Protecting the Innocent

Tarn Region - Cybertron

If a new Cybertronian society were to emerge without the baggage of the Autobots and Decepticons, it would surely come from Tarn Region. With the exception of Tarn itself, several major neutral city-states reside here. From the dour and depressing spires of Kalis to the technological wonders of Tyrest, to Vos with its sharp class divide between those who live up high and those who live below, Tarn Region has something to offer everyone. Many neutral inhabitants choose this as their home, and so the roadways are often crowded and lively with merchants and transports. Only Tarn itself stands alone, still under strong Autobot military control. This gives the Autobots nominal control over the area.

Contents: Arcee

Arcee is in the merchant district of Tarn. She isn't out shopping or trying to be blatantly obvious, although her color makes her something of a dead giveaway. She's secured a favor from a couple of the Autobot-sympathetic locals, and is actually keeping an optic on the goings-on, to see if she can pick out any unusual activity. To remain low key, she's seated in the back of a merchant stall.

Blast Off is also here, and like Arcee... he's attempting to be low key as well. Mainly because he really shouldn't *be* here, tehcnically, given that the Autobot-controlled Tarn is nearby. But he happened to come through the area and stopped here on a whim. Tarn is becoming a bit of a pet project, and he's still attempting to learn more about the citizens, systems, and general ebb and flow of the city. The city that *ought* to belong to the Decepticons, after all! But his recent encounter with Blurr and Arcee inside Tarn make the Combaticon hesitate to try entering the city again so soon. Certainly not without help like Buzzsaw or another spymaster.

Blast Off is a sniper, and thus probably sneakier than many, and *his* color scheme blends into the background very well. But he's not a spy and has no special blending abilities. Just a low-key attitude as he walks along, trying to remain in the shadows. As before, he wears a fine, luxury scarf draped over the Decepticon badge on his chest.

Arcee notices, and then decides to trail Blast Off. But how is she going to manage that, when she's a veritable beacon of obviousness? She'll have to do better than a scarf. She glances around, thinking quickly...

As Blast Off nears an intersection a few blocks up the street, he might see a tiny car trailing him. It's a toy vehicle, Cybertron's answer to the remote-controlled cars that are so popular with Earth children. "Hey mister, where you going?" asks a broadcast voice from a speaker on the toy car's hood. It sounds like a femme, or small youthful mech's voice.

Blast Off walks along, searching the stalls for anyone who looks to be from Tarn, when a small voice pipes up nearby. The Combaticon frowns under his faceplate, slowing to a near-stop, and looks around. It takes a moment, but he finally looks down enough to spot...a toy car? An optic ridge rises up as violey-gray optics glare down. "I am not a "mister". Go away." Yes, Blast Off is such a friendly fellow. A real charmer, yep. He keeps walking, hoping the car does indeed just go away.

"Aw, c'mon. I know who you are!" pipes the childlike voice eagerly, keeping a bit of a distance in case the Combaticon suddenly gets stomp-friendly. "I mean who hasn't heard of you? You're awesome."

Back at the merch booth some distance back, Arcee speaks cheerfully into the remote microphone. "I just wanna know if you come here to help us out!"

Blast Off walks along at a brisk pace, trying to get away from the annoying thing, head hunched down. Then as the "car" speaks he... slows down, face lifting up slightly in surprise before he comes to a full stop and turns his head to stare back at the vehicle. "You... have?" He sounds cautious, but interested. "Who are you?"

"I guess you could say a...fan," The little car broadcasts, stopping and backing up warily. "Of what you do. You still want me to go away? I wanna know how I can join. Are you here to recruit?"

Blast Off stops and crosses his arms as he considers the car. "....Possibly. But I should like to see to whom I am addressing before I give many details...." He looks around uneasily, trying to spot anything that might be amiss. "Are you from Tarn? Where are you? Surely you can understand if I am a bit.... cautious right now."

"Yeah, I know, I'm cautious too, cause I can't really walk right up to you here in this market, cause that Blurr might tag me as a sympathizer or something. I don't know how to prove to you I'm me. All I can tell you is I'm a young mech, I work in this market, and I hate this place. It feels like a prison, and I want something better than this dump."

Arcee smiles to herself. This is going fairly well! She had her doubts about this plan, but it could go one of several ways, depending upon the Combaticon's reaction. She was going to attempt the peaceful approach of information-gathering. But if she couldn't get anything out of him, maybe some good old-fashioned violence would work.

Blast Off leans back, arms still crossed. He looks skeptical... and pensive. "But how do *I* know you're not just Blurr himself?" Air is expelled out of his ventilation systems in slight frustration. He continues looking around, then back to the car.

"I... do not blame you. And I would not want Autof...Autobot oppression either. I have fought against oppressive regimes before, and I am willing to help you. But beyond that... I need to see your face or have some sort of proof you are who you say you are. We could... always meet somewhere." He gazes around the stalls. "In fact, I'm sure there's a nice, quiet... and dark stall around here somewhere."

"Uhm...well...I don't know, mech. I mean..."

Arcee thinks for a moment, thinking there's no way Blast Off would fall for the 'just follow me!' thing twice in a row, so she might need to try a different approach, and then just resort to something violent only if she managed to put him off completely.

"I mean if I was Blurr talking to you, I'd probably get impatient and give up by now. Cause he doesn't mess around, yeah? He just does stuff. So I don't know. I'm scared to come out of my hiding place. I mean, sometimes me and my friends get together and talk about this stuff, but this is the first time I've seen an actual Decepticon here. I just wanted you to know I think it's pretty cool. Even if you can't come meet with me and my friends. I just...wanna know what we can do for you. Or like...what it is you wanna do here. Without making you think I'm Blurr, cause I'm not."

Blast Off finds himself pinching the bridge of his faceplate, which is something Onslaught would do. And suddenly he has a sense of what it must be like for his Commander to deal with his Combaticon soldiers when they're having their doubts, or concerns, or they're just plain bickering. *SIGH* Why must people be so difficult? And Blast Off, while much more patient than Blurr, is hampered by a certain lack of "people skills". But he tries his best to accomplish words of encouragement without giving anything major away (that he hasn't already said, at least).

"I am... glad you are... enthusiastic. However... you must learn..." (Hmmm, what's a good word to use?)... "...courage as well. Sniveling in the shadows only gets you so far. If you'd like to help, come to any Decepticon outpost and tell them Blast Off sent you. You shall remain unharmed. We would like to... fight the Autobots, and you can be part of that."

(...Oh, for Primus sake, did he really just tell a young mech that??) Arcee thinks to herself, feeling appalled. (Well, he's fictional, but STILL, any young mech out here could be thinking something like that.) She tries to fight the urge to go pound him.

"OK! Thanks so much," chirps the happy voice over the RC radio. "I'm so glad you're here! I'm gonna go tell my friends!" The car then does a cute little three point turn, then goes back the way it came.

Meanwhile, Arcee's climbed atop the merch stalls, and is beginning to stalk Blast Off through the streets via rooftop.

Blast Off watches it go, still not quite sure what to make of the whole thing. He's still worried that was Blurr, because...well, it's just seems like the sort of thing Blurr would do. But he maintains his usual aloof demeanor as he begins to head away from the main merchant areas. If it *was* Blurr or someone like him, it's probably time to go before backups arrive. Though if it really *was* an impressionable young mech, then perhaps he'll be seeing some new recruits soon.

He tightens the scarf around his neck a little more securely and slips down into an alleyway that heads diagonally away from the center of the city. Violet optics almost glow in the shadows as he keeps watch for anything unusual... or that looks like it's from Tarn. But he hasn't looked *up*... yet. Blurr's not usually *up* somewhere.

Arcee is pretty battle-hardened after many years of conflict, and typically, she won't allow her personal feelings to cloud her judgment. But this particular run-in with Blast Off has her angrier than even the desert incident, where she was ambushed with a human to protect and no cover from which to benefit. All she can think of is him loading young mechs into his shuttle, and taking them to Darkmount to get their minds polluted with garbage.

And she *is* more patient than Blurr. Blurr would have definitely ambushed Blast Off by now. But Arcee is watching, following, waiting to get him into just the right position. Then she's going to jump him like a common thug, just to feel better.

Blast Off continues walking down the alleyways, trying to remain as inconspicious as possible as he gets the heck outta Dodge. He *could* blast off, like his name, in shuttle mode, but that would leave no question concerning Autobots knowing he was here. If he can avoid that, he would like to. So he continues walking along, looking aloof and relaxed, but capable of shifting into extremely quick, agile battle-related gymnastics at a moment's notice.

He is a Combaticon, and that means he's not only good at combat... he has had enough experience to develop a sense of possible danger lurking about, given enough time. And that sense definitely begins to go off. Blast Off's "brows" furrow... is he just imagining this? Thinking too much of Blurr... or possibly even Wraith, considering the shadows of the alleyway? He slows and looks around again- then ducks down in a side alley, keeping under old canopy covers and stairwells and trying to shake off any potential pursuers. He also brings out his ionic blaster.

Seeing her window of opportunity beginning to slide shut, Arcee executes a running jump off the roof of the building into the alleyway, in an attempt to land right on Blast Off before he gets away. What's the worst that can happen? Oh, probably missing landing on him and ending up in a garbage can. "Not so fast, creep!" she yells as she bounds off the roof towards the Combaticon.

Combat: Arcee misses Blast Off with her Smash attack!

Blast Off finds his suspicions were indeed correct as Arcee comes barreling down at him. He almost gets hit, too, but manages a quick, lanky side-step to the right just in time, bringing up his rifle to whirl around and face her again in one swift movement. And Arcee- hits a garbage can? He smirks smugly under the faceplate as he backs away, trying to get distance between him and the femme. Up close and personal, like Arcee was attempting, never ends well for him. Sniping from a distance is much more his style.

Blast Off sighs. "....Then I suppose that was you? Well... your little farce will come to an end now. Here in the garbage, fittingly, where your kind belongs." And he fies off a shot!

Combat: Blast Off strikes Arcee with his Just stay there it's fitting attack! [Pulled -2]

Combat: Arcee sets her defense level to Neutral.

Humiliated? Oh sure. Down, but not out by any means. There's a reason Arcee was trying to get up close and personal -- she's quite a bit better at close range. But she really f'ed that one up. She's glad that no one ever has to see that. Except maybe Blurr. He won't care, hopefully. That was die-of-embarassment bad. She's *better* than that, for Primus sakes!

For a minute, things are really silent in the bin after she's shot. And Blast Off *did* nail her right in the chestplate at close range. But one shot, is that all it takes to down her?

Suddenly, she comes bounding out of the bin in one swift motion with an anger that's palpable, fists flying. What did Blast Off ever do to *her*?

Combat: Arcee misses Blast Off with her Punch attack!

Blast Off pauses, waiting for some sign of life. Did he really one-shot her? Well, I mean... it wouldn't be *that* surprising, would it? He's really just THAT magnificent, after all!!! But just as the egotistical Combaticon begins to congratulate himself on how awesome he is, Then, suddenly- movement! lots of it!...Slag. Ah well.... okay, maybe two shots, then? He still has time to see her coming, however, and dodges out of the way.

"Tsk! Don't bother getting up. Just offline already. You Autofools never did know when to just give up. It appears to me, however, that you have bitten off a bit more energon than you can chew, so to speak. Combaticons are top of the line, after all." He shoots again, still backing away. Still wants none of that up-close combat, thank you. The shuttleformer darts up onto a stairwell, getting height and distance at the same time.

Combat: Blast Off strikes Arcee with his You'll need to do better than that (Laser) attack!

Combat: Arcee sets her defense level to Aggressive.

Remarkably, after falling face down on the ground *and* getting shot, Arcee pops back up off the ground. She's a big dinged up and shot up, but normally where softer femmes would have given up and plead for mercy, she's got some fight left in her.

And she's *still angry*! She has the most pissed-off look in her optics that Blast Off's seen, perhaps, in a cycle or two. *Something's* riled her up, though it might not be apparent what it is.

Drawing her own pistol, she gives chase up the stairwell, firing off a few shots at Blast Off as she attempts to close the distance between them. She's eyeing that scarf of his, in particular. What the hell kind of disguise is *that*??

Combat: Arcee strikes Blast Off with her Pistol attack!

Blast Off stands looking smugly down at Arcee, but the look on her face gives him pause. Why *is* she so angry, anyway? "What?" He asks, sounding annoyed. "I simply speak the truth. It's not *my* fault if you can't handle it." Then Arcee surprises him by *hitting* him this time. It only scrapes the side of his arm, but still... that's a paint repair job and a few damaged ceramic heat shield tiles that will need replacing. He huffs a little louder this time, and the smugness fades slightly as he gets more serious about getting that distance.

Antigravs kick in and he flies up to the top of the building on the opposite side of the alleyway from the stairwell. He notices Arcee looking at his scarf, and again he says, annoyed, "What?" Picking up a piece of garbage from the roof, he tosses it at Arcee. "You don't like my attempt to accessorise? Here, perhaps this will be more to your liking- and your station in life."

Combat: Blast Off strikes Arcee with his Fashion accessory from me to you (Punch) attack!

Arcee scowls as she gets pelted by an old energon container. Much like a hornet, the tossed garbage just seems to make her angrier than she was before. "Here's the thing, though," she says as she glares at him, not caring if he's going to get away at this point (which it looks like he probably will, given the late hour and the fact he can just fly off without transforming or drawing more attention to himself in some other manner). "It's one thing when you try to draw in starving artists. Or maybe some disillusioned mechs, whatever. But when you try to warp the ones who are so new their paint is still wet...? Seriously, how sick are you?? You're so sickening to me that I'd like to twist your head off and punt it! How LOW can you possibly stoop to try and recruit the young ones? Are you THAT starved for followers?? I'm beginning to wonder!!" Her hand grips the railing so tightly, it's beginning to bend in her hand from the pressure she's exerting.

Combat: Arcee takes extra time to steady herself. [Pass]

Blast Off smirks again as the garbage hits, but the smirk soons fades and the Combaticon finds himself just standing there, blinking in confusion, which soon changes an indignant haughtiness. Vortex is the one who usually gets called sick and twisted, not him. But he's surprised enough that he forgets to attack, instead calling back to the femme, "For one thing, that was *NOT* some new innocent mech... that was *YOU*! And for another thing, I am the *picture* of cultured sophistication. It is not *I* who am sick and twisted. It is *you* Autofools, with your incessant and hypocritical talk of "fighting for the good of Cybertron", while being too weak to protect it from hostile alien enemies and too /cowardly/ to let Tarn's citizens decide their own destiny for themselves!"

The Combaticon points in the direction of Tarn. "If you care so much about "freedom is the right of all sentient beings", then why are there patrol ships over there, making sure Tarn remains a police state where no citizen dares voice an Anti-Autobot opinion for fear of retaliation? And that *includes* your precious "young innocents", coincidentally!"

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

"Yeah, that *was* me, but that doesn't matter because it could have very EASILY been some young mech around here. There's plenty of them," Arcee counters fiercely. "And Tarn is in such an awful state because of mechs like *you* conducting subversive activity, and inciting the locals to violence! Believe me, I've seen the police reports. This would be a peaceful area and we wouldn't NEED a police presence like that if it wasn't for Decepticreeps, so don't you even start with me! Just...just get out of here!" If she had a broom in her hand, she'd probably be poking it visciously at Blast Off. "That's enough trouble for a day. And that's the only reason you come here, too, you don't come here for the great atmosphere -- you come here to be *problematic* and to cause consternation and fights!"

Blast Off stands across the alleyway, then grabs his scarf and tosses it haughtily over his shoulder, not caring if his Decepticon badge shows now. Crossing his arms while still holding his blaster, he gives a cocky tilt of the head as he looks back at the femme. But he's calming down again, and simply listens a moment. He almost chuckles very softly, then gives a faint nod. "...Perhaps. Perhaps that's the only reason.

Certainly, anything I can do to be a hindrance to you Autofools in any way, shape, or form, is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. But... also... just, perhaps... there might be something more."

The Combaticon leans in slightly and raises his index finger for emphasis. "And perhaps.... it is also because I actually *believe* what I am saying... and what I am fighting for. Perhaps I really just don't like "authority figures" who lord it over others. And perhaps there is a reason the citizens of Tarn *are restless, and see Megatron as some sort of folk hero. And even... /*perhaps*/... there is a reason *you* are getting so angry about this. *Could it be* that you see some truth in what I say? ...Have you ever considered *that*... possibility?"

With that, the shuttleformer shrugs, kicks off from the roof and flies away, keeping as low as possible to attempt to avoid being too obvious... but knowing it's time to get away before reenforcements arrive.

Combat: Blast Off begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Arcee

Arcee actually gives Blast Off the courtesy of replying, which is fairly rare for her, especially when she's angry. But maybe it's the point he's trying to make that calms her down enough to listen with interest.

She doesn't say anything until Blast Off finally flies off -- she could put some holes in him with her pistols, perhaps, but why even bother at this point? After she's positive he's gone from the area, Arcee says to no one in particular, "No, I think you carried that one too far, mech. Definitely need to chase your aft out of Tarn each time I catch you in here, now. You got no business in this place. And Primus help you if I ever see you recruiting young mechs."

With that, the battered and bruised Arcee slinks off to go find a drink and a few repairs someplace.