Rescue Rebels

For some time now the Special Crimes Unit in Nyon has been on the chase for the 'terrorist mastermind' that is Hot Rod. They attacked him directly, threatened the citizenry, and finally resorted to outright kidnapping. Sure enough, that lured the would-be hero into their trap - and thus their capture. This happened in the Rust Narrows where it would have been easy enough to off Hot rod and bury him somewhere, to leave him forgotten for all of time. However, the commander of the S.C.U., Patdown, sees Hot Rod as somewhat of an personal anti-christ so was not about to be content with such a meager end to the rebel leader. They returned to Nyon, to the long-abandoned amphitheater which once entertained sparring politicians, but has now been converted into the S.C.U.'s private practice/torture den.

Hot Rod was brought here, doused with cold oil to wake him and then taunted, by Patdown himself who stands on the observational walkway over the enter pit/stage. Around this were walls, now raised, to let the hoard of desperate, starved and beaten disposables to flood in from all sides. There is also a lit flare on the floor for Hot Rod, should he wish to ignite himself rather than face the pending fate of being torn apart by Patdown's offer to shower the one that brings the terrorist's spark with limitless energon.

When Hot Rod was taken, he had been with Arsenal. She's been left staked to the ground, leg busted and face cracked in half. Found there by Orion Pax and his gang on the way out of Nyon (and/or Rewind that followed the pair when they rushed after the kidnappers) she had quite a tale to tell, and directions to give to the amphitheater's front door. Which she is all too eager to breach with her shotgun and a shout of, "HOT ROD!"

Orion Pax had tried to slow Arsenal down after her repairs, to attempt to make a team effort of this, but it's obvious that the fembot's emotions are running high. "Arsenal, no!" he cries. "If they hear you they may kill Hot Rod to prevent his escape!"

Too late. She's already blasted the locks off the door and is muscling her way inside. Pax simply flicks the safety off his rifle and follows in after her. "Don't get too far ahead of me or I won't be able to cover you," he calls out.

Well, Hot Rod is definitely not going for the flare, but he also seems to think that he can reason with the disposables, despite their desperation. He scrambles back, open-palmed. "Hey. He-e-ey. Guys, look, don't listen to him. If we work together, we can /all/ get out of here, and I'll help /everyone/ get fueled." He looks real convincing, too, all cracked-optic and wounded leg and generally /beaten/. It's not his best performance.

Rewind is here, too, and when Arsenal offered him his choice of weapons he sort of panicked because he never really handled a weapon before (other than that time recently when Arsenal gave him an over-sized rifle and he dropped it). There was sort of a rush though to save Hot Rod, and at the last minute the archivist just grabbed the most wicked-looking thing he could find and ran with it. He has absolutely no idea what it is, but hey, it LOOKS fearsome, so maybe that will be enough and he won't even have to try shooting the thing. As usual, it's far too big for him. Oh well.

In the meantime, he follows behind the other two, looking up at Orion Pax in a little bit of awe. Not quite Hot Rod levels but... he's heard a LOT about this guy. Mostly, though, his little legs are focused on trying to keep up with the others.

"I'd rather they finish me off than him," Arsenal offers back to Pax as she barges in, eager to make herself the target, if her call for attention succeeds. She has a not-so-good leg so she can't get ahead too far. She moves to her left and drops the shotgun to raise her rifle as she fires - at somebot she expected to find there. She misses and calls out, "Incoming!" She's nowhere near her best so she spares a look to Pax. "Save him," she directs. Begs. Forcefully pleads.

The femme that Arsenal missed is Outrage, who charges with her energy batons. From the other side, rushing at Rewind's flank is the dual pistol Reload, calm and cool as he advances.

Patdown shouts out, "No!" Not for the arrival of the saviors but at the disposables below him that... stop! They're listening to Hot Rod! Perhaps it is the fact that Rod \*is\* mangled, like that they are, that gives them pause. Despite his condition he is willing to help them? "Curse you," Patdown snarls as he leaps from the walkway to the pit below.

A rescue in a hurry, huh? Well, Pax might just be able to do something about that.

Pax drops down into altmode, opening one of his doors. "Rewind, /get in/. Arsenal? Get onto the back and take point over my roof. We're going to take a -shortcut-." He revs his engines warningly.

Oh. Hot Rod actually does look convincing. Well, that's a -- maybe a first. He pauses, second-guessing himself as the tide of disposables pause, and says, "Really? I mean -- good! Great!"

Hot Rod glances up at the distant sound of trouble. He grins. Confidence running through his lines, he straightens. "Look, things might get rough, so stay down, okay? I don't want--." But whatever he wants will have to be imagined as Patdown leaps to the pit. "Whoa, hey buddy! What's wrong? Grand scheme not working out for you? You can always quit."

Rewind looks up just in time to see Reload advancing in on him. The small mech stumbles back, fumbling with the weapon. Wasn't there something called a "safety" you had to release first? Or maybe that was the trigger? And where was that again? He stares down while still trying to back away, fingers slipping and catching and nearly dropping the gun again. "Oh dear... I KNOW I've got an instruction manual in here somewhere..." He starts going through his database, but it's unlikely Reload there is going to give him time to find it.

It's not looking too good for the archivist, when... huh? He looks over as Pax transforms and opens a door. He doesn't need to be told twice. The mech scrambles in, looking a bit like a huge-aft gun with tiny little legs pumping furiously to get inside the truck before Reload does.

Arsenal does as directed, gladly. She can barely stand so Pax's offer is not only genius but it is also far better than her own. She hops on and quickly swivels her rifle to fire at Outrage, to keep the femme back. She pats the roof to signal she is ready to roll.

Reload almost gets in firing range of Rewind when.. he gets into the truck! He alt forms himself, becoming a motorcycle to give chase.

Above, where they had raised the walls, Hondo (the helicopter) and Cuffs (the metermaid truck) stand, wondering if they should get involved. Cuffs... slinks off. Hondo chuckles as he drops down, transforming to his chopper form. "Guess this is as good a place as any to make a last stand!" He lowers, his rotors kicking up all kinds of wind - which will help to 'urge' the disposables back, as he aims to get right in Pax's path.

Patdown lowers to a knee and picks up that lit flare. "That is not an option," he states to Hot Rod. "Your time ends here, heathen. Betrayer! You perverter of function! I will end you when I put out your ashes with the heel of my boot!" With that he launches himself at Hot Rod, flare forward.

As soon as his passengers are loaded up and secure, Orion Pax wastes no time. His horn belows warningly as he charges forward, full speed towards Hot Rod's location. The thickly armored truck rushes down the corridor; if Outrage and Reload are in the way, heaven help them. Pax isn't stopping for any more hitchhikers.

"See if you can pick off that chopper before he creates any more turbulence!" Pax (politely) commands Arsenal. "Rewind," he adds after a moment, "You may feel free to ride shotgun. Literally." The former Rodion captain's weapon ejects, buttstock first, out of an internal cab compartment for Rewind to grab. It'll likely fit better into the little guy's hands."

"You need to learn to relax!" Hot Rod pivots and falls back a pace -- then falls, actually, going to his knee when his injured leg gives out on him. It proves to be happy accident, as he ducks Patdown's first lunge and rolls to the side. The sound of armored rescue rolling in gives him the strength and energy to surge to his feet with weapons active. Is that--? Could it possibly be--? Oh, be still his beating spark. "Hey, mech: you hear what I hear?" Lifting his hands, Hot Rod fires at Patdown's back before he can get turned around.

* PHRRRRRMM PHRRRRRRRRRM!\*

The horn rumbles down the hallway, audible to everyone.

Orion Pax \*smashes\* through a gateway door beyond Hondo (perhaps going through him in the process), sailing into the air with debris, smoke and the sparkle of shattered glass before he lands with a solid WHUMP on the wide staircase leading down into the colosseum.

Rewind catches the gun (thankfully- he nearly drops it again due to being in a moving vehicle but ANYWAY). Finally getting a grip, he scrambles to the shotgun seat. "Thanks! I appreciate it!" He works to stick the weapon out the window, fumbles with what he hopes is the safety, and then tries pointing it towards Reload, should he keep pursuing them. But he hesitates before pulling the trigger... he's never shot anyone before.

Reload and Outrage aren't in Orion's path but they are giving chase. At Pax's command she turns to fire on Hondo to try to get him out of the way but the (drunk?) stubborn mech resumes his root form. He drops from the sky to land in Orion's path, intend to tackle the truck into submission when... "Oh scra-.. \*:" Pax's path is cleared as Hondo goes under the treads of the big bot.

The blaring horn calls to all of those disposables who look up to see what just did that! The force of that arrival is enough to cause them all to shuffle back, to clear out of the way for sure!

Once Pax is past Hondo, Arsenal hops off the back, without direction. She throws herself at the pursuing cycle, to tackle Reload with herself. That takes away Rewind's target!.. but Outrage, as a racer car, burst forward (also going over Hondo) to transform as she leaps at truck-Pax's side, seeking to grab on there and to use her other hand to grab for Rewind. "You little piece of \*scrap\*, you're the one!" Her optics go to the mech's camera, clearly afraid for a second.

Patdown misses and then is shot in the back. He goes down with a pained cry, but he doesn't stay there. His back smokes where he was blasted as he stands once more. This... none of this is going as he planned, as he believed was ordained. He looks up to see Pax approaching and... he drops the flare.

Patdown instead draws his sidearm and aims at the first disposable he sees. "Your defiance to accept your place in things did this, Hot Rod. You caused this," he bites out as he pulls the trigger.

"No!" Hot Rod grits his teeth against the pain in his leg and charges toward Patdown. He might not have mass or size on his side, but he's got speed, and he's already moving even as Patdown draws. "Come on, you monster. Come on!" He draws back a fist and punches, aimed square at Patdown's jaw. (Known weakness!) "You're the one with your hand on the gun, you're the one pulling the trigger. Leave them out of it! You and me, you scrapheap."

Resignation does not sit well with Patdown. Already in his life when he's had to face that prospect he went mad, driven to this destructive path in the S.C.U. So his reactions are not the best. All his 'divine plans' are falling at the moment when they should be succeeding. His shot goes wide of the stun-faced disposable he's just missed, all due to the punch his face just took from Hot Rod. Patdown spins, falls and then stays on his knees. "...how... I am being pure to my function, how can this be..." He looks up to Hot Rod, gun still in hand but so very lost.

Somewhere halfway between the entrance and the stadium floor, where Arsenal has tackled Reload, she has wrestled his guns away from him. Reload went to robot once he was hit, but Arsenal is bigger and meaner. She now pins him with her legs and has his guns, in either hand, pointed against his head. She looks down to Hot Rod to see what lead she is to follow here. "End this," she says as encouragement. "Let this be over."

Rewind's optics widen a bit as Outrage comes for him instead. "Oh dear..." He fumbles with the safety again, then there's a click. "Please just... go away. I don't want to have to shoot you!" He pleads, but if she keeps clawing for him then- to protect Pax and Arsenal as much as anything else- he pulls the trigger. Whether his shot succeeds- whether it even fires- is up for grabs, but- he fires!

"You're more than your function." Hot Rod advances to stand between Patdown and the disposables, all but filling his field of view with those impossible to miss flames. He stands close -- too close, really, far closer than is smart -- in a manner that suggests either trust, or /incredible foolhardiness/. He speaks with all the force of his dreadful earnestness, as though that might penetrate Patdown's madness: "You can be more than /this/. Arsenal could walk away from it. So can you. If you need something to fight for, fight for the people who /need/ you. Fight for the beating spark in all Cybertronians."

Orion Pax transforms around Rewind and ends up holding the little guy in one hand, with a weapon in the other. He walks down the steps, slowly, stopping just short of Patdown and Hot Rod, giving Hot Rod a chance to speak, and perhaps end this mess peacefully. If that isn't going to happen, he's ready.

Outrage has to let go of Pax to avoid being shot in the face. She tumbles instead of landing, which she brings to a roll before she stops. Banged up but not out, she springs after the truck. "More than that fool Hot Rod, you can't be allowed to leave here!" A femme of great rage, she not directs this all at Rewind. "What you have seen cannot be shared, Breach won't allow it, not in \*their\* hands," she snarls, with a look to truck-Pax. None of what they did in Nyon was meant for the Autobots. "I'll deliver your head to Megatron myself so he can see what we are capable of! Even if I have to go through one fallen officer to do it!" She launches herself at Pax's back.

Patdown continues to look to Hot rod, still lost but... is that possible? "My function... it is all I have. My purpose..." He looks away, to the disposables he has used. Can he really fight \*for\* them? That seems so hard to do...

"NO!: That comes from above, where Arsenal is atop reload. She jams the pistols she holds more forcefully against the silent mech's head. "He doesn't change. I've seen it, Hot Rod, what he does when he goes idle. Good for a time, he'll go back to it. He will hurt them again. we have to \*end\* \*this\*."

Patdown, for his part, looks from the disposables to Orion Pax to Hot Rod. Nothing to an officer of the law doing what is right to a rebel with a cause. Where does he stand among them? Right now he doesn't stand. He's on his knees! With a growl he raises his weapon to point at Hot Rod. "How can they be helped aside from the mercy of a quick death?" Maybe, just maybe, that is a genuine question.

"Mercy! There is no justice without mercy! Everyone should be given an opportunity to change--" Orion's words are interrupted as Outrage jumps onto his back. He brings Rewind to his chest protectively and then bends down in one swift motion, attempting to fling Outrage off of himself.

"What are we fighting for, Arsenal, if not change?" If he might have wavered on this point, Orion's words only reaffirm Hot Rod's belief. Sorry, Arse. He powers down his weapons and holds his hand out. He stands before Patdown all foolish and unprotected despite the weapon pointed at him. "I believe in change. I believe that /you/ can change.

"You're right, it's hard for them. Too many empties and disposables are abandoned and lost because the system doesn't care about them," Hot Rod says, his voice clear and impassioned. "But we can give them shelter, fuel, and a purpose. Helping each other. Helping Nyon. Where there's life, there's always hope. Always hope for something better. End this, but end it for the right reasons. For a better day."

Outrage is all blind rage and no finesse. She is caught off-guard by Pax's speed as well as being caught! Quicker than she attempted to assault him she is flung away. She tumbles through the air before she lands, awkwardly, though not fatally some distance away. With a groan she does not get back up.

Rewind gets scooped up by Pax while his camera is recording all of this, naturally. "Woah!" The small mech, while not exactly finding this his /favoristist thing ever/... is also kind of digging the footage he's getting. It's going to make an exciting documentary- IF he and the others live through it. "Sorry," He shouts to outrage, "I'm getting the TRUTH here, and the TRUTH will be heard and seen by /everyone/!"

Patdown... looks at Hot Rod. The gun in his hand wavers. He feels let down. He feels betrayed. Forgotten. He feels hollow. He's been abandoned, by his own programming. Patdown looks over to Pax who speaks of mercy. Mercy! That, ultimately, is what he wants. They are right, it is time this was ended. Patdown spins the gun in his hand, now pointed at himself...

...and he presents the handle of it towards Hot Rod in surrender. All for Rewind to capture. This will be the end of him and the S.C.U.