Getting off Base

[Deleted]

Redline really seemed to like having the innate ability to confuse anyone he spoke to, and he wasn't even a Mutacon! If the human... sparkling... hybrid wasn't around, Pulsar would've simply slid herself into the Decepticon's mind to see just what made him tick. It'd been too long since she'd combined with anyone, stars forbid she was rusty. The stars would've been wrong about it though, since the passage of time had no impact on her abilities, she maintained.

"So are you friend or foe, Redline?" Crosswise asked, speaking with the authority of a member of the Autobot Elite Guard, which was a complete falsehood of Pulsar's own creation. Her attention was so hard focused on the Decepticon in front of her that she failed to notice the Decepticon behind her.

[Redline]

Those fiendish eyes scoured her body for any indication. Until they fell upon what was there upon her chest. Christened in a red scowl, he too would make such a face if he had the correct facial structure for such a head like his. He simply shook his head before clacking his teeth together once in thought.

The staff was soon positioned infront of him before being stabbed into the desert grounds below. His own stance firm and solid, feet planted at shoulder width apart and arms outstretched to support his staff with an odd end. He looked firmly rooted and ready to defend.

"Your voice a great roar, Lion and hyena here, Mine is a cackle"

His helm dipped a little before rising up for those red optics to gaze ahead to Crosswise. Yet he made no immediate motion to strike or get to the smaller human for leverage. Yet with his gaze he does notice some form of movement and canted his head to gaze just a little past Crosswise to see whom it was.

[Deleted]

Well, that escalated quickly.

Chris looked between the two of them a bit nervously. Sure neither of them were fighting yet but did he really want to be caught in the middle if they did? He thought on it quietly, wondering if he should transform himself. A part of his body was so nervous it was starting to try and force it as a reflex. “Hey let’s all just take it easy. No reason to start a fight in a city right?” He asked rather cautiously. “We can do whatever we need to somewhere and sometime else?”

[Elytra]

Elytra kept to her hiding spot for the moment, trying to identify which side the Cybertronians belonged to. The white one was defending the technorganic, who wasn't running away, so she's probably an Autobot. The one with the weird head looked ready to fight, so he's probably a Decepticon. Two-on-one should be an easy battle to win.

Elytra couldn't wait any longer. She wanted that sweet energon from inside that Autobot's fuel lines. She pounced, transforming in mid-air.

And landed face first behind her target.

[Deleted]

So he was a Decepticon; not surprising, given his speech mannerisms. Only a Decepticon could talk so strangely and still hope to be taken seriously. His stance was ripe with tension waiting to burst, waiting for her to attack. If that was the invitation she needed, Pulsar was more than happy to take it, starting to raise her scattergun towards Redline.

It was the second Decepticon's arrival that threw her off. As the insecticon planted her faceplate into the road, it gave Crosswise pause. She hadn't even detected that there were two Decepticons present a few moments ago, which she chalked up to being completely focused on the one in front of her. It took every ounce of Pulsar's concentration to not have Crosswise bust out in laughter at the display, which she disguised by having the Autobot look a bit disgruntled.

She readied her scattergun again, this time pointing at the both of them. They'd have one chance to explain themselves before she opened fire.

[Redline]

A stance meant to hold ground rather than strike. That was until Elytra burst forth before pulling a face plant. All he could do was gaze upon her with brows lifted in disappointment. Yet with a focus upon the newcomer. A chance!

Given a gun was being aimed at him, he wasn't fond of, so he will take any chance to get rid of said gun! He didn't like ranged items, too impersonal and they might kill his targets that he must capture. Here he wanted that gun out of his face. Yet there were two guns here, one aimed at Elytra even.

A quick decision and he chose preservation of self over saving the unknown. The end of the staff yanked free from the ground and his speed had to go into burst mode. What was a few car lengths away was nothing to him and his staff. The top end tilted to his left before his lower hand holding said staff pulled back in an arch. This allowed the top end to lunge forward towards the wrist of Crosswise before impacting rather forcefully to knock aside the gun. But no, he didn't stop there. Melee combat isn't turn based. It is quick and brutal. The lower end of his staff was rotated to a horizontal plane just as the top end struck the gun away.

A step in, lower back pressed pressed to the middle of the staff and both hands slid together. He became the most powerful machine ever, a simple machine, a lever. His body the fulcrum and twisting while his arms yanked to apply a great amount of force to strike to Crosswise's back. Assuming she had to use her dominant hand to take aim at Redline and not spin around and expose her back and blindspot fully to Redline just to face Elytra. With his wicked speed and mass, he may just send Crosswise flying several meters!

[Deleted]

There was a scream and Chris hadn’t even been hit yet.

God Chris hated bugs (or beetles in this case). What the hell was that thing? Why did it look like a giant one? Was he in the middle of his worst nightmare? He darted behind the closest cover at this point he really did not want to deal with a giant bug. He let his back pop open a bit and bring out a sword and tried to breathe.

Looking over his shoulder, he could now see they were in the middle of a fight. Holy crap, what did he do? He kept s tight grip on his sword, unsure of what to do. Warpath had drained him for this but he was definitely absolutely terrified. He tried to think of what Warpath would say, to keep his cool, and trust his powers? Probably.

Screw it.

He did his best to leap into battle. Though he took a second to transform, he thought through his first moves slowly. He decided not to provoke the beetle because screw that. So instead he let one of his arm cannons pop up firing off at Redline. After all what was the worst that could happen? Other then getting his butt kicked.

[Elytra]

Well that's fun, Elytra thought. Her faceplanting ploy didn't work, so she'd have to change strategies. She rolled to the side and leapt at the Autobot.

The insect legs on her arms extended, transforming into scalpels which she drove into Crosswise's wrists, aimed at where the wires on a normal Cybertronian would be, which should stop a normal Cybertronian from moving their servos. "Don't worry," Elytra said in her typical sugary voice. "I'm a doctor." Two more quick stabs into Crosswise's knees and Elytra was confident she had disabled the Autobot.

As soon as Redline was done decimating Crosswise, her mask retracted and her fanged proboscis snaked out from between her split jaws. It latched onto Crosswise's neck and started draining energon.

[Deleted]

She had to admit, these Decepticons were thorough. Redline had managed to close the distance between himself and Crosswise without her so much as getting a shot off on him, then sent her flying in return. The Insecticon's own attack was equally surgical and precise, effectively disabling the now panicked Autobot. The proboscis was a nice touch as well, Pulsar thought. Crosswise vainly tried to thrash and flail to remove the bug from her neck to save her life, but her efforts were wasted. To complete the charade, the color from Crosswise's form vanished as the life left her body. The Autobot's head was severed from her neck with a frozen look of terror plastered on her face. Her entire form was stuck rigid, and lifeless.

But Pulsar was having so much fun! She felt no pain whatsoever, in fact she couldn't remember the last time she'd felt anything. All the damage that had been inflicted upon her had been perfectly simulated as if it were the real thing, just to complete the illusion. Crosswise, her head and her weapons were all still very much alive, and grinning to themselves.

It'd been millions of stellar cycles since Pulsar's body ran off of energon, so the little bugger might've been the first to catch on to her little show. No point in keeping the curtains closed any longer, though.

Color returned to Crosswise's severed head and body, despite the fact that all of her 'energon' had been drained. The Autobot's joints relaxed and flexed, despite Elytra's surgical 'procedure'. Still on the ground, Pulsar reached up to pull Crosswise's head back to her body, fusing it in place. 'Crosswise' stretched out her limbs playfully, as if she'd just woken up from a nap, looking back up to Elytra, her voice no longer that of the gun-shy Autobot.

"Mmmmm.... such a good doctor..."

[Redline]

It wasn't long before he transformed the end of his staff into a bladed end. A spear! Such a lethal weapon before now deadlier. He pulled his spear back and gave it a twirl to better aim that pointed end.

Whoosh whoosh

Yet before he knew it. The Insecticon had tackled and brought the Autobot down rather quickly. Seems the two aimed to get Crosswise down to the ground before she could react! Well best to take advantage of the situation.

A loud yell came from him as he twisted his upper half and drove the spear tip down and into Crosswise's free arm. Better to pin her further as this doctor wrecked havoc on that other side. Now left side and legs hampered with, he gave a twist of his spear to further his damage before yanking it out to adjust and point to the back of this Autobot.

Yet he stopped to let Elytra feed, figuring that that outta do it and he would drain most of her food supply if he added a new hole. Even stepping back to give her some room, "Unbenownst here, a mosquito drinks..."

The haiku was unfinished as he watched the lifeless corpse move and flex and reattach the head! Just what was happening?! His shoulders fell slack at such a grizzly sight and that voice sounded again as if nothing had happened!

[Deleted]

Chris was now convinced his life was a bad sci-fi movie.

He backed up slowly, trying to take in what had just happened and spooked as hell. So the beetle sucked blood. That was... Different. And his blast hadn't seemed to do anything to deter Redline either...

That was when the whole Crosswire thing happened and he felt like his head would explode. Dear God, what was she doing? Better yet, what was she? Because the way she looked now he was starting to think the answer wasn't an Autobot, or Crosswire. Both of which made Chris feel even smaller than he already did.

He lowered his blade a bit. "Y'know guys, as fun as this has been, I really think I should let you three talk this out yourselves," he chuckled nervously as he backed up slowly, looking for an exit. "Since y'all look like you got a lot to figure out."

[Elytra]

Elytra first felt that something was off when her proboscis penetrated the Autobot's armor. There was no energon. Her reason for fighting this bot was to get to her inner energon, and there's nothing? Talk about cheating. Her proboscis slipped back into what was left of her jaw, as her mask slid back into place. She backed off, scalpels deployed.

Then Crosswise resurrected. "You're a Shifter?" Elytra squeed. "That's so awesome!"

As awesome as it was, Elytra didn't like fighting Shifters, since they are nearly impossible to kill. She could try though. She lunged at Pulsar, all six of her scalpels aimed at the Mutacon's spark.

[Deleted]

Crosswise didn't so much as push herself off the ground, she more so simply floated up from it. She righted herself so that she was once again standing up straight, just in time to watch Elytra's six scalpels penetrate what would've been her spark chamber. Only this time instead of connecting with metal, it was as if they connected with a liquid. As there was no solid substance to stop the stabbing blades, they merely went straight through and popped out of Crosswise's back. "Oh, you're too kind~"

As there was no point to maintaining the obviously blown disguise, Pulsar transformed. It was quick enough that by blinking, you might've missed it. Those very Autobot features melted away in a sea of silver, revealing Pulsar's true form beneath. With a coy smile on her face she stepped forward, pushing the blades even deeper. The Mutacon, while impaled, wrapped an arm around her assailant's neck in a friendly fashion, addressing both Redline and Chris, who had both continued to watch on in shock.

"My, I don't believe I've properly introduced myself yet. I am Pulsar, your Mutacon deceiver for the evening. I'm afraid you're all alone without any back up, my dear Christopher. Just the Decepticons and I."

Pulsar turned back to said Decepticons, "And as for the both of you, that was a marvelous display. I haven't been taken down quite like that in ages!" She let out a loud laugh, staying awfully jovial for a femme who'd just been impaled six times.

"But you," she remarked, pointing to the Insecticon, "... I could really use your help. You see, that human over there behind us is carrying a spark in his chest, and I'd very much like to pry him open to see what makes him tick, as I'm sure you would too, my dear."

Through all of her rapid fire exposition, Pulsar neglected to mention that Elytra didn't have a say in it. She instead reached a hand to where the Decepticon's spark was housed, but instead of crudely stabbing it, Pulsar melted into it. Her form washed over the surgeon's, seeping into every fiber of her being. It was time for some forced metamorphosis.

[Redline]

His eyes fell squarely on Pulsar as she resurrected from the dead. She made sure that all their efforts were futile in the end. None of his attacks would be suitable for her. Let alone his reasoning... She hated how he talked.

He stepped back and felt a sharp sting. What? When did this Crosswise attack him? He doesn't recall her striking him but him doing just that to her. He reached down to touch the spot and found a blaster mark in his thigh. What? When did?

In his utter trance of watching a body come to life. He was struck in the leg by a blast from someone. Not Elytra for she was in his sight the entire time. Was it the human? Maybe! Still he needed time to get away from her.

He backed up, limped back now and used his spear to create a bubble infront of him while watching Pulsar rise up and Elytra connected. All pistons firing now as he watched the gloopy mess become. Autobots were one thing. Mutacons another.

Just as she spoke of Chris's spark, he turned to where he thought where Chris was. Instead gazing in a direction some odd feet of Chris. Where had he gone? He was in danger. Something about this situation called for an act.

The hunter had an assortment of tools, and instinct yanked his free arm around to a compartment in the back to rummage for supplies. There! Then he pulled it with the pin yanked.

A cylindrical canister bounced off Elytra's solid cheek. One: Ow. Two: Suddenly ultra bright.

If Chris was quiet when he said they would talk it out. Then a green hand wouldn't have snatched him up in a vain attempt to escape with him. He "tripped" and transformed into his vehicle mode before starting a rolling start to let Pulsar realize what was being taken. Still, he couldn't go fast because a certain human with more than he lets on had to shoot him while he was in a daze!

[Deleted]

Chris literally felt his chest burst in panic at first.

Oh god... this thing was going to try to rip him open? Oh god, oh god... This was his worst nightmare, a giant beetle... Bug... Whatever it was really was going to rip him open and see what he was made of. He swallowed slowly. His body shaking as he backed up ever so slowly. “Hey! Hold the phone! You don’t want to kill me. I’m too valuable right?” He asked as his spark threatened to pound out of his chest. “I mean come on...”

He hadn’t finished when the grenade went off and the blinding white light happened. Whoa! What was going on!? And then he felt himself picked up. Oh man, oh man. He was dead wasn’t he? He was already dead. “Oh god! I’m gonna die I’m gonna die!”