Scene #9141: A Ton Of Tribbles

Owner	Pose
Combaticon	Welcome to Infernac Terminal; a Cybertronian space station and space bridge terminal overlooking the planet it's named after. The atmosphere is perfectly breathable and well-ventilated, if a little chilly. Despite the initial impressions most may have for space stations being cramped or cozy structures, the interior of Infernac Terminal is vast and open; a clear sign it was built when the resident robots were much larger. As if to prove that particular point, Cybertronians some thirty feet tall do occasionally step through the great corridors and doorways, managing the various larger-scale aspects of the station's functions. Some even provide directions, some with reluctant derision, others with excitement, to the self-described Organic Furry Pet Exhibition and Adoption Event. The actual space set aside for it sport a big sign over the metal doors and a dull hum of activity inside. Standing outside, near one of the metal walls but not leaning against it, is the distinctive dark blue an green form of Onslaught. With his hands folded behind his back beneath the cannon mounts, the only part of him that moves are the small white points in his otherwise glowing crimson eyes-- following each entrant briefly, estimating intent. Otherwise, the Combaticon commander seems to radiate an aura of 'would rather be anywhere else'. Evidently he got roped into his subordinate's scheme to run security. On the other side of the corridor, Greasetrap idles in his vehicle mode, making a killing selling Mexican cuisine to various organic lifeforms coming by. The space selected is, itself, large and open. Formerly some form of hanger, it is now lined with large numbers of storage containers along the tall walls. Displays have been set up in rows, featuring glass-walled terrariums filled with selections of sand and natural decorations. Each container also has a single football-sized creature inside, a furry little beast with no clear head or legs that emits a soft purring sound. With so many of them in so many wildly different colors and patterns, the whole room is alive the squeaky, chirpy noises of tribbles under the din of various aliens and robots. Vortex can be sighted in here, sitting on the edge of a storage container with her legs dangling off the side. She seems completely uninvolved in any work going on and also doesn't seem terribly interested in the furry pets up for sale either. Depthcharge is also present, examining one of the occupied cages with a holographic display manifested above her palm. Swindle is of course present, being he's the host of this whole shindig. With a large tribble cradled in his left arm, cooing gently, the merchant breaks off from a conversation with a pair of reptilian aliens to raise his free hand overhead, "Welcome, welcome! Always happy to see new customers! As you can see I have quite the selection to choose from, so do take your time and get to know them."
Bowser	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvslxj23tKg One of the enormous Cybertronians sneers down at the ORGANICS. As soon as a direction comes out of the robot's mouth that doesn't sound respectful, a bellowing sound echoes through the chamber. "ARF ARF!" A twenty foot perfect sphere of black metal bounds at the Cybertronian. It's face cracks open, perhaps a third of the way into the sphere, revealing two rows of perfectly triangular teeth, the kind of a child might draw on a shark. The inside of the mouth is simply a red that could go somewhere, and it could not. Big circle eyes on it hardly even narrow, as if there is no hatred in this beast, simply the divine need to murder something. It gets within a hair's breadth of the enormous transformer before it is cut short. At the back of the sphere is an enormous steel chain coming forth from a pink spiked collar. The loops of chain end in Bowser's fist, who is holding on firmly, at his side. He keeps walking forward, "That's a goooood Chompie, if he gives you guff, eat him." There's another yank at the chain, maw threatening to bite the robot in half before the chain chomp is pulled away. A giant sphere's locomotion, as you might expect, is bouncing, which it does, wide round eyes looking around. It bounces in place once. Greasetrap gets a jumpscare as the 20 foot chain chomp leaps at him, hold only five foot away by Bowser's fist. "Greaseguy!" Bowser points a clawed finger at him. "Tacos, huh. Got exotic food this time." A bag of coins, each the size of a dinner plate, and the end of the chain chomp's chain get shoved into... the food truck's general hole area? "Give her as much food as she wants." With that situation deftly handled, Bowser moves towards Swindle's makeshift shop. "Swiiindle!" He gets up to the robot and grabs his hand and slams him on the back hard enough to dent it. "Figure I give one of these a try, you've never lied to me! My go-to guy!"
Sarracenia	Despite not coming here as a Trideag assignment, Sarracenia shows up in her Trideag dress. The black velvet shimmers softly in the light and helps to keep the cold at bay somewhat. She arrives just in time to see Bowser's pet nearly chomp someone, and her expression is immediately deadpan. "...you brought that thing -here-?" she says, tone as deadpan as her face. "-And- you are encouraging it to bite people." Sarra shakes her head, then proceeds into the tribble area. Being sneered or otherwise derided draws a princessly 'hmph' from Sarra complete with upturned nose. Of course, that just makes her look like she is looking up at those big transformers. "You should really be more polite to foreign dignitaries. I will have you know I am Princess Sarracenia Sundew, Crown Princess of the Sundew Kingdom. Your supervisor may hear about this." When she does reach the tribbles...Sarra is immediately charmed by them. "Oh my goodness! How does a creature like this exist~? It is so fluffy and looks perfectly huggable, yet it is alive? Where are its eyes or legs or...anything? How does it eat?" She bombards Swindle with questions while snatching up the nearest uncaged one (possibly the one from his arms) to give it a big squeeze. "How much for a dozen of them? That seems like a nice balanced number.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine stays close to the walls, internally bemoaning the relative lack of cover in the vast hallways of the station. Even though she isn't doing anything worthy of suspicion yet, she's sure acting like she is. Although she is carrying something on her back, covered by a black cloth, something large enough to be a little suspicious on its own, so maybe her caution is for the best. Either way, when she peeks around a corner to see the entrance to the exhibition space, she notices Onslaught and immediately ducks back into cover. She was expecting some of the other Combaticons besides Swindle to be here, but the presence of their captain suggests the whole squad may be present. That's not good. But either way, it's go time. Madeleine saunters casually around the corner as if that's how she crossed the entire station, and does a poor job of whistling a jaunty tune (it comes out closer to melancholy). As she passes Greasetrap she shoots him a pair of awkward finger-guns. "Howdy," she says to Onslaught, who might know her well enough to know she doesn't usually say 'howdy'. However the huntress's pace is brisk and her behavior only slightly suspicious, so she slips by into the room. With a dramatic flourish (despite most folks having their backs turned) Madeleine pulls away the black cloth to reveal (to relatively few onlookers) a large mirror strapped to her back. Its surface distorts and a traditionally-dressed maid with no discernable face steps through, holding her skirt in both hands. The maid is followed by another, and another, a small throng of servants emerging from Madeleine's back as she calls out to the room, her voice amplified by the hangar's remarkable acoustics: "Alright, enough! Eeeeeeverybody out! And don't you think about taking one of those critters with you. They're officially property of the Concord now, under MY direct supervision!" She points a thumb at her chest with gusto. The horde of maids begins to usher assorted guests - including the other gathered Elites - out of the room, politely but firmly pulling them away from the display cases.
Combaticon	That fullsized Cybertronian takes a step back, raising his hands when the Chain Chomp comes at him. He's only saved by the chain, leaning aside to peer around the toothy sphere to see its handler. There's a little 'pip' of a blink. After some time to process it, the 'bot raises his hands again, this time in a shrug, and steps around Bowser and his pet while giving them a wide berth. "Bowsman!" Greasetrap sounds happy to see King Koopa, "Yeah. I usually do tacos, burritos, churros-- It comes with the disguise, heh." When a bag of coins is offered, one of the truck's doors transforms into an arm to collect them, shoving the sack into the cab where the driver usually goes. That same hand then accepts the Chain Chomp's chain, "You got it!" Onslaught watches this all go down without moving a single servo. Once Bowser moves past him, his eyes shift to the fullsized 'bot that nearly got bitten in half, "That one took down Thunderhead. Do not provoke him." Eyes slide sidelong to Sarracenia, "Ignore them. They are idiots, anyway." Madeleine's 'howdy' gets his attention. Even a little tilt of his head, but he doesn't otherwise respond. "Hah haaah! King Bowser, welcome!" Swindle greets the King with the familiarity of having worked with him once or twice. There's a loud metallic ring when that back-slap hits, enough to stagger the smaller robot and knock the tribble out of his arms-- just for Sarracenia to catch. "--Oof! Uh--" He straightens himself out, collects his wits, and places both hands on his hips, "I understand the Earth custom of test drives, of course, but does that really apply to pets?" To Sarra's barrage of questions, his eyes dim-close and he brings his arms up in a shrug, "All I know is the data Mister Mudd sent me about their care. They do eat. Seeds and grains, apparently. But they are soft!" It's like a furry squishmallow. Whatever organs these things have don't seem to care. The tribble purr-coos when squozen, then lets out a series of squeaks. "I'm not even sure how they-- move?" > "And don't you think about taking one of those critters with you. They're officially property of the Concord now, under MY direct supervision!" "Whoa, pump those brakes!" Swindle raises both hands in a Settle Down sort of gesture, "Did you forget I'm with the Concord, too?" All his other customers start getting ushered out. Onslaught ignores it. Vortex spins up her rotors and takes the air with a laugh. Depthcharge just-- leaves with no resistance, more interested in the data she had been collecting on the creatures. It's Swindle who now actively resists the maid trying to eject him. "This is a legitimate business venture, you know-- and I already paid to use this space! If you want to adopt, of course, we can talk!" He extends his legs out, metal heels screeching across the deck with sparks while he's pushed towards the door, "Come on, Madelaine! Don't you want to Negotiate? Make a deal?"
Bowser	"It's a pet that does security! I'm sure you got some kinda little purse dog that just goes potty and cowers. Chompie here is a REAL pet." He jerks a thumb over at Greasetrap struggling with a chain. He isn't, at least, being eaten yet, as he is an flag-marked NPC. "Maybe, you should actually try it, then your little MILITARY won't think you are some pampered little girl!" He swings back around with a hrm, grabbing a box to shake a little. "It's got a mouth, right? If it's got a mouth, it's got TEETH and I can make it EAT THAT STUPID PLUMBER!" Madeleine arrives with a 'howdy'. There is nothing in Bowser's mind telling him that this is abnormal. Really, there's very little in Bowser's mind, it's a very open platforming level with a single neuron used to give out missions. Bowser sees a mirror. "You uh, gonna see how you look with the pet?" That sounds like a normal girl thing, right? Bowser shrugs his shoulders with a short GWA HA. He turns back to Swindle. "And don't you think about taking one of those critters with you." Just as Bowser is turning around, he freezes. Swindle can see Bowser's eyes suddenly narrow and his jaw set. He looks down at the maid firmly prying at his arm, pulling it off the box. The other fist, the size of two christmas hams and a large thanksgiving duck, rocks back. With a mighty turn, Bowser sends it into where the face on a faceless maid SHOULD BE, hopefully the front of the face. "HANDS OFF!" He keeps turning, glaring at Madeleine. "This one," he points at his box, "Is coming with ME! I don't leave without the thing I want!"
Sarracenia	'Maybe, you should actually try it, then your little MILITARY won't think you are some pampered little girl!' Sarra scoffs so hard! "The military already does not think that! I have lead them into battle myself! Fought alongside them! Got burnt to a crisp with a large number of them!" They definitely do think that, though. 'Alright, enough! Eeeeeeverybody out! And don't you think about taking one of those critters with you. They're officially property of the Concord now, under MY direct supervision!' Sarracenia blinks and turns toward Madeleine, eyebrow raised. "And...so that means I may have one since I am also Concord, yes?" she says. The maids start ushering. "Wait! Wh-where did you all come from? And who in the Concord approved them being under your direct supervision? Why do they even need direct supervision?!" Sarra refuses to give up the one she has already claimed, hugging it between her arms tightly enough that its coos become a bit squished sounding. As she is pushed and pulled with more and more insistence, Sarra grows increasingly irritated. And when one finally reaches to try and take her claimed tribble...that is when Sarra has finally had it. "That is indeed enough! I am not giving up my furry, squishy, adorable tribble without a very good reason!" She leaps upward some 20 feet, jumps off a couple of maids heads, then backflips toward one of the cages and lands on it gracefully, then stuffs the tribble into her bottomless purse. "Ha-hah! Try and get it now!" she exclaims triumphantly. Then, she pulls out her hammer and starts leaping between cages, smashing them open and claiming as many tribbles as she can and stuffing them in her purse.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Swindle: "Did you forget I'm with the Concord, too?" "Come on, Madeleine! Don't you want to Negotiate? Make a deal?" "You are with the Concord," Madeleine acknowledges, "But these creatures are - supposedly - your personal property, not Concord assets! You can probably appeal for some compensation down the line, but I have no obligation to pay you market value for seized goods." The huntress reaches into her bag and pulls out a slab of papers at least an inch thick. "The civilian asset compensation appeal form packet is somewhere in here. Now outta my way, I'm busy." Bowser feels the contours of a face where his fist lands - or he must have, right? There's no way these maids actually don't have faces, they're just so unimportant that he forgets as soon as he looks away. Right? But when he looks back at Madeleine another of the servants is stepping out of the mirror, adjusting its bonnet as if it just got dressed in a hurry. Then another, and another - there's no end to these things, and they're starting to grab onto the belligerent Bowser in sufficient numbers to slow him down... Sarracenia: "And who in the Concord approved them being under your direct supervision? Why do they even need direct supervision?!" "MCRD, office of the Director!" Madeleine pulls out another official-looking paper. "These are living creatures, of unusual nature and uncertain origin, and that puts them squarely under our jurisdiction! Furry, squishy, adorable, whatever - I can't allow you to introduce them to new environments without assessing their risk of becoming invasive. Now, get back here!" The huntress leaps after Sarracenia and draws her spear as her back-mirror continues to emit maids. "I ORDER you to leave those creatures with me!" Once she catches up with the princess she intercepts the next hammer-blow with the haft of her spear, straining to keep Sarracenia from breaking any more cages.
Combaticon	> "The civilian asset compensation appeal form packet is somewhere in here. Now outta my way, I'm busy." Swindle gets a huge packet of papers shoved into his servos, staring at the paperwork with a blank expression. After a moment, his voice drops an octave, "I see. Yeah. I didn't want to negotiate either." As he says it, panels open up-- on his arm, a huge black cannon swings into place and extends its barrel. Over his shoulders, small laser turrets with forked antennas rise into position. His chestpiece splits open, extending a weapon with a triangular barrel a few inches. It's that chest cannon that fires first, a bolt of bright purple light disintegrating the forms in his hands. What's left of them flutters down around him in flaming fragments, "Whoops! Clumsy me." The forked antennas over his shoulders crackle to life, surrounding the Decepticon in a violet-tinted bubble that keeps the maids at bay. Shifting his stance, he braces his right arm as he brings his cannon up. It's plain to see that no matter what anyone does, that mirror will just replace any maids that get taken down-- so that's Swindle's main target when he lets loose with his weapon in bright flashes of neon purple laser light, "Sorry but I never believed in civil forfeiture! I certainly hope your alien artifact insurance is current, ma'am!" Floating near the ceiling, Vortex cups her hands around her faceplate and shouts down with a laugh, "Kick 'em in the crankcase!" "You aren't helping!"
Bowser	"Have you even taken over a country yet!?" Bowser's mind slides off the maids. They are minions. They are meant to be punched. They are basically Madeleine's koopas. Another maid leaps onto Bowser, grabbing at one arm, then one grabbing at his horn. Bowser sags to one side, glaring at Madeleine from underneath the press of maids. Another one leaps onto his head, another on his shell. "No one but PRINCESS PEACH! IS GOING! TO ORDER ME!" He starts walking towards the box, dragging a set of maids with him. One grabs onto his ankle, and he's dragging her along with him, limping as he gets over to Swindle's previous countertop area. He tosses down one big coin that says 10 on it. He spins back around. "NOW! GET. THESE. MINIONS. OFF!!!" Bowser hunkers down. His arms and legs and head suddenly disappear into his shell. The shell SPINS in place, hurling maids in all directions before Bowser pops back out. "I'm gonna take my stupid thing. I'm gonna invade the Gummi Kingdom. I'm gonna steal their seven gummi drops and get ultimate power and go on a date and I AM GONNA TAKE THIS THING WITH ME!"
Sarracenia	'Have you even taken over a country yet?!' "Why would I even do that?! I am not some evil emperor who thinks he needs to prove how tough he is by taking over defenseless kingdoms and kidnapping peaceful princesses!" Sarra shouts back! 'MCRD, office of the Director!' CLANG! Sarra's hammer being stopped always makes her a bit mad. It is supposed to be nearly unstoppable, at least in her mind! "...MCRD? What is that? And what do you mean invasive? They are little fluffballs! They hardly seem able to move on their own! ...how did they even survive, actually? Wherever they come from must have zero predators." Needless to say...Sarra does not hand over anything yet. She looks at the stack of papers that Madeleine brought, then hmphs. "I have never heard of this MCRD. I am not going to bow down to an organization that I do not even know. But, if you are that worried about it I will keep mine in quarantine until you clear them." Sarra gives her hammer an artful flourish, twirling it around herself before knocking that spear away and leaping into the air. She pulls out a cloud power-up and lands on it, then tries to flee with her contraband! "I am afraid you may have to take an IOU, Swindle!" Even as she flies for the nearest exit, Sarra reaches into her purse and pulls out a tribble to cheeknuzzle it. "Do not wowwy, sweetie~ I will not let the ebil cweture contwol take youuuu~" she says to it in her sweetest baby-talk.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Maids, it turns out, are not immune to centrifugal force. Bowser's spin attack flings many of them against the walls and ceiling where they splatter into black-and-white paint smears. Some janitor bot has a well-earned Christmas bonus in their future. The Koopa King gets his hands on a tribble or three, and is turning to make for the exit when something cold grips his ankle. A thick tendril of ice rushes over his feet and toward the doors, splaying out into a rough starburst covering the entrance to the room. Somebody tell Maddie that's a fire hazard! Ice hazard. Whatever. Sarracenia's cloud power-up sweeps her out of Madeleine's reach and above the maids, and the huntress is left shouting after her: "The MCRD is only the Concord's leading institution of cryptid and monster research! I'm telling you, it's dangerous to just go willy-nilly with an animal you don't know well. Please! Our quarantine is the only one I can trust!" Words quickly appear to have failed, so Madeleine switches Drogrung into its bow form to fire off a few arrows that explode mid-air into icy shards that cling to and threaten to weigh down Sarracenia's escape vehicle. But lasers? Against a mirror? Swindle's bolts of energized light warp the surface of the mirror from the sheer heat they emit, but the surface reflects more energy than it absorbs, sending most of the powerful attack bouncing into the ceiling. Those scorch marks are gonna rack up quite the cleaning bill... The attack does not have no effect - the maids are coming out a little 'off' now, with some limbs longer than others and the colors of their outfits melting to a smudgy grey, but they crowd zombie-like around Swindle's force-field, preventing him from getting further shots off at Madeleine herself... until she comes barreling out of the crowd, spear-first. Here's hoping that force-field is up to snuff!
Combaticon	When the huge door ices over, one of the autoboots on his way in to see what the commotion is stops. He rubs his prominent chinplate with one hand when confronted with this obstacle, then casts a glance aside at Onslaught. The Combaticon commander, his hands still tucked behind his back, only slightly lifts his shoulders in a shrug. The mirror just distorts and the maids it's making are now just coming out in that slightly cursed The Longer You Look sort of way. As they start clustering around his forcefield, Swindle taps his own chin in thought, "Okay, that isn't what I expected to happen." He pushes off with one foot, starting to fly-- when Madeleine comes crashing through with Drogung in hand. The impact is enough to slam him back into the floor with enough force to bend his knees. Drogung's spearhead punches into the forcefield as if it were hitting a window, lodging in place and sending cracks all throughout the violet-tinted surface. "You like it?" Swindle seems unflappable with the dragon spear in his face. His smarmy grin returns, "That's a hardlight shield system. A little gift from the Vok out in Nexus Zero." He brings his hands up, then thrusts them out to either side. The field around him warps its shape from a cylinder with a dome top into a sphere, "Nice beings, the Vok! They'll always cut a fair deal--" The shield around him suddenly explodes outward into shards of slicing energy, "Look them up if you're ever in the Nexus Zero area!" In the precious seconds Swindle has free of the mob and the huntress, he now leans forward. The top of his knee flips open, exposing a tube. There's a distinctive FOOMP and a burst of smoke as he launches a mortar at the mirror. A laser didn't get the effect he wanted, surely explosives will do the trick.
Bowser	With a set of boxes under his arm, Bowser leaves the rest of the combatants to their fate. He lets out a string of Joe Pesci in Home Alone mutters and grumbles. Ice locks his foot in place, making Bowser's eyes suddenly widen in anger. He turns down just in time to see the ice splash upward, crashing over his body and onto the door. The Big Koopa buckles over as the ice bites into his skin. He doesn't LIKE being cold. Not that he likes being dropped into lava by Mario either, but to feel that discomfort, that drag at his body. "You think I can't keep a pet?! I KNOW how to handle animals! Look!" "HEY CHOMPIE. HEEL!" "ARF ARF!" Hopefully Greasetrap has the presence of mind to let go. The Autobot gets barreled to the side in a flash. The side of the hangar rends, metal screaming as it tears down under the pushing focus of the twenty foot sphere of Chain Chomp. 'She' bounces in place. "ARF ARF!" A clawed finger points towards the army of off color maids. "SIC EM!" The Chain Chomp opens wide, leaping into the middle of the maids to do what Chain Chomps do.
Sarracenia	'Our quarantine is the only one I can trust!' "Well, that is a problem, is it not? Having no trust in your allies. Yes, that is a big problem!" Sarra replies even as she flies. Some maids splat into color smears and Sarra blinks. "...huh..." Distracted by that, her cloud takes the full brunt of the ice arrows and becomes...a floating ice cube. And the floating part lasts only a few seconds! Sarra's eyes widen and she tries to jump free...only to find that her feet are frozen to the cloud! She lets out a surprised 'eeh?!' followed by a high pitched falling scream. She plummets like a brick, and when the cloud hits it explodes in shards of ice that pelt the princess. Combined with falling without flight powers or her hammer to land on, and Sarra leaves a slight princess-shaped dent in the floor. The tribble she was holding goes bouncing away to land somewhere safe. She tries to stand up, but yelps at a pain in her legs. "Okay...that was too far!" Sarra exclaims with a growl. "That really hurt!" Sarra pulls out a green mushroom and downs it, then manages to get back to her feet. She levels a glare at Madeleine. "You may be good at hunting monsters and creature control, but your people skills could use some work!!" As she talks, Sarra's hammer starts to release a prismatic glow from its head. It flows down the handle and slowly over the princess. "I will give the tribbles back, but I cannot abide an attack like that on a fellow Concord member over something like this!" she says as the glow flows over her head and hair and down her body. Sarra reaches into her purse, and just before the hammer fever overtakes her she throws up a few Bullet Bills. The prismatic energy fills her eyes, and her teeth clench as her body fills with supernatural power before...she starts hammering. She hammers each Bullet Bill toward Madeleine to unleash three explosions, then the princess starts plowing a path through the maids, each hammer fall leaving a crater in the ground and sending a resounding thud through the area.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Bowser's Chain Chomp crashes into the hangar and tears the maids to PIECES. Black-and-white goo runs down its muzzle. It's a good thing the servants don't have blood or it'd be an unholy nightmare to watch. As the beast opens a new way out and rampages through the maids, however, the ice around Bowser slowly creeps up his legs, threatening to encase him entirely if left unchecked. Madeleine strains against Swindle's hardlight shield, slowly and surely forcing her spear's head through the projection. She isn't ready for it to explode and suddenly stop resisting her pressure, which sends her tumbling off-balance past the Combaticon. It's a perfect shot lined up for the grenade launcher, and the FOOMP flies true, exploding against the mirror and shattering it into countless little pieces. Just another mess to leave behind... Without a further source of maids, the chain-chomp and Sarra's hammer rampage make quick work of the remaining maids. Madeleine tries to reason with the hammer-crazy princess while variously failing to dodge the Bullet Bills' explosions. "It's not that I- Augh! okay maybe I don't trust you but- OOF!" She is also not ready for just how much hammer is behind that hammer, too - a swift combo of hits launch her up into the air and then soaring across the hangar. She crashes against a tribble cage which springs open, depositing a fluffy creature on top of Madeleine's head. Shaking it free of her hair, she deposits it on the ground while hissing, "I'll deal with you later." Madeleine runs across the hangar, weaving between energy bolts from Swindle as she charges the Decepticon. Instead of striking directly, however, she hops into the air, lunges downward with her spear, and then kicks off from the Combaticon's body and soars in an arc toward Sarracenia. Drogrung's massive ghostly tail manifests from the butt of the spear, lashing out at the princess with terrifying force...
Combaticon	Onslaught finally unfolds one hand from behind his back-- just to tug down the brim of his hat-like headpiece when Chompie barrels past and right through the metal wall next to the door. The Autobot near him jumps back, hands going out to either side as he dops into a more readied fight-or-flight sort of posture, "What is going ON in there?!" "A civilized discussion." Meanwhile inside the hanger, Swindle rises back to a full standing stance, lifting his cannon arm up and holding it steady with the other, "Like I said, if you really wanted one, you could just ask--" He states as Maddie plucks a tribble off her head. The little beasts are getting everywhere, though mercifully contained inside the hanger. They're either too slow or too inept to actually climb out through the hole Chompie made, even with that tiny step up. "You could at least do me the service of being gentle with the merchandise, huh?" When he opens fire again, it's alternating between his chest cannon and arm cannon. Madeleine weaves expertly through that-- the leap catches him off guard with a "--Huh?" while he's already bringing his free arm up to defend himself. It catches him in the shoulder, digs deep into his torso, and then wrenches the sparking arm right off his body with the torque of the followup leap, "--Gah!" The severed arm and shoulder clatters to the deck in a spray of glowing pink energon and sizzling sparks. Swindle ejects the cannon from his right arm so that he can reach over and clutch at the gaping hole in his torso. With a grunt, he straightens his posture. A panel slides open in his midsection and his remaining hand plunges in, "That's a mighty impressive weapon you have there--!" What Swindle pulls out of his own gut is too big to have been in there; a spear of his own, its head jagged and pulsing with lines of energon. His forward foot plants, leaning all his weight on the back as he hauls the polearm up as a javelin, "How about a trade!" Hauling forward, the Decepticon puts all his weight and strength into hurling the lance after the huntress, "Try it before you buy it, at least--!"
Bowser	'Chompie' focuses on the maids, leaping back and forth. She is being thoroughly enriched by any Maids that are left over. The fact that the mirror is broken means she will get bored sooner rather than later. Ice pushes up with a hard crack, thick layers of ice encasing Bowser's legs first. Then up his shell. He shifts back and forth, trying to lift one limb, then the other. Every movement that he can't actually shift makes the King more and more agitated. Rage enters his eyes, a burning hatred of being held back. Burning... BURNING... BURNING!!! Bowser opens his mouth and fire roars out of it. It spreads out onto his feet, down at the ice. Fireballs bounce up along the floor and towards the walls. And the ceiling. And anything else. Fire. There's a sudden thunder as the ice cracks. Then again as Bowser lifts his foot off and away, finally freed. He heaves out, his breath coming out in smokes and gasps, but his eyes wild with rage. He grabs the nearest weapon to him, a chain. "ARF ARF!" One slowly twist of the chain to get it moving, lifting it up into the air. Then he snags a length of the chain up higher. Chompie starts spinning in the air, whirling faster. "ARF ARF!" When the length suddenly drops again, Bowser is whirling the Chain Chomp, no actual care given for the building they are in. Chompie attacks building and Maddy alike.
Sarracenia	Coming down from her hammer fever, the first thing Sarra sees...is Madeleine coming down with that spear. That ghostly tail lashes out, and Sarra is knocked against a wall. She yelps as she hits before falling forward into a sprawl. Then, she just lies there. She's hurting, she's exhausted...and she once again seems to be the first to have fallen. Her eyes mist up and she brings a hand to cover her face so that anyone who happens to look doesn't see it and hopefully can't hear the slight sniffle there accompanied by her other hand clenching. "...Grade 6...hah..." she mutters at herself bitterly. "...I cannot even stand up to Madeleine and some mirror maids..." she continues. She peeks through her fingers at the others still going, then sits up slowly and sadly before she starts pulling tribbles out of her purse. A half dozen or so that she had managed to claim. She sets them around herself in a half circle, then gives each one a pat. "I suppose I cannot keep my word to you then, my little squishies." She sniffles again, somewhat similarly to a child who has had to give up a pet that was not really theirs yet. She just sits there quietly after that with her legs gathered beneath her and her dress's skirt forming a circle around her, watching the events unfold while petting a tribble. "Perhaps there is still some hope if they can hold out...ah, but I already said I would give you to her..."
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"You could at least do me the service of being gentle with the merchandise, huh?" "It's not- These aren't just merchandise. These things are living creatures, with appetites and needs that you haven't even thought to figure out before trying to sell them off. This could be an ecological catastrophe in the making! I can't let you go spreading these things around the sector." The energon lance soars at Madeleine and she hastily constructs a wall of ice to block it, but the shield shatters on impact and she barely avoids getting speared through the gut. Instead, it opens a nasty, scorched cut on her side, and she winces in pain. "Gods, what is that thing made of? It can't be safe to be waving this much energon around an unknown life form - maybe they feed on the stuff! But you wouldn't know, wou-" It is exactly then that Madeleine is hit by a stray fireball. Bowser shatters free of the rapidly melting ice and hurtles toward the off-balance huntress with chain chomp in tow, and she shakily brings up her spear just in time to prevent the creature's mouth from closing on her leg. Rather than test the depths of its jaws, she frantically kicks against its teeth to make a little space. "You two," Madeleine pants, clutching at her side, "are REALLY getting on my nerves. You know how many kinds of little fluffy thing there are in the multiverse, Bowser? Hundreds! Thousands, maybe! But no. You have to have this one, this little... whatever it is! You don't even know what it is!" Having worked herself up into a proper fit, Madeleine renews her assault. She breathes out another, slightly ragged cloud of icy vapor, this time directed to fill the chain chomp's mouth with ice so it can't bite down on her again. Maybe the Koopa King will think twice about fireballing his own pet. As her ice cloud does its work - likely giving the chain chomp a nasty case of brain freeze in the process - Madeleine herself rushes Swindle from around chompie's bulk to stay out of his cannons' sights for as long as possible. When she comes around the corner it's with a downward sweep of her spear, aimed to run through Swindle's leg or foot to pin him in place.
Combaticon	"I'll have you know I have the entire data packet from Mister Mudd on the care and feeding of tribbles!" Swindle indignantly objects, "They'll eat just about anything and are very robust-- the ideal pet!" He might have skipped over the part about reproduction. Then again, a robot might not have much reason to even look into such a thing. He shifts his stance, sparks spraying from his torn open chassis, "As for that little thing, a nice little present from the Nebulons-- I recommend a visit, it's quite easy on the optics!" Madeleine leaps for him again. This time, more ready but also exhausted, Swindle hauls himself back. It's not enough-- his right leg, extended with the momentum, gets speared directly through the calf plating, pierced, and pinned to the metal floor. His motion arrests immediately, tearing the plating and the machinery underneath. "Ow-- Primus, that's a nice one--" The Decepticon catches himself from falling over with his one free leg, forced to stand over the huntress, "It's been interesting! I never could break into animal trade. Organics always were a bit of a mystery when it came to that." Eyes closing, he raises his remaining arm in a shrug, "Tell you what. I'll ditch the whole shipment. Then it'll be nobody's problem!" The triangular gun barrel in his chest lights up on the inside. The initial blast is angled right at where Madeleine landed with her spear. Swiftly, Swindle leans back and twists at the waist, dragging the beam up across the floor and then along the wall in a trail of crimson sparks and seared metal. The reaction is immediate-- That was the outer doors of the hanger. Atmosphere starts venting violently, picking up loose tribbles and even dragging the unsecured Cybertronian storage containers across the deck. Up near the ceiling, Vortex magnetizes her feet to the surface and cuts off her rotors finally. "Have you fried a circuit or something?! That's fine for us but what about them?!" Swindle's remaining hand shoots up, all five fingers extended. Slowly he counts them down. Once he's made a fist, the hanger's emergency doors start gliding shut. By the time they've sealed and the atmosphere stabilizes, it becomes clear that not all of his illicit cargo has been successfully spaced. "Ahh, what a pity..." His shoulder slumps. After a moment, his hand lifts up to tap at his chin, his expression turning from morose to thoughtful, "Maybe I can still claim that much on cargo insurance..."
Bowser	"Think!" He taps his head, "Look at this stupid thing!" He waggles the glass case at Maddie, "Think about one of these stupid little things," he shakes the case a bit more with little care for the thing within. "If this was huge and it rolls over Princess Sundew's city, it would make her feel SO STUPID!" He shakes it again at Madeleine. The Chain Chomp is at the exact edge of the length of chain, bouncing in place, then lashing out at Madeleine, straining to snap at her again. It's hard to tell if this is out of anger or out of a playful nature. "I WANT IT. So I GET IT." Chompie suddenly starts whining and turns towards Bowser. A tear of anguish falls down out of her eye, struggling to bite into the sheet of ice. She starts bouncing out of the hangar, hopping out into the wild, then away into the building. The ice cloud spreads, freezing across the ceiling. Bowser takes one more stomping step towards Madeleine before there's a heavy CRACK. The rest of the ceiling drops in, driving the already weak Bowser to the ground.
Sarracenia	Sarra is just starting to gather up the tribbles she set down when...suddenly they are being blown out of an airlock! Sarra goes right along with them, frantically collecting tribbles for fear that they will not survive in space. Most things don't, you know! Once she has them, she pulls out an odd cap that seems to be made of metal and places it on her head over her crown. In a few moments she is a living metal statue being grated along the floor by the venting atmosphere. The five count passes, and she and the six tribbles are safe. "What was that?!" she demands of Swindle. "Fuzzy creatures do not usually survive in space, you know! And neither do most other 'organics'! I am not certain I even have a power-up that would let me deal with actual space! You would rather jettison your inventory than have it confiscated?!" Sarra huffs, then approaches Maddie with her collection of six tribbles. She does not look directly at Maddie, instead looking down slightly and off to the side. She does not try to hide her sad face, though. "I said I would give you the tribbles I had, so...well, here they are. You better make sure they are well care for and not just destroyed or something." She hesitates a moment. "...are you sure I cannot keep even one? Even if I put it in a box like those here and do not let it roam?"
Madeleine Cadrasteia	Madeleine is just starting to get smug about her apparent victory when Swindle cuts open the hangar doors. She watches in shock, holding onto her spear as tribbles are sucked out into the unforgiving vacuum of space. "I- I wasn't going to kill them!" she exclaims. "They just need to be studied before they can be approved for - ETHICAL - sale!" Visibly perturbed by the loss of small, fuzzy life, the huntress sighs in relief as the emergency doors seal. "I mean, if I had it my way you wouldn't be allowed to make just anything into a pet in the first place, but the policy is behind you once they're cleared as non-invasive. And if you can prove you're not mistreating them by like... shoving them en masse into storage containers." She huffs in annoyance. After the atmosphere has settled, she yanks her spear free from Swindle's foot, gives him a 'don't try anything funny' glare, and walks over to Sarracenia. She hesitates briefly before holding out her hands to receive the tribbles. "This has nothing to do with your Fixer rating," she says, "and everything to do with me doing my job. I promise this one wasn't personal." The princess's puffy eyes, the tear streaks on her face, must be eliciting some sympathy in the huntress. "...are you sure I cannot keep even one? Even if I put it in a box like those here and do not let it roam?" Madeleine hems and haws briefly. "I... once the paperwork clears I'll see if I can send one your way. And we wouldn't destroy them even if they are invasive - they'll either go back to their native habitat, or stay in an MCRD facility if this whole ordeal has messed up their socialization somehow. Which it probably has," she shoots Swindle another nasty glare.
Combaticon	"Hey, I was just trying to save you a headache," Swindle says with a shrug. There's a wince when Maddie pulls her weapon out of him and he just sort of collapses in place with a helpless laugh, "Mudd was going to space them too, thinking about it. And here I was trying to turn one organic's trash into another 'bot's payday." Vortex detaches from the ceiling, righting herself as she drops to land on her feet with a heavy metallic thud. Moving at a brisk walk, she approaches Madeleine and extends her hands out down and to either side, "You really trashed him, and for that you get plenty of points from me. Need a way to carry them?" Raising a hand, she jerks her thumb over her shoulder, "The boss' vehicle mode is a big truck and he has a flatbed trailer, I could ask him." "I am right here." Onslaught's manifestation causes Swindle and Vortex both to jump in place. He's just standing there, his arms folded behind his back, while the autoboots inspect the damage caused mostly by Bowser, Chompie, and Swindle. "That much is the least I could offer given the actions of this--" Without turning his head, his eyes swivel to indicate Swindle where he's collapsed, "--Walking malfunction." "I would object, but I'm missing enough pieces for that to be pretty accurate," Swindle flops onto his back in a leaking, sparking heap.
Sarracenia	'This has nothing to do with your Fixer rating...and everything to do with me doing my job. I promise this one wasn't personal.' Sarra mmphs softly. "Well, thank you for that." she says sincerely. "But, at this rate that rating will not last long, just as Mister Olivier said." 'I... once the paperwork clears I'll see if I can send one your way. And we wouldn't destroy them even if they are invasive...' "I see. That is good to hear, at least." Sarra says to that. The comment on their socialization confuses her. "...you think these things have a social structure?" She might be misinterpreting things a bit there. "I suppose they might. Being barely able to move but able to make sounds...it would make sense." Sarra also joins Maddie in giving Swindle a bit of a look. "Why was he going to space them?" she asks Swindle, then looks toward the ceiling rubble over Bowser. "...I am really considering just leaving him under there. That would be fine, right?" She makes no moves to unbury Bowser. He has plenty of minions for that.
Madeleine Cadrasteia	"You really trashed him, and for that you get plenty of points from me. Need a way to carry them?" "That much is the least I could offer given the actions of this-- walking malfunction." Maddie shoots Onslaught a thumbs-up. "Sure thing. And hey, uh, thanks for not interfering. I know this got a little messy but... could've been worse, eh?" A little smile. "But, at this rate that rating will not last long, just as Mister Olivier said." "That much," Madeleine says solemnly, "may be up to you." "...you think these things have a social structure?" Madeleine shrugs. "Who knows? But I meant, more like... being around people or out of their home environment for too long can mess up a creature's behavior. They try to adapt to the new situation and lose their old instincts. It's why you aren't supposed to feed bears at the park, it teaches them that humans are safe to be around - which isn't actually safe for the bears or the people." "...I am really considering just leaving him under there. That would be fine, right?" "Big fella can take care of himself. I've got some tribbles to move."