The search for the autobot base

"...so then Megatron says, 'wait, that's not my trigger!' Ahhhh ha ha ha ha ha!" Needlenose laughs and laughs as he soars over the massive sprawling series of canyons that make up the Valles Marineris along with Avarice. Ostensibly he's here to help find the secret rebel base, but it's more likely he's just dicking around and wasting time. His two Targetmaster partners are in their positions under his wing, being as useful as Needlenose is right now.

Hubcap comes in from the rock above you, from the northwest. Hubcap has arrived.

Amber MacKenzie explores this canyon, its every twist, turn, and crevice. She lithely climbs sheer rock faces (gotta love the low gravity), pokes into more crevices 50 feet off the ground, and sometimes vanishes inside said crevices. Maybe this is a good time for her to stay vanished.

Sweepcraft is flying along side Needlenose wondering why he agreed to let the targetmaster come with him on this mission. Galvatron ordered him to find the Autobot base, which would have probably been easier without someone laughing that loud. The sweep does his best to keep his attention on the surrounding but he keeps getting distracted. <>

"Oh please, if the Autobots spot us, you know what'll happen?" Needlenose asks, "They'll try attacking us. More specifically, since you're a Sweep, they'll blast you out of the sky first. Then I'll know where they are. Mission accomplished, yo!" The F-16 does a barrel roll, cuz, why not? The pair are now screaming past Amber's position, but Needlenose and his partners certainly don't seem to notice her.

Blaster has arrived. Landmine has arrived.

Amber MacKenzie was about to reappear from her crevice, excited at finding a fairly sizeable cavern, when swoooooooooosh, a Decepticon passes by her. Normally, she wouldn't know him so quickly, but she's heard that voice before. Bloody hell. "Incoming," she radios, barely above a whisper. Like a smart girl, she stays put and stays quiet.

Sweepcraft spents so little time on Earth than he is not looking for any humans! It is true that he's not the best tracker among the sweeps... He passes over Amber without noticing her. <>

Viator has arrived.

Space-Buggy was built for this.

Inhospitable, rugged, frozen, and otherwise unpleasant terrain? No problem! His shocks and tires put even the likes of Trailbreaker and Hound to shame, really. At Amber's radio signal, he hmms, and revs his engine! The space-buggy takes off, and gives a 'hmm.'

"I read you, Amber. I'll see what I can do to lead them away!"

Velum has arrived.

F-16XL Fighting Falcon  on the other hand spends tons of time on Earth, and thinks humans are super keen. He still doesn't notice Amber, though. <> Awkward pause. <<...their silence means 'yes'.>> But per request, Needlenose refocuses his attention on the ground. It's an awful lot of red canyons. Finally, he can't stand just flying without talking. <> Is that red space dust being kicked up in the distance? <>

"Two bogeys," Amber adds succinctly, not knowing if they can trace her radio. "I'm currently secure." She listens intently, in case any more of them show up and reminds herself that she doesn't fall apart until *after* the emergency is over. Glancing around her personal cave for anything useful, she sees nothing more than rocks, and not very big ones. Bugger.

Slugfest comes in from the rock above you, from the northwest. Slugfest has arrived.

Hubcap is... here, and he makes no pretense at being not here. He's just trying to get home. Dimensional mechanics may be required. Viator somewhere nearby, Viator finally blasts himself out of the giant pile of martian rock that buried him after Grimlock threw him into a mountain. "FREE!" He shouts, and shakes his fists at no one in particular. The old Seeker pulls himself out of the rubble and spots the Sweep and Needlenose in the distance. Viator leaps into the air and transforms to join them in formation.

Viator lifts into the sky, and transforms into an old Cybertronian classic with a terrible color scheme: a brown, yellow, and white pyramid jet. If it weren't for the Decepticon insignia, he'd look like he flew for UPS.

Polarity comes in from the rock above you, from the northwest. Polarity has arrived.

Hardhead is standing off deep in the Canyon. He does not seem particularly hidden, but isn't in broad daylight. He stares in the vague direction where the Decepticons are coming from, he pulls out an ener-cigar and lights it, waiting for his oppressors to make themselves known.

Hubcap does actually have a gun somewhere. He nearly found it the other night. With a slight frown he rummages about his person, not being possessed of a Subspace pocket. At least officially. /Unofficially/ he can do many things he's not allowed to. In this case it involves shooting at Decepticons. But only the small ones.

Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Laser attack!

Amber MacKenzie creeps to the small opening of her cave and peers out. The Decepticons have passed her by, thank heavens, and headed further into the canyon and out of her sight. She fidgets nervously but still remains where she is. Being in a common, lowly space suit and not an exo, she is definitely not a combatant. She frowns and suddenly recalls the pistol Briar gave her. It's better than nothing, so she retrieves her from her backpack and waits.

From Exo-Suit ARES , Well, it was a good thing she had her exo shipped up to Mars with her. Safely inside her newly appointed suit, Velum takes patrol point far outside the base. "Ehh.. I hate fresh off the line exos. Gotta mod them all over again." The woman grumbles a little at the lack of weaponry on this rig compaired to her last one, but she'll just have to deal with it.

She gives pause when her comm lights up with Landmine and Amber's chatter. Velum rolls her eyes, wondering why that human girl is even outside the base without an escort in the first place. <> While radioing she steers her suit around in Amber and the Con's direction, not easy to miss as the ARES begins to sprint off across the rusty Mars terrain.

As luck would have it, Blaster's found an unknowingly horrible time to work on setting up a small and concealed radio transmitter for the Autobots' secret underground base (that everyone knows about). With the Martian rocks causing interference, there was pretty much no way around it. The base needed a dish above ground.

"Yo Eject, hand me that electro-torque wrench! I'm tryin' to set this up so Jazz can check in with his Saturday mornin' cartoons! Ow! And of course we can't forget about my music television!" Carefully, but quickly Blaster has setup most of the radio dish under a Martian red canopy that should offer some good camouflage.

Picking up a few radio signals bouncing off his internal receiver, Blaster's optics brighten up a bit as he taps his helm to respond. "Wait a minute?! We've got enemies at the gates?! If ya'll give me a minute, I'll have us in it to win it!" "Oh no!" Landmine says, very loudly (over several frequencies). "Autobots, attention! This is Landmine- I'm trying to get to our SECRET BASE, but two Decepticons have stopped me! My slow engine may not be able to get me there in time!"

Landmine cuts off the broadcast before he breaks down snickering- and then he speeds off across the Martian plain...in, of course, the exact opposite direction of the hidden base!

Sweepcraft has good sensors and they pick on Landmine's track a split second before Needlenose warn him, <> Avarice changes his path to intercept this new target, <>

Slugfest was just out minding his own business, honest, when he's struck by a blast from an Autobot! He utters a pint-sized-stego-shriek and charges at Hubcap. "NONONO!" he shouts, charging at the Autobot and attempting to trample him.

Combat: Slugfest strikes Hubcap with his the pitter patter of little FEET! (Kick) attack!

The Global Pose Tracker marks that Sweepcraft has 'skipped' his action for this round.

F-16XL Fighting Falcon  jolts as suddenly a certain oldtimer joins him and Avarice. "Whoa, Viator. Dude, where'd you even come from? We were just talking abo-" the gunfire from Hubcap way down below puts a stop to this line of thinking. Upon hearing Landmine over multiple radio frequencies, Needlenose blinks inwardly. "How stupid does he think we are? Ahhh, but unless this is reverse psychology! Alright, Avarice, go ahead and take care of him just in case. I see a different target in need of an aft-whuppin'."

As he draws closer, Needlenose quickly becomes aware that this is no Transformer in his sights... it's a human! Well, orders are orders, and orders say that 'all non Cons gotta die'. Needlenose hums a little bit as he draws a missile lock on the ARES sprinting across the landscape. "Wait!" Sunbeam suddenly calls out. "Stud senses... tingling! This is no mere human, guys, this is... *her*."

Needlenose and Zigzag gasp in shock/horror/boredom, as appropriate. Decepticons are attracted to a potential fight like bees to flowers. Especially when said Decepticons have been previously stuck standing around guarding technicians that do little more than dig in the ground and keep Trypticon ready to roll out. Borrrrrrring! By Straxus Polarity is -so- glad to finally get a patrol assignment.

The crimson and grey F-15 speeds along, having had plenty of time to get his systems adjusted to working in the martian atmosphere -- the only good thing about being stuck around the eggheads this long as far as he's concerned. And already we have Autobots and shooting! "Hah, looks like I finally got my feet off the ground just in time for some fun~". Followed by a cackle as he rolls into a banking turn to come arcing towards the flaring conflict, making no real effort to be sneaky. That's what other Decepticons are for. "BANZAI!"

"No you fool! It's a feint!" Viator snarls as the Sweep takes off after Landmine. This is how the Decepticons lost the Battle of Ore-Tron Trail- and aquatic Autobot takes off down the river announcing that he has the Key to Vector Sigma, and that idiot commander with the brains of a banker from Bostontron orders the Decepticons to attempt to fight the river in pursuit. The entire party was lost. Viator created their headstones himself. "At least you have some sense, Needlenose- let us destroy these...No... It can't be."

Viator has spotted Amber. Present at every defeat. There for every humiliation. The human has been an omen of his pending embarrassment at every turn. "But not this time, human..." He drops out of formation with Needlenose and transforms, landing a short distance from Amber. "Not this time! Viator will be rid of you!"

The pyramid jet unfolds into an angry old mech, who promptly shakes his fist at some youngster. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Viator has 'skipped' his action for this round. The Global Pose Tracker marks that F-15E Strike Eagle  has 'skipped' his action for this round.

Hubcap can actually still hear the channel, despite the encryption, as he is Daredevil, the yellow one, with the hearing but not the agility. Then he is trampled by Slugfest. "Ow, ow, ow." Throwing out a hand, the Minibot trips his mental defenses. Take /that/ Contemporary Timestream Opponent!

Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Acoustic Brainfry! (Punch) attack!

Hardhead scans the heavens as he quickly rates the attacking Decepticons in order of Most Dangerous to Least Dangerous. He quickly locks on to the Sweep. "Autobots, our patrol is interrupted! Too much Decepticon activity for us to set up a base. Engage as needed, then fall back to the designated fall back point, Bravo!" He bellows out. Summoning his Shatterblasters, he points them at the Sweep. "Come, Unicron spawn...let me help you be reunited with the Chaos Bringer!"

Amber MacKenzie sighs as the airwaves are suddenly full of broadcasts from people she didn't even know were there. There's something... odd about Landmine's broadcast, but she can't put her finger on it. Velum's, at least is clear. "I'm secure for now, ma'am," she answers softly, still trying to keep her radio traffic short. No, thankyouverymuch, she'll be damned if she openly broadcasts her location. Even so, she keeps Nate's pistol ready. Good thing, since Viator's ugly mug is suddenly glaring outside her crevice. She backs away from the entrance, gauging how wide and deep the cave is. "On second thought, ma'am, I have a Decepticon in my face." Raising Nate's pistol, she aims at Viator's right optic at almost pointblank range and pulls the trigger three times.

Combat: Hardhead misses Sweepcraft with his Asking for Death Attack! attack! [Pulled -3]

Combat: Sneak Attack!! Combat: Amber MacKenzie strikes Viator with her Pistol attack!

From Exo-Suit ARES , Spotting out Landmine's dust trail thankfully isn't difficult as Velum draws close to the battleground. But once in the vicinity she skips to a halt, actually having to pause. Sunbeam may have stud senses. But she has scumbag senses. And finding him and the other two soaring among the other Cons is simple. She glares up at Needlenose through the golden optics of her exo, sharp clawed hands flexing before she suddenly crouches and launches herself into the sky, mounted engines firing up and pivoting forward, sending her right in his direction.

"Just who I wanted to see here!" Velum's voice is amplified through the exo as she smirks, leveling her gauntlets while flying at him and firing off a few laser rounds at the mech.

Space-Buggy speeds on! Well, 'speed' might not be the best term. As while he does rather well on the terrain, he doesn't have the engine to outspeed somebody space capable!

What Landmine DOES have, however...is a turret. And so, as he speeds along, he swivels his cannon around, and snaps off a quick, loosely-aimed laser beam at the Sweep. "Thanks for the support, Hardhead! We can't let the 'cons find the SECRET BASE, even though it's far away from here!"

Landmine's not a very good actor, either.

Combat: Space-Buggy sets his defense level to Guarded.

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES  strikes F-16XL Fighting Falcon  with its Medium Laser attack!

Combat: Space-Buggy strikes Sweepcraft with his Laser attack!

 Polarity says, "And here I was worried it would be a boring patrol."

"Ramhorn! Will you quit screwin' around with Rewind over there?! The 'Cawns are on our doorstep and we've gotta pretend like no one's home!" Blaster shouts out as he adjusts the heavy dish with Eject's help. "Steeljaw! Pull the canopy over high and tight! This baby will be up and ready in no time!"

Locking one of the final stabilizers into place, Blaster steps back and gushes over him and his tapes' hard work. "Oh yea! Just what the Doctor of Dance ordered! Ow! Go ahead and do the honors Eject! Flip that lever and never say never!"


 * BEEP**


 * SYSTEMS ON-lINE**

As the fresh power starts flowing through the radio dish, Blaster wipes his hands, "I'd say that's a good day's work! Nothin' like helpin' the cause! Now it's time to help our cause some more!" Flipping open his chest, the Tape Commander collects his tapes before setting out to help his teammates.

"Help's on the way, okay?!"

Viator reaches for Amber, scowling in joyous victory..."Now I'll rip out your optics!"...she raises a weapon..."ARRRRGHHH!" The Seeker manages to get his arms over his face for the third blast, but the damage is done: One of Viator's optics is gone and his face is good and scorched! He staggers back, staring one eyed hate daggers (good name for a band) at the human who has become more than his enemy...his ANTIFRIEND. "You...I will feed you to those disgusting Sweeps, human!" He leaps forward, snatching at Amber to grab her, King Kong style.

Combat: Viator misses Amber MacKenzie with his Grab attack!

Slugfest gets attacked in a way that makes his tiny little processor hurt! Since he's not very bright, that doesn't take much. "OW OW OW!" he complains, and attempts to nip at Hubcap. "STOP THAT!"

Combat: Slugfest misses Hubcap with his Millyuns of lil TEEF! (Punch) attack!

<Decepticon> Polarity says, "Just what I love about being a Decepticon. TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENT"

Sweepcraft doesn't listen to the other Decepticons, he's totally focused on his target as he dives towards Landmine. Suddenly, his sensors pick something to his left and he barely manages to avoid Hardhead's attack by stopping his descent and going up as high as possible. However, this dodge comes to a price. His sensors left Landmine who just managed to blast the sweep with his lasers. Avarice is struck on his left side, armor is melted and partially shattered. The sweep transforms into his robot mode, hovering in the air. For a second, he wonders which Autobots deserve a quick retaliation but since Landmine is the one who put the pain on him, he slides towards him, his optics flashing red as he fires an optic blast towards the Autobot.

The sweepcraft splits open and unfold, revealing the sweep known as Avarice.

There's no use denying your feelings, Velum. Your voice says no-no, but your laser gauntlets... well they also say no-no. The no-no blows huge holes in Needlenose's fuselage, and the Targetmaster cries out in pain. "Argh, you bitch!" His missile lock ruined, Needlenose transforms into robot mode, descending downwards towards the ARES. "I would have been perfectly happy letting you live, Velum, but that chance is now RUINED FOREVER!"

Wielding Sunbeam in one hand and Zigzag in the other, Needlenose peppers the area around the Nebulon with bright sun bolts and electro-shocks. Touching down on the hard canyon floor, Needlenose twirls his pistols, cowboy style before spraying another flurry of shots. "I gotta hand it to you, Velum, it takes a special kind of person to fight on Mars when you can't even breath the atmoshere. Awful brave of you. Awful valorous. Awful /stupid/."

More Than Meets The Eye! F-16XL Jet Fighter <Needlenose> transforms into robot mode!

Combat: Avarice sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Needlenose misses Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Dual Wielding Nebulons (Laser) attack! Combat: Avarice's Energy Dissipator attack aimed for Space-Buggy backfires! Combat: Avarice strikes himself with his Energy Dissipator attack! [Pulled -2]

F-15E Strike Eagle <Polarity>'s late arrival appears to be perfectly time to get right into the thick of things, spotting the tank-bot turning to fire on the other Decepticons chasing their prey. Who or what for he doesn't care, he sees the need to do his job as an air striker plain as day. That is, get some heat off the hunters. sing his turn radius to dive towards the tank from behind, the jet pulls up abruptly and flips over as the Seeker transforms, legs slung out in front of him to use the thrusters now imbedded in his heels to break his decent speed. At the end of the same maneuver bringing up his arms and unloading a volley of strafing shots around Hardhead's position. "This is the part I love about being a Decepticon... TARGET RICH ENVIRONMENTS!"

The Strike Eagle jet rearranges into the magnetic Seeker Polarity!

Combat: Polarity strikes Hardhead with his Look out behind you! (Laser) attack!

Amber MacKenzie was already hastily retreating to the back of the cave, desperately hoping that it's deep enough that that massive arm can't reach her. This is way too familiar, being the same tactics she used against the nasty old guy when he raided the drill presentation a few months ago, except that there are no helpful twisted pillars here to entangle him. All she has is distance... maybe. His metallic arm fills the tunnel as she retreats, holding her fire; a small-calibre handgun isn't going to do much against steel. But if he shows his ugly face again, she'll try for the other optic.

The Global Pose Tracker marks that Amber MacKenzie has 'skipped' her action for this round.

Space-Buggy skiiiiids around in a circle, and transforms up into his robot mode! He's got his Astro Blaster in hand now, and glares defiantly at the sweep. "I'll never let you find the SECRET BASE, even if I-"

And that's when Avarice's systems malfunction, causing the space miner to wince. "...Right." he says, and then shoulders his blaster, firing off a quick *KAPOW!* at the unicronian!

"This may be a little bit easier than I thought." Landmine transforms to his robot mode!

Combat: Landmine sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Landmine strikes Avarice with his Astro Blaster attack!

Hardhead grumbles as his shot misses the Sweep, He prepares to attack again when laser fire chips away at his backside, damaging his armor causing sparks to fly. Quickly he pivots on his foot, firing off a hasty blast at the Seeker. "I see, last years model..." He now focuses his attention on Polarity.

Combat: Hardhead misses Polarity with his Quick Shot to the chest! (Disruptor) attack!

He's not as mobile as most Autobots, but who cares?! He can out dance pretty much everyone in the ranks and that's what counts!

Right?

Clanking his way into the fray, Blaster spots Velum being attacked by Needlenose. "Hey 'Cawn! Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" Charging the red-headed Decepticon, The Tape Commander brings his rifle to bear, snapping off a few shots as he closes in.

"How about a light?! Or two or three?!" The brigh waves of electro energy pan out towards Needlenose, sending a brief spark through whatever they pass through.

Combat: Blaster strikes Needlenose with his Electro-Scrambler Gun attack! [Pulled -3]

Hubcap smacks a hand over his optics. As he simply cannot believe that Blaster is ... Doing whatever the hell Blaster is doing. Purely by chance, his reaction allows him to avoid the Stego-Cassetticon's attempt to eat him. "We have a secret base?" He wonders, as he continues trying to not get killed by Decepticons.

Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Sonic Blitz (Kick) attack!

From Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>, Velum smirks behind her exo as her laser strikes and forces Needlenose to ground himself. "Can't say I'd be happy with you still alive, Needlenose, or your friends!" Thrusters pivot quickly, Velum darting out of the way of his fire as she begins strafing around the canyon and starting her own descent.

Seeing the Con struck by another shot she looks over to Blaster in the distance, her exo waving its arm. "Thanks for the assist!" Grinning, Velum looks back to Needlenose as the claws on her gauntlets extends a little. "Ready for a little hand to hand?" And with that her thrusters light up, rocketing her forward along the ground, poised to slash his armor with nasty bladed fingers.

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> misses Needlenose with its Razor Claws! (Punch) attack!

Avarice feels the rage burning inside his core as he unleashes his power on Landime. Everything his going well when, suddenly, he loses control of his power. Instead of being fired at its target, the optic blast engulfs the sweep, consuming his energy, leaving Avarice draining as he sreams in pain. Avarice is totally unable to defend himself and when Landmine's blast string him, he's knocked out of the sky and heavily crash into the ground, raising a cloud of red dust around him. Slowly, he pushed himself up, revealing a smoking hole in his chest. His optics are still blazing red. Using his anti-gravs, he leaps into the air and comes down right towars the auobot, he lands right before him and attempts to grabs his head with both hands.

Combat: Avarice sets his defense level to Neutral. Combat: Avarice strikes Landmine with his Draining Touch attack!

Needlenose hears something behind him. "Because it's easier to beat up people /smaller/ than me. DUH, Blaster!" he snarls instinctively. The Targetmaster, still wielding both Targetmasters, whirls about in an attempt to outdraw his new foe. Unfortunately, the Autobot king of cool is just too fast, and before he can pull the trigger Blaster lets loose with his electro-scrambler. Fortunately for Needlenose, the shot is neatly blocked. Unfortunately... it's blocked by his two Nebulons.

Electricity arcs between Sunbeam and Zigzag, causing sparks to shoot out from them. Needlenose hesitates, looking at his guns with obvious concern. "Dudes? You guys... ok?" "gtbtnfnghththt!asjkgfd456!!" Zigzag shouts. "ghxdryh4" Sunbeam echos.

Unsure on how this is going to impact their aim, Needlenose decides he doesn't have time to wait for them to recover. He needs Double Targetmaster power! Aiming Zigzag at Blaster (have a taste of electro-static yourself!) and Sunbeam at Velum (ahhh, but can Sunbeam really go through with it?), he pulls the trigger and holds it. "Don't go thinking I'm not willing to take you both down!" Hit or miss, the EDCer is still charging at him, and he has to neatly hop away from her slashing fingers. "Too slow, ho!"

Viator grabs in the cave for a few moments like a greedy kid digging for the prize in a full box of Lucky Charms, before his common sense escapes the headlock that blind rage had put it in. "If you insist on hiding like a coward, human...You'll die buried like one!" He walks away from the cave, turns and opens fire above the entrance, red martian rock collapsing in a thick cloud of dust! Viator cackles, and turns to the battle..."Needlenose faces two foes...Time to even the odds..."

Combat: Needlenose misses Blaster with his Nah no way this can backfire Area attack! Combat: Needlenose misses Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Nah no way this can backfire Area attack!

Having already pulled out of the diving maneuver with his transformation and attack, all Polarity has to do is snap his legs back under himself so the thrusters shoot him upwards over Hardhead's return fire, cackling the entire time as he darts out of the way.

Briefly he entertains the thoughts of taking out an actual warrior and not one of the annoying squishy things, and doing so in such a awesome and evil manner that high command will let him finally upgrade to something more than his standard issue rifles. It's probably really super-deformed and rediculous, but there's no one here that can actually see whatever is going through his head alas.

In the meantime, he'll just use the other tricks he has. A low ring of martain sand swirls out as he drops back to the ground, but doesn't actually touch down. Though the heel-jets aren't firing anymore, so he's actually hovering for himself now. "No need to change what's already the best, sucka." He retorts back. Thrusting up one arm, he focuses his power into a brief magnetic bolt that'll forcefully repel any metallic form it touchs. Like say an Autobot's chassis. Landmine is pounced upon!

He tumbles and struggles with the Sweep, and his optics go wide as he feels the new (and entirely unpleasant) sensation of his very energon being sucked from his chassis! "Gah!" Landmine says, and drops his Astro Blaster.

But this shock does not last for long! The miner soon puts his own powerful hydraulics to use, and struggles free from Avarice's rasping grasp! Landmine shakes his head, and then brings his fists up into a prizefighter's guard! "Well, guess since you're running on my juice now, it's a fair fight!" he says- and then Landmine ducks down low, and comes in swinging! A left, a right- and finally, a rising uppercut! Or, well, that's what he's going for- Avarice may be an even better boxer than he is!

Combat: Polarity strikes Hardhead with his Magnetic Pulse attack! [Pulled -3] Combat: Polarity's attack has strange and mysterious effects on Hardhead.

Combat: Landmine sets his defense level to Aggressive.

Slugfest is hit again! He swipes at Hubcap with his thagomizer. "NONONO! STOP DOING!" he says, swishing his tail back and fort to try to repeatedly smack the Autobot.

Combat: Slugfest strikes Hubcap with his Thagomizer! (Kick) attack! The Global Pose Tracker marks that Viator has 'skipped' his action for this round.

Combat: Landmine misses Avarice with his Fisticuffs attack!

Hardhead drops his Shatterblasters as he clutches at his chest. "Slaggin'..." He mumbles as his armor across his chest begins to crack. Energon, seeps between the cracks of his armor and sparks fly. "Neat trick..." He collapses to the ground, reverting to his tank mode. The barrel tracks Polarity as a blast fires off towards the Seeker. "Now burn!"

The robot form of Hardhead almost seems to collapse to the ground as the body of the robot folds into an odd looking tank. For a fraction of a second, the head of the robot jumps off and becomes a humanoid figure who slides into the cockpit of the tank which encloses on the figure.

Combat: Tank Destroyer <Hardhead> strikes Polarity with his Burning Shells of Vengence! attack!

The flash from the Targetmaster lights up Blaster's optics as it gets closer and closer. Only this time, the Autobot's able to nimbly leap over the incoming burst. "Hah! What's a matter with those pals of yours?! What do you call them? Dumb and Dumber?!"

Just before Blaster's about to let loose with another blast from his rifle, he catches Viator out of the corner of his optic. "Hey! Don't do...Amber!" Watching as the rubble closes up the cave entrance with his human friend behind it, the Tape Commander makes a move to help.

"I'm comin' Amber! Just chill out and I'll be there in two shakes and a stir!" Blaster calls out as he runs right past Viator with a flying boot in his direction. "Robo-Jerk!"

Combat: Blaster strikes Viator with his Drive-By Kick (Kick) attack!

Amber MacKenzie manages to elude the guy, only to find the lousy Decepticon taking his pathetic failure out on the hapless Martian rock. The front of the cave shivers and crumbles, replaced by red dust and gritty sand. Protected by her distance from the front, she is untouched for now, thank heavens. Her standard space suit can't take any damage before being breached. "What a LOSER! Challenging a human *civilian* less than half your size, and you call *me* a coward?! Those rocks outside are more your style, inanimate and incapable of striking back!" She takes a deep breath and tries to calm down. Until the end of the fight at least, she'll be stuck here, and if no

Autobots survive to help her, she'll have to dig herself out. Her oxygen supplies, she tries hard not to think about.

From Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>, Thankfully Sunbeam's aim isn't his best now that he and Zigzag have been fried by Blaster, so dodging his shot isn't hard at all. Unfortunately Needlenose steps away at the lastr second, her slash only hurting the air. Once past him her turbines cut, her exo skidding to a halt when the feet touch the ground.

Velum then turns to face him once more, laughing loudly at the mech. "Ha! Looks like your partners aren't looking too good. Don't worry, I can take them off your hands for you, send 'em right to the firing squad on Nebulos!" Arms extends again, gauntlet lasers heating up again before firing off at him, trying to riddle him with scorch marks.

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> misses Needlenose with its Medium Laser attack!

Hubcap hisses and tumbles as he is Thagomised. Oh the Thagomiser! Damnable robot dinosaurs! Wait, Minibot has guns, we /all/ have guns! Grimacing, Hubcap throws up an arm and makes like Springer, with a pop-out arm-gun. "Yesyesyes."

Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Boom boom /pow!/ (Pistol) attack!

Avarice is re-energized by the life he stole from Landime, "Yessssss power more POWERRRR!". He releases his opponent and leaps back, avoiding what may have been a one puch knock out. Even though he's badly damaged, the sweeo looks more alive than ever. He cruely mocks Landmine as he comments, "I have tasted better... that femme... Moonracer... she was tasty." Not wanting to get into a boxing match he's pretty sure to lose, Avarice jumps into the air and transforms. He speeds over Autobot before coming back and firing his weapons at him, "Let's see how you enjoy this!"

Avarice leaps into the air, his wings folding around him as he reconfigures into a sweepcraft.

Blaster charged his blind side. Viator is kicked away and transforms, launching himself into the sky and turning towards Velum. "DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!" He yells with a short pose, needing to go buy some chicken! MISSILES!

Viator lifts into the sky, and transforms into an old Cybertronian classic with a terrible color scheme: a brown, yellow, and white pyramid jet. If it weren't for the Decepticon insignia, he'd look like he flew for UPS.

Combat: Sweepcraft misses Landmine with his Power Disruptor attack!

Combat: Viator misses Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Stinger Missile attack!

Steam rises from Needlenose's head as he glares at Blaster. "I... what?... I hate you!" he screams in a remarkable yet unintentional Hayden Christensen impression. He's thrilled when Blaster finally runs off to bug someone else, even if that means Viator ends up paying the price for it. Whirling back towards Velum with fury in his optics, he watches as the Nebulon skids to a halt. The Targetmaster glowers at her, taking steps that are amazingly heavy given the gravity on Mars.

As the Exo-Suit fires its gauntlet lasers again, Needlenose neatly sidesteps it, getting himself in melee range. With a quick twirl, Sunbeam and Zigzag are holstered so they can recover. Hands now free, he tries to deck the Ares in order to knock it down a steep canyon. This may or may not cause problems for Viator's aim.

Combat: Needlenose misses Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Pow! Right in the kisser! (Punch) attack!

Slugfest arghs as his thagomizer is countered by shooting! He spins around, firing lasers from his optics. "You shoot me, me shoot you!" he snaps.

Combat: Slugfest misses Hubcap with his Laser attack!

With Needlenose and Viator out of the way for the moment, Blaster continues his immediate goal of freeing Amber from the cave coffin that's been created. "Hold on tight! If you can hear me, get as far back as you can! I'm about to bust loose with this sound caboose!"

Focusing his chest-mounted speakers on the loads of Martian rubble, Blaster fires a wide beam of ultra-low drums and bass at the rock. With any luck, the low vibrations of his music wouldn't blow up the rubble, but just rattle it enough so it could collapse and open the entrance to cave.

"I'm diggin' this! Nothin' like a little Rock N Roll to get these rocks rollin' out of the way!" ... Maybe he should of thought that through a little farther as all he does is crumple the Bot's armor a bit. Polarity holds his hand up to peer at it, optics flaring behind his visor like it was all the digits fault. "Guess I under-calculated for the magnetic field difference." Then looks up just in time to get a fiery shell slamming into his body in a fiery explosion of smoke and flames. "Aaaah! Hot hot hot hot!" The Seeker hops around for a few moments, comically swatting his aft and wings to put out the flames.

Once he's not burning like a candlestick he turns his attention back to Hardhead. Okay, different tactic time. Resuming his previous hovering Polarity holds his arms out slightly, the faintest of distortion rippling in the thin atomsphere as he constrains his magnetic fields into a focused bubble of deflective wavelengths around himself. "You think you're so bad with that big ol' gun of yours? Let's see you get through this!"

"Hey!" Landmine protests, "You leave the femme out of this!"

Landmine glares at his opponent- as as Avarice takes off into the air, Landmine narrows his optics. "Hey, soapdish. Guess what? I've got a few surprises of my own!"

There's a flash of subspace energy, and suddenly, Landmine's pretender shell phases from its pocket dimension, and seals itself around him! In a smooth movement, Landmine unsheathes his laser saber, activating it with a *vwoom!* sound- a quick turn of his wrist parries Avarice's energy beams, and then Landmine rears back and THROWS the sword at the seekerjet, sending it tumbing end over end in midair!

Combat: Polarity creates a forcefield shielding himself from damage.

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

Landmine encases himself in his Pretender armor!

Combat: Space Miner <Landmine> misses Sweepcraft with his Laser Saber attack!

<Decepticon> Needlenose says, "Hey, uh, guys, since we're... kicking some much ass... should we... y'know, *not*, wink wink, think about withdrawing?" <Decepticon> Polarity says, "Do whatever ya want, I'm tankin' the tank." <Decepticon> Avarice says, "Did anyone spot their base?"

Hubcap ducks and covers, and is /not/ shot by eyes. This is kinda cool. Unless you're a Decepticon. But Hubcap might not exist in any case. Don't make him, it's not cool.

Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Existential Uncertainty. (Grab) attack!

Tank Destroyer <Hardhead> reverts to his robot mode as he shakes his fist at Polarity, his chest armor flaking off. "Coward!" He then reaches down and grabs a rock to toss at Polarity. "It is bound to have a weakness..." He lets out grunt as he throws the rock with all of his strength. "Come down here and face deactivation with at least some honor."

The tank almost seems to pull a wheelie as the front treads lift off the ground. The fancy transforming sound rings out as the tank quickly folds out into a robot. For a brief moment, it appears a humanoid form leaped out of the cockpit and became the Robot's head. The transforming sound finishes and now stands Hardhead.

Combat: Hardhead strikes Polarity with his Testing the Forcefield with a Rock! (Punch) attack! Combat: Polarity's forcefield absorbs Hardhead's attack.

All she can do for this battle now is listen, and that's what Amber does. Clicking the safety off of Nate's pistol, she shoves it into a handy pocket and visually examines the fallen rock. The dust and sand won't be that much of a problem, but the rocks may be unstable. The cave isn't sealed completely; she can still see the faint light of dusk filtering in. Picking a comfortable corner, she sits down and listens and waits. If no one contacts her within an hour, she'll have to risk digging herself out... She carefully checks the readings on her tank of oxygen... giving her about two hours to make it to one of the caches. Oh joy. "Good luck, guys," she mutters.

Moments later, she hears Blaster's voice and scrambles back to the rear of the cave. And what does she hear now? Rock and roll! She feels those good vibrations all the way to her stomach, but the rocks feel them more. The smaller rocks vibrate, "walking" across the floor. The larger ones rock... right out the crevice!

From Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>, Shit. Velum backs up a little as Needlenose looks rather pissed and starts moving her way, even dodging her shots. But her moment to move comes when Viator gives away his position and fires a missle. Swiftly she ducks both the missle and Needlenose's swing, juking behind him and lifting the exo's fists to its face, brawling style. "Now now, taking me on in a fist fight? I think we know who'll win here." Hopefully this rig does as she tells it to, the hand to hand combat not exactly on par with her own skills. Either way she pulls back a fist, sending a right hook at his face when he turns back around.

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> strikes Needlenose with its Get 'Em Rocky! (Punch) attack!

Sweepcraft may have missed his target but thanks to his superior agility, he easily avoid the flying light saber, "What kind on tactic is that? Throwing your weapon away... Sounds like a Junkion move...". Avarice transforms once again, hovering in front of the pretender. The sweep builds up his energy, hoping that this times, he will be able to control its power. Once again, his optics becomes bright red and glowing before twin energy beams come out of them to fly towards Landmine. "Feel the power given to my by UNICRON!"

The sweepcraft splits open and unfold, revealing the sweep known as Avarice.

Combat: Avarice strikes Space Miner <Landmine> with his Energy Dissipator attack!

Slugfest stands there, momentarily confused. It's as if the Autobot that he was just fighting isn't there! The confused little stegosaur looks around, uncertain of what to do.

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

The rock smacks against the magnetic field, shattering and bits sent flying in assorted directions as the iron oxide that permenates Mars' terrafirma is repelled from it. "Aaaaw poor Autobot. Why so serious?" Waggles a finger mockingly at the Headmaster. "Yeah, the whole calling a coward thing to try and get my guard down? Not gonna work. I'm more genre savvy than that! Besiiides..." With a snicker he points both his arms out to emit a second stream of magnetic force outside the field, aiming it at Hardhead. Though this time instead of trying to crush him it's acting like a tractor beam and trying to drag him off the ground! Though it's not doing anything harmful. Yet.

Combat: Polarity misses Hardhead with his Magnetic Lift (Grab) attack!

Needlenose grunts, almost losing his balance after his wild swing failed to connect with the Exo-suit. It's just that it's so darn small! "What, serious?" Needlenose snorts at Velum even as Viator's missile detonates near them, providing perfect back-lighting for their fisticuffs. "Your gauntlets pack a punch when shooting lasers, but with a normal punch?" Velum then does indeed smacks him in the face... and Needlenose only rolls his optics. "Yeah that sums it up nicely." Crouching down low, Needlenose wraps his arms around the exo-suit and tries to tackle him, sending both of them careening down the side of a canyon into the Valles Marineris. Needlenose, being bigger, heavier, and pointier, will get the better of this if it works.

Combat: Needlenose strikes Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Tackle (Kick) attack! Combat: Needlenose uses up a charge on his Double Targetmaster booster pack!

Hardhead ever so slightly, Hardhead's feeds are pulled off the ground, his optic bar bares into Polarity's chest. "Cute trick." Gravity soon resume its love affair with Hardhead as his feet touch the ground. His shoulder mounted cannon fires off a small blast at Polarity. "Fine, I will knock you out of the sky." He sneers at Polarity as he watches the blast travel up the magnetic stream.

Combat: Hardhead misses Polarity with his This Thing Must Have a Tail Pipe! (Disruptor) attack!

Space Miner <Landmine> watches his Laser Saber tumble off, not stabbing a sweep. "Okay," he admits, "that...kind of makes sense." Still, he's not totally unarmed, as he makes a dive for his dropped Astro-Blaster, complete with shoulder roll! Landmine proceeds to slam a new energon cartridge into the weapon, and grunts, as if the momentary lull in the battle is a physical blow!

Combat: Space Miner <Landmine> takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

From Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>, Velum growls when her punch, which usually outside her suit would totally send a full grown man flat on his back, does absolutely nothing to Needlenose's larger form. Damnit. "Hey! Back off!" Velum shouts when the mech makes a move for her, trying to back up. But he's too fast and she ends up wrapped in his arms. If they weren't enemies trying to kill each other, this would have been nice. Sadly, it's not when Needlenose promptly dives over the edge with her, the two of them tumbling down down down into the valley far below.

"Agh! I'm gonna be sick!" She exclaims dizzily as they roll down the steep hill, the femme unable to even move when they stop since her vision is completely spinning and her stomach is doing flips. This is worse than being drunk.

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> takes extra time to steady itself. [Pass]

Amber MacKenzie wisely stays where she is: out of the way of any worthless, weakling hostage-takers and any stray shots from friend or foe. And away from the front of the cave, in case that loser tries to collapse it again. Then again, maybe she should take another shot at him. Nahhhhh, that's just stupid. She broadcasts quietly to Blaster that she's staying out of the line of fire until this is over.

The Global Pose Tracker marks that Amber MacKenzie has 'skipped' her action for this round.

Hubcap still might not exist. And yet he might be the greatest hero ever! You Decepticons might need to debate the issue. The Autobots would, but they don't believe in him. Or do they? His Audials spin up with a noticeable whine, as he sends out a pulse. Blaster wouldn't be Blaster without his music and in this case, it's a welcomed trait for Amber as the Martian rubble collapses, leaving her with a clear path to escape. "Told ya it would take two shakes and a stir! Hang by my side and I'll make sure those tin cans don't lay a rusty finger on you!"

Swinging around to analyze the Bots' tactical situation, the Tape Commander feels pretty good at the moment. But then Landmine get tagged by Avarice

"Hey ugly! No, not you Slugfest! I'm talkin' about THAT robo-dunce!"

Looking to Amber, Blaster takes off and leaps into the air, "Stay close! I've gotta teach this guy a lesson!" Coming down at Avarice, the Autobot swings his heavy fists at the Sweep's face. "Here's my first lesson! It's called Punch Out 101!"

Combat: Blaster misses Avarice with his Punch Out 101 attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Temporal Distortion... Possibly. (Punch) attack!

Viator stalks towards Velum and Needlenose, having returned from the grocery store, his energy sword crackling to life. The one eyed mech scowls, pointing the cannon at the EDC grunt. "Needlenose, perhaps you should stop dancing with this creature and allow me to assist you in ending it...for the glory of the Empire!" He raises the blade over his his head. "For your skill in combat, flesh creature, you will die...a warrior's death!"

Combat: Viator sets his defense level to Fearless.

The pyramid jet unfolds into an angry old mech, who promptly shakes his fist at some youngster.

Avarice looks down at the pretender and grins at him, "This is useless Autobot. Keep fighting and I will drain you dry." He reaches into a subspace pocket and pulls a laser pistol out of it. From the corner of his optic, he spots Blaster coming for him and he goes up just high enough to avoid the incoming fist. He carefully aims his pistol at Landmine, "This planet now belong to Galvatron!" he says before pulling the trigger.

Combat: Viator misses Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Warrior's Death attack!

Combat: Avarice misses Space Miner <Landmine> with his Laser attack!

Slugfest is distracted by Blaster's comment momentarily, and then hit with something else that's weird. It causes the little stegosaur to fly into a rage and just spin around like the tasmanian devil. Which may or may not hit Hubcap. Combat: Slugfest strikes Hubcap with his Festival of Slugging attack!

Polarity grunts as Hardhead thumps back to the ground after a few moments. "Sheesh. Lay off the oiled enclairs, fatass." But when the soldier shoots back Polarity pulls himself upright and snaps one arm to the side, dispelling the magnetic beam and sending the shot hurtling off into the skies harmlessly.

"Fine then, I'll just come to you!" Dropping towards the surface and propelling himself towards Hardhead, there's a brief plume of red dirty flung behind him as Polarity charges and swings his other fist at the Headmaster, letting the fields still enveloping his chassis do as much of the work as his actual fist is.

Combat: Polarity misses Hardhead with his Magna-Field Punch (Punch) attack!

Needlenose punches and kicks at Velum even as they roll down the steep slope, covering themselves in red stains. Finally the pair arrive at the bottom, with Needlenose getting thrown off onto his back. It takes a leap of willpower for him to get back on his feet. "Oh you're not sick yet, witch. You picked the wrong Decepticon to mess with." Needlenose jumps into the air and transforms into F-16 mode, soaring straight up and over, performing a perfect loop de loop.

"Back off, Viator. I'm finishing her off right here and now." Now streaking back down towards the ground, Needlenose fires off one of his devastating proton missiles. He isn't aiming for Velum, though. He's aiming for the side of the canyon, which shatters in an explosion of rock and dust as the F-16 zooms off, staying below the canyon walls. The ground trembles as the entire cliff side comes rushing down to meet Velum...

Robots in Disguise! Needlenose transforms into F-16XL Jet Fighter mode!

Combat: F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose> sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose> misses Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Proton Missiles attack!

Hardhead glowers as Polarity comments on the junk in the trunk, more chest armor flakes off as he pivots on his foot, launching it at Polarity. His sudden move allows him to side step the enhanced punch. "I will make this quick." He emits coldly.

Combat: Hardhead strikes Polarity with his Sidestep Kick! (Kick) attack! Combat: Polarity's forcefield absorbs Hardhead's attack.

Space Miner <Landmine> isn't in the position to deflect Avarice's lasers- but his armored shell takes the worst of it, and lasers go *PING!* from his armor! And so, Landmine storms forward.

"Here's the funny thing, Avarice." he says, eyes narrowing behind his facemask. "You're not the only one who's been a...test subject. Unicron screwed you up. Thunderwing gave me this shell. Wanna find out which one's better?"

And so, Landmine grabs at Avarice with one hand, using his other to swing a haymaker punch right at his ugly bearded gob!

Combat: Space Miner <Landmine> sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Space Miner <Landmine> strikes Avarice with his PUNCH attack!

As she waits safely in her cave, Amber reflects bitterly on her sole value as a hostage while others do the fighting. She might take a risk if she were on Earth, but here, even a near miss could kill her. Slowly pacing back and forth, she listens to the violent sounds of battle. Her gloved hand absently reaches to her pocket, just enough to feel the weight of the gun inside before pulling back. Here she is waiting. Wait, Amber, wait.

From Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>, Velum dizzily lays there a moment, trying to clear her head and stop the world from spinning. When her vision returns to normal she's quick to grab the controls again, trying to get the Ares back on its feet. But with Viator already upon her she needs to pull out some fast tactics, her exo rolling onto its front as his blade decends and only slices into the red dirt. "Tch, get lost old mech." An arm lifts to aim her gauntlet at him, but the sound of an explosion above her has Velum stop and look up, eyes widening when she sees the boulders hurtling towards her.

In desperation Velum slams the engine buttons, the large thrusters roaring to life and sending her forward, literally scraping her along the ground. It's not the best way to move, but at least she's not under the current rubble pile. Once a safe distance away Velum clambers back to her feet, the Ares giving a light shake to dislodge any fine dust before trying to aim at Viator since he's now much closer than Needlenose.

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> misses Viator with its Medium Laser attack!

Hubcap swears and rubs his hand across his lip as he tries to resist Slugfests' umm, uncontrolled flailing? With a frown, he just lashes out physically. Got anything between those legs, Sluggy? Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Right in the payload! (Kick) attack! Amber is tucked away and trying to ride the battle out, but Blaster spots the Decepticons going after Velum. "Aaah! Not you two! That's it! Time for you guys to face THE MUSIC!"

Raising his hands up into the air, Blaster fires off two powerful waves of sonic energy from his palms a-la Iron Man. "This one's for YOU and that one's for YOU!" the Tape Commander shouts, his hands swinging at each individual target.

Should the attacks connect, it'll leave Needlenose and Viator wishing they weren't assembled with audio receptors.

"I am Autobot, hear me ROAR!! OOH YEA!!"

Combat: Blaster sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Blaster strikes Viator with his Music For Two Area attack! [Pulled -1] Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Viator's Accuracy! (Blinded) Combat: Blaster misses F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose> with his Music For Two Area attack! [Pulled -1]

Avarice is punched in the face. His head is knocked backward and energon spills from his mouth. He stumbles back but manages to keep his balance, "You dare to compare a mad scientist to the dark god? Fool!". The sweep leaps into the air and transforms into his sweepcraft mode, "Feel my power!!!!" For someone who was rather calm at the start of the combat, Avarice is not acting...irrationally. Apparently draining that much energon has a negative effect on him... As he passes over Landine, he fires a quick energy beam targeted at the pretender's chest.

Avarice leaps into the air, his wings folding around him as he reconfigures into a sweepcraft.

Combat: Sweepcraft misses Space Miner <Landmine> with his Power Disruptor attack!

Viator leaps backwards, the laser fire burning into the ground harmlessly. "It seems she still has fight in her!" He waves his sword threateningly. "Needlenose, finish her off!" And then...the noise! That stupid, annoying noise! Viator claws at his receptors as he's forced to one knee. "Gah! Blasted...sonic attacks..." He leaps into the air and transforms, launching himself into the sky, away from the battle...

Viator lifts into the sky, and transforms into an old Cybertronian classic with a terrible color scheme: a brown, yellow, and white pyramid jet. If it weren't for the Decepticon insignia, he'd look like he flew for UPS.

The Global Pose Tracker marks that Viator has 'skipped' his action for this round.

Polarity isn't hurt by the kick, but the metal heel slamming against his magnetic field is still enough to send the seeker skidding backwards a bit before he stops. "Tch. You're really no fun, you know that? Why you're so -dull- it's like assaulting a sense of humor with a rusty old knife."

The forcefield finally disappears... sort of. It doesn't just vanish, rather, Polarity removes it by unleashing it's conpiled force at his opponent instead in a brief furry of twisting, rending force. "First I'm gonna scrap you, then I'm gonna squeeze out that little cream filling inside your big blocky head!"

Combat: Polarity sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Polarity's forcefield protecting himself vanishes. Combat: Polarity strikes Hardhead with his Magnetic Maelstrom attack! Combat: Polarity's attack has strange and mysterious effects on Hardhead.

Slugfest has been kicked in the nuts and bolts! Crying out and tucking his tail firmly under his body between his legs, the little stegosaur faces Hubcap and fires at him with his solar cannon. Like a bulbasaur's solar beam!

Combat: Slugfest misses Hubcap with his Solar-Powered Vibro-Cannon attack!

"You're still alive?" The F-16 gasps with dismay as he watches the ARES escape the rockslide. "How many times do I have to kill you for you to stay dead?! You've survived being tossed off a cliff, you've survived that cliff /falling on you/, and yet you keep coming back for more. ARGH, I bet this is what Galvatron feels like whenever he has to fight Prime! Or... maybe Joker fighting Batman!"

Needlenose twists in mid-air, coming back around for another pass. As he does, he spies two targets. Velum, the one he's planning on blasting, and Blaster. The horrible noise hits Needlenose, but he's far too cool to be taken down by glorified music. In fact, it just /inspires him to further greatness/. On his HUD, Needlenose sees the targeting crosshairs float over Velum and then turn red. "Sunbeam? Zigzag? You guys recovered yet?" "zsjkjsd!" Zigzag gurgles. Curse Blaster and his electro-scrambler! But still, Needlenose is running out of weapons, and at the velocity he's racing at, he's going to run out of canyon pretty soon too. Deploying both his Targetmasters, he cuts loose.

Combat: F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose> strikes Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> with his Thanks to Blaster this asskicking comes with a soundtrack attack! Combat: F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose>'s attack has strange and mysterious effects on Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>. Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>'s Agility. (Crippled)

Hardhead just stares at Polarity. "Humor is for the weak." He then begins to stalk towards Polarity. "If you think your Mec...*ERKRRKEKEKE*" Hardhead clutches at his head as be begins to stagger around the battlefield. His optics flicker off as his hands start clawing at his face. "There...There..There...There is something INSIDE MY HEAD!" He lets our a shriek as he collapses to the ground, clawing at his head. A small voice emits, "Hardhead...reestablishing neural link, What do you mean, can't find the boot sector...By the rings! Finally, systems reseting..." With that Hardhead falls limp on the ground, the small voice going quiet. It appears as if his systems are resetting, leaving the ground pounder vulnerable.

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

"Y'know, scientifically speaking, there's an easy way to figure this out!"

Landmine dives to the side, narrowly avoiding Avarice's blasts! He rolls to his feet- and he levels his Astro Blaster at the decepticon, easily holding the massive weapon in one hand for now. "All we have to do is see who's standing once this is done." Landmine pulls the trigger. KABLOW!

"But here's the thing. The one who's still breathing? That's me." Space Miner <Landmine> adds on. "Well, proverbial breathing. I only need oxygen because of the bio-organic construct, but you get the idea."

Combat: Space Miner <Landmine> misses Sweepcraft with his Astro Blaster attack!

Hubcap is not there once more! It's like he really is Yellow-Daredevil despite his crappy agility. And his gun, which is totally not a throwing stick. And not headed... oh, the laser beam /is/ headed your way. DUCK!

Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Pew pew Sit on that pew! (Laser) attack! With all the action going on around him, Blaster feels like he's really serving as a support specialist in this one. Just when he starts focusing on one Decepticon, another is firing on his team behind his back. Trying to focus on everyone of the fights would make even Blurr dizzy, so Blaster decides to stick to what's in front of him.

And it just so happens Avarice and Landmine cross the Tape Commander's optics.

"Hey you got a permit for lookin' that lame Sweep-a-mah-bob?! Pull over!" Blaster raises his rifle for a quick laser spray.


 * PEW* *PEW* *PEW*

Combat: Blaster strikes Sweepcraft with his Do I Win A Prize? (Laser) attack!

Hubcap says, "My guys score /negative/ on the twink scale." From Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>, Velum chuckles at Needlenose's frustration, "I guess I'm destined to fight you forever then!" With Viator out of the fight for now her targeting HUD focuses on the Targetmaster once more, ready to fire off another volley of lasers at him. But Needlenose is quick on the draw, littering the Ares with fire from his Nebulan partners. "Shit!" She curses aloud at the smoking blasts on her suit, the display flashing in warning at the heavy damage to one of the legs, Velum's exo groaning as she's forced to take a knee with a loud thud.

The woman glares at the still incoming mech, hissing in annoyance while raising a gauntlet, "This is a new suit, you ass!!"

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> strikes F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose> with its Medium Laser attack!

Sweepcraft is coming back for another attack when Landmine fires his astro blaster at him. Avarice quickly spins on himself, narrowly avoiding the blast. The sweep transforms and dives towards the ground, landing in front of the pretender, "Was that supposed to impress me Autobot? Even with your pretender technology, you are still yesterday's model compared to me." Avarice launches himself forwards, both hands extended in front of him... perhaps he'll manages to pierce that armor... At the very same moment, he struck by Blaster's attack. Pieces of metal fly everywhere and for a moment, Avarice is hidden by a cloud of martian dust.

Combat: Sweepcraft sets his defense level to Fearless.

The sweepcraft splits open and unfold, revealing the sweep known as Avarice.

Combat: Avarice strikes Space Miner <Landmine> with his Draining Touch attack!

As the headmaster wails and falls to the ground clawing at his head, Polarity stops and looks briefly surprised for a split-second. Sometimes the potential potency of his powers astounds even him.

The moment of surprise doesn't last long though, the usual smirk returning as the Seeker trots over to the rebooting Hardhead and leans over him. "What was that, Autobum?" Polarity for a moment seems ready to do just as he said he was going to do by grabbing the back of Hardhead's hard head. "I couldn't hear you over the sound of me -being awesome-!" And then tries to slam and grind his face into the martian soil, figuring it'll shake up that little green skinned alien inside it as well.

<Decepticon> Avarice says, "They would not be fighting so hard if their base wasn't nearby."

Combat: Polarity strikes Hardhead with his Why yes I am big enough of a jerk to mess with a mech while he's down (Punch) attack!

Slugfest isn't able to duck in time, and charges at Hubcap, angrily attempting to nip at the Autobot again. With all the plinking, the little stegosaur is being worn down! "You no stop us!" he exclaims, before the attempted *CHOMP*

Combat: Slugfest strikes Hubcap with his Millyuns of lil TEEFS! (Punch) attack!

"Huh?" Needlenose stammers, not understanding what Velum is talking about. "Oh, you meant the Christopher Nolan Batman and Joker. The third movie totally ruined that trilogy. I was thinking more Adam West. You see, there-" Needlenose's distraction proves his downfall. Once again, Velum blasts him with those gauntlet lasers. How the heck can puny human weapons hurt so much?! Needlenose whines. His engine catches fire from the hit, and he wobbles, struggling to maintain his altitude.

"Alright, you know what? Screw you guys, I'm going home." The F-16 throws all of his energy to keep himself above the canyon walls, lest he smack into it when trying to make his great escape. Battered and humbled, Needlenose is headed back to Trypticon, but not without a parting shot of his own: "Velum, you're a bitch! Blaster, nobody likes your music! Hardhead... uh... well, I didn't really fight you all that much so I guess you're probably an ok guy. I do hate you, Bumblebee. Wierd Pretender guy who's name I can't recall, Bludgeon is WAY cooler than you!"

Alright guys, Needlenose thinks, when we get back we're going to have to look these losers up on Wikipedia.

Combat: F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose> begins retreating, outrunning all pursuit.

Hardhead lies there helpless, it isn't clear if Hardhead is even registering a word from Polarity. With a level maliace, Polarity bashes Hardhead's face into the dirt...sparks begin to fly as the metal grinds against the rocks.

After a few moments, Hardhead's systems seem to kick back on. Hardhead's left hand flexes for a moment, then his right. A warm rage seems to overtake the Autobot as a twist sneer comes across his face. "Mistake." With all of his might, Hardhead attempts to push himself up, and through Polarity, attempting to then slam the Seeker into the ground!

Combat: Hardhead's Headmaster Rage! attack on Polarity goes wild! Combat: Hardhead strikes Blaster with his Headmaster Rage! (Smash) attack!

Hubcap says, "Agh," Hubcap exclaims as the little teeth gnaw upon his limbs. "Can I please stop you?" Sadly, he has now lost his rifle, and is also physically weaker. But he still has super-hearing. Take a sonic assault, Cassetticon! Unless I miss. And I still don't quite get how my ears can hurt you. But they apparently can."

Combat: Hubcap strikes Slugfest with his Super Hearing attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily limited Slugfest's Agility! (Crippled)

Space Miner <Landmine> again, finds himself grappling with Avarice! But this time, he's in his stronger, tougher Pretender armor! He staggers back again, panting, drawing in precious oxygen for his cyber-organic muscles. "...just...wait. I'll take you out!"

Combat: Space Miner <Landmine> takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

From Sweepcraft to Seeker, Blaster's quick to shift his targeting systems. "You know if this were a party, that would be a party foul! Don't you know that wing-mounted lasers were so 2032?!" Looking to help Hardhead out, the Intel XO pulls out a weapon with a cone-shaped muzzle. "Did I mention I'm a DJ?! I think it's tim...OOOOF!"

The Batman text cloud isn't visible, but you can trust Blaster when he says Hardhead's ram really hurt. Picking himself up off the Martian dirt, he fumbles for his previously mentioned weapon. "I'm tired of all the Bot on Bot violence! Let's just get down and let me show you the low down!"

Offering Hardhead a grin, Blaster grips his gun with both hands and pulls back on the trigger. "If this don't get your joints rockin', I don't know what will 'Cawn!"

Combat: Blaster strikes Polarity with his Sound Blaster Named After Blaster attack! Combat: Blaster's attack has strange and mysterious effects on Polarity. Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Polarity's Agility. (Crippled)

From Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>, Velum just snorts in amusement as Needlenose takes off running, or flying rather, chuckling when he insults her. "Aw, don't be like that, Needlenose! I know you love me!" She calls after him with a grin until he's finally out of eyesight. With the Ares unable to walk properly she gets creative, hitting up the engines again and sending her airborne, flying out of the canyon and back onto the battlefield.

Targeting systems give the field a quick scan, picking up immediatly on Polarity trying to stomp in Hardhead's head. Eyes narrow on the Con, the Ares soaring in their direction and strafing the mech as she lines up a shot, timing it right after Blaster catches him up in his attack.

Combat: Exo-Suit ARES <Velum> strikes Polarity with its Medium Laser attack!

Avarice rises into the air chuckling, "You are so weak Autobot... But I got what I came here to find. You all fought so hard... it is obvious that you are protecting something. I leave you to your fate...until we meet again." Then he turns to look at Blaster, pointing his finger at the tape commander, "YOU! I will make you pay for your interferences." Then without adding anything, he transforms back into his seepcraft mode and retreats towards the Decepticon base.

Avarice leaps into the air, his wings folding around him as he reconfigures into a sweepcraft.

Combat: Sweepcraft begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Viator and F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose>

Viator meanwhile, Viator has been sneaking around as the battle rages, searching for the entrance of the Autobot's secret base. He watches Needlenose bug out in the distance and scowls... It won't be long before the Autobots have resecured the area. "This fight may be lost...but I will find this base and end the battle for Mars." He monologues as he searches...and spots a set of tiretreads...leading to... Jackpot. Viator leaps into the sky and transforms. <<Decepticons, I have found what we seek. Withdraw!>>

<Decepticon> Viator says, "Viator to Trypicon. I am uploading the coordinates of what must be the Autobot base. Prepare to receive."

F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose>, from far off, transmits back, <<You... I what? You found who? Oh, man, in that case I was totally withdrawing cuz I knew you were about to find it.>> Sunbeam and Zigzag, meanwhile, are still recovering from Blaster's vicious electro-scrambling attack.

Combat: Viator begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose>

<Decepticon> Scorn says, "Good work, Viator. Next we can organize a strike team to bring down their flimsy base as easily at the original one!" <Decepticon> Viator says, "Do we have the strength to strike now? We can not allow the Autobots to prepare!" <Decepticon> Scorn says, "We'll see after you return."

Polarity jerks out of the way when Hardhead starts moving again, backpedaling clear to leave the Headmaster swinging wildly... and slug his own teammate trying to help him! This encites a riot of laughter from the Seeker, to the point of cluching his sides. "Fwahahahaha! That couldn't of gone better if I had planned it that way! Buncha a--awk!" The laughfest is cut short as Blaster assaults his audials, and then as he grabs the sides of his helm the Nebbie in her exo takes pot shots at him. "Aaaw, guess mister tough talk couldn't handle me alone, huh? Too bad!" As the order to withdraw is given he launchs himself into the air, looking back just long enough to hold his thumb to his forehead with fingers upright to make an L shape while razzberrying the bots below. "So long, losers!" The cackling continues in his wake as he transforms and blasts off after the other Decepticons. Something happens and Slugfest's little feets lock up! He can barely move! When the retreat is called, he tries using his antigravs to take off, but it's slow.

With the familiar click-clacking sound the Seeker becomes a F-15E Strike Eagle jet!

Combat: Slugfest begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Galvatron, Sweepcraft, F-15E Strike Eagle <Polarity>, F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose>, and Exo-Suit ARES <Velum>

Combat: F-15E Strike Eagle <Polarity> begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from F-16XL Fighting Falcon <Needlenose>

Hardhead grabs the help Blaster offers as he pulls himself up to his feet. The rage that burns in his optic burns brighter as he pivots around towards the fleeing Decepticons. He raises a fist at them as they leave, his targeting computors calculating he couldn't hit them. Finally he lowers his hand and turns to the other Autobots and Velum. "Sorry." Is all he says as he stalks off towards the base.

Space Miner <Landmine> glares after the retreating Avarice, and then shakes his head. "Shoot, if I had a lick of fuel in my tanks, I would've cleaned his clock." he grumbles, and then slowly, very slowly, heads back towards hadhead and Blaster. "Everyone else good?"

Hardhead nods towards Landmine. "I function." He continues to head off!

Amber MacKenzie emerges from her cave and glumly stares out, scanning visually for any lingering Decepticons. If they're gone, she leaps to a jutting ledge about 20 feet down, then another, and another before reaching the canyon floor. She chokes and jumps at the sudden vista of Viator's glaring red optic staring up at her, snickers, and then kicks it lightly. "I guess that's our walking papers, guys. How about setting lots of explosives to give them a nice welcome when they come back?"

Hardhead reaches the base and begins a mental inventory of everyone present at the battle. He pauses for a moment as he speaks into his radio.