Unnatural History

Synopsis: The Autobots and the EDC investigate a strange planet as they attempt to track down the Concurrence. Will they uncover the bizarre secret of Planet Rapt?

Rapt

A completely barren and dead rock... save for one little green patch in the middle of nowhere. This little spot seems quite capable of supporting human life, and there does indeed appear to be humans here, even. But something's wrong. These humans seem to be in their Stone Age, at least at first. They live in simple huts and use simple tools for whatever tasks they require. It's very odd.

Upon approaching this odd planet, the first thing our respective heroes will have noticed was the unregistered starship hovering in orbit. Once it detected the heroes' arrival, it broke away, refused to answer all hails, and made its way for the planet. Radar seemed incapable of picking up the ship once it broke into the atmosphere, possibly due to radiation... or jamming?

Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn > has arrived.

Marissa Faireborn drops Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn >.

Marissa Faireborn has left.

Marissa Faireborn enters the Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn >.

"Hey! Hey! Who that? Me Grimlock want know who thems guys is!"

So says Grimlock from the helm of the Autobot shuttle. "They no talk to me Grimlock- me Grimlock say we CRUSH thems! Yeah!" and with that, Grimlock starts searching the control panel for the 'make things a-splode' button.

"Hnnn. Why we go here 'gain?"

From Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >, James Bailey sits in the pilot's compartment of his Exo-suit, docked in the cargo bay and ready to launch to fly on it's own if necessary. He looks up from a row of displays and controls, frowning slightly. Did that Dinobot just say attack? He cranes his neck around to try and look in the direction of the shuttle's helm. After a bit he adjusts his comm system.

Snarl was there, standing behind Grimlock on the shuttle, watching what is going on. With out a word, he reaches over and presses a button. This doesn't fire off the weapons on the Autobot shuttle, but rather makes the lights flicker on and off in a steady fashion.

"This not right button." Snarl simply states.

Looking at Grimlock he shrugs a bit. "Me Snarl think we here to smash things."

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield is near James, arms folded (which must look odd on an exo-armor). "Who knows what we're gonna find," he mutters. "I'm feeling a little jittery."

Back at Alameda, Colonel Marissa Faireborn leans against the doorjam at the far end of the briefing room. Her arms are folded, she's wearing a navy blue EDC uniform, and her hair is tied back in a pony tail as she listens to James's briefing. She succeeds at looking both relaxed and official. The Colonel wears a neutral expression up until the EDC pilot questions James on whether there's additional information. She hides the hints of a smile by looking down at the floor and shifting her stance. Faireborn marks the pilot as... ex-Air Force, maybe? It's always an adjustment to shift into the loose, fly by the seat of your pants Autobot-esque way of operating. Raising her head to listen to the rest, Faireborn's neutral gaze has returned.

That was during the briefing. Now, hours later, the Colonel's Talon exo-suit stands near Bailey, Redfield, and the others, "We're after a man named Compton Xabat, Grimlock," she replies. "One of the most dangerous human terrorists since the 20th century." She glances briefly at Bailey. He's the mission lead on this one for team EDC.

Grimlock grunts at Snarl- and then he glances back at the humans in their exo-suits. "Hrrn. Spaceship here. Me Grimlock no like." he grumbles, and gets back to his piloting. "Me Grimlock no understand how just one human guy make so much trouble. Me Grimlock just need find him Compy Batman, and me SMASH HIM FACE." And with that, he steers the shuttlecraft in towards the planet- perhaps a little too fast for comfort for anyone who's not 45 feet tall and made of metal.

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield can't help but giggle at the "Compy Batman" comment.

"Not Compy Batman. Computron Cabbit." Snarl says. "Us Dinobots have to do everything it seems." He also says, heedless of Grimlock's decent towards the planet. He knows he'll be fine, crash or no crash.

There appears to be life signs down at the planet below, judging from heat signatures. As Grimlock brings the shuttle down, it will be hard not to notice that the denizens appear to be... prehistoric humans, all living in huts! It's not quite the idyllic lifestyle of the Flintstones, but these people seem to be fairly peaceful by first impressions. They all gawk up at the descending shuttle, pointing at it and grunting.

From Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >, James Bailey watches the sensors in his Exo-Suit as they start to flash warning lights. Even inside of a larger, stronger vehicle, his computer system doesn't like this kind of 'landing'. "Yeah, well just between you and us, there's more than one member of the EDC who would love to see that happen." His eyes flick over towards Jayson's Exo, then back to his controls. "All right, sensors show we're within planetary atmosphere. Cargo bay doors opening...Ghost squad, launch!" His Exo-Jet flies gently out of the Autobot Shuttle, then swings around to take up a scouting position above it.

Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn > Robot shrugs at Grimlock as she mutters, "What can we say, he's skilled at jerking us around. No no, 'Compton Xabat'," she clarifies for Grimlock, "If we can take him alive, then we do. But if we can't, then by all means, 'smash him face'." The UN isn't going to pull its punches against Xabat these days. "No... no, 'Compton Xabat'," Marissa clarifies again, this time to Snarl. "With an 'X'. 'Xabat'." Looking at one of the monitors showing the inhabitants from high above, she adds, "Lets try not to f--- over the natives while we're here, too." The EDC Prime Directive is a bit looser than that of Star Trek's Federation. As James initiates the launch, Marissa's exo-suit activates its transformation sequences, and the jet follows Bailey out of the Autobot shuttle.

Twisting and shifting, the exo-suit transforms into the Talon exo-jet.

Sweepcraft < Sunder > is patrolling the area, and senses the Autobot and filthy Hyooman presence. He is intrigued, but decided to hang back. After all, he is outnumbered. Just out of detection range and reach.

Sunder's head disappears into his chest, his wings fold around him, and now he is in Sweepcraft mode, his headcannon still visible.

Talazia Keldahoff leaves the Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >.

Talazia Keldahoff has arrived.

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > has arrived.

Talazia Keldahoff drops Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > has left.

Talazia Keldahoff takes Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Ventress Exo-Suit < Talazia Keldahoff > has arrived.

Talazia Keldahoff drops Ventress Exo-Suit < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Talazia Keldahoff has left.

Talazia Keldahoff enters the Ventress Exo-Suit < Talazia Keldahoff >.

"He might rank with the worst of any species, come to think of it." Bracing against the ship's sudden movement, Silverbolt tries to look around Grimlock at the consoles, "Speaking of which, it looks like the target's planning on hiding among civilians... again." The Aerialbot nods in acknowledgement of Marissa's comments, staying with the other Autobots for now rather than following the Terran squad out the cargo bay doors.

Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn > has left.

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield regains his composure and follows James, not bothering to shift the exo to jet mode. "Once Xabat is dead," he murmurs, "I will be *really* happy." He refrains from mentioning his discomfort at being in space, since it goes without saying. Anyone who knows him is quite aware of it.

Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn > has arrived.

And with a great clatter of bulkheads and a rattling of engines, Grimlock puts the shuttlecraft down a little ways from the caveman enclave- barely after the landing gear hits the ground, the dinocommander stands, eagerly heading for the door- as that means he gets to smash stuff!

"Hnnn." he says, towering over the stone-age humans, "Me Grimlock think it easy to find him guy. Just look for humie wearing pants."

Ventress Exo-Suit < Talazia Keldahoff > Jet radios over towards Grimlock. "What if he's wearing a skirt, Grimlock? then what?"

Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey > Jet pulls away from the Autobot Shuttle a bit, circling high over the village of humans. The rear seat of the Exo-Suit is occupied by a sophisticated sensor suite, but it's designed mostly for scientific readings, and specialized for deep space operation at that. Inside, James fiddles with a tiny pull-out keyboard for a bit, trying to get any meaningful readings, but then gives up and just goes to normal visual sensors. He opens a shortwave frequency to the others. "These humans are from a different age. They're practically...prehistoric!" He eyes the images of Grimlock and Snarl on his sensor screen. "Uh...no offense."

Snarl follows Grimlock out as well, looking over at the stone-age humans. "What if humies find pants though? Humies supposedly smart." Snarl looked around at the various humans again. He was just waiting for the chance to smash stuff once more. "Why we not just smash till he come out?"

Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot hovers in the air, not far above the village. "Huh," the pilot comments. "I feel like we walked right into an episode of The Flintstones. Except...without the dinosaurs." He glances back to Snarl and Grimlock. "No! No smashing! The last thing we need is to upset the natives!"

Talazia Keldahoff leaves the Ventress Exo-Suit < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Talazia Keldahoff has arrived.

Ventress Exo-Suit < Talazia Keldahoff > has left.

Talazia Keldahoff takes Ventress Exo-Suit < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > has arrived.

Talazia Keldahoff drops Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Talazia Keldahoff has left.

Talazia Keldahoff enters the Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >.

"OOK OOK! GRUNT! OOK!" cry the natives as they scurry away from Grimlock. As Bailey passes overhead, the natives throw themselves to the ground, as if expecting to be snatched and dragged away to a nest. One native is rolling a stone wheel along happily, but yelps in fear at the newcomers, abandoning the wheel, which continues to roll towards the away team--er, heroes.

Elsewhere, cavemen with stone tools cease working on a town composed of stone blocks and gawk at the giant robots.

Sweepcraft < Sunder > mmms as he scans the planet from afar. What's this? Energon readings? Near the dwellings of the indigenous inhabitants. How very interesting. He glides in from a direction that is intended to keep the Autobots and Humans from detecting him.

The Colonel laughs at Grimlock's comments despite herself. Luckily the radio toggle was off, and so this is kept just to herself. Gripping the flight stick with a heavily gloved hand, Marissa maneuvers the fighter jet away from the Autobot shuttle, keeping it in line with the rest of Bailey's Ghost Squadron. "Redfield's right, Grimlock. We're going to have use our brains, not our brawn, to find him."

Somewhere, far far away, Brawn frowns and shakes his head disapprovingly.

Grimlock glances sidelong at Talazia, and shrugs. "Then me Grimlock punch him anyway. Or something." he gunts, and stompstompstomps towards the village. "Me Grimlock talk to thems humans," he says, "'cuz me Grimlock am in charge! C'mon Snarl!" and with that, Grimlock proceeds to start searching for cavemen to yell at.

"HEY. HEY YOU. TELL ME GRIMLOCK WHERE HIM COSTUME XYLOPHONE IS!"

A hugely muscled man, apparently the village leader, or at least just someone badass enough to dare approaching a metal giant, approaches Grimlock, and replies, "We not know where him Costume Xylophone is! But, me ask you leave us in peace."

"Me Snarl think we upset humies already." He said, indicating the running stone-age men. "They not mind I think."

Snarl follows after Grimlock, because Grimlock was the leader and in charge. At least of the Dinobots. "No! Commie Xila! Him Commie Xila!" Snarl said. Snarl stomped over to one of the huts, going and trying to remove the roof of such. "Any humies here?"

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > is flying along with the Dinobots and the EDCers. Ironically she's not in the Ventress, but in her Exo-suit. Thankfully the suit can MOSTLY keep up with the speeds that the Dinobots and Exo-armors can fly........

Tough Caveman replies, "Hm, me not know Commie Xila. What you mean, where humies? We humies!"

Silverbolt moves to intercept the still-rolling stone wheel. "We're not here to hurt you," he calls to the running human. It occurs to him even as he says it that the other probably doesn't understand either Cybertronian or any of the usual Terran languages. Still, Silverbolt hopes they'll understand actions at least, as he beckons gently for the wheel's owner to come take it back.

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield rolls his eyes. "It's *Compton Xabat*, guys. Honestly..." He holds his hands up as he addresses the village leader. "We're not gonna hurt you. We're just looking for a fugitive."

From Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn >, "'Compton Xabat'!" Faireborn corrects Grimlock again over the alliance shortwave. The Colonel transforms her Talon back into its robotic armour mode, lowering down towards the ground. "No no, 'Compton Xabat'," she tells Snarl. "There's no 'L' in the last name."

Twisting and shifting, the Talon exo-jet transforms into an exo-suit.

"Huh." Grimlock says, sizing up the brave stone-age human. "Me Grimlock no here to hurt anybody....well, 'cept them bad guys. You humies see other humies? They come from far 'way, wear shiny hats?" he asks. "Thems prolly have lasers or something, too."

From Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >, James Bailey frowns slightly, then pilots his Exo-Jet down for landing behind Grimlock and Snarl. Checking to make sure his small sidearm is loaded, and then grabbing one other thing, he pops open his canopy and vaults out of the Jet.

James Bailey leaves the Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >.

James Bailey has arrived.

James Bailey hurries over to stand in front of the muscular caveman and displays a small datapad, screen towards the primative...on it is a picture of Compton (on a Wanted poster style mug-shot). "We're looking for THIS man...have you seen him?"

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield remarks to the others, "We could probably draw Xabat out somehow. Anyone got any suggestions?"

"Compton Xabat?" Tough Caveman says. He looks at the datapad, eyes widening. "Him one of Caretakers! He good man! You leave him 'lone!" He pulls out a stone hatchet and wields it menacingly at James.

Elsewhere, construction has resumed on the stone city. The structures have actual shape and definition now, with some fairly good artwork on them. The workers have even appeared to exchange their animal hides for cloth, and they're using bronze tools in lieu of stone tools.

Snarl looks down at the humans, looking distinctly upset still. "They like these humies only not so." The dinobot said. "Shiny hats, clothes, lasers... Say what does him Commune Farlat look like?"

He then looks over at James and at the picture of Compton. "Oh... that him Commune Farlat."

And as the caveman waves a hatchet around...Grimlock pulls out his OWN sword- it makes for a pretty good pointing instrument, really. "HAW! You wrong! Him Compile Zangief BAD BAD man! He hurt lots of people! Now you tell me Grimlock where find him!"

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield raises an eyebrow, although the caveman can't see it. "He's a murderer. Once you're not useful to him anymore, I'm sure he'll dispose of you. Anyway, this is getting us nowhere. I need to move!" He ascends into the air and starts speeding around the vacinty, searching for the elusive Xabat. "Show yourself, you bastard!"

"'Compton Xabat'," Colonel Faireborn tells Snarl, gesturing to the picture. "There's no 'f' involved in Compton's name." Marissa shakes her head at Grimlock, "'Zangief'? Oh come on, now you're not even trying!"

From Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >, Talazia Keldahoff ponders something before landing on Grimlock's shoulder (dang she's a bold one). "hmmm......" Her helmeted head then turns towards Jayson. "That's not gonna help us."

James Bailey backs off a few steps until he's standing next to Grimlock's huge leg. He's got one hand on his pistol, and keeps an eye on that hatchet, but otherwise tries not to escalate things any further. After a second he looks up at Grimlock, then over to Snarl, then back at Grimlock again. "I hate to say it, but you two might have a better chance at communicating with them than us. Just please, PLEASE, don't crush anything. Or any of them. Or any of us..." James looks like he's already having second thoughts about this whole 'Dinobot communication' thing.

Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot comes to an abrupt stop and turns to Talazia. "At least I'm *doing* something! Xabat is ON THIS PLANET and I intend to find him!" And thus his anxiety finally shows itself. 'Jittery' is likely an understatement.

Tough Caveman points his hatchet at Grimlock. "NO! YOU WRONG! Him Xabat and him Ark-ville and her As-store-ya and him Burgur and him Fuggudi good, no bad! Me get better hatchet now, me be back!" The caveman shuffles away for the stone city, which is just now erecting marble statues of all of the Concurrence members. The quality of the statues is actually very good.

The Sweep coasts in, silently, towards the Stone City, from the opposite direction the Autobots are in. He transforms and lands, looking for any sort of tunnel or cave that might lead underneath the city. If there was energon here, he wanted to find it before the Autobots did.

Sunder shifts into his fearsome-looking robot mode.

Snarl gets his on Energy Sword out, swinging it around some. "Me Snarl wants know where him Compost Labrat is. Him not brought out, me Snarl smash!" Before he could do a thrust into the ground to help with the threat, the Cavemen speaks out. "Them not good men. Them evil men."

"You do that! Me Grimlock no scared of you! Me Grimlock no scared of ANYBODY!"

And with that, 'diplomacy' starts tromping down the rough path, over towards the first of the statues, which Grimlock peers at curiously. "Hnnn. Me Grimlock think you ugly!"

And with that, Grimlock neatly swings his sword around to *SLICE!* right through the statue of Arkeville!

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield huffs. "Oh, forget it. Talking to these morons isn't helping. Let's just find Xabat ourselves! And the rest of the Concurrence, since obviously they're here too." He speeds off toward another area. "Heeeeere, Xabat..."

Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn > Robot looks directly at Snarl, "'Com-' oh forget it." She shakes her head before looking over at Jayson Redfield. The nervousness and frutration from the soldier is obvious. The Colonel puts a hand on the other Talon's shoulder. "Easy, Jayson. Don't worry, we're going to get him. Lets just keep our cool. Else we're liable to start wandering into some of his infamous traps."

James Bailey runs back for his Exo-Suit, hitting a row of switches to bring it's systems back to full power and lift off into the air. He quickly takes his place in the EDC formation, circling high over the village and training it's sensors on the village below. "Everybody keep your eyes on your sensors," he reports over the shared tactical frequency the Autobots and EDC members are using for this operation. "If the Dinobots flush out the Lieut...Xabat, I want us to spot him before he gets away."

James Bailey has left.

James Bailey enters the Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >.

Snarl follows after Grimlock, going up to a statue of Xabat. Wordlessly, he puts one hand on to the head, and uses his blade to cut the statue's head off. He then goes about bashing the statue with it's own head. "Me Snarl think Snarl make statue better." He says, looking at the mess he was creating. After a while, though, he grew bored and threw the head over his shoulder. This put it on a path with one of the buildings. "Where him be? Want smash him now." Snarl said.

A horn is sounded as Grimlock eviscerates the statue of Arkeville and snarl decapitates Marble Xabat! The citizens, who now appear to be clad in togas and robes, much like Greeks or Romans, shriek and flee from the Dinobots! Then, a formation of hoplites advances on the Dinobot, aiming its spears at him! Outside, the Tough Caveman reappears--also clad in the armor and gear of a Hoplite, and he is leading several phalanxes at the Exos outside of the city. "This act shall be avenged, this, I, Archus, swears!"

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield glances to James at the other's near slip-up, but doesn't comment on it. He sighs at Marissa's words. "Sorry, Colonel. I kinda have a personal grudge against Xabat, you know. He's been escaping justice for far too long. I had a chance to kill him once...but I couldn't do it. What d'you think *that* says, huh?" He scans about. "Anyway, if he's got the natives trusting him, then that only makes things a lot harder--aw, hell. Grimlock, Snarl, what did you DO?"

Sunder eventually finds a mine of sorts. There appear to be men working inside of it with bronze tools. One of them strikes a section of the wall, and a stream of energon pours out of it! The native lets the stuff pour over his hands, staring at it in wonder.

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > takes off from Grimlock before he starts swinging....and takes a look at the Hoplites emerging. < < Looks like he got someone's attention. Not Xabat's, but someone's > >

Grimlock grunts- and looks over at Jayson. "Huh? Me Grimlock helping! Me Grimlock be ART CRITIC. HAW HAW HAW." and, utterly unimpressed by the phalanx, heads on over towards the next statue- at which point he looks over to the only other guy on this planet worth talking to.

"HEY SNARL!" he says, closing both hands around his sword in a baseball-bat-like readiness. "Me Grimlock hit HOME RUN!" and he swings te weapon around, striking the head of Burger's statue with the flat of his blade- it's like Mecha Tee-Ball, practically!

Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn > Robot looks at Jayson face to face. Eye contact is difficult through exo-suits, but she tries nonetheless, "Set those personal feelings away. We need you calm, cool, and collected. Once we f-" Faireborn is cut off, however, as a horn suddenly blares. Some mighty, armoured warrior presumably named Archus has arrived. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Me Snarl no do nothing. Me Snarl bring out Clause Xanta!" Snarl said. He watches Grimlock and nods as he watches the statue head go flying. "It is good! Three points!"

Snarl looks over and down at the human calling himself Archus. "Hey... humies have pants now Grimlock. What we do now?"

Sunder's optics go wide at the sight of pouring energon. He dashes to the spill and begins cupping his hand under the flow, and bringing the hand to his mouth and slurping it up eagerly.

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield takes a deep breath. "Okay. I'm calm. I'm calm. I want to go back to Earth." He frees an arm from the exo controls to run his fingers through his hair in exasperation. "Grimlock, for the love of God, STOP DESTROYING STUFF!"

The Hoplites try poking Grimlock in the ankle with their spears, with about as much success as you would expect. A catapult hurls a boulder against Snarl, and who knows, he might even feel it! The exos aren't safe from the harmless wrath of the natives, either. A flurry of arrows assails them!

Down below, in the mine, the miners scream in terror at the horrific Sweep and flee from it. Yeah, they don't want none 'a that.

Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey > Jet drops lower, letting the jetwash from it's now-active VTOL thrusters create columns of stiff wind below it. The external emitters click on. "Please, we don't mean you any harm." Inside, James winces as the head of a statue goes flying courtesy of Grimlock. "Uh, that was just his way of expressing--" The voice cuts off as arrows begin clattering off of his Exo-Jet, a few scratching gouges in the smooth glossy surface of his canopy. James increases the power to his thrusters and lifts higher, although a few shots still ping off of his Exo. On the team frequency, he radios, "Siryn, your Exo's about the same size as their champion...see if you can 'negotiate' with him. But use NON-lethal force only, do you copy?"

So much for trying to build up any trust, Silverbolt realizes. Not only was the first human apparently to scared by the big metal guy trying to give back that stone wheel, but Grimlock and Snarl have apparently angered the other right into... the Bronze Age? "Archus? Don't tell me Archeville has *relatives* here," Silverbolt comments as he tries to swat a few ancient weapons away like a human might brush off a bunch of insects.

"Wooo!" Grimlock...may have forgotten his original mission as he watches the statue head sail off over the horizon. He ignores the poking of the spears, and shrugs. "Hnn. This like that time me Grimlock go to japan." he muses, and shrugs over at Snarl.

Then, Jayson speaks up- and the dinocommander just sort of stares at him, even as arrows and slingstones bounce off his frame. "Why?"

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield motions toward the natives. "Oh, I dunno...because you're pissing them off and we're not making any progress?"

Snarl feels the boulder smashing against him much like how a human would feel a rather strong breeze against them. He looks around, still frowning. "Me Snarl thinks these humies want destroy us. Won't let them!"

Lifting his foot up, Snarl went and slammed it down on the ground, hopefully shaking everything up around. Well, anything that isn't a giant robot. "You humies stop or Me Snarl smash all!"

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > sighs as she flies there. < < and you screaming for Xabat to show himself was better, Jayson? When they obviously love him? > > She then catches James' radio and tilts her head. < < hmmmmm.... >  > She says as she lowers one of her arms and starts firing lasers at the archers. Not hitting the archers, mind you....but burning the bows in half.

From Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn >, "'Compton Xabat'," Faireborn reminds Snarl. Then, to both Dinobots, "Hey, hey, we're not going to get anywhere like this. We need to befriend these guys so they'll tell us where Compton went!" She, like the others, doesn't seem terribly concerned about the arrows and the like. Exo-suits are buff like that.

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield sighs quietly and finally descends to the ground. He ignores all the arrows and primitive weapons. "Look. We're not here to hurt you. We just have some business with Xabat. Okay? We just want to talk to him." Flat-out lie, but what can you do?

The archers' bows are set alight, and they drop them, crying out loud in alarm. Archus yells, "Blast, our arrows have no effect! Withdraw and regroup!" His phalanxes begin to pull back, and then a messenger in a crisp uniform reminiscent of Napoleon's army approaches him!

"Sir!" the messenger says after saluting. "The miners report finding a mysterious glowing substance, but an evil blue-winged demon has taken over the mine! We can't send anyone in there!"

"Send a unit of our new musketeers to dispatch the monster!" Archus orders. "And press the attack against the invaders! They must be destroyed if we are to save the Caretakers from harm!"

"Yes sir!" says the messenger.

Snarl enjoys quite some success in driving off the Hoplites and Catapults. They're all thrown to the ground from his stomp and flee. But just as soon as they're gone, squads of men bearing muskets charge in and fire lead shells at the Dinobots! And the EDC exos seem to be under fire from cannons!

In the mines, several musketeers are indeed making their way inside, with torches out, ready to fire upon the "demon."

From Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >, James Bailey watches Jayson proudly. Ah, they grow up so fast...

Marissa nearly sheds a tear at how much Jayson is learning. She doesn't, though, cause that wouldn't be very in-character.

The only response to Jayson is a slug aimed at his suit's head, and a cry of, "You will never harm the Caretakers!"

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield blinks a bit. That didn't really hurt, but he's certain it might have left a dent. "We're not going to harm anyone!" he insists. "We just need to talk!"

"Hey can you at least tell us what the 'Caretakers' have done here?" Marissa asks them. Cavemen love telling stories. It's practically the law. Also she wants to know how they've been treated by Xabat and his ilk. They clearly did /something/ to gain such strong loyalty.

Sunder turns to face the approaching musketeers, hissing at them and baring his talons. His headcannon glows as he prepares to fire it. "Begone," he growls, "Or I will destroy you."

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > shoots at the musketeer......meaning she shoots at the Musketeer's...uh....musket.

From Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >, James Bailey watches the new weapons, taking care to keep his Exo-Jet in motion now to prevent the cannons from drawing a bead on him. He tries to keep up with what everyone's doing on his tactical monitors, but his Exo's sensor system is having trouble keeping track of so many targets, so he concentrates on the EDC Exo's and Autobots for now. Over the comm frequency, he says, "Guys, I don't like the trend here...who knows what else they've got in storage here. And we still can't just blow them all away. At least, not until we find out what they know about the Lieutenant," he clarifies. "We need to single out their leaders and get them talking! Siryn, I want you to isolate Archus from the rest of them! The rest of us will cover you!"

Snarl frowned even more, if it was even possible. "Grimlock, Me Snarl think we smash now. Smash all. Then we can find him Compton Xabat."

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield stares at Snarl. "Hallelujah, you got his name right. Congratulations."

A musketeer lieutenant cries, "We do not fear you, monster! The Caretakers will preserve us! Open fire!" And as one, the Musketeers unleash a salvo of lead upon the Sweep.

The Cavemen, and even the Hoplites, seem to be long gone. In their place are ranks of what appears to be soldiers of the Napoleonic era, advancing steadily on all of their enemies, and firing massive fusillades of fire upon them. Still, it does take them a while to reload, which means they have time to chat between shots. "The Caretakers gave us life!" cries one soldier as he stuffs gunpowder into his primitive weapon. "They made us everything we are, gave us everything we need! Without them, we would not even exist!"

"Sorry. Him Cammy Zaline." Snarl replied.

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield facepalms. "Never mind. I spoke too soon. Colonel, how are we supposed to befriend these guys when they keep attacking us?"

Faireborn sighs at Snarl, "Again, it's 'Compton X-'... wait, you got it right that time!" the Colonel exclaims, clearly pleased. But then Jayson has to go ahead and /ruin it/. Marissa shoots Jayson an annoyed look, though it's tough to see thanks to the exo-suit in the way. "Is it just me or are we progressing through human history in terms of technology?"

From Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >, Talazia Keldahoff floats there for a second. < < I think we can forget about them becoming friends, Colonel. They're about as fanatic to Xabat as the Nazi's were to Hitler. I have an idea. > > She says as she floats up towards Snarl and Grimlock....who just MIGHT like her idea.

"Agreed. At this rate, we may face lasers, or whatever Xabat and his allies have in their labs." Now fending off small metal shots, Silverbolt moves slowly backward toward the ship. "And if they have anything that can damage the ship, we'd better not leave it a sitting target."

Grimlock stares forward at the napoleonic infantry- and then grunts. "Hnnn. Thems getting lots of stuff." he muses aloud, and then- as the ranks are reloading- (well, when they're firing, too- it takes more than a smoothbore musket to pester THIS dino) he tromps forwards- and then pauses for a few moments as he listens to the radio.

"Oooh! Me Know! Me Grimlock say time to go smash septi-con! Then when me Grimlock do it, they see how great me Grimlock am! Me Grimlock am greatest!"

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield seems to sense that Marissa is annoyed. He shrugs helplessly. "Snarl might've gone back to mispronouncing the name after *you* told him he got it right," he points out. "And you..." He points at one of the natives. "You do realize that your weapons aren't doing any good, right?" He relaxes a bit. "We're not here to hurt you. Please believe us. We just want to talk to your...'Caretakers'. Okay? That's all."

Sunder smirks as the shots from the muskets just bounce off him. "Is that the best you can do?" he sneers, "Try this!" He opens fire with his headcannon. Slag em all and let Unicron sort em out...

Archus re-emerges, poking his head out of the hatch of a monstrous 80-ton tank, which also happens to be at the head of a whole formation of tanks. Squads of infantry bearing semi-automatic rifles accompany them. "Your FRIENDS--" Archus sneers, gesturing at the Dinobots. "--have shown us just what you REALLY plan to do to the Caretakers! And it is only a matter of time before we find something that WILL destroy you! Open fire, men!" The tanks begin firing explosive shells at all of the Autobots and exo-suits. Perhaps even worse is that some of the infantry are armed with tank-busting recoilless rifles, and the Dinobots, being in the middle of the city, get assailed by numerous rockets.

The musketeers are quickly vaporized by Sunder's headcannon, but a squad of modern-looking infantry stomps into the mine right on their heels! The guy in the lead seems to have a flamethrower. Hm, that might not react well with energon.

From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield has partially disconnected.

Colonel Faireborn hmms as Jayson points out that she might have ruined it also. "Well maybe," she admits. Jayson wins this round. "Alright we're not making any progress when it comes to talking with them. Lets get moving and search as best we can before they start getting into the _really_ advanced wea-" BLAM! One of the tank shells strikes Marissa's Talon square on. Although perhaps primitive compared to EDC technology, the explosive force is more than enough to blow Marissa off her feet and send her skidding along the ground on her back. The Talon's chest armour has been torn up as she lays still, though it doesn't look like the exo's internal circuitry took the brunt of the hit.

Snarl starts on his way after Grimlock before he stops for a bit. "Grimlock, we cause quake, smash 'Con from here, drive out Xylon Comp." Snarl ignores the explosions and the tank shells against his body. "Snarl really not like this place."

Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot hovers in the air again, trying to stay out of the line of fire. "All of you!" he snaps at the natives. "Stop being stupid! If Xabat did, as you say, give you 'life'..." He points at them accusingly. "Then you're nothing but a bunch of CLONES! Copies with no free will and no mind of your own! You're all pathetic!"

Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > flies low as uses as much speed as her suit can muster. before trying to melt the barrels of the tanks.....at least the large barrels anyways.....


 * BOOOOM!*

The rockets make Grimlock notice. "Hey! Grrh! Me Grimlock SMASH YOU-" he pauses, and then glances over at Snarl, nodding. "Hnnn. You right. Me Grimlock say is time to TRANSFORM!"

And with that, Grimlock does! Now in his dino mode, Grimlock looks over the GI Joe wannabes, and lets out a low: "Haw haw haw. Is QUAKE TIME!"

And then...Grimlock starts to jump up and down. A lot. This may be bad for anyone...on he ground, really. *BOOM BOOM BOOM!*

With a grunt and a growl, Grimlock changes into a robot T-rex! Watch out.

Snarl quickly follows suit, transforming into his dinomode as well. Once there, he starts to use his tail to cause a quake along side Grimlock. Buildings will fall down at this rate. *BOOM BOOM BOOM*

Through the magic of Cybertronian Science, Snarl falls backwards and shifts from imposing robot into an imposing Stegosaurus. He still looks discontent.

The Sweep sees the flamethrower and leaps, knowing well what open flame does to energon. Claws out, he attempts to disarm and perhaps disembowel the lead man, to prevent him from igniting the energon. "FOOL!" he hisses.

Down in the mines, the flamethrower fellow is quickly sliced to ribbons! However, the mine's shaking, debris is falling overhead, and a cave-in seems imminent!

Above, multiple tanks get their barrels melted into uselessness, forcing them to turn back to base for... repairs? Or maybe something else? Still, disabling all of them would take quite some time. There's like, craploads of tanks, here. One might wonder where they all came from. "Clones?" says Archus with a frown. "What do you mean? I was born in a hospital, and I have the birth certificates to prove it!" Though it might be hard to hear him say that over the thundering of artillery.

The Dinobots quickly subdue the opposition. Bazooka-wielding troops flee from the Dinobots, stumbling over themselves as the constant quaking makes it extremely difficult for them to even stand, let alone run. Buildings begin collapsing into rubble all around them, and the soldiers despair. All seems lost.

Then, the soldiers smile, and point up at a wondrous sight in the sky! "It's him! The Caretakers have not abandoned us! Compton Xabat is here to save us!"

And down from the sky, like an angel, descends Compton Xabat in his Fire Suit, accompanied by four exo-suits of an unknown configuration! "Fight on, Raptians! These foul monsters would steal your freedom! Dr. Arkeville, make READY THE GIANT MECHANICAL SPIDER!"

After a few moments, he repeats himself. "Make *READY* the giant mechanical spider!" More minutes pass. "Well!?"

Then, Arkeville replies, via some sort of loudspeaker, "Erm, it's not working Xabat! I'm... I'm trying to fix it..."

The Fire suit facepalms.

Outside, Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn > Robot stirs, stunned by the tank shell that exploded against its armour. Faireborn fires off a radio transmission about getting covered as the exo-suit's gyro-stabilizers reboot. Awkwardly, the Talon rises back up to a sitting position before taking a knee. "Alright, I hate to say this but diplomacy has gotten us no-where. Start dismantling this army." The arm mounted laser rifle hums loudly as it warms up, but the tanks roll back, and the prey finally shows himself. Marissa glares up at Compton, and as word comes down that there's no mechanical spider to kill them, she smirks, "Dinobots, Earth Defence Command: take him out!" Marissa aims the laser cannon up at the Protectorate exo-suit, pumping off a series of energy blasts. "Yo Jay!" she shouts, "Looks like you're going to get your chance after all."

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield tenses at the arrival of the familiar Fire Suit. "XABAT!" he snarls, quickly ascending to meet him face to face. "There you are, you son of a bitch! What've you been doing to this planet?!" With that, he extends his arm-blade, and slashes it at the enemy exo's chest section. This is personal!

Outside, "WOooo! Haw haw haw! You run!" Grimlock snarls at the fleeing soldiery- only to peer upwards at the incoming exo suits. "'Bout time! Me Grimlock tired of not killing thems other guys!"

Grimlock wags his tail, practically, and belches out a little breath of fire at the, uh, fire suit. "Me Grimlock think you chumps give up, and we not break you!"

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot strikes you with blade for 2 points of damage.

Outside,

Sunder hisses again as he slays the flamethrower-wielder, to intimidate the others. As the mine begins trembling as if in the midst of a quake, he quickly produces an empty energon cube and holds it under the steady flow of energon, filling it. Then he stows it in subspace and flees the mine. He doesn't want to be stuck here. But he does want to get this cube back to the lab for analysis.

Outside, Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > turns as the Fire suit flys in and....smiles under her helmet as she grabs onto something on her left hip and Aims it at Xabat. < < Perhaps Jayse should have Xabat for a while. > > She says softly before looking towards Grimlock. < < I imagine there ARE decepticons here Grimlock....keep an eye open for them....

Outside,

"Puny humies run! Lets smash!" Snarl said. He was actually getting happy now. This was because he was fighting now. He charged over towards the Exo-suits, swinging his tail at the ones that had come with Xabat in an attempt to launch them away.

"Puny humies run... Snarl send humies skywards... Cylon Xabby flee!" Snarl says in some kind of hashed together haiku.

Compton Xabat calls out heroically, "Deal with the others, men!" as he soars above return fire from the heroes (villains?). "I'll handle this one! He's A DANGEROUS TERRORIST!" And yes, Xabat is smirking to himself as he says that. "Unf!" Xabat grunts as his suit is sliced into by Jayson. "What have I been doing? More like, what have YOU been doing? These people were living here peacefully until you and your robotic invaders arrived and started blowing everything up! Why, you even brought a Decepticon here! He's raiding the planet's energon as we speak! What, is he going to share it with you?"

The fire suit raises an arm and fires off multiple .50 caliber shells from its wrist cannon. As he does this, the unidentified exos break off and begin to strafe the Dinobots from overhead, though one of them is badly singed by Grimlock, and another gets knocked into a building by Snarl, and is buried in its rubble.

Elsewhere, unnoticed on the battlefield, a strange old woman walks towards Marissa's malfunctioning exo suit. She reaches out for it, palms extended...

As for Sunder, as soon as he takes off he is intercepted by super-sonic fighters!

Outside, You strike Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot with Wrist Blaster.

Outside, "Rargh!" Grimlock rages like a Kaiju monster, breathing fire at the swooping exos...though as he hears of Decepticons again, Grimlock grunts...and then glances over just in time to see Sunder taking off! "Oooh! Finally! Me Grimlock want first shot!" and, with that, he sizes in on Sunder- eye-beams lighting up to fire lasery death at the sweepcraft!

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield winces a bit as the shells hit several places on his armor. "That's a dirty lie and you know it. As for energon, I couldn't care less. Not that I wouldn't kick the Decepticon's ass if I saw him, but still." He retracts the blade, and on the other arm, he activates his laser gun. "I don't know how you got those idiots to trust you, but either way, I'm gonna take you DOWN!" He fires.

Outside, You evade Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot's laser attack.

Outside, "Compton Xabat!" Marissa calls out. No, she isn't yelling at the infamous terrorist. She's correcting Snarl. "Jayson, be careful!" she radios, "Don't do anything rash! Tackle Xabat as a team." The Talon steps forward, still finding its balance as the gyro-stabilizers slowly inch back up to 100% effectiveness. The Colonel twists and aims the laser cannon on her arm towards the gumbies, blazing away at them. Strangely, they don't seem interested in shooting back. The hell? Marissa thinks. It's almost as if they don't want to accidentally hit... some... oh no. Out of instinct, Faireborn turns to face the old woman who's snuck up on her. "Astoria Carlton-Ritz?!" she exclaims, gasping just before the elderly woman places her hands on the Talon's leg. Suddenly the exo-suit loses power, and the Colonel grapples desperately with the controls. "Oh... oh you hussy bitch," Faireborn mutters as the Exo-Armour tilts backwards and clangs against the ground.

Sunder slashes wildly at the sonic fighters as he rises in altitude, then transforms and begins firing at them. But only enough to get them out of his way

Outside, Sunder's head disappears into his chest, his wings fold around him, and now he is in Sweepcraft mode, his headcannon still visible.

Astoria Carlton-Ritz shrieks, "What did you call me!? Get out of that suit! The Concurrence would love to torture your secrets out of you! And maybe..." She gets starry-eyed. "Maybe I could trade you for Powerglide?..."

Outside, Astoria Carlton-Ritz shrieks, "What did you call me!? Get out of that suit! The Concurrence would love to torture your secrets out of you! And maybe..." She gets starry-eyed. "Maybe I could trade you for Powerglide?..."

Snarl looks up at Sunder as he flies over head. He then looks over at Marissa. "But him am stupid name. Me Snarl make better!"

After saying that, though, he turns and lets out his own stream of flames out at the evil Exo-Suits. He is half tempted to turn his flames on Astoria, but knows the EDC would have something against that. So, for now, only the evil Exo-Suits get the flames.

Outside, Talazia Keldahoff leaves the Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Outside, Talazia Keldahoff has arrived.

Outside, Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff > has left.

Outside, Talazia Keldahoff takes Exo-suit Deimos < Talazia Keldahoff >.

Outside, Robot T-Rex! < Grimlock > rarghs! Sunder slips out of range- which leaves the dinobot to take his agression out on...humans. Sort of. "Grrh! Me Grimlock think this no satisfying!" he grunts, tromping over to upend a tank- only to glance upward and spit some more fire breath at an exo-suit that swoops too low!

"Stupid humies! Hand him Colton Zorro over so me Grimlock can leave!"

The super-sonic fighters break off and away from Sunder! It also seems that they can't follow him into space. Then again, you never know what these guys will cough up next...

Outside, From Exo-Armour Talon < Marissa Faireborn >, "Like you even have to ask," Colonel Faireborn mutters, though this can't be heard by Astoria. She flicks several switches from within the Talon's cockpit, but gets no response. The thing is dead, and she can't even begin to guess how. Reaching up, the Colonel yanks on the manual ejection system. The cockpit slowly slides open, and the EDC second in command is already in the process of lunging out. She's younger than Astoria. She's fitter than Astoria. She has more military training than Astoria. Yeah, she thinks. I'm going to enjoy this just a bit. Marissa goes out swinging, trying to deck the rich heiress with a quick right cross.

Compton Xabat laughs at his opponent. "Oh, a lie, is it? Look at that city, down there! I was expecting the Decepticons to level it, but, oh, no, the AUTOBOTS did! You people just make it too easy for me." He doesn't explain how he got the natives to trust him. Trade secret? "Now enjoy some plasma." Unholstering his plasma rifle from his back, he levels it at the center torso of Jayson's exo and discharges a full-power beam.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot evades your Plasma (High Power) attack.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield huffs, then directs the armor to dodge to the side. "No thanks, I already ate. Why don't YOU enjoy some of THIS?" And there go the machine guns.

Outside, You evade Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot's ballistic attack.

Outside,

Snarl continues his beat down on the evil exo-suits happily. Flames, tail smashes, tail lasers, tail rockets, even jumping and trying to crush some under his own weight. Snarl certainly looks happy with his job.

Outside, The two remaining flying exo-suits get their circuits fried by Dino-fire! They slam into the pavement, hard, as citizens begin to pour out of the city, abandoning it for what appears to be a newly space port, complete with escape shuttle. The rest of the resistance, for now, appears to mostly be scattered infantry armed with laser rifles.

Astoria, in the meantime, reels from the hook. It is true, indeed, that Marissa has many advantages over her. But Astoria has one critical edge of her own: MADNESS! "EEEEYAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" she shrieks as she leaps at Marissa, attempting to scratch her with her viciously with her fingernails. It's a terrifying attack that would only be more frightening if it had been preceded by her emergence from a still shot of a well on a TV.

Outside, Robot T-Rex! < Grimlock > scratches at his head- then peers over at the humans as they flee. "Hnnn. That spaceship there before?" he asks, glancing over at Snarl. The occasional laser blast *pings!* from his thick armor, but Grimlock doesn't seem to mind too much. When one's survived the likes of Galvatron's fusion cannon (multiple times!) a few small arms aren't much to worry about.

Outside,

Sweepcraft < Sunder > retreats without a second thought. Vastly outnumbered, it would be foolish to remain. So the Sweep departs, to report his findings to headquarters. < < You're too slow, rusty jaws! > > he taunts Grimlock as he goes.

Outside, Sunder begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey > Jet.

Compton Xabat jinks out of the way of the bullets. "Ooh, generous of you!" Xabat sneers, plasma rifle blasting away yet again. "However, I hear LEAD is bad for you! And besides, I have to put on a good show for the people of this world, eh? Say, that reminds me. This world. Haven't you wondered about its name? Don't you think it sounds odd?"

Outside, You strike Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot with Plasma (Medium Power).

Snarl looked over as laser blasts ping off his own armor. "No, it wasn't. Smash shuttle!" Snarl says. Laser blasts continue their futile attempt to stop the rampaging Dinobot, who goes running at the shuttle. Providing its not trying to start taking off, Snarl will try to slam his tail into its engines and hopefully tear large holes into them as well. If it is about to take off though... Snarl will just stay back and fire lasers and rockets at it. He's not about to get himself slagged by a shuttle taking off.

Outside, Marissa Faireborn is confident. Perhaps too confident. Astoria leaps back at her, scratching and clawing like a crazy old woman. Er... maybe exactly like a crazy old woman? "H-hey!" the Colonel retorts, trying to defend herself. She slaps away Astoria's right hand, but the left whips around and slashes through her sleeve, leaving a deep cut on Faireborn's arm. That nail went right through a heavy flight suit capable of withstanding the vacuum of space like it was nothing. "Who does your nails? Arkeville?" Marissa asks with half a sneer. For all she knows, she might be right. Marissa retaliates by trying to plant her boot at Astoria's gut.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield yelps as the plasma hits the armor square in the chest. He grunts. "Far be it from me to question a planet's name. For all I know it could be named after the natives' god." He brings out the arm-mounted laser gun again. "And what's it to you, anyway?"

Outside, "Hey! You Snarl no do that!"

And as the Stegasaurus charges forward, Grimlock follows suit- dipping down low to grab at Snarl's tail with his arms! "Leave shuttle 'lone! Them humans no fight, so we let them go! Is probably full of old ladies and little kids." he nods, and *HEAVES* backwards again, ignoring any stray blasts Snarl might snap off.

"Us Dinobots only fight things WORTH fighting!"

Outside,

Snarl stops and looks at Grimlock. "Fine. Thought could be full of more humies that'd fight, but old ladies and little kids are good. Me Snarl sorry." The Stegosaurus said. He lets out a stream of fire, though, at a stray jet that comes down to try and shoot the two Dinobots. "Though this boring."

"They're attacking the escape shuttle!" cries one of the civilians, pointing at Snarl. Indeed, it seemed that many of the civilians were about to board that thing until Snarl started slamming it with his tail. It's not built for combat, so the shuttle's engines are quickly crumpled and dented into near-uselessness. All around them, civilians huddle together, weeping and crying. "Where will we go?" they wonder aloud.

Fortunately for them, the Raptians finally get reinforcements! Two new exo-suits, also of unknown design, march towards the Dinobots. They appear to be bulkier than the other exos, apparently built for ground combat. Their should-mounted miniguns open up on the Dinos as soon as they're in range.

Astoria is kicked off of Marissa, but she's kinda like that crazy witch in Kevin Costner's Robin Hood movie. She just springs back with a loud shriek! Maybe if Marissa had a good polearm she could defeat her?

Outside, Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey > Jet circles around above the fighting Exo-Suits of Jayson and Compton, flying sideways like a helicopter to keep the two in range of it's forward weapons. Inside, James glances over the displays and then looks through the viewscreen at them. "Two close for a clear shot," he murmurs to himself. Then he activates the comm system. "That's it, kid...you've got him right where you want him. And keep him talking, so maybe we can find out what this planet's all about!"

Outside, Exo-Suit Fire < Compton Xabat > gets struck on his shoulder, armor vaporizing in a fine spray of molten metal. "What's it to me? Oh, come now. This planet's name, Rapt... it's an *anagram.* And it's an easy one!" He chuckles as he raises his wrist-mounted flame-thrower at Jayson's suit. "Come on now, figure it out while I barbecue you nice and good."

Elsewhere, behind a hill, a giant mechanical spider sits... and its engine refuses to start. "Come on, come on!" Dr. Arkeville grumbles nearby, pressing a button on a remote. The spider's engine groans and wheezes but doesn't come online.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot evades your fire attack.

Outside, "Grrh! See what you Snarl do!" Grimlock grumbles, and turns over towards the huddling people. "You! You people be careful! Me Grimlock no hurt- rargh!"

Grimlock's tirade is cut off by the Raptian exo mini-gunning him- Grimlock wheels around and attempts to bash one of them with his own tail! "Me Grimlock trying to help!" With violence, of course.

"Me Grimlock like you guys better when you just have rocks."

Outside,

Snarl sees the new exo-suits coming at them, mostly after they fire on him. "Hey... should we smash those or let humies study?" He asked Grimlock. Getting his answer, he went and attempted to jump up and on one of them again. A Stegosaurus jumping is not a pretty sight, but he could still do it rather well.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot again dodges the asault. "Work on your aim," the pilot retorts. He then pauses as a sudden realization dawns on him. "Rapt...? Trap? Trap?!" He retracts his weapons again. "All this...it's a trap? Is that what it is?!" He rushes forward, aiming the Talon's fist at where Compton's head would be.

Outside, You evade Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot's punch attack.

Outside, Marissa Faireborn and Astoria continue to fight. She doesn't have a pole arm, unfortunately, but they can still scratch at one another and pull hair and roll around in the grass while grappling one another. This would be great were they not both over 40.

Outside, Exo-Suit Fire < Compton Xabat > catches the fist in his hands. "Ding ding ding! That's right! This planet is a TRAP! Oh, I just knew you people would come after me! That's why MY informant leaked our whereabouts to the Autobots! We also gave the Decepticons an anonymous tip on where they could grab some energon, and the idea was they were supposed to run into you. Both sides would fight each other over the energon, all the while destroying that poor civilization down there, all throughout its troubled history. Through the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, The Iron Age, and on, YOU and YOUR war never let them live in peace." He laughs. "Congratulations! The Cybertronian War has claimed another victim! And WE, the Concurrence, have just cooked up an army of soldiers craving vengeance against you! Couldn't have done it without you! *Thanks.*" The exo then kicks hard at Jayson.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot darts back, and Jayson starts breathing heavily in an attempt to keep himself calm. The arm-blade extends again. "For several months my life was HELL because of you," he hisses dangerously. "You kidnapped my family and blackmailed me into taking you to Rammstein! You...you're a monster. I'LL KILL YOU!" He rushes again, aiming to stab Compton's exo through the chest.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot strikes you with blade for 5 points of damage.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, < OOC > Jayson Redfield just had this mental image of Jase and Compton falling to the ground while still locked in combat.

Even though these are more advanced exo-gumbies, they are still gumbies, so Grimlock easily knocks down his target and Snarl pins his without much trouble either. However, the footsteps of more exo's echo down the ruined streets of the city, so it appears they weren't alone.

And not only that, but the ship that the Autobots and EDC noticed earlier is descending towards the city. Sean Berger's voice is projected from PA systems mounted on it, and he proclaims, "Ah, as, um, one of the Caretakers, I uh, declare a cease-fire, or something, so that we may evacuate the civilian population. Uh. Please?"

Outside, Robot T-Rex! < Grimlock >, snarling monster that he is- still manages to overhear Xabat's boasting...even as he's chewing on the exo-suit's head. "Hn?" he pauses- and then...after thinking about it for a long, long few moments, stops chewing on the exo-suit, and turns to some huddled Radians.

"You humies hear what him Costco Seargant say?" He asks, scratching at his head, "'cuz it sound like him say him just use you guys as bait or something. Me Grimlock think that bad!"

So Grimlock is either venturing into psychological warfare...or he's just thinking aloud.

Outside,

Snarl hears Compton Xabat as well. He transforms back into his robot mode, nodding some. "Yeah! Him Crying Baby was using you all for bait! You all mean nothing to them! We may have fought and destroyed, but we will stop. No fight bait." Snarl says.

This isn't just Snarl following Grimlock's example, but him thinking on his own. The Dinobots aren't dumb, they just have bad vocabularies... and just can't deal with anything technical to a certain extent.

Outside, Through the magic of Cybertonian science, Snarl goes from a four legged Stegosaurus, standing up right now on two legs with a mean look on his face.

Compton Xabat howls with laughter as the blade sinks deep into his suit. "Oh, ho ho ho, yes, I did! I did all of that! And I'm still spying on you, you know? I could kill you at any time I want, but you're *just so much fun* to play with, you know?" Jayson's charge forces him into a sharp descent, and he grapples with his opponent for control, punching and battering Jayson as much as he can. "And now this! I just manipulated you and the Autobots into doing my bidding, and we didn't even need the Decepticons like we thought we would. Hahaha, you people are such FOOLS!"

Outside, You strike Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot with punch.

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield jerks the blade-arm back. "You're the fool for thinking you can get away with this. One of these days, you're going to get killed, and then, I will be satisfied. Until then, though, I'll just have to beat the crap out of you!" In a daring move, he lunges the armor at Compton's exo in a tackle, a manuever that may cause the both of them to fall.

Outside, Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > succeeds in grasping Exo-Suit Fire < Compton Xabat >, throwing it off-balance.

Unfortunately for the Dinobots, Xabat wouldn't be so careless as to blurt out his plans within earshot of his new puppets. And while the Dinobots, being advanced robots with (presumably) better hearing than humans and being taller (which also helps), were able to hear what Xabat said, the Raptians did not, which they quickly make clear. "You lie!" a woman shouts. "Look around you! Everything you see here is because of the Caretakers! And you just destroyed it! Why should we believe you!"

"She's right!" says a man cradling a baby. "You've tormented us all throughout our history! You're monsters! No, you're worse than monsters!"

"YEAH!" cry the crowds.

A bunch of new exo's show up at the spaceport, but they do not attack, perhaps because of the "cease-fire."

Compton Xabat tries to push off Jayson's suit, but he's holding him tightly in his death grip! "What the hell are you doing, Jayson? You'll kill us both!" The camera of the exo swivels to stare at the rapidly approaching ground. "And this would merely martyr me in their eyes! Is that what you really want??!"

Compton Xabat then attempts to grab onto Jayson. "If it is, then you're going to die with me!"

Outside, Robot T-Rex! < Grimlock > grunts, and transforms to his robot mode. "All through you history? Huh?" he scratches at his head. "How come you guys just have rocks before, but now you have spaceships? Me Grimlock think it easier to use lasers first...hnf. This planet no make sense." he mutters- but to his credit, he's not brutalizing any exos. Yet.

Outside, From Exo-Jet Apollo Class < James Bailey >, James Bailey checks his tactical display. The Dinobots are clearly more than capable of handling themselves, but he's getting readings of more Exo's in the area. And then there's Berger and his ship. He directs his Exo-Jet to hover closer to Jayson and Compton's Exo's, then clicks on his external speakers. He seems to be responding to Berger. "Civilians? Damn it!" He watches the display, showing even MORE Exo's. "Kid, no more messing around! Get clear, give me a shot!"

Outside,

"Maybe humies get Tonof Fat to speak plan over radio?" Snarl asked, looking at Grimlock. Villains like talking about their plans over and over again, right? Snarl looked up at Compton. "HEY! WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT THE PLANET AGAIN? ME SNARL DIDN'T HEAR!"

Outside, There's a flurry of moving parts, and Grimlock changes to his robot mode!

Outside, From Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield >, Jayson Redfield grins a bit. Either way, it doesn't look like he can let go right now, since Compton has grabbed onto him as well. "Like I care! All it means is that you'll be DEAD!" And he's really not sure if he'll survive this. He kind of hopes he does. Either way, this is going to hurt. "Sorry, James! Just lemme take care of this first!" And down they fall. What will happen now?!

Outside, Dr. Arkeville hops up and down with joy as his GIANT MECHANICAL SPIDER roars to life and stomps towards the city! "It's alive! IT'S ALIVE!" he cries jubilantly. Then Jayson and Xabat's exos slam into it from above like twin meteors, KO'ing the spider instantly.

"F***!!!!!" screams Arkeville.

At the very least, landing on the spider seemed to break both exos' fall enough so that they weren't both killed instantly. Even so, Xabat emerges from out of his ruined exo, woozy and unsteady on his feet. Immediately, a swarm of civilians converges on him, helping him stand and walk, muttering things like, "Are you ok, Caretaker?" They make for a handy human shield, too!

Eventually, Xabat looks up at Snarl and says, "Oh.. what did I say? I said... if you will not leave these people, then at least let them leave here." Which isn't even slightly true, but the Raptians cheer.

Snarl shrugged a bit. "Me Snarl see why not. You Compton Xabat can't leave though. You leave with us." He said, as if it was a simple thing. He doesn't make any moves to try and attack or anything really.

Exo-Armor Talon < Jayson Redfield > Robot crashes! It's pretty badly damaged, but it could have been a lot worse. Jayson emerges from the armor and staggers away from it, bruised and cut in quite a few places. Wordlessly, he pulls out his gun, which he always keeps with him, and points it at Compton, but he doesn't fire. Not yet. His expression is unreadable.

Grimlock hmmms, and just crosses his arms across his chest. "Hnf. This whole thing stupid." he grumbles, and peers down at the deluded, useless humans. "Grrh...hold on..." he mutters- and wades through the crowd, leaning over to pick up Jayson before he can cause much trouble. "Me Grimlock think you cause 'nuff trouble."

Compton Xabat smirks as Grimlock reaches to snatch Jayson. Then, he tells Snarl, "Haven't you taken enough from these poor people, Snarl? Now you would take their... Caretaker, away from them? And besides, if you attempt to grab me..." He looks pointedly at the Raptian exo-suits. "Well, there are *so very many* civilians here. They might get caught in the cross-fire. Don't you think?" Xabat gives the Dinobot a disgustingly smug and evil grin.

Nearby, Berger's ship has landed on the spaceport, and civilians begin to file onto it. "Well, I'd better join my people, hadn't I?" says Xabat, still smirking.

"They not live if you go with them." Snarl says. "They not find peace if you with them. We want you. If they want left lone, then you come with us." The Dinobot still doesn't make any moves to stop the humans just yet, nor will he. "That all we want. If you care for them, then you come with us."

"Don't TOUCH me!" Jayson snaps as he ducks away from Grimlock. "It's YOUR fault the natives turned on us! What the hell were you THINKING, after I told you and Snarl not to destroy anything?! And YOU..." He whips around to face the Raptians. "You're all goddammned IDIOTS! These people were using you as BAIT! Once you're no longer useful, you may very well be killed just like many of their other victims! And Xabat, you're lucky that I'm not gonna shoot you. That just shows how much BETTER I am that I don't kill in cold blood. Go rot in Hell!"

Grimlock hmmms. "Me Grimlock think you humans mess stuff up anyway." he grumbles- and with that said, he just shakes his head. "Me Grimlock going back to shuttle! Rest of you go do whateer you do before! Me no care!" he grunts, and storms off. "C'mon Snarl!"

"Me Snarl miss nap anyways." Snarl says, following after Grimlock.

That's just the problem, though. Xabat doesn't give two craps about these people. "I do care about these people!" Xabat says. "I *do.* Deeply. But they also care for me. And I do not think they wish to abandon me to your... ah, tender mercies. Well, my people? Would you give me up to them?"

"NEVER!!!" cry the Raptians.

Xabat shrugs in mock-helplessness. "You heard them! You *must* let me go now. Well, audios."

He smirks over at Jayson's ranting. "Oh... oh, my, you're just... you're just precious, aren't you? That's why I keep you around, Jayson." Chuckling under his breath, he limps towards Berger's ship, assisted by several of the native Raptians.

Jayson Redfield snorts. "Don't think you've seen the last of me, you monster. I have a good mind to forget morals and just put a bullet in your chest." He holsters the gun and starts limping back to his broken Talon, but he stops and winces, putting a hand on his side. "Dammit...think a shard from the armor got me..." And indeed, there is blood seeping through his fingers.

Compton Xabat shrugs as he begins to limp up the ramp to Berger's ship. "Oh, I know, Jayson! We'll see each other again! We will! Many times, I'm sure. *I'll drive you mad.* Heheheheh!"

Astoria is still wrestling with Marissa. She didn't seem to get the news about a cease-fire, and is trying to tear Marissa apart with her nails!

Andi Lassiter finally catches up with the others, and sees that Marissa's in a potentially troubling situation. She solves it quickly and decisively, by scooping up a handy rock or other hard object and clonks crazy-woman upside the head with it.

That works. Astoria squeeks and goes out like a light.

Colonel Faireborn is defending herself as best she can against the crazy broad that is Astoria. Faireborn has the training, but Astoria has the psycho on her side. There's numerous cuts on her flight suit, proving just how sharp and deadly Astoria's nails must be. Spying something moving behind her foe, the Colonel tries to keep Astoria's attention on her. "That the best you can get? No wonder whatshisname dumped your sorry ass."

Jayson Redfield approaches his Talon again, still clutching the injury, and sits with his back against it. He is tired, bruised, and covered in minor cuts. The wound on his side is clearly the worst of them. Frustrated, he just leans back and closes his eyes. "Damn it all..."

Andi Lassiter looks at the now kersplat Astoria, then at Marissa. "You okay?"

Astoria has been KO'd, and Xabat, well, he boarded the ship which is currently preparing for liftoff, probably feeling very good about himself.

Marissa Faireborn looks down at Astoria. She nudges her with her foot just to make sure she's alright. Poor Astoria probably has a concussion. "Better than she is," Marissa replies to Andi. "Lets get a medic down here. We aren't going home empty handed, it looks like."

Andi Lassiter nods and gets out her everpresend and trusty radio, calling in medical assistance before addressing Marissa again. "And Jayson?"

Marissa Faireborn turns to face Jayson and his Talon, obviously not knowing the answer to Andi's inquiry. The pair of them looking in Jay's direction should be enough of a silent question to him.

Jayson Redfield blinks. "Shard from the armor got me in the side." And the blood is still seeping through his fingers. "Lots of cuts and bruises, too--ow..." He winces.

Marissa Faireborn raises her arm so she can speak into her wrist communicator. She orders down the medic team to see to Astoria and Jayson. Marissa herself is in decent enough shape, though she's going to need a once over to make sure all those scratches she received don't cause an infection. You never know - Astoria might have had rabies or something.

Berger's ship slowly lifts up into the sky, bearing the entire indigenous population with it, enough for a small army. While the Dinobots managed not to kill anyone on this planet, they will not be remembered fondly for the damage they did, sadly. Nor will they remember Autobots, Decepticons, and the EDC very fondly, either, for their "complicity." What will come of this troubling encounter? Only time will tell.

Andi Lassiter mutters something and steps toward Jayson, pulling some of those gauze pad things usually carried by military personnel. "Here. And sit still." "Don't really have much of a choice, now, do I?"

Jayson replies half-jokingly. "I'm gonna need repairs to my Talon, too. And some rest...ow..."