Kup's Decepticon Impersonation Training

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "Are they always trying to make the uniforms tight for you? Think they're doing it on purpose?"

Kup is currently programming the scenario. He looks off to the side and two Decepticon holograms appear--well, four, technically. "Hm... Better run a personality check..." He taps a few buttons, activating the Decepticons personalities, then deactivates simulated weapons damage. Then, he turns to the Decepticons, waves his hands at them, and yells, "Oh, no! I forgot my rifle back at base and I am helpless!"

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "I'm starting to wonder. I finally got ONE to fight right.  I can actually walk in it.....slightly."

Silverbolt transforms into his large robot mode.

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "That's not right. You should report the Alameda quartermaster into his superiors."

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "I'm actually kinda hard to fit, Noah."

Silverbolt walks into the Training Chamber just in time to catch the last line of Kup's test. "Haven't you learned to carry a spare yet, Old Man?" The Aerialbot flashes the senior officer his best 'I'm too adorable and form too big of a Gestalt for you to be mad at me' smile, and then continues on into the chamber.

"Your unfitness to live should be self-evident, then," says Shockwave, and immediately starts shooting at Kup with tingly but harmless purple beams of radiation.

Shockwave succeeds in grasping Kup, throwing him off-balance.

Shockwave is highly realistic that way.

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "With military clothes, I'm not surprised."

Red Alert reports for the training. After all, he was singled out for this. He's back in his Decepticon cop car 'costume,' although this time around he's using some scent-free paint Nightbeat dug up (and is discovering that it's not /really/ scent-free, though it's a lot more tolerable). It's actually been rumored that he does a passable Breakdown, but there are times when it's more useful to not try to pretend to be a specific, well known Decepticon - as Whirl demonstrated rather well.

He steps in to watch 'Shockwave' fire at Kup, immediately spins on 'Shockwave', and... relaxes. "Reporting as recommended, Kup."

Picture Minerva from Masterforce. For those who don't know her, she's a little girl medic Autobot, mostly in white and red. Then picture her with red optics, Decepticon symbols, and an ankle monitor around her ankle.

Congratulations. You have now pictured what Nightbeat looks like right now. All of the paint lines are immaculate and flawless - he has paid the utmost attention to fine detail. You just have to wonder *why* he thinks a little girl medic is the pinnacle of evil.

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "Do I have to wear clothes?"

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "That's right, most robots are naked."

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "I would quite like the idea of a little hat..."

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "Or a jacket with far more pockets than I would ever need..."

Kup glances over at Shockwave, then looks down at his chest as it receives... no damage. "Eh, good shot, Shockwave... mighta fried my auxilliary capacitor and done some real damage." Then, casually, he looks up at the Autobots as they begin to enter. "Smart-aft," he growls at Silverbolt. "'Course I got my gun. It's folded up in my passenger compartment! And where's your disguise? Ehhhn, whatever, I'll just reprogram the computer to mistake you for a 'con." Then, he looks at Red Alert. "Good, nice work on the costume, looks kinda convincin'." Finally, he gets to Nightbeat, and his jaw drops a little. "Uhhhh... what?"

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "well.....robots never have to worry about 'modesty' either. they have paint."

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "Or any bits showing."

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "I have lots of bits showing."

Silverbolt reaches behind him and de-maglocks two jet air intakes, moving them to either side of his head and re-maglocking them in place. "I'm a flying Autobot, Kup." He points to his new apendages and smiles, "How much more is needed?"

< EDC > Noah Wolfe snickers.

Fusillade has arrived.

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "Hey Noah?"

< EDC > Dee-Kal is puzzled. "They would not work as well if they were covered up..!"

Nightbeat smacks a fist into his open palm, a decidedly un-Minerva gesture, and he explains to Kup, not bothering to use a female voice, "The 'cons are known for their wicked she-medics. One of those skirts just stole Sideswipe's hands! Besides, who'd *ever* expect to see me lookin' like this?" He brushes his hands down and comments to Silverbolt, frowning, "You're bigger than most Seekers an' your silhouette is all wrong. 'sides, you're a Concorde, and they tend toward military modes. Slag-suckers."

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "I have less bits showing than I did, though."

Kup scowls at Silverbolt for a moment, then, he types something into a datapad. Moments later, Fusillade appears. Like Shockwave, Kup turns on her personality as well, to "check" it.

The sleek bomber rears up, wings collapsing onto hips even as the rear fuselage splits to form arms. The horizontal stabilizer slides up, the forward fuselage folds up accordian style, and Fusillade hops up on thrustered feet.

< EDC > Noah Wolfe chuckles, "Yeah Talazia? I know they wouldn't work well, it's the 'lots of bits' that was the funny part.  Sorry, it's an inside human joke.  You probably wouldn't understand Dee-Kal."

Fusillade slaps away Kup's hand.

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "we still up for dinner?"

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "I know that I miss my wings a bitty."

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "Oh, of course. Forgot all about that."

The Shockwave hologram examines Kup harshly, looks at its own cannon arm, looks back at Kup. "Strange. My surroundings... your uninjured state... I do not remember how I got here. Hypothesis: I am an artificial simulacrum, a fig-" The simulation shuts down and reboots to stop this line of questioning before the Shockwave hologram becomes self-aware. This is a real danger ever since that one time with holo-Starscream. When he reappears he's just standing there looking big and purple and not saying anything.

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "How's those coming with getting fixed up anyway Dee-Kal?"

Several paramaters check out positve as Kup runs through the diagnostics, a hefty bit of personality profiles likely donated by Jetfire's brave interactions with the dark grey and white harridan. Despite the standby mode, the hologram of Fusillade manages to swivel its head around and fix Silverbolt with the same type of expression a lion might have when it sees a zookeeper coming with sirloin for lunch.

< EDC > Dee-Kal ohs and quickly defers. "No-no-no, I am being rude. You are going to go with Miss Tala for a meal..?"

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "After I get cleaned up, yes."

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "Heh, I don't think she wants me looking dirty and smudged in motor oil."

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "And what time are you going to pick her up?"

Silverbolt takes a quick glance over to Nightbeat, optic raised. "Well, that's probably true, now that you mention it. I was going for someone more along the lines of Dreadwind or Darkwing. Or maybe even Octane." He gives a quick shurg then looks back at the holograms, "Besides. I thought we were here to /learn/ about disguises and how to be in them."

Kup blinks at the Fusillade hologram. "Eesh, sassy like the real thing." Then he gives the Shockwave holo a worried look. "WAY too much like the real thing. Still, with him around, this'll be real challengin'." Looking Nightbeat up and down again, Kup raises his brows. "You got a point there. The Decepticons got the most psychotic female medics in the galaxy. It's a universally agreed upon fact." It actually is!

"Ehhmmm..." Kup watches the Fusillade holo for a moment. "Not sure yer disguise is gonna work, Silverbolt. But. Heh. Maybe you could learn sumthin' from this. Everybody ready?"

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff giggles lightly. 'Dee......don't worry about me. I can handle myself."

< EDC > Dee-Kal says, "And are you going to wear cuff-links..?"

You say, "Nah, you were gonna learn how to ACT Decepticon-like. That was the idea. Eh, I can reprogram this thing on the fly if needbe."

The Reflector holograms appear to be in screensaver mode. Which is to say, he's looking every which way. One of the components pauses as the Shockwave hologram reboots, then turns to look at Silverbolt. An interesting line of thought, but not as interesting as the people in paint.

One of them wanders over to look at Red Alert more closely.

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "if he's wearing cuff-links, I'd better shave."

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "I...I don't know. This isn't a formal dinner, right?"

Red Alert is not ready at all! "Yes, Kup," he lies. He looks down, expression wary, as the Reflector component wanders up to him. Truth be told, though, /every/ holo-training session is an excercise in acting. He has to pretend these holo-matter things /smell/ real.

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "I didn't think it was. If it was....I'd have taken a day off to better prepare."

Silverbolt gives a nod, "Sorry Kup. Misunderstood. Still ready to learn though." He watches the screen saver'd version of Reflector that's staring at him. Kinda creepy.

< EDC > Noah Wolfe says, "Neither did I. Ok, just going to pop off for a quick wash up."

< EDC > Talazia Keldahoff says, "I'll shower. See ya soonish, Noah."

Shockwave is displaying his idle animation. It consists of a very slow breathing motion and his hand clenching and relaxing every so often. From time to time he pauses, raises his cannon arm and looks at it, then looks away.

Smokescreen has arrived.

Kup scratches his head. "Eh, don't be sorry, figured you already had disguises 'n crud. But ya know what, I can help with that, too. 'K, this is the scenario. Yer somewhere on an alien planet that the Decepticons have been beating to hell. Yer job is to infiltrate their base camp and retrieve an Autobot spy that the Decepticons captured. Some of the most powerful Decepticons will be in this camp, so fightin' ain't gonna be a great option. But if you do a good job impersonatin' the 'cons, you won't have to fire a shot. A'right... here we go..." He taps a few buttons on his datapad, then...

Kup disappears, and the Autobots find themselves on a world in flames. Ruined cities burn in the background. And off in the distance, is an ad hoc Decepticon camp.

Nightbeat smirks and nods slowly as Kup confirms the awful truth about female Decepticon medics. He then switches to a smoky, sultry female voice that he likely downloaded out of some noir movie, and he changes his body-language to be a bit more fluid, a bit more... predatory. Like he wants to get a scalpel into into someone so very badly. Just a liiiiittle bit of unnecessary surgery? Please? He raises his index finger to his lips, and in that femme fatale voice, he comments, "Oh, I do so hope that I will be allowed to... examine the prisoner. That's always a scream." He giggles.

Smokescreen's form twists and shudders, and mere moments later, the Diversionary Tactician is no longer there, replaced by a red and blue stock car, engine revving.

Red Alert, back in his "Barricade" costume, looks around, scanning the area, then rubs his nose and sighs, muttering, "Fire without smoke is always a little disconcerting." Then Nightbeat begins his... performance and his optics widen. He turns and /looks/ at Nightbeat. "You are /entirely/ too good at that," he observes suspiciously.

Reflector winks out and reappears in the Decepticon camp, reset to fit the new scenario. The three components drift from his assigned posts, swirl around each other briefly, then take up new ones that allow a better field of vision. It isn't a very well-kept watch - one of them keeps darting out to look at bits of ruin and rubble closer, one is writing a report, and the third is cleaning his rifle.

"WHOOOOOOOOOO!"

A jet-black sports car with yellow racing stripes tears up onto the scene, flinging up rocks & gravel with his tires- finally coming to a screeching halt near the other 'Decepticons' in the simulation with all the reckless abandon of a would-be Stunticon! "AAAAAALL-RIGHT! It's GO TIME!"

A pause, and then Not-Smokescreen murmurs, sotto voice- "Er, I'm not too late, am I?"

Kup's disembodied voice growls, "No, Smokescreen, we just started. Ennnh."

A faint 'clank clank' of metal being stacked can be heard along the westernmost parapet, accompanied by a mollified peal of laughter. "Oh you should have seen them scattering! It was fantastic. I didn't even use a third of my napalm stores!" Fusillade's voice booms over the setting as she addresses the mildly disinterested rifle-cleaning Reflector component. She continues examining her inventory, shoving the last of the scribbled on bombs back into her torso.

Shockwave moves among the piles of bodies, X-raying each one with an invisible shaft of radiation emitted from his single eye. Occasionally he finds something interesting in the cyborg animals and cuts it out with a precisely targeted laser beam from his cannon arm and a coroner's disinterested clinical carriage.

Silverbolt stands a bit straighter, a bit more military, his optics narrowing to slits as he gets into 'character'. Looking over at 'Minerva', he growls, "Can it femme, or you're going to see the bright side of a smelting pit." He takes another second and /almost/ breaks a smile before shaking it off and taking a single, timid step forward, pausing, then taking a real march-step towards the camp.

Shockwave hands off each piece of salvaged technology to a Decepticon behind him pushing a wheelbarrow as he extracts it from the enemy casualties.

"We really should mount some cameras on you and your bombs." Reflector looks up at her, studying the interesting and involving process of Fusillade re-arming herself in robot-mode. "So many missed opportunities for propaganda video lost because I can't see through your optics."

Red Alert dives foward, transforming as he does, and tries to mentally shake off his disorientation. "Well, we're not getting anything done out here," he notes, and starts rolling forward, closing the distance between the Mockacons and the camp.

Nightbeat winces, just for a moment - it would take someone watching him extremely carefully to pick it up. No, he's not allowed to clock Red Alert for insinuating what Red Alert is insinuating. Evil medic skirts don't clock people. They slink up, just so, look up with those wide, red optics, and then *bam* - stabbed in the back! He purrs, instead making something different of Black Alert's question, "Oh, of course I am. Maybe if you're an extra-good boy, I'll even let you watch." Then, he pouts over at Silverbolt, flashing said big red optics at him, and he insists, "You talk a big game now, but who is going to be patching up your wounds when you come back from battle, hmm?" He flourishes a hand, pointing back at his chest.

"I... uh- I- wha-?!" he stammers, shocked, then cuts himself off. Then, he attempts a 'tough guy' voice, though he's not particularly good at it. "/Good/ girls ar- ain't what I watch for," he snaps.

Stock Car falls into line with the other Not-acons, and lets out another hellacious "WHOOOo!" as he speeds along. "Aaaaaaallright! Five astroliters says good ol' Peelout can beat the rest of you sucker-chumps to the main camp!" and with that, he lets out a cackle, and speeds along, weaving recklessly back and forth in front of the others.

Some gumby Seekers that have been milling about lazily--killing innocent aliens is exhausting work, you know--look up as the first "Decepticons" approach camp. "Were those guys on the shuttle?" says one. "I dunno. Maybe they came later," says the other, who then sits back against a rock and yawns.

Canting her helm at Reflector, Fusillade grunts a bit as she rotates the tailfins of a low-yeild conventional bomb back inside with a hiss and plop of seals. "Well, it beats -- oof -- having to wait on someone to load up the plane mode. I'm sure we could put feeds on some of them. Although the end is just static, that's kind of anticlimatic." At the sound of approaching engines, Fusillade hnnns to herself. "Sounds like the ground pounders are on their way back. Pshhhew, I hope they remember to wash off before tracking all those organic body parts in."

Shockwave discovers, among the bodies, an alien who seems to have only been disabled. It's an evil-looking man-sized humanoid bat with a cybernetic eye and a hook for a hand. He raises his hook in protest and squeaks something in protest. Shockwave examines him, glancing at his hook-hand thoughtfully. "You will live. Bricktop," he addresses a gumby tank, "put this one on the 'not to kill' pile. It has potential."

EVIL Police Car speeds up to chase after 'Peelout.' "Hey, you! Get back here!" he yells. Then he dampens his hearing a bit to turn on his siren. Surely he's only doing this to get in character, and not because the nearby Nightbeat has even more sensitive hearing than he does!

"No, then we cut to a Fusillade's optic-view of the explosion." Reflector mimes with one of the components not cleaning this rifle what exactly he means. He is undoubtedly not getting across how awesome this is.

Nightbeat, who will be using the female pronoun for the remainder of the scene to prevent confusion, struts towards the camp confidently, as if she owns this place. Never let a Decepticon see fear - they latch onto it like leeches. She tosses her head over her shoulder, and she replies to Black Alert, teasingly, "Then you'd better watch this." She puts a hand on her hip and looks back around, sniffing disdainfully at Peelout's competitive antics. "Boys. Always rushing. Never seeing the benefits of taking it slow." She listens along to the banter in the area, trying to place where the holo-cons are - all the better to avoid them. Sighing, she transforms and follows along after Black Alert and Peelout.

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

Silverbolt continues to march towards the camp, each step revealing an anger that could be acting or could be pent up from the Aerialbot's day to day dealings with playing keeper of the peace. Either way, as he nears the perimeter guards, he slows but doesn't stop, "I'm Blackbolt you over-energized idiot. We have orders from Galvatron and unless you want my report to involve anything but the most cooperation from you, you'll get out of the way and let us get to work."

"AHAHAHA! SUCKEEEEEERS!"

Peelout speeds up to the outskirts of the Decepticon camp- whereupon he promptly transforms and starts making rude gestures at those chumps behind him. "Aw yeah! That's right! Nobody beats Peelout! Unh! Suck on THAT, you astro-chumps!"

He pauses, and then glances back over at the Decepticon encampment, almost as an afterthought. "So when do we get to wreck more stuff up?"

Shockwave sees the benefit of taking it slow. Actually he might just not be capable of running with the way his hips are built. He slowly continues his rounds, glancing only momentarily at Peelout. A gumby's a gumby. "When you or some other equally astute Decepticon finds additional pockets of resistance or when you are retasked. Who is your commanding officer?"

With a changing of parts and that telltale sound, an otherwise Mundane Stock car converts to the Autobot Smokescreen.

The gumby seekers, being only gumbies, leap to their feet and shuffle out of "Blackbolt's" way. They look around stupefied as Peelout just tears in without a care in the world. It seems that they, at least, have bought the disguises completely. "Geeze, crazy Stunticons," one of them mutters.

Shockwave seems to be assuming Peelout is the same sort of thing that the Battlechargers are.

Someone has cloned Wildrider. Get it away.

The Reflector component working on the report edges closer to Fusillade and the component who is in the finishing stages of cleaning his rifle.

EVIL Police Car swerves into a skid, skids into transformation and a stop, then stands up, shutting down his siren and returning his hearing to normal. "I'll beat Peelout if he doesn't shut up," he grumbles, brushing the dust off himself. He stays silent as Shockwave addresses 'Peelout,' but takes the time to glare around the camp. Olafactory sensors are all but useless in a sim, making 'Barricade' feel a bit crippled, but that doesn't mean he should go lax with his other sensors, siren or no siren.

Porsche 959 < Nightbeat > is just going to assume that Smokescreen/Peelout wants to take one for the team and get beaten up as a distraction. That's cool with her. She transforms and slinks over to Shockwave. Feminine wiles won't work on the cyclops, so she settles on greeting him with a flourished salute and introducing, "Lord Shockwave, you can call me Minerva. Just recently reassigned from one of those dreadfully dreary colonies," which makes this story a little more convincing,"I'm a medic and... interrogator. I am to see the prisoner." 'In pieces,' she seems to want to add.

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

< Autobot > Penumbra says, "I better not see anything under a black light..."

At the commotion at the base of the building, Fusillade finally stands, and peers over the ledge. "Huh. Big flyer down there. Looks like he's posturing at the other planes. Might be worth going down to see what they're saying. And I see what you mean about the different points of view, Reflector. I do have space to carry small units, I've ferried Soundwave around before." Shouting down toward the jets, Fusillade says, "EY! Big and shiny! What's your callsign?" As an aside, she growls to Reflector, "Thank Primus, maybe I can get back to Cybertron and let this chump take my place."

< Autobot > Saboteur Foxfire yawns. "D'you need a fox, by any chance?"

"Uuuuh." Peelout-screen says- only to have his attention diverted over at Black Alert. "I'd like to see you try, chump!" he says, glaring over at his compatriot- and then he glances back to Shockwave, almost as an afterthought.

"...She's squad leader." he admits, sullenly. "...But I got the biggest kill count! OH YEAH!" He fistpumps.

< Autobot > Penumbra says, "You're welcome. Just ready to lift off."

"Only if you count non-intelligent rodents," 'Barricade' answers Peelout, his arms crossed.

"What, you don't _want_ to be out here, gloriously smashing things for the good of the Empire?" Sarcasm. Reflector has it. "Do you think I could borrow one of your bombs? There's a Wildrider clone where there really doesn't need to be one..."

"They're dead, aren't they?" Peelout snaps back.

"Very good," replies Shockwave, who doesn't sound impressed in the slightest. "Retrieve your squad leader for me."

Nightbeat straightens, just slightly, and she explains, "I'm the squad leader," and surrounded by bruitish males who just go on and on about kill totals. Bah.

The gumbies start to heckle "Peelout" and "Barricade," shouting things like, "You don't have to take that slag from him!" and, "Smack him in the mouth for that!" and "Fight fight fight!"

Silverbolt looks up at the cat-calling Fusillade and distance-glares. Still, he stands silent while he waits for Nightbeat to do the real talking that doesn't involve random threats and smack talk.

"Name and function," says Shockwave, straightening up from his grisly but (according to his tone of voice) terminally boring work with the casualties and swivelling to face Nightbeat directly. "Brief me, then prepare for new orders."

Nightbeat ... just gave Shockwave her name and function! She looks rather put-out. Stupid hologram! She explains again, "Minerva. Medic and interrogator," because they kind of go hand in hand when one has no medical ethics. She gestures to Silverseeker, Black Alert, and Peelout, and she explains, "Me an' the boys have been reassigned from the colonies. I know they're just itchin for active duty, but I'd really like to see the prisoner here."

"Rrrrrrrrrrrrn, Shockwave's down there RIGHT next to them," Fusillade grumbles. "Well okay, maybe a small one. But you're gonna make me have to sort through all the bigger ones first to get to this thing..." Despite the grousing, she's already got her hands stuffed back inside her chest. As she pulls the Mk 82 out, she catches gaze of Silverbolt and quite pointedly turns her front /away/ from him until after she's done fishing out the weapon. And then, once that's done, she tromps back up to the counter, hops off the edge. She lands in a flume of flame and noise from her heel thrusters. "I guess you haven't gotten caught on the news. Generally when asked for credentials, you provide them. Particularly from a ranking officer. I'll HAVE you know, mister," yes, she's started up the head bobbing and finger-pointing thing, "That I am the Exe---"

The figure flickers, fanged mouth frozen open, as the program stalls in an attempt to find the most recent up to date information on Fusillade's rank and division. There's been a number of changes recently.

Shockwave was probably not paying attention. He tends to get tunnel vision when he's working in X-ray mode. Pun unintended. "Why?" he asks Minerva when she asks to see the prisoner.

Red Alert turns on the gumbies and jabs a finger towards them, shouting, "And I don't have to take nothing from you, either, so, uhm, cram it!" He'd be doing a lot better if he didn't keep forgetting his lines!

The sound of a hard drive grinding can be heard in the background.

Nightbeat raises one finger to the side of her face and replies, "Why, to make him talk, of course... sir." She winks. "You're clearly busy doing an analysis of the local lifeforms. I may as well get him softened up for you, my Lord."

Red Alert straightens, and looks for the source of the noise. He tries sniffing, then shakes his head as that once again proves useless.

Kup's disembodied voice, which none of the actual Decepticons seems to hear, growls, "DAMMIT, there's a glitch. Hold on a sec, I'll fix it." Some of the gumbies start to stare at Fusillade, baffled at her behavior. "NUTS. Gonna program the other Decepticons to, uh, not see her there til I resolve this." There's some typing sounds somewhere. Then, the gumbies look around, confused, as if Fusillade just turned invisible, although she doesn't seem to be. "Where'd she go?"

"Unnngh, this is gonna be a long day," Kup mutters.

Reflector is so selling the clip of Fusillade fishing for that bomb to... someone. He'll think of who when he remembers how long this mission is supposed to last. Yeah.

For now, a Reflector component has a rifle and a small bomb. The two down on the ground below turn to look up at the one with the bomb, then study the new cars. One of him tilts his head as the Earth cop-car disguised one starts looking around. A slight shrug, and he drifts close to that one. "Name and function?"

Silverbolt raises a ridge at the Fusi-ogram. He gives the program a moment to catch up and then shrugs, "I'm Silverseeker, and it's the squad leader's job to report directly to any superiors, so take it up with her." He jabs a thumb in Minerva's direction and continues to glare at the Fusi-ogram. It probably looks strange, but he continues talking to it. "My job is to back her up if she needs it. Think of me as a body guard if you want."

"I doubt that there is anything we need to know from these creatures," says Shockwave, blood dripping from his hand and pooling on the ground beside his foot. "But it will do no harm to check twice. You have four decibreems to work with the prisoners." He turns to regard the 'still alive' pile. "You may have your choice of any one of the giraffe, the koala, and the duck. They are of no great use to us otherwise."

"After the allotted time," continues Shockwave, "you will take your team and investigate the box canyon to the north of here under the oversight of Fusillade or Reflector. There may be some survivors there."

Nightbeat slides her hand down to her hip and coughs, a teeny, tiny little sound. She may have big, strong Silverseeker as her bodyguard, but correcting Shockwave is never anything to do lightly. However, they need to rescue the captive Autobot! So she presses, "Sir, I was thinking the prisoner of the Autobot persuasion. I won't break him, I *promise*." Would she lie? Okay, yes.

Kup's disembodies voice says, "Ok, think I fixed it, Fusilade's in MilOps now, according to recent reports. Guess the Intel guys forgot to update the holo sim on that. Eh, kinda sloppy, but whatever, ain't a *huge* deal. Anyway, gonna start the holo back up with the new data..."

Red Alert is being asked his name. Oh, Primus, what is his name in this get up. "Bl-" 'Black Alert' is too obvious, damn it! "Barricade. Investigator. And what's it to you, shrimp?" he snaps at the Reflector component. He tilts his head and frowns at the orders. If 'Minerva' and talk her way out of this, than four decabreems may be as much time as the rest of them have to find the prisoner, and they're /way/ too much the center of attention.

"OKAY!" Peelout yells in response to the jeering of the other gumbies- at which point he promptly whips out a mean-looking gun of some sort, crackling with electricity- which he turns upon Barricade! "Eat it, suckeeeeeeer!" he says- and fires away! It's quite an impressive light show, really- but it's just a variation on Smokey's electro-scrambler rifle! It doesn't hurt as much as it looks like it should. Really.

Weapon still smoking, he glances up at Shockwave. "Name's Peelout, Road Warrior! OH YEAH!"

"A name. More specific than 'hey, you'." And-

Smokescreen misses Red Alert with his A very painful blasting. No, really attack.

"A name. More specific than 'hey, you'." And-

Reflector's optics flicker at the sudden onslaught of really bright light right in front of him. "fnjao;psf~!"

Kup's disembodied voice growls, "Oh, no, not the Reflector holo, too..."

< Autobot > Nightbeat says, as himself, "Light's a lil' painfully bright for anyone with enhanced optics, Kup."

Shockwave glances around at the smoldering battlefield. "Make me no promises," he commands Nightbeat. "It is a pointless exercise. I will not attempt to extract a promise from you on the grounds that Decepticons are by nature unreliable if not untrustworthy, and furthermore duplicitous and shrewd where-ever they are not wholly incompetent. Instead I will utilize threat: if permanent harm comes to the Autobot by your hand, you will be irradiated into a burned-out husk after the shortest delay convenient to myself upon discovery." He gestures to one of the tents with two guards posted in front of it. "You may proceed."

< Autobot > Smokescreen says, "Whiners!"

< Autobot > Hollywood says, "Yeah! Whiners!"

< Autobot > Hollywood says, "What're we talking about?"

< Autobot > Saboteur Foxfire says, "What are *you* guys talking about?"

A blue screen of death pattern repeats itself over the silhouette of Fusillade, before she continues on, "Yeah well we'll see what you've got when we go up over the edge of the No Return Gorge. And don't think that it'll be easier just 'cause you're FLYING. There's arches and fresh fault lines just waiting to snap you up out of the air." The colors of her normal exterior pour back over her frame as she shifts weight, resting her hand on one hip. "You're actually gonna let her look at him? That means I'm going to have to wait to flatten that canyon," Fusillade directs fractiously in Shockwave's direction.

< Autobot > Kup says, "Runnin' a trainin' op. Ehhhn, I'm having trouble enough with this new fangled holo slag, Nightbeat. Just turn your optics away, or squint, or sumthin'!"

"The timetable remains," adds Shockwave to Fusillade. "She has four decibreems. Prepare whatever of these troops you see fit for the extermination mission."

Silverbolt's optics go wide with Shockwave's threats, his head slowly turning to Nightbeat, though if the shock is make believe or real is again anyone's guess. He rights himself and returns his gaze to Fusillade. "Yeah. Listen. I'm just a medical assistant that was built big. If you've got a whole flatten the valley thing going on, by all means, don't let me stop you."

Nightbeat does indeed have to squint at the flash fo light, and she covers it with a deep bow. She grins like the cat that swallowed the canary, and she purrs, "Oh, thank you, my Lord. You are too generous." She sashays over to the tent with the guards, quickly, but not so quickly that she looks like she's hurrying, gesturing for her rowdy boys to follow her.

Red Alert brings his arms up instinctively and stumbles back as the shot's made - and in the process, thanks to that and a trip over a rock that lands him on his aft, he manages to fall beneath the shot itself. He glares up at 'Peelout,' and grumbles, "/That/ was unecessary." Then 'Minerva' heads for the tent, and he scrambles to his feet. "C'mon," he growls at Smokescreen. Then, as an afterthought, adds, "Idiot."

"FATTIE!" Peelout calls over at Silverbolt- or, well, in Silverbolt's general direction. With Fusi over there, this might not be the best of ideas. Still, as Minerva speaks up, the Road Warrior grumbles, and follows along anyway.

"Dibs on the 'bot's laser core!" he calls out.

Shockwave apparently does not labor under any misconceptions about the qualities of Decepticons. He watches the rowdy Peelout for a moment to see if he's gone out of control, but apparently no, this kind of roughhousing is within acceptable parameters. Shockwave heats his hand to burn off the blood in a sizzle of steam and goes to examine the uninjured. The duck seems to be having some difficulties. Maybe it's asthmatic.

Reflector is apparently not glitching but merely cursing. "Ah, no. Peelout. I'd like to have a few words with you." He reaches out to snag the car by any conveniently grabbable surface.

Reflector succeeds in grasping Smokescreen, throwing him off-balance.

There's a menacing, metallic slither of metal over metal as Fusillade snaps out one wingblade, and points it at BlackSilverseekerbolt's neck. "I don't think you quite understood what Shockwave said. Whomever /I/" She taps her chest briefly with the pommel of her drawn weapon, "See fit. Come with me to the armory. Reflector, looks like you're going to get that side angle that you were suggesting, in addition to that Lancer's-eye-view." Pursing her glossy hematite lips at the catcall, she amends, "OR, you can go stomp on your buddy's head. He DID call you a name, after all. Going to let him challenge you like that?"

The gumbies frown, going, "Awww," as 'Barricade' simply walks away from the fight. The tent containing the Autobot has more competent looking guards, but, at Shockwave's command, they allow 'Minerva' and any of her friends inside. Once inside the tent, there's a beaten-up mini-bot, with scraps of yellow paint on its armor here and there. His arms and legs are missing, and his body is shuddering. He looks like he's in a lot of pain, too. "Huh nn nn nn nn nn..." he chatters through his teeth.

Nightbeat shoots a sharp look over at Peelout and scolds, "If you so much as set a hand on the prisoner, I will yank out your optics and rewire them to come out your muffler exhaust!" And lo, this is why little medic Minerva has a gang of rowdy boys at her command. Minerva drops to the Minibot's side. She doesn't attempt to reassure him yet - because they aren't out of Dodge City yet, and she doesn't want for her cover to be blown. Instead, she looks to see if all sides of the tent are guarded.

Red Alert frowns as he follows Nightbeat, and glances back towards the prisoners. If they're pretending this is real... If they're pretending this is real... then they wouldn't be leaving those alien captives in Decepticon hands any more than they'd be leaving the Autobot captive, would they? He changes direction, and marches right up towards Shockwave. He clears his throat. "Erm. Excuse me! Lord Shockwave. It looks as though you could use some assistance with the aliens."

Smokescreen is grabbed! By his wings! They're only there because someone thought he should be a seeker or something. "Uh, yeah?" he asks, glancing over at Reflector. "Whadda you want, chumpo?" he demands- caught outside of the tent. Curses!

Reflector is in three places at once. The one that isn't with Peelout and isn't sitting on the roof with a rifle and a bomb smiles over at Fusillade. "To what do I owe the pleasure? Shockwave?"

Two guards by the entrance. Not really anyone guarding the other sides, but gumbies wander around the camp at random, occasionally even paying attention to what's going on.

Shockwave is more of a what than a who, some say.

"Yes," agrees Shockwave. "Name and function. Do you have experience with alien life forms?"

"D-d-do your worst," the minibot gasps out. "N-n-never make me talk, you slaggin'--*KAFF KAFF*" The minibot's torso spasms as he coughs up oil. The Decepticons did a real number on the poor guy.

"Well, he did just give you -- us? -- this fine piece of airframe to go on the mission with us," Fusillade responds to Reflector. "So, Silverseeker, pummelling the loud-mouth behind you, or blowing the smelt out of things?"

Reflector smiles at Peelout. "I see you're of the Stunticon mold that think it's fine and dandy to randomly shoot fellow Decepticons. What can I say, whatever keeps you entertained and not bothering me. But you notice that clause? 'Not bothering me.' Right now, I am bothered. If I continue to be bothered by you, Commander Shockwave will find some very interesting photos of you." He smiles. "And if you take a swing at me, I will shoot your head off. So please. Find a way to unbother me."

"Barricade, investigator." Nightbeat gets to play interrigator, Red Alert will play detective. Then he nods. "And yes, some. I was on one of the deep space missions, recently returned." Autobots and Decepticons are /always/ returning from deep space. This is pretty plausable, isn't it?

It's hard to tell if it's Silverbolt's words coming out or if it's his Decepticon persona's, but either way, the large mech pushes the wingblade out of his neck's way puts an arm out in preparation to move Fusillade herself out of his way, "Perhaps you misunderstand what my function is here. You take whoever you want, but leave me out of this." He starts to move when Shockwave asks his name and function. Frack, this is going bad suddenly. Turning to face the Lord of Logic, Silverbolt sighs inwardly. "Silverseeker, medical assistant." He snaps his head back towards the taunting Fusillade, "One without weapons of any type in his aerial form." Back to Shockwave. "Requesting permission to continue with the mission given to me by my squad leader, sir."

Peelout doesn't take getting pushed around so well. "Ha! Do your worst, box-brain! Peelout's not scared of you! Peelout' ot scared of ANYBODY!" a pause, and he glances sidelong at Shockwave. "Well, maybe him." he admits.

Silverbolt realizes that Shockwave wasn't talking to him, and returns to facing Fusillade.

Nightbeat has exceptionally good hearing. In fact, this whole simulation and its fakeness is kind of getting on his nerves. She leans over the Minobot and cooes, "My worst? Wouldn't you rather that I do my best?" She tries to see if he's in any condition to walk on his own or not - probably not. If she can just get one of the other Autobots in here...

The smile on Reflector's face at Peelout's declaration shouldn't be so... happy, should it? Or that full of sharp, bright teeth. "Oh good. I'm going to enjoy watching this."

The Reflector component near Fusillade looks over at Silverseeker. "He has a bit of trouble with 'take whoever you want', doesn't he? But I'm going to need to transform in a little while and arrange some photographs. Do your bombs subspace well, or should I set it off before then?"

The minibot has no arms or legs, so, yes, he's not going to be going anywhere. It's not clear if the limbs were lost in combat, but it wouldn't be terribly unlikely for them to have been lost as a result of previous interrogators ministrations. "W-whatever, I'm not scared of you," the minibot wheezes.

Shockwave was addressing Red Alert more than Silverbolt, thankfully, and basically ignores Silverseeker's response. "Sufficient. I am collecting the surviving cyborgs of the battle. Those which are still easily viable are to be placed in this pile. Those which are not are to be set aside for examination by myself and Hook and the subsequent salvage of any interesting or valuable cybernetic components. If you are experienced with organics you may attend to the viable life forms and see that their condition does not deteriorate, within reasonable limits so far as resources expended per patient is concerned."

Nightbeat reaches out to clamp her hand firmly around the Minibot's mouth or voicebox, if he doesn't have mouth. Then, she reaches up to trace an Autobot symbol over one of her shoulders. If he doesn't get the picture, and fast, she's just going to conk him over the head to knock him out.

The snarl on Fusillade's face at the resistance from Silverseeker fades as he explains why he wants to stay. There's a patently dumbfounded look on her face, and she double-takes over his wings and fuselage areas with something akin to horror, before sliding into bright peals of laughter that deepen into full on guffaws. "No weapons in your plane mode?! Wha- WAHAHHAAHHAH!!" She wraps arms over her midriff. "What kind of sad sack designer makes a Decepticon plane withou-ah ha ha -- without external hardpoints?! Even -OCTANE- can do something in his plane mode! Gwah ha ha! Primus NO WONDER you're so touchy! Well no need to be all sour-pussed about it, let's get you fixed up with some external racks so you can blow things up with the rest of us and not feel left out!" To Reflector, she nods sharply, "They HAVE to, with how I transform!"

Red Alert is /not/ medically experienced with organics, but he's certainly spent enough time around them, whether he wills it or not! What's more, however, is that going along with this keeps him near the prisoners. "Yes, sir, I do have some experience. I'll see what I can do." Mostly, however, he'll listen to see when Nightbeat has managed to get away with the Autobot, and then he'll gather up the prisomers that he can and run for it.

The minibot's optics widen for a moment. For a while, he looks at "Minerva" suspiciously, then, perhaps realizing his limited options, simply nods his head, awaiting whatever fate is in store for him. Can't be worse than staying here...

"Uh... yeah." Silverbolt is dumbfounded at the idea that a Decepticon that is designed as a medic would be laughed at for not having weapons. It's probably one of the differences between them and the Autobots, and quickly serves to reaffirm his desire to remain one of the latter. "Listen, as nice an idea as that is, I'm really just here to help with the prisoner." He takes a step towards the tent, "Oh, and that fattie comment was directed at you. He knows better than to call me names."

Shockwave seems glad to delegate the work, moving off to something more mechanical (examining some of the extracted cybernetic gear) relatively quickly. He clearly has a preference for non-organic things.

Red Alert kneels and inspects the prisoners. While on the one hand, he's trying to pretend that this is real, but on the other hand... this is the point where, if it had been real, Red Alert would be faced with a hard choice. There's not enough of him to save everyone, and he instead is forced to make his best guess over those most likely to survive an escape attempt.

Nightbeat pulls out a set of bungee cords with hooks on the ends and tries to scoop up the Minibot in her arms. She then listens, trying to hear when there won't be any Decepticons out behind the tent - or a minimum, at the very least. When she thinks she hears that opportunity, she attempts to sneak under the back of the tent and make a break for it, still with that strutting, arrogant confidence that would look at home on a catwalk.

Red Alert frowns and looks up as he hears the fall of tent fabric and Nightbeat's modified walk cadence. He works faster to pick out who's most fit to run for it - he won't have much time now.

The Reflector components all turn to look at the tent that should be holding the prisoner as something catches the optic of the one up on the building. "Lord Shockwave-"

The mean-looking bat and the rhinocerous look like they're in good shape. Oh, and also the gorilla.

Sure enough, Nightbeat picked a good time to move. A pair of Decepticon seekers pass each other just up ahead but don't turn to look at the "Decepticon." However, just at the edge of the camp, and right in Nightbeat's path, there is a seeker snoozing against a rock. Apparently Nightbeat didn't hear him because he wasn't making any noise.

"What is it, Reflector?" asks Shockwave, not looking up from the laser harpoon the evil crab (now deceased) had.

Wrong. Answer. Fusillade pulls lips tight, and fixes Silverseeker with a vicious, snapping orange flare of optics. "Does it -really- take that many of you to handle ONE stinking Minicon?!" Her voice ratchets up a few notches in volume and pitch. "If you won't help, then I'll make SURE you stay in the infirmary, since that's where you want to be SO BADLY, insubordinate cuss!" There's a clack-CLACKT of winding up arms, before rotary carriages cough up a medium-ranged air to air missile, and sling-catapaults it at the defiant Silverseeker. Fusillade appears to also be of the fire and forget category, because she stomps away after to go on the mission, heedless of where the warhead actually strikes.

Fusillade strikes Silverbolt with Pucker Up, Prime!.

Nightbeat wishes that Decepticons would, oh, snore or something while recharging so that she could avoid them. She attempts to sneak past him very, very quietly, but she has those hooked bungee cords prepared, just in case.

"HEY. HEY!" Peelout yells. "WE'RE BEING AMBUSHED! LOOK OUT FOR THE KOALAS!" and his shoulder-guns flop up into place- "RIGHT BEHIND YOU, REFLECTOR!" And the Road Warrior fires his shoulder cannons!

It seems his targeting trajectory is off, however. Bizzow!

A sudden BA-WHAMM and rolling fireball distracts Shockwave from what Reflector was about to say. "Secure your ordnance, Fusillade," he says out of the cloud of smoke, loudly, by way of ordering her to settle down. He doesn't use exclamation marks, he just amplifies his voice. "That is highly disruptive behavior from the both of you and I demand that exploding eachother cease immediately."

Smokescreen strikes Reflector with his Electro Scrambler rockets! attack.

The sleeping Decepticon yawns, stretches his arms, then apparently drifts back off to sleep. Then there's an explosion, and his head snaps up. He looks around, wide-opticked. "Wha what?! Huh? What's going on?" he yelps. Then his gaze settles on 'Minerva.' "Hey, what are you doing with the prisoner! Shockwave left strict orders that he is not to leave the tent!"

Red Alert gestures towards the bat, the rhinocerous, and the gorilla, hissing, "C'mon! That's our cue to get out of here!" He does what he can to force them into moving.

"fciusdpof-" The cursing is cut off as all of the Reflector components' optics darken, and he curls up in three small balls of robot. Inexplicably, a clip of Bon Jovi plays. "Shot through the heart, and you're to blame~!"

Blame Blaster.

A sudden firefight breaks out in the Decepticon camp! Fur is flying, literally. It smells terrible because it's also on fire. Shockwave sounds extremely disapproving (as close as he gets to being angry) as he stalks through the smoke and fire and sudden explosions and energy blasts and starts shooting people with microwave beams first and asking questions later after they wake up. "All of you are to cease this roughhousing immediately."

Silverbolt transforms into his Concord SST mode.

Shockwave strikes Smokescreen with Microwave.

Nightbeat considers her options. She could try to jetslag this guard with an excuse about the prisoner being moved or whatever. Instead, she tries to use the hooked bungee cords to secure the Minobot to her back, and she transforms. Did she say something about taking it slow? Forget that. The Porsche guns it, pushing it up to her top speed of 620 mph, hoping to leave the Seeker in the dust.

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

The gorilla eyes Red Alert shrewdly and starts moving suddenly. He seems almost unhurt. Maybe he was faking. He cuts first his own, then the rhinocerous' bonds with a glowing blade of energy that appears out of a piece of cybernetics built into the back of his hand, and helps the rhinocerous to escape with Red Alert. They must be enemies of the bat because no one is helping it even though it's wounded and squeaking indignantly. It sounds kind of like Starscream.

"AUGH!" Peelout tumbles through the air as Shockwave's microwave blast lands home- the 'con lands in a painful looking heap. "Sorry sir!" he says, "It's jus the, uh, Koalas..." he glances around at the flaming camp- and then down to his own black & yellow paintjob...which now is showing a few streaks of Red & Blue around the charred edges.

"...Must've warped the paint with your superhot blasting...stuff." he says, if a bi lamely.

The sleepy seeker jumps to his feet, firing his arm cannons at 'Minerva,' but since he is a gumby his shots go horribly wide. Realizing he can't hit the broadside of Broadside, he yells over to Shockwave, "Sir! The prisoner! That new guy--girl--just left with him!"

Meanwhile, Kup can be heard, somewhere, kicking something metallic. "Dagblasted computer! Why won't ya let me fix the Reflector holo?! Grr..."

And this is why you never turn your back to a Decepticon... even if you ARE a Decepticon. The forgotten missile hits it's mark dead on, and Silverbolt is sent flying through the air from the blast. Landing near the Pile of the Dead, the Aerialbot Commander tries to push himself off the ground but due to the blind-sided attack, he's only able to roll off of it and on to solid ground. He looks around to find his compatriots, noticing that a few more rolls will take him close to Red Alert and his rescue mission. As this is suddenly a secondary mission, it could also be a nice distration to the primary mission. Making the rolls, his final revolution sees him transforming into his Concord SST mode very near the Pile of the Living.

A ramp extends as his hull door opens, "Pile 'em in!" he orders while he himself remains a sitting duck. < This goes between the Sleeping Decepticon and Red Alert gestures. Stupid 'think' before an emit on my part. >

Red Alert grabs the nearest two of the prisoners and pushes them into the Concord. "Come on! Come on!" he shouts, pulling any of the surviving beasts that he can in. If the Gorilla is that active, no doubt he can make it to Silverbolt himself, but with a transport available, maybe the others...

Shockwave's head swivels towards the shouting gumby. He seems to be able to see through the smoke. He rises into the air with a blast of hot wind and transforms to give pursuit to Minerva, emitting a beam of radiation at her as he closes in. "We have been infiltrated. Autobots are in our midst. Lock down the forward operating base perimeter. All personnel are to begin transmitting identify-friend-or-foe codes. Spread out and pursue the escaping Autobots."

Shockwave undergoes a simple transformation, safety seals interlocking as he converts into a giant "laser."

Shockwave strikes Porsche 959 < Nightbeat > with Infrared.

The gorilla dude climbs into Silverbolt's cargo area and helps the rhino guy up after him. The bat limps after both of them as best he can on his own.

Porsche 959 < Nightbeat > takes some seriously severe damage to her sweet little tailgate - her armour is paper-thin in this mode. Such is the price of being an expensive sports car that is absurdly painted as an ambulance! She yelps in pain and exclaims, "That's no way to treat a lady!" She tries to book it for their shuttle.

Reflector flickers and reboots into something non-comatose but sadly lacking the bomb Fusillade gave him. If Reflector-holo remembered he had had it, he would be very sad to no longer do so.

He scowls at the mech who just shot him, makes a quick hand gesture, and darts back away from him. Meanwhile, the one on the roof with the rifle takes aim at Red Alert. Shockwave has the Autobot leader, so it's time for someone to take out the XO.

"Let's speed this up, gang" calls Silverbolt to the now outed Autobots. "And someone give Nightbeat a hand with extraction!" He remains on his makeshift runway as the final stragglers get in.

Reflector misses Red Alert with its Holographic Sniper Shot attack.

Red Alert looks around. Surviving and survivable prisoners loaded up? Check. "Get in the air, Silverbolt!" he shouts as he drops into a transformation and takes off himself. Randomly, he swerves... or perhaps not so randomly, as he managed to evade a shot. Did he hear someone on the roof of a nearby building. "Let's get out of here!"

"I'll get 'im! I'll get 'im!"

and with that, 'Peelout' leaps forwards and transforms to his menacing Datsun mode, and speeds after 'Minerva.' "I've got you, Minerva!" he says, speeding by right underneath Shockwave...and, well- maybe Peelout's engine isn't the best, as he JUST happens to cough out a stream of noxious smoke out of his tailpipe!

Smokescreen's form twists and shudders, and mere moments later, the Diversionary Tactician is no longer there, replaced by a red and blue stock car, engine revving.

Shockwave cruises after Minerva, using the advantage of air travel to keep up with her. On the other hand Minerva has the advantage of ground cover. Shockwave fires again and burns a gnarly-looking purple tree into ash.

"I-I'm Bumblejumper," gasps out the minibot riding on top of 'Minerva.' "In case I don't make it... you gotta hear this... HURK... the Decepticons..." Shockwave blasts 'Minerva,' but Bumblejumper continues the story through the fire and smoke. "They're building a superweapon in space. We've never... dealt with anything like it... it's huge..."

Smokescreen misses Shockwave with his Screen of Smoke attack.

Porsche 959 < Nightbeat > drives like a madwoman, trying to evade Shockwave's blasts. She presses Bumblejumper, "Where in space?" Space is big. He might as well say 'anywhere'. "And just sit tight - we'll get you out of this." The shuttle has to be coming up soon!

Silverbolt lights his thrusters and burns the earth the get to the air. As his wheels fold in, his nose points to the heavens as he says to his passengers "Hold on to yourselves. This is gonna be bumpy."

Shockwave broadens his infrared beam and blasts away the smoke as it appears ahead of him like the sun burning away morning fog. "Another Autobot. I see. Even in this backwater nothing is as simple as a preliminary analysis would suggest." He swivels to dispose of Smokescreen, whose ability to cause trouble is legend, before resuming the pursuit.

Shockwave strikes Stock Car with Microwave.

Reflector shifts his rifle and takes aim at the jet's wings. Because. The other two dart up to high places himselves, reaching for weapons. Now where to hit to keep that jet grounded...? Oh yes.

Reflector strikes Silverbolt with Holographic Sniper Shot.

Bumblejumper gasps out, "It's in the Tau Ceti system. It's a gigantic ship that can suck the energy out of literally anything. If they put it in orbit around Earth... *cough* The entire human civilization would lose power... and then it would even leech out the bioelectricity from the humans themselves... Everyone would die... I... I don't know why they're here, though. Maybe... test subjects..."

Well, he's made. And blasted! Smokescreen takes the shot right in the rear bumper, and he wheels around in a skid- looking quite worse for the wear, at this point- but, he makes the best of it- "Been wanting to try these out-" he murmurs- and his headlights flare up- lenses focusing light & energy into a blast at the Decepti-gun!

"Better hurry up, bumper-buns! I can't hold this guy off for long!"

Smokescreen strikes Shockwave with Headlight Lasers!.

At this point, there's little Red Alert can do to help Silverbolt, or Nightbeat, or... well, anybody, so instead he concentrates on getting to safety, running /through/ any Decepticon that gets in his way if he has to.

Red Alert begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Stock Car, Shockwave, Porsche 959 < Nightbeat >, Silverbolt.

Silverbolt takes a sniper shot to the wing, blasing a nice sized hole into his frame. Thankfully, the concept of lift and speed seem to be lost on Reflector as the plane continues to climb upwards. But there's a new smoke trail coming from Silverbolt, and while it's not keeping him grounded, it sure isn't making his job of leaving any easier.

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

Porsche 959 < Nightbeat > lets out a low whistle. "That's good work. You've done enough, Bumblejumper." Suffered more than enough. Hopefully, they'll get him back in time so that his life isn't forfeit. His holographic, fake life.

Nightbeat begins retreating, leaving itself vulnerable to parting shots from Stock Car, Shockwave, Fire Chief's Car, Silverbolt.

Shockwave, who had gone on ahead, realizes that Smokescreen is not quite as thoroughly blasted as he had thought at a casual examination, when the Bot's headlight lasers pockmark his 'grip.' He swivels back around and returns fire, incidentally giving Nightbeat the moment he needs to zoom away out of sight.

Shockwave strikes Stock Car with Infrared.

Notch another one up for the 'Diversionary Specialist.'

< Autobot > Kup says, "Alright, Smokescreen. All you gotta do now is escape safely and the sim's over."

Call it vindicitiveness. Reflector spares a shot for Pileup'nee'Smokescreen.

Rodimus Prime has arrived.

Reflector strikes Stock Car with Holographic Sniper Shot.

"OW!"

Even for a simulation, they certainly can make getting shot up by Shockwave rather unpleasant. A good part of the black paint peels off of Smokescreen, but he's a-tearing off nonetheless. "Not a problem, Kup!" he yells out into the Ether, breaking the 4th wall a little- but hey, his circuits are a little fried- at least, that's his excuse.

Regardless, even under Shockwave's targeting recticle, the tactician revs his motor even moreso, and off he goes! (in theory).

Smokescreen begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Fire Chief's Car, Silverbolt.

Shockwave winds up his reactor to full power to finish the job and unleashes a death ray blast towards Smokescreen, flash-boiling a small lake as he jinks at JUST the right moment to avoid the beam and escape with his (virtual) skin.

Shockwave winks out as the simulation ends. Curse you, Autobots!

Porsche 959 < Nightbeat > makes it to the shuttle! Aching and broken, she transforms but leaves Bumblejumper strapped to her back. She frantically tries to prep the shuttle for launch.

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

Stock Car speeds on up to the shuttle! He's...fairly battered looking, all and all- but still smiling. "That should do it..." he pants- and then limps over to follow Nightbeat- "Hold still!" he says- and attempts to put his own technical knowhow to good use in fixing the poor sod. Maybe -HE- should've pretended to be the medic?

With a changing of parts and that telltale sound, an otherwise Mundane Stock car converts to the Autobot Smokescreen.

An Autobot shuttle, ramp extended, patiently waits for the infiltrators to return. Standing just outside the ramp, arms folded, and grinning proudly, is... Kup! He waves at all of the trainees. "Hey! you guys did a good job." He glances at Nightbeat as he runs by. "Hey, hold on, it's over," Pulling out his datapad, he begins to type commands to shut the simulation down. The apocalyptic landscape disappears and everyone is back inside the normal training room.

"Great work everyone," Kup says. "Not only did you save the Autobot, you saved some of the indigenous natives, too. And you managed to do it despite bein' up against rowdy, psychotic Decepticons, and that icy git Shockwave, too. Still, I gotta take some points off for a few things..."

EVIL Cop Car makes it to the shuttle via an indirect route. He's back in his Decepticon Disguise from earlier this week, although this time it's complete and doesn't have patches that have been washed away. As he pulls up to the ramp he transforms and turns to listen to Kup as he goes over their performance.

Nightbeat is about to slip the bungee cords off her back to allow Smokescreen to better treat Bumblejumper when Kup point out to her that the simulation is over. Minerva sinks into a slouch immediately, again regaining Nightbeat's mannerisms and voice. He crosses his arms, ready to listen to what Kup has to say.

There's a soft *CRUNCH!* as Smokescreen fiddles with Bumblejumper- and he gives a little dismayed look before hiding the bit of the minibot that came off behind his back. Must not've been THAT important, right?

Regardless, the holo fades, concealing Smokey's mishap forever. Cool! He hmms, and looks over at the grizzled old soldier. "Whatcha got?" he asks, rubbing a little bit of red paint off of his chestplate. Disguise operations? Old hat, really.

Silverbolt transforms in the air and lets gravity do it's job, taking him to conversation distance from the group. "I lose points for getting shot, don't I?" he asks Kup. "Not like you can reason with that femme or anything."

"I'm going to have to have someone look over the holodeck programming, actually," Red Alert notes, nodding to Silverbolt as he rejoins the rest of them. "There were /far/ too many glitches in that simulation." You'd think they were on the Enterprise or something.

Kup frowns at Silverbolt. "Yeah, you got shot. But the problem is, why. You received an order from a Decepticon officer. When Decepticons give orders, they expect 'em followed. And when they aren't, they start whippin' out the artillery, know what I mean? You're lucky she just shot you up a little and moved on to sumthin' more exciting. She coulda killed you, and by 'con standards she'd have every right. What ya shoulda done, is what I did in this kinda situation. I just went along with the 'con officer til he was outta sight of his buddies, then I took him out nice and quiet. Then I simply resumed my mission, and didn't let on anything happened."

Kup glances at Red Alert. "Yeah, well. Could be worse. At least the holograms didn't become self-aware again and try to kill us." There's a flicker of a red and blue mech in the room, then it vanishes. Kup blinks at it, then says, "Uh, right, so..."

Red Alert's head darts up and he /stares/. This is not the sort of thing someone with his alarmest nature needs to see. Mentally, he bumps up the priority of the training room check.

Silverbolt nods, "Understood, Kup." He gives a bit of a shrug, "Guess I'll have to get more down and dirty in the future."

Nightbeat actually agrees with Red Alert about glitches in the simulation, but he isn't about to say so. Instead, he just listens along as Kup expounds upon their failures. There's a tic in his face as the red and blue robot flashes by. Ack!

Smokescreen peers at the Red & Blue robot, crossing his arms across his chest, thinking. "Anything else we can do?" he asks, and keeps at rubbing the black off of his armor plating.

Shockwave has left.

Kup nods. "Also, Nighbeat, you got spotted just as you were leavin' with the prisoner! Yeah, I know, it's a tough scenario, and Decepticons were everywhere. And that damned Reflector can be in three places at once. But see, this is the most important part of the sim. If you don't manage to pull the "package" outta there, then it don't matter how well you do before." He looks to Red Alert. "Eh, you did good rescuing the natives, but don't be so timid. Decepticons weed out anybody they see as weak REAL fast. Trust me on that.

The blue and red robot flickers in and out of existence again, and Kup scowls. "Um good job, and, um... so, let's uh... all quietly move to the exit now..." he says, and begins to walk slowly to the lift."

Nightbeat starts to follow after Kup, and he asks, "How was I supposed to make a getaway without bein' seen? I mean, even if I stuffed Bumblejumper inna bag or something, it would looked weird." Nightbeat genuinely wants an answer. He's old enough that he isn't going to just blow off Kup's advice, the way a turbo-revvin' young punk would.

Red Alert inclines his head. "I'll try to watch out for that in the future, Kup." He frowns at the flickering blue and red robot and follows after the veteran. Right. Top priority on having the training room looked over.

Silverbolt begins to follow the group towards the lift and away from whatever is spooking the paranoids. Obviously, he hasn't seen the mystery red and blue flicker or he'd probably freak out as well.

Kup frowns as he semi-frantically pushes buttons, summoning the lift. "Well, yeah, actually, you coulda done that. It woulda looked weird, but it mighta thrown 'em off just long enough for you to get outta there. Also, you coulda staged a diversion. Like that fight that Shockwave had to break up. 'Cons that are bored love watchin' fights, or gettin' into 'em. Heh, if you can start a base-wide riot, infiltration actually gets a lot easier. Eh, but that ain't important now..."

The lift doors open, and then he tries to grab Nightbeat by the arm and throw him inside. "GET IN THE LIFT RIGHT NOW!" he yells, just as the red and blue robot re-appears... but stays solid this time. It flexes its fingers, staring at them in a "Ah, I'm alive" sort of way. There's no mistaking who it is...

"Where do you Autobots think you're going?" cries Holo-Starscream!

Kup succeeds in grasping Nightbeat, throwing it off-balance.

Nightbeat points out, "You didn't give us any planning time prior to the simulation." Usually, they have at least a minute or two to go over an op, right? He gets yanked and thrown into the lift, just in the nick of time. He cries out as he is thrown, "I knew computers were no good!"

Red Alert dives into the lift, as per Kup's orders. He groans. "/Why/ do we not have an emergancy shut-off switch in here?" Shouldn't the be able to 'kill' Starscream by yanking out a fuse or tripping a circuit breaker?

"Aw crap" says Silverbolt, backing quickly into the lift while making sure his bigger frame is between the rest of the Autobots and the holo-Scream.

"Uh oh." Smokescreen says- and immediately hurries into the lift as well- at which point he attempts to pry open an access panel in order to muck around with whatever wiring he can get to! "Who put this guy in the system?"

Kup dives inside just as Holo-Scream fires very realistic null-rays into the lift.

"Oh, come now!" Holo-Scream screeches. "Don't leave! We've just gotten started!"

The lift door closes as Kup punches a button on the elevator panel, and the lift rises up, energy weapons pattering against the metal.

"Same guy that put the rest of the Decepticons in there, I imagine," Kup growls. "Only they didn't expect that Starscream would be the first one to become self-aware and hack the same damn system we put him in. He's the friggin' reason why we have so many safeguards in the system, but he keeps overriding or working around them every time we put them in. And somehow we can never completely purge him from the system! Smokescreen, can you shut down power to the training room from there?"

"Probably!" Smokescreen says, and flings bits of wiring and other circuitry to the ground as he keeps at it- "Just buy me some time- I think I've got an idea!" and with that, Smokescreen keeps on digging around in the panel- finally letting out an "Aha!" as he finds something of interest.

Nightbeat looks extremely alarmed by what Kup has just said. Okay, so a crazy DepthCharge reworked TAI, and now Kup is telling him that they have a self-aware Starscream in their training room computers? He crosses his arms, making an extremely sour face, and he suggests, "This is when you take an axe to the hardlines and dump the whole system into the local reservoir."

Silverbolt, amazingly, doesn't get shot by the real looking null-rays as he dodges a couple and then the doors close. He reaches back and grabs for his rifle, checking the charge by sound alone as he powers it up and moves it to a ready position, aiming at the door. "Just don't cut the wrong wires and open the doors, Smokescreen."

Kup rubs his head, scowling. "Ehhn. Yer right, Nightbeat. Most of the data's backed up from before this whole mess started, so... yeah. Red Alert, I'm puttin' you in charge of dismantlin' the trainin' room computers, and reinstalling all the systems, this time WITHOUT a killer Starscream hologram, or any hologram at all that can kill us for real!"

Oh, but then Silverbolt had to jinx things. The lift doors open and Starscream appears just outside them! "Well, hello there!" he yells, bringing up twin arm cannons. "So, Autobots--" Holo-Scream grins wickedly. "--which of you should I kill first?"

Red Alert was just about to very reluctantly agree with Nightbeat, when he's given orders to do just that. He nods, then jumps as the door is opened and automatically crouches next to the ledge. "Right away, Kup!" he shouts. "I'll get someone on that as soon as we get out of here!"

Nightbeat got Kup to agree with him! Yes, victory! Also, he got to make more work for Red Alert, and that is also a victory. Then, as Starscream shows his ugly mug, Nightbeat whips out his plasma blaster - a weapon that has no place in Minerva's delicate hand - and he promptly tries to paste holo-Starscream.

Thankfully, Silverbolt already has his rifle trained on the door, and it doesn't take more than a twitch to have it nicely lined up with the holo-Seeker. "Step right up and test your luck, Starscream." With that, his finger joints move into Blurr mode as he squeezes off round after round at the hologram.

"Alright!" Smokescreen says, tapping into some wiring, haphazardly plugging some wires into a datapad, which his fingers fly over for a few moments...and at that point, a red flashing 'ACCESS DENIED!' signal flashes. Uh oh.

"Er-" he stares down the barrel of one of Holo-scream's rifles- and, not wanting to see just how well they work...dials in a few more commands- "Well, THIS should buy us some time..." he says-

And then, on the other side of the room, a voice quite similar to that of Leonard Nimoy can be heard:

"And here I thought I killed you before, Starscream. Haven't you the courtesy to STAY DEAD?"

Holo-Scream winces and looks annoyed as two energy beams bore holes into his chest. However, he just smirks at the Autobots. "Heh. Watch this. I can reboot myself!" Holo-Scream flickers briefly, then he's good as new, free of damage! "Ta-da! Bet you wish you could do that, hm? Well, now I guess I have to choose an Autobot to die for you. Hm, who will it be..." He looks around at his choices, like a kid at a candy store, then, he hears the voice of his killer.

"GALVATRON!" Starscream rages, whirling around. "You... I'll make you pay! NRRRRAHHHHH!" Angrily, Holo-Scream rushes down towards Holo-Galvatron in a direct line, null rays blazing away.

"Phew," Kup gasps out. "Good thinking Smokescreen. Eh, and kudos to the rest of you for keepin' yer cool." The lift finally emerges in the repair bay, where the Autobots ought to be safe from holographic killers. "Geeze. You know what? You guys handled this and that other thing so well, I'll just give you an A+ for the whole deal, how about that?"

Silverbolt transforms into his large robot mode.

Silverbolt slowly lowers his weapon from it's firing position and turns to face Kup after leaving the Turbolift of Doom, "Uh, yeah Kup. Sounds great."

Red Alert heads to the nearest terminal to tap in orders. "Thank you, Kup," he answers, distracted. Then he shakes his head, muttering about cut-out switches and the lack there-of.

"NYYYARGH!" Holo-Galvatron begins to slip into a little Frank Welker, and he soon transforms into cannon mode, so as to atomize Starscream! At which point 'screamer reboots, only to get cannoned again, and...well, it might be along night.

"That SHOULD keep 'em busy." Smokescreen says, fiddling around with the wires a bit more. "Long enough to yank the power, at least."

Nightbeat looks shifty, snaps his fingers, and replies, "It's a deal." The detective then attempts to high-tail it out of here. He wants to scrub off this stupid little girl get-up and get back to being a regular boy in blue.

< Autobot > DepthCharge says, "Oh no, orders. Well, guess I can continue work on my dream projector later. Oh, sorry about the rest cycle images of the giant robo-spiders, Autobot Foxfire."

< Autobot > Saboteur Foxfire says, "I hate you so much..."

Smokescreen trudges up the shaft back to the repair bay.

Smokescreen has left.

< Autobot > Blaster says, "Sorry to him? Sorry to me! Getting clawed on the inside is not key!"