B & O's Railroad

TRANSFORMERS: 2K5 Episode 1918: "B & O's Railroad."

The Trans-Cyber Railway System is getting a serious workout today, as Autobot Supply Ballistic Trains are zooming through the tunnels at speeds that would make Blurr say SLOW DOWN! They zoom this way, that way and every which way they can without so much as a hesitation. Automated Stations and Technologically Enhanced Gryoscopes and such keep everything running as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

"What the bloody hell?!" "Get down!"

Okay, maybe not /that/ smoothly.

Ballistics and Laser fire crowd the inside of one of the Autobot Supply Train Engine Cars that is speeding through the tunnel leading towards the Koriolis Desert. The twin Autobot Engineer Bots, Loco & Motive, have given up on meching the controls and opted for dropping to the floor as their security detail fires back at the Cons that have taken up residence on this particular train car. Shots are fired back but the Cons in Question have managed to cut them down to size.

"Slag! We're toast!" "What would Rodimus do?" "Kick Aft. Take Names. But we ain't Rodimus!" "Right."

Loco reaches out to slam on the HALP US hail button that sends out a hail to Autobot Frequencies with the utmost of coordinate relaying proportions!! It's a good thing too because the moment that train rushes out of the tunnel? Dark Zone.

Story Notes: This particular Dark Zone is created by Cybertronian anomalies within the desert's core resources that hinders the tunnel system's functionality. Also, within that Dark Zone, all radio, communication, satellite, equipment is null and void. This "pocket" of the desert is a complete and utter blind spot on Cybertron, minus Autobot Radar Towers. Apparently, the Autobots have found the only 'signal' that can be read in this blind spot.

Anyway, as the train barrels towards the tunnel opening at a breakneck speed of OH LAWD, those menial Con forces advance upon the gulping duo of Loco and Motive.

"DIE DECEPTISCUM!" "AND QUIT LIVING TOO!"

Oh what brave Autobot Foolhardy Technicians!

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Flipping into a modified F-35B Lightning II, the sky is not the limit. Turning into a police car, Contrail fights crime! Wait, that's not right. Contrail causes crime.

Police Lamborgini Gallardo  is in the desert already, vrooming into position to drive parallel to the train. Driving is lower profile than flying. Also, sometimes she confuses dumb Autobots. When it is time, she'll be ready to strike.

Onslaught, for all intents and purposes, has been here quite a while. The timing of this has to be perfect and he has been testing and checking all sorts of what not to make sure everything works as well as it needs to. Or that nothing doesn't go according to his plans.

He checks his internal chrono and narrows his optics at the tunnel in the distance. "Here she comes." There's a grin on Onslaught's features as he unfolds (and grows) into his epic Battle Station form, creating a spot for himself along the tracks. The tracks that will force the train to slow down from Bullet Status to just Fast As Smelt. He's got some things to do still to prep for this.

"Blast Off! Are you in position? We only have a single shot at this. If you ruin this for me..." Onslaught doesn't dare finish that statement as there is nothing he can say that will illuminate the terror that he will happen upon Blast Off.

Cybertronian Reformatting Sequence Initiated Variable Guise Access Code: 1090 Combaticon Command Center, Brutal Battlestation!

Blast Off finishes adjusting a tarp over a spot in the desert when he receives Onslaught's radio message. He rolls his optics and huffs slightly, then responds, <> So exactly WHY is Blast Off adjusting a tarp over a spot in the desert? *Wouldn't YOU like to know!* Mwahahaha! The Combaticon finishes his task, then flies towards the train. Time for a Wild West style Great Train Robbery. ...Or something like that.

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Playing escort for someone was not exactly Zipline's idea of fun. Escort missions are a pain! The person is always too slow, goes off in random directions or starts a fight. Granted, a fight would break at least some of the monotony of the usual escort mission, but it probably also results in the person doing the escorting getting in trouble. It's just a pain.

So it's a good thing that being assigned escort duty for Talia was nothing like that.

But all good things come to an end eventually. Or maybe the fun's only just beginning when the alert from the Cybertronian bullet train went off. Because while Zipline was supposed to stick with Talia, no one said that she couldn't follow her! And where else would a cowgirl go if there was a train heist?

And what's a cowgirl without a horse?

A blur of yellow and black comes up alongside the track, far behind the bullet train. It's Zipline, running right along the trail, four limbs moving swiftly and precicely to maximize her speed. Her segmented tail trails behind her, twitching and flicking in an attempt to keep herself balanced at high speeds. Is she catching up? Who knows, but one thing's for sure, that cat can run!

And even with a passenger.

"We gotta be almost there! Hold on tight!" Zipline shouts to her passenger, and draws more power from her kenetic generators. "Gonna be a wicked bumpy ride!"

If there is one thing every pilot hates, it's being caught by an emergency when you're away from your craft. Or at least far enough away you can't just jump in and take off. Frankly Talia not being near her aircraft was less of a problem than it could of been, since the Firehawk was on Cybertron at least. And she could radio in to activate the autopilot, give it co-ordinates to fly to, and with no farther communication necessary not even a blank zone would stop it from eventually arriving. But there had not been time to have it come and pick her up first, that would of just slowed down the arrival time at the scene and that would not of been acceptable.

And that was why instead of being with her escort, Talia was -riding- on the cheetah-bot, stradling Zipline's back as if she were an oversized horse. Or one of those mechanical riding bulls. Somewhere between that and a motorcycle was probably the most effective way of thinking about it. Now this was a high speed chase, ponytail flapping about behind her from under her hat. How does that thing even stay on? "Bump away pardner, we gotta giddy up on over there as quick as ya can muster. Yeeehah!"

Decepticons pulling a western style train hijacking? At least she was dressed for the part with her stetson hat, bandana, and boot spurs. Not that she was using the spurs on her current mount. That would just be cruel. As the Autobot shuttle responding to the distress call draws nearer the train, he steps up to the personnel door and glances down. "Is that someone riding Zipline into battle? How...wonderfully throwback." He lets them serve as the diversion (that's bound to work) and waits for the shuttle's pilot to match speeds so he can board one of the rear cars. Time to have a little fun and see what sort of havoc he can wreak from his own vantage point... The shuttle is free to do whatever anyone else needs. It's a good pilot.

Combat: Wraith slips into the shadows and out of sight...

Combat: Zipline sets her defense level to Guarded.

Repugnus is currently mopping the floor in the Autobot shuttle that is even now approaching the supply train! Why? He doesn't say! But he sure as hell isn't flying on his salary. "Watch out for that floor, guys," Repugnus says, swishing his mop about. "Wouldn't want anyone to slip and crack their heads on this critical operation!" The Autobot first responders grumble to themselves over having a maniac like Repugnus on board with them, even though he's the best suited for what could be a close combat op.

Theatrically looking at his "watch", Repugnus shrugs, opens the back hatch of the shuttle, and hops out. "See you on the way down, Wraith!" as he flings himself out, landing on the roof of one of the cars, rolling off onto one car, then the other, then the other, then off the train--SHINK! Oh, wait, he caught himself with a claw just in time! "Just kidding!" he says with a fanged grin as he pulls himself up.

Repugnus twists and flips around into his horrific creature mode!

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The two Bot engineers raise their weapons towards the doors to the engine room, silently considering their last thoughts. Loco flexes his shoulders, his head built to be reminiscent of an old engineer's cap, while Motive's a bit closer to a conductor. "Think we're going to make it out of this?" Motive asks questioningly. The sound of laserfire from inside the train causes him to wince.

His partner sighs softly, "I, for one, intend on surviving this thing."

Silence.

From a few cars down, an explosion is heard inside one of the cars. "Hey..Motive?"

"Yeah?"

"I ever tell you about what I did early war, before we started runnin trains?"

"Nah, mech, you didn't."

KABLAM!

Motive's circuits explode out of his head, as he crumples to the floor. His partner stands over him, his pistol in hand still smoking, "I wish I did...." He looks down at his old partner silently, then idly touches the rubsign on his chest....Decepticon! Loco hefts Motive into his arms, then opens the window. With a grunt of effort, he throws what's left of Motive out the window, where he is promptly sucked under the train, and run over repeatedly until he is scrap. Loco then gets on the short bound radio, <<Okay mechs, let's get it together! Onslaught wants these back cars unattached, I want to see engineers working on those security locks, pronto!" He opens up the engine room door, revealing the rest of the Con Engineering Squad.... "We're on a schedule, Time to get to work!"

The Decepticon Engineer Corps have revealed themselves!

Hubcap leaps up to avoid Pug's evil mop. Then the world falls quiet. A communications blackout? The forewarning doesn't prepare for the reality. It's like going deaf...

Police Lamborgini Gallardo  continues zooming along parallel to the training, waiting for it to come into the open. She drives carefully, despite the speeds.

Combat: Police Lamborgini Gallardo  sets her defense level to Protected.

Onslaught is stationary and tossing out orders and information to those that are on the Local Con-mmunication. "Alright. Loco's in place. Cons? Let's go steal us a train."

That command should spur the cons into motion... especially as the bullet train itself comes barreling out of the tunnel and out into the open. The second the train crosses the threshold of the tunnel, communications and hailing and everything else goes black on it. Communications wise, that is.

The train itself, though, also suffers something of a slowing down in its movements. It is still going fast as hell but without the tunnels to THRUST it through with epic speed rails, and the switching to classic and old school tracks, it just seems to kind of coast along at a high aft speed. "There she is. Isn't she beautiful? I want it." Onslaught commands, locally. "Gimmie."

Blast Off makes his way to the train quickly and effortlessly. <> He radios, still quite calm and all down-to-business. Landing atop a train car, he takes one nimble step after another on board the speeding train, his ionic blaster raised and ready for whatever trouble comes his way. The shuttleformer comes up to where some of the Con engineers are working and hops down between the cars to supervise their progress- and keep watch for anyone who might seek to interupt them. He's a sharpshooter and completely confident he can take out anything he aims at. Like the Sundance Kid. All he's missing is the moniker. Not that he'd appreciate anything other than "Blast Off" (full name, no shortcuts) anyway..... Seriously, he just needs a black stetson (maybe a dandy bowler in his case, actually) and a dusty bandana. ___   ___    _____   ___   _   _  | _ )  / _ \  |_   _| / __| | | | | | _ \ | (_) |   | |   \__ \ |_| |_| |___/  \___/    |_|   |___/ (_) (_)

Wraith takes a moment to look the train over before moving towards a control panel. Not a standard panel...no, this would be the sort those engineers might access. Or someone with that knowledge of the internal guts of the train. He looks them over briefly, looking the wire labels over before reaching for a few and rerouting them. If all goes well, in a few moments the power on the train itself should flicker, surge, and then go out. Naturally, critical systems have their own backups, but in usual emergencies, those backup systems also include all kinds of goodies to bring the train to a halt. If nothing else...that should help slower members of the team in getting to the train, and keep it from derailing... That's what the Cons are out to do, right? I'm slowing this bullet down for now, if we need to get it moving again, I'll get it back up and running. Going to antagonize whomever happens to be on this thing." He narrows his optics and hugs the shadows, moving to the next console up and supplying a little self-induced power to get the rudimentary security systems running so he can take a look at who's who in the zoo. <>

Combat: Wraith analyzes Decepticon Engineer Corps for weaknesses.

One of the Decepticon engineers steps into a car holding stacks of supplies. Stepping between them carefully, he sweeps his gun through the car, wary for Autobots. He hears a can dropping somewhere in the car, and rushes over to investigate. The engineer chases the noise into a corner, and squints at the object that made the noise. It's a Mountain Dew can. "Wha--" He has enough time to be surprised at the shadow looming over him before a talon bursts out of his mouth. "DO THE DEW!" Repugnus yells as he wedges his head next to his latest victim's. Then the Monsterbot looks up, hrmmming to himself.

Moments later, another engineer lumbers into the car Blast Off is in, clutching his gut. "He... he... rrrghle--" he gurgles out before falling onto his face. And following right behind him is Repugnus in monster mode, laughing joyfully with his claws upraised! "Hi Blast Off! SLICE to meet you!"

Combat: Bug Creature  sets his defense level to Fearless.

Combat: Bug Creature  strikes Decepticon Engineer Corps with his Ruckus Area attack!

Combat: Bug Creature  strikes Blast Off with his Ruckus Area attack!

What Zipline wouldn't give for a good pair of rocket boosters right about now. But even without, the cheetah tape bot is living up to the species she was built off of. Paws hit the ground in a steady rhythem of thuds and the dull whine of her generator working overtime to take the kenetic energy and pump it back out through her movement systems.

And now that the train has slowed down, the tape with speed on her processor is catching up.

"Heads up, we're diving into a dead zone!" Zipline shouts over the sound of rushing wind, "You're not gonna be getting four bars on anything!" But she doesn't slow down. She catches up to the train, but keeps on running along it, making a beeline for the front of it. "Look for somewhere to get on!" Ahead though, Zipline spots something that doesn't belong. Eyes fall on Contrail, but the cheetah doesn't slow. Instead, she begins analyzing. "We're gonna have company soon!"

Combat: Zipline analyzes Contrail for weaknesses.

Did they just throw someone out and under the train? They might of missed that from the shuttle but it was clear as day on the ground. Damn that's cold and pretty harsh considering how fast that train is going. "Poor sucker," Talia murmurs under her breath. But no time to dwell on that dastardly deed. She frowns a bit more when all the long-range signals go silent in her comm-earpiece. It will be a few yet before the Firehawk gets into range of local shortrange.

She's watching the train for either someplace to get on, or to see exactly who's on it, when Zipline shouts about company. She turns her head a bit to see fancy car also racing up along the train. "Gettin' on might have to wait." Talia grips the ridge around Zipline's neck servos with one hand so she can reach back and unsling her rifle from her back with the other. She's got some experience with shooting from horseback, though that was always just against still targets as part of a compatition. She cradles the stock up under her arm to help try and stablize it one-handed and line up on the incoming car. "Try not to hit any bumps for a moment..."

When she gets the best of shot she thinks she's going to get, she opens fire. Crippling vehicles and vehicle-mode Decepticons is what the Breaker Rifle was designed to do, but this isn't exactly the optimal firing situation.

Combat: Talia McKinley strikes Police Lamborgini Gallardo  with her Long Arm Of The Law attack!

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With Loco and half of the Con Engineer Corps in the half-car behind the engineering station, the Con team gets to work. Perhaps taking a cue from Onslaught himself as several welding torches are heard in the background, Loco lights up a ceegar, takes a half-puff, his eyes looking all squinty. "Blow it."

With that, the entire walls and ceiling of the car are jettisoned, and with the incredible speed of the Bullet Train, it's as if magic.

Secondary Engineers rush through the train itself, intent on...something? A few unfortunates, now in darkened corridors, meet and are impaled by Repugnus almost immediately. The rest however move like clockwork.

Loco's personal team all catch just a little air as they move out, their own speed nowhere as fast, the train roars past them at a blistering pace, as the Engineers grasp ahold of the later cars in the train. <> One of the engineers on the roof of the next to last car has some device jammed into the security array up there, as four others cling to the sides, inputing the unlock codes in tandem. <>

<> comes the unified response as the team starts to crawl forward on the outside of the train towards the next car forwards.

"Keep the Autobots grounded. We don't need more of them getting in our way." Onslaught is watching everything from his stationary plans of being a battle station. There is no reason to involve himself in what is going on, yet. He is more worried about keeping the plan of attack going according to plan. So far, things are running smoothly. "Remember, idiots, this window is small. No mistakes. Unless you want to take them up with me, personally."

Slaught immediately turns his scanners into high mode and he immediately starts with the passing out of critical information that should assist with the retaliation against the Autobots.

"Contrail. Critical information headed your way. Use it wisely. And do try to make a mess of things."

Did You Know? Cheetah-Bots Are Allergic To Death.

Combat: Onslaught analyzes Zipline for weaknesses Contrail can exploit.

One of Contrail's tyres blows out with a *pop*. She spins out, transforms, and takes wing. Onslaught gives her to go to see how many lives a cheetah has, and she attempts to take out the amazing duo that is Talia and Zipline with some weaponsfire!

Flipping into a modified F-35B Lightning II, the sky is not the limit.

Combat: F-35 Lightning II  sets her defense level to Fearless.

Combat: F-35 Lightning II  strikes Zipline with her Full-Auto Area attack! [Pulled -1]

Combat: F-35 Lightning II  strikes Talia McKinley with her Full-Auto Area attack! [Pulled -1]

Blast Off is standing, looking out at the Engineers from the back of the car when one of them comes staggering towards him from the inside. And behind him- Rupugnus! The Combaticon is surprised to see him, trying to step back towards the opening where the two cars are attached but colliding with one of the Engineers working on detaching them instead. It gives the Autobot just enough time to lunge forward and connect with a mean left hook- almost literally! The punch and tripping cause the Combaticon to nearly flip down between the cars and get flattened to a metal pulp under the train. In fact, only his natural agility saves him from that fate. Falling, he grabs hold of some railing *just* in the nick of time, then swings up and onto the front of the car opposite of where Repugnus still is. He opens the door so he can duck inside slightly for some shelter- and distance from Repugnus- while still holding his weapon outside to shoot at the Bot and try to buy the Engineers some time. "I, on the other hand, don't enjoy mingling with thugs...."

Combat: Blast Off sets his defense level to Guarded.

Combat: Blast Off strikes Bug Creature <Repugnus> with his Dew the DON'T attack! [Pulled -2]

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Good News, the Breaker Rifle does exactly what it's suppose to do. Bad News, Contrail turns out to be one of those dang triplechangers and takes wing instead.

Talia ducks down as best she can on Zipline's back to be a low profile target, but it only does so much. Some of the gunfire aimed at Zipline catchs her, and the force is enough to knock her off the feline bot's back. Training kicks in and she rolls with the landing on the ground, making sure she doesn't break any bones as well, until she finally comes to a stop on her back. <<Ah'm okay!>>, she short-range radios the other Bots, particularly Zipline. <<My jacket's lined with kevlar.>> For the moment she just lies there, debating if she should get up. This isn't the same as dealing with those Sharkticons on her feet with just her gun and her wits.

But as luck would have it that's when a shadow decends over her. Not of Contrail coming in to finish the kill thank goodness, but of the Firehawk finally arriving on the scene via auto-pilot. "Well ain't ya a sight for soar eyes." As it hovers close to the ground she grabs a handhold and hoists herself up to climb in, the VTOL lifting back up into the air and auto-pilot shifting to a preprogrammed defensive until she can get up into the cockpit proper.

Combat: Talia McKinley sets her defense level to Guarded.

Talia climbs into the cockpit of her VTOL craft, ready to take to the skies.

Combat: VSC-25 Firehawk <Talia McKinley> takes extra time to steady herself. [Pass]

Wraith frowns inwardly as he watches what is playing out before him through the eyes of the system... "This will not do..." He pulls the plug on his own surveilance and leaves Blast Off to Repugnus. He's got other fish to fry. Literally. Plugging himself into the power grid, he drops the guise of being an outright sneak and transforms so he can get the biggest 'oomph' for out of his capacitors, driving the raw power surge straight into the train's systems directly to give the engineers a nice little feedback jolt. Of course, any competent engineer might figure out it's not the systems being finicky, it's an Autobot messing with them. But he's fine with that... Just as soon as the capacitors spool back up and he can move again.

Combat: Wraith appears from the shadows...

Wraith transforms from a robot into a sleek Lamborghini Aventador in one quiet, fluid motion.

Combat: Sneak Attack!!

Combat: Lamborghini Aventador <Wraith> strikes Decepticon Engineer Corps with his You touched the third rail! attack! [Pulled -1]

Combat: Wraith uses up a charge on his Overheated Capacitor Charge booster pack!

Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Decepticon Engineer Corps's Accuracy. (Blinded)

Bug Creature <Repugnus> takes the shot to his chest mid-quip. "I'm not a thug! I'm a..." He staggers, one optic bulging a bit as he feels his actuators losing power. Coughing sharply, he continues quipping. "...sorry, I'm not a thug! I'm a professional psychopath! And what does a professional psychopath do?!" He bobs about on his legs, as if a dance number is about to start. "Dun dunna dundun dun dunna dundun..."

But surprise! It wasn't going to be a dance number at all, but a spray of sparks from his mouth that he tries to shower Blast Off and any unfortunate engineers in their vicinity.

Combat: Bug Creature <Repugnus> strikes Blast Off with his Spitting Sparks Area attack!

Combat: Bug Creature <Repugnus> strikes Decepticon Engineer Corps with his Spitting Sparks Area attack!

Smooth doesn't exactly describe how riding a cheetah bot is. It's somewhere between a horse and a mechanical bull, and makes for aiming probably a bit difficult. And yet Zipline's passenger manages to take out a tire anyway. Zipline lets out a whoop. "Kickaft, Talia! That ought to... slow... her..." Zip cants her head a little when the car instead transforms into a jet, and takes to the sky. "... Down? Okay, knowing she was a triplechanger would've been nice!"

Their path is clear though, and Zipline hurries up the side of the train, looking for a place for Talia to maneuver over to it. "Pick a spot, partner! I can't maneuver with-"

Weapons fire cracks and dings off of Zipline's armored shell. She stumbles when Contrail finds a soft spot too, making the cat hiss. Or is that her hydrolics? Hard to tell really. It certainly slows her down for a second.

It takes her another second to realize that she's lost her passenger. "Talia!" Zipline jerks her head around, and is about to stop when she hears the human on the radio. Zipline relaxes. <<Whew! Thank primus!>> A pause. <<That was pretty wicked by the way.>>

But now that she doesn't need to worry about her passenger, Zipline turns her attention back to Contrail. "Hey, you! MY TURN!" The cat's railcannon materializes from subspace onto her back, and begins charging. "CATCH!" Electricity crackles across the rails of the cannon, and once the rails of the cannon level on the weak spot Zipline detected earlier, fire a burst of condensed energy at Contrail.

Combat: Zipline sets her defense level to Neutral.

Combat: Zipline misses F-35 Lightning II <Contrail> with her Disruptor attack!

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The Con Engineering team, those on the inside at least who aren't in combat, start kneeling down at the wheelhousings, any clever specters in the area might deduce they're sabotaging the brakelocks! One curses to himself in the darkened train, "Come on...come on!" He starts welding open the housing, then prys it open, the bare wheels of the train making a loud ruckus of its own as he gingerly gets to work to sabotage the brakes when a sudden jolt of electricity lances up into him. He loses his balance, moves to brace himself...against the housing that isn't there and meets a very untimely death as he gets sucked into the wheels. The train doesn't even register a bump.

Meanwhile outside, the rear-most train car squeaks and starts to detach from the rest of the train. Within a matter of moments, it starts to lose precious momentum, the Engineers pay it no mind, already in position on the next car. One unfortunate gets a tag team of electroshock from Wraith's overcharge and then Repugnus sparky breath.

Onslaught's voice is heard over the local radio <<Engage.>> The Combaticon Commander's voice as smooth and pristine as clockwork. Those outside and to the left of the train, like Zipline and Talia, can hear a telltail grind and clickerclack of mechanical gears in motion! Two smooth sinuous lines of metal appear from beneath the sands. Moments later, from behind the train, a rumble and explosion of dirt and sand is launched out of a secondary dune as a second railway car appears...then two more. Sand and dust sweep atop the train's roof like an aura of mist. Several more Decepticons appear atop it, basic gumbies that crouch to avoid being blown away. In the rear of the three car train is an iconic purple and black locomotive that has built up a real head of steam as it pushes the cars ahead of it. <<Huff, Huff, Hey Onslaught, why do I always have to do the grot work? Shove this, fly there, Next time I get to fight and not just be transportation. A mech's got to get a little fun every sweep or ten!>>

The underground tunnel that leads to Retoris is rapidly approaching, by the by. Whatever the Cons are up to, the window is rapidly narrowing!

Blast Off finds himself just... looking at Repugnus in confusion. ....What? What /is/ he *doing*? Is he really going to do some sort of *dance number* here? That just doesn't make any sen-AHHHH! The shuttleformer gets hit by a shower of sparks and he jumps back into the car interior. "Gah!" He starts brushing off sparks everywhere, hotfooting it backwards as he does so. Argh, the paint job touch-ups he'll have to do will be SUCH a bother! Fortunately, though, his heat shields hold up against the attack fairly well. "Alright, fine! Professional psychopath it IS, then! Well..." He lifts up his gun for another blast. "Meet the professional sniper!" He takes a step forward as he shoots, trying to gain the Engineers a little more time.

Combat: Blast Off sets his defense level to Protected.

Once she's in the pilot's seat and straped in Talia switchs over to the Firehawk's short-range comm and messages the present Bots in general. <<McKinley here, Ah'm in my bird now. Gonna sweep the perimeter, make sure there ain't no more surprises sneakin' in while we're in this dead zone.>> Turbines tilt to alter course and the Firehawk buzzes away from the main fight over the train to do just that.

Combat: Blast Off strikes Bug Creature <Repugnus> with his BUG OFF attack!

"Silence. Or Darkmount will have a new Welcome mat. Made of Astroturf." Onslaught no longer needs to stay in battlestation mode, as he unfolds into his dangerous robot form and leaps atop the cars being pushed along by complaining locomotives. He crouches low on the random train cars as they are pushed along and he's grinning with victorious ease. He is really enjoying the way this plan is going as smoothly as possible.

"We are running low on time, Decepticons." Onslaught relays information. "Double." Onslaught raises an optic at the approaching tunnel. "... Triple your efforts. We will not fail."

Cybertronian Reformatting Sequence Initiated Variable Guise Access Code: 74460 Onslaught, Combaticon Commander!

Combat: Onslaught sets his defense level to Guarded.

F-35 Lightning II <Contrail> flies up to evade Zipline, and she decides to give Blast Off some help, transmitting to him that Repugnus's weakness is that robots can't actually drink Mountain Dew. Contrail's *sure* that Blast Off will figure out a way to shoot Repugnus harder, knowing that.

Combat: Contrail analyzes Repugnus for weaknesses Blast Off can exploit.

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Lamborghini Aventador <Wraith> waits until his capacitors reach a decent level for operations and transforms so he can resume prowling through the rail cars. He's moving away from the back, towards the engine, and charging the modules on his arms in anticipation of blasting something. Stepping from one car to the next, he settles his optics on the first engineer he spies and just smiles. "Ticket, please." Not waiting for a response, he raises his arm and unleashes a blast of ionized particles to evict the nonpaying passenger before resuming his casual stroll through the cars, giving the engineers along the way their due. <<It looks like we've got a big shuttle overhead. Is anyone even listening to me, or are you all dead?" He looks up through the broken roof of the train as he reaches the beheaded car and sights a blast Astrotrain's way. "Wow, something uglier than Blast Off. I'm impressed."

Wraith transforms seamlessly from a Lamborghini Aventador into a more proper form.

Combat: Wraith strikes Decepticon Engineer Corps with his I've had it with these slaggin' mechs on my slaggin' train! attack!

Bug Creature <Repugnus> winces as he takes yet another shot, this time to his knee, making it harder for him to move nimbly. However, he's the sort of guy who would rather stand in front of incoming fire than dodge it, so ultimately it doesn't affect his usual strategy of charging at his opponent, getting into close range, then proceeding to stab him over and over. In fact, he is employing that strategy now, getting ever closer to Blast Off. One brave engineer tries to close in and blast him with a plasma shotgun, but Repugnus is a bit faster, skewering the shotgun with a talon, and then, most likely, the engineer himself.

"One and two, Puggy's coming for you!" Repugnus chants as he stalks down the car. "Three and four, better close your doors! Five and--" He winces at a transmission. "Nnnh. Just when I was getting to the good part!" While continuing his implacable march, he radios back to Wraith, <<Nope, not dead yet, just making sure a bunch of other guys are. You said something about a shuttle? Wow, thanks for the update, I'm inside and had no idea!>>

Combat: Bug Creature <Repugnus> strikes Decepticon Engineer Corps with his Shearing Claws attack!

Zipline scowls a little bit when the jet soars away. "Gonna run, huh?" The end of her railcannon follows Contrail for a brief second as Zipline considers attempting to zap that fly again. But then the sound of grinding metal catches the cheetah's attention.

<<Not just the new shuttle we gotta deal with!>> She transmits, and breaks her lock on contrail. <<More trains to the left of us!>> Zipline hurries her pace, and turns the railcannon on the new set of tracks. <<Oh yeah, and still alive>> She adds, as an after thought. <<I'm gonna slow down these suckers behind us. Gonna try and take out their rail.>>

With all the running she's been doing, Zipline's cannon charges quickly. Then with a couple dull thuds, she fires a quick volley of slugs at the tracks to the left of the bullet train, just ahead of those decepticon cars.

Combat: Zipline sets her defense level to Fearless.

Combat: Zipline strikes Decepticon Engineer Corps with her Experimental Mini-Railcannon attack! [Pulled -3]

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The Decepticon Engineer Corps is under heavy fire, Wraith fires with deadly accuracy, toppling two of the gumbies from the second train. The rest start to fire back, but are mostly ineffective. <<Commander!>> Loco barks from his spot on the roof of the last car, <<We've almost establised mission success, but we are being picked off by Autobot forces! We can't hold much longer!>> It's just him and one other Engineer on the main train now. <<Cadet, the last numbers...FF-2...OR-9...CP-3...and...PP-1. Read me, over.>>

No answer.

<<Engineer, request confirmation!>>

No answer. Loco's mouth becomes a thin line as he evaluates the situation, this job was his, it was his chance to make an impact, and his crew were being torn apart. "B...blasted Autobots, They'll get what's coming to them, I'll see to it." He starts to crawl down to the side of the car.

Loco hangs off the lower side of the car, right next to those dangerous wheels, "Right...right...FF-2....OR-9...." He starts to input the last codes to separate the last car.

<<COMING THROUGH!>> The loud boisterous tone of Astrotrain announces what lies ahead. The two tracks merge shortly ahead.

Loco grimaces from a previous electrical malfunction that scars his side. "C..P 9...."

The two trains roar next to each other, Zipline stuck in the middle and rapidly running out of room, unless she can beat the second train from cutting her off!

Those with Enhanced Senses can catch an odor on the wind. The scent of powerful but not yet armed explosives from the second traincars. It becomes clear now. There'll be no stopping the train once it gets back underground, it'll be too close to Retoris to stop, and with those explosives on board, it'll do quite a number on the transit system. Loco strains, holding onto the undercarriage. The wind whips past him, shearing his eyes with the sheer speed of the wind about him. "O..R....NINE"

And with that the car creaks, and starts to detatch, leaving the strained and out of breath Loco clinging to it with not a moment to spare! The second train cars come up, being pushed by Astrotrain, and shove against the rest of the train, forcing a connection between the two cars. The explosive cars have been connected to the transport train!

Onslaught is not even playing right now. His crouched form is holding his SONIC STUN GUN in one hand. His head is tilted down and his fingers are messing with something atop the train car. "Shhhh. Not while I'm arming." is sent to Loco as he makes with the code entering and soon enough, there's a small light on the top of whatever he's typing on that flicks from red to green.

"Activation complete. Decepticons? Prepare to make a dramatically appropriate exit." Onslaught makes a tremendous leap from his perch on the explosive car and drops down into the sand, crunching whatever's beneath his foot and standing tall and proud, his SONIC STUN GUN held at the ready. "I'll ensure our victory. No sane Autobot would dare to stand against... ONSLAUGHT!" And that is when his optics narrow on the nearest Autobot and her spotted form, immediately prepping his SONIC STUN GUN for action. He plants his feet and raises the weapon, a sinister grin on his faceplate as he waits with grimpatience.

Combat: Onslaught takes extra time to aim his next attack.

Blast Off, of course, has absolutely zero interest in letting Repugnus get anywhere NEAR him. The Combaticon keeps backing away, gun raised. He doesn't fire as the Engineer gets in his way, but Repugnus takes care of the Engineer quickly enough, unfortunately. And then the chanting starts, and... Oh slag, that again? It was creepy then and it's creepy now, especially since the shuttle has in fact seen that particular movie (what's he supposed to do during those long months when he was stuck orbiting Earth, anyway?). Ugh, well... at least *Wraith's* not here, too... that would just be cruel and unfair punishment.... Blast Off is almost ready to fire another round when there's a lurching- but from behind, back towards the rearward car, not from in front. He looks back and suddenly sees that the Engineers ultimately managed to detach THAT car instead of this one. Probably due to changing plans, thanks to Autobot interference. Which means... time to get the slag off this train before it explodes with the others. The Combaticon starts backing up even faster now, but takes time to send another shot Repugnus' way as he heads towards the back door- and safety. "So sorry, can't stay and hear the rest of your sorely lacking idea of entertainment... I have a train to miss! Be sure to stick around, though. It'll be a blast, I assure you!"

Combat: Blast Off strikes Bug Creature <Repugnus> with his I've been working on the railroad- All the live-long day. (Laser) attack!

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Bug Creature <Repugnus>, being in monster mode, easily picks up the scent of cheap but potent explosives. "Crap..." he grumbles before switching to local radio. <<Guys! You see Astrotrain chugging along next to us? He's carrying a bazillion explosives in those cars behind him. In him, too, for all I know. So... frag, either kill Astrotrain or something or GTFO before you're blown sky-high!>>

He sneers at Blast Off, almost within stabbing range, then peers out a window outside. At this velocity, and with most of the cars disconnected, he could probably bail out and survive the fall without too many injuries. Speaking of injuries, though--ZOT! Blast Off kneels him right in the Mountain Dew. No really, he does--that laser blast skewered Repugnus's secret stash of Mountain Dew and also created a nice hole in his internals, causing a blast of the fizzy stuff to erupt in his chest and fry some of his circuits. "Fwrrrgh!" he grunts, staggering up. "You can't snipe me forever, Blasty! Sooner or later, I ALWAYS find and gut the sniper!" He then looks at Onslaught, standing there all dramatically. "Let's throw a little chaos in the system!" And so he flings himself out of the train, but... well, Onslaught leapt from the other train cars, and he's stronger, so... Repugnus ultimately flops onto the sands, rolling to a stop just shy of Onslaught's feet. "GOTCHA!" Repugnus cries victoriously from the floor, grabbing at his ankle.

Wraith looks back as the rail cars are joined together with a telltale jolt and frowns. <<Well, this is not good." He climbs his way up to the engine, but it takes all of a quick look to realize there's no stopping the train through conventional means. <<Repugnus, this train is not going to stop, and I believe that is intentional. I may be able to destabilize it on the rails, but there are no guarantees at this point.>> The autobot blasts out one of the Engine's windows and climbs out so he can get a look at the lead wheels and where they connect to the track. Charging one of the spikes typically reserved for draining energon out of hapless Cons, he sights in on the hubs for the main wheels and works to steady his aim. <<This might get messy. Zipline, are you there)]? Would you mind giving me a bit of a hand sighting in on something here? Maglev box, control module, should be located near the main wheel housings)]. I need a good readout of the module's internals to give it a healthy jolt. Act quickly, please.>>

Combat: Repugnus strikes Onslaught with his Got Your Foot attack! [Pulled -3]

Combat: Repugnus (Repugnus) used "Dirty Fighting": A Level 1 MELEE attack.

Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Onslaught's Agility. (Crippled)

Uh-oh, Zipline is running out of room. And fast. With the new cars coming in close, it looks like the little cat-bot is going to end up pancaked between them! WILL SHE MAKE IT IN TIME!?

Just when it looks like she'd get caught in between them well and good, a blur of tawny yellow speeds out from the cars. Zipline pushes her generator hard, pumping all of the energy that it can into her movement systems, her paws hitting the ground in quick succession. Leg joints complain, but she doesn't let that stop her.

<<I'm... here! Still kickin!>> Zipline beams back to Wraith. With her movement systems in overdrive, she begins maneuvering up the train, towards the vampire-bot. <<Right, box. Box, box, box...>> Eyes scan the side of the train, her attention leaving the decepticons entirely. There, the box! Her eyes focus on it, flickering as her internal sensors scan over it. <<Incoming!>> She beams the sensor sweep over to Wraith, even while her own processors are trying to find a weak spot.

Combat: Wraith compares his Technical to 90: Failure :(

Wraith gets the data and charges up the capacitors. <<I'll do what I can. Clear out." He frowns...something seems off, but he can't place it. Too late now... <<For what it is worth, it has been an honor.>> He fires the spike, releasing a rather voluminous EMP in its wake.

<<Catch you on the flip side, bot>> Zipline beams back, then splits away from the train.

Despite Wraith and Zipline's last second teamwork to try to stop this train, it's been hardcoded and reinforced well to avoid exactly this sort of sabotage. It plunges into the tunnel, even as Wraith fries it repeatedly with EMP the train stubbornly pushes onwards towards Retoris. As a wise mech once said, 'There's just no stoppin this train we're on.' and such is the case today. While there might be time to escape for Wraith if he deigned it, Retoris will simply not have enough of a warning to avoid the train depot and its surrounding area from the deadly sabotage that the Combaticons put forth this day...

Blast Off keeps backing away from Repugnus, giving the Bot a scoffing sneer at his comment about "gutting". "You obviously haven't dealt with ME much...", then dodges again- but the big Bug Bot isn't going for him, he heads out of the train and right at Onslaught! The shuttleformer takes the opportunity to get the slag out of there as well, darting to the railing outside the back of the train, and then jumping from the locomotive just as it enters the tunnels again. The "Sunda-I mean Blast Off Kid" touches down gently thanks to anti-gravs, and smirks under his faceplate as he listens to the train rush away....mission accomplished! Now, all he needs to do is ride (fly) off into the sunset.....