Smelting Pool Smackdowns

Smelting Pools - Kolkular - Kaon

A place of true nightmares, the Smelting Pools are filled with distant screams of agony as the Decepticons execute the prisoners of war, unruly soldiers deserving of punishment, or mechs they just don't like. A blinding molten fluid froths below in steep, squarish pits lined with the claw marks of desperately grasping hands. There are numerous menacing guards that patrol the catwalks between the pits, all too eager to shoot down any mech that climbs too far, and across from them is what seems to be a processing warehouse. The melted metal gleaned from the pools is formed into ingots, and these once-mechs are all piled up in neat clusters, awaiting shipment.

Flying low overhead of the Decepticon city of Kaon, Grimlock and Wraith are pulling a guerilla mission of sorts. Totally off the books. Taking advantage of his flight capability, Grimlock carries with him a small box, about the size of an empty energon cube, except this one is matte black with several symbols on it. He also transmits land co-ordinates for Wraith to follow on ground, so that tactically if one is noticed the other bot may not be. <"Me Grimlock say remember, no tell anyone we here. Ultra Magnus would pop circuit if he knew."> -Bot to Bot radio transmission. Finally, Grimlock glides up to the infamous Smelting Pools, the demise of many Bots before him, as he hovers out of sight of the gaurds, keeping watch for any intruders below.

Wraith checks skyward as he follows the coordinates and grid, out of form simply to keep the noisy exhaust from alerting anyone to their presence. Not that Grimlock is precisely made for stealth, but...still. He's got thicker skin than the Lambo-former. So, yeah... he's on foot.

<> Wraith ducks into the shadows, dimming the flow of energon through the lines crisscrossing around his body for the sake of stealth. <> Combat: Wraith slips into the shadows and out of sight...

Misfire has arrived.

Blast Off does not like to be here. It's gritty and messy and dirty... it's all kinds of things the finicky shuttleformer really does not care for. But he is also CO of the Aerospace Division, and was brought down here because one of the soon-to-be-smelted prisoners was thought to have some information relevant to some of his aerial operations. As it turned out- it was nothing much. Basically a waste of time as far as he is concerned, and he now walks through the area of the pools, ready to be out of this miserable place. Maybe he can go see some Opera in the Kaon Opera House?

The mechanical wolf rises up into a bulky robot, Monzo folding up and forming his head.

Weirdwolf on the other hand loves being here. Sometimes they even let him throw the victim into the pools. It was always fun to listen to them beg for mercy as they slowly, painfully melted away. And just at that definitive moment as they clung on in desperation, stomp their hand free of the edge of the pit.

But there was no smeltings going on tonight. Just guard duty. At least for now. Or until the next time Galvatron decided to throw out one of the vidcorder mechs for his reports.

Pushing a giant broom near the main smelter, Misfire screams, "Aimless, HOT!!!" Aimless who is peering over the smelting pit, peers back at Misfire, "I bet it would hurt..." Then Aimless pushes himself back and grabs his own broom that was laying on the floor next to him. Looking back at Misfire, Aimless sighs, "I can't believe they care about dust here..." Misfire holds up a hand to forestall further complaining, "Building an Empire requires Cleanliness which is next to..." Misfire leans on his broom as he pulls out the 'new' Aerospace Regulations, "Ooooooo....Godliness." Misfire smiles as he looks around, "BLAST OFF!" Misfire waves as he spies Blast Off, "OH WAIT!" Misfire then snaps off a salute! "Aimless salute!" Aimless lazily salutes and sighs, "Maybe it would hurt less..." Aimless mutters to himself.

Wraith frowns and glances up at the sky overhead. <> He ducks from one set of shadows to another, turning his optics towards the scattered Cons in the area. <>

Grimlock lands, oblivious to wether or not there are any sorts of sensors on the roof of this area, though, as much as possible, Grimlock lands as quietly as he can. The cube in hand, he scans for the largest smelting pool available, Wheeljack's Hydrobomb ready. <> Grimlock hopes the blast of furnaces and Misfire's chattering will mask the clank of his bulky feet landing above.

Blast Off hears a familiar voice, and turns around to see Misfire and Aimless. He stops and gives a small nod of approval. "Ah, I see you've been reading my new regulations, good! I'm sure they have helped clear up much of the confusion and... disarray I used to see before *I* became in charge." He nods again, rather smugly, then looks around. "However... this place will probably always have a certain measure of chaos, no matter what we do."

Looking at Misfire, he asks, "Have you had a chance to see the new opera, Riders to the Rust Seas? Quite an engaging storyline, though certain songs felt... a bit flat to me." The Combaticon is about to go on, when he hears a faint clank and looks briefly around... though he doesn't spot anything immediately. "Hmm... are there smelters in action currently? I thought nothing was scheduled right now."

Weirdwolf pauses to stoop down and pick up the charred remains of a limb. "Hello, this is what now?" He stands and holds it up in front of him, wobbling the limb back and forth a bit. "Think I knew this guy, I did." There's a pause, and then he tosses it over his shoulder into one of the pools, enticing a few hissing moments as the steaming pit finishes the job. "A jerk he was."

Beaming, Misfire nods his head to Blast Off, "Yes! This new regs are totally better than the old ones. Next cycle I am set to build a monument to our long range space transports! Should be glorious, not sure where I will get Seeker parts, but..." Misfire shrugs, "Should be solvable..." He then points to a smelter, "Check for Seeker parts, Aimless!"

Aimless doesn't move, "Don't see any..."

Misfire nods and continues, "Ooooo, Riders to the Rust Sea? That sounds pretty fun! Do the songs fall flat because they resolve complex emotional entanglements with over simplistic cliches? I hate when that happens..."

Aimless chimes up again, "Nothing is scheduled, but you probably heard Weird-o there throwing things in the smelters." Aimless points at Weirdwolf as Misfire hisses at his partner, "Words hurt Aimless! And Weirdwolf prefers Normal-Speaking Challenged!" Misfire then waves at Weirdwolf!

Wraith frowns at the rather ambiguous orders given. <> He sets his sights on Blast Off. <> Sending some telemetry data to you now. Make of it what you will, I shall do much the same.>> He ducks around a corner and studies Weirdwolf and Misfire. Certainly two he has not encountered before, so best to use caution. <>

Combat: Wraith analyzes Blast Off for weaknesses Grimlock can exploit.

Grimlock has some trouble expression what he thinks are advanced tactical options and strategies through his voice processor and into action. His red optics blaze as Wraith's tactical data comes through. He has to take a few more steps to get a better vantage point, feet clanging again before he stops, growling to himself. He sees an active pool behind the target Wierdwolf and figures that's the best option for the moment before he responds. <>

Blast Off nods again, "Very good." Misfire's eventually quite insightful comments on the opera get a continuance of that nod, which then slows as the Combaticon blinks and looks back up at Misfire. Yes, definitely more going on under there than would ever be obvious..... "Indeed. In fact, at one point four entirely seperate plot points were all resolved because the heroine used the power of song to open everyone's sparks to the rightfulness of her one true cause of world domination. So terribly cliched..." He hears another clang, and looks around again. "Is that a normal sound around here?" The Combaticon looks to Weirdwolf. "Is anything scheduled right now?"

Weirdwolf shrugs his angular shoulders, then points a thumb over one at the pit behind him. "Think so, I do not. That was just left over scrap there I threw in, someone sloppy was to leave unfinished pieces around lying." Though with the other Decepticons getting tense he does stand up a bit more alertly himself, one hand going to rest on the hilt of his sword. "Maybe sneaking around turbo rats it was? Picking for bits, they sometimes fun to chase can be."

Staring as a soft glow over comes Blast Off, Misfire tilts his head, "Woah, you are totally glowing, Boss!" Misfire then tosses Blast Off a thumbs up, before whipping his head back around and raising a hand over his optics, "Woah, that shadow totally looked like the Necrobot!" Misfire points at another shadow, "Hahahahaha! That one looks like a giant Autobot!" He then looks back at Blast Off, "Ugh, power of song and more of that religious spark mumbo-jumbo. Did you see the one about the giant Tree that lives in the center of Cybertron? What was it called...Aimless?"

Aimless shrugs, "Tree-Lady Opera?"

Misfire nods, "OH RIGHT! Botanica's Lament. Hippies." Aimless stares at Misfire, "My mom was a hippie." Misfire looks at Aimless and shrugs, "You have a mom?" Aimless throws his hands up, "Where do you think I come from?" Misfire frowns, "Nebulon Stork?" Aimless sighs as Misfire looks at Weirdwolf, "I wasn't sleeping on the cleaning detail!" Aimless chuckles, "Yeah, we were passed out..." Misfire waves at Aimless to hush him.

Wraith narrows his optics and watches Blast Off. <> He smirks slightly and electronics start to hum, ionizing the air and a lead spike. <> He raises his arm, taking aim and blasting towards Blast Off. Round...four? Five? Three? Who knows anymore... somehow, though, this seems to be the normal pairing. <>

Combat: Wraith appears from the shadows... Combat: Sneak Attack!! Combat: Wraith strikes Blast Off with his Hey! It's me again! SURPRISE! attack! Combat: Wraith's attack drains your energon reserves.

Blast Off 's optics narrow. "Turbo-rats? Perhaps.... but let us go make a quick patrol to be sure." he stops to look at Misfire. "Glow? What glow?" Then he looks at the shadows. "The necrobot doesn't exist, Misfire, it's just a fairy tale. But there are other things that *do* lurk in shadows..." He starts stepping forward to investigate when Wraith appears from those very shadows. The Combaticon stops- Oh slag, not that mech again...- when Wraith hits him with such a massive attack that it nearly tears the Combaticon in two. Or at least it feels like it. He screams in shock and pain and nearly crumples right there.

Staggering to stay on his feet, the dazed shuttle has to gather his strength enough to finally speak again. "....D-Decepticons, ATTACK!!!!" Painfully, he raises his blaster and fires back at the Autobot. "Look...*gasp*...Look for any other Autofools! Wh-here there's.. on..one there may be more!"

Combat: Blast Off sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Misfire compares his Accuracy to 7: Success! Combat: Weirdwolf compares his Accuracy to 70: Success! Combat: Blast Off strikes Wraith with his Ouch that was a Turbo-Rat with a BITE attack! Combat: Grimlock compares his Accuracy to 80: Success! Combat: Blast Off compares his Accuracy to 8: Success! Combat: Blast Off compares his Accuracy to 80: Success!

Grimlock almost whoops out loud as the stealth bot's shot nearly tears Blast Off a new one. Taking advantage of the surprise shot, Grimlock huffs the cube with surprising accuracy into the large pool behind Wierdwolf, landing into the pool and sinking beneath the molten metal with a quiet 'bloop'. As the Decepticons start to open fire on Wraith though, seemingly outnumbered, Grimlock roars purposefully now, energon sword blazing to life as the huge Bot leaps up from the rafters, landing a seemingly safe distance away with a resounding thud that echoes all throughout the Pool chamber. "Me Grimlock say 3!" <<3 nanoclicks till Hyrdo-bomb go off.>> "Also say puny Cons may want leave now before bad things happen!" Who said Grimlock isn't a noble autobot, giving the Cons a chance to run away.

Wraith smirks at Weirdwolf. "Oh, you will be fun..." He winks as he's dropped and watches the Headmaster dart off. A glance is given to Blast Off...but he's running too. "I will tell you once again, Combaticon... I will be the end of you."

The Necrobot has spoken, and now it's time to leave. <> He transforms and hits the ground rolling, that distinctive Lambo exhaust filling the air.

Wraith transforms from a robot into a sleek Lamborghini Aventador in one quiet, fluid motion. Combat: Lamborghini Aventador  begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Space Shuttle 

Grimlock stomps his metal dino feet and roars as his body twists, tail splitting to become legs and arms and head emerging along with the familiar transmogrification sound.

Grimlock watches Blast Off take off and WeirdWolf bound away as he shifts back into his robot form. The slag pooling around his feet has little effect except to slow him down further. That is until the big bot lifts into the air and takes off as well, again keeping an eye out for any ground forces coming to investigate. Combat: Grimlock begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Space Shuttle , Lamborghini Aventador <Wraith>, and Mecha Wolf <Weirdwolf>

Grimlock jumps into the air, metal flashing and folding and twisting to sprout claws and teeth and tail, landing with a ground-shaking thud as the savage Tyrant Lizard emerges.

Grimlock goes home. Grimlock has left.