287/The Herald

The Herald
Date of Scene:	26 July 2014
Location:	Urbania
Synopsis:	A new entity makes its presence known in an attempt to draw out the Union-aligned Autobots.
Cast of Characters:	132, Rebecca Chambers, 304, 374, 481, 517

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Lockdown (517) has posed:
     URBANIA

     Like a giant upturned hand, the unknown vessel is visible above the glittering towers and spires of Urbania. It hovers there, immobile and unmoving, while its crew and passengers make their presence known. Fires burn in some of the buildings and smoke rises in great, dark plumes.

     Wolves the size of horses with obvious cybernetic enhancements hunt down anyone who tries to run, devouring them and casting their broken bodies aside with a shake of their powerful jaws. Taller figures in black armor with red visors stalk through the streets, firing at random, blasting apart any ground vehicles they find. They say nothing and heed no cries for mercy.

     It's clear that Urbania is under attack, but the question remains: by whom?

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Urbania's rooftops find themselves host to a fox tonight, hunting for prey. In this case, Kirika has gone from monsters of flesh and magic to abominations of steel and Energon. The transformers assaulting the city are scoped upon by a pair of crimson eyes, the hunter's sword held in hands tightly as she plots which to attack first.

    She settles upon one of the mercenaries first, leaping from the rooftop and descending upon the merc with her sword drawn. Her blade strikes for the head, aiming to split the Transformer's head into pieces before she goes to work on the rest of its body the rest of the way down.

    When she's finished, the half-kitsune makes it stick with a slash to the leg, and then letting out a torrent of flames as she glares in the direction of the other mechanized beings. Eyes narrowed, she is resolute as she springs to the city's defense.

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     It's a question that Beelzebumon really doesn't give a shit about.

     Standing upon a building some distance away from the scene of carnage, the Demon Lord watches, his arms crossed in front of him as he does so. With a loud sigh, he lets his head droop, then lifts it again and says, "Well, someone's having a party, and they never bothered to invite me."

     He hops off the edge of the roof and lands on the ground with a heavy thump, then calmly walks over to his daemonic motorcycle Behemoth and mounts up, pulling out a shotgun as he does so.

     "Guess I'll just have to invite myself. C'mon Behemoth, let's ride."

     With a loud roar, the hellish cycle pops a wheelie and speeds off towards the fire and the death.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
The design of the ship is completely unfamiliar to Black Arachnia. This being the Multiverse, she knows better than to be surprised by this fact.

What got her attenton is the cybernetic 'wildlife' which is roaming around - the wolves in particular - and somebody demanding that Autobots come to face him. Whoever 'he' may be, this isn't a situation that the Maximal spider can simply ignore.

But she's also not stupid enough (or 'heroic' enough, some might say) to just go charging in. Instead, she quickly skitters up the alley side of a building that isn't on too much fire yet, peers over the edge to the street below ...

And leaps, trying to latch onto the back of one of those wolves and start hacking into its systems. No warning, no 'or else,' just a pounce off the roof and beginning to forcibly interface with the wolf's systems, assuming she's able to ... and Black Arachnia has NEVER been a slouch at hacking.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
In a situation like this, a simple pistol isn't going to cut it against those things. Which is why Rebecca Chambers has swapped out her standard weapons for something more powerful. Namely an assault rifle, custom made S.T.A.R.S. issue, with plenty of clips available. And she's going to need to make every shot count it looks like from what she's seeing happen. She also has her grenade launcher available if things get too rough, but she doesn't have as much ammunition, so that's more of a backup thing.

From her vantage spot nearby, Rebecca peers through her binoculars, and her jaw hangs open for a few moments. "These things... I..." She trails off, unable to finish her sentence. Then she puts her goggles away and a stern look appears on her face. "Get with it, Rebecca! You're with S.T.A.R.S., you're not supposed to let anything faze you!" She double-checks the clip in her assault rifle before she slowly starts to move out, not wanting to be caught off-guard by those weird things.

Sakura Kasugano (374) has posed:
    Sakura Kasugano arrives at the scene of the incident, having to run up a building to get a good vantage after arriving through the nearest portal. When she gets here, she looks on and...gasps. "Oh my god..." she whispers to herself, watching the wolves tearing through people, as well as the taller humanoids blasting everything in sight, cars, buildings, anything moving. "Why would anyone..." she mutters...before looking down, seeing several humanoid armors nearing her chosen building.

    Furrowing her brow, she swallows a lump in her throat...and jumps. Trying to aim herself at the head of the closest one, she cups her hands to her side as she drops down. "Haaaa...." As she gets closer, she tries to unleash it point-blank in its face, hands thrust forward as a burst of blue light shoots forth from her palms. "-DOUKEN!!!" she screams as she finishes it, hoping ht could make some kind of dent.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     These things, whatever they are, aren't very tough. Kirika splits one in half, sparks and green energon flying from the hideous wound. Her flames wreath over a handful of other mechanical mercenaries and they go to find cover, returning fire with their rifles. Their weapons, however, don't seem to be much of a threat to an elite.

     Beelzebumon hits the streets, finding plenty of fire and death. One of the cybernetically-modified wolf-things - a Steeljaw - comes flying at him from an alleyway as he screams past on Behemoth!

     Rebecca has barely managed a few steps before one of the mercenaries spots her, opening up with its rifle on something close to full-auto. The shells blast apart asphalt and concrete but none hit her - it seems like she's a much smaller target than they might be used to facing!

     Sakura manages to leap onto one of Lockdown's servitors, and quite literally blows its face off with her blast. It falls back, smoking, leaving its two companions to continue the fight!

     Black Arachnia manages to grab one of the Steeljaws. It thrashes hard - by Primus, it's strong! - but she can manage to keep it down, beginning to try and hack into its cybernetic systems. What might be unexpected, however, is that despite the obvious amount of cybernetic modifications and armor, the thing has an /organic/ brain. Might these things be used to hunting creatures with an affinity for cybernetic devices? Perhaps.

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     The Steeljaw leaps, but it's claws and teeth fail to find their mark as Beelzebumon suddenly throws his bike sideways and skids along the ground, narrowly evading the cybernetic wolf.

     As the two of them skid, Beelzebumon leaps from the seat of his sentient ride and launches himself towards the robo-wolf, his Berenjena Shotgun blazing twice before coming down upon his prey with a thrust from his free hand, aiming to impale the beast upon his claws, "DOWN BOY!"

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
An organic brain behind the cybernetics? Yep, that's unexpected ... but Black Arachnia was less concerned about actually taking over her unwitting mount's brain -

- although it WOULD be nice to have a ride that isn't thrashing around and trying to shake her off like a robronco in one of the Cybertronian carnivals' side attractions; she has to hang on with all eight legs to avoid getting flung off and left open for something ELSE to try and rip several of her limbs off -

- and more focused on trying to tap into the link between the wolf and wherever it's getting orders from. That's GOT to be what the cybernetics are for, if the wolf has an organic brain ... and if she can dig into the command-and-communications relay deep enough, she'd love to usurp control of her unwilling ride *that* way, but information comes first ...

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
As the first mercenaries open fire on Rebecca, she twists her body and crouches down a little, awaiting the inevitable shots... but they never come. Rebecca opens her eyes and sees that she's like an ant to them, and that means their accuracy against her is very low. In other words, she doesn't get hit at all. Nevertheless, Rebecca isn't about to stand around counting her blessings about how tiny she is. Instead, she attempts to locate some kind of cover.

"Like trying to fight an ant with a machine gun," Rebecca comments as she races towards a nearby parked car, while opening fire with her assault rifle. "Except this ant is fighting back!" All while zigzagging occasionally in case she steps into the path of a shot unwittingly.

Sakura Kasugano (374) has posed:
    Sakura managed to get the point blank Hadouken to blast one of those attacking humanoid bots in the face, taking it out in one hit. Gasping as she landed on the ground and watched it fall, she turned back over to the other two nearby. She sees the sheer size difference and took a deep breath. There is going to be a problem here...but you know, Sakura might as well try and make up that big size difference. It's not so much the scale as it is just what they're actually doing that affects her the most.

    Perhaps that's where she gets the gumption to run up to one of the other two servitors nearby, reeling her fist back and soaring up into the air straight into the chin of one of them, fist tightened up as she turned and tried to push all her energy, all her force into her hand with a cry of "SHOUOUKEN!!"

Kirika (481) has posed:
    As the Transformer splits apart, Kirika moves on to the next target in sight. One of the Steeljaws will be intercepted by Kirika, the half-kitsune tackling it mid-run before she drives her blade into it. CUtting through flesh and cybernetics, Kirika leaves a messy carcass behind as she then turns her attention towards another of the mercenaries now.

    She attacks low this time, evading the merc's fire as she slices deep into his leg to topple him, climbing nimbly as her katana leaves slash after sacred slash, cleaving steel like paper with sparks and Energon spraying all over.

    She finishes with a decapitating strike at the neck, and her leg lashes out to kick the head free should her blade not cut enough synthetic tendons on its own.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     Beelzebumon puts one of the cybernetic hunting animals down with his claws, sending thick yellow viscera flying through the air. Even with the two blows from the shotgun and the blow from his claws, the beast continues to thrash and snarl in Beelzebumon's grip!

     Rebecca continues to duel with some of Lockdown's mercenaries, blasting away at them. Sure, she might just be an ant with a machine gun, but enough little ant bites can bring down someone - and that seems to be what's happening as another mercenary hits the ground, smoking and bleeding energon.

     Sakura decapitates another one, launching the mercenaries visored face into the air with a shower of sparks and thick, green energon. The third and final one blazes away with its rifle, but only seems to tear apart a store front.

     Kirika, for her part, manages to tear apart one of the Steeljaws in mid stride. It, too, flails about for several minutes before seeming to realise that it is dead. Antother mercenary falls and Kirika kicks its head across the street. But there's still more. Many more. Black Arachnia, however, is busy getting her cybernetic hooks into the Steeljaw's mind. There's a few cybernetic interfaces that look like some sort of command relay but it becomes clear that these things don't take any kind of transmitted order - they're loyal to one master, like a more simple dog, with just enough intelligence to be able to problem solve.

     Of course, it's about that that time that Black Arachnia might take a missile in the back. The ground shakes behind her and a large figure advances through the smoke - black, angular, and face hidden by a visor that is similar to the ones that hide the faces of the mercenaries, although this one is green. Lockdown rolls his head left and right as he advances on Arachnia, fists balled.

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     "Feisty little bitch, aren't you?" Beelzebumon states with his arm buried deep in the beast's back, pinning it down, "Even this badly hurt and you're still fighting... guess it would be a little cruel to leave ya like this..."

     Then he places the shutgun directly against the Steeljaw's head and cocks the hammer, "Guess I gotta put ya down like Old Yeller.."

     And then he pulls the trigger and a single shot rings out.

Sakura Kasugano (374) has posed:
    That's two down, one to go for Sakura. It's good that she's able to knock their heads off as easily as she's been able to. But still, with the rest of the chaos around Urbania, it's only a small consolation. And with the third still firing, she's still on guard, especially when the shots end up firing over her and through a store front as she ducks away and runs out of the line of fire. "UWAH!"

    Knowing she needs to at least stop this one before it can tear up anything more, she finds one of the straighter vertical walls nearby...and starts to run up it. She manages to wall walk her way up to at least head level before leaping off it, trying to aim herself at the head of the third one and latch on. At least, latch on long enough to bring her fists together and hammerfist it in the head as many times as it'll take to bring this last servitor down.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
Now that's REALLY interesting ... but the Maximal spider doesn't really have time to truly appreciate how interesting it is before *BOOM!!!*

Right in the spinnerets ... and that's going to sharply limit her ability to transform for a little while, too. *Not* good at all. Still, she's able to pivot and look up at the approaching robot ... 'up' being much more of a key word than she would ever like it to be in this case ...

Oh well, faint heart ne'er won fair lady, as Silverbolt would almost certainly say ... or something sappy along those lines. Black Arachnia rears up and launches her mandible grapnel at Lockon, trying to latch on right below his neck, and attempts to reel herself in while priming a dose of cybervenom for injection. She's depending HEAVILY on the element of surprise right now - more heavily than she WANTS to, really, but she's mildly desperate. Just a little.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
After firing a few more bursts of gunfire, Rebecca stops for a moment. She ducks behind the cover she's found to reload her assault rifle. She's already managed to prove that she's a formidable foe, even if she is smaller than them. "Looks like they underestimated me. Too bad for them!" She says with a smirk.

Once she's finished reloading, Rebecca pops back out and sweeps the general area, attempting to locate the closest mercenary (or mercenaries if need be,) ready to open fire at a moment's notice.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika catches the sight of what must be the leader of these brigands just before she realizes what's happening, and she calls out to Blackarachnia in dawning horror as to what is happening. "NO-!" Of course her shouts are cut off by a sniper blast that is more akin to that of a cannon going off, and she ends up assailed with her own foes to deal with.

    With a fury, Kirika slashes up one before grabbing on, using him as a platform to bounce off of to the next Transformer mercenary with a vengeance.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     Beelzebumon finishes off the Steeljaw with a quick blast. He, however, seems to be all alone now, although the air is still thick with smoke.

     Meanwhile, Sakura leaps onto the third and final mercenary she is facing and begins hammering her fists against the red visor. It bends, yields, and shatters as she continues to lay about the being's head with her fists. Eventually, something gives way and the servitor drops into the street.

     Rebecca finds no more armored mercenaries. That's good. What's not so good is the pair of Steeljaws that come barelling around the corner, snarling and growling, yellow drool flying from their metal jaws!

     Kirika leaps from one mercenary to another, ending up on the second servitor's shoulders! He goes to grab at her, shouting something in an unknown language.

     Black Arachnia comes at Lockdown. With his slow, determined strides, it is easy enough for the grapple to find its mark - and easier still to come reeling in. Kirika might be the first to see it - Lockdown's right hand shifting, plating seeming to boil over itself, and become a wicked, angular hook.

     Which he promptly buries under Black Arachnia's abdomen, finding a gap between spider sternum and legs. "What a wretched being you are," Lockdown spits behind his visor, a voice like dark velvet. The visor retracts, folding into itself, revealing a silver face, scarred and battered, emblazoned with tattoos. A pair of glowing green eyes regard Black Arachnia with obvious contempt.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
The hook finds purchase inside Black Arachnia's armor - not hitting any critical systems on the way in, thank Primus, but she doesn't really want to place bets for when it's on the way *out*. And the face behind the visor is about as ugly as she expected it to be. "Which 'heritage' would that be, scrap collector?" she hisses. "Which side do you think *I'm* from?"

She's ready with the cybervenom now - but she doesn't bite. Not yet. She's writhing in what ought to be VERY convincing agony (since she's not faking the pain ... at least not all of it), hanging on just enough to keep gravity from ripping that hook through her systems and servos. Keep him talking, get his guard down ... if she tried to bite now he'd just eviscerate her.

"And while we're chatting, where are *you* from? Didn't catch your name yet ..."

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     With a yank, Beelzebumon pulls his bloody hand free from the motionless beast and flicks the yellow ichor off, before holstering his shotgun once more, "Well, that was an amusing diversion... c'mon Behemoth, let's go find something else to amuse us."

     Behemoth rumbles over and snarls it's engine.

     "Oh c'mon Behemoth, don't be like that! I didn't mean to ditch ya during that skid! I just had to deal with that mutt!"

     Behemoth rumbles a bit more sullenly.

     "Tell ya what Behemoth, the next one of those critters we run into, I'll let you turn into road kill. How's that sound?"

     Behemoth's engine purrs.

     "That's more like it! Now let's go find something to turn into street pizza." And with that, Beelzebumon climbs back into the seat of his motorcycle and tears off towards the fighting.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Nimble as Kirika can be, she is sadly caught by the hand indeed. Letting out a shout, she attempts to sever the Transformer's hand at the wrist. Chances are she could, but this is suddenly getting a bit more dark.

    "RELEASE ME!" She roars, snarling at the mercenary before she lets out a fistful of fire in his face. Said fire happens to be the sort of fire that can and /has/ melted steel before, a nasty little surprise indeed.

Sakura Kasugano (374) has posed:
    Sakura continues to bang on the visor and the head of the servitor she attacks, smashing it repeatedly with double-fists until it finally starts to fall...after which, Sakura realizes she didn't quite think her method of attack through well enough, as she falls with it. "Eep..." When the servitor finally crashes down, she's forced into a roll, pitching herself forward to avoid an abrupt stop. Finally coming to a rest against the remains of a nearby postal box, she pulls herself up, dusting off her skirt.

    That's when she looks up and sees the rest of the city area, frowning...and the calls ont he radio make her even more concerned. Her eyes cast back and forth, before she decides to run up another building, nearly running out of grip before she catches her hands at the top of the roof and pulls herself up. Grunting a little, she sits atop the edge to catch her breath, and get a better vantage point to see where the worst of the damage is right now.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Rebecca yells out a few things that we can't quite repeat here, due to the censors' policies. All we can say is that she's definitely not pleased by the sight of those things, and the way they're so much bigger than her. Rebecca immediately switches to her Grenade Launcher, knowing she must make every shot count due to what little ammo she has, and then loads an explosive round into it. It might be powerful, but against things like that, it's not going to do much... at least not as much as she could hope. But every little bit counts.

"You want me? You're gonna have to come and get me!" Rebecca exclaims as she fires a pair of explosive shots, one loaded quickly after the other, at the Steeljaws.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     Lockdown turns, hook still buried in Black Arachnia's spider-belly, and goes to fling the Maximal Autobot through a nearby glass storefront. He steps after her, as slow and collected as before. It probably hurts however, on the plus side, she's in no danger of being immediately eviscerated. If she doesn't get up quickly, however, he's going to put his foot against her neck!

     Kirika melts the face, hand and much of the shoulders of one of Lockdown's servitors. It hits the deck, ruined. The battle is thinning out now, leaving only the intimidating angular figure of Lockdown in the near-distance. Sakura, too, might be able to get a better view from the top of one of the buildings.

     Rebecca practically pops the first Steeljaw with a grenade to the face, blasting it into bits and pieces. The second, however, jinks at the last minute - and leaps at her, slavering!

     Beelzebumon might almost think he's out for a pleasant weekend drive, given how clear the streets are. Still, it's easy enough to head towards the sounds of fighting, finding a city street strewn with dead mercenaries, wolf-beasts, and the apparent mastermind of the attack himself, seemingly intent on finishing Black Arachnia off!

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
The storefront windows shatter as Black Arachnia is hurled through them, a few sparks and dribbles of mechfluid marking her flight path before she vanishes into the hopefully-deserted shop ...

But by the time Lockdown gets in there to look for her? No spider. And the trail of leaking mechfluid just *stops* against the far wall ...

(In actuality, Black Arachnia's switched on her electro-disruptor and is clinging to the ceiling, letting the 'leaking' fluids start pooling inside one of her body cavities. It's none too healthy, but lying helpless somewhere would be FAR worse for her long-term well-being. Now if she can just get the drop on this guy ...)

Beelzebumon (132) has posed:
     "Huh, I am seeing a distinct lack of things to make into roadkill," Beelzebumon states as he drives through the carnage, "Guess someone must have already beaten us here."

     Behemoth rumbles angrily.

     "Hey, it's not MY fault that the wolf thing didn't die when I stabbed it with my hand! Most things die when you punch a hole clean through their chest! Besides, I'm sure we'll find something."

     Then as Beelzebumon and his bloodthirsty motorcycle comes around the corner to see Lockdown and Blackarachnia.

     "How about that? Will that do for you Behemoth?"

     The bike rumbles eagerly.

     "I thought so. Let's have some fun!"

     And without missing a beat, the Demon Lord and his hellish ride surge forward, angling towards a car as they gun it. Pulling back on the handles, Beelzebumon pops a wheelie just before they hit the car, resulting in the two launching them high into the air... right at Lockdown's head.

     "BEEP BEEP! COMING THROUGH MOTHAFUCKA!"

Sakura Kasugano (374) has posed:
    Spotting the large figure of Lockdown in the distance from her chosen buiding, Sakura frowns, seeing Black Arachnia impaled on one of his hooks. "Geez..." she gasps, pushing herself off the edge of the roof and landing on a lower one, quickly breaking into a run soon as she lands. She's not exactly the roof-hopping type, so she just gradually drops lower and lower until she finally hits street level, sprinting as fast as she can toward Lockdown and Black Arachnia's direction once she's got her feet on the ground.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika evades the falling Servitor, before she makes her way towards Lockdown with a fierce yell. Sword at the ready, she teleports in a flash of petals and light before reforming right behind of the Transformer leader.

    Lockdown will feel something slashing into his back after a brief distortion of reality, with Kinugiri biting deep inside of his back. Landing, Kirika slashes at Lockdown's heel next, her sword biting with electricity at the limb.

    This will not end well.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Deciding right now is the best time where actions speak louder than words, Rebecca simply decides to run as fast as she can, hoping to put some distance between her and that incoming enemy of hers. "Damn it, I really bit off more than I can chew this time!" She mutters to herself.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     Lockdown stares into the broken store. Invisibility? That's new. His green eyes scope left and then right, his mouth set in a thin line. Hmm. He takes a step back-

     -and promptly takes a motorcycle to the side of his head! With a grunt of surprise, pain and - perhaps - indignation, Lockdown spins away from Beelzebumon and back into the middle of the street.

     Kirika is on him then and something slips into his back. It bites deep and energon begins to leak from the wound. Growling, Lockdown kicks backwards - going to smash Kirika with the back of his foot! Ouch! And Sakura is in just the best location to see all of this go down.

     Rebecca breaks into a run, but the Steeljaw is hot on her heels, thick strands of drool going everywhere! It'll catch her in moments!

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika probably is going to regret this choice, once she regains consciousness. The bounty hunter's foot boots his attacker back just as Kirika is about to dodge, her manuever foiled as she actually skips across the pavement like a stone across the lake. It's as painful as you can imagine, her clothes ripped and several gashes left in her body by the time she's finished with being booted back.

    Her wounds are pretty nasty, even as they knit together and Kirika regains her bearings. It takes a pause or two, and once she's done re-socketing her arm Kirika narrows her eyes and glares at Lockdown.

    Take Two occurs with Kirika throwing a bolt of lightning towards Lockdown, then another and another before she leaps towards the leg and slashes hard.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
Let's hear it for the cavalry, Black Arachnia thinks. She stays upside down as she moves along the ceiling, heading back towards the outside wall, and Lockdown himself ... right in time to see the scrap collector trying to punt Kirika.

And she leaps, flipping right-side-up as she goes - not that she REALLY needs to do that part, but it's more convenient for the next step ... which is digging her palps into the back of Lockdown's shoulder and injecting a dose of cybervenom to scramble his systems. She'd love to dose him with something more painful, paralyzing, and/or corrosive, but this is what she was able to synthesize internally on short notice - and she doesn't know all the fine points of how the junk-hunter's systems work, so the more precise she tried to make the effect, the higher the odds would be of it simply NOT working. Scrambler is good enough for this situation.

(By the time she bites, she's also visible again. Not as intended, but it's kind of a moot point by now.)

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     Kirika's bolts of lightning strike true, blasting shards of black metal from Lockdown's body and driving him back. He grunts with sounds that are something between shouts and bursts of static - utterly inchoate. He goes to raise his left arm, having now shifted into some sort of energon blaster, but his shots go wide as another bolt drives him back!

     This allows Black Arachnia to leap upon him, and sink her fangs into his shoulder. He's a bit different to most forms of Cybertronian life but it should have an effect. But then Lockdown reaches behind himself with surprising flexibility, goes to grab Black Arachnia by her limbs and spins her like he's tossing a hammer. He hurls her against a thick concrete wall, face set in a scowl. "I'll be relieving you of that invisibility system, scum," Lockdown replies, stomping his way over to Black Arachnia - although it seems like he's moving with a bit less control, a bit of a tremor in his step...

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
This time, the spider has her wits about her enough that when Lockdown flings her away, she's able to twist around in mid-air and catch herself on impact, landing feet-first (even though a couple of her legs aren't working right; six feet is plenty to absorb the impact safely, though) on the wall. "If you're putting me on your shopping list, at least get the name right, junk-dealer," she scoffs. Then ...

"Black Arachnia ... MAXIMIZE!"

She jumps away from the wall she landed on, flipping around in mid-air as she transforms from her spider form into her robot mode. It's not the smoothest conversion ever, due to the toll that's been taken on her systems - but she CAN transform, which expands her combat options quite nicely. She can use her combat claws to full effectiveness, for one thing - and while not all of her leg lasers are operational, enough of them ARE that she can rake Lockdown with them while she's closing in. She feints right, darts left, then dashes around behind him to try and rip her claws through the hydraulics in his legs.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Rebecca decides enough running is enough. She decides that it's time to try firing again. She turns and fires another explosive round at the enemy. "Here, eat this!" She yells, hoping the blast will at least give her some breathing room. Then she tries to pick up the pace, although from the panting she's doing, it's obvious she's running out of steam...

Sakura Kasugano (374) has posed:
    Sakura continues to run toward where Lockdown is. Sadly, fast as she is, she's still only so fast. She finally does manage to get to where Lockdown is, and....wow. That is definitely big. "Oh geez..." she mutters, looking as the large bot starts throwing things around, including one of the allied Transformers she's aware of.

    Swallowing another lump down in her throat, she rushes in. Small as she is, she can mostly just focus on his legs, but hey, that's always a good place to start. It's the same general idea as attacking a human sized foe's ankles. Rushing at one of said ankles, Sakura uppercuts at it once....twice...three times, attacking it with as much force as she can with her Midare Zakura technique. "TOHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

Kirika (481) has posed:
    As Blackarachnia goes low, Kirika will go high. She sprints towards the nearest wall to Lockdown, before she proceeds to run her way up before using the muscles in her legs to propel herself towards Lockdown's chest, her sword slashing out at his torso before she reaches to grab his shoulder.

    "Your hunt ends here and now." Kirika growls, before she slashes down at Lockdown's shoulder, remembering which one had the hook in it. Her blade envelops itself in fire, melting through circuitry and Energon as well as armor plating.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     Black Arachnia comes at him. Lockdown is ready. Her lasers burn against his armor, leaving scorch marks on the glossy plating, and his arms shift. The hook comes back out, but so does a wrist blade that is as long as his forearm on his other hand.

     Arachnia manages to get a good hit on his legs, tearing something free, but Lockdown knows the value of redundant systems. He stumbles, then drives his hook into Arachnia, going to use it to drive her off-balance, to spin her and wrench a limb in its socket, to drive that wrist-blade deep into her! In combat, Lockdown is fast - and constantly moving. It's like he can use her kinetic energy against her.

     Of course, before he can do too much damage to the Maximal, Rebecca nails him with a grenade. The blast knocks him to the ground, crumpling a ground-car beneath his weight. Sakura hits at his ankles, and Lockdown goes to kick her away as he rises. Kiraka buries her sword in his shoulder, and something pops - thick energon runs from the wound and the heated blade only seems to do more damage to Lockdown. That seems like a weakness. He goes to swat at Kirika, like she's just an annoying insect.

     "This is /my/ hunt!" Lockdown shouts at her, "And you are /all/ gonna die!"

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
Her *optics* aren't damaged; Black Arachnia can see the blade on Lockdown's other arm perfectly fine - and while she parries the hook well enough to avoid being impaled again, Lockdown's size by comparison means he has the twin advantages of weight and reach, plus he's as maneuverable as any Predacon on top of that. Which is really kind of an unfair combination.

Fortunately, her allies start throwing their weight in on her side before that damn sword can drive deep enough to pierce anything vital - but the snarl of pain will give away that she's been hurt pretty badly ... and if he's going on like this about being a 'hunter,' then trying to lose him is PROBABLY going to be a lot harder than it would be normally.

For now, Black Arachnia tries to back off and get a good line of fire on Lockdown's face - and opens up with all six of her functional leg lasers, trying to target one of his optics with the combined beams all on the same point. If the others can keep him from closing the distance and nailing her ...

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Rebecca realizes, with horror, that she's out of grenades, and doesn't have the time to reload just yet. Instead, she switches back to her assault rifle. "We don't care what you want, just leave us alone!" Rebecca yells as she opens fire once again.

Sakura Kasugano (374) has posed:
    Unfortunately for Sakura, even if she managed to do some damage to Lockdown's ankles, the quick swipe back with his foot ends up catching Sakura flush, a small cry of pain escaping the schoolgirl as she's flung back into a nearby building. Crashing into the wall, the poor girl slumps down bonelessly, head tilted to the side, utterly out cold as she hits the ground.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     One down.

     Rebecca might not have grenades, but rifle fire is enough to bother a Transformer of Lockdown's universe. It's like throwing rocks. It makes it harder to concentrate on the real targets and so, Lockdown twists, going down on one knee and snapping off a volley of energon bolts in her direction.

     He rises at just the right time to take a volley of lasers from Black Arachnia, leaving scorch marks across the silver plating there. He's driven back, turning away from her volley of laser bolts, and kicks a ground-car over towards Arachnia!

     He turns to face Kirika, and he smiles. There's no humor there. It's a grim expression that says: you are welcome to try.

     And then she leaps into the air, brings her blade around, and quite literally disarms him. Lockdown's arm, blade and all, drops into the ground. Bright green energon, thick and scalding hot, sprays from the wound. Lockdown roars in presumable pain, reaches down to snap the wrist blade from his own arm, and /hurls/ it like a throwing knife at Black Arachnia, the blade spinning end over end.

     "Ship!" Lockdown calls, "We are withdrawing!"

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
A car comes flying at Black Arachnia. This is not an insurmountable problem; she ceases fire and leaps, pulling out her mandible grapnel to help pull herself out of the car's path ...

And then a blade comes flying at her JUST as she's dodging the car. She swipes at the blade with the claws on her free hand, and manages to avoid getting either impaled or bisected ... but even the FLAT of a blade that relative size packs a wallop, and the spidery Maximal goes through a second-story wall.

Not a window. Not even windows, plural. Just a solid wall.

Kirika (481) has posed:
    Kirika feels her blade cut through cybernetic tissue and mech fluid, and she grimly smiles in satisfaction back at Lockdown, until she realizes that he is not going down that easily. With a run towards Blackarachnia, she's about to knock the knife out of the air with her own strike before the Maximal handles it for her.

    Lockdown's announcement is reason enough for Kirika to go tend to Blackarachnia, sheathing her sword and climbing her way up to the hole in the wall to go find and help Arachnia to her feet. "Are you able to hear me?" She calls out, searching for the Maximal with concern.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
Meanwhile, Rebecca is calling in a MedEvac for those who need it. "We're gonna need a lot of transport," Rebecca says into her radio. "Yeah, that's right. And please hurry!" After that, Rebecca attempts to check on her allies as best as she can.

Lockdown (517) has posed:
     The sun goes out.

     At least, it seems that way as Lockdown's huge vessel hovers above the battlefield. In a moment, a great hatch opens beneath the vessel and begins to draw up Lockdown into the great maw - along with every other bit of metal in the general vicinity, although Black Arachnia and the rest are far enough away to be outside the area of effect.

     And then the starship is gone, Lockdown with it, leaving only the smoke, the fires and the dead.

Black Arachnia (304) has posed:
"He didn't damage my audio sensors," Black Arachnia responds dryly, trying to extricate herself from the interior wall that she plowed into before her flight came to a halt. She's making decent headway with that until a couple of limbs come in contact with the severed ends of a high-voltage power line.

LOTS of sparks fly; fortunately, Black Arachnia's own Spark is not among them ... although there's smoke (or steam, maybe) wafting from a lot of different poitns on her now half-transformed body by the time it settles to the floor. She'll just wait for medevac to get here and transport her back to Njorun Station ... or anywhere they can toss her into a CR chamber, which is about what she needs at this point.