Ghost and Sharks and Quints

Summary: Before anyone has time to puzzle over their strange wraith-like visitor, there are reports of Quintesson activity in New York. There, in place of the Statue of Liberty, they discover a Quintesson ghost-ship and loads of confused Sharkticons. The Decepticons take it to San Fransisco for further mischief. But Twitch saves the day!

 Sneak Peek says, "Don't care. There's a newly formed black hole that just apeared around Cybertron.  I'm no scientist, but according to the computers, it's not exhibiting the properties of one beyond being black and hole-like."

 Soundwave has encrypted this channel.

Your attempt to decrypt the Decepticon channel fails at this time.

 Scattershot says, "So is it a hole or just a disc'r what?"

Frostbite leaps off of the monitor, lashing one paw at the place where the Wraith had been even though he had no intention of actually attacking it, before gracefully landing on the ground. He doesn't relax as he listens to the radio, growling before he starts to pace. This day is just getting worse and worse, it seems.

 Sneak Peek says, "Again with the not being a scientist, smart guy."

 Sneak Peek says, "I just know that it suddenly showed up, reads like a black hole in the visual spectrum, but not in the, you know, black hole spectrum stuff."

Silverbolt watches as the creature vanishes. Turning back to Scattershot, he raises a brow, "A little warning would be nice next time."

 Scattershot says, "Well I ain't a scientist either but I kin tell a hole from a disc. Anyway I guess we'll git some eggheads out there ASAP."

 Sneak Peek says, "Thanks for making the time in what I'm sure is a busy schedule. We here on Cybertron appreciate it."

 Scattershot says, "We got space ghosts up in here so it's gonna be a breem'r two."

 Telestar says, "Autobot Sneak Peek. Perhaps an astronomer might be in order?"

 Sneak Peek says, "An astronomer would be welcome."

 Charlie Foster for NBY News says, "We've got another news bulletin--a Quintesson flagship is descending towards New York! It is unknown at this time if the Quintessons are planning on attacking the city!"

 Silverbolt says, "Did he just say Quintison?"

 Telestar says, "I will attend shortly, Autobot Sneak Peek. I no longer have my FTL drive, so I need to take the bus, as it were."

 Sneak Peek says, "Please, no rush. It's only our home planet and a black hole-like thing.  Take all the time you need."

 Sneak Peek says, "In the mean time, I'll keep the systems monitoring it."

 Springer says, "I'll take a shuttle out to get Telestar."

<Autobot> Silverbolt says, "Autobots, this is Silverbolt. Is there anyone in the vacinity of the Statue of... Squidity?  We've got a Quint ship in descent and I can't make it there before it lands."

<Autobot> Scattershot says, "When it rains it pours."

<Autobot Sensor #5> Soundwave enters from the United Nations Plaza to the west.

<Autobot Sensor #5> Soundwave leaves to the United Nations Plaza to the west.

Red Alert looks around at the Autobots present. "I suppose we could take a hovercraft to the New York area and investigate these reports ourselves." He gives a long look over the computer where the wraith was extracting files. "Although I wanted to spend some time working on our security systems..." he trails off when he notices the sensors picking up Soundwave. "Decepticons! I wonder what they have to do with this?"

Silverbolt turns to face Red Alert. "Why don't you head to New York to investigate it while I call in the Aerialbots and have them fly and walk patrols around here until you get back?"

Red Alert nods at Silverbolt. "Very well, I'll head for the landing pad. Anyone else who'd like to come along is welcome."

Scattershot grunts. "I'm goin' inta space. 'Cuz I kin get t'Cybertron faster'n one'a them clunky old shuttles. Git yer skidplate t'New York, Red Alert. Th'base'll be fine." The Technobot Commander continues to mutter as he stomps out the door, transforming in the hallway and scorching the walls as his boosters propel him towards the space port. Why he didn't just walk is anyone's guess.

Scattershot leaves to the Main Lobby - First Floor to the west.

<Autobot Sensor #6> Scattershot enters from the Entrance to Autobot City to the south.

<Autobot Sensor #6> Scattershot transforms to space jet mode, engines roaring as he lifts into the air.

<Autobot Sensor #6> Scattershot soars upward into the sky.

CHAT: IC Globals Object joins you to channel <Decepticon>.

<Earth> Charlie Foster for NBY News says, "Dear God... the Quintesson ship has just crash-landed on Ellis Island! We're not certain at this time how much damage has been done, or whether or not the Quintessons have unleashed their ravenous troops!"

Red Alert transforms into a fire chief's car.

( travel spam ...)

South Street Seaport

For all its closeness to one of the most important cities in the world, the South Street Seaport is surprisingly free of traffic. Only a few ships are docked at the piers, most of them fancy pleasure craft rather than merchant vessels. Perhaps things have progressed to the point where New York, always on the cutting edge of human development, relies on other means to receive goods... Instead, the cobblestone streets are packed with tourists, who throng here for the shopping and excellent seafood. To the north is the busy downtown financial district.

Room Contents: Breakdown Airlift Statue of Quintessonery Galvatron Soundwave Burger World

Obvious exits:

<Earth> Durango says, "Give us yer tiahed..yehr poor...yehr Quintessons.."

<Autobot> ALERT! ALERT! ALERT! Galvatron sighted at Ellis Island. ALERT! ALERT! ALERT!

True to the news report, the Quintesson ship is sticking up out of Ellis Island at about a 70 degree angle, its pointy end buried deep in the ground. And out of a hatch near the impact point, Sharkticons appear to be swarming about and... not... doing anything? Seriously. There's plenty of humans here for them to attack, but they're just standing around in robot mode, jabbering at each other stupidly.

<Autobot> Durango says, "Ah, crap."

<Autobot> Silverbolt says, "Red Alert! Do not engage him!"

Soundwave is, meanwhile, riding about inside of Airlift's cockpit, arms folded across his chest glumly as he ponders the day's events. He peers outside, spotting the Quintesson ship, and ponders why they aren't do anything agressive. What is going on?

Airlift's wings fold as he transforms into Reavercraft mode, the second generation Unicronian spacecraft.

Breakdown leaps out of airlift. "GERONIMO..CON!" He gracefully lands thanks to his flight ability, and begins tearing about the streets of New York, almost having forgot about the mission

As he falls down, Breakdown transforms into a white Lambourghini Countach.

Fire Chief's Countach <Red Alert> races through the streets of New York, emergency lights flashing and siren wailing loudly. He occasionally emits a police-car hoot to scare some stubborn motorists out of his way. Finally he comes to a stop on the banks on the other side of the water from Ellis Island.

Reavercraft <Airlift> flies in with his unchrazimatic passenger and skims fairly low over the surface of the water, heading towards the island before pulling up and gaining altitude to allow for a better view of what's going on. His crescent shape cuts through the air almost silently as he starts to circle about, varying altitude and diameter of the circles he's pulling to make targetting at least a challenge just in case and tilted to allow Soundwave to observe the Sharkticons constantly.

Dead End sighs as he leans to watch his brother dramatically leave the aicraft before jumping, or more accuractely striding, out of the aircraft before flying down to the ground to join his brother. He smoothly transforms when he reaches a safe distance above the ground, tires bouncing off the road once of twice, before reving his engine and driving after his brother as his radar begins to ping.

Dead End smoothly transforms into a maroon Porsche 928

Galvatron is flying along using his cannon as a rocket like he does when he's in a hurry. He soars down and comes to a hover over the island using his antigravs. "What are you doing here, Quintessons!" he demands. "Explain yourselves!"

If there be Quintessons in the ship, they aren't saying anything. The Sharkticons below stare up open-mouthed at Galvatron, pointing at him and babbling incoherently. However, they make no move to attack him whatsoever.

Soundwave rubs his chin as he watches the Sharkticons' behavior through the canopy. "Strange. They are normally very violent and attack relentlessly. What could account for this shift in behavior?" Tapping his chin, Soundwave says, "Approach the Quintesson ship, Airlift. I desire a closer inspection of it."

Breakdown exclaims "Yahoo!" and other such things as he races through New York, hitting a mail box or street sign or lamp that he thinks has looked at him for too long. "Com'n Dead End!"

Turns out Red Alert actually drove in from the New Jersey side of the harbor (which turns out to be closer to Ellis Island, who knew?). Red transforms into robot mode...he's still about a mile away from the island, but with his long-range weapons and enhanced optics he's been known to hit targets at that range when necessary. Red Alert raises one arm, the hand sinks into his forearm and in it's place, out pops...

A cone-shaped listening device. This lets Red zoom his hearing on what's being said on the island without it being drowned out by all the noise of the surrounding harbor.

The red fire chief's car transforms into Red Alert.

Dead End flies after Breakdown at his maximum speed, only dodging whatever gets in his way at the last moment, before pulling alongside his Stunticon brother. "You are in a great hurry: why?"

Reavercraft <Airlift> banks into a sharper turn and inverts briefly, before righting himself and diving towards the surface of the water, running parallell(sp) to the ship with his cockpit towards it. He turns up when he gets near the water and heads straight at the ship then, slowing as he drifts about it at close range to allow Soundwave a clearer view. His own sensors train on the ship, trying to find out what he can as he flies about.

Breakdown swerves side to side, narrowily missing colliding with Breakdown. "Oh I'm just enjoying the" He is interupted as he runs down yet another streetlamp. " the roads!" He speeds along just ahead of Dead End and turns toward the direction of ellis island.

Galvatron, receiving no reply from the Quintessons, decides to knock. He flies up onto their spacecraft and begins looking for a way in.

In this case 'a way in' is defined as anywhere that looks thin enough to blow a hole in the hull.

<Decepticon> Geo says, "How very interesting. The singularity is creating and event horizon effect, but without the effect on Cybertron that it should already have at this magnitude."

<Decepticon> Dredge says, "Say, I hate to bother everyone, but in case you haven't noticed, we have a hungry steller event on Cybertron's doorstep.."

Dead End reduces his speed as Breakdown nearly collides with him, dropping slightly behind his Stunticon brother, before cutting his wheel sharply to make thr turn as Breakdown does. "You should be focusing on other things, brother. There is a great deal of interference from the buildings but I believe there is an Autobot in the vicinity."

Yes, indeed, there's an airlock here and there across the hull, handy for disgorging Sharkticons on those little flying platforms. Unfortunately, it appears to be sealed and there's NO POSSIBLE way Galvatron could inside via one of those things. Yessir, no way at all.

Well, aside from violence, that is.

As for the Stunticons, they will eventually find that the roads take them to the pier, but not to the Island itself. The only to get there is to fly or take the ferry.

Breakdown slams on his breaks, sliding around a few times and then transforming. Already shaken up, he doens't delay in whiping out his gun and lookign around quickly. "WHERE!?!?!"

<Decepticon> Geo says, "... oh my."

Soundwave peers out the canopy at the ship. "I detect no damage, Airlift. Most strange. How did this ship come to crash? Why are none of the Sharkticons attacking? This is highly suspicious." He'd frown if he could.

<Decepticon> Commander Soundwave says, "Lord Galvatron, please be cautious. This may be another of Astracius' elaborate traps."

Dead End slides past his brother as the other Stunticon comes to a halt and transforming. He stops close to the curb as he fiddles with the magnification on his in built radar systems. "It seems the Autobot is on the other side of the water...stationary...and there seem to be no other of them around."

Reavercraft <Airlift>'s cockpit hisses open in offer as Soundwave comments, and he waits for the higher ranking Decepticon to disembark (handy that con's can fly, no?) before transforming and withdrawing a long, cylindrical object from one of his fore-arms. He grips it and ignites the double-ended energy sword before breaking it into the two twin blades and flying towards the ship. "In that case, it's a good thing I brought my cutting torch. Allow me to spring the trap my Lord.." he calls out as he closes the distance heading towards Galvatron.

The Reavercraft's wings split apart as it transforms into the four-armed Unicronian Airlift.

As his left optic twitches, breakdown makes his way towards the water. "There are always more around Dead End, ALWAYS!"

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "Thank you, Soundwave, the thought had crossed my mind."

Galvatron finds a likely-looking spot on top of the Quintesson ship and begins to carve his way in with his fusion cannon set on low.

Dead End transforms into a 20 foot tall robot in a way that is confusing yet cool.

Dead End transforms before turning and starting to stride down the road after his brother while giving an indifferent shrug. "So what if they're are? They have more important things to worry about at the moment."

Soundwave launches himself out of Airlift's cockpit once it opens. He slowly drifts towards Galvatron and Airlift, but isn't anywhere near as gung-ho about investigating the ship as they are.

Breakdown sites a ferry, and heads towards it. "Come on Dead End, they'd spot us from the air, but if we took that ferry.." He points to the poor ferry and it's soon to be shocked passangers.

Airlift moves a little off from where Galvatron is opening his own private entrance, to one of the airlocks in fact, and reverses his grip on both of his swords before driving them point first into the seam of the airlock all the way up to the grips. He shifts them slowly until there is a nice patch opened, the metal still red hot for when he starts to slowly move the two blades, expanding his 'cut' as he starts to slice towards the edges, searching for the hydraulics or whatever other sort of mechanism holds the hatches closed and prevents decompression. Once the metal has cooled just a bit, his other set of hands punches into the hole as well and he starts to pull and wrench at the metal, widening his hole progressively, his claws gouging the metal in many places and leaving long shreds of metal as he opens a door.

Dead End shrugs again as he continues to follow Breakdown toward the ferry where it rests near the water. "Yes, yes, whatever you say."

Eventually a suitable hole is burnt into the Quintesson ship's hull. A Sharkticon peers out over the rim of the breach, looking at Galvatron with a stupefied expression. Similarly, Airlift tears open the airlock hatch he's been working on easily enough. Confused gibbering can be heard throughout the ship already.

"Are there no Quintessons aboard this ship to direct them?" wonders Galvatron as he drops into the vessel and pushes the Sharkticons aside to get past them in search of the bridge.

Breakdown reaches the ferry and climbs aboard..to the horrified screams of the passengers. "We're taking..confiscating..oh hell, we're hijacking this damn boat!" He announces, waving his gun around.

Airlift enters through the airlock, his wings folding around his form protectively as he does, energy swords stowed once more as he attempts to bull his way through the press of seemingly mindless (well, moreso than normal even) sharkticons. Of course, a smaller stature and nowher near the imposing presence makes it not as simple for him, and he ends up finally just flying above the Sharkticon heads as best he can in the smallish passages as he angles to catch up to and support Galvatron.

Dead End wanders onto the ferry after Breakdown, staring down at the terrified humans with his expressionless eyeband, before walking forward as they turn and make a run for the interior of the ship. He strides toward the bridge, approaching it from the left, before flicking his left index finger against the bridge glass which immediately shatters inward. Dead End turns to regard the equally frightened bridge crew before pointing with his right arm at the Jersey side of the water before simply saying "Go". Soon after the ferry's engines start up and it begins to slide away from the dock.

The Sharkticons make no move to stop the intruders, though they do at least notice them. The ones shoved around by Galvatron grumble something, but they still make no hostile actions. The two Decepticons encounter no resistance whatsoever on their way to the bridge. And once they get there they find it is... empty. Completely empty.

Galvatron scowls at the controls. "No crew! What do you make of this, Soundwave?"

<Decepticon> Breakdown says, "Lord Galvatron, it must be an Autobot trap!"

Breakdown hopes he doesn't get shot for that. He probably will either way eventually...

<Decepticon> Galvatron says, "Silence! The Autobots have no Sharkticons."

Soundwave, for his part, follows behind Galvatron, both to support him, and in the hopes that he will take the brunt of any Quintesson ambushes (and why not? He's a lot tougher). Once on the bridge, Soundwave looks about inquiringly. "Uncertain. Perhaps the crew was killed by the Sharkticons?" Moving about the bridge, he examines the floor carefully. "However, I find no obvious signs of violence that would suggest this to be the case." He stares up at his leader. "Perhaps if I were to access the ship's logs, I would discover some clue as to what happened?"

<Decepticon> Geo says, "... um..."

Airlift moves over to the control panels and starts to try bringing up diagnostics..ships logs..anything he can get to come online as he watches the screens. "There's no way Sharkticon's flew this thing..although it could explain the landing.." he remarks. He then brings his own scanners online and starts to attempt a diagnosis of the system to see if it's been tampered with for 'remote' flight or a preprogrammed destination.

Breakdown sighs as the humans run away..almost wish he could blend in with them and run away too. The water's a bit choppy as they make their way to Ellis Island, with Dead End commanding the boat's crew.

Soundwave peers at Airlift. Blast, he already thought of that.

<Decepticon> Breakdown says, "Yes Sir, Sorry Sir!"

The ferry chugs it's way slowly across the water toward the New Jersey side of the water, Dead End keeping his optics trained across the water, as he crosses his arms and simply waits for them to arrive at their destination on Ellis Island.

<Decepticon> Geo says, "Attention: DCI and anyone of High Command. I need a closed transmission from one of you."

"You handle that," Galvatron tells Soundwave. He can't be bothered with Soundwave's little tape-people.

Diagnostics reveal that the only damage sustained is located on the armored prow, from where the ship collided with Ellis Island. Even that damage, however, seems rather slight. The ships' logs, however, are a bit more interesting....

A single-faced Quintesson appears on-screen. "Log 42103, Stardate zzkzkkllHHKKK--" The feed is suddenly interrupted by something. "--zzzkkkk Assistant Weltrius reporting. Our ship is currently cloaked over Earth as Lord Astracius considers his next move against the rebel robots. He has a rather interesting plan, I must admit, I just hope FDKSHHHHHHH--" Another interruption. "--settled in for the long haul, so to speak. Hm. There seem to be power fluctations all over the ship." Weltrius looks about as the lights flicker.

Soundwave salutes, bowing his head. "By your command." Then, placing a hand on the side of his head, he replies to Geo....

As the ferry finally reaches close to the shore, breakdown hops off on the solid ground, waving back to the crew. "Thanks fleshslugs!" He proceeds cautiosly towards the ship, very suspicious of the sharkticons. "Carefull Dead End, they could turn and attack at any minute!"

Dead End casually strides forward as the ferry comes to a halt parallel to the shore before jumping off the deck and landing on the shore before turning to look first at his brother and then back at the Sharkticons. "They're simply chaff. I don't intend to bother with them."

Most of the Quintessons outside the ship mill about harmlessly. A few of them walk up to the Stunticons, gibbering nonsense at them. Still non-hostile, it seems...

You intercept a long-range radio message from Symphony to Soundwave: MMmm... this is most curious, sir... according to Geo the normal supergravity effect common with these singularities does not seem to be present.

Airlift frowns at the recording, "I hate Quint's.." he mutters by way of commentary as he tries to search further into the logs, attempting to clean up the recording or find more in the database. He flips over to his own area of expertise and starts trying to access medical and research logs and databases, "Sir, I'd like to relieve them of that cloaking device once we're done here..it may prove useful in finding a way to detect their cloaked vessels.."

You intercept a long-range radio message from Soundwave to Symphony: What? That is nonsensical! Send an unmanned probe to investigate the anomaly further.

You intercept a long-range radio message from Symphony to Soundwave: Understood sir, I will traverse to the DCI wing and launch one immediately.

Breakdown shakily points his gun at them, making his way through the crowd. "Stay back..you..you can't fool me!"

Galvatron nods approvingly. "If the ship will still fly, bring the entire vessel back to New Crystal City. If not, we will strip it where it lies." He looks across to Soundwave thoughtfully. "The crew- abducted by the energy being, perhaps?"

Red Alert is still on the end of the pier on the New Jersey side of of the harbor, monitoring the situation with directional audio sensors and his own enhanced optics. He seems at least as interested in the Decepticon presence here as in the Quintessons. Red doesn't blend in or make any attempt at hiding but he's about a mile away, far enough that he might be overlooked, especially since he's standing in the midst of other emergency vehicles.

Dead End reaches out to grab the barrel of Breakdown's gun, apparently forgetting how Breakdown was treating it earlier, before pushing it down sharply as he follows after Breakdown. "Cease now. If they wished to do anything that you'd need to defend yourself from they'd have done it."

Breakdown looks almost shocket, and a bit hurt, as Dead End pushes the barrel of his gun to point at the ground. "But..they..still could.."He finally gives up and follows Dead Ends lead, keeping a wary optic on the Quints and their gaurds none the less

Weltrius continues on-screen. "...still haven't found an explanation for the power outages. I swear, if Chief Technician Techulus dropped an astrospanner into the plasma streams again I'll..." The lights suddenly flicker, and when they turn back on, Weltrius isn't there. But the recording continues to play. A computerized voice announces, "Warning, orbit destabilized." Several minutes later: "Entering planetary atmosphere. Activating retro thrusters. Brace for impact." Then.... SLAM!! The whole screen shakes. Then nothing. Well, you could probably fast forward to the part where Soundwave, Galvatron, and Airlift are walking around on the bridge, kinda like on Spaceballs. Wouldn't that be fun?

Outside, a Sharkticon FREEPS plaintively after having a gun pointed at it, and growls. Some of the other Sharkticons take notice, staring at the disturbance.

Dead End turns toward the the sudden noise the Sharkticon makes, now finding himself starting at other Sharkticons all turned toward them, before keeping his expressionless eyeband on them as he uses the slient power of balefulness on them.

Airlift looks over at Galvatron and shakes his head as he zips through the video to catch up to the point where they are at.. "That's it sire.." he says ominously, "There's no actual information about what happened to the Quintessons onboard..just that brief cut out of electrical and then systems resumed operation and they simply weren't there.. There's no way to tell for certain how much time passed during that outage though.."

Soundwave watches the recording closely. "It would appear so, Galvatron." He considers what the others have said. "Commandeering the Quintesson vessel may provide insights into their technology, including, yes, their cloaking device. However... I feel as if there is more to this than we are aware of." He's not sure what he's getting at. He just has a bad feeing.

Breakdown notices the sudden change in sharkticon behavior, and still holding his gun towards the ground, pets it. "It's ok Mary SUe, I knew you was tellin tha truth. See Dead end!"

Dead End makes no sudden moves in response to the Sharkticons that have turned to face him, although he rarely makes sudden moves anyway, as he briefly glances to look over at his brother. "I see nothing that gives me pleasure to see." He turns and begins to make his forward through the collected ranks of Sharkticons.

Breakdown follows Dead End again, leaving the Sharkticons with one last, wierd look. "It's ok Mary Sue..I'm here" as he continues to pet his gun.

Galvatron dismisses Soundwave's concerns (he never seems to learn). "See if you can get the vessel underway." Airlift hmms and glances at Galvatron, "Should we see if we can get the rest of the Sharkticon's to empty out sir?" he then grins with a slightly wicked expression, "Of course, if they were destroyed it would give Scrapper more..test subjects..for his reanimation experiments. After all, Sharkticon's aren't all that bright in the first place, so having them turned into mindless automatons wouldn't really change much.."

Dead End transforms as he clears the ranks of Sharkticons, rolling forward on his own momentum for a few moments, before gunning his engine and making his way toward the opposite side of the island for a clearing reading and perhaps even a view of the Autobot he spotted earlier.

Dead End smoothly transforms into a maroon Porsche 928

Soundwave stoops over what appears to be the pilot's station, and activates the retro thrusters. The ship shudders loudly and violently as it begins to twist its way back out of the ground, slowly but surely. Back in the ship, the Sharkticons squeel loudly at the odd disturbance!

Outside, the Sharkticons react in just as surprised a manner. They jabber in a loud and aggravated manner, not understanding why "home" is going to fly away without them.

Breakdown watches his brother transform, and follows him. "wait for me! DOn't leave me with these...things!"

Breakdown's components shift around until he finally changes into his robot mode.

As he falls down, Breakdown transforms into a white Lambourghini Countach.

Airlift knows even less about flying an intersteller spacecraft than he does about dancing the Tango with an Autobot minibot..and he doesn't know much about that either, so steps back out of the way to let Soundwave do what is necessary. Instead, he shifts to watch the Sharkticon population still on the ship warily, waiting for signs of trouble, tensed to react.

Galvatron shakes his head to Airlift's question. "We may find a use for them yet. No need to discard something until it has proved to be of no value."

And speaking of Sharkticons... one suddenly rushes onto the bridge, swinging its flail in its hand and screaming loudly! Apparently the rumbling of the ship was too much for it, and without any Quints to keep it in check, the Sharkticon appears to be on the rampage!

<Decepticon> Geo says, "No change, other than increased size from the black hole. Though it is growing and has a gravity field, it does not have the hypergravity consistent with a singularity of this size. The matter sent into the singularity's event horizon simply disappears in a flash of light, not dissimilar to a mass transfer. Dredge and myself are attempting to potentially disrupt this process. So far, we have very inconclusive results. It absorbs matter and energy, but... ahh, dispersal. Perhaps a bigger loadout. This is a warning: if we are unable to find anything, it is potential that this singularity will consume Cybertron."

Dead End sounds bemused as he makes his way to the other side of the island at about fifty miles an hour, moving in straight line, as he narrows the focus of his radar beam to show what is closer to them. "As you said earlier, brother, you'd better come on."

This is why Galvatron didn't sit down. He turns to the outraged and confused Sharkticon, steps in, catches its flail by the chain, and lays it out with a cannon to the face.

Airlift leaps forward just a hair..then simply steps back and leans against a console again as Galvatron annihilates the first Sharkticon brutally and efficiently. "Ouch.." he mutters, knowing first hand how much it hurts to have that done to you.

Breakdown hurries behind dead end, not to found of much of anything right now. "Autobot's..sharkticons..quints..it never ends!"

Soundwave looks over his shoulder as the Sharkticon storms in, and is summarily smote by the Decepticon leader. "Sealing hatchways now!" he reports, and the door to the bridge slams down... right on top of another Sharkticon, currently in shark mode! It snaps and growls at the Decepticons, its little arms scrabbling about even as the hatch continues to crush it.

Outside, the Sharkticons have turned into a full fledged riot, screaming, yelling, flailing their maces about, or transforming into shark mode and randomly biting structures on the island.

Dead End centers on Red Alert's position with his radar scan before transforming, half turning around, before pointing toward the Autobot's position. This movement, however, causes him to get an optiband full of the now crazed Sharkticons running amok around the island which causes the Stunticon to shake his head. "I should have expected this."

Nevertheless, with a horrible, grinding screech, the Quintesson ship pulls itself out of the ground and begins to lift up into the air.

Galvatron draws his lightsaber and divides the trapped Sharkticon neatly in two, kicking the lower half out from under the door to let the hatchway finish sealing itself. "The bulkhead is sealed," Galvatron says over his shoulder to Soundwave.

Breakdown stops behind Dead End. "Expected what, what's goin on?" He revs his motor impatiantly.

Airlift moves over to another of the instrument panels and starts to access the computer systems, hmming quietly. "Sir..most of the ship is still pressurized..I can blow the Airlocks once we achieve altitude and turn off inertial dampeners on the other decks, possibly expelling the majority of what Sharkticons remain.." he then sneers as he adds, "They should make quite an impression when they make it back down to the surface.."

Soundwave nods. "Indeed. But I am curious as to how well the hatch can withstand their gnawing." Incessant screeching and scratching noises can be heard from the other side of the door. Somebody really wants in!

Looking at Galvatron, Soundwave says, "Are we going to take this shuttle back to New Crystal City while it is still infested with enraged Sharkticons?" He glances towards Galvatron, then at Airlift. "His suggestion has merit."

And THEN, a grouping of Sharkticons, in shark mode, naturally, begins to stalk towards the Stunticons, eyeing them hungrily, growling as their fanged maws slowly open and close in anticipation of rending metal flesh. They're almost like a pack of wolves, but possibly dumber.

Galvatron considers this. The Sharkticons could be useful, but on the other hand, would their value in materials justify the effort of killing all of them? "Do so, Airlift... on Soundwave's signal. Soundwave, plot a course into the high atmosphere that will take us over Autobot City. Signal Airlift when we are in position to drop the Sharkticons on San Francisco. I will hold this door." He chuckles evilly. "Waste not, want not."

Dead End steps forward, his air weapon held in his right hand, before aiming in the direction of the approaching and angry Sharkticons. He waits with what can be termed crazy patience before pulling the trigger and initiating rather exciting results. Some of the Sharkticons are blown clear into the sky, sailing over the others, before landing with loud splashes in the water of the bay. The rest are bowled backward into the ones behind and eventually causing all to be knocked to the ground.

Airlift laughs again, cycling up the various door controls and keying them all to the same command lines in the system, before bringing up the 'gravity' systems and isolating the bridge so that it will be unaffected by the impending calamity. Then, with the systems set on standby for action, he waits, knowing that on Soundwave's signal two keystrokes will rain destruction on the Autobot's..and who knows..some of the Sharkticon's might even survive to play with them a bit.

Soundwave stoops over the pilot's seat again, tapping away at the console. "Course set. Quintesson ship on a course for San Francisco." He joins in on the evil cackling. "The Autobots will not expect this, and will likely be slow to react to us as a result of the black hole's appearance."

Breakdown spins around quickly from a stand still, deploying his cargun on the sharkticons. "I KNEW IT" His compressed air cannon having much the same effect as Dead End's on the hoard of hungry robots. Inside, something slams against the bridge hatchway, denting it. And again, and again, and again. The beating becomes louder and angrier over time. They just aren't giving up!

Down below, the first wave of Sharkticons is blasted away on gusts of wind seemingly easily enough, but more are drawn in by the activity, scuttling forward, jaws snapping.

Dead End leaps up into the air, taking flight, before he levels his weapon directly downward at the maddend Sharkticons before pulling the trigger again. The rush of compressed air, fired directly down, is enough to cause the ground under the Sharkticons feet to crack and even to cause those underneath Dead End to be flattened like trash cans.

Breakdown decides he'd better follow the shuttle and dead end, and transforms, taking to the air as the sharkticons are made into sharkti-pancakes

Breakdown's components shift around until he finally changes into his robot mode.

Dead End transforms into a 20 foot tall robot in a way that is confusing yet cool.

Soundwave has left.

Airlift has left.

Galvatron has left.

( travel spam ... ) 

You move west to Uptown San Francisco.

Uptown San Francisco(#1343RLntN)

This part of San Francisco is one of the few areas left mostly untouched by the weather of the last decade. The steep, curving roads are still lined with beautiful old houses, some of them almost a century old. Flower pots grace the roadsides and are cultivated meticulously. Some of the streets even show the old brick roads underneath. Occasionally, you see one of the famous cable cars pass you down the streets, and people hop on and off of them at random. Fisherman's Wharf is visible in the distance, and people will give you directions to Lombard Street if you ask. The scent of the flowers mingles with the smell of fresh-baked sourdough and the slight fish scent from the Wharf. A weathered old man passes you with a fruit cart. It's covered with fresh strawberries, oranges, bananas, and other tasty items.

Room Contents: Galvatron Soundwave Metal T-Rex Lassiter Residence <lr> Alex Hammond's Apartment Alex Hammond's Office Sydney's House The Awakening Chinatown

Galvatron smiles broadly at the evil (and thoroughly gratuitous) scheme about to commence! "Make it happen, Soundwave!"

"Gladly," Soundwave intones, before he enters in the final few commands. And suddenly, all over the ship, Sharkticons find themselves getting sucked out of roaring, open airlocks. The Sharkticons shriek and try to grab on to something before they are sucked out, but the forces of the vacuum are too strong and they soon find themselves ripped right out into the sky.

Sharkticons can fly, right? Right?... Oh, right, they can't.

And so, about a bazillion or so Sharkticons plummet towards San Francisco, all howling in mix of rage and terror! One of them might even be headed right for a certain well-dressed dinosaur robot!

Grimlock is hot-footing it away from the broken window when a Sharkticon lands a few yards in front of him. He notices it in his path, yells and elbows it aside and keeps running, yelling, "Out of way, Shark guy!" He makes it another 10 yards or so and then screeches to a halt. You can practically see the lightbulb appear over his head. He runs back to the confused Sharkticon. "Hey Sharky?" He shoves the Sharkticon into the building where he broke the window. "Haha! No poi-leash arrest dumb Sharkticon, not me, Grimlock!"

The Sharkticon that landed near Grimlock shudders as it tries feebly to stand itself up, but it only succeeds in falling back on its face, its mangled body incapable of supporting it anymore. It seems that it's doomed to go to robot jail after all--or maybe more accurately, the robot morgue! Another Sharkticon soon slams down right on top of a sports car, setting off its alarm and the alarm of every car on the block in a deafening cacophony.

Metal T-Rex covers his ears with his tiny, wimpy dino hands. "Argh! Sharkticon so annoying! Make loud noise!" He walks over to the Sharkticon on top of a smashed Viper. "Hey, you!" He taps on the Sharkticons head. "Me talking to you, dummy! You stop make so much noise! Wake babies!"

The Sharkticon rolls over, off of the Viper. Its face is smashed and all of its teeth are gone. What functionality it has left is mainly limited to it feebly waving its little arms around. And oddly, the darned Sharkticons seem to keep falling down...

Sirens wail in the distance, and soon the red Fire Chief's car races around a corner, lights flashing. He seems to be following the greatest concentration of Sharkticons on the ground, which leads him of course to Grimlock. He skids to a stop in the middle of the road nearby. "Grimlock!" He shouts to be heard over the car alarm. "Grimlock, what's...oh hold on a second." Red begins emitting some beeps of various pitch and tone. Finally he catches the right one and the car alarm shuts off (although half the cars along the street are now unlocked). "Grimlock, what's your status? How many of these things are loose in the city?!"

<Autobot> ALERT! Sharkticons in San Fransisco. ALERT!

Grimlock casually walks over and stomps on the downed Sharkticon's head. "Me Grimlock was going to party, see, and dumb Sharkicons all over!" Grimlock is wearing a much too small wig, a clip on magnetic tie, and has a sportcoat over his shoulder.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "FRAG!"

Many of the Sharkticons that hit the ground are too badly damaged to do anything other than crawl around weakly. However, a lucky select few manage to land on something to cushion their fall, like, say, a body of water, or even a trailer full of pillows! Though still dented up from the impact, several relatively functional Sharkticons begin to amble about the city, picking up cars with their jaws and thrashing them about.

Twitch arrives in all his glory! Well not quite. More like he soars amongst the buildings of uptown San Francisco, his small birdly frame carving a path past towering spires as he dips to and fro, closing in on the scene of the alert that's going up. That is, until he almost runs into a falling Sharkticon. "WAUUUGH!" A quick out-of-control barrel roll followed by a spiral that almost sends him crashing into the ground follows, until he rights himself and jets upwards to gain some altitude. "Eeee...what're THEY doin here!?"

The red fire chief's car transforms into Red Alert.

Red Alert glares at the captured Quintesson ship that's raining Sharkticons down on the city. "The Decepticons - they..." he notices a Sharkticon at his feet twitching back to life, so he snatches up a fallen lampost and bashes it back into submission before it can come to it's senses. "They boarded some sort of Quintesson shuttle...from what I could make out, all the crew were missing but these Sharkticons were left. They're mindless, without direction...now the Decepticons are scattering them all over the city!"

Metal T-Rex pickes on the Sharkticon he just smashed and throws it at one of its damaged, confused brothers milling about. "Me Grimlock say call other Autobots. Seem like lot of dumb Sharkticons out there."

A Sharkticon with a broken leg chases after Twitch with its slavering maw, biting the air just as he flies past SNAP! Although Twitch easily flies away, the Sharkticon hobbles after him.

Red Alert's Sharkticon doesn't get back up from its beatdown, and Grimlock's targets seem to be knocked out as well. However, confused human screams can be heard all over the city.

Twitch didn't intend to become lunch on his arrival! "AIIIE!" he calls out, accelerating as he flies clear of the Sharkticon's leaping bite, then pulling up into a hard climb before he loops back and gives the toothy critter a quick burst from both of his cannons. "Down! Sit! Stay! Bad...toothy, bad bad! Birdy not lunch!" Peeling off from his strafing run, he loops back again to find a high perch on a nearby rooftop to more properly ascertain the situation. The sounds of human screams aren't very reassuring to put it lightly. "Oh no!"

Soundwave watches the chaos from within the ship, exterior cameras focusing in on the good parts. He cackles to himself, pleased, until the bridge is bathed in red lights. "Warp Core breach," the ship computer announces. "Ship will detonate in 5 minutes."

Hurriedly accessing security cameras, Soundwave reviews some footage of the Engineering section, and sees a Sharkticon straggler gnawing on the warp core, cracking the outer casing. "Imbecile!" Soundwave booms, then aims his concussion rifle at the wall, blasting a hole right through it. The lack of pressure sucks him out of the ship, just as the Sharkticons were sucked out, but the advantage Soundwave has over them is fairly obvious--he can fly. And so he flies out of the ship, muttering to himself about lost opportunities.

Red Alert nods at Grimlock. "I already sent out the alarm!" He begins firing careful shots at the Sharkticons in sight, concentrating on the ones that are already damaged. "Hopefully we'll be seeing reinforcements soon!" He turns and looks at Twitch. "Additional reinforcements." He adds grudgingly. Is this Twitch's chance to finally gain Red Alert's trust? Well maybe...after all even Ultra Magnus is only a few notches above 'watch constantly' in Red's book. But still, at least he won't be talking about exploding collars any more.

Galvatron launches out of the ship after Soundwave, rubbing his hands in satisfaction. "Well, that was productive after all," he chuckles as the ship goes down over Autobot territory amidst chaos and fire.

Metal T-Rex grabs two Sharkticons and smashes them into each other. "Dumb sharks seem dumber than usual. What going on?"

Twitch watches as several more of the sharkticons are menacing the local populace. Acting before he thinks about it, he drops down and rockets over the street, optic lasers lancing out to get the attention of two more of the beasts before he swoops down and acts the only way he can right now. A woman who was being chased is snatched up carefully in his talons a moment later as he swoops back towards Red Alert and Grimlock's location. Of course usually people being handled this way are being kidnapped for Soundwave's pleasure, so she's screaming up a blue streak as Twitch struggles under the added weight, constantly calling out, "It's okay! It's okay! I'm with the good guys! Really!"

Twitch's Sharkticons are killed pretty easily--they're made from the cheapest metals and even fairly weak weapons will subdue them. Red Alert finishes off several more stragglers, and between everyone else and Grimlock's smashing, it doesn't seem there will be many more functional Sharkticons after this. Their numbers were rather thinned out by the fall. On the other hand, there's still that burning shuttle, dropping towards the city. What if it blew up too close to San Francisco?

Metal T-Rex is too busy beating the crap out of Sharks to notice an exploding spaceship now.

Galvatron is basically flying away with Soundwave going bwa ha ha in his inimicable fashion.

Soundwave isn't laughing, himself. He's rather disappointed that they didn't get to nab the ship. "I sometimes wonder how the Quintessons manage to replace their losses when they lack even their own homeworld," he muses. Meanwhile, in a Quintesson mothership... Junius says, "Wardius! When are you going to get a job? We don't even have a PLANET anymore!" Wardius scowls and swaps to the DEATH face. "WOMAN, I AM SCHEMING!" "Presumably they have colonies," replies Galvatron. "Or a good line of credit."

Red Alert tries to position himself beneath Twitch, hands held out to catch the poor civilian just in case she drops. His enhanced hearing registers a new sound on the Quintesson ship...the sound of alarms and a countdown. "Core breach imminent?!" He turns and looks at the ship. "Someone's got to get aboard that thing and redirect it before it destroys half the city!!"

<OOC> Red Alert bwahahs!

<OOC> Twitch says, "-_-"

Twitch indeed does set the girl down, albeit carefully into Red Alert's arms, before he hears his shout about the ship. "Half the city!? Ahhhgh! We gotta do something!" Well somebody who can fly probably has to do something. That puts Grimlock in the category as well as Twitch himself. The tape hesitates for just a moment, but while he is nervous, he's not a coward. He just doesn't think things through properly. He'll have a proper spaz attack about this later, really. Right now, he rockets straight up, moving to intercept the ship and find entry towards the bridge. What the hell is he going to do in there? Who knows!

Since Soundwave blasted a hole right through the bridge, gaining access to it should be relatively easy. The countdown, though, might be a bit off-putting. "Two minutes until detonation," the computer advises.

<Autobot> Twitch says, "Aiiie, two minutes till it explodes. What should I do!?"

<Autobot> Red Alert says, "Try - try to find the flight controls!"

<Autobot> Red Alert says, "If you can turn it thirty to forty degrees west, it may make it to the bay!"

Twitch feels another spaz attack coming, he just knows it. As he gets into the bridge, he bounces around a bit before finding the right way to fly without crashing into things. Panic seizes at his fuel pump, and he would probably give in were it not for the knowledge that an awful lot of people could die if he doesn't do something. "Unnnngh!" he tries pulling at a lever with his talons in a desperate bid to try and get the ship to adjust its angle in some fashion. But he's just not strong enough. Perhaps opportunity presents itself in strange ways, as he spots a small slot in the control panel, much like in many Autobot and Decepticon computers. Without thinking, he transforms and instantly inserts into the slot, his entire form blinking rapidly as he does the electronic equivelant of hitting an awful lot of buttons as fast as he can. He's no hacker but maybe, just maybe he can influence the ship to angle itself towards the bay....

Twitch shudders and suddenly folds in on himself, turning into a blue and yellow cassette.

"Adjusting course forty degrees. Adjusted course currently on display." The main screen shows the ship's current course--yes, it's going right into the bay! "Warp Core breach in one minute."

<Autobot> Twitch says, "I...I did it! It's going for the bay!"

The Quintesson ship rattles the city as it plummets at high speeds with a loud roar. Smoke and flame trails behind it as it begins its fateful descent into the ocean--will Twitch's efforts be enough to save thousands of lives?

<Autobot> Red Alert says, "Great work Twitch!...er, perhaps you'd better ABANDON SHIP?!"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Do you need a fox down there?"

Blue and Yellow Cassette blinks rapidly as he celebrates his success! It's heading for the bay! It's all he can do, but he hopes it'll make a difference. Then of course the computer reminds him of how fast time is ticking down. "Uh oh!" With a sudden shudder he ejects from the port and transforms again, his twin thrusters igniting like starlights as he suddenly rockets forward, the view of the world outside filled by...water. Lots of water, coming up fast. Looks it's time for a Stallone explosion moment...is the little tape going to make it in time!?

<Autobot> Twitch says, "Eeeeyiieeeeee!"

The blue and yellow cassette unfolds and grows into the form of Twitch.

<Autobot> Red Alert says, "Noooo!"

"Thirty seconds," the computer reminds. The Quintesson ship plows into the water, tossing up huge waves as its prow breaches the surface, but it keeps on going, its dying engines still having enough thrust to push it onward. Soon, the entire ship is submerged, and the engines fizzle. Driven now only by gravity and inertia, the ship continues to sink downwards.

"Five... four... three... two... one. Good bye!" Then... a tremendous blast of water sprays out from the bay, and waves roll out, shaking every ship in the area and briefly flooding the piers. But the damage is laughable compared to what could've happened if it had exploded on land.

One question remains, though... did Twitch make it out in time?

Red Alert rushes over to the end of the pier once the worst of the flooding is over. He scans the water anxiously for any sign of the plucky blue and yellow cassette...

When the miniature tidal wave has finished pounding at the harbor and piers of San Francisco Bay, only a thick plume of steam rising into the sky dominates the horizon. A virtual deathly silence falls onto the water and the surrounding area, save for the distant sirens and the last of the sharkticons no doubt being put down by Grimlock and other forces. And eventually, the blue and white form washes up on the shore. Blackened, charred, but somehow whole as he surfaces and thankfully floats enough as he bumps against the rocks, lifting his head weakly as he tries to shake out the virtual cobwebs. "...oooooogh..."

Red Alert looks relieved to see Twist in one piece (relatively speaking). He leads the surrounding emergency workers in a clapping. They are soon joined by many of the nearby civilians who realize what happened and what Twitch has done. Soon a sizeable crowd of people on the docks is cheering for the little Autobot. Even Red Alert seems to have given up some of his earlier inhibitions regarding the tape. "Good work, Twitch! Blaster was right about you after all!!"

Twitch gets to his feet again slowly, after recovering some of his strength lost in the brief swim for which he is not constructed. That's about when the clapping starts. "Yagh!" he begins, but can't stay startled for long when it all begins to spread and suddenly he's got a full chorus of applause going for him. Optics wide, the little mechanical bird looks left, right, then back to Red Alert, blinking at his words. And what does he do. Just shuffle his taloned feet a bit and look towards the ground. "I couldn't just let it...I mean I didn't do anything spe...hee hee...gooosh. I'm just glad no one got hurt!"

Red Alert smiles at Twitch. "Nonsense! You took quite a chance entering that ship, AND you managed to get the job done. Saving countless lives at the risk of your own - those are the actions of an Autobot." Red nods once more, then turns away, sentimental moment already over, and gets busy with his post-battle duties. He starts examining the disabled Sharkticons to make sure they're really deactivated, talking with EDC and San Fransisco emergency workers, etc.

Twitch is all puffed up, and not like a peacock. With happiness, pride or maybe something else. Not only did he get applause but he's been told he's been acting like a real Autobot! He's feeling so happy and squishy inside he'd probably burst if he got anymore. So it is that his acceptance to the Autobots seems to take more shape. OH yeah, they got a lifer here.