The Blades Witch Project

Istoral Trench

On entering Istoral Trench, fiercely cold winds viciously buffet anything not securely fastened down. Several landslides have occurred, randomly dumping tons of twisted metal on the floor of the trench and forcing a slower pace to maneuver through the piles of debris. On the uninviting canyon walls are multiple caverns and sharp-edged metal outcroppings. To the south, the trench has been zipped shut by the immense structural stress of spacebridge transport to another system. To the north, the trench continues a short distance before ending abruptly. A flicker of movement above indicates that a pack of ravenous turbo-wolves may be on the hunt for a meal.

Contents:

Kickback

Firestar

Searchlight

Decepticon Hover Transport

Autobot Shuttle &lt;Sarikus>

Obvious exits: Up &lt;U> leads to Istoral Chasm. North &lt;N> leads to Istoral Trench North.

Rumble has arrived.

Triggerhappy has arrived.

Blades doesn't just fly in and start smashing his face against the door, as fun as that might be. No, instead, a long distance out, he transforms to his much-quieter robot mode, and he walks in to a canyon outcropping mostly observed by a landslide not far from the outpost. Blades turns to address the other Autobots, who can actually /drive/ and not make a crazy amount of noise. Stupid helicopter mode. "Searchlight. I'll need you you draw the guards off with a distraction. Those lights of yours should do. No heroics. You get them after you, and you get out of here. If you can, regroup with the rest of us later, but your priority is to get out with your bumpers intact. Firestar. Once the guards are gone, it's you and me. Ready?"

Firestar trucks up next to Blades, shifting modes a she nears and walks to the rest of the short distance to stand next to him. She glances over at Searchlight as Blades relays the plan - mentioning the mech by name - and once she is address, she responds with a curt nod to the Protectobot. "Right." She twirls her axe in her hands. "They'll never know what hit 'em." She grins devilishly.

Searchlight stares past Blades into the distance. He's not even looking at the Decepticon encampment. If you must know, he's spotted something weird about Mia. A little too long after Blades has asked if he's ready, he snaps back to reality. "Bumpers," he nods, and transforms into robot mode, heading for a high ride overlooking the opposite side of the Decepticon outpost.

Searchlight folds into a FORD RS200 RALLY CAR!

EARLIER: WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM, WHAM! The ground shook, the walls crumbled before the towering form of cassettecon Rumble! He's busy doing what he likes to do. Break stuff. Sometimes even with a purpose! He's got his orders today to help discourage Autobot patrols. Of course that also limits the ways the Cons can get their own supplies down here, but its hardly an issue to the fliers.

NOW: Rumble lays on top of the bunker's structure. "Dis sucks. It's boring." He's only said this about fifteen times so far. He props his head up as he lounges, a leg danging off the side. "I don see why I just bring it all down and bust up everyting out here. Guns an..an stuff...Try diggin through alla that junk!" He pauses after a moment, his words pretty much to himself, "Wait, they got some guys that do that. Nermind." He hops up onto his feet, just bored enough to go take a look around.

It seems that Kickback is stuck minding the base today.

Seated at the main communications array for the outpost, the grasshopper mech is staring blankly at the screen.

He... has a really stupid look on his face. No, I mean it. We're talking 'Ren' from Ren and Stimpy kind of stupid. His finger is hovering over a button, and every five minutes, he presses it, like clockwork. On the black terminal window next to the surveillance feeds, there is a long string of commands: &lt;pre> * Status Report to Shockwave....... Sent. * Status Report to Shockwave....... Sent. * Status Report to Shockwave....... Sent. * Status Report to Shockwave....... Sent. * Status Report to Shockwave....... Sent. * Status Report to Shockwave....... Sent. &lt;/pre> It goes on like that.

There are two sides to having rank around here. One--it's nice being able to order the lower-ranking mechs around, especially when they're being irritating. Blowpipe certainly enjoys that part of it.

But then there's the other side. You know what they say 'With great power comes great responisbility.' Seriously, every civilized culture in the galaxy MUST have a form of that saying somewhere in their historical archives.

Well anyway Triggerhappy is anything BUT responsible. The patrols are outside, supposedly watching the perimeter, and he's inside arguing with a gumby and constantly shooting at a holo-target, because there's nothing else better to shoot at.

"Would you stop that, I can't concentrate on these surveillance feeds!" "No. First off, I'm practicing. Second, you can't tell me what to do." "Practicing what? aiming? You said that was overrated. Besides, you're not even---!"

The gumby's optics widen when Triggerhappy turns his guns on him, grinning devilishly. "I can aim at -you-."

"--okay, okay! I-I'll shut up..."

Searchlight has disconnected.

Firestar slaps the flat side of her axe head into an open hand a few times as she walks over to the edge of the canyon. Upon reaching the precipice, Firestar turns her head and watches Searchlight take off toward Decepticon territory. Wishing him luck under breath, Firestar returns to the canyon to survey the enemy bunker in the distance with a keen optic. Putting a finger to her temple, the color of her optics shift from blue to yellow as technical readouts play across them, albeit they would read backwards if you were to look at her directly. "Hmmm," she muses, pursing lips while scanning the information that scrolls through her vision. &lt;&lt;"I believe I've detected the bunker's power source. It's not centrally located - thank Primus. It seems the Decepticons just patched into a dormant network they found. Probably due to a rockslide exposing it. It's only a few minutes out, on the North side of Istoral. I'm gone. Firestar out.">> The femme shifts to her Cybertronian transport mode, starting off after her target.

Something distracts the Decepticon guards! Maybe it is Searchlight. Maybe it's a weather balloon. Maybe it is swamp gas. It's definitely not Cosmos. The world may never know.

Blades takes a different path toward the outpost than Firestar is. If one of them is found, the other will at least retain some element of surprise. He creeps along slowly, keeping to cover as he goes. Lucky thing, all these landslides around here...

Firestar transforms into her Cybertronian Transport &lt;Firestar> mode.

Ford RS200 Rally Car &lt;Searchlight> parks on the ridge, engine running softly, and starts flickering his brights at odd intervals. They'll be able to see that all the way at the Decagon.

Rumble squints as he looks around, &lt;&lt;Hey..Hey!>> He calls out on the +D channel totally not using his indoor voice. &lt;&lt;I jus saw some lights an stuff!>> The tiny cassettecon scrambles forward to investigate. &lt;&lt;An if its some Bot, I got dibs on givin' him the hammers!>> The sheer thought of SOMETHING FUN to do has the tiny terror riled up, he actually looks to be grinning as he raises his pistol, hurrying towards the distraction with almost childlike anticipation.

Kickback, in locust mode, decides to follow after Rumble, bounding along merrily on six legs like an oversized, ravenous puppy, but not really saying anything. Seems he's out giving support? Wait...

Kickback is busy cleaning out the ventilation shafts that run through the outpost. He's also stacking supplies while he continues to dopily send status reports back to Shockwave. ... Huh?!?

Kickback is being used as a table by two Genericons who are on their refuelling break. One of them has simply slapped a sheet of metal over the back of the grasshopper. Cube-shaped glasses are in the center, along with a canteen of fresh, glowing pink. "So, whadda you think about Scorpnok callin' the shots now?"

"Eh, Scorponok, Galvatron, Soundwave, Cyclonus - it's all the same," his blue and navy buddy complains. "We do all the work and take all the bullets while they get the credit."

"At least it's not Shockwave. That guy gives me the creeps." Kickback has no complaints!

.... How is this possible again?

"Heh." Triggerhappy turns back to the hologram, and the gumby heaves a sigh of relief. And then Rumble is shouting about something. Some lights or something. &lt;&lt;Uh...yeah...why don't you and Kickback go and figure out what it is. Report back within the breem, if you can.>> But he didn't even need to tell them so, they're already on it!

He goes back to shooting at holograms and dummies. Hmph, if you asked Triggerhappy, he'd rather have Shockwave in charge. But, eh. Not that it made that much of a difference to him. Blowpipe was happy about Scopronok, though.

Ford RS200 Rally Car &lt;Searchlight> spots Decepticons moving on his location before they've finished their first steps, and reverses away from the ridge, lights still flashing. He turns and drives further up the path, staying slow enough to keep their interest, but quickly enough to not die.

Cybertronian Transport &lt;Firestar> rolls to an easy stop along the cliff ridge. A second later she stoops over the threshold in her robot mode, having drawn her trusty axe out from a compartment on her backpack. With a grunt, she stabs the blade into the metal below her heels. She takes a deep breath, grips the handle tightly, tests her weight against it, and jumps into the canyon! Firestar swings down the canyon face, planting her feet while ripping her axe free again with another grunt. She immediately hacks into the alloy below her once more - repeating this process until she descends to a terminal jutting from the canyon, a series of cables the size of her torso spooling from it and towards the Decepticon bunker. &lt;&lt;"Alright, Blades. I'm in position.>>

Cybertronian Transport &lt;Firestar> transforms into her robot mode.

Blades keeps on creeping along, and he finds himself on a canyon ledge just overlooking the outpost. He lays himself down flat on the ledge and overlooks the outpost. Are the guards buying it? He can only hope. &lt;&lt;Good. You know what we discussed. I'll be right behind you once we're in.>>

Rumble pauses in his chase. He takes flight, getting up a bit higher. He responds dismissively to Triggerhappy, &lt;&lt;Yeah yeah yeah.>> He adds after a few moments, actually a little unsure, &lt;&lt;It seems to be runnin off. Whatever it wuz.>> He glances over at locust Cloneback, "Uh...so you think we should go after it?"

A beat passes.

Another beat passes.

Rumble fires four shots off into the night. &lt;&lt;Got em! It wuz a...>> He facepalms looking at his loyal pet, &lt;&lt;A something?>>

The Shothole is terribly excited by the fact that Rumble shot at something. It flutters its wings and paces around him in circles, just waiting to be directed towards some kind of target. It looks at him and whines with huge, round yellow optics.

"Did you hear something?" the Genericon asks his friend, setting down his drink on the table. The Shothole underneath wobbles a little.

"I am on *break*, and nothing save a friggin' Autobot takin' pot shots at me is gonna move me right now," the blue and gray Decepticon states emphatically, drinking from his cube.

The shothole at the communication console keeps updating that all is well. Because no one has told it not to keep doing this.

&lt;&lt;Well, whatever that was, it's probably a diversion of some sort. >> I mean, why else would someone flash lights at the Decepticons? &lt;&lt;Go after it if you want, Rumble. I mean, I just know you want to.>> Triggerhappy finally stops 'practicing' and walks over the Genericons using Shothole as a table. "Hey, get your afts in gear. I think someone's outside."

Firestar, after a little prayer to her maker, lets go of her axe's handle and drops down the cliff face a few feet, landing on top of the terminal below her. *Whew!* She reaches back up on the tips of her boots and pulls her axe free from the canyon face, trying to be as quiet in all of this as she possibly can. Holstering her axe for the time being, Firestar drops to her skidplate, straddling the terminal, with both feet dangling free. 'Pleasedontfallpleasedontfallpleasedontfall', she mutters internally as she begins to pick at a panel line on the terminal's surface. The plate swings open, exposing a thrumming network within the terminal casing. One of Firestar's fingers separates into a multi-tool, which rotates about with a noiseless whirl. &lt;&lt;"Alright, I'm in.">> Firestar twitches a bit as she comes into contact with the innards of the terminal. &lt;&lt;"Patching in, now. Hijacking security feed... we're up, Blades. Feed's on loop. All quiet on the western front.">>

Ford RS200 Rally Car &lt;Searchlight> kills his lights as he approaches a small cave system at the top of the ridge. Transforming as he hurries into the entrance, Searchlight glances over his shoulder for pursuers, subspacing in his sidearm. Other than a few wild shots from the Decepticons below, it looks like he hasn't been followed. The scout slips into the darkness, hiding himself away to wait for his next cue.

Searchlight snaps into ROBOT MODE!

Combat: Searchlight is no longer apparent in view!

As soon as Blades hears that Firestar is in position, he moves, heaving himself off the ledge. He lands on the roof of the bunker with an audible >thump&lt;... far, far away from Firestar's position. Then he slides down off the roof, lands, and turns to the nearest entrance. Okay, c'mon Decepticons.

"FINE," the blue and gray genericon complains, chugging down the rest of the energon. His friend, in green and black, does the same, and picks up the flask, kicking the shothole and makeshift table out of the way. "We're taking an EXTRA LONG BREAK after this is over!" he threatens, fist shaking, before heading into the outpost to check out the disturbance.

Surveillance Shothole's finger is ready to slam down onto the enter key - when it stops.

It stares at the camera feed with Firestar.

And stares. And stares. And stares.

It alters the message to 'Lol pretty gurlbot in R base d00ds', and raises its finger over the enter key.

Static. The hacking job is complete, and Firestar has successfully taken down the security network, replacing it with a loop of everything quiet on the western front. Security Shothole erases his previous message - nothing wrong here now! - and goes back to filing the same report over and over again.

Suddenly there's a THUMP from above as Blades moves into position. "Shhhhhh." he hushes the Genericon who is complaining and threatening to take an extra long break. He follows the sliding noise toward the entrance Blades has landed near... [Triggerhappy]

Blades moves to the side of the doors, and he flattens his back against the wall. He draws a rotor blades off his back, and he holds it at the ready. As soon as the door opens, Blades will have to move, brutal and swift, but he should have one moment while whoever it is looks out and sees nothing.

Combat: Suddenly, Searchlight appears out of the blue!

Searchlight steps out of hiding, content with the lack of reaction on the ground that no one is stomping his way. The smaller Autobot stars out of the cave, down the ridge. He can see both Blades and Firestar, though Blades concerns for radio silence devalue his current position. Still, if things go badly, he can warn them ahead of time.

Firestar winks a positive telecom Blades' way, and then dives back into the terminal casing beneath her as her free hand reveals another multi-tool inside. She shakes as she merges with a second network now, burning off residual capacitance and matching circuitry resistance to ease her work. &lt;&lt;"Okay, Blades. Get ready. Lights out in three... two...">>

The entire canyon is becomes an inky void as the flood lights the Decepticons had been using to illuminate the bunker and its surroundings fade out.

&lt;&lt;"...one. Happy hunting.">>

The door hums and whirrs as it begins to fold open, and Triggerhappy bursts out of it at the very moment the lights go out, scanning the area for any signs of Autobot activity. Of course, it doesn't take him long to figure out that Blades is standing there, pressed up against the wall next to the door. "You!" he exclaims. Yes, him, the one he thought would make a much better Decepticon. In a flash, he raises his weapons, but is he too late to avoid getting stabbed?

"Oh scrap!" the green and black Genericon blurts out before his blue and gray buddy slaps a hand over his mouth. &lt;&lt; Slap a muffler on it! We're at an advantage in the dark! >> he radioes to his buddy, trying to calm him down before he panics.

&lt;&lt; Mech, it is PITCH BLACK in here! >> the green and black complains further.

&lt;&lt; You have headlights you dim bulb! >> blue and gray snarls. &lt;&lt; Besides, our 'fearless leader' is here. We have more to worry about from HIM than anything sneaking into this base! >>

Dozens of antennae all over the base suddenly perk up in unison. The night has come. It's safe to feed.

Blades is basically bad at being an Autobot AND a Decepticon. It's a skill. Not a useful skill. He springs out at Triggerhappy, trying to jam a blade through him and pin him to the wall, as darkness falls. Blades knows from experience exactly how tough Triggerhappy is, and Blades doesn't want to get bogged down in a drawn-out fight with the Targetmaster, as fun as that might be. He has other goals.

Firestar smiles at herself as darkness envelopes Istoral. So far, so good. She unlatches her axe from its resting place on her equipment rack backpack (say that three times fast), and repeats the same process to reach the canyon floor that she did in mounting the power terminal a few minutes ago. Alighting now on a horizontal plane (finally), Firestar runs after the spot she last knew Blades to be. He's quite a ways, so this may take awhile!

&lt;&lt; Oh scrap oh scrap oh scrap IT'S THAT GUY! >> the green and black Genericon flails as Blades attacks Triggerhappy.

&lt;&lt; 'That guy'? Which 'that guy'?! >> blue and navy argues back.

&lt;&lt; THE HELICOPTER AUTOBOT GUY! >> the green and black fairly screams.

&lt;&lt; ... WHIRL? >> the blue and navy blurts back as cold dread grips him, making his engine skip a revolution. &lt;&lt; Between Triggerhappy and Whirl we are SO MUCH TOAST! >>

&lt;&lt; I CALL TACTICAL RETREAT! >> green and black shouts, before turning back into the darkness and running for it. Blue and navy looks between Triggerhappy and 'Whirl'. Hey, it's dark in there.

"Sorry boss, this is above our pay grade!" He goes running into the dark after.

An eerie clicking noise erupts from the dark of the trench, coming and going in waves, like a song, slowly picking up tempo.

Blades gets the jump on Triggerhappy just as his guns expand out of his arms. "HHhhnnngkk--!" A rotor blade is impaled through his torso as he is shoved against the wall. At the same time, his pulse guns go off, likely firing into Blades at point-blank range. He ignores the Genericons, since he's too busy being stabbed by Blades.

&lt;&lt;Unnngh--Rumble, what's your status?>> He comms the Casseticon, wondering if he'd found any of the other Autobots. After all, where there's one, there's bound to be more.

Screams echo down the dark corridors of the base. These are not scared screams. These are dying screams, followed by the sound of crunching, dripping, tearing, popping, dragging, struggling. The screaming doesn't stop immediately, either; it's punctuated by the sound of weapons going off, gurgling and swearing. The noise is horrible, but at least it doesn't last long. As suddenly as they start they stop, ending in a choked, panicky gurgle and squeak.

Silence again.

&lt;Autobot> Blades says, "...there's screaming, and it's not me causing it. Repugnus, are you in here?"

Triggerhappy is surprised when Blades suddenly pulls away and runs into the base...he doesn't seem to be the type to just drop something like this. The Protectobot must have had other plans. He turns around and runs after him, holding the stab wound in one hand and hoping he can catch up before the Autobot reaches his objective.

Blades loves the sound of screams, but he's unnerved, because he's not the one causing it! He draws his photon pistol. In the dark, the blinding blast is going to be all that more painful, and Blades is counting on that. He waits until he /thinks/ he hears a gumby (does this gumby sound blue? Who knows?) - and he fires.

"....help me.... GAH!"

Blades shoots a survivor.

Examination of any kind will find the remains of the blue and navy gumbie - and we do mean remains. Sparks from his chassis create an eerie flicker, strobbing small pops of light. His neck is torn open. His arms and legs have been wrenched off. His torso plate has been peeled back like the skin of an orange, and there are jagged holes in his internal components. Energon pools out onto the floor, altering the nearby colors with a wash of pale bright pink, dying embers of a life's fire that will soon be nothing more than smoke.

Arcs of electricity jump from the body, snaps of white that reveal shadows and movement along the walls and ceiling, before the body goes totally gunmetal gray, and the light suddenly dies.

The hallway is a T intersection, one leading to a lift, the other end leading to a sealed bulkhead door.

Triggerhappy continues running after Blades. He hears the disturbing noises but... isn't disturbed by them. It takes a lot to faze him. He secretly hopes, for a moment, that that was Blades, but the Autobot's e-sig is still active, sadly.

Once he hopes he's in firing range, he starts shooting randomly down the corridor at the Protectobot, hoping to at least slow him down.

&lt;Autobot> Impactor says, "Blades, what's the situation?"

Blades looks over the 'survivor' in the light of his own energon, wanting to make sure that the gumby is DEAD. He feels oddly hollow and unsatisfied, finishing off someone else's work with a gun. It's not Blades's favourite thing.

There's movement in the shadows. Blades has the feeling that whatever is doing this is probably not a friendly. His plan was simple: 1) Have Searchlight draw off the guards. 2) Have Firestar cut the cameras and the lights. 3) Go around making Decepticons grin from audio to audio.

This is quickly spiraling out of control. Gripping his photon pistol tightly, Blades heads for the lift. He doesn't have any bombs or lockpicks to get the sealed door open.

Then Triggerhappy shoots him in the back, and Blades slumps against the lift call button.

&lt;Autobot> Blades says, "Hkt!"

&lt;Autobot> Impactor says, "Damn it. Blades. Use words."

&lt;Autobot> Blades sounds woozy, "...uh...uh, something's killing Decepticons in this base, and it's not me /or/ Triggerhappy. He's just... shooting me."

&lt;Autobot> Impactor says, "Pull your team out."

&lt;Autobot> Blades says, "Searchlight, get out of here if you haven't already. Firestar, you too."

&lt;Autobot> Searchlight says, "Sir I can see something on the base but I'm having a difficult time tracking it."

&lt;Autobot> Blades says, "Iiiii don't care, just save yourself!"

&lt;Autobot> Impactor says, "We all go home or no body goes home, Blades. Get out of there or I'll rekill you."

&lt;Autobot> Blades says, "Hah... krrkt... I'm not planning on staying behind, I just want to make sure Searchlight and Firestar get out first."

The flashes of photons from the weapons strobe the hall again. The ceiling is alive with multilegged black bodies that skitter away from the weapons like roaches for cover when the lights are turned on. You can hear them, the sound of metal claws on metal, clicking like hundreds of marbles swishing around in a bucket of water. They swarm behind Triggerhappy. A slow sigh of air pushes down the hallway against his back.


 * Ding!*

The lift, automated, opens its doors. Inside the emergency lights are on, painting everything red, washing away identifying colors and turning things strange hues of black, gray and blood, as if the seal of a furnace had been compromised.

"Please state your destination, or press the button corrisponding to the level you wish move to," a cheerful female voice announces.

&lt;Autobot> Firestar says, "Blades, I'm coming to pick you up! Bug out!"

&lt;Autobot> Searchlight says, "Captain, I am tracking both you and Firestar. once you've regrouped, you have a clear escape path via Northwest 6niner."

&lt;Autobot> Blades says, "No, no, Firestar! Get clear! - that escape route sounds good, I'll... hrz... see you there."

Insecticons...heh. That's what he thought. Where is Kickback, anyway? The real Kickback. As he hurries toward the elevator after Blades, he comms the Insecticon. &lt;&lt;Kickback, what's your status? Any other Autobots in the area?>>

"Designation /Vortex/, and get me to the motherboard fragging roof," Blades demands of the lift in his best 'totally a Combaticon' voice. He shovels himself inside and tries to slam the 'door close' button before Triggerhappy can follow him. Is there one of those 'emergency personnel only' key buttons? Yeah, Blades tries to jam his remaining blade in there to wrench it over, wishing Hot Spot was here. Hot Spot would have a real firefighter's override key. Hot Spot could just bend Triggerhappy into a pretzel, too, though.

We're very sorry, Triggerhappy, but the Insecticon you have been trying to reach is not in the immediate area.

Thousands of miles away, in the depths of tunnels beneath Cybertronian swamps, Kickback is sitting in the dim light of newly dug hive, watching as a batch of hatching pods begin to crack, leaking violet fluid onto the pristine white pod bay.

The present swarm is completely uncontrolled.

"Hungry....." a tenor voice complains from behind Triggerhappy.

"Staaarving!"

"Feeed.... feeeeeed. FEEED!"

The locusts are pressing returning to the fresh body of the slain, pressing in uncomfortably around Triggerhappy.

"Officer Vortex. Welcome to Point Alpha-One Velex. Please state your destination." The rotorblade crunches against the key, shorting it, but beginning to slowly seal the door.

"Please refrain from damaging the terminal. Pay will be docked for repairs."

&lt;&lt;Kickback, come in. Slag it!>> Triggerhappy swears, but the Insecticon does not reply. Perhaps he hadn't been here in the first place. And now his clones are swarming all over him. Ugh. Kickback is going to hear it the next time he sees that bug thing. He tries to reach the elevator before the doors seal, but the swarm hinders his progress. Though he -did- hear Blades say something about the roof. He smirks to himself.

Meet you there, then..

And he transforms, breaking away from the horde of Insecticlones and rocketing back outside.

Blades does a quiet fistpump into the air at charging Vortex a bill. It is things like this that makes breaking into creepy haunted Decepticon outposts and getting shot repeatedly by Triggerhappy worthwhile. However, the fact is, he does not trust this lift. Blades heaves himself up a guardrail, and he starts trying to see if there is a top panel of the lift that he can jimmy open to climb into the shaft.

Outside, it becomes apparently that there are a lot of Shotholes around. The area is full of movement as the hungry locusts search for food, seeking anything with dense metals, powers, or energon.

They begin to follow Triggerhappy's movements. They can smell the energon in his fuel lines. They can hear it rushing around through his fuel pump, moving from his tanks to his body systems. It's calling to them. They're hungry, and the hungrier they get, the more desperate to eat they become.

An inner ladder leads to an access panel inside the lift; it's an easy climb (spaced enough so that even the little cassettes can get around) and release clasps for the panel are easy to remove. This is for emergency purposes, after all, and someone injured (like 'Vortex') shouldn't have to put up too much of a fight to get it open.

The panel slides back, and suddenly the lift lurches as it rises, gravity pushing everything down.

A Shothole falls in on top of Blades, hissing.

Great, now they're after him. Kickback is really going to hear it. But he doubts they can keep up with his jet form. Triggerhappy speeds outside through an upper window and turns skyward, heading for the roof as Blades climbs into the elevator shaft.

Blades is a killer and a career soldier. He doesn't panic when the creepy-crawly falls on him. He just gets his feet and one arm on the ladder, and with the other arm, he tries to put the photo pistol to one of the Shothole's optics and pull the trigger. In the process, the Insecticones spines and jaws rip a few new holes into Blades, like he wasn't already a right mess.

Now, to Blades's thinking, the lift will continue on its way up and open up on the roof, getting the attention of anything up there.

The hungry Shothole was trying so very hard to get a taste of a Blades sandwich. Instead, it goes gunmetal gray as its tiiiiny little brain module gets blown completely out of its other optic, smoldering on the ground.

Elsewhere, Kickback shrieks and falls off his perch in the hive, holding his eye. "THE SLAG?!" he snarls, immediately reaching out to connect to the fragment swarm left at Point Alpha One Velex. Immediately all of them suddenly halt what they are doing, frozen in place.

The lift comes to a stop at the roof, opening out into the air of the Cybertronian night.

Triggerhappy lands on the roof, then ducks behind a comm tower to wait for Blades to emerge. If he has the outpost's schematics right, the elevator should come up right about there...

"What the slag is going on out there!?"

Every Shothole at the point says that *at once*, suddenly unified, as Kickback reestablishes control.

Triggerhappy hears Blades land with a THUD on the ground, and is just in time to see him running away like a coward. Insecticons must have creeped him out, it seems. Otherwise, he surely would have stayed to delight himself in beating the slag out of the Targetmaster while his friends weren't looking. He fires haphazardly in the Protectobot's direction until he's out of range, not really caring if he hit him or not.

Cybertronian Transport &lt;Firestar> collapses to the ground, panels forming up around her as six tires squeal off a few layers of rubber, throwing a plume of noxious gas into the air. She isn't even finished transforming all the way when she takes off like a sports car. Screw stealth, surprise, and secrecy at this point! Firestar flips on her high beams, illuminating an entire field's worth of Shothole's! Some of the insects 'Aroo?', craning heads to peer at the oncoming Autobot with multi-faceted, jeweled optics that gleam like full moons in the light. Firestar ploughs through a dozen or so on her way to the bunker, though trying her best to slalom around the larger patches of the bugs. Reaching the perimeter of the facility, Firestar cranks on her e-brake and slings her ass end around, slapping a fresh paint of bug-blood onto the bunker walls. She shifts into reverse smoothly, crashes through a fence backend first, and rockets up an embankment, the bed of the vehicle clear and the tailgate down. "Blades! Get on!," she cries.

Blades is cutting his losses. He came here to kill Decepticons. The Insecticlones already killed them all, except for Triggerhappy (and Rumble, who was distracted by Searchlight). The mission has been accomplished, albeit in a manner that Blades finds deeply unsatisfying!

He supposes that he did shoot some blue dude and a Shothole. That was okay. Not great. Blades has had better.

He leaps for Firestar, just narrowly evading Triggerhappy's haphazard shots, though what would one more hole among many mean? He lands in her truck bed and holds on for dear life. Blades sighs, "You. Have awesome timing. I actually mean that. But seriously, let's get out of here. I'll fill you in on what happened later..."

================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/162                    Posted        Author AAR: Istoral Outpost              Tue Jul 16    Blades -- Blades appears. He has been shot repeatedly and also roughed up and nibbled on. One of his blades is missing. He reports, "Okay, first off, the bad: Firestar didn't behead anyone, as far as I can tell. We didn't blow up the base or kill any big names. I lost a blade." His injuries go without comment. "The good: Searchlight successfully distracted the Decepticon guards and drew them off. Firestar switched their cameras out for a loop and cut the lights. I think I tricked a Decepticon lift into billing Vortex for damages. And... some crazy Insecticlones decides to eat all the outpost personnel? Lucky break, that. I think it'll take the Decepticons some time to restaff and clean the place out, and that's time we can make use of to take that drone army away from Shockwave! Also, maybe we can try to cause intraDecepticon tensions by reminding the rank-and-file that their Insecticon buddies could eat them at any time?"

"Next time? I'd bring any demo experts, if we had them. Or any stealth experts. Or guys who can see in the dark. But next time's gonna have to be different, because the Decepticons won't fall for the same tricks again."


 * Autobot Spinny*

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