Poetic Justice

Alameda, formerly the site of the Naval Air Station and the associated Marine base, is now home to the newly formed EDC and its massive launching, recovery and repair facilities. The city seems to have adapted to the change rather well. The carriers, cruisers and destroyers formerly tied up alongside the piers have been replaced with hyper-sonic fighter craft, interplanetary interceptors and shuttles of all varieties, but the servicemen never change. The towers and hangars of the EDC shine brightly in the sun.

MiG-25PD "Foxbat-E"  skims across the bay at a very low altitude, transforming to gouge a pair of furrows through the rocky soil of the hills north of the city as he skids to a stop. He holds up a hand to the Constructicon-looking fellow following behind him to stop. "That's it down there. Did you bring a camera?"

With a loud clanging and ratcheting sound Blitzwing assumes his robot form.

Steamroller rolls along, being as sneaky as a big roller can. He looks up at Blitz. "A camera? Sheesh, we should have invited Reflector. But I gotta good memory, yeah? I am a computer after all."

"Well, so am I, but I've taken a lot of hits to the head over the last few million years, yeah?" replies Blitzwing, flattening himself to the ground in a copse of scrubby trees. "Okay then, here's how we'll do. It looks pretty quiet down there, they're probably having a human government holiday or something. Go on down and look for good things that you can tell Aerospace to bomb later. Try not to get pinned down, I don't want to have to extract you. Come back here when you're done, or call me to cover your escape, whichever."

"Oh man!" Cambria Douglas exclaims happily as she leans back in a convieniently placed lawn chair. "I can't tell you how glad I am that there aren't any Decepticon attacks going on right now!" She's talking, of course, to her exo-suit which stands motionless nearby. She's not crazy. Really. "I hope no one minds that I'm just hanging out in front of the building like this. I mean, it's not very professional. Or necessary.." Her conversation partner remains silent.

Andi Lassiter is walking toward the entrance to the EDC base, having forgotten something earlier in the day and just now returning to retrieve it. She waves hello to the young lady on guard duty (?) just outside the gates, only slowing her pace a bit as if having every intention of just continuing on into the base proper. "Hello."

Steamroller whispers, "Right, don't worry about me." He transforms slowly, dampening the sound as best he can, and then creeps forward. He will store as much of what he sees as he can in his memory banks, but he's really here hoping to cause some havoc. He likes havoc. He sees Andi and Cambria and hunches low, staying out of sight.

The big roller separates, fists sliding out to lift the front end of the compactor, legs flip down and extend, and the head slides up to reveal the smirking face of Tremor!

"Yooo!" Cambria says, flashing a lazy peace sign at the passing Andi. She settles in to her chair and pulls out a pack of cigarettes when suddenly.. "Hey! Wait a minute!" Cambria stands up and puts a hand on her ridiculously conspicuous holster. "....Do I know you?"

Blitzwing keeps watch with his telescopic visor and fades into the background as his player goes to bed, but remains ready as an NPC to bring the hammer down on the base defenses just long enough to attempt to extract Tremor if he needs that excuse to escape!

Andi Lassiter chuckles, flashing a peace sign back at Cambria as she passes by, then stops when the young lady exclaims. She looks at her for a moment, not sure if she recognizes her or not. Too many years and too many young faces. "I'm not sure." She offers her hand to the exo pilot. "I'm Andi Lassiter."

Cambria Douglas takes Andi's hand and gives it a firm (and rough) shake almost like she's compensating for something. "Cool to meet you, Andi. I'm Cambria. Cambria Douglas." She grins. "So...uh...what's up?"

Andi Lassiter is only very briefly surprised by Cambria's rough handshake, compensating and returning it in kind. "Good to meet you, Cambria. Oh, I just forgot my datapad back in the office," she gestures toward the base, "so I thought I'd come back for it while I was in the area getting dinner." She then frowns slightly, turning her head a bit but not actually toward Tremor's hiding place as if she heard something unexpected.

Cambria Douglas eventually releases Andi's hand and places it on her hip so she stands akimbo. "Ah! I see! I was just, uh.." She looks at her lawnchair and then at her exo-suit. "You know, on important guard duty."

Tremor ducks as Andi looks in his direction. It galls him to hide from humans. Maybe he doesn't have to go around! Maybe he could roll up to the gate, smash the fleshlings, and then continue his scouting from inside! He considers this a moment...

Andi Lassiter smiles and nods to Cambria, though her head is still canted slightly off. "Well, I know it can get boring at times. Let me run in for my datapad and then I can stop and chat for a bit. Deal?"

"Hey, cool! Sounds like a plan!" Cambria exclaims with a grin. Slightly curious about what Andi is looking at, she too turns her head. "...Raccoon or somethin'?"

Andi Lassiter shakes her head, now looking about as if searching for something. "I thought I heard something a moment ago." She pitches her voice lower, in case they're being observed. "Stay alert, just in case."

Tremor realizes, to his frustration, that he'd be unlikely to be able to kill both humans without one of them managing to raise some kind of alarm. His ground pound would definitely attract attention. He lays low as they look in his direction, trying to flatten himself out and look like part of the brush.

"Maybe you didn't hear anything at all." Cambria says. She pulls her revolver our and aims it at the suspicious bushes. "But just in case!" BANG! BANG! BANG! Cambria fires three rounds from her revolver. "You can never be too safe!"

Air Raid folds and compacts, transforming into his robot mode.

Air Raid has paused to take a break from his patrol, having descended to one of EDC hangars. He spots Andi not terribly far away and gives her a friendly wave before heading in their direction. The rounds fired make him tense, and he dashes over, fists raised. "What is it, what's wrong!"

Andi Lassiter gasps, hastily covering her ears and wincing at how loud the handgun is. "I guess, but warn me next time." She missed Air Raid's wave, but not his rushing up to them. "Probably nothing, Air Raid. I thought I heard something, but knowing our luck it was probably just a stray dog or something."

Tremor covers his head as Cambria fires three shots straight at him! One of them plants itself hot into the dirt inches from his face! He grits his teeth and tries not to stand straight up and start the ground shaking. Is that an Autobot approaching? He's pinned and his fuel pump is pounding like crazy. He springs to his feet and tries a risky dash out of the view of his enemies.

Andi Lassiter startles as her oddly sharp hearing again picks up something, but again she's not sure what. It /almost/ sounded like Sideswipe fleeing the scene of a prank. But not quite.

Cambria Douglas lifts her gun and pretends to blow smoke off the barrel like a totally bad-ass movie character. "/Just/ a stray dog? Stray dogs are dangerous! All of them!" She holsters her revolver and sighs. "Whatevs. It's dead now."

Air Raid isn't so sure of that, and cautiously unspaces his torque rifle, attempting to follow the faint sound of footsteps. "Show yourself," he demands, jogging purposefully along the brush.

Tremor now has Air Raid to deal with! He swears under his breath as he tries to flee. He makes a quick broadcast over the Decepticon channel as he ducks behind a cluster of boulders.

 Tremor says, "Recon report: found a good place to bomb here. I'm thinking EVERYTHING."

Cambria Douglas honestly didn't think anything was there. She was just being a show-off and flaunting her super cool gun. It's pretty sweet. Did you see how it fired?? It was amazing! Air Raid's enthusiasim for solving the mystery, however, sparks uncertainty in Cambria's mind.

Cambria Douglas shouts over at Air Raid, "Hey! Can you check and make sure I didn't kill anything? And if I did...can you tell me what it was?" She seems very adamant about this.

The Autobot's right there! It's infuriating! Suddenly something occurs to him - a bolt of proton lightning blasts his processor and leaves him on the verge of cackling with glee. He raises his arms above his head. No one would be surprised about an earthquake in California, right? And with this, Tremor prepares for a tectonic shock.

Andi Lassiter watches Air Raid check out what she thought she heard, but when Cambria expresses concern about actually having hit something, she hurries across to where the bushes are to see. Finally she calls back, "I don't see anything over here, Cambria. I think you're okay."

Combat: Tremor misses Air Raid with his Tectonic Shock Area attack! [Pulled -1]

Combat: Tremor misses Cambria Douglas with his Tectonic Shock Area attack! [Pulled -1]

Combat: Tremor strikes Andi Lassiter with his Tectonic Shock Area attack! [Pulled -1]

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

Cambria Douglas sighs. Wether it's a breath of relief or a frustrated noise over not killing anything is up for debate. Suddenly the ground begins to shake and Cambria is sent stumbling around in a poor effort to keep her footing. "OH GOD! I HAVE ANGERED MOTHER NATURE AND SHE'S OUT TO GET ME!"

Andi Lassiter yelps in surprise at the sudden tremor and loses her balance, and in doing so turns her ankle. She ends up half-sprawled on the ground...wait, are these tracks made by a mech other than Air Raid? Crap, there WAS someone here. She tries to get to her feet and hisses as her ankle protests supporting her weight.

As the shock dies down, Tremor's smirk spreads into a positively lupine sneer. He can't help but peek from his hiding place to see how much damage he's done. When it looks as if he's managed to harm one of the humans, he chuckles to himself. But what about the Autobot? He doesn't dare look too far. He pops quickly back into his hiding spot and sends another message.

 Tremor says, "These humans sure to break easy."

Air Raid leaves Andi to Cambria (hopefully) and bolts after what he was sure was a Decepticon; one he hadn't had the pleasure of meeting yet but a 'con nonetheless. At least the evening was no longer painfully boring! With a wicked grin, Raid leaps over the remaining boulders and attempts to grapple the mech and yank him into the open. Attempts, because he wasn't in the best shape to be fighting.

Combat: Air Raid strikes Tremor with his Grab attack!

"Holy crap!" is all Cambria can say as all this happens. Hopefully it's a lame Decepticon like Frenzy or something.

Andi Lassiter stands still for a moment to make sure her ankle is the only thing she's busted from that tremor, and also in case there are aftershocks. She's lived in California more than long enough to know to expect them. Then finally she tries to take a step, and ... "*BLEEP*!" She takes a few sharp breaths. Okay, maybe more than just turned. Effing OUCH, dangit.

Tremor is quite literally yanked from his quiet revelry! He is dragged into the open and hits the ground hard. He stares up into the Aerialbot's face. "Ah, I missed ya did I?" He chuckles. "Lucky you."

"Shut yer' ugly mug y'ground pounder," Raid evades being shrugged off and plants a foot on Tremor's chest, rifle aimed at his helm. "You alright Andi?" he calls, then turns back to Tremor. "On second thought, spill it, what're you doin' here all by your lonesome?"

"HOLY CRAP!" Cambria points at Tremor and gasps. "IT'S....IT'S..." She lowers her hand and frowns. "....Who is that robot anyway?" It doesn't really matter though. It's a Decepticon and Decepticon's need to have their faces punched off. "Andi! Find cover! I'm going to back up the Autobot!" Air Raid doesn't need it but does that stop Cambria? She runs to her exo-amor and climbs in to it; strapping herself in and settling at the controls. Suddenly the exo lives and makes a B-line for the robot war! "YOU'RE ABOUT TO GET CRUSHED, DECEPTI-ASSHOLE!"

Cambria Douglas enters the Warthog Exo-Armor .

Andi Lassiter hears Air Raid's shouts in her direction, and as easy as it would be to say 'I'm fine', it would be an outright lie. And then Cambria goes all psycho-soldier. Great. She looks around, then just gingerly sits right back down where she is. Dang, that hurt even worse than standing up did. It's not like there's much by way of cover around here anyway, and she can't exactly run for the safety of the security gate.

Combat: Andi Lassiter runs a diagnostic check on Air Raid

Tremor holds his hands out and lets out a bit of a snicker. "I saw a bug," he says through his smile, "nice big black fella. Big pincers. Had to smash it." He looks Andi's way. "Wouldn't have wanted it crawling into her boot eh?"

Air Raid arches an optic ridge as Cambria comes running, then lifts his foot to thump it down again. "You'll pay for that," he grates through his unsettling grin, cocking his rifle, "Unfortunately that's not the answer I was looking for, 'con. Answer truthfully or I'll blow off those troublesome arms of yours." He gives Cambria a look that says 'feel free to rough him up', as if she'd bother waiting for permission.

From Warthog Exo-Armor , "YEAAAAH! LET'S KICK HIS ASS!" Cambria pushes on the controls and the exo-armor darts forward. After two whole steps the armor lurches to a stop and goes offline. "OH NOOOOOO!" Cambria screams from inside.

Andi Lassiter sighs. Today has just been AWFUL. She decides that even as humiliating as it might be, hobbling over to the security gate and raising the alarm is probably for the best. So that's what she does...and gets shooed off to the medcenter for her effort. Dangit.

Tremor laughs as Cambria's armor seems to fail on her. "You've got tech issues to go with your anger issues, Autobrat." He leans up, pushing against Air Raid. "Pull the trigger, eh? I wanna see your mean streak. But don't let it all out, cause you're gonna need some of that anger after this place burns."

Air Raid's grin fades as he grows impatient. "Mean streak huh..." He gets pushed off, but still keeps his aim. A sympathetic look is given to Cambria. "I'm gonna' ask one more time before I start bringin' the pain," Raid warns Tremor. This whole threat dance was useless, Raid knew it, the 'con wouldn't be intimidated, but it was sort of protocol...

How embarassing! Within the Exo-Armor, Cambria looks absolutely furious. It was her moment to shine! She was going to take down the Decepticon and be a hero!

The cockpit on the Warthog pops open and Cambria stands up from her seat; revolver grasped between her hands. "EXO OR NOT, I AIN'T QUITTIN'!" She opens fire.

Cambria Douglas leaves the Warthog Exo-Armor .

Combat: Cambria Douglas strikes Tremor with her Taurus Raging Bull attack!

Combat: Tremor falls to the ground, unconscious.

Tremor stands and makes a show of brushsing himself off. He tilts his head quickly and hooks his thumbs on the edge of his chestplate. "Ya don't listen to good. Just think a this place, and then think of . . . a nice big smoking crater. Hmm? Now put the two together. Fun, innit?" His mouth opens and a laugh begins, but it's cut short quickly as Cambria puts a bullet, of all things, straight through his open mouth and into his primary cranial control module, causing him to lose the ability to stand and to drop to the ground like a marionette. He is temporarily paralyzed, but his vocal processor still works somewhat. "That's what I'm," his voice fuzzes out, "talkin' about." He chides Air Raid. "Someone here has that violence in 'em, at least."

Cambria Douglas looks at the fallen Tremor. Then her gun. Then back at Tremor. She looks over at Air Raid; eyes wide. "Holy crap!"

Air Raid just stands there, at an utter loss for words. Cambria just...and he... holy slag. His mechly pride, oh no! "Th'... lucky shot. You could've killed him! We need info! Primus!" Raid throws his hands up and glowers down at Tremor. Eventually he puts two and two together. Tremor might not be the brightest 'con but Raid's not the bright 'bot either. "Wait... they're gonna' bomb Alameda?" Scowling, Raid aims a kick at Tremor's side. "When!"

Tremor just laughs. His face is frozen in that rictus grin.

At this point, Blitzwing roars up from his hiding place, firing a few wild shots intended to distract the Air Raid and Camrbia for an instant. He moves in swiftly, pushing past Air Raid to scoop up Tremor before the impulsive Decepticon can say anything more damaging. He's transforming even as he grabs his fallen comrade, shifting into his MIG25 mode and roaring away with Tremor in the cockpit.

Cambria Douglas watches the Decepticons leave; still in shock over her astounding victory. "Uhm...y-yeah! And don't come back! You jerks!"

"SLAGGIT," Raid runs after them for a bit, firing off a few shots that miss their mark terribly. "ENJOY YOUR PROCESSOR DAMAGE," he shouts, shaking a fist. "..." Sigh.