A little energon trickles out of his mouth as he gets to his hands and knees in the alley. Slowly, he stands, and he pulls out his photon pistol. Nightbeat looks over at Blizwing and snaps, "Eat hot slag, creep."

Nightbeat strikes Blitzwing with Hurtier Photons.

And the world's most ridiculous Decepticon comes diving out of the sun to try and latch bodily on to poor Sheng. She's got her landing hook in hand, transforming as she falls. Fury is screaming her incoherent battlecry, like a tiny furious owl.

Nightbeat's kick.. tingles a bit, a gentle dent forming in the fetching shade of green armor. "You sayin' I'm ugly?" grates Long Haul, "Who the slag ever built you looks like they did it out of spi-.." and then Blitzwing steals his partner, "HEY!?" shouts Long Haul in displeasure.. only to have Nightbeat deal out some comeuppence to the triplechanger. "No respect.." he snarls.

Fortuneately there's a hover truck to shoot.. so he does.

Long Haul misses Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) with its taser attack.

Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield> Robot lands on the roof, and the young pilot quickly jumps out. He bolts toward the rooftop door and hurriedly descends the stairs, heading for the second floor. "That creep ain't gonna get away!" he mutters aloud.

Jayson Redfield leaves the Exo-Armor Talon <Jayson Redfield>.

Jayson Redfield has arrived.

Blitzwing clutches his gut as Nightbeat nails him in the belly with a slug from a .45... I mean, a burst of excited photons. "Hngh! You got something to learn about elite-class Decepticons if you think that's gonna do the job on me, Chuckles." His carbine vanishes as his right hand retracts into his wrist and is replaced by a giant, wicked-looking knife blade twenty feet long. It sizzles and glows, heat waves rolling off of it as Blitzwing fires up the heating element inside the blade. "I'm gonna cut you a second smile, Daddy-O," sneers the triplechanger, lunging in to try to slit Nightbeat open!

Blitzwing strikes Nightbeat with Thermal Blade.

Shawn Berger wipes his brow. That was close, he thinks. Then, a fire alarm sounds and his elevator stops in the middle of the shaft. "WHAT NOW!?" he shouts, looking around for a way out. He glances at the elevator's button pad, and sees a button that says "Emergency Open." He hammers on the button a few times, and the doors slowly slide open. Unfortunately, the elevator didn't quite get all the way up to the second floor, so Berger is forced to grab onto the edge for the second floor, grunting with effort as he pulls himself. "Ooh, agh!" he hisses as he pulls his girth through the little gap, and eventually winds up gasping on the floor, in the middle of the elevator lobby. "I really gotta work out some time..."

Nightbeat calls over to Long Haul, "I'm saying that you're so ugly, photons don't wanna touch you!" However, that taunt makes him distracted enough that Nightbeat's torso is slit open in a macabre second smile, and he staggers, doubling over in pain. When he looks up, his counteanance is grim, and he growls, "Y'wanna play that way? Then meet my Big Gun." His baby. His plasma blaster.

The egglike shape unfolds, resolving into a miniscule Decepticon

Nightbeat strikes Blitzwing with plasma.

Fury misses Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) with her Hook attack.

Gold Hovertruck (Sheng) curses with a hiss of pain as the machine gun tears into her side and transforms to land badly and stagger, stuck midwilling her arms to keep from crushing a group of humans. "Run!" she orders and twists to face Dirge which... has Long Haul's blast miss her my milimeters. "Primus!" An odd warscream has her pausing nad looking up in confusion at Fury's incoming strike from the heavens like a avenging angel of tiny owls.

Sheng sidesteps and Fury goes RIGHT past her as she leaps at Dirge as the foe she's closest to for an attack, talon-sheilds dropping With the traditional transformation sounds, Sheng transforms from an updated hovertruck to her sleek and deadly battle-mode, ready for whatever may come.

BOOM! Blitzwing is hurled back a good football field's length, falling into the street and crushing a parked Miata as Nightbeat blows him the length of the alley with his plasma blast. Instead of sitting back up Blitzwing simply transforms where he lies in the blink of an eye. His cannon lowers towards Nightbeat with an ominous whirring sound, followed by a quiet *kachunk* as a shell is loaded. "Meet mine." Jayson Redfield is close to the second floor. At the last flight of stairs along the way, he grabs the rail and vaults himself over it, immediately darting off without missing a beat. Ah, there's the bastard now! Jayson comes to an abrupt stop, taking on an offensive posture. "Stay where you are, dirtbag!"

Falling to the ground, Blitzwing folds himself inwards, armor locking into place and cannon snapping down as he becomes a battle tank. Sheng strikes Dirge with and now the world will see you for what you truly are.

Blitzwing strikes Nightbeat with 125mm Cannon.

Fury pulls up in mid air. Good thing robots can't blush, or Fury'd be bright red. Nothing daunted, she dashes after Sheng again, little fists leading. Fury misses Sheng with her punch attack.

T-72 MBT rocks backwards on his treads, the gut-twisting bass of the shot shattering nearby windows and lowering property values as a long gout of muzzle fire roars from the muzzle behind the armor-piercing shell.

Nightbeat picked a fight with a tank today, it seems. He staggers again, a whole blown clean through his torso, and despite it all, he decides that today's a good day to pick a fight with a tank. Why? Because he can do this to Blitzwing now. Nightbeat pulls out one of his Nightbeatarangs, which are Porsche-shaped pieces of metal, and he throws it right at the barrel of the tank, hoping it'll get lodged in the barrel.

Shawn Berger had just picked himself up when Jayson Redfield appeared. "Oh, no!" he cries, fumbling for his key card as he rushes over to his room, huffing and wheezing. He swipes the card a few times before pushing the door in, and locking himself inside. "Ha HA! Try to get me now!" Feeling confident in his invincibility, Berger sets himself to looking for his bags. "Damn, where did I leave them?" he mumbles, looking behind the bed.

Nightbeat strikes T-72 MBT with Nightbeatarang.

Dirge had turned away from Sheng to contemplate the complete and utter destruction of the building with the EDC'ers and.. whoever that other human is. So when Sheng comes up to slash at him, he's caught unawares until the last moment when the talons are gouging great furrows into his chestplate. Grimacing, he reaches out to grab Sheng by the throat and use the Bot's momentum to send her facefirst toward the pavement. "I have killed far greater beings than you, Autobot.. and many," he intones, coldly.

Dirge strikes Sheng with Assisted Faceplant.

They ALWAYS attack the cannon! Curses! Blitzwing tries to elevate his gun for another shot but the Nightbeatarang (ha ha) is wedged in the joint next to the glacis. He opens up with his roof-mounted machinegun instead while he tries to jiggle the Nightbeatarang free by jogging his turret around. Blitzwing strikes Nightbeat with 7.62mm Machine Gun.

Long Haul stands around amidst the chaos as more battle worthy Decepticons arrive to carry the fight. "Hrrn." he grunts, peering around with dwindling intrest.

Jayson Redfield dashes to the door and reaches it just as Berger locks it. "DAMN!" He starts banging on it furiously. "Come outta there and give yourself up!"

Shawn Berger yells back, "SCREW YOU!" as he tosses things around in his room. "Dammit, where did I put it?"

Ramjet has arrived.

This is perhaps not the wisest idea, since Dirge is right there with Sheng. But Fury is living up to her name, and when she unleashes the flamethrowers, her aim is none too precise.

Fury unleashes her Flamethrowers attack on Dirge and Sheng, striking no one.

None too precise indeed.

T-72 MBT stitches up the street as well as brave Nightbeat with his machinegun, unable to get his cannon working again for the time being since it got attacked right away like they ALWAYS DO, thank you SO much KUP. "I'm gonna crush you under my treads for that, Little Boy Blue! You're gonna be MULCH!"

Nightbeat only now realises just how damaged he is, as he horks up some energon and reaches down to feel his injuries. One hand on his back, one hand on his front, and he can feel his own fingers through the wound. That's... bad, ain't it? He points a finger at Blitzwing and declares, "This ain't over! We'll get our man!" But it's over for this old detective, for the day. He collapses down into a very beat-up car and wheels for it.

Nightbeat slouches down into Porsche 959 form. Time to roll.

Nightbeat begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Concorde SST <Silverbolt>.

Sheng locks her jaws around a hiss of pain as she's grabbed by the throat and slammed towards teh ground. She hits hard enough to crack the ground and leave dents all across her form. In a nice twist however, Fury manages to miss the gold femme with her attempted flying double punch. With a growl the gold femme twists, legs locking around Dirge's ankles and sending him sprawling to the ground as she rolls to get back up to her feet.

Which unformtunatly means Fury's flames miss BOTH of them. The gold femme smirks at Dirge. "So you have killed. How pleasent. That is my career as well." And the gold femme throws a solid punch down at Dirge's head.

Sheng misses Dirge with her stay down! attack.

Jayson Redfield snarls and tries desperately to come up with a solution to this little problem. He contemplates kicking the door, but for starters, he doesn't know if that would actually work--it seems to only happen in the movies. Finally, he simply draws his gun and shoots the lock off the door with one well-aimed shot. That done, he bolts into the room, gun now aimed an Berger. "Don't move, creep!"

T-72 MBT chops up the road behind Nightbeat with his machinegun, but the gumshoe is laying rubber, and Blitzwing doesn't manage to take out even his license plate this time. "You ain't gonna get him from ME!" shouts Blitzwing as he transforms back and reaches over his shoulder to yank out the Nightbeatarang. "Where IS his man?" he wonders to himself, tossing the little pointy thing into the street and looking at the (partially destroyed) hotel.

Shawn Berger cries out, "WAAAHH!!" as Jayson forces his way inside, and suddenly tosses a dufflebag full of underwear at him. "Get away from me!" Snatching a suitcase, he forces a window open, and tries to get one leg out, then his torso, but the window suddenly closes on his back just when he's halfway through and he gives out a yelp of pain.

With a loud clanging and clunking Blitzwing rearranges himself into his imposing humanoid form.

Jayson Redfield evades your grasp attack.

Aaaaargh. This is embarassing! Again Fury launches herself at Sheng, determined to land at least ONE blow. It's like watching a Chihuahua attack a wolf. Fury misses Sheng with her kick attack.

Dirge finds himself flat on his back with a fist coming straight at him, so he does what's natural -- catch the attacker's wrist and stop the punch. Pushing up against Sheng, he twists, rotating on the ground to get one leg under him. As he lunges up off the ground, his right leg lashes out at the Bot's ankle in wide arc. "Pleasant? Sometimes.." he rasps, softly compared to the level of noise the two Cybertronians are causing with their brawl. "Sometimes wretched, and vile. Sometimes brutal. How will I kill you?" He's moving to his feet now, optics flaring. "Will you beg for your life? Or will you simply beg its end?"

Dirge strikes Sheng with Sweep (Seeker!) Kick.

Meanwhile, in Chinatown...

"WAAAAAAAAAH!" comes the shrieks of a couple dozen people as an unmarked, but tremendously loud, white F-15 Eagle swoops down and transforms before their very eyes. Two heavy, winged feet land upon pavement with a loud crunch, splintering the concrete beneath. "AAAAAAH!" they point and shriek in terror, shouting something akin to, "AAAAA! SUPA ROBOTA LIFUFOAAM! DESTURON!!" Wait, this was Chinatown, right?

Ramjet regards such fear as an everyday occurance -- like easing yourself into an energon-induced stupor for the night or threatening your Space Attack Force Commander that he'll suffer an accident if he doesn't do what you want. Really, just another day in the life of the Air Commander. His cone moves smoothly, his optics sweeping across the street. "Hnnh.." he murmurs to himself, skeptical of finding anything of use. He strides carefully, casting a bored look from one sight to the next. Fireworks shop, noodle shop, fireworks shop, import video shop, noodle shop, noodle shop, Vietnamese bakery, noodle shop, noodle shop, noo -- hey what's that!? "Huh?" Ramjet murmurs dopily as he cranes his coned head forward, staring at the point of his fixation. It's a store! A small store! With 'HUI'S VINTAGE' above the window and a curious set of armor laid out in the store.

Jayson Redfield ducks to the side, avoiding the bag. He sighs. "Why don't you criminals ever give up easily?" He walks over to Berger, gun still in hand, and grabs for him. "C'mon, you."

You evade Jayson Redfield's grasp attack.

Blitzwing spots half of Shawn Berger sticking out of the lower half of a window while he's looking over the hotel for him. "Hey, Berger," he says, pulling up his carbine and sticking it through the upper half of the same window. The muzzle of the gyro gun is big enough for Jayson to hear the ocean in it. "Keep your head down and cover your ears."

Blitzwing strikes Jayson Redfield with Newton's Third Law.

Shawn Berger slaps at Jayson's hands. "NO! I don't want to be arrested! I'm.. I'm not a criminal, really!" He grunts, wriggling as he tries to free himself from under the window, but it's no use. Then comes a Blitzwing. "Wait, you're going to fire that thing HERE!? Oh, geeeze!" he gasps, putting his hands over his ears.

BRAKHOOM! The hotel room is filled with flame as Blitzwing pulls the trigger, launching Berger out of the window like a cork out of a bottle for the Triplechanger to catch in his other hand! "Got him!"

Sheng stumbles back a stride from dirge's kick, armor barely dented. Seeing a flicker of movement out of teh corner of her optic, Sheng sidesteps agian putting herself at the head of the alley that leads to the back of teh building and watches in near bemusment as Fury shoots past.

Right.

Now, attack Dirge like a good little soilder or... Sheng sighs, spins on her heel and leaps at Blitzwing to try and distract him long enough to get Berger out of there. This is so very stupid... So very, VERY stupid... Primus all this for a human that just tried to blo her up!!

Sheng misses Blitzwing with her ram attack.

Shawn Berger is crying like a baby and completely insensible as he curls up into Blitzwing's hand.

Rather than lunging in again, Fury settles back, and levels her arm guns at Sheng. Determined to cause at least some sort of damage. Blitzwing lifts his foot to let Sheng zoom by underneath.

Blitzwing ducks to let Fury zoom by overhead, too.

Fury strikes Sheng with 20mm cannon.

Silverbolt moves east to the Outskirts of San Francisco, California.

Silverbolt has left.

Blitzwing stuffs Shawn into his chest, crouches, leaps into the air with a roar and a whine of the turbojet engines in his legs. "I got him! We're outta here!"

Blitzwing unfolds and reconfigures himself rapidly, wings snapping out and locking into position as he assumes his aerial form.

Ramjet begins to lean forward. He places one arm out, his metal hand pressing against the side of the store to brace himself. His knee flexes at the servo and comes down, putting pressure on the roof of this year's Subaru Impreza -- colored, just by sheer coincidence, metallic blue. The car's chassis shrieks and whines beneath Ramjet, who pays it no mind. He cranes his cone in further and lets his optics stare. A suit of laminate armor, completed by a helmet of exquisite beauty. A flange of laminate angles upward to a cranial casing spun from metal, casted in a tapered shape that would match Ramjet's own. The face has been tied to the helmet by a length of linen and is a fanged, bearded demon.

"Hnh.." murmurs the Air Commander. "Reminds me of a Quintesson." Suddenly, Ramjet's optical ridges lift up. An idea courses through his circuits and downloads into his cognitive awareness module. "!" Ramjet lifts his cone up in shock. "....say!!"

MiG-25 "Foxbat" drops back towards the ground for a moment before the afterburners ignite and blast him away from the city, powering straight up like a rocket with a searing noise of thunder.

Blitzwing retreats from the area swiftly, outdistancing all pursuit and parting shots.

"You're not? Could've fooled me!" And then he finds Blitzwing's gun in his face. Oh crap. He barely has time to react before he is struck with the weaponfire, sending a serge of pain through his body...and he is now surrounding by flames, and injured. "Hey...give...give him to me!" he gasps out at Blitzwing. He almost had him! But now...he's almost trapped. He can't get to Berger. Reluctantly, he staggers toward the door of the room, with the blaze surrounding him, effectively concealing him from view outside the window. He's not about to give up, even with the burns!

Dirge is not letting his quarry get away that easily. Launching forward a few steps, he transforms on the run as Sheng goes sailing past Blitzwing. "Your sense of duty has led you to a poor end, Autobot." The horrid waxing and waning, whining cacophony of his engines rebounds from every solid surface in the tight quarters of uptown San Francisco. "Come!" he shouts, voice slicing through the din, "Let us dance the short path to your grave! Stare into the interminable darkness and be consumed!"

In a flurry of arms, legs, and wings, Dirge reconfigures himself into the form of an Experimental F-15 fighter jet.

Dirge strikes Sheng with his Paralyzing Fear attack.

Sheng curses quite inventivly as she misses Blitzwing and instead rolls to her feet further down the ally... and is promptly shot back down to teh ground HARD by the small Fury's weapon fire. And though no fear shows on her face or body language as she snaps her gaze up to track Dirge as he circles above, inside the fear gets hold and she fails to attack, watching the Depticon silently as she gets slowly to her feet.

Ramjet reaches out, finger extended. He pokes at the glass once, shattering it instantly. Swinging his hand around, he clasps his hand over the suit of armor and takes it altogether. With only a cursory glance to either one of his enormous shoulder intakes, Ramjet stuffs the armor into his cockpit and gives the canopy a shut. That's right. Even Air Commanders resort to petty theft. You wanna fight about it?

The police and fire respondents (apart from Nightbeat) holding the cordon around the battle and pressing back the anxious onlookers can't handle that noise! That horrible droning subsonic tone works even better on humans than it does on Transformers; it saps their strength and voids their bowels, and it's a good thing that the gathered press and gawkers are running away too because the police also retreat, unwilling to keep holding the line.

The better part of valor is discretion, but Fury is still bouncing around before Sheng like a terrier, waving her arms and chortling in victory.

Experimental F-15 <Dirge> cuts a sharp half-loop and roll, diving back down toward Sheng. The engines' hideous wail silences abruptly and the jet seems to plummet. "Stoic unto death. Make your peace quickly, for I shall not wait." Dirge transforms in midair as he falls, brandishing what appears to be a giant halberd high above his head. The axe-blade whistles as it chops downward toward Sheng.

The blue Experimental F-15 warps, bends, and reconfigures itself into the form of Dirge, Decepticon warrior!

Dirge strikes Sheng with Halberd.

MiG-25 "Foxbat" picks up a tail of a couple EDC exojets from the Alameda base on his way southwest, but a quick bank to chop the tail off of an incoming AirTran with a burr of his autocannons gives them something else to pay attention to.

The exo pilots transform to catch the plane and help guide it in to a safe crash-landing in Oakland, Blitzwing barrel rolling triumphantly away. "How's that, Berger? You lived to try to blow up Autobot City another day, heh heh," says a voice from inside the Decepticon's cockpit. The Foxbat drops to barely above sea level as he hurtles over San Ramon and out over the ocean, going supersonic with a crack that leaves pursuers in the dust.

Shawn Berger is meanwhile, clutching himself around his shoulders and moaning, "I'm not a criminal... I'm not a traitor... I'm just a business man!"

"If you weren't before, you sure are now," laughs the voice from the control board in response to Berger. "You're a wanted man. Maybe not legally, you know, with human laws and all, but what do Autobots care about that?"

Shawn Berger leans forward, palms on the control board as he responds, wide-eyed, to the unseen voice. "You're right! They'll come after me no matter where I run!... I need to be somewhere safe!"

Sheng's optics do not widen, she doesn't grimace in panic or fear, And more becuase Dirge races down so fast then by any choice o her own, she stands her ground rather then run. And as the terrible drone ends and the pain kicks in, the fear fades and Sheng reacts, snarling as she grabs the shaft of the halberd as it slams into her shoulder, skids over the crystal endosctrucre and rips it's way down her chest until it hits her hip. "I make not peace nor beg for death, Decepticon!" And with that the femme sends her hand rushing talons first at the armor she weakened earlier, right on Dirge's chest. And while on the subject of faction names... "What in Primus name are you idiots after Berger for?!"

Sheng misses Dirge with her let us see what you are made of attack.

"Safest place I know on this planet," says Blitzwing's voice as he rips past twenty feet over a fishing smack, lighting its masts on fire with his jetwash and nearly overturning it in his wake. "You'll like it, it's full of respectable business men who make it their business to blow up Autobots whenever possible."

Jayson Redfield still seems to be in the flames, but no one appears to know where he is. He limps toward the door, trying hard not to inhale smoke, looking like he's going to pass out at any moment. "James," he murmurs. "Where...ARE you?"

Shawn Berger sits back in the city, smiling nervously. "You're right! Yes, you're right! We have a lot in common! We do want to blow up Autobots! And maybe I can get my land back, the land that the Autobots stole!"

Dirge is faster than his large form belies, and he jumps lightly backwards out of the way of all the slashing. "The Terran is irrelevant to our game, Autobot. All I desire to see is the look in your eyes at that singular moment you realize that I am your end, as the darkness overtakes your vision. There I will dwell until long after your broken form is dust." He lunges forward, aiming a black fist at Sheng's midsection. Whispered, closely, he hisses, "Mourn yourself, Autobot. Now, while there is time.."

Dirge strikes Sheng with Gut Punch.

Sheng narrows her optics as her attack misses and... freezes as she catches a bit of a whisper. Not enough to understand the words but she knows that voice. (JAYSON!) Primus he was IN the room that Blitzwing fired into? Dirge's punch catches her in the midsection and she stumbles back a stride, then spins in a graceful motion around the Decepticon. "LEarn some actually threatening lines and maybe I'll play with you next time. Right now I'm a bit busy, child. Go shoot at a cloud or something." She puts her hands together as if in prayer and shoves them through the window, yanking her arms furhter apart to widen the gap as she sheilds her talons and puts one hand under Jayson's knees, tapping them and forcing him to flal back right into her other hand. The femme closes her hands around Jayson like a child gently holding a firefly and pulls her hands back out of the burning building, Jayson protected from the fire and glass, cradling her clasped hands close to her chest as she keeps her back to Dirge to further protect him. "And didn't you know? I am already dead, Decepticon. I was buried long ago."

Dirge's head tilts to the side, as his optics glow like pale yellow embers in a sea of pitch. Devoid of emotion, he rasps softly, "Then it is time for you to fade away." He lifts his right arm, and the missile there snaps to attention. "We shall not be haunted by shadows of our past." The black cylinder streaks across the short distance at Sheng's back, as remorseless as its owner.

Jayson Redfield barely seems to register Sheng grabbing him. As she pulls him out of the blazing room, he slowly blinks. "The fire," he murmurs. "People...could get hurt..." And that about does it for him. His clothes are singed, he's covered in sweat and smoke, and his right arm has been clearly burned. He passes out in Sheng's grip.

Dirge strikes Sheng with Concussion Missile.

Getting back to his feet, Ramjet soon looks disinterested. He kicks against the splintered concrete, ascending into the air as is his birthright and transforms. Straightening out into an F-15, all four engines ignite, jetting him into Dirge's direction. "Dirge!" Ramjet shouts out as he transforms again in mid-air, arms folded over his chest as he hovers and watches his Ace Pilot treat Sheng as his personal chewtoy. ".. /oh/," he murmurs just loud enough, as if he answered his own question. He decides to stay and watch. Decepticons sure are a mean bunch!