2333/Bridge To Nowhere

Bridge To Nowhere
Date of Scene:	28 May 2015
Location:	Brimsteel Frontier
Synopsis:	Steal a bridge? A whole bridge? WHO EVEN TRIES THAT?!
Cast of Characters:	Kotone Yamakawa, 43, Rebecca Chambers, Blurr, 707, Corona Arclite, 750, 770, 774

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Corona Arclite has posed:
    Abruptly a staticy signal breaks across various emergency frequencies. >Mayday mayday!< A burst of gunfire from the background briefly drowns it out. >Gotta situation down by the Gourge brigework! Could really use some help--< The drawl that's reconizable as Corona's briefly cuts, this time from the louder bang of her own weapon. >Bring a posse--< Something explodes off-mic. >Dang nabbin' sunnova--< And breaks back down into static, possibly just in time.

For those responding to the distress call it's not hard to track down the source from the warpgate leading to Brimsteel or find the location. Considering the Geargrind Gourge was a massive rift split across a sizable portion of the land, often used as a dividing line between the harsh volcanic frontier lands and the more urbanized lands around the capital city far to the east. Normally the large railway bridge, double-supported to bear the weight of the massive freight lines running between the capital and Loadstar, would be a defining landmark to see.

Except for this time.

Instead there was two portions of said bridge at the edges of the jagged canyon, with the entire middle section missing. A number of surly looking outlaws were swarming about it with steam hammers and cutting torchs to break out the connectors and drag off the chunks of metal struts. These are being shoved somewhat haphazardly into the trailers of what looks like someone replaced the cab of a semi truck with a steam locomotive and jury-rigged it with heavy monster sized wheels so it wouldn't need a rail to ride on. Parked around it are several smaller (in comparison) vehicles that resemble steam-powered monster trucks of some kind, which are also swarming with a good number of outlaws with various firearms, while one is winding up a clockwork gatling gun in the bed of one said trucks.

Opposite that was Corona Arclite's cattlepunk cruiser parked haphazardly at an angle, with the foxgirl hunkered down behind it, occasionally peaking up long enough to fire off a shot from her sawed-off. The explosion was one of her own clockwork turrets being blown up by the gatling before it had to be reloaded and rewound. She had just been coming out here to do the bi-weekly maintenance check on the bridge, only to find these outlaws trying to dismantle and STEAL the damn thing, only to get into a firefight when she tried to interrupt.

Gunfight showdown over trying to steal a bridge? This is pretty crazy, even by the local standards.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    "WHO STEALS A BRIDGE?!"

Seriously. Who steals a bridge? That's the question asked by a particularly small ranger that has arrived in swift fashion! Someone at the Ranger Corps will be happy to hear about such a swift reaction time. That stat, however, is the last thing that's really on Target's mind as he takes note of the bridge, the missing section, and the danger that a partially dismantled bridge can cause. A flurry of radio messages are sent out, some to Loadstar, some to the capital, to get any trains barelling down the railways to stop before they reach the Geargrind Gorge.

With potential disaster avoided, the kobold darts out onto the bridge, draws his sidearms and sets off a few 'warning' shots toward the crew still trying to dismantle the bridge, "I PROMISE YA'ALL I WON'T BE MISSIN' THE NEXT ONES! EITHER GET GOIN OR GET SHOT!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Make that two foxgirls (at least), as a merry jingle of the rings atop her staff marks Xiaomu's arrival on the scene, hunkering down next to Corona. "So who would want to steal a bridge, and why?" she wonders, fishing around inside her vest for a moment or two ... she didn't know she was going to need grenades tonight, so she comes up mostly empty-handed. Except for her handguns, of course.

"And more importantly, how intact does it need to be when we get it back?" she adds, before she straightens up, clearing her line of fire, and unleashes a brief barrage, half a dozen shots or so - partly to keep the bandits' heads down, partly to slow down their work by dint of distractions and injuries.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    "Are you serious? Someone stole a BRIDGE?!" Rebecca Chambers says through her communicator to the people at Union HQ. A pause as she listens in, her facial expression showing one of shock and surprise. "I'll believe it then. I'm approaching the area now. Rebecca out." From the helicopter she's riding in, Rebecca watches as the area below becomes closer to her drop zone. Of course, she's going in solo, but that doesn't matter. Even S.T.A.R.S. members have to go it alone sometime, and even then she's not truly alone. Just not with official S.T.A.R.S. backup. Then again, her experience with Billy Coen taught her that the best allies can come from the most surprising places.

    A line drops from the helicopter, then Rebecca slides down, letting her fingerless gloves protect her from friction burns. Once she lands on the ground, she waves to the pilot to signal him to move along. Then she takes out her MP5K and loads a clip into it, checking to make sure the laser sighting on her rifle is enabled before she proceeds into the fray.

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Who steals a bridge? Honestly? Rebound has no idea why somebody would steal a bridge, but here we are, with a bridge being stolen. Honestly she thinks she might have a good idea of why they would steal a bridge. But she'll figure it out once they catch the guys.

    The kangaroo can move faster on foot than most people can in vehicles amd has been hopping her way down towards where the bridge was being stolen. She lands down next to where Corona is taking cover and crouches next to her, "We need to get them off the bridge, preferably to the other side of it. You guys don't have any security for these things?"

Rainbow Dash (43) has posed:
    First a crazy train hiest, now a bridge hiest? Just what kind of crazy place is this, anyway?

    The kind that catches the attention of a certain rainbow maned pegasus as a place that's bound to have plenty of interesting things going on.

    A blurr of colors speeds in along the road leading up towards the bridge. Six streaks, mingling into a single rainbow that zips and zags, back and forth along the curves of the road, faster than most anything land bound. It isn't until Rainbow Dash comes within view of the bridge that she bothers to check her speed, coming backwinging furiously. She soars right in over Rebound and Corona's heads, and dives down just behind a boulder in front of the cruiser. Ammo plinks off of the rock and surrounding area just a scant second later. "Whoa! These guys mean business!"

    After a pause, Dash pokes her head up from behind the boulder. "Oh, yeah, because people steal bridges all the time," She replies sarcastically, while raising a hoof up to bring down her goggles. "Sooo what's the plan? Go in blazing, kick the losers around?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
She's in trouble again, okay someone else is but Kotone is sticking her nose into it. If you told her she'd be doing stuff like this about two years ago? She'd be laughing in your face. Now it's almsot becoming yet another day in the multiverse for her. So here she is with Corona nad doing her best to also pop off and take shots with her blaster, she's set the thing to stun, it's juest less messy that way, all things considered. Why /are/ they jacking a bridge.

"IS your world always like this Corona?"

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
Who would steal a bridge? Why, people who would steal a bridge of course!

It's enough of an answer for Dorian. He does indeed receive the radio distress call. However he is /not/ going to ask the obvious question, because he figures everyone has already asked it. Rather than ask who, he's going to just get to the area and render help where he can. Once the people responsible are caught, everyone who answers will find out who exactly would steal a bridge.

The sight of an actual flesh-and-blood horse might be an odd sight, depending on the technology level in this place. But that's what's coming in from behind the position that Corona and her allies have taken up. Not just a horse either, but there's a rider atop it. A man in light-colored leather armor and a white cape over it, a serpent-headed staff on his back. As he nears, he pulls the staff from his back so he can leap from its back without letting the horse slow down too much. There's gunfire and he doesn't want his mount shot.

If all goes according to plan, Dorian should be able to hit the ground in a roll and come up behind Corona's cover. Dorian is not, unfortunately, bulletproof. He is, however, equipped with magic. So as he taps the end of the staff on the ground before him, anyone near enough to him just might find a blue-white aura surrounding them. Barriers! This should make whoever happens to be in the area of effect more difficult to hit for a few moments.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr had been speeding across the Brimsteel badlands, likely scouting the area and uploading new terrain data to an Autobot sub-orbital outpost. Pretty treacherous out here, that is for anyone depending on wheels or legs, neither of which the former racer has to!

    But when he picks up on Corona's distress signal on the airwaves, there is priority switch and he heads quickly toward the source of the signal. Upon arriving, he takes in the scene with a slightly puzzled look. Stealing a -bridge-? That's hardly a very efficient thing to steal. If they needed the raw materials, why not raid a mining outpost? "Well, this seems counterintuitive. Any idea what they're really after? Maybe this is just a cover-up."

Corona Arclite has posed:
"I don't know!" Corona grumps at the various questions about why people would be trying to steal bridges in the first place. "I was just comin' out to maintenance check the bridge, y'know, look for loose rail ties or what not, and found 'em at it!" But seeing several familiar faces turn up does help calm Corona's nerves a little. "Best guess is they're tryin' to force reroutes to less safe paths to hijack later. The rails from this bridge run straight to Loadstar."

The funny thing? Despite all the odd looking individuals showing up, it's the HELICOPTER that gets some of the outlaws to stop and gawk for a few moments. Flight is not a common thing around Brimsteal, which how badly the hot air and dust filled winds can choke up engines requiring air intakes. A helicopter isn't going to suffer as bad as a jet, but it's still probably smart that Rebecca sends the pilot along before he can get shot at as well.

The gawking does make it easier for Target and Xiaomu to interrupt the actual hijacking with some firing, though instead of stopping like would be smart most of the outlaws just drop their tools and scramble for grabbing weapons instead, even as Kotone adds to the suppression fire. A few rifle shots crack in the pegasus' and speed racer's directions, but they're really fast moving targets.

"Yup, pretty much," Corona replies somewhat tounge-in-cheek to Kotone, even as she leans up to fire off another shot from her Forge Sweeper, blasting a larger rifle out of an outlaw's hands in two pieces.

The clockpunk gatling cannon suddenly roars to life again... but the shots all ping-ping-ping off the timely cast Barriers from Pavus, until the thing finally winds down again and stops. Looks like these thugs didn't steal an auto-winder to go with the clockwork drive for that thing.

If people want to rush the thieves, now would be the time to do it!

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    "Warned ya!" Target calls out before the 'Duster' that he's been wearing starts to come apart along with the sound of so much clockwork turning that it's a much more unique sound then just a regular watch running at high speed. When it's done, the Kobld's in a set of a bit of armor clearly emphasizing agility over endurance. With the change finished, the kobold starts to swing and juke through the scaffolding of the bridge, firing a shot, and another, at a pair rushing for weapons. Shots are to hurt, but not to kill. For now! "No more warnin's! Yer all under arrest for-" Pause. He hesitates a moment hanging from a part of the bridgework, "Grand theft bridge? I don't even know but yer all comin' in for it!"

Blurr has posed:
    "If they're just trying to force reroutes, wouldn't it be much easier to blow the bridge with a remote detonator?" Blurr wonders. "Raw materials like that are much easier to score from mining outposts or refineries. Maybe they're trying to build something."

    The Autobot sees the opening the barrier had created, and spotting the vehicles the outlaws seem to be attempting to fill with the parts he darts off in that direction, intending to cut them off from their getaway rides or simply destroy them. Hoping to avoid damaging the bridge parts he does his best to aim for the fenders of the monster trucks so as to blow out their engines without destroying the cargo.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Wielding her MP5K carefully, Rebecca advances on the thieves, noticing how they're gawking at her transportation method here, and that makes her realize something. While they're distracted, Rebecca has the upper hand in getting off an early shot. Or a few shots, since she's on semi-automatic gunfire right now. She levels her gun at the nearest thieves and pulls the trigger, sending forth a semi-automatic burst.

    "No use negotiating with them now," Rebecca thinks to herself aloud as she attempts to shoot at a couple of thieves before looking for nearby cover, since she knows that they'll be most likely attempting to shoot back, and a visible target is a dead one in many cases.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Maybe they think they can sell the steel from the rails or something," Xiaomu suggests by way of response to Blurr ... and then the opening presents itself.

She simply goes up and OVER the improvised barricade that is normally Corona's vehicle, and is already opening fire as she leaps off the top. Rather than bolting from cover to cover, she's running straight AT the bandits and their vehicles, depending on the occasional shoulder roll, aerial somersault, or other acrobatic maneuver to be as uncooperative a target as humanly possible.

Or in her case, maybe 'humanly possible' isn't a limiting bound ...

Rebound (750) has posed:
    Should be easy enough. Rebound supposes if it doesn't matter why these guys are stealing the bridge then the important thing should just be to stop them.

    Most of the team seems to be going for the bandits with the guns, but Rebound is going to go for the guys with the saws and the torches. Stop them from cutting the bridge to begin with. She moves in with a leap, jumping past the barrier and onto the bridge proper. She wheels arond to kick at one of the nearby bandits, to clock him in the head with the heel of her foot and knock him for a loop. Hopefully he won't go flying off the bridge, but she'll not really feel much remorse if he does.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
Instead of going for the thieves himself, Dorian decides that the clockwork turret is the bigger threat. There are enough Elites here to deal with the thieves. However, he does need to get closer himself before he can do this. It's going to put him out in the open briefly, but hopefully the results will be worth it.

He ducks out from behind cover and darts closer to the group of thieves. Instead of aiming at THEM, he aims at the clockwork turret. They'll likely be trying to get it working gain soon. Dorian thrusts out a hand, palm aimed at the turrent, aiming the subsequent explosion of fire from the ground at the turret, hoping to blow the thing to hell. Hopefully he won't get perforated too badly for it.

Rainbow Dash (43) has posed:
    "Hmmm," Rainbow Dash rubs her chin as she watches bandits abandon their tools for their guns. "I've got an idea! Be right back!" While the bandits are busy focusing on the others, Rainbow dives out from behind her boulder. She runs straight for the edge of the gorge (Gouge?), keeping low to the ground. And dives straight off of it.

    Dash flares her wings out as soon as she hits open air, but keeps them dipped down so she disappears rapidly off of the edge. She flies swiftly, right up underneath the bridge and out of sight of the bandits on the surface. When she's at the far edge, she flits back up, quick as the wind. And in a flash of colors, the discarded tools begin to disappear, lifted off right where the bandits left them.

Good thing that there's nothing down that Gourge, because it'd be raining tools right about now.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa Says "We'll find out latger!"

Kotone brings up her blaster again and snaps off a shot, that's when other people are now starting to rrive. This is something that is going to help out Kotone. She's got more time to act as the bandits, now have more peoplr to deal with. The fact that Corona has noted her world is always like this. Kotone wonders the implications of living in basically a wild west movie in space. Thi however ends wen things relaly start heating up. She's popping out form cover now and moving with inhuman speed trying to draw them out and keep shooting stun bolts as she goes.

"You hoo boys! Can't catch me!"

Corona Arclite has posed:
Capitalizing on the surprise proves to be in Rebecca's face, putting several would-be bridge bandits out of commission with her semi-auto. Until her gun rattles several times into one's shoulder... And he just sneers at her as he rips off the smoking remains of his jacket to show that his entire left shoulder and arm are some mishmash of a clockwork implant. How does that even work?! It works well enough for him to charge at the STARS agent and try to clock her one (pun intended?) with the metal fist's studded knuckles.

A Ranger is one thing. Lawmen is lawmen, even if they're short and scaly. But then this one cranks up a set of clockwork armor, and puts several outlaws on the ground by shooting out their legs and shoulders before they can actually retaliate. As they collapse to the ground the jangle of spurs rattles across the bridge as the owner steps over one of the fallen bandits. "Well now, what we here?" The wide brim of his hat shadows most of his face, but a canine-like muzzle can be seen grinning with sharp teeth. "Ain't ya a little short to be a Ranger?" Not that he gives Target a chance to answer before pulling a pair of large-barrel pistols out of the bandoliers slung under his poncho and opening fire.

Rebound and Rainbow Dash do a good job of taking care of the guys that have.. or had.. tools. Rebound knocks them on their asses while the winged pony starts flinging stuff over the edge.

It's not until a good two minutes after the first tool goes that there is any sort of sound echoing faintly below. Damn that's a deep rocky gorge.

One of the bigger, burlier outlaws, who just happens to be of all things some sort of humanoid bull (imagine that), picks up a sledgehammer before Dash gets to it, and takes a swing at the roo while she's pummeling the other punks.

A couple of the monster-steamtrucks crash to the ground as Blurr takes out their engines or lower suspension. But he quickly draws the fire of their occupants, who return fire with large-bore rifles fed by oversized cylinder magazines.

The other truck isn't so lucky when Dorian blasts it with a fiery explosion. The eruption of flame sets the clockpunk gatling on fire, but more importantly the blast flung the bandits operating it out of the truck. And on fire. Needless to say, they're more busy running around being on fire than attacking anyone at the moment.

Xiaomu goes full out gun-fu on the bandits, while Kotone takes a similarly erratic approach save being a bit more picky about her stun shots. The flurry of gunfire takes out several of the bandits trying to scramble from the melee Rebound is kicking up amonst the workers.... but it also draws the attention of one cackling lunatic who's appearance matchs that of 'deranged prospector' cliche right down to the fact that he's pulling out sticks of dynamite and chucking them at the two ladies. When guns don't work, use splash damage, I guess!

But with everyone else breaking up the focus on her, Corona jumps back into her cruiser and backs it up, using the reverse motion to turn it forward towards the fight proper. Then as she pulls a lever the metal guards for the rear wheels ratchet back and send up a shower of sparks as they slam down against the hard wheels to lock it in place. Gears and turbines spin as what where the two large exhaust stacks angling backwards rotate forward. "FIRE IN DA HOLE!" With a thunderous boom the stacks erupt in fire and smoke like a pair of mortars, blowing up another one of the trucks.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    A few more shots, a few more bandits crash and burn, and then Target would hoist himself back up to the top of the bridge. He takes a moment to dust himself off before glancing up toward the canine bandito across the bridge. All target was doing was reloading his revolvers, and then this sad excuse for a mutt went and did something he's gonna regret. A lot.

"What the blazes did ya jes' say?" Target's expression is feral when he asks the question. He doesn't even care about the weapons that this guy pulled out. "THE HELL DID YA JES SAY YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR A PRAIRIE DOG?" he quite literally roars, despite his size, before he takes off like a shot down the bridge. No guns, no weapons, just sheer speed carries the kobold forward before he smashes into the jerk like some kinda miniture freight train. "I WILL TEAR YOUR BLOODY EYES OUT!" And he's trying too!

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"Oh, *really*?!" snarks Xiaomu as she spots dynamite being lobbed in her and Kotone's general direction. She switches gears slightly, going into a backflip, and holstering one of her handguns as soon as her feet are back under her, freeing up her left hand to produce her staff again.

(Don't ask where it was while she was flipping around and going all John Woo on the brigands.)

As soon as she's got her staff ready, her other handgun is holstered and she draws Suiren's blade free of the staff-scabbard; with a yell of "XIAOMU BLIZZARD!!" she slices through the air in the general direction of the dynamite, sending a wave of ice magic at them.

A *LOT* of ice magic.

Enough ice that even if the dynamite still goes off inside of it, most of the explosive force will be soaked up just trying to break the ice apart again.

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    "Oh dammit!" Rebecca yells as the thief charges at her, attempting to take her down. She attempts to raise her tactical shield with one hand to try to protect herself, but it's not use, as apparently her shield just isn't as tough as she hoped it would be. She falls to the ground, her shield scattering away from her. In spite of this downfall, Rebecca rolls backwards onto her feet and backs away slowly, MP5K still leveled.

    "You made a bad mistake, charging a member of S.T.A.R.S.!" Rebecca exclaims, opening fire again, this time switching to fully automatic in hopes that a larger supply of gunshots will do the trick.

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
Dorian smirks as the clockwork turret is set on fire. As well as the operators! "And this is why you never anger the one who can throw fire," he taunts them. While they're running around and ... well, being on fire, Dorian sees the opportunity to take them out of the fight permanently.

He takes a step forward, raising his staff over his head. As he spins the staff over his head, lightning gathers around it, crackling in the air. And then he slams the end of the staff down on the ground. The electricity gathering around the staff surges out, towards the nearest on-fire person. Should it hit, the lightning will try to leap to other nearby targets as well.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr watches as Dorian and Corona let loose on the trucks. "Uhh--I guess you guys don't care about damaging the bridge parts?" Perhaps they are easily replaced, and it's just important that the thieves don't get away with them. Which he supposes could make sense, if they are indeed trying to use the bridge to build something else more sinister. Still, if they could save the parts, it'd be good, right?

    Meanwhile though, he's drawn fire from the bandits' heavier caliber weaponry. He flips in and out of vehicle mode, twisting and somersaulting quickly through the barrage, avoiding much of the gunfire but still taking some hits. He may be fast, but when the attackers are that much smaller than you, it's hard to dodge -everything-.

    Finally, he lands on the ground in his vehicle form and heads toward the largest truck--the one with the giant trailer. He transforms again, standing up to grab at the tethers between the cab and the trailer in an attempt rip them off and separate the two!

Rebound (750) has posed:
    The sledgehammer hits Rebound in the back and she goes down in a heap. Now normally a sledgehammer would be a good way to end somebody right quick like, but Rebound is made of tougher stuff, and is only knocked loopy, not out cold.

    She pushes back up onto her feet, stumbling a bit as she turns around to look at the big man bull that just clocked her, "C'mon man, you're fighting somebody smaller than you and a girl. Do you really need to hit her from behind with a weapon?"

    The answer to that question is yes, as the 'roo moves in quickly, aiming to land several debilitating body strikes with her fists and elbows, and then end the combo by grabbing the sledgehammer with both hands, rolling onto her back and flipping the bull away.

Rainbow Dash (43) has posed:
    Rainbow Dash pricks one ear, listening for the sound of tools hitting the bottom of the gourge. And listening. And listening. Untill finally, clattering. "... And I thought Ghastly Gorge was deep!" Might be a bad idea for anyone to fall down there.

    Dash twists around, just as the bull man reaches for that nearby hammer. "Hey!" Rainbow Dash shouts taking off at the bull-man. She soars straight up to his eye-level despite the height difference, her hooves at the ready. "Pick on someone your own size!" At least getting stared down by a small, pastel pony is probably a pretty good distraction, before he's quickly brought down by Rebound. "Pfft, I could've taken him. Guess nice moves, though."

    Then in a flick of her wings, Dash twists away. "Come on, let's stop the rest of these featherbrains!" In a flash, she dives straight for one of the still stubborn workers. "Hey, over here!" She shouts, zooming past him. "Nope, over here!" She snickers, dipping under his hammer swing, and then rising up again, spins around him. And again, and again, trying to force him to get dizzy, swinging that hammer around after her.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has been busy but well? She half expect the banits to start tossing TNT with how they look. Saldy this turns out ot be true whihc forces Kotone to break off her attacks. She leaps into the air way more than a human should be able to and is just bale to clear the blast tht would have got her otherwise as she drops back toward the ground she opens up with the blaster sending a rain of stunbolts at the insane bandit.

Corona Arclite has posed:
The canine bandito realizes, a little to late, that taunting the kobold's size was a very poor health decision. And while the small stature may be true, Target's clockpunk VEX armor evens the odds a bit as he charges his offender, seemingly oblivious to the guns being fired at him to SLAM into the thug, and in turn the guy gets hammered against one of the metal bridge supports still upright. It even knocks off his rediculously big hat, revealing the shocked expression underneath. Not that Target likely cares, as an armored gauntlet slams into the brute's face, likely breaking that muzzle that was smirking minutes ago.

Not that it matters, that's the least of his worries as the blow sends him tumbling over the side of the bridge and following the plummet of those tools.... Which might of been a mercy seeing as it saves him from farther kobold fury.

If you thought the gawks at the helicopter was something, you get almost literal jaws hitting the ground when Blurr transforms. Repeatedly. Transforming is nothing new. Look at Corona's chopper, or Target's VEX armor -- it's how fast and in repeat sequence that Blurr does it that gets all the staring. That and while they scored a few hits, the Transformer doesn't seem to be too overly phased by them. To the point that one of the bandits throws a fit and tries to throw the rifle at Blurr as he rushes the main truck, for all the good that will do (which isn't much.)

"The bridge can be rebuilt." Corona replies when she gets a chance, as the exhaust-mortars are swiveling back into their normal position. "Don't wanna know what these lunatics intended to -do- with it." But Corona sees what Blurr is going for, and that gives her an idea. She pulls the lever to release the lock-down, the wheel guards sliding back into their usual forward position. Normal smoke belchs from the exhausts as she revs the engine and whips the chopper around in half-a-donut. A grappling chain fires out of the back with another level yank, and then Corona guns it to pulls the trailers away from the truck-motive as Blurr severs the tethers.

First they're on fire, and then they're on lightning! The bandits that suffered both elemental fates just sort of collapse after that, in various fits of spasming.

The metal-armed bandit heaves his appendage up over his head intending to crush Rebecca again, even as several more rounds slam into his chest, seeming to do little ill. Until one shot ricochets up into the arm and jams the gears, causing his control to lock up and the arm to drop from its raised position. Onto his own head. The augmented outlaw just collapses after that, having essentially caved his own skull in.

Uh, Rebound, that's not what the phrase 'cowpunching' means. Not that we're complaining, as it does a good job of knocking the wind out of her assailant, leaving him open for the finisher of being heaved off his hooves and thrown for a more literal loop, crashing into the heap of one of the wrecked trucks.

Normally TNT would be a very dangerous thing to both sides to be thrown in a fight, but the blast of ice magic does a handy job of freezing the attack in its tracks. The ice shatters from the explosions, but effectively contains the energy of the blasts in doing so. That's hardly the biggest f-you to physics happening in this fight, trust me. The mad bomber doesn't really get a chance to object anyways, as Kotone quickly puts him down while the fox-woman's ice magic has disabled his attack, leaving another very stunned and confused outlaw in the wake of stunbolt barrage.

Is that a small hammer, or a giant wrench? It's hard to tell, it has a head shaped like both when he starts swinging it at Dash. But the pegasus flies circles around him -- literally -- and once he's spinning the weight of the tool keeps him going like a centrifuge, until he crashes into someone else and they both collapse into a comical heap.

Corona Arclite has posed:
The would-be thieves are pretty much routed out by this point, their spectacular bridge heist instead left in ruins. A few stragglers still standing just ditch their guns and jump into the train-truck to drive off, but it's empty handed since Blurr and Corona took care of the trailers holding the bridge parts.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr was -going- to smash the train cab truck thing, but decides against it once the bandits have decided to retreat. Heh, sure let them go. Maybe they'll think twice before they try wreaking havoc again next time.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
    And down he goes. Careening in to the depths of the Geargrind Gourge. Target still looks feral as he walks up to the side, tilts his head, and actually spits off the edge of the bridge toward where the big one fell off. "Bloody mutt," is all the usually energetic kobold says before skimming the rest of the bridge. Anyone left is either running or too hurt to run, so the kobold calls in for a wagon and a team to fix the bridge before the train lines throw a fit.

    With all that said and done, the VEX armor changes again, the rapid clockwork noise echoing across the bridge before it settles back into the inconspicuous duster that Target tends to wear. "Oy, C'rona," he calls, starting to head in her direction. "Got teams comin' to take care of the bridge'n get these mutts to some dark kennel where they belong." Then he starts looking around at everyone else. "Much appreciate ya'all comin' to help. Thank ya."

Rebound (750) has posed:
    After taking the bull out of the fight, Rebound tosses the sledgehammer to the side and jumps on top of him, hitting him a few more times from the full mount position for good measure, before she gets off of him and moves away. Thankfully someone'll be there to pick up what's left of him soon.

    "Ugh. That's definitely a concussion." She mutters as she gets back onto the solid land on the edge of the bridge, "Everybody okay? Nothing super broken, right?"

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Things are just well being one of those days isn't it? She notices Blurr and is pretty happy to see the transformer out and about. She's now on he f3eet and she looks down to the stunned bandit and shakes her head. She'll stop to pull out somesort of zip ties to secure him for when hte stun wears off.

"Just how many more of them are there?"

Rebecca Chambers has posed:
    Rebecca watches as the target takes itself out literally. But there seem to still be more. Grabbing her shield, Rebecca uses it for cover against any other targets which may still remain. At the same time, she attempts to utilize the straps for her left arm to hold her shield while she reloads. "Running out of ammo here!"

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
Xiaomu flashes a thumbs-up to Kotone for her good work in disabling the actual TNT-tosser ... and that seems to be it. The sage fox takes a moment to check her handguns, and sheathes Suiren in her staff again before turning her attention to her allies - and realizing just how lucky she was. A couple of chunks of ice got lucky and smacked into Xiaomu, but she's not sporting much worse than bruises.

"I think the line 'we're standing, they aren't' pretty well sums it up," she states. "I'm not much on first aid, but does anyone need -"

She leans sharply to the right, her left ear perking almost straight up to avoid getting a stray bullet through it; she immediately draws both handguns and returns fire against the bandit who was NOT smart enough to bolt with his buddies.

"- help?"

Rainbow Dash (43) has posed:
    "She shoots and she scores!" Rainbow Dash cheers, finally coming to a stop somewhere above the heads of the crumpled bandits. "What's the matter guys, done already? Sucks to be you!" She raspberries down at the pile of bandits. "Hey, got more to tie up over here!" She shouts to Kotone, pointing down at the downed workers at the end of the bridge.

Corona Arclite has posed:
Once it's clear the bandits are making a break for it Corona pulls off her hat and waves it over her head. "Yeehah! That's showin' those sagebrush straddlin' sidewinders what for!" She puts her chopper back in park with the trailers, lean puts her feet up on the handlebars. "I reckon Miss C will send Bucksaw and some workers over from Loadstar as well, considerin' the depot is kinda screwed without the main line accessin it."

She pauses, then shrugs. "Well, sorta. We're still closer to the warpgate."

Corona leans over a little reach into some compartment and pull out, of no big surprise, a metal flask. "Still dunno why they were after a bridge of all things, unless they were just trying to be big and shockin' or what-not. Weirdos." She uncaps her flask and takes a nice long gulp from it.

She doesn't even flinch when someone still takes a shot at the other foxgirl, misses, and Xiaomu puts him in his place lying on the ground with the others. "Tch." Corona takes another swig before capping the flask and putting it away. "Always some idjit that don't know to getalong when the gettin' is good."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
Are the would-be thieves retreating? They are indeed, it seems! "That seems to be all of them. More or less," Dorian observes. "Even better, I wasn't perforated!" And the trailer with the bridge parts has been taken into custody too. Definitely a good day, even if one of the thieves went over the bridge. In fact, that just makes it better, as far as Dorian's concerned. One less brigand to deal with at a later date.

Target's thanks draws Dorian over to where he can hear properly. "You're quite welcome," he offers in return. "Merely passing through and happened to see the trouble. I didn't like the odds, or the damage to the bridge. Fascinating, these ... er, what do you call them? 'Locomotives'?"

Rebound's question gets a nod. "I do seem to be in the same excellent condition as when I first came in, yes. Thank you for asking." Kotone's question prompts Dorian to point in the direction that most of the remainder of the bandits fled in. "The wiser of the group have already fled. I expect they'll turn up again later, like a bad copper bit."

He doesn't immediately leap to the defense of anyone still dealing with those more foolish of bandits, but he does aim a Barrier in the direction of the Elites who are still fighting.

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
"Yeh, sounds 'bout right. Gonna have ta stick 'round an' make sure no one comes'n tries to rob the workers. If Cassavhan sends out Bucky I imagin'e can handle'm self but considerin all these mutts tried this, wouoldn't hurt ta have a VEX roamin around. 'Cats'n Hats may try somethin or just copycat this whole bloody thing for whatever reason. Not their main method but if they think they kin make a buck off'a it I reckon they'd try anyway." Target shrugs after his little spiel, glancing around at the group again. Rebound gets a friendly nod, then the rest get a greeting, "Nice ta finally be meetin' some other union folk. Haven't gotten away from Brimsteel 'nuff to really putfaces ta the voices on the radio."

Blurr has posed:
    "I'm assuming they were planning on using the parts to build something that has a similar structure." Blurr replies to Corona's bafflement at the attempt to steal a bridge. "I don't know anything about that group but if they're stubborn they'll probably try again somewhere else. Probably somewhere else less obvious that doesn't get inspected routinely...." He peers down at Arclite. "miss...?" He inquires, searching for an introduction. "I -think- I've seen you before."

    "Anyway. They were pretty sloppy about this if you ask me. Should've stolen intel from transit authorities and found out exactly when the area would be deserted before they made a move."

Rainbow Dash (43) has posed:
    With the bandits taken care of, Rainbow Dash turns her attention back on the gouge. She hovers just over the head, peeering down at it as if she might fall in if she tried to go too far over. "Just how far down does this thing go anyway?" She pauses, and then kicks another one of those tools off of the edge. And waits.

    Aaand waits...

    "... Uh..."

Rebound (750) has posed:
"Yeah, haven't really had a chance to meet you either." Rebound says as she nods to Target, "You're one of thoe locals, right? Rebound's my name." She smiles and offers one of her hands to the kobold, "Interesting peice of gear you got there."

Dorian Pavus (774) has posed:
"Ah, I'm not with the Union, my good man," Dorian pipes up. "I am a member of the Syndicate. I am Dorian of House Pavus, Altus mage of Tevinter. How do you do?" He bows politely. While the bow is to Target, the introduction is for anyone nearby. Blurr's statement gets a nod, though Dorian doesn't reply to it. Mainly because he's too busy staring. A ... metal person? A living, talking carriage? What sort of magic is this?

Rainbow Dash gets a similar look. Talking pastel-colored tiny flying horses.

In fact, there's quite a bit that's getting that reaction. Including the kangaroo-person! And the ... what exactly /is/ Target, now that there's a chance to wonder? This Multiverse. Maker's breath!

Corona Arclite has posed:
"Arclite. Corona Arclite. Been 'round Brockton Bay a few times." She's the one that was dismantling the mechanical member of the Slaughterhouse Nine that one time. "Reckon they avoided any of the big runs. But didn't expect someone from out on the range to come 'long and rat 'em out."

Her ears flick as Dash kicks one of the tools over the edge and Corona sits up a bit. "I dunno if anyone's ever tried ac'ally goin' down there. The Gourge was ripped open durin' one of Brimsteel's big seismic events."

A very faint clunk of metal against rock can be heard finally.

"It's pretty damn deep."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa Says "Right I'll get to it, Dash was it?"

Kotones already getting a move on things now as she bounds along fairly happily to go tie up the remaining bandits. After all they don't want them to get away. She'll secure them then move to remove any weapons they might still have on them beore she'll return to the group.

"Maybe they wanted the materials, Corona?"

She also looks over to Dorian even as she works nodding.

"It's how it seems to go around here."

That's also when she gets the first good look at Target, wait is he some sort of Kobold?!

"I'm not union but I work with Corona quite a bit and hey ?Blurr you never call. I got a creation od mine I wnna test out against you sometime!"

Target Sparktail (770) has posed:
"Ah, well nice meetin' all of ya. Sorry for just thinkin' yer all Union," Target says first, giving a nod to Dorian before shaking Rebound's offered hand. "Recognized yer voice on the radio a bit more than other folks 'round here right now. Nice to put a face to it," he says before tugging his hand back. "Ah, mah VEX? S'a complicated thing, but I work on'em, maintain'em for the Rangers. I'd tell ya more but'm not really allowed ta. Don't want folks bein' able to replicate it. Pretty high tech 'round these parts, ya know?" The rest get a pretty genuine smile. "Well Union or not yer all pretty handy! Thank ya all, again, fer comin' out. Rebuildin this bridge from scratch woulda been hard even for Bucky and his folks.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr smirks at Kotone's challenge. "Guess you'd better bring it on sometime, but I bet it'd never top my speed." He nods toward Corona as she introduces herself. "Nice to meet you, Corona Arclite. The name's Blurr." As she might have already heard from Kotone. "Might want to tell your transit authorities to keep their scanners primed or even consider some extra security measures like drones or something, if you even have those around here?"

    He peers at Target, who is certainly some form of small reptilian organic. To the Autobot he doesn't seem all that unusual. A lot of those around, especially on carbon-water based planets like Earth. "Well you'll still have to put the thing back together, and I'm pretty sure some of the parts turned into collateral damage. But if your people need help with the reconstruction effort, I could see if Scoop or Grapple or someone is available for that." Or Hoist.

    He turns, transforming again back down into his more compact hoverspeeder form. "Uh, anyone need a ride out of here or anything?" Or just want one.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
"I could use a lift, sure," Xiaomu answers Blurr's invitation. "Dunno how many seats you've got in there ..." She seems utterly nonchalant about the fact that she's accepting a ride from a giant alien robot.

(It's possible that she's just containing a massive explosion of squeeing until she has the chance to let it out without looking like a total crazy.)

Blurr has posed:
    When Xiaomu accepts the invitation, Blurr opens a door to allow her inside. There are two seats inside, and a space in the back that is rather cramped but -could- fit an additional human-sized individual.

    "So--warpgate?" the Autobot asks once she's inside, the dashboard lights flashing and oscillating in sync with his voice.

Xiaomu (707) has posed:
A genuine transforming sentient robot, with one of the coolest vehicle modes imaginable? If it weren't for the fact that Blurr's vehicle form would have a hard time fitting in on the streets of a modern-day Tokyo, Xiaomu would alerady be planning to recruit Blurr for Shinra; he's just the right size for her, Reiji, and extra gear ...

"Yes please!" Xiaomu chirps happily, the pain of her bruises forgotten. "Probably best to go to Psyber's Boston or Njorun Station, whichever's more convenient for you."

Blurr has posed:
    "Right then!" Immediately, Blurr takes off toward the warpgate which is not too far off. Everything outside just blurs past as he speeds away, though he doesn't quite hit max acceleration for the sake of -not- splattering his passenger against the back of her seat with g-forces.

    The gates themselves are a little bit of a tight fit for him, which is why he doesn't typically use them himself. But if he turns at just right angle he just barely get through, which he does. Off he zooms back toward Njorun!