Foiled Execution

At the center of Polyhex, a large crowd has gathered at a row of chemical sheds. Although usually devoid of anything interesting, it would appear that today is a special day. The (best) Insecticon Buzzkill stands before a row of prisoners, each one looking as though they've been through hell itself. All of them have been forced onto their knees, hands welded behind their backs at the wrists to render them unable to retaliate to the abuse they've been subjected to. Buzzkill grabs the first one by the shoulder and drags him out of the line.

"Citizens of Polyhex," the bee starts. addressing the crowd with a stern look. "Today I will demonstrate what happens to those who aid the Autobots. I bring before you these rebels, captued after a fierce battle where they foolishly sided with the enemy."

She grabs the first prisoner, a somewhat bulky teal and black robot, by the neck and yanks him backwards to show the audience his chest which has been split open in a surgically precise fashion to expose his lasercore. "Let what I'm about to do be a lesson to you all."

Buzzkill transforms into her robot mode.

Needlenose frowns as he overlooks the proceedings from a nearby watch tower. The crowd as usual has mixed emotions about this. Some are watching curiously, while others are actively shouting encouragements for Buzzkill to get to the good stuff. Needlenose has been assigned to guard duty, and it's one duty that he finds distasteful in this case. The Targetmaster cradles Sunbeam in his hands and shakes his head, visually scanning each of the prisoners in the row. "Ugh," he mutters as he sees the nasty, yet precise wound that the first prisoner has received. He can only imagine what happened to cause that.

 Repugnus says, "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, I'm in position."

Galvatron doesn't normally come to see the regular liquidations. As Megatron he favored the pomp and circumstance of the traditional smelting pits, but really that was a way of cashing in on the appearance of continuity with Straxus' regime. Ever since his brush with death, Galvatron has harbored an unsteady hatred for anything that smacks too much of frippery and ritual. Capes and crowns. He spits oil on the ground from his position on the city wall overlooking the road, and watches the crowd mill around the chemical sheds.

Galvatron considers going down and ordering them to disperse so that the criminals will meet their end without witnesses. There's something to be said for the humiliation of an unremarked death. But then, it wouldn't be much of an example if so. He folds his arms and holds his tongue.

Repugnus isn't here, honest! But someone else is here, a Decepticon by the name of Angor, a temparemental Decepticon who, ever since coming back from that deep space job in Beta Regulus, has quickly reestablished himself as a Decepticon nobody should mess with--that is, if you don't want your face caved in. He's standing too close to Needlenose right now, watching the proceedings. "PRIMUS! When are they going to get on with it already!?" he rages, stamping a foot. "I've been bored for hours! I wanna see some killing!"

Inside the chemical sheds behind Buzzkill and the row of prisoners, a certain blue speedster is lurking about, watching the proceedings through various windows. Thankfully, the storage buildings are devoid of personnel or bystanders. There are a few drones, but that's it. At least, as far as Blurr can tell.

He's currently crouched behind a bright holographic terminal displaying a full inventory of all the chemicals stored there. The courier opens a comm to Repugnus, who is out in the crowds. <>

Buzzkill is all about making examples, especially when violence is involved. She's very pleased with the turn out and hopes this will boost moral amongst those who have already sided with the Decepticons and strike fear into the cores of those who haven't. "We begin now with this prisoner," Buzzkill begins before being rudely interrupted by the robot she's about to execute.

"Lockjaw.." the robot mutters. Buzzkill glares at him. "What?"

'My name is Lockjaw," the robot known as Lockjaw says, his voice louder. "And one day the Autobots will win this war and send you all to hell!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Buzzkill, obviously displeased with this little outburst, takes a knife from subspace and jams it into Lockjaw's throat, twisting it around a few times before yanking it out, a vital piece of his vocal synthesizer impaled upon it, rendering him unable to speak.

<p class="MsoNormal">"You have no name! You are not worthy of a name! You are scum, the lowest of the low! You die today for your crimes!" With that said, Buzzkill thrusts the knife into Lockjaw's lasercore repeatedly, each strike deeper and more brutal than the last until finally the robot's optics go blank and he collapses onto the ground, a steady stream of energon pooling around his lifeless corpse.

<p class="MsoNormal">"DOES ANYONE ELSE HAVE SOMETHING THEY WANT TO SAY?" she snaps, glaring at the other prisoners awaiting their turn to be killed. They remain silent.

<p class="MsoNormal">Needlenose doesn't even glance over at Squeezeplay. The watch tower they're both in is tiny enough, and it didn't take long for the violent twit to get on Needlenose's nerves. He wonders who he pissed off in the chain of command to get partnered with this moron. "Wouldn't mind if she got it over with myself," he says, though his reasons are entirely different than what he suspects Squeezeplay's are. Then Buzzkill goes ahead and stabs Lockjaw with a knife repeatedly, and Needlenose glances away. Ugh, nevermind, he thinks as he listens to her shouts. Waiting a bit longer would have been better. He makes a note to check with his commanding officer to see if Charr needs more volunteers.

<p class="MsoNormal">Squeezeplay!?! He's not here! Even though Angor does just so happen to be a pretty nifty repaint of Squeezeplay, which is surely just a coincidence. "YEAH! You know what I mean, right? They just screw around all day instead of just GETTING TO IT! Stay here, I'm going to speed things up a bit!" He mutters something into his wrist as he leaps down from the tower. Hm, why didn't he just fly over?

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">Completely coincidentally, at the same time, Repugnus transmits to Blurr, <<That bee witch has just started killing the prisoners. I'm going in--no way to tell when she'll kill another so I got no choice.>>

<p class="MsoNormal">Then, a moment later, Angor approaches Buzzkill at the chemical sheds, snarling, "YOU STUPID BEE! You're doing it wrong!" He whips out his own knife. "If you wanna kill a guy and make it hurt, you gotta go like THIS.." And he stabs downwards at a rebel, as if to ram into his neck, but at the last moment, he whips around and stabs the knife into Buzzkill instead!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Repugnus sets his defense level to Aggressive.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Repugnus strikes Buzzkill with his SURPRISE STAB (Punch) attack!

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Blurr says, "Heh, nice one, Pug."

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Repugnus says, "Yeah, now your turn!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose compares his Intelligence to 90: Failure :(

<p class="MsoNormal">Galvatron cocks a brow. The crowd's getting into it now? That's a positive.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Slag." Blurr curses when Buzzkill doesn't waste any more time. He'd been hoping she'd tarry and give some kind of 'motivational' speech. Peering through a window, he scans the area outside, taking note of Needlenose in a watch tower. <<Watch your back, I've got a positive ID on Needlenose. He's standing in a guard tower on your six...I'll keep my optics on him, but the prisoners are our priority.>>

<p class="MsoNormal">Exiting the storage area from a rear entry, Blurr darts out and rushes toward the prisoners, using a small blaster to deal with the welded limbs. In a flash, each of them have been freed from the bind, granted some of them with a bit of damage to their hands. But nothing that can't be fixed. "Get out of here!" he cries. "I'll cover your retreat!" He hopes the crowd will be too stunned to do much, but he keeps his sights on them, ready to neutralize as many of them as possible if they become problematic.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blurr sets his defense level to Protected.

<p class="MsoNormal">With the blasphemer now dead, Buzzkill prepares for the next one. She unceremoniously shoves the body off to the side with a foot and pulls out a fancy microcloth (with a totallly awesome hexagon design printed on it) to wipe her blade clean of energon. "He will be fed to the Hoarde after the rest of the executions" She looks offended when suddenly Angor seems to come out of nowhere and steal her spotlight.

<p class="MsoNormal">"Excuse me, but who the hell do you think you are? You can't talk to a superior officer that way! Shape up or you'll be next to be kille- URK!" Her sentence is cut short when Angor sticks her in the gut with his own knife, energon begining to seep out around the blade. She's stunned for a second, shocked that anyone would have the metaphorical balls to do something like this to her during a public execution she's currently hosting. She takes a few steps back, piulling herself off the knife and doing her best to stem the bleeding with her hand.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal">"You will pay for that, you traitor.." she growls, taking the pistol maglocked to her side and pointing it at Agnor's stupid ugly face.A flash of blue catches her eye however and it doesn't take her long to guess who it is. She's seething with rage as she watches the prisoners scatter and she steadies her aim, targeting Blurr.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Buzzkill misses Blurr with her pewpew (Pistol) attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Buzzkill (Buzzkill) used "Pistol": A Level 1 RANGED attack.

<p class="MsoNormal">"You're going to WHAT?" Needlenose finally does turn around to face his partner. "Squee- I mean Angor, what the hell are you talking about?" Needlenose jumps to the side as Angor (or whoever) leaps from the tower and lands hard on the ground. The clue that the mech didn't fly there goes right over Needlenose's head... so to speak. Needlenose watches in horror as Angor screams at and then ruthlessly /stabs Buzzkill/. "Holy crap! Sunbeam, did you see that?!" "Zzzz," says his gun. Needlenose hesitates, unsure of what in the blazes he's supposed to do now.

<p class="MsoNormal">Ultimately his confusion, and his inability to quickly recognize the importance of Angor not flying, is deemed unimportant as BLURR of all people suddenly blazes out from within one of the storage areas. Jumping out of the watch tower, Needlenose flies (like a good, responsible Decepticon) towards the stage. He sees Blurr undoing the restraints on the prisoners, but his priority is on saving Buzzkill. Thus, he heroically tries to blast the Monsterbot in the back before he can stab someone new.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose sets his defense level to Guarded.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose strikes Repugnus with his Sun Flare (Laser) attack!

<p class="MsoNormal"><< I know, Blurr, I just wandered away from that guy,>> Repugnus transmits just as Angor takes a shot in the back from Needlenose. << I'll try to get both their attentions on me!>>

<p class="MsoNormal">Angor looks almost disappointed when Buzzkill doesn't judge him to be a worthy target, and suddenly his voice changes, sounding more... familiar? "Who the hell do I think I am?..." the voice purrs. Then, suddenly, armor plates start popping off of Angor! What... what the... IT'S REPUGNUS! OMG, Angor was Repugnus the whole time, who could have known!? "YOU TELL ME!" he screams at Buzzkill as he tries to grab Buzz's pistol hand and twist all the fingers on it in the wrong direction!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Repugnus strikes Buzzkill with his Bees Don't Have Fingers attack! [Pulled -2]

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Buzzkill's Agility. (Crippled)

<p class="MsoNormal">Galvatron shakes his head. Why is nothing simple? He decides not to go kill the Autobots. If his Decepticons can't even carry out a firing squad successfully, he doesn't want to have to save them.

<p class="MsoNormal">Galvatron just turns around and goes back inside the city.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr watches with satisfaction as the rebels flee without much difficulty. That means he can focus on slagging Decepticons.

<p class="MsoNormal">...whoops! He's being shot at! No big though! He just strafes sidways, turning as he expertly dodges the shots, despite not having had his attention focused on Buzzkill initially. "Surprise, surprise! Don't you just love surprises?" he laughs. "Speaking of which, I'm surprised you aren't a better shot than that. I wasn't even paying attention to you." And now his real weapons come out.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blurr sets his defense level to Neutral.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blurr strikes Buzzkill with his PewPewPew attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">That voice.. Buzzkill would know that voice anywhere. The look that overcomes her face as the realization dawns on her can only be described as horrified. "No.." she hisses as she watches the armor pop off Agnor, revealing his true identity and confirming her suspicious.

<p class="MsoNormal">"REPUGNUS!" She sounds shocked, SHOCKED by this even though she really should've seen it coming. Repugnus always manages to find a way to ruin her good time.Immediately she tries to put as much space between her and the Monsterbot as possible but she's held in place when he grabs her hand. As if that wasn't horrible enough, he starts to twist her fingers the wrong way, the seams in her joints whining under the stress before finally breaking with a disgusting SNAP noise, causing her to drop her weapon to the ground and ultimately rendering that hand useless.

<p class="MsoNormal">"GET AWAY FROM ME YOU REPULSIVE BEAST!" She uses her other hand to punch Repugnus as hard as she can in the face. A lot. So obsessed is she on punching Repugnus to death that she pays little to no attention to the shots peppering her frame thanks to Blurr's pistol.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Buzzkill strikes Repugnus with her Fist vs Face (Punch) attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Needlenose's optics narrow as Angor's voice becomes much more recognizable. "Sonuva..." he mutters. Unsure of whether he should try to blast Blurr or stick with Repugnus, Needlenose asks and gets a quick answer on the Decepticon broadband. Sparing just a glance at Blurr, then, Needlenose shouts, "Zigzag, get the frak out here!" And from his subspace holster comes his second Nebulon target. Ignoring the prisoners as they rush into the bewildered crowd, Needlenose instead raises Sunbeam and Zigzag over his head.

<p class="MsoNormal">There's a crack of lightning, followed by Needlenose standing in front of a mountain for some reason. "BY THE POWER OF DARKMOUNT... I... HAVE.... THE POWERRRRRRRRR!!" Now back in the scene, Needlenose takes aim at Repugnus with his electrostatic cannon. "Don't worry, Commander, consider him repulsed." Ka-BOOM! A lightning flash streaks from Zigzag's barrel down towards the Autobot!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose sets his defense level to Aggressive.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose strikes Repugnus with his Electrostatic Overloader Rifle attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose uses up a charge on his Double Targetmaster booster pack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose's attack has strange and mysterious effects on Repugnus.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Repugnus's Accuracy. (Blinded)

<p class="MsoNormal">Repugnus's face just won't stop grinning at Buzzkill even as she does her best to wipe that look off his face with her fist. "What, you don't miss me?" he coos. "You don't miss the way I SPLIT YOUR GUTS OPEN with my claws?" He finishes with a horrifying cackle. "But you're not special, Buzz! Really! I'm like this with ALL the Decepticons! Now for the coup de--ARGH!" And suddenly he takes a lightning bolt to the back and as the electricity surges through him, his optical sensors short out! "AGGH! Can't see!" Stumbling away from Buzzkill, he turns around, trying to figure out who did that to him. Buuut he still can't see, so Repugnus elects to transform into monster mode, and he slashes blindly as he approaches Needlenose. "I can't see you, Needlenose, but I can follow that trail of OZONE right to you!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Repugnus twists and flips around into his horrific creature mode!

<p class="MsoNormal">Bug Creature <Repugnus>'s claws keep going through the air, so Repugnus sighs and just sprays sparks everywhere. People in the crowd might get hurt, but odds are none of them will be the people they just rescued (hopefully).

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Bug Creature <Repugnus> strikes Needlenose with his Spitting Sparks attack! [Pulled -2]

<p class="MsoNormal">Blast Off  comes flying into view and spots the activity below. He circles closer to investigate.

<p class="MsoNormal">The story so far is that Buzzkill was holding a public execution behind some chemical sheds as Needlenose and countless spectators watched. She successfully executed one neutral before Repugnus, disguised as some robot nobody cares about, popped out and stabbed her right in the gut. Also, Blurr came out of nowwhere to free the prisoners and start shooting her all willy nilly.

<p class="MsoNormal">Basically it's just another day in the Transformers universe.

<p class="MsoNormal">Buzzkill grits her teeth as her punches do practically nothing to Repugnus expect encourage him to be even creepier and repugnant...er (that's a word now.) "Arrogant Autobot scum! May you rot in Cybertron hell!" She gives him a rough shove after Needlenose's shot distracts him before turning around and making a break for it, anti-gravs soon kicking in and sending her flying off to safety. It's not running away, she's just..taking a break or something. Shut up!

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr finds Buzzkill's horror at Repungus kind of hilarious. It's like she's terrified of him. He chuckles, but then Needlenose has charged into the fight, blasting Repugnus with electricity and blinding him temporarily. Hopefully Repugnus' area attack hasn't hit any of the escaping prisoners.

<p class="MsoNormal">But Blurr doesn't have much time to concern himself with that. He raises his weapons, directing them at Needlenose this time. "Heh, the way she was looking, I'd have almost thought you guys were afraid of us!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blurr strikes Needlenose with his Scared? attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Needlenose would normally ask what the Autobots have against Buzzkill so much, but after the display with that first prisoner he thinks he already gets it. Girl is creepy with a capital Creep. But now that she's fled and Needlenose's backup guard turned out to be a damn dirty Autobot, it's starting to dawn on Needlenose just how bad the odds are for him here. One of the stray shots from Repugnus's random firing hits him in the shoulder, but Needlenose brushes it off with the dashing flair that everyone loves. Right? Right.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blurr is something else entirely, though. "Yeah well you thought wrong, speed dude," Needlenose retorts, though even he knows Blurr probably has it right. The weaponsfire knocks the Targetmaster out of the sky, causing Sunbeam and Zigzag to fall out of his grasp. They separate and transform, landing amongst the now panicking crowd. As Decepticon citizens stampede past him, Needlenose tries to move through them back towards Blurr and Repugnus, but it's slow going in this crowd. In fact, it's only luck that he emerges right next to Blurr, and he tries to take a swing at him before he can speed off like he always does.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose sets his defense level to Guarded.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose misses Blurr with his Punch attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose (Needlenose) used "Punch": A Level 1 MELEE attack.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blast Off  briefly watches the comings and goings happening below. He notices Needlenose's plight, but he honestly doesn't really care very much. Thinking for a moment, he comes slowly down from the sky, alighting near Repugnus. "I heard something on the radio about the need for someone to shoot Repugnus." His visors glint. "I'd be happy to oblidge."

<p class="MsoNormal">Once again, Blurr twists out of the way. Needlenose's fist only connects with the empty space above the speedster's shoulder. "Well, if I'm not right about that yet, I will be." he says, smirking. And he retaliates in kind, an arm swinging out to strike him with an uppercut to the chassis.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blurr strikes Needlenose with his Uppercut attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Bug Creature <Repugnus> shakes his hideous head as he clears the static from his vision. But just as he does, he stumbles as he takes another shot, this time from Blast Off. "Nff, a need to shoot me? What, that's not a standing order already?" he says, transforming back into robot mode to face his attacker. He seems almost surprised to see Blast Off there. "Blast Off? Well! Been a while since I've seen you! Say, shouldn't you be up in orbit hiding from people like me?" He sends another response to the Combaticon in the form of a haymaker! "Even Buzzkill knows to hide from me!" he says.

<p class="MsoNormal">The creature spins and twists about into Repugnus's robot mode!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Repugnus misses Blast Off with his Dirty Fighting attack! [Pulled -1]

<p class="MsoNormal">Needlenose grunts as his fist sails over Blurr's shoulder instead of satisfyingly into his face. He stumbles forward, momentarily losing his balance. His awkward strike had been the result of being startled, and he's in no position to defend himself when Blurr retaliates. The Autobot's fist smacks Needlenose square in the face plate, and he's sent flying backwards into a crowd of fleeing Decepticon civilians.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Needlenose takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

<p class="MsoNormal">Blast Off  dodges Repugnus' fist with the ease of one used to combat situations. He sniffs a little. "Please. Under ordinary circumstances I can't be BOTHERED to come down here to deal with little bugs like you. I was bored, so today I made an exception." As he finishes his dodge and finds a clear shooting lane, he raises his Ionic Blaster again to shoot.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blast Off strikes Repugnus with his Ionic Blaster (Laser) attack!

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Repugnus says, "Oof. Starting to feel it."

<p class="MsoNormal">Repugnus takes the shot to his chest, adding yet another ugly pockmark to his body. Internally, he assesses the damage--weapons capacitor. The Monsterbot laughs, since he prefers stabbing to shooting. "Oh, come on now, Blast Off! I'm at least a medium-size bug!" he says, grinning at the Combaticon in his usual "I'm going to cut you up and trick the Dinobots into eating you" sort of way. Then he lunges at Blast Off, tries to grab him by the shoulders, and toss him into the crowd with Needlenose! "Hey, if the crowd likes you, maybe they'll catch you!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Repugnus sets his defense level to Fearless.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Repugnus strikes Blast Off with his Dirty Fighting attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Blast Off's Agility. (Crippled)

<p class="MsoNormal">And Needlenose doesn't even retaliate. Yet. "See, I'm starting to look right already!" Blurr calls after the Decepticon as he smacks into a crowd of civilians. Thus, he turns his attention to Blast Off, who is facing off with Repugnus, since Pug's mentioned on the comm that he's taken some significant damage.

<p class="MsoNormal">So the speedster aims to take some of the weight off of Repugnus' shoulders while Needlenose appears to be temporarily out of commission. Transforming, he drives straight at Blast Off's back, seeking to run him over. Hopefully without also running Repungus over.

<p class="MsoNormal">In a flurry of moving parts, Blurr folds down into a pale blue-colored supersonic hovercar.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> misses Blast Off with his Ram attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Needlenose is slow to get up, but he quickly becomes visible again as the crowd vanishes around him, fleeing back into the rest of the city. On the plus side that means Needlenose can shoot things without having to worry about hitting allies. On the downside, that wouldn't have stopped him before. Glancing left and right, he doesn't see any of the prisoners the Autobots came here to free. He guesses the Bots would have had some kind of plan to evacuate them, as they'd likely be caught if they try to make it out on their own power. Nor does he see Sunbeam and Zigzag. Primus only knows where they went.

<p class="MsoNormal">After a quick chat with Blast Off on the Decepticon frequency, the Targetmaster transforms into F-16 mode, soaring off into the sky. He isn't fleeing, though. No, he's breaking out the good stuff. The supersonic jet circles around slowly, building up in speed as it locks onto Repugnus. "You came to the wrong city to start your brand of crap, Repugnus." From under his left wing, a single missile streaks downwards, leaving a thick trail of smoke to mark its path.

<p class="MsoNormal">Robots in disguise! Needlenose transforms into his F-16XL Jet Fighter mode!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: F-16XL Jet Fighter <Needlenose> sets his defense level to Aggressive.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: F-16XL Jet Fighter <Needlenose> strikes Repugnus with his Proton Missiles attack!

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Repugnus says, "Gah! Blurr, I think we've given the prisoners enough time to escape. Now WE'VE got to escape!"

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Sit-Com says, "Cheese it, it's the Feds!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Blast Off is less successful evading Repugnus this time. Repugnus grabs him by the shoulders, and despite his struggles, tosses him into the crowd of civilians. The crowd does NOT catch the Combaticon, who falls with a thud on the ground. "Oooof!" Temporarily stunned, he senses his agility is weakened- which is a BAD THING, as he now looks up to see a blue HoverCar barreling towards him. Battle reflexes honed by millions of years of military training wins the day, however, and he is able to avoid the car just in time. He begins to get on his feet, cursing Primus about how he will tear that bug and that Hovercar to pieces. Blast Off aims his blaster at Blurr, trying to aim a little ahead of the speedy Autobot and connect his shot.

<p class="MsoNormal"><Autobot> Blurr says, "You're right, this is a waste of time. We need to make sure they make it out of the city."

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blast Off strikes Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> with his Ionic Blaster (Laser) attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Blast Off (Blast Off) used "Laser": A Level 2 RANGED attack.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blam. The shot connects, causing the hover car to go spinning out of control. "Argh!" Blurr transforms and then returns to vehicle form once again to regain control of his movements. Once he recovers from the blast, "Whoa, you guys finally hit me. Ha! Took you long enough!"

<p class="MsoNormal">There is a more pressing matter to attend to, though...he doubts the prisoners will be able to get past the perimeter guards by themselves. He and Repugnus will have to escort them out. Opening a comm to the rebels, he instructs them to lay low just near the outskirts and wait for them to clear the way.

<p class="MsoNormal">Suddenly, the hovercar swerves sharply, turning around and heading back toward the Combaticon for a second run. Hopefully this time he'll actually nail the guy.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> sets his defense level to Fearless.

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Cybertronian Hovercar < Blurr> strikes Blast Off with his Sonic Boom attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Repugnus has enough time to laugh at Blast Off getting tossed into the rabble before a missile explodes across his back and sends him flying into the very same crowd. Fortunately, they do catch him--albeit with their faces, but that suits the Monsterbot just fine as he bowls over a whole heaping of people. "Nff, sorry, Needles, but there's no such place as a place where I won't start MY brand of crap! Repugco, bringing tears and torment to evil-doers since 1867!" He laughs in his diabolical way as he lines up a shot on Needlenose with his Venom Laser and fires a stun bolt. "Oh, and happy landing, Needles! Heeheehee!"

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: Repugnus strikes F-16XL Jet Fighter <Needlenose> with his Venom Laser attack!

<p class="MsoNormal">Combat: F-16XL Jet Fighter <Needlenose> has been temporarily incapacitated.

<p class="MsoNormal">F-16XL Jet Fighter <Needlenose> grins inwardly as his missile hits home. Even better, Blast Off did what he couldn't by shooting Blurr. Just when Needlenose is thinking they might have the enemy on the run, everything starts going bad. He hears a sonic boom go off that he doubts even Blast Off would be able to outrun, and the next thing he knows he's been hit by something mysterious. The Targetmaster's systems suddenly stop responding as electrical current crackles and arcs over his body. "Nnngh..." Needlenose stammers.

<p class="MsoNormal">The F-16's engine sputters and gives out, leaving Needlenose completely powerless and gliding only on two wings and a prayer. His flight path is taking him east towards the crossroads, but from the way he's losing altitude it's clear he isn't going to make it that far unless he can re-establish control over his own body. This would be a good time to escape.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blast Off is just getting back on his feet, gloating at being the one to finally hit Blurr, when Blurr surprises him with another attack. Still slightly unsteady, he is not able to evade the attack this time and is hit full-center by the speeding Hovercar's sonic boom. It is so powerful it knocks him back from the crowd. Blast Off is severely damaged. He stumbles to his feet, then transforms to his space shuttle mode while he still can. "Curse you both! This will not be the last time you hear from me!"

<p class="MsoNormal">With a disdainful shrug, Blast Off transforms into a space shuttle.

<p class="MsoNormal">Repugnus howls with laughter as Needlenose begins his slow but inevitable descent into oblivion. "Have fun with that Needles!" Repugnus cackles, turning his back on the double Targetmaster and running off into the crowd. Even someone as recognizable as Repugnus might be able to get lost in such a diverse crowd of random robots, and so it is that the inevitable search parties don't turn him up and one of their members is reported MIA (Primus save his soul).

<p class="MsoNormal"><<Let's get the frag out of here.>> Blurr says on the comm, once he is satisfied with the amount of force he has struck Blast off with. <<Those prisoners won't be able to get out of the city without our help. Better see to them before the guards discover them.>>

<p class="MsoNormal">And with that, the supersonic speedster is off!

<p class="MsoNormal"> <pre style="white-space: pre-wrap;">

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===================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/119                    Posted        Author AAR: Polyhex Rescue               Sun May 05    Blurr --       A text report from Autobot Intelligence.

Thanks to intel retrieved from members of the resistance in Crystal City, we became aware of the Decepticons' plans to publicly execute a group of Autobot supporters in Polyhex.

So, Repugnus and I deployed to the site of the execution to free the prisoners and esort them out of the city. Decepticons Buzzkill, Needlenose, and Blast Off were present, with Buzzkill hosting the event. Buzzkill retreated quickly when she saw Repugnus, though, and Blast Off arrived as backup. Needless to say, we slagged them good, and the prisoners escaped the city safely. Medics at Autobot City are currently seeing to their repairs. I'll leave it up to Command to decide where we will offer them sanctuary, or whether we'll offer to allow them into our ranks. That's about it. Blurr, signing off.

End transmission.

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==================== Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/128                    Posted        Author Skirmish on Road to Polyhex       Sun May 05    Blast Off -- ***Blast Off appears on video at the Trypticon Medical Bay. He is heavily damaged and getting repaired by Blunt. "Do you mind? I am trying to make a report here!" Brunt stops repairs in a huff and Blast Off turns to look at the screen.*** This is Blast Off. I have returned from my deep space mission (which was very important and complicated and most of you wouldn't be able to understand the kind of precise skills required for such a mission....but anyway...) He continues, "I am reporting a skirmish on the Road to Polyhex. Buzzkill was excuting riffraff when Repugnus and Blurr decided to spoil her fun. She successfully executed one neutral before Repugnus and Blurr came out of nowwhere to free the prisoners and attack. Needlenose and I engaged the enemy but the crowd and confusion made it difficult to deal the kind of damage we COULD do otherwise. Of course, I was far more accurate than Needlenose and it was *I* who finally shot Blurr. But it was to no avail.... The Autotbots got lucky this time. Next time I will line the walls of Trypticon with their hides. Ravage and I have been talking and we may be able to enact a plan from his location at Cuprahex. Ideally, I will soon be able to report that Repugnus and Blurr are nothing more than scorched piles of dust haunting memories and nothing more. Blast Off out.***

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