A Crayola Colortastic Catastrophe

Middle Atlantic States

New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington D.C., New Jersey, and Maryland consist of rolling farmland and woods, ancient, worn-down mountains, wide rivers, and verdant valleys. New York adds the largest city in the country, New York City, and the breathtaking Niagara Falls. Pennsylvania offers the steel center of Pittsburgh and the coal mines of the northeast along with the historic port city of Philadelphia. Delaware is the home of Du Pont chemical company, plus food processing and automobile assembly plants. Washington, D.C., capital of the U.S., displays world-famous monuments, buildings, and too much governmental spending. New Jersey contributes the drab city of Newark, the gambling of Atlantic City, and the New Jersey Turnpike. Maryland includes the polluted Chesapeake Bay and the major seaport city of Baltimore.

Here, in the heartland of Pennslyvania is the Crayola crayon factory and headquarters. A long staple of Easton, PA life; the Crayola corporation has always been one of the driving aspects in the state's longevity ... steel mills aside. The brick building is a strange infusion of functionality meets creativity, the headquarters side functioning as the main office for day to day productivity and meetings, the factory side serving as the birthplace of COLORING FUN! Where the two meet in the middle is where the 'creativity' takes over. The brick ends and gives way to large plexiglass skylights and a glass front. Overhead though, is a large crayola box 'spilling' prop crayons onto the entrance.



On the front yard, a man in a buisness suit is walking around the new hire the company just acquired from their sister corporation ... Utrecht Art Supplies. "So, that's the tour. I understand it's been hard for you the past couple of weeks, what with that run in with those horrible robots." the slick buisnessman states coldly, showing very little emotion at all. "Uhh, yeah. But thank you Mr. Paintum for this opportunity. I just hope to never have a run in with those terrible robots ever again." Mr. Paintum laughs, "Lad, there is hardly anything here worth their time." Alex sighs, yeah ... I hope so.


 * Decepticon Spinny**

F-16 Falcon  is thrusting through the air, twirling around in glee that he hasn't felt in a long cycle. Okay, he's usually always gleeful ... he's just moreso full of glee today than most days. Backfire is gleeful, moving on. <> the simpleton emits, transforming and swaying in the air from side to side. "And this time, I didn't use Mapquest for directions ... because that is for cars Dominatrix, as is Google Maps. We are /jets/, we need not follow any road!" Pulling the jumble of papers from his compartment, Backfire tries to straighten them out as best as possible before offering them out to his 'teammates'. Upon inspection, they'll notice it's the same map ... except with a straight red marker line running from NCC to PA, a red X on Easton.

F-16 to Decepticon, Backfire is here!

F-16 Falcon  is trying not look as if he's deliberately flying ahead of the formation. He dips his wings disdainfully. "Dominatrix, you say? Quite the insult, I think. That's a human thing isn't it?" He doesn't look at the map Backfire offers. "You can just follow me," he says, "I've got the coordinates marked on my HUD." That's the way space robots do things, right? "Are there any Autobots in the area, Backfire?"

F-16 Falcon  watches Backfire's twirling with mild annoyance, just waiting for him to strike a building in his zest. She transforms and takes her share of the papers, still coasting along, "Hnn, yeah, why are we using paper again? You're wasting ink, Backfire!" She pitches forward after Artifice, who appears to know where he's going. "It's an insult. I don't know why he hates me so!" Harrow wails in mock hurt. The faux toppling box finally comes into view. "Aha!"

The dark blue F-16 Falcon Harrow transforms into her robot mode with a swift shift of components.

Backfire grins, "I don't hate you Harrow ... although your bedside manner could use some." he pauses, transforming into F-16 mode. His next word might set her off, better to get a 'running' start before doing so. Rocketing off towards Artifice, the Seeker transmits the last word <>

Cybertronian technology shifts and configures into a F-16!

Below, Mr. Paintum is leading Alex back into the main office and suddenly realizes the new employee is still standing outside. Striding through the glass door, the buisnessman frowns as some Jets are approaching the Crayola factory. "I wasn't aware of any Airforce demonstration today?" Alex is quivering, "No demonstration ... but demons. It's them, those robots!" Running around tearing clumps out of his hair, he makes a beeline for his car in the parking lot while pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. Luckly, his therapist is on speed dial.

F-16 Falcon  accelerates to catch up with Backfire, the target in sight. "Surely this plant has a storehouse," he says, "We should hit that first. There will doubtless be more of these... crayons there. But it may be beneficial to acquire some of the materials used to them. Perhaps a tri-pointed assault would be the most beneficial."

Harrow scoffs after Backfire, but doesn't bother sniping him down; she was quite aware of her poor bedside manner and didn't much care for it. "There's no Autobots here, no defenses, I'm sure we can just walk right on in. Oooh!" she exclaims after spotting Mr. Paintum. "Pewpew!" Idle lasers fire down upon the parking lot. "Alright," she straightens, "Storehouse..."

The denziens of the Crayola factory suddenly go into panic, the outside alarm sounding for what's usually reserved for natural disasters like tornados or hurricanes ... it was never intended to warn them of this unnatural disaster. Mr. Paintum is screaming at the top of his lungs, waving frantic arms around everywhere. "Get Mr. Crayola on the phone, tell him we're under attack! Must be hired mercs from Rose Art ... why can't they accept our colortastic dominance!?!?" Lasers meet cars and structures, explosions sent forth and lighting some on fire.

F-16  arrives on the scene, admiring what little destruction they've put into motion so far. Transforming, the Seeker hovers over the larger portion of the building ... the factory. "Yes dear Artifice, your a smart cur aren't you? This portion holds what we've come for, enough paint for those Constructicons to build a million purple objects!!!" he cackles, set into a fit of laughing. Straightening up shortly, Backfire moves down and rips off a section of the roof. Underneath what workers are left scurry around, afraid for their lives. "Now we've cracked the shell, let's gather the nuts inside!!"

F-16 to Decepticon, Backfire is here!

F-16 Falcon  ignores Backfire's insult and transforms as well, slamming into the ground to pose dramatically before standing and ripping off his own section of roof. He looks down at the fleshlings running for their lives at his feet. "Disgusting bacteria colonies," he sneer, "We've come for your CRAYONS!"

The F16 Fighting Falcon unfolds into Artifice!

Like the apparent demoness Alex thought her to be, Harrow leaps into the storehouse thrusters-first, smiting anyone or anything in her way. It appears Backfire's cackling is contagious, as she ends up laughing as well, absently firing at a huge bin of yellow wax. It spills to the floor, coating the poor saps caught up in it. "No need for complex strategies here, Artifice." She points out several large drums of paint being mixed. "Just purple this time!"

"Yes Mr. Crayola, robot-jets...No, they aren't sporting Prismacolor or Rose Art decals...Yes, I've managed to use your contacts to get through to them...I don't know when they will show sir." Mr. Paintum replies patiently over the phone to his boss, hiding behind a tree. The alarms are still sounding off, the one or two cars that were on fire have set of a chain reaction of explosions, sending noxious black plumes of smoke into the air.

Backfire leans down into the structure, looking around for the purple paint vat. "Negative Harrow, they don't have any purple paint here ... only primary colors." Leaning back out, he looks around and notices Mr. Paintum sitting behind the tree. Tromping over, he picks the terran up by the scruff of his suit. "Pathetic germ, who are you speaking to?"

Artifice pays no mind to the humans. Some of them take up various objects - mops, wrenches, folding chairs - and try to bring him down by wacking him in the shins. This, of course, has little effect. He reaches into the building he's ripped open. "Indeed... no purple. We shall have to mix red and blue." He tries to heft a huge vat of red. "Feel free to help. When you're free. No rush."

Harrow frowns, "Nothing premade? Frag. Very well. Hah, aw, look Artifice!" She points out the humans at his feet. "Isn't that cute! Alright, I've got the blue paint. A sorry shade of blue, I will say." She hefts the vat up, and it sloshes to spatter her face. "NRGHH!"

Backfire peers at the human, squinting one optic. "Meh, such a waste of time really." In a very delicate manner, the Seeker sets Mr. Paintum down. In reality, he'd like to torment the human, brainwash him into his slave. But that would take far too long, and the life expectancy of the germs are so small compared to a cybertronian. Walking back towards the factory, Backfire eyes the tree. "AGAH! The only thing I hate more than germs, is foliage. FOLIAGE!!" Leaning down, the simpleton hefts the tree up from the ground and chucks it towards the parking lot. "Now then, how long will that take Harrow?"

Mr. Paintum remains where he was set, still in shock from being terrorized by that giant robot thing. Finally able to shake himself free from fear's grasp, the buisnessman makes a dash for the parking lot. With any luck, his car will be unscathed and he can drive off and away from all this nonsense.

Artifice laughs a bit as Harrow's faceplate gets splashed with paint. "Come on," he taunts, "save some of that paint for me." He's still struggling with the giant vat, trying to find a good handhold. Finally, he just sets it down. A great wave of red sloshes out, staining the ground. The parking lot no vaguely resembles the scene of a massacre. "Backfire," he says, "We might need one of those trees, actually. Doesn't this stuff need to be mixed?"

The man's car -was- unscathed until a few seconds ago when the vehicle was crushed into so much tinfoil under the passage of a giant steel trainwheel that goes without need of any sort of tracks. Like a giant purple locomotive ninja, Astrotrain has 'snuck' into the parking lot of the facility while the new recruits have been carrying out their dastardly caper! Is he here to check up on them? Maybe to berate them? Maybe to take part as well? Either way the fate of Mr. Paintum's car was nothing perpetrated on purpose, the train rolled over it simply because it was in his way. Not to say he wouldn't have done it for fun if he knew the owner were watching. As such, Astrotrain rises up a moment later with the telltale transformation sound, brushing a bit of dust off of each of his large wings as he peers towards the scene of the crime. "Oi! What's goin on here now!?"

In a chorus of shifting and spinning parts, Astrotrain's body spins and lifts up into his large robot mode.

"We could use some lids!" Harrow sputters, pawing at a helm guard. She scowls at Artifice before answering Backfire, "Shouldn't take too long. Yeah, guess we could mix 'em here, just in case we run out." She hefts a vat of yellow paint out of the building and dumps it out over the parking lot, to use as a mixing bowl of sorts. "Astrotrain, sir," she mutters, tossing him a distracted salute before going back to work.

 Ultra Magnus says, "Autobots, I've just gotten off the emergency contact line with a Mr. Crayola ... it appears a trio of Seekers has shown up in Pennsylvania wreaking havoc. I need a crack team ready to depart ASAP to put a stop to this nonsense."

 Dogfight says, "Color me there, Ultra Magnus."

 Saboteur Foxfire says, "What color is 'there'?"

 Fanfare says, "Ah'm available tae transport any'un there."

 Skydive says, "Acknowledged Commander."

 Dogfight says, "So is this a condition red, or perhaps red-orange?"

 "Consider it condition red, we aren't sure what their motives are yet. Skydive, I want to you lead Dogfight and Fanfare to Easton, PA." Ultra Magnus reports, thinking to himself. Crayola, you owe me big. Next time I submit 'Resolute Red', it better be the new frakin' color! "I want you to move out immediately, sitrep upon arrival.""

 Fanfare says, "Aye aye! Ah'm on me way!"

<Autobot> Dogfight says, "Right, sir. Operation Mauve Rescue is underway!"

<Autobot> Skydive says, "Fanfare, Dogfight, rendez vous at these coordinates. Dogfight, lets keep our Transport safe."

<Autobot> Dogfight says, "Right."

<Autobot> Dogfight says, "So, three flying Autobots vs three Seekers.  This should be entertaining"

<Autobot> Powerglide says, "Flyin' Autobots for life!"

<Autobot> Ultra Magnus says, "Swoop, are you currently active?"

<Autobot> Swoop says, "Me guess so."

<Autobot> Ultra Magnus says, "Meetup with Skydive, Dogfight, and Fanfare in Easton, PA. They've run into a Seeker distraction, and Swoop?"

<Autobot> Swoop says, "Wut?"

<Autobot> Ultra Magnus says, "Try not to level the place this time, please?"

<Autobot> Swoop says, "Uhh...me Swoop not know what you talking about."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire can be heard snickering.

Here at the Crayola crayon factory, three Seekers have turned what once was a peaceful day in Easton Pennsylvania into an utter catastrophe. The parking lot is littered with brunt wreckage of cars, the factory's roof is torn open and the dastardly demonic Decepticons are mixing up a vile vat of purple paint. Who will save Mr. Crayola's life work?

Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines rumbles in behind the jet fighters, going at his max speed (which was their slowest no doubt), his engines whining as the huge not-jet plane rumbles along steadily, carrying extra troops for rescue in his cargo hold as they cruise towards the factory.

An F-16C (Skydive) leads a quad of Autobots onto the scene. They fly in a perfect formation, that only Skydive can create, and close on the target quickly. <Eta 5 minutes Bots, pick up the Cons on your scopes. Let's give them fair warning.> Then over his PA <Decpticons, you are causing a Civil distrubance, cease and withdraw from the area.>

Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet flies alongside the Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with....anyway, Dogfight's flying with, and slightly ahead of, Fanfare, his sensors sweeping the area around the factory as they approach. "Or don't with draw. So I can point your shiny metal keisters into a crayon box."

Robot Pteranodon <Swoop> swoops onto the scene like a heroic beacon of hope. "Never fear! Me Swoop am here!" The Dinobot soars above the collected group of flying Autobots, his beak pointed straight (very aerodynamic). "Uhm, okay, what we doing?" He claps his jaws together. "What 'bout crayons??"

Backfire scratches his chin, "Yes, yes. That will /have/ to do Harrow. Just make haste, who knows what..." he's interrupted by the Autobot's arrival on scene. Whirling around, the Seeker's optics go wide. "Cease and withdraw? Who does this guy think he is. BACKFIRE doesn't cease. BACKFIRE doesn't withdraw. So you see, my options are severly limited in this situation! BACKFIRE.." he starts, then sees Swoop in the bunch. Oh crap, not that pathetic winged rodentbot. Turning around, he rushes back to the factory to grab the vat of blue paint. He waddles it to the parking lot, joining the other two and Astrotrain. "Sir Trainplane, what brings you here?"

"Autobots!" Harrow shouts almost gleefully, setting the large empty vat on the ground to deal with later. "Faux Seekers at that! YES! I want... hmm..." She peruses the selection of flying Autobots as if at a salad bar. There was that damned Dinobot again... some huge black plane, too big; a black-and-white jet, too old, and a Falcon, hot damn! "I WANT THE FALCON!" she yelps, and leaps into the air without orders.

Harrow twists and folds into her F-16 Falcon mode.

Artifice looks up at the incoming Autobots with a sneer. "They just can't leave well enough alone," he says, "Meddling slagrats! I say we space the paint for now, forget about mixing, and take the battle to them." He turns to Astrotrain. "Good to have some muscle on our side." Seeing as Harrow has already gone raging into battle, he points. "Decepticons, ATTACK!" As if Artifice has any command!

Artifice's fuselage flips up. His wings rotate, his arms retract; with a declining, 5-tone sound, Artifice folds himself into F16 mode!

Mr. Paintum is in a state of shock, AGAIN. He made his way out to the parking lot for safety, to get away from those robots. Not only is his car completely crushed, but now the robots are in the PARKING LOT! Hiding behind a burning wreck, the buisnessman tries to straighten his colar and remain calm. Then he hears the Autobot's arriving, and breathes a sigh of relief. Surely this day cannot get any worse. Surely.

Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines rumbles in overhead, circling as well, before slowing enough to dump - errr, DEPLOY the rescue troops to assist now as he banks sharply, wind whistling through his vents as he takes assessment of the situation "Ach! Watch out!"

An F-16C (Skydive) notices the Decepticon scramble and transmits, "Break and attack Autobots, choose your targets," and following his own orders Skydive breaks hard and begins to strafe a still rising Harrow.

Combat: An F-16C (Skydive) misses F-16 Falcon <Harrow> with his Laser attack!

Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet would grin if he were in robot mode. "Roger that." He kicks in his afterburners, zeroing in and aiming straight for Artifice. He opens up with his machine guns as he closes on the Seeker. "I hope you remembered to pick up plenty of brown paint."

Combat: Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet strikes F-16 Falcon <Artifice> with his Machine Gun attack!

Robot Pteranodon <Swoop> falls back from the group and makes a dive towards the parking lot, transforming and landing on his feet. He throws his chest out and stands tall to look more menacing, his fingers clenched into tight fists. "Okay! Who want some!?" His optics scan the vicinity until locking in on Backfire. "HEY YOU!"

With an avian roar, Swoop unfolds into his robot mode.

F-16 Falcon <Harrow> climbs a bit to make a mad dive upon Skydive, hoping to ram his pretty little nose cone in. She evades the shot with a short twist, keeping up the momentum. "Aren't you cute! I like the little lightning bolts. DIE AUTOSCUM!"

Combat: Harrow sets her defense level to Fearless.

Combat: F-16 Falcon <Harrow> misses An F-16C (Skydive) with her Ram attack!

In his zeal, Artifice cannot muster the alacrity to evade Dogfight's attack. He is raked by machine gun fire. "Ach!" He exclaims. "Autobot fliers! You don't belong in the air!" He banks left, does a quick barrel roll (press Z or R twice), and then resituates to take aim at Dogfight. "If I had missiles, you'd have just signed your death warrant! But maybe this will do for now!"

Combat: F-16 Falcon <Artifice> strikes Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet with his GLOBALS OF DOOM (Laser) attack!

Windshear is flying along minding his own business listening to his earth music as usual loud enough to wake the dead. Hes not paying much attention to anything until he flies straight into a fight! What the? He banks out of the way to see whats going on.<<Whats up? AS if I need to ask...>> he radios to the three Seekers.

Pretty boy Windshear transforms into a Cybertronian pyramid/Tetrajet.

Backfire's head swivels around to look at the Dinobot. "Who, me?" he asks, trying his best to look innocent while he mixes up the red and blue paint. Placing the large canister down, he meagerly steps forward and waves a hand in front of Swoop. "I'm not the Seeker you're looking for." Hey, it worked on the human history box ... perhaps he has some of these ancient powers foretold on it? Either way, Backfire attempts to stall the Dinobot for as long as possible. <<Windshear, my favorite of favorites apprentices! Please, aid us in our duites to the EMPIRE!!>> he mutters over the broadband.

"I was hauling off the spent carcasses of your bretheren long before you were even built, you scrapheap." Dogfight transforms in midair then, angling his trajectory to allow him to grab hold of Artifice, hopefully landing on his back. "And I'll be extinguishing Decepticon lasercores long after you've become a glitch in memory."

The wings on the fighter flip up, rotating forward as the tail moves forward, splitting into legs. The cockpit area drops and becomes a chestplate, revealing a head as arms come out of the sides.

Dogfight succeeds in grasping Artifice, throwing him off-balance.

Swoop stompstompstomps towards Backfire, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah, you! Me Swoop am gunna crush you into powder!" Backfire's mind trick, however, seems to have an effect. Swoop stops dead in his tracks and cocks his head to the side, a look of bewilderment on his face. "You not? Then..then who am me looking for?" The Dinobot taps his chin a few times, deep in thought. "Hrr, well, it not matter. Me Swoop crush you anyway!" Swoop moves towards one of the many upturned cars and yanks a tire off of it, lifting high above his head and then tossing it at Backfire.

Combat: Swoop strikes Backfire with his DEATH BY TIRE (Punch) attack!

F-16C <Skydive> tilts his wings slightly as Harrow passes by him harmlessly, "The lightining bolts are placed strategically to achieve a tactical advantage," as a smaller laser on his belly tracks the passing Seeker and fires. "It is good to know that my research on them as not gone to waste."

Combat: F-16C <Skydive> strikes F-16 Falcon <Harrow> with his Disruptor attack!

Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines continues to circle carefully overhead now, his engines puncturing the higher whine of the jets as they flurry and buzz above him like a cloud of bees. Very Angry bees.

Backfire grins, it appears the force is strong in him. But then again, maybe not. The tire hits him in the chest and knocks him backwards, scraping his face along the ground a couple of feet. "ARGH, you glitch." he roars, hands reflexively moving up to his helm. "My face, my face! You've ruined my beautiful and stunningly handsome visage!!!" Getting to his feet, Backfire looks at the paint vats and back to the Dinobot. Decisions, decisions. <<Windshear, if you can occupy Swoop ... it shall give me the chance to mix up the paint, achieving our mission directive!>> The Seeker stumbles towards the paint, keeping a wary optic on the Dinobot.

Combat: Backfire takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

F-16 Falcon <Artifice> is surprised by Dogfight's impressive display of Jet Judo. "Don't be too sure, Autobot," Arti snarls, "You've never fought Artifice before!" He spins a few times before transforming and trying to plant an elbow in Dogfight's faceplate to shake the Autobot off.

The F16 Fighting Falcon unfolds into Artifice!

Combat: Artifice strikes Dogfight with his Back Elbow! (Punch) attack!

Tetrajet <Windshear> gets the comm. from Backfire and quickly spotting the Dinobot dives down toward the mech and opens fire.

Combat: Tetrajet <Windshear> strikes Swoop with his Laser attack!

F-16 Falcon <Harrow> takes the disruptor attack across her fuselage and shrieks, outright offended. "HAVE YOU NO CHIVALRY!" Abruptly fed up with Skydive from a single hit, she banks to dart after the Hercules, apparently trying to antagonize as many Autobots as once. "Hello!" she greets, firing off a laser beam at Fanfare's uncarriage.

Combat: F-16 Falcon <Harrow> strikes Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines with her Laser attack!

Swoop just snorts at Backfire's lamentations. "You face always ugly! Me Swoop make it just little bit better!" He gives himself a moment to laugh but is immediately peppered by Windshear's lasers. "You still alive!? Why you not leave Swoop alone?" The Dinobot transforms and takes to the air, lasers spewing from his open maw.

Swoop turns into a flying dinosaur!

Combat: Robot Pteranodon <Swoop> misses Tetrajet <Windshear> with his Mouth Lasers (Laser) attack!

The laser sears across his belly. No mark was left - for any char matched the chassis' color as the huge vehicle rumbles in irritatin. He starts to bank slowly, showing instead of his belly, his upper back as he swings hard to one side, hoping that the angry decepticon was close enough to get smacked with one giant fifty foot wing.

Combat: Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines strikes F-16 Falcon <Harrow> with his wingsmack (Punch) attack!

F-16C <Skydive> flips and turns to transform and lands on the ground while his gun flashes from subspace. He lands heavily on the ground, certianly leaving imprints and raises his weapon towards the sky. "It is not very wise to turn you back on your primary target Seeker, supporting fire incoming Fanfare!" Skydive closes one optic and fires off a volley at Harrow.

Skydive changes back into his Robot mode.

Combat: Skydive strikes F-16 Falcon <Harrow> with his Nega-Gun attack!

Dogfight em snickers slightly as he lifts his arm, complete with energon shotgun, not at all phazed by the elbow to the face, though he does release Artifice. He uses his jets to push himself back a little ways, before aiming his shotgun, sights down directly at Artifice's face. "Hmmm. A decepticon who knows how to dogfight. I like it." Then he pulls the trigger

Combat: Dogfight strikes Artifice with his Betsy: Energon Shotgun attack!

Backfire picks up a car and rips it in half, using one of the pieces to stir the vat of paint up. <<Harrow, are you sure red and blue make purple? This looks ... strange.>> he barks over the shortwave, leaning down to inspect the color of the liquid. Out of the corner of his optic, he notices that Windshear has managed to catch Swoop's attention. Such a clever one, he will have to remember this in the future ... Perhaps he'll show him his 'Heart of Cybertron' medallion?

Combat: Backfire takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Artifice manages to roll out of the way in time to avoid being shot directly in the face, but Betsy puts a nice black mark on his back and draws a shout of pain. "You'll regret that!" Art wheels around, white flame bursting from his boot-rockets, and aims his Lightning Cannon. "Chew electric death!"

Combat: Artifice strikes Dogfight with his Lightning Cannon attack! [Pulled -1]

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

F-16 Falcon <Harrow>, indeed, gets smacked by a giant wing, tossing her into a violent spin. Before she can recover, a beam from Skydive's gun strikes her own wing, brutally warping armor. She levels out a bit, gliding somewhat lopsided, scowling to the Pits and back. "ALRIGHT CUTIE! If you want attention so badly, you'll get it!" She swoops down to transform midair in front of Skydive, whips out her vibro-scalpel and slashes it at the Aerialbot's neck.

The dark blue F-16 Falcon Harrow transforms into her robot mode with a swift shift of components.

Combat: Harrow misses Skydive with her Vibro-Scalpel attack!

Tetrajet <Windshear> evades the dinobots mouth laser and watches the mech transform and take to the air. "We meet again, Swoop." he rasps, "Hope Im not boring this time around." He lights the pipes and heads straight for the dinobot lasers blasting.

Combat: Windshear sets his defense level to Aggressive.

Combat: Tetrajet <Windshear> misses Robot Pteranodon <Swoop> with his Laser attack!

With a mighty flap of his wings, Swoop pops higher into the air; Windshear's lasers passing underneath him. "You think you a hero? Taking on me Swoop over and over 'gain?" Swoop spreads his jaws and fires out another breath of laserfire. "You just annoying!"

Combat: Robot Pteranodon <Swoop> misses Tetrajet <Windshear> with his Krakow! (Laser) attack!

Skydive watches Harrow switch her attention back to him and pauses for a moment before saying, "You can always withdraw...miss," he adds and for the first time seems to realize that she's a femme. Another pause before ducking quickly and doubling up his fist and aiming for the mid section...

Combat: Skydive misses Harrow with his Smash attack!

Dogfight grunts as he starts to fall backwards, trying to open up the distance between himself and Artifice then, to give himself time to recover from the attack he was just hit by. The damage isn't serious, but the havoc it's creating in him is. He pulls away, though he gives Artifice reason to think twice about following, angling his gun behind him and firing a light blast from it.

Combat: Dogfight strikes Artifice with his Low Powered Shotgun (Laser) attack!

Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines backs off as Harrow switches attention so easily, rumbling distastefully. Systems within him churn and pump, preparing for mid-combat refuelling if need be. page fanfare=!pass is how you pass a turn without an attack, you regain some energon.

Combat: Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

"I dont know about 'hero'." Windshear rumbles as he tilts up on a wing letting the laser blast go right under him. "But Im nuts enough to always take you on. Funny I always live too..." He suddenly goes vertical and levels out looking as if hes going to fly right past the Dinobot but instead he goes into an inverted dive and fires again, hoping to lace the back of the Dinobot with laser holes.

Combat: Tetrajet <Windshear> strikes Robot Pteranodon <Swoop> with his Laser attack!

Harrow leaps aside to avoid a punch to the gut. "Withdraw? DECEPTICONS NEVER WITHDRAW," she expects Backfire to back her up on this one. "Stay still when I try to hit you, JEEZ!" she huffs, and aims another slash across Skydive's middle, between armor hopefully.

<<Hey, how's the paint situation!?>> Harrow comms her current teammates.

Combat: Harrow misses Skydive with her Slice (Punch) attack!

"You not live for long!" Swoop roars, still trying to shoot down the determined seeker. Before he knows it, he's struck in the back by more lasers and it causes him to smoke a little bit. "Hrr! Me Swoop not in mood for this! You Autobots can take care of stuff by you selves!" He flaps his wings and takes off, leaving his comrades to deal with this mess on their own. What a jerk!

Backfire shrugs, the Dominatrix must be far too focused in battle to care on the color of the paint. Reaching into subspace, the Seeker grabs out the containers for the paint ... setting each down on the ground with delicate care. Walking up to the vat, he hefts the container and starts pouring it out into the cube-shaped 'paint-cans'. Glancing skywards, he's quite amused that he has such underlings so readily available to defend him ... even if he is really quite off on that mark. <<Paint is almost complete Harrow, just a minute or two longer of distraction!>>

Combat: Backfire takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Artifice takes a low-power blast from Dogfight's shotgun, which effectively stops his advance on the falling Autobot. But it doesn't do much else, and, though slowed, Art presses his attack. He aims his Sun Ray this time. "You look a little PALE, Autobot!" He takes some time to analyze his opponent before he fires.

Combat: Artifice analyzes Dogfight for weaknesses.

Tetrajet <Windshear> watches the Dinobot turn and leave. Well that was weird. Windy knew it took a lot more than that to damage the Autobot. But whatever. With a mental shrug he turns back and sees the huge black aircraft he fought briefly the other night. He noticed FAnfare before but was asked to take care of the Dinobot so thats what he did. Now though anything was fair game to him as long as it wore the red face. He punches it toward the big flier and fires his lasers at him.

Combat: Tetrajet <Windshear> strikes Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines with his Laser attack!

Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines is struck again, a little smoke coursing over his form as he starts to bank sharply around back towards windshear "Wot, you again?" he rumbles unhappily, bearing down towards the Tetrajet with sudden speed as his JATO rockets pop out, and with a sudden KABOOM he launches forwards at the tetrajet, like a car towards a bug!

Combat: Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines strikes Tetrajet <Windshear> with his *SPLAT* (Ram) attack!

Dogfight transforms back to his jetmode once he has some distance on Artifice, kicking on his afterburner in a tight circle to keep him in range as he drops one of his missiles and fires it at the Seeker. "Sorry, did you say pale? Only because I can't stand the stench of you!" The wings on Dogfight's back flip and move forward as the entire form collapses into a much older model Cybertronian fighter.

Combat: Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet misses Artifice with his Short-Range Missile attack!

Skydive dodges Harrows attack by transforming quickly and afterburning into the sky....hopefully harrow is in the way and will take a quickly accelerated nosecone in her....belly.

Skydive shifts into his F-16 mode.

Combat: F-16C <Skydive> misses Harrow with his Ram attack!

Backfire drops the empty vat and strides over, sealing off each container and tucking them away in subspace. Ahh, nothing quite matches the glee of accomplishing a mission ... especially when he actually functioned the entire time! Looking skyward, he notices that Windshear has scared or bored the Dinobot off, only to get rammed by the flying boat.

"Bah, looks like I must rise to the occasion to rescue these sorry curs!" Both hands clench together, grasping at his abdomen. A faint light grows from inbetween the palms, his hold is loosened as a tiny ball of plasma is heated up and charged. "Comrades, allow me to help you!" he yells out, thrusting the ball forward ... it branching off in an amazing light show towards each Autobot.

Combat: Backfire sets his defense level to Fearless.

Combat: Backfire strikes F-16C <Skydive> with his Solar Flare Area attack!

Combat: That attack has temporarily affected F-16C <Skydive>'s Accuracy. (Blinded)

Combat: Backfire strikes Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet with his Solar Flare Area attack!

Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet's Accuracy. (Blinded)

Combat: Backfire strikes Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines with his Solar Flare Area attack!

Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines's Accuracy. (Blinded)

Tetrajet <Windshear> had no idea that beast could move that fast and before he get his nimble aft clear he somehow gets clobbered. The Tetrajet tumbles back out of control for a few seconds and slowly regains level flight. That smack shook him up a bit and a warning or two flash across his HUD. But since when goes that bother him? The Seeker takes a wide bank back around letting the discomfort of that smack ease up a bit then lines up Fanfare again in his sights and fires.

Combat: Windshear sets his defense level to Guarded.

Combat: Tetrajet <Windshear> misses Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines with his Laser attack!

Artifice strafes left, barely managing to evade the missile attack. "Maybe this will short your olfactory circuits!" This is the best Arti can do by way of a witty comeback just now, having little time to aim and fire his Sun Ray as Dogfight streaks by.

Combat: Artifice strikes Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet with his Stick Your Head in the Microwave and Get Yourself a Tan! attack! [Pulled -1]

Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet's Accuracy. (Blinded)

Harrow manages to dodge the ram, but only just! "Your tactics are proving inadequate!" she jeers, trading out her scalpel for her pistol. <<Oh, er, yes, red and blue should make purple! Right?>> she belatedly answers Backfire's question, not that it seemed to matter now. As Backfire announces his willingness to assist, she shields her optics from the flare, waiting until it subsides before firing an icy beam up at Skydive.

Combat: Harrow misses F-16C <Skydive> with her Ice Pistol attack!

"Of all the slagging useless nonsence. The only way for Con's to win is to slaggin' blind me all to.." Dogfight pulls away then, kicking in his afterburners to put distance between himself and Artifice and the other cons. Yes, he's flying blind, but certain vital sensors still work, anbd he's going to put some distance in.

Combat: Dogfight sets his defense level to Guarded.

F-16C <Skydive> does likewise, he kicks in his afterburners but he goes straight up. Up Up and Away!

Combat: F-16C <Skydive> takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines rumbles as he was hit, somehow blinded. Like the others to pull out, he slows down once his JATO rockets had expended themselves and he starts to lift up as well, to avoid as many obstacles as possible. "Ach."

Combat: Fanfare sets his defense level to Guarded.

Combat: Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Tetrajet <Windshear> sees the bots pull out but cant quite decide if they are retreating or just regrouping. He circles around. <<"So now what?">>

Backfire grins, for once that attack hit. Well, in all fairness it usually always hits ... but this time, it hit the /right/ people. Lifting into the air, the Seeker looks up and up and up, all three Autobots have taken to the higher skies for a momentary reprieve. "Haha, look how the scower before my might Dominatrix!" he laughs, aiming his shoulder mounted laser blasters at the F-16C that's been giving his main squeeze such trouble. "The paint is in tow, allow me to scrap this NUISANCE!!"

Combat: Backfire strikes F-16C <Skydive> with his Shoulder-Mounted LAZORS! (Laser) attack!

Harrow vents a deep sigh, and is suddenly glad Boomslang's not around to witness this. She leaps back into the air, leaving Skydive to coast off a bit as she circles above the smoldering Crayola site. "Hrnn, yeah, cowering," she mutters, internally pouting as Backfire actually lands a hit on the Aerialbot. She joins Windshear and makes sure the other Autobots keep their distance.

Harrow twists and folds into her F-16 Falcon mode.

Combat: F-16 Falcon <Harrow> takes extra time to steady herself. [Pass]

Artifice doesn't want to give Dogfight a chance to regroup, but he wants even less to get stuck in a fight when there's important work to be done. He falls back to Backfire's position, keeping his arm cannons at the ready. "Backfire!" He calls out in his 'listen-to-me-play-leader' voice. "If the paint is in tow, we shouldn't press the attack any further. We have what we came for!"

Combat: Artifice takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Fanfare recovers from the blindness finally, rolling around in midair as he passes low over the factory "Ye must be getting pretty desperate tae steal the vegetable dye fer kids' toys, Decepticons. At'll wash roight off." he notes with a rumble, not attacking but instead moving to land in the parking lot, to begin cleanup. The cheap coloring wasnt' worth lives to him.

Combat: Fanfare sets his defense level to Neutral.

Combat: Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet isn't able to do much this round, and instead circles around once more, blinded and unable to see more than which way is up, and which way is down

F-16C <Skydive> reachs the top of his ascent and like a pretty swan barrels out of it. As he begins to power dive he tracks the laser that hit him in the rear the underside of his fueslage drops a missle and it begins its tracking sequence, "<Let's clear them out Autobots..>"

Combat: F-16C <Skydive> strikes Backfire with his Missile attack!

<<Artifice is right, no reason to hang around, let's scram!" Harrow wingrocks anxiously, and turns to climb out above the airborn Autobots.

Combat: F-16 Falcon <Harrow> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit.

Tetrajet <Windshear> sees bots heading down for clean up and seekers bailing so he cranks up his CD and flies off.

Combat: Tetrajet <Windshear> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit.

Artifice fires a few rounds into the sky, hoping to divide the Autobots and make his escape with his comrades all the easier. "I had to back down," Arti lies, "but I'm much more afraid of Galvatron than I am of these slagworms!"

Combat: Artifice begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from F-16C <Skydive>, Archaic Cybertronian Fighter Jet, F-16 Falcon <Harrow>, Black Bodied CF-130 Super Hercules with Firey Engines, Backfire, and Tetrajet <Windshear>

Backfire laughs at Artifice, "My little anal-lyst, is somebody grumpy they got their fender bent?" It doesn't occur to him that F-16's don't have fenders, nor to check overhead when a friggin' rocket explodes on his face. Launched end over end, he collides with the ground and simply crumbles. "AYAYAYAAYAYAAAAAAA!" A smouldering wreck remains for a few minutes, before trying to stand up to his feet. "Aggh, you poor mech's seeker!" Backfire rages, swinging his fists around.

Catching his reflection in a car's mirror, he notices that Skydive not only trashed his chassis ... but caused further damage to his lovely face. Backfire punches the mirror and jumps into the sky, transforming into jet mode. <<Skydive, you just signed your cease of fuctioning warrant!!>> he broadcasts loud enough, retreating from the area.

Combat: F-16 Falcon <Backfire> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit.