1018/Battleground: Ibex Central 3 - 3

**Darkstar has posed:**
    The Arrowship burst through the atmosphere on a direct course for the Autobot lines. Usually when they called him in it meant that things were looking downward, or at least there was someone of particular note on the side of the enemy at a given time. This time it was the Blue Comet, Blurr... A mech he'd never faced before in battle, but had heard oh so very much about. << Barely There, let's light these 'Bots up! Wooooo-HOOOOO!" >> From the time he'd first heard that the Blue Comet was fighting for the Autobots Darkstar had wanted to face him in the field, and finally the Arrowship was getting his wish. Picking out the streak of blue upon the battlefield, the Arrowship dropped altitude and burned hard toward the enemy. From so high up it was clear as Darkstar opened fire that he did not want to strike the enemy just yet-- just the speedster know that he was coming for him.

**Phantom has posed:**
The elusive seeker doesn't respond to Darkstar's enthused, rallying cry. Instead, he jettisons himself up above the clouds, moving out of sight for the time being. In fact, both Darkstar and the attacking 'Bots might question if he actually had just completely ditched all of a sudden. It wouldn't be terribly uncharacteristic of him, whether those fighting today are aware or not.

But those doubts would quickly be erased when a sonic blast which seems to affect the texture of the atmosphere itself shakes the vicinity...

**Blurr has posed:**
    Ibex. The divided city has been rocked with the fires of war ever since it was almost literally cut in half when the two major regions of south and central ended up being occupied by opposing factions. Skirmishes all along the border have breen breaking out all day every day ever since then, and hapless refugees try to cross the no-mech's land between the two districts without getting killed in the crossfire. It's quite a mess.

    But now, the Autobots seem to have dropped their endgame here and have turned out in force, plowing past outposts and slowly but surely making their way here, to assault the main forward base where the Cons have been forced to fall back. If this goes down, the city is lost to them! Which is probably why Phantom and Darkstar were deployed to the base.

    Among the attacking forces is Blurr. He gets pinged by a potshot from Darkstar, some of his shoulder armor scorched, but he pays it no mind. The speedster is laser-focused on the task at hand, which is to fell the Decepticon defenses and seize control of Ibex's central sectors. Transforming, he darts forward, weaving deftly through various infantry units both friendly and not, aiming for a weakness in the barricade already created by the attacking army.

    Phantom's sonic attack may have affected some air units, but it seems he was too high up in the air to hit anything on the ground. Still, two can play at that game. Blurr accelerates past the speed of sound, causing a sonic boom to pop and reverberate across the structure!

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock was another among the forces, and even though she was a medic, she was doing her best to aid those she could. Her Finials would twitch up when her audials caught the whistle of Darkstar and Phantom up in the air, which allowed her to quick to run out of the way of Phantoms attack by engaging the boosters on her pedes and zooming towards the defences. She'd draw both her energon blades hilts and ignite them, speeding for the defences.

      "<<Watch out for Darkstar, he has some nasty rockets.>>" She'd chirp over the commlink in a bid to be helpful, given what she'd seen of the spacer.

**Darkstar has posed:**
    Darkstar was singularly focused now, his attention on the Blue Comet whose sonic boom attack he'd heard of before. When it come to assaulting bases it seemed that Blurr was particularly well suited, and so he would make sure to put extra effort into doing what he could to drop the speedster before he could make short work of the walls and towers. << I'm only registering two enemies... Put the small one down. I'd like to see what the Blue Comet is made of, >> the Arrowship says to his flying comrade as he chortles.

    Toggling his comms to tightbeam the Autobot speedster, Darkstar greeted his foe mirthfully. << I've heard a \*lot\* about \*you\*, Swifty! Used to watch your races in fact! It is an \*honor\* to meet you on the field of glorious battle-- finally! >> The Arrowship transformed, and dropped from the skies like a rock as he lined up his arms and took aim. Starlock knew what she was talking about, but whether or not the rockets would actually be effective against a mech as quick on his feet as Blurr? Only time would tell...

**Phantom has posed:**
After circling the skies around the base, Phantom descends onto the defense platform and takes up position behind a turret. He aims it straight at the incoming Autobot attack force, attempting to drive them back!

**Nightlash has posed:**
Ibex...what was in Ibex? Nightlash is flying along her cloaking systems working merrily as they are wont to do, but...Ibex. Last she recalls, she was flying in the Rust Seas? Or was it Iacon? Or...hrm...

She hears the sounds of fire, though, and any confusion or otherwise is pretty much...dismissed. There's fun to be had! Oh, look, and there's Blurr getting hit. How typical of Blurr...to get hit.

Because in her mind, she just replays that very instant over, and over, and over...and that makes it more common, right?

And there's Starlock doing Starlocky things... <<Silly Starlock, you can't repair blaster fire with your face...>>

Wait, did she say that out loud? Huh... No. Just over tightbeam. Right. She turns her attention to the base that's shooting...she...remembers this one, right? Granted, she doesn't have her /drone/ to do the work, but there's old records on the design somewhere in her primary storage, and she rifles through it all before finding it. AH! Right, that's where you're supposed to shoot...or...blow up. Hrm. She cycles through her systems to see just what she has on-board...

**Blurr has posed:**
    Yeah, Darkstar has probably heard a thing or two about Blurr, given his celebrity status before the war. But today, he almost seems like a completely different person. Before, he couldn't seem to stop talking. Today, he hasn't even said a single word yet.

    The speedster tries to evade the rockets, but they seem to lock onto his signature and blast him off of his thrusters, sending him careening. And before he can even get back up again, he gets hit by the turret spray.

    His body is smoking and leaking, but he still gets right back up, ignoring Darkstar's fake politeness completely. And in fact, ignoring Darkstar altogether. He transforms again, and throws himself at the Cons' defensive line, even if it means they tear into him some, too.

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock cringes behind her mask, seeing Blurr get struck, welp, she could say she at least warned him... She'd look to the sensitive components she had hit, and cursed, well she hit something, wasn't what she wanted, but she hit something! Unfortunately, Phantom also hits her and leaves a rather sizable wound in her armor. She'd glare up at the Seeker in the turrets and speed away from the Defences.

      She'd blink hearing the femme over her tight beams, and.. Well she gave an amused smirk. "<<Oh? Then how do /you/ repair Blaster fire?">> She'd chuckle, checking her status monitor, nodding, she'd spin around with a strange looking medical device, and fired it at Blurr.

**Phantom has posed:**
The elusive seeker's optics narrow as he scans the 'Bots who are attacking the base. When they go full assault on the base, he feels the ground beneath him vibrate. "Dammit," mutters.

 He then aims the turret right at Starlock. Leaning out from behind the turret, he yells at Starlock. "Typically, medics are my favorite. But when you're on the wrong side in a situation like this, you're my least favorite. Sorry. This is nothing personal, I swear."

**Darkstar has posed:**
    The Speedster was hit! Chalk up another one for the good-guys! Yes, the Decepticons are the 'good guys' as far as Darkstar is concerned, but what's this...? Rather than face him in open combat the Blue Comet just kept right on speeding toward the defense towers. Strange behavior, given that the celebrity wasn't hitting it that hard, and then there was Starlock who wasn't doing much herself. << Something is off... >> he'd note to his comrade manning the tower weapon systems, and after a brief shake he transformed and rocketed around to follow the Blue Streak.

    Climbing upward, Darkstar began to scan the field. The Autobots were less inclined to suicide missions than the Decepticons, another clear sign that their cause was a lesser one! Rising higher and higher, Darkstar thought hard about the engagement protocols he'd learned as a member of the Primal Vanguard. The 'Bots were either using the medic and the Blurr as a distraction while the bulk of their forces were attacking another location elsewhere, or...

**Nightlash has posed:**
<<You don't /fix/ blaster fire...or repair it...or anything it. You just kill the things with fire!>> Nightlash chuckles softly. <<Here, allow me to provide a demonstration of breaking it all... Oh, heads up, they're sho->> The turrets fire. <<....ooting ...shot...again. They shot again. That looked like it hurt.>>

She gets ready, starting to dive and bank into an attack when...huh, wait, an error on the firing systems? <<That's not good...>>

Even more less good! Then there's Darkstar doing a thing that somehow causes her cloak to stop working....how annoying.

She gives him a 'thbbbbt' over open comms and nopes right back into the shadows. "Haha! You expected someone menacing and relevant, but it was only me, Nightlash, the whole time!"

<<Oh, the fuses were already installed...just forgot to arm them. MISSILE AWAY!>>

**Blurr has posed:**
    Oh, good. Darkstar has left Blurr alone, finally. Yes, let him think that the speedster is only a diversion, and that he isn't doing much damage to their defenses. Truthfully, he's only just gotten started. He's still got over half of his energon reserves to go, though he is pretty badly injured. Starlock takes care of some of that, at least, if not much.

    In any case, he is ready and rearing to charge at the defenses once more, plowing over Decepticon frontline infantry (read: cannon fodder) and aiming right for the holes Nightlash just made. Yes even if they're on fire. Hot Rod would be proud.

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock once more as she's struck, another smoldering, bleeding wound added to her frame, but the glitch was still standing! and letting out a heavy pant, she'd chuckle painfully at Nightlash. "<<Yeah.. Yeah it did.>>" She'd then blink though at Phantom's... Taunting? Was it Taunting?

      "Know I can't tell if your being genuine or sarcastic, so I'm just going to leave it that!" she'd state seriuselly. Once she was aware of Blurr being good enough to continue, she'd transform and speed towards the base with a screeching of her wheels.

**Phantom has posed:**
The floor beneath Phantom shakes again, this time much more tangibly so. Some debris even begins to fall from the ceiling, with the Autobot force below going full force on the Ibex base. "Slag.." he mutters, ignoring Starlock for the time being, and transforms, leaving the turret to once again circle the base and do a take two on the the sonic boom he'd released earlier.

**Darkstar has posed:**
    Just as he'd suspected... They were outnumbered. Of course the Autobots wouldn't send only a pair of attackers including a medic to take on their defenses. The fools in charge of setting up the base defense were certainly less capable than those who'd wrote the Primal Vanguard playbook. << Well, well, well-- looks like the 'Bots are just \*full\* of surprises today! Should have known that the weaklings would never attack without having numbers in their favor... >> The one problem with the glory hound warrior type is that they preferred greater challenges, which was terrible when it came to defending a base.

    A barrel roll led right into a nosedive, Darkstar poised and positioned for a collision course with the Autobot flier. << Hey, Nightlash... Been looking oh-so forward to seeing \*you\* again! >> He really did like this Autobot femme after all. She had guts, and plenty of firepower-- a femme after his own core. Transforming from his Arrowship mode the Decepticon spacer streaked through the skies, the thrusters upon his back flaring as he slowed his descent to aim properly. << Tag! >>

**Nightlash has posed:**
Oh glorious explosions...it's enough to make her outright ignore Darkstar's taunts about expectations, anticipation, and other such...well, whatever. Even as, somehow, she finds herself in the middle of an explosion and spiralling down in a wonderfull ball of fire, smoke, and crazy laughter...

She does, though, pull up to break her fall and transforms, executing a perfect little super-hero landing right near the structure she so...expertly blew to pieces already, and looks up to shake a fist at Darkstar. "Begone or I shall find excuses to mock you further!"

Right, time to work. She knows exactly what needs to be done. She pulls her kit out, a few pieces here and there, a beautifully crafted explosive device, and starts assembling the premade pieces...

Right up until it comes time to actually plug the detonator in. That's when she just...freezes up, a confused look on her face that's likewise reflected in her optics as she just sort of...stares the bomb down like it told her something as confusing as it was intriguing...

Not that it did. Bombs don't talk.

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock, despite the damage to her front bumper, and leaking energon from one of her headlights, is quick to pull away and zoom out of the way of Phantom's Disruptor! Despite her much larger frame in her alt-mode she was still rather fast, speeding her way over to Blurr after she had gotten a ping on her radio, and quickly transformed. Pulling the hose from her auxiliary tank, getting the Blue bot topped off.

**Blurr has posed:**
    Blurr is singed by the explosions thanks to Nightlash, and his frame gets dented a bit from just slamming into barricades, but he is fast enough to get in and out without taking too much damage. He pauses a moment to let Starlock do her thing, but only enough to keep him going for this fight. The rest can be refilled later at Iacon, after all.

    Once again, he whips by the base, a sonic boom ripping through it as he mows down even more infantry.

**Phantom has posed:**
Well, Phantom won't really get to return to the base before its main line of defense is breached and the Autobots plow in. He protoforms, hovering and grumbling. "I need a drink," he says tiredly.

 Slowly, he lowers himself to the ground, his boosters dimming the closer he gets to the ground.

 By the time he lands, his optics are glowing a bright gold, and the atmosphere around the base suddenly starts to feel... strange, in a way that's very hard to pinpoint. Then, suddenly, a bunch of the debris that had been previously lying on or embedded in the ground floats upward in an uncanny way. Next thing everyone knows, the debris is suddenly falling, raining down on everyone.

 Afterwards, when the dust settles, the elusive seeker is gone. Where did he go? Who knows, but his name becomes him.

**Darkstar has posed:**
    Yep... Somebody was definitely getting their aft kicked for the poor defense prep on this one. Fortunately Darkstar was planning on being in the repair bay by the end of the day, so it didn't much matter to him. Hopefully it would be the repair bay anyway, and not some enemy prison or offlined completely. Hmm, those things one considers after the fact...

    Darkstar continued to fall through the skies, positioning himself with kibble thrusters to head right for the Blue Comet.

    Tightbeaming a message to Blurr as he dropped like a brick with a weight tied to it, Darkstar barked. << One of these days I'm gonna have to get your autograph! >> It was really hard not to be a fan of Blurr, as he was known to be cocky and made no apologies for his high opinion of himself. Darkstar could relate, which is why there were certain Autobots that he couldn't help rooting for under certain situations. Nightlash, you crazy flier, Hot Rod with your mountain-sized ego, and of course Blurr the Blue Comet... Kumbaya with a side of explosions any time you crazy 'Bots!

**Nightlash has posed:**
Nightlash just sort of...stands there, frozen even as the base begins to crumble and debris and walls fall around her. She's just...fixated on the bomb, head slowly tilted to the side as she regards it...

And then there's just a look of...horror? Disbelief? She's so enthralled she doesn't even notice Phantom trying to do a thing...or disappearing. Or Darkstar dropping down to blast Blurr with a rocket...or anything.

It's just her and the bomb... A bomb that she's now quite eager to simply get rid of as she picks it up and heaves it at the nearest target she can think of. "GET AWAY FROM ME!"

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock gives Blurr a thumbs up, despite having energon leaking down her helm, and lets him get on his way, watching the base crumbles. There is a smile under her face mask, but she flinches, feeling her wounds, sparks flying from one of the wounds caused by Phantom and the defences.

      She'd blink at Phantom in confusion, just.. what the heck was that? She's quickly snapped out of it by Darkstar firing on Blurr, as well as Nightlash blowing Darkstar. She'd take a heavy vent, right, one con down, one more to go... However her Alarms go off for Blurr's vitals and her optics narrow, disregarding her own ones, she charges full force at Darkstar with her blades, going for the optics!

**Blurr has posed:**
    The outer defenses fall with that last boom, debris crashing down upon anyone unfortunate enough to be to close to the wall. Which, in this case, Blurr happens to be one of them. He's usually fast enough to get out of the way, but it all happened so fast this time, and he was already not in the best shape, either. The rockets send him flying back again, even as the rest of the Bot forces charge in to seize control of the base and capture any stragglers who don't manage to retreat fast enough. He lands hard in a trench, barely managing to scramble to his feet and zoom off back toward the south sectors, still not giving Darkstar any form of a verbal response.

**Darkstar has posed:**
    Darkstar cackles madly as his rockets pepper the ground all around Blurr and send the Autobot flying. "Yeah, you better ru-" Ugh! How uncouth! Stupid explosions cutting him off mid comment. How dare you Nightlash! But to be fair, he couldn't help liking the fact that at least now the Droneship wasn't ignoring him. After all the trouble he'd gone to trying to get her attention, she'd finally responded and it was everything he'd come to expect as fire and debris exploded all around him.

    Spinning through the air Darkstar hit the ground with a massive thud, his vision a bit blurred by the devastating blow. Pushing himself up to his feet, albeit slowly, he quickly looked for Blurr only to see the Autobot making fast tracks away from him. "Hey!" he shouted, only to scoff. Well, at least Phantom would likely put the speeder on his aft... Right? << Go get 'im, B.T.! >>

    A moment passed, and there was nothing but silence. << B.T.! Barely There! Drop that 'Bot! >> And more silence was it? Frag. Just then Starlock came at him and put the hurt on his optics something fierce. "Yaaaahhh-hahahah!" the Decepticon shouted, stumbling backward only to fall flat on his aft as he fired off a laser blast as more of a knee-jerk reaction than anything.

**Nightlash has posed:**
Nightlash watches the explosion, not exhaling a single sigh of relief until it's gone and Darkstar's...still going at it? She watches Blurr run off, and then looks at Darkstar...then Starlock...

"...slag it all..."

She transforms again and then spins out another missile, taking aim at the other flier before simply letting it fly. <<GET OUT OF MY AIRSPACE!>>

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock hisses in pain, but she's standing, trembling, but standing, her optics a blaze with light. "<<Nice Shootin' Lash! Blurr's clear of fire range! I can fall back first if you need!>>" She'd call over a tight beam as she quickly went to get behind a wall to tend to her injuries.

**Darkstar has posed:**
    Another exposion rocks Darkstar who was too busy trying to figure out why he couldn't transform to actually notice that Nightlash was still focused on him. Yeah, he was quite popular with her this evening! The spacer flew through the air into the direction of the fallen Autobot defense wall. His back slammed against some of the rubble, and he even bounced off of it and backflipped onto his face. Ow... Chortling escaped the mech who began to slowly climb back to his feet, the sound of other Decepticons ringing in his audials. Fall back they said... Get out of there now they yelled... Ugh, they were party-poopers the lot of them!

    "Alright! Alright! I'm leaving!" Darkstar began to head back on foot, as he beat his chest to see if he could free himself from the mode-lock. << Good match up, Auto-bums. Guess this one goes to you-hahah! >> he'd tightbeam while retreating, laughter and energon trailing in his wake.

**Nightlash has posed:**
Nightlash just watches as Darkstar begins to leave and...that's that then? Right...that's that... She scans the area...no sign of the bomb? It's gone? Starlock is...forgotten, and she just starts to rocket off, her cloak shimmering before she's gone from view.

**Starlock has posed:**
     Starlock let out a huff. "What an aft-hat." She'd frown behind her mask, watching Nightlash rocket off, but otherwise? She starts limping back to base, eventually transforming and driving her way back.