Shadow of the Nemesis: Part 4

New Zealand
Divided into two main islands, this diverse island nation covers about 104,000 square miles. Around the north island are miles and miles of sandy beaches, deep-sea fishing, surfing, and Auckland, the City of Sails, nestled between the clear blue waters of two large harbors. Moving south, there are white, sandy beaches and thermal hot pools followed by lush grassy plains, crystal-clear lakes, shallow valleys, bubbling mud, and steaming geysers, as the mountains here are volcanically active. The rugged, bush-clad mountains continue south, and finally give way to vast farmlands. The south island varies from primeval rainforests to glaciers and jagged, snowy mountains.

Over the majestic snow capped mountains, and down through the lush green valleys, there is a Decepticon raiding party. Led by the venerable Snaptrap, the party consists of a number of Decepticons in robot, animal, and a large number of Seekers. Flying in no discernable formation, they look more like a swarm than a military unit. Snaptrap brings his right arm in front of him, and speaks into a listening device that emerges from it, “The Birmingham Observatory is now in sight. Cassette Troops, please ensure that it is evacuated in a prompt and expedient manner. Transport Troops, take up formation Beta Twelve.”

"Oh goody, us chase peoples out!" Slugfest says. The little stegosaur-cassette prepares to enter the building, diving down from the sky. His chainsaw plates are already revving in anticipation.

Hinder is passenging with Slugfest in her tape form. She has yet to get the hang of the whole flying thing -- she prefers to swim. As soon as they're close to the ground, she disengages and transforms and looks at Slugfest. "Snappy said evacuate. Not eviscerate."

Snaptrap remains airborne for some time after the two cassettes slip down towards the Observatory, which is currently staffed by only a skeletal crew. There are three cars in the parking lot, and a few lights coming from the windows. Three Seekers form a triangle around the observatory, and begin to descend to the ground, then walk up to the building, and transform their hands into laser torches. They begin to fire at the building, but it’s a low level, like a medical instrument. They begin to cut into the structure, and then move while continuing their laser, to their right, drawing a line. Snaptrap finally lands, near the parking lot, and taking notice, “Expect no more than twelve humans inside, likely between three and five.”

Sandstorm isn't really going anywhere. He's just bored, so he's flying around. Because he has a knack for just wandering into things that require a Wrecker's touch when he's bored. So eventually he's going to wander into something exciting in some shape or form.

Powerglide just so happens to be flying over that particular part of the island. It's all very convienient but Powerglide is usually lucky that way. He rocks side to side as he goes, jamming out to his 'Sounds of the 80's' mix tape. He's a sucker for nostalgia.

"Oh," Slugfest says, "But just going scare them, so they run away!" He starts running around, trying to fighten any humans that he sees.

Hinder shuffles up to the main entrance of the observatory, and with a slightly clumsy swipe with her paws she gets the door open. She pulls it open enough to nudge her nose through to get inside before turning around and shoving the door open enough for Slugfest to follow her inside. "Humans in here, Sluggy."

Down the hallway, in a 'T' section, Hinder and Slugfest will see a woman in her early twenties, dancing around, listening to music on an MP3 player. She doesn't even see the pair, and heads through to the other side. Meanwhile, Snaptrap walks up towards the entrance, and for a brief moment, appreciates the view. Its sunrise, and the way the light is hitting the observatory is actually quite beautiful. Then, without another thought, he walks towards one of the Seekers who is in the middle of carving a straight horizontal line through the base of the Observatory. He does not speak, and stands back, keeping out of the warrior's way.

Hinder stops to watch the woman briefly, then follows her before saying as loudly as she can, "Observatory under attack by Decepticons! Leave quickly!"

Sandstorm picks up another Autobot transponder in the vicinity and alters his nowhere in particular course in the Thunderbolt's direction. "Hey there Glider! Guess I ain't the only bored one tonight hu--eh?" He pauses at something that bleeped on one of his recon scanners while passing over. "That's an unusual large number of cybertronian signals in one place." Being a chopper and all he has little trouble stopping on the proverbial dime and wheeling around to buzz off down towards the islands below.

"You go nao!" Slugfest shouts, trying to get the woman's attention. "Us taking over!" He runs at her. Not to hurt her, but to scare her.

When Hinder and Slugfest reach the end of the hallway, and look towards the direction that the woman had gone, they see nothing. She must have gone into one of the rooms, but there are four doorways, and another curve at the end of that hallway. And if they have olfactory senses, they'll notice that the floor smells lemony fresh, and it's a bit damp.

Hinder goes around that corner, having expected the human to react, but she's not there. Confusing. And the weird, damp, citrusy floor is disconcerting in its alienness. She isn't sure where the woman went, so simply shuffles over to push open each door in turn.

Slugfest skitters over the floor, and slips and slides into a wall. He winds up on his side. "Help!" he says, pawing the air with his little feets.

The first door appears to have a porcelain floor. There are beige walls that reach neither the ceiling nor the floor, and a number of sinks. Back outside, the Seekers are making progress as they circle the building, cutting with their laser torches. Suddenly, there's a scream from inside. Snaptrap radios on a short range frequency, <>

Hinder stops and looks back at Slugfest after pawing open the fourth door but before actually looking inside. She shuffles back over to the steggy to try and help him up. << Encountered one human, did not notice us. Have not found anyone else yet. Attempting to proceed more quickly. >>

Slugfest paws harder as Hinder tries to help him up. Finally he's right side up on his feets. "Ok, where go now?" he asks Hinder, following the ferret-tape's lead.

"Yeah, it's kind of disconcerning," Powerglide says in response to Sandstorm's comment. "One of us should go down there. I bravely volunte-" He trails off as he watches Sandstorm land. "I mean, uh, meet you there.." Landing is a little bit of an issue for Powerglide in this particular instance so he comes in as low as he can without colliding with anything, transforms, and simply falls the rest of the way. In style, of course.

Hinder says, "You go that way, I'll go this way. Go faster, Snappy waiting."

Sandstorm doesn't so much land as he does skim right over ground level. There's advantages to being a copter instead of a jet. "... That's a whooole lotta Seekers. Someone musta got the 'Cons a new set of crayons for christmas." And they're doing... something to the building. Why are they cutting it like that? Only one way to find out when it comes to Sandstorm's method of 'recon'. "Yeeeehah!" ... which is fly right into the thick of things and open fire at them with a couple of machine guns.

The Birmingham Observatory was, like most observatories, built on a hillside, away from civilisation, with little to interfere with its ability to search the skies. As such, three Seekers and Seacon do not blend. And the light from their laser torches will be easy to spot visually, and their heat signiatures would look odd on a scanner. <>

Slugfest takes the opposite direction that Hinder is going, running through the halls, peeking in rooms, and shouting for the humans to get out. "No is safe in here!" he yells, "No can stay! Out nao!" "What, is there a fire?" one of the humans asks. "Yesyes, fire, get out fast!" Slugfest replies.

Hinder keeps shuffling along quickly, searching everywhere she can for the woman and anyone else that might be inside. She does pause momentarily, though, at Snaptrap's mention of redecorating herself. Her reply even actually conveys a bit of confusion. << Approved by Soundwave as well? >>

Powerglide brushes the dirt off of himself and scoffs at the mention of seekers. "Those guys are weak-sauce!" he says, sprinting the rest of the distance to the hole in the observatory the Decepticons carved out. "Yeah, get 'em! Woohoo!" He whips out his pistol and cracks off a few shots in a random direction for dramatic effect.

The humans that Slugfest encountered greet him with kindness, since he warned them of the impending doom. Quickly gathering up what they can, they in an orderly fashion make their way towards an emergency exit, but not before they shout out, "Thanks mate, you Dinobots are the best!" Hinder encounters the woman, who upon seeing her, drops her jaw, and a sandwich that she did not have when Hinder saw her earlier.

Hinder finally finds the woman and says again, "Decepticons attacking observatory. Must evacuate building, immediately."

Snaptrap had been having a good day. The operation was going well. There were no major cock-ups. And then the Autobots arrived. Turning around, he sees a Helicopter flying at him, just about cutting up the ground with its rotors. How on Earth did he miss the approach of that thing? He really must have his audio sensors recalibrated. Diving down to the ground, he transforms and goes as flat as he can, managing to get only a little of his shell scratched by the blades. When it has passed over, he stands up, which for a turtle is a marginal difference, and opens his Photon Beam Ports, which can fire in twelve directions, but have been limited to just four this time, one set aimed at the helicopter, and another at the Mini-Bot, "Can I never be free of you miserable Autobots?"

The woman stares down at the short, little Mini-Cassette Transformer, still trying to process that she is seeing an alien life form, and that it is talking to her. Sure, she knew they existed, but it's quite another thing to be having a conversation with one. Then it dawns on her what was said, and she turns around and begins running as fast as she can through the building to the nearest exit, screaming, "The Decepticons are attacking! THE DECEPTICONS ARE ATTACKING!"

Slugfest is still running around like a chickenbot with its head cut off. Humans are fleeing the area in droves.

Hinder lets the woman pass by, her job done here. And hopefully the human's distressed shouts will alert others to leave promptly. She's got more of the building to cover ... but first she shuffles over to snuffle at the dropped sandwich, curiously nosing it apart and making a mess on the floor.

Sandstorm veers past one volley of beams, but a second barrage clips the back of the chopper and causes him to spin a moment before he restabilizes himself. "No, you can't. If we didn't show up to save the day it'd be a boring story!" Coming around for another pass Sandstorm transforms, skidding on the ground as he lands. But it doesn't stop him from drawing his gun at the same time and blasting away at the shelled fiend with its abrasive projectiles. "WRECK'N'RULE!"

After being in the observatory for a whole three seconds, Powerglide is greeted by dual photon beams. He does a crappy job of avoiding them and takes both head on. "I could say the same about you guys! Always breaking into places and stealing things!" The minibot fires a shot from his pistol at the big metal turtle but honestly he doesn't think it will do much.

The Turtle begins moving, marching really, by his own standards anyway, to a more central location, where he can better defend the Seekers, who look worriedly back at the Autbots, but try to keep up the pressure on the building, making good headway. Snaptrap calls out, "Boring or not, your final chapter was written the day you betrayed Cybertron and became Autobots. And we appropriate whatever we desire, because it is in the best interests of the Cybertronian Empire." Wow, awfully verbose tonight, isn't he? He punctuates his sentences with blasts from those two large cannons on his shell.

Slugfest runs back towards Hinder as she noses at the sammich. "What doing? What we do now?" he asks, wagging his little tail.

Hinder loses interest in the sandwich when Sluggy catches up with her. "Any humans left? If no, we leave."


 * Boom* There's a nice big blast from the cannon shells. Did it hit? Of course it did. But even while smoking from damage from the impact Sandstorm still comes charging out of the debris cloud with a full head of steam. If there's one thing about Wreckers, its that they're hard to put down and -stay- down. "I'd call bullshit, but yer not a bull. Though you're still full of it!" Leaping for the robotic turtle's back, his main combat knife deploys into one hand, and he attempts to ram the hot serrated edge into the opening that cannon connects in some abstract hope of disabling it.

Slugfest shakes his head. "No humans! Us go nao!"

"That's a whole lot of words to say you're a jerk-off!" Powerglide exclaims before a cannon blast pummels the ground beside him and sends him flying directly into the path of another. Oh woe, the perils of being an inticing target; Decepticons just can't NOT blow him up. Desperate for cover, Powerglide knocks over a few desks (surely an observatory would have desks for their employees to sit behind while they pretend to work) and kind of crouches behind it. He looks on at Sandstorm in awe. Soo cool~ Powerglide pops off a few shots at Snaptrap. "Go for it man, I got your back!" He's totally helping.

Hinder bobs her head and turns to lead the way back out of the building, the scattered mess that used to be a sandwich left behind. << Building evacuated. >> she transmits to Snaptrap.

The turtle is rushed, and can't really do anything to stop it. In this mode, he really just plods along, slowly, but otherwise is a stationary target for the Autobots. The trade off is that as a stationary turret, it makes calculating trajectories all the easier. The knife goes into the shell, but not too deep, and it's hard to move. "You, Autobot, have confused me with Tantrum, or Horri-Bull, or . . . we have quite a number of animal-based soldiers." No, wait, it's stuck. Now how did that happen? Meanwhile, it seems that all the humans have managed to get to the exits, start up their cars, and are racing down the mountain from the Birmingham Observatory. Three Seekers seem to be doing a good job of slicing a line along the base of it, having now cut enough of it to meet each others lines. The trio fly up towards the top of it, and begin to attach some kind of a vicelike device to the base, and are threading an electro-chain around the structure! Back towards the base of the building, Snaptrap's scythes come out, trying to take off Sandstorm's arm at the bicep! And even as he does, he gets struck by something that came from the Observatory. Turning his narrow neck, he sees the Mini-Bot, firing at him through the window. <>

As soon as he clears the building, Slugfest sets his sights on the Autobots. "Ooooh," he says, "There one me want tapdance on head!" He rushes at Powerglide and leaps, trying to do a little stego-footstomping.

Hinder hears Snaptrap's directions and follows Slugfest toward Powerglide. She hesitates to just leap into the fray, though.

There really isn't much Powerglide can do that Sandstorm isn't already doing so he turns his attention to the flailing stegosaurus trying to dance all over his face. "Get out of here you freak!" he shouts, trying to shove Slugfest away with both hands. "I know I'm good-looking but you're taking it too far!"

Sandstorm has a perfect view of what the Seekers are doing from on top of Snaptrap's shell. "What the... what are they trying to do, raise the roof?!" Unfortunately its in that distracted moment that the scythe pops out. He twists as the scythe swings, but being right on top of Snaptrap's shell he doesn't really have the time or the distance to get out of the way. "Gaah!" Sparks and rent metal flies as it tears off his lower arm and the point clips a gouge in his side as he tumbles over. "Son of a glitch that hurts." Rolling back onto his feet with a snort he turns back to towards the Seacon. "Dammit, I can't transform like this... On the -other- hand." His blaster repops from subspace, in his left hand this time. "Being a robot, I don't rely on a specific hand to shoot! Suck it, swamp breath!" Another gout of armor battering particulate is fired at the turtle-tank.

Vrrroooom. Vrooooom. Vroooooom. Jazz's finely-tuned Porsche engine growls through its gears as it winds up the mountain towards the Birmingham Observatory. <> The Porsche continues his climb up the path he's found, throwing up a cloud of dust in the process. <> Jazz hasn't made it to the observatory just yet, but his engine's crescendo is a good sign that it won't be long before he does.

<> Sandstorm radios back as he's firing. <> ... the puns are worse than his injury almost.

Slugfest fails to tapdance on Powerglide! So he charges at the red plane minibot and revs his chainsaw plates. "Me cut you up like woods!" he says as his little feets pelt towards Powerglide. He's swatted but doesn't take much damage, so he tries sawing Powerglide in half.

Fired point blank, at the face, the Turtle seems content. He is in the thick of battle with one of the accursed Wreckers. The humans, for reasons only Galvatron knows, have been spared yet again, and they seem on their way to accomplishing their mission. Which probably means the Autobots are about to receive reinforcements. Snaptrap turns his head, waiting for them. The trio of Decepticon Seekers have now formed several layers of netting around the structure, which kind of looks like a Tholian Web from Star Trek, with an intricate crisscross diamond pattern to it. And when the Autobot reinforcements do not arrive, Snaptrap turns back to the Wrecker, "Are you still here?" And that will be the last bit of talking he'll do for a while, as the mouth, moving with lightning quick reflexes, especially compared to his usual lumber, goes for one of the Wrecker's feet!

Hinder hisses at Powerglide when he hits Slugfest. You DON'T beat up on the steggy. It's NOT nice. She bounds at the minibot, aiming to bite at the backs of his legs. Maybe she'll trip him into falling onto Sluggy's saw blades. Maybe not.

Sandstorm hops hops hops backwards quickly as Snaptrap tries to live up to his name nipping at his legs. <> With the last backstep he lands on only one foot... because they other one is being thrust at Snaptrap's ugly mug after his jaws close again! "Keep yer trap shut, no one's listenin' to ya!"

Powerglide is not usually a fan of getting sawed and half and today is no exception. Quickly he grabs a chair and uses it to ward off the chainsaw revving dinosaur, shoving the legs of it at Slugfest's face. "Get! Get! Out! Go away!" He doesn't even realize another casseticon is in the room until it bites him in the leg. "Ohgodthey'reswarming," Powerglide says, now using the chair to swat at Hinder.

If there was a spotlight to cue, this would be the perfect time to crank it on! Popping up over the lip of the mountainside, the Porsche arrives in style, albeit a little dusty. <> The Porsche makes a bee-line for Snaptrap, swirling around the larger Decepticon to hopefully kick up a cloud of blinding dust. <>

Snaptrap may not be fast, but he is smart on the uptake. When the Wrecker bounces backwards, he can guess what the counterassault will be, and he acts appropriately. At the last second, as the foot comes lunging towards his head, it retracts back into his shell, and a turquoise door slams shut on it behind him. There is a noticeable clang on the inside, and Snaptrap's head rings a bit, but when he comes back out of his shell, he is pleased with the results, "Careful Wreck," but he can't seem to get it off, as he coughs. Swarmed by a swirling dust cloud, he assumes it was the Triple Changer. His optics close, as does his mouth, and he retreats back into his shell for a moment, but not before the dust got into those optical sensors. <> He radios, requiring assistance. But before Hinder can answer, one of the Seekers atop the Observatory reports, <> While thankful to know his adversary, Snaptrap radios back, <> The three Seekers redouble their efforts, and now attach a central electro-chain to the net they've neatly formed around the base. One of them flies up, and transforms into his fighter jet mode. The other two quickly follow, and link themselves to the chain!

"NO HIT HINDY!" Slugfest clamors at Powerglide. He tries running up one side of Powerglide and down the other, little feets pattering.

Hinder yips in surprise and a little pain as Powerglide hits her with a chair. She skitters sideways get clear, bouncing and hissing some more, then stops and stands meerkat-like to see who is now ... oh. That already got answered. But now she's standing in an ungainly pose and is completely open to another hit by that chair.

CRUNCH! Sandstorm ends up scrunching his foot against Snaptrap's hard shell, which results in the cliche hopping around on one foot while holding the mangled one in his good hand. "Ow ow ow!" Now he's down a foot as well as half an arm. Not really his best of nights. But he wouldn't be much of a Wrecker if he stopped from just that. Hopping back towards the Seacon he grabs the hilt of his knife still wedged in his shell, and yanks it out as hard and hopefully painfully as possible. "Give me that back!"

"GETITOFFME! GETITOFFME!" Powerglide shouts, flailing and swinging the chair around in a desperate attempt to knock the dinosaur off of him. But it's no use, the minibot is forced to play the clock to Slugfest's three blind mice. This is just humiliating! Powerglide lifts the chair over his head and swings it at Slugfest like some kind of pro-wrestler.

Zipping away from Snaptrap for a moment, the Porsche's dashboard lights up as Jazz fires off a radio message. <<That should keep Snappy in his shell for a bit! I just kicked up the Sahara in his face! What's goin' on with you Powerglide?! Those bad dudes are lookin' for a star in the sky or something in there?!>> The Porsche comes to a skidding halt as it engages its brakes. A split-second later, it peels out and reverses course heading back for the huge turtle. <<You know who's big in New Zealand Snappy?! Here, let me play him for you!>> As the Porsche circles back around the larger Decepticon, speakers start powering out a damage-causing dose of horrible audio.

Snaptrap yelps out in pain as the knife is pulled, at an angle, from where it had been logged in his shell. He doesn't seem to be moving though, just staying right where he is, a perfect target. Out of his neck joint, two jets of a cleaning solution spray into his optical sensors, and a little wiper begins to try and clean the dirt and grime and whatever the inferno Jazz sprayed him with! Sadly, his Audio Receptors do not have an apparatus for closure. The Turtle leans down on the ground, and places its front paws to its head, trying to cover them, but it doesn't seem to be working very well. Thankfully, those Seekers have now all created an electro-chain bond to the structure, and as they increase their trust, the building begins to lift off the ground, held intact by the electro-chain netting that they spent so much time constructuring. It's slow, it's a huge moving target, but the Observatory is airborne!

Fortunately, Slugfest's chainsaw plates are revving at full tilt, so that when the chair hits him it does little damage, and probably splinters into a million pieces to boot. He lashes out with his spiky tail once he hits the ground, to try to trip Powerglide.

Hinder is nowhere near as close to the source of that HORRID noise as Snaptrap, but it's still enough to rattle her. She drops back to all fours, shakes her head, then hisses and bounds off away from Powerglide and toward Jazz, sending out a wide-band radio transmission that's as much dischodant signal noise as an angry ferret-hiss. << YUCKY NOISE STOP!! >> It's not nearly strong enough to actually damage anyone, but maybe it'll distract?

Sandstorm huffs a few times, feeling a bit winded and -really- annoyed. "He got me messed up good Jazz." Shakes his limp arm in the spymaster's direction. "I can't transform and fly after them." With an exasperated growl he grabs the damaged arm and yanks it all the way off with a wince. "Alright Con that was pretty clever... Let's give him a -hand- for it!" And by hand we mean smashing him with the now otherwise useless limb being wielded like a club to vent some of his frustration.

Now that he no longer has his mighty weapon, Powerglide can't help but feel a little concerned. He steps away from the tail-swinging Slugfest and huffs. "I do NOT feel like dealing with this right now. I'm outta here!" Powerglide runs to a window and pops it open for a sweet escape but is shocked at what he sees. "I..but...are we...is that..?" He pops his head out the window and then pulls it back inside, jarred upon the realization that, yes, the observatory is airborne. "Okay..relax, Powerglide. No big deal... Just have to use your brain.."

Slugfest peeks out of the window at Powerglide. "Ha! Him no has brains!" And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the pot calling the kettle black.

If there's one thing Jazz likes doing it's playing music, but a few albums are reserved FOR DECEPTICONS ONLY. It's a good thing he shuts down his audio receptors as he hits -play- because he couldn't stand a note from that wreck of a singer. Fortunately for Jazz, the music does its magic on Snaptrap and the Porsche hits -stop- on the stereo. <<If you're lucky, the ringing in your receptors might go away by tomorrow!>> BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE The Porsche slows down as it hears something that sounds like nails-on-chalkboard. <<Yoowww!! What's the big idea?! Sounds like a test of the emergency frequency or something! But at least you got my attention!>> Springing up into his hip robot mode, Jazz makes a break for Hinder, taking note of Powerglide's leap of faith into the ocean. "Hang on buddy! Help's on the way. Let me just send off this letter!" The Intelligence Director attempts to scoop up Hinder and toss her up towards the seekers getting away. From this distance, who know /what/ he might hit.

Jazz peers up at the flying observatory and he's suddenly torn with what to do. The Decepticons are getting away with a huge stolen piece of equipment, but on the other hand, who knows how Powerglide's holding up after diving into the ocean. Decisions, decisions. "Yo Sandstorm! Let those turkeys fly away with their new toy! We've gotta save Powerglide before he's the next star in '20,000 Leagues Under The Sea'!" Jazz tumbles forward into his Porsche mode and pulls up alongside the Wrecker. "Hop on the top man! Let's boogie down to the beach and go fishin' for PG!"

Hinder skids to a stop on all four feet when Jazz suddenly transforms directly over her. Uh oh. Maybe she chose ... poorly. Before she has time to do more than turn to try and run away, she's scooped up and then thrown again before she can crane her neck to bite at the Autobot's hand. "EEEEEEE!" She hurtles through the air without a clue about what she's about to hit, and then she hits something. She digs in her claws to keep from falling again and only manages to slow her momentum some, flipping over and slamming back to side against Slugfest's right flank. Oof.

Sandstorm says, "Slagit, they're getting away!" What to do what to do... But then Jazz points out Powerglide's power dive. "... Aw, geez." With a mutter he relents, hopping on top of Jazz. Then manages to still snicker a little as he holds up the severed arm. "Well, at least I've got something to use for a pole!"

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Slugfest screams as Hinder is flung into him. He paws his little feets, though he hasn't quite gotten knocked over. He's sort of leaning awkwardly against a wall.