Nuked

New Cybertron Highway  The plasteel surfaces along this equatorial drive are well marked, and the western stretches under Autobot protection are well-lit at night. The blue-white track lighting on the medians is outshone by the brilliant yellow sunshine of the system's two stars during the day. The ambience is cool, reserved, encouraging travelers to neither dally nor speed through. The high retaining walls do much to visually shield against the stale off-road carnage. The brushed nickel lanes are well-groomed, but the charred, irregular ruins of buildings lining either side reflect the ongoing epochs-long conflict between Autobots and Decepticons. As one travels east, the road loses its sheen and more of the nightlights are burnt out and cracked. To the north are the remains of Killarn, irradiated beyond any use by a Decepticon attack. Obvious exits: Fly  leads to Sky above New Cybertron Highway. South  leads to Energon Spring. East  leads to Vestral Overpass. West  leads to Outside Memorial Spaceport.

Redshift has arrived.

Blast Off arrives from the Vestral Overpass to the east. Blast Off has arrived. Blast Off flies through, an ominous vision to any fool in his targetting sights.

Blurr is on patrol! On a planet ruled by Decepticons! This is probably foolish, but Blurr is a little foolish, and besides, he's usually speedy enough to make up for his foolishness. He's faster than most jets, after all! Right now he's rolling across the highway at speeds that make breakneck speeds seem slow, moving just slow enough to avoid being overly noisy in his passage, but no slower, moving fast enough that his passing is little more than a, well, a blur to anyone standing still.

Decepticon sensors have been dispatching strange reports along a stretch of the highway; None have yet sent back any clear images, but the findings are strange enough to warrant investigation. A small red spacecraft has been deployed to check on the strange readings. <> Redshift grumbles, as he streaks overhead to find the source of the issue.

Redshift transforms into his sleek spacecraft mode and takes to the air.

Patrols are a pain in the sprockets regardless of which side you're on. Some just have the benefit of not needing to be on the ground to do so. Or even in what thin atmosphere Cybertron has. And that is just the way Blast Off prefers it, thank you very much.

Of course, that doesn't make it any less boring, watching the metal husk turn several kilometers below, and even the patient sniper shuttle was about to doze off into a defrag cycle when a signal bleeps to life on his viewscreens, stirring him back to full mental functions as both his own sensors and the security arrays at the surface have trouble keeping up with it. Switchs over tactical comm-nets <> ZOOOM!!

Blurr continues to speed along quiet merrily, at least until he reaches the turn off that leads towards Killarn. The thought of the destruction causes him to slow here, contemplative.

Of course, 'slow' and 'contemplative' are relative. It just means that for a moment, he's clearly visible, and then, contemplation complete, he's gone again.

A few seconds of clarity is all Blast Off needs to home in a proper lock on the signal and dropping down to a lower altitude to keep it. <> Hmph. He may be fast and hover, but he's still on the ground as far as the Combaticon is concerned, and that puts him pretty low of the contempt scale. Though for the time being, Blast Off is still just watching from long-range. No need to get his hands dirty when there's plenty of other over eager over aggressive sorts to do that sort of scrapping.

Red Spacecraft  has been flying perpendicular to the lay of the highway, and now as the red spaceship approaches, he banks sharply to begins heading in the direction the apparant 'anomoly' has been traveling. <> Redshift replies, cruising along as the shining ribbon of the highway streaks past below. He has begun to have suspicious that this is no mere blip on the sensors, which Blast Off has now confirmed. With his quarry known, Redshift flips on his afterburners to pursue, knowing he'll need his full speed to catchup with Blurr's velocity.

Blurr is still speeding along the highway. Speed speed speed. At least until he comes along the barren stretch that runs north of the old energon spring. Oh, hey, has that place picked up any? Seized by a sudden bout of curiosity, he veers off and starts heading towards it. Zoom!

(Rather play spotter than do it myself ... upstart will likely need the help of my exceptional skills anyways) Blast Off thinks to himself. The viewscreen reading zooms out to cover more of the sector, a blinking red light marking Blurr as he turns off the main road, and a purple one farther away blipping to life as Redshift comes into range. <>, Blast Off remarks. Caluclations and adjustments wizz across the screen as they're compiled, and the entire packet of data is beamed to Redshift to make sure he makes that crutial first impression. And by impression we mean guns blazing.

Combat: Blast Off takes extra time to assist Red Spacecraft 's next attack.

Red Spacecraft  begins changing course even before he recieves all of the data, heading for the old spring as his sensors process the information. <> Redshift replies, as he barrles down upon the blue blur's position. Bombs rack into place inside Redshift's frame, and as he swoops down upon Blurr, his belly opens up to deliver the deadly explosive payload.

Combat: Red Spacecraft  sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Red Spacecraft  strikes Blurr with his Phosphorous Bombs attack!

Blurr doesn't know what hits him!

Well, at least until he's on FIRE!

"Ow ow ow ow ow where'd that come from I didn't see anything and now I can't see anything and ARGH! I'm burning!" he exclaims, swerving wildly back and forth, trying (uselessly) to shake of the phosphorous flames. Finally he transforms and rolls against the ground, setting /it/ on fire in an attempt to put himself out. His robot mode sensors are not as far out of commission as his vehicle mode, so he manages to spy a red blur passing overhead, but the pain makes his shots even more ineffective than normal as he fires multiple blasts after the Decepticon. "You again why is it always you what'd I'd ever do to you nothing that's what!"

Combat: Blurr misses Red Spacecraft <Redshift> with his Laser attack!

Space Shuttle <Blast Off> contents himself with a quite chuckle overhead as thanks to his help Redshift hits the target dead on without any stray friendly fire. He continues to track both combatants from his lofty view, for the moment is perfectly continue to just watch how things play out.

For the most part. He does start charging up the energy batteries to his weapon systems just in case he needs to pick up the slack here, but it's merely being prepared...

Combat: Space Shuttle <Blast Off> takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

Red Spacecraft <Redshift> banks sharply, and comes around for another run at Blurr. He tilts a wing up and does a tight barrel roll to avoid the incoming lasers from the stricken Autobot, and he cackles madlyas he thunders overhead. "Who were you EXPECTING, Santa Claus? There's a big blue /blur/ on the sensors, they send a RED ONE to go /rub it out/! You want me to stop setting you on fire, then this time, STAY DEAD!" He snaps, firing off his own salvo of laserfire down at the smoldering Autobot.

Combat: Red Spacecraft <Redshift> misses Blurr with his Laser attack!

Blurr dives to the ground and rolls once more, finally succeeding in putting the fire out even while he avoids the laser salvo. He then lifts his weapon and fires once more, this time using a trick that Redshift in particular may be familiar with... he tries to STEAL REDSHIFT'S SPEED! "How about I just slow you down so you can't follow instead since I'm not going to stay dead not for you and not for anyone and I wasn't dead anyway and you were just lucky!"

Combat: Blurr sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Blurr strikes Red Spacecraft <Redshift> with his Electro-Laser attack! Combat: Red Spacecraft <Redshift> has been temporarily incapacitated.

Red Spacecraft <Redshift> was about to try to ram into Blurr and squash him like a bug, but instead his sensors all go haywire, and the red ship begins to drop out of the sky. His engines sputter and die, and the ship smashes into the steely surface of Cybertron. "What did you DO! I'ma gonna mess you up Blurr!"

Space Shuttle <Blast Off> mentally frowns as Redshift manages to already screw up despite the guidance he was given as an opener. Tch. Some Decepticons would jump in at the oppritunity to join the fray and pummel Blurr while he's not looking.

Blast Off, on the other hand, continues to bide his time. Though now it's pretty clear he's going to have to intervien, less this turn out like the fight with Backfire and everyone else being totally ineffective.

His sensors light up again and make a second sweep, this time taking advantage of Blurr likely being more distracted by the obvious foe to take a closer analysis of his form and noting all the weaker points were intense energy bombardment would be able to penetrate the best. At the same time he starts maneuvering into a more offesnive position, lining up the shot as it were....

Combat: Blast Off analyzes Blurr for weaknesses.

Once Redshift crashes down Blurr transforms and speeds right towards them. "Reversed the polarity of your microchips so that they were running in reverse and not forward which shuts them down because they're not meant to work in reverse they're meant to work forward and anyway... so long!" And with that, Blurr speeds past Redshift, unaware that there's more danger lurking in the skies above...

Suddenly, Blurr is a hovercar!

Combat: Blue Hovercar <Blurr> sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Blue Hovercar <Blurr> strikes Red Spacecraft <Redshift> with his Sonic Boom attack!

Space Shuttle <Blast Off> runs the collected data through his targetting computers, putting the final adjustments on his trajectory analysis while watching as the hovercar takes off to sonic boom the downed flier. Just got to wait until the right moment....

Motes of energy briefly swirl around the cannon barrels as they charge to full compacity, and Blurr's high speed motion actually brings him back into range... At the same time Blast Off is lowering himself, until the point that the shuttle is abruptly right there in front of Blurr's view.

In the coldest, deadpan tone possible. "Surprise."

And then he fires, the *FWSHEEEEEEEN* of intense energy being released at Blurr, ni literally head-on so he's going to drive right into it!

Combat: Space Shuttle <Blast Off> strikes Blue Hovercar <Blurr> with his X-Ray Cannons attack! Combat: Blue Hovercar <Blurr> falls to the ground, unconscious.

<Autobot> Blurr's radio glitches a moment, then shuts off.

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Blurr?!"

<Autobot> Jetfire says, "Oh slag, he's not near China is he?" Pauses, likely checking computers. ".. Okay, no, his last signal was from Cybertron... though it still sounded pretty bad."

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "Slag it...and here I am stuck in medical."

Red Spacecraft <Redshift> tries to start his engines again, but all he can do is sputter and whine until a blast of noise washes over him, smashing his canopy and rocking the ship over on it's side. "Get BACK HERE so I can KI- Oh slag. Dammit Blast Off!" He says as the unmistakeble flash of intense energy peirces the sky.

<Autobot> Jetfire mutters. "I'm heading up to Cybertron to find out what the slag is going on. If someone else planetside can find him in the meantime, it'd be much appreciated."

"What! Wait a minute where's you come from oh no oh no!" Blurr /does/ have time to react, even to this. He even has time to swerve. He's even almost out of the way when the blast fires.

Almost

X-rays wash over him, burning the outer paint off, bubbling and crackling them, warping panels, and frying circuitry inside.

Essential circuitry.

It's more than his system can handle, and the feedback from that massive attack knocks him offline at the same moment his hover jets go down.

By the time he crashes into Cybertron, he's no longer conscious.

Gas clouds briefly billow out both sides of the cannons as cooling systems vent spent vapor after handling the massive energy discharge. Once the systems are back out of the red Blast Off transforms.. and just remains hovering there above the ground, arms folding across his chest. Watching the speedster crash and burn from the blast frying his systems is even better than watching Backfire's wreckage in a blast crater, mostly because it was an Autobot this time.

"You were vulnerable. I took him out before he could do worse to you," is all the explaination he bothers making in reply to Redshift's yelling. An Autobot wreck and his job done, that's all he really cares. The shuttle unfolds as its size compresses down to form layers of armor, wings folding up as limbs and a head emerge, and Blast Off now stands hauntily in robot mode.

Red Spacecraft <Redshift> transforms to his robot mode, and while glaring at Blast Off, gives Blurr's corpse a kick for good measure. He mutters something about spoilsports and gloryhogs, while checking the damage to his shattered canopy. "Well. The 'bots are bound to have picked up his transponder by now. Not much reason to stick around, unless you wanted to drag his perforated aft back to base for a trophy."

Blue Hovercar <Blurr> is kicked. :(

The sleek red spacecraft transforms into the winged warrior Redshift.

Blast Off snorts. Trophies? He's got the whole thing visually recorded in his scanners, that's good enough. Trophies are just pointless nitnacks that clutter up the place. "Leave his wreckage here. The Autobots could use a reminder of why they shouldn't be snooping around the surface of -our- planet." Unphased by the glare, for the most part. Though he does snicker a little when Redshift kicks Blurr out of spite.

Redshift grumbles some more, before taking to the air and transforming. "Fine, leave it here, the Autobots are bound to find him sooner or later." He replies, before blasting off and heading back for repairs.

Blast Off transforms without another word and rockets off. His work here is done.

The Combaticon folds up, yet at the same time expands several times in side, extending wings and engines to become a space shuttle.

Blast Off has left.

Slag stomps out to the area when he stomps on something. He looks down and gives a scowl before backing up, grabbing the wrecked hovercar and drags it off someplace.

<Autobot> Slag makes noises as if trying to talk with his mouth full.

<Autobot> Slag continues making mouthful noises, getting louder with a lack of response.

Blue Hovercar <Blurr> is smashed and then dragged off. He's not in a position to protest.

Later on...

Repair Facility

Upon entering through the large doorway, it is noticeable that the Debris Medical Facility is not as nice or as large as Autobot City's or Iahex's. On the far wall are numerous operating tables lined up with various tools used for such procedures. In between the entrance and that wall are medical personnel, either repairing the wounded or patiently awaiting another rush of allies in need of their skills. Several cabinets line the eastern wall for storage, mainly used to contain the small internal components necessary in Cybertronian repair. Overhead is a large scrolling screen with the words: Quiet Please...Quiet Please. On the western wall is a decent sized machine that is actually part of the wall, used to dispense and color any factory standard part a wounded Autobot would require.

Contents: Crate Spare Part Machine Swerve

Obvious exits: Large Doorway <E> leads to Debris Main Lobby.

Jetfire has arrived.

Blue Hovercar <Blurr> has been dragged back to Debris. In Slag's mouth. He's in wretched condition. His hood has been melted and burned, his entire body has been scorched, paint bubbling and peeling, lower levels warped. Oh, and there's a Dinobot footprint in his hood. But the most debiliting damages are not visible, but are in the form of the overloaded, irradiated circuitry within.

Even at faster-than-light speeds it still takes time to travel from one planet to another. Yes, Jetfire took the 'long' way, as it were. Firing up the spacebridge just for himself would of been a waste of energy and possible detection, considering they were trying to keep it low key. But he finally strides into the medbay, handing off his depleted boosterpack to some gumbie to get refilled. "..." Optics only briefly glance over Blurr's wrecked form before Jetfire reachs the side of the table. ".. Good slagging heck they did a number on you." Turns and starts barking instructions to various medics to start gathering things.

Blue Hovercar <Blurr> doesn't respond. :(

<Autobot> Jetfire says, "Is there any idea who Blurr fought? This damage is quite extensive...."

<Autobot> Blurr doesn't answer here, either. :(

Though there is both phospher burns (and residue) and x-ray damage.

Jetfire sighs. "Forget they can't talk back yet," he mumbles to himself, and just removes the mangled hood as a scanning lens slides down over his optics. "Picking up residue amounts of phospherous and high wavelength radiation... must of been Redshift and... hmmm, who else has x-ray weaponry other than Shockwave?" Musing to himself as he digs about, removes several heavily damaged parts, and finally finds one of the primary system relays. "Well no wonder you're offline." Yanks it out, and once one of the Interns brings a replacement puts it back in. "This should get you back online..."

Combat: Jetfire expertly repairs Blue Hovercar <Blurr>'s injuries. Combat: Jetfire is able to repair some of Blue Hovercar <Blurr>'s internal systems damage.

Blue Hovercar <Blurr> doesn't move. He doesn't stir. He's a hovercar with an inoperative hover system, after all! He just groans. A panel on him lights up, flickering. It stays that way for a moment. Finally, in a familiar voice working at an unfamiliar speed, he groans out, "Every centimeter of me hurts!"

Jetfire raises an optic ridge slightly as Blurr speaks slower than normal. Maybe just his timing is off. He puts a hand lightly on the hovercar's hood, careful not to aggrivate any farther damage. "Easy there Blurr. You're make in the base. Someone did quite a number on you." He gets back 'under the hood' as it were. "You should be able to... ah, here we go. There's some shrapnel wedged in your transformation cogs." Retracting one hand and extending a pair of industrial tongs in its place, Jetfire clamps onto the chunk of metal and yanks it out. "There, now you should be able to transform." Meanwhile interns are in the background prepping the assorted parts needed for the rest of repairs.

There's a hesitation, and then, slowly, Blurr starts to transform. It's a pained attempt, as many of his armor plates are warped out of shape, making it difficult, but finnaly, he finishes, and lays carefully back on the table, taking a moment to recover his senses. The moment is a normal lengthed moment. For a normal person.

Meaning it should have counted an eternity to Blurr.

The blue robot frowns and looks up at Jetfire. Then he turns his head to watch the interns working behind him. Then he looks back up at Jetfire and asks, puzzled and in 'normal time,' "When did everyone get so fast?"

Jetfire cocks his head to the side slightly. "No, you're just a bit slow due to the damages you've taken. Most of your internal systems were fried by a high intensity energy wavelength." Or at least he just hopes it's the damaged systems. Once Blurr is in robot mode Jetfire gets back to work, first deactivating the major pain reception systems (or what's left of them) so he can start rooting out assorted damaged components without hurting Blurr farther. "Just who the slag were you fighting?"

"I... a /bit/ slow?" Blurr exclaims. If everyone is moving at his speed, then he's moving at normal speed, and if he's moving at normal speed, he's going unspeakably /slow/. He pauses (yes, pauses) at Jetfire's question. "Redshift. And Blast Off." Then he looks up at Jetfire, expression pleading. "Fix it?"

Normally, he'd be going on and on with variations of 'Fix it', but that's only because normally, Jetfire wouldn't have responded quickly enough to suit him.

Jetfire slaps a palm to his face for a moment. "I knew someone else has x-ray cannons beside Shockwave. How could I forgot.." Or just didn't mention by name. <.< Jetfire shrugs it off and gets back to work, leaning over a bit to get closer to his work as assorted bits of systems and components are pulled out so replacements can be put in. "Good Primus, it's like an overmicrowaved turkey in here... Uh." Jetfire pauses a long moment as he looks up and peers at Blurr. ".. You're not feeling any faster as parts are replaced are you?" he frowns, tone serious.

At Jetfire's question, Blurr's eyes open very wide. "I... well, you're... not getting any slower?" he asks tentively. He doesn't /feel/ any slower than normal. It's just that the rest of the universe has suddenly sped up to his pace, and that by itself is incredibly disorienting.

Jetfire frowns. Its just as disorienting to hear Blurr talking NORMAL. But he's got the focus to get back to work at least. "That's what I was afraid of." He reachs back in with the grippers and after a few tugs pulls out.. a hardened lump of charred... something. "This is.. well, -was-, your power regulator chip. I'm concluding that due to the phospherous already burning partway through your armor, the radiation blast was able to penetrate deep enough to exceed it's temperature limits and reduced it a smolten lump of useless metal. No wonder you passed out so hard."

Blurr stares up at the chip, eyes round. He reaches for it, then groans in pain at the motion and lowers his arm back to the ground. His mouth opens, then closes, then opens again. "H-how long?" Normally, that stutter would be inaudible.

Jetfire drops it in a refuse bin and turns aside to pull one of the medical terminals over and start typing away to bring up parts and material lists. "Fortunately that's the worst of the damages." While he's researching severl of the gumbie interns step in to keep working on Blurr's repairs since they can't handle the 'generic' stuff like common systems and armor. "Every Transformer with a 'special' ability has a chip like that, so it shouldn't be too hard to replace. Yours just manages kinetic energy, to prevent your super speed from ripping you apart in the process. I just need to find the appropriate size and specs an--" Jetfire stops after that, leaning closer to the screen and squinting scrutinizingly. ".... That can't be the correct listing..." A few more keystrokes, and then he smacks a fist on the countertop. This is pretty hard and loud considering the size of his fist. "Slag and a half!"

Blurr jumps. And frowns at how long after the smack against the countertop it takes for him to finish jumping. This is... wrong. It's all wrong. "What? What is it? Tell me, what made you do that?" He /does/ start to speak a bit faster, but it's not Blurr-fast. It's nervous-person-getting-more-nervous fast, the sort that one can run into even at real-time speeds, rather than bullet-time speeds.

Jetfire hangs his head for a moment a vents air slowly, the sort of thing you would expect from a doctor that's got to compose himself for bad news for a patient. Then he gets up and walks back over to Blurr's side to pick up helping with the other repairs. "The good news is that everything else can be replaced, so you'll still be fully function." A momentary pause before he looks right to Blurr, and drops the bombshell.

"Except for your speed."

Then looks down to start welding armor back into place over where the internals have already been repaired. "I was wrong about being easy to repair, it turns out that in order to handle the extreme kintentic force your speed produces, your rectifier was molded form a room-temperature conductive material.... and I have NO idea where they found or made that. It's not in the medical records or anything."

Blurr stares up at Jetfire, expression blank for a moment.

And then it breaks.

He shutters his optics as a feeling of loss beyond what he could ever describe, even if he has all the time in the universe, even if he were a million times faster than he normally is, and then shakes once. Twice.

Blurr is sobbing noiselessly.

He gets ahold of himself quickly enough, and forces his optics back open to peer up at Jetfire.

"Jetfire? That... is /not/ fully functioning."

"I said -except-." Jetfire sighs slightly. "It's fully functional for anyone else... I'm sorry Blurr, I'll see what I can do about either finding some of this unobtainable material or creating a replacement... but I've only got so much time between projects as it is." He tries to give the poor bot a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "You're alive, and you're still capable. You just need to go without your super speed for a while. At least you won't need crutchs this time?" Jetfire horribly fails on trying to put a positive spin on it. :(

Blurr still stares up at Jetfire. Finally, after a long moment, he makes a soft noise.

"Heh."

Then he shifts. These repairs won't take near as long as they usually seem to, right? That's a bright side, right? "I-I understand, Jetfire. After all, getting the others back from China is more important than getting my speed back, even if my speed i-is the-the biggest part o- of me." He shakes again.

"I- ah- I'll need some time. To process. This." He pauses. "Much more than usual."

Jetfire stands back to his full height, but the hand doesn't leave Blurr's shoulder just yet. "Yeah... I'll try and get something as soon as possible.. but it might not be soon at all." Hmmms a bit. "Just think of this as a learning experience. If you're able to handle the world at normal speed, just think of how much more effective you will be when you do get your speed back." Okay, that was better at being reassuring.

Blurr manages a very slight smile, though it is still a sad one, as he looks up at Jetfire. "I thought... turning everything into 'learning experiences' was Kup's thing."

Jetfire laughs a bit at that. "Ugh, that just reminds me of how old *I* am, time frozen in ice notwithstanding." He gives a final pat before removing his hand finally. "Just.. try to make the best of it, okay. I need to get back to work on stopping the whole China thing."

"All right. All right. I... understand." Blurr rolls and slides off the medical table. Then he looks around the room, eyes wide, still in a state of shock. "I'm... I'm going to try to get used to this." And then he starts to head out, still in a daze.