Holey Mess

Log Title: Holey Mess

Characters: Blitzkrieg, Huffer, Imager, and Sideswipe, with Starlock and Dust Devil on radio.

Location: Protihex

Date: January 11 2023

Summary: While delivering supplies, some Autobots get attacked by Blitzkrieg.

Protihex - Eastern Equatorial Cybertron

Protihex is one of Cybertron's many city-states and spans the Sector Six-Zero area. It neighbors Polyhex and Uraya, and is one of the city-states in the Tri-Torus Loop. Although not as well defended or populated as Iacon, it at least appears nominally controlled and guarded by the Autobots. Aside from the damage done by the occasional skirmish, Protihex has come through the war thus far relatively well. The city itself has weathered many an assault and the remnants of the burned out buildings stand testament to the ages old determination to survive. Here and there are pops of brilliant color where locals have graffiti'd their opinions across half standing walls. And near the center of the city itself lies a ragged lump of a tower, where the Autobots once held command. A ragged heap of a tower, two-thirds remaining behind, shelled exterior with holes like empty sockets casts a shadow down the roughly hewn streets. However, its location in Cybertron's southern hemisphere makes it a prime target for the Decepticons.

<<Autobot>> Starlock says, "Protihex?"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "yeah! never been?"

<<Autobot>> Starlock says, "i think a few times"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "its right dab on the border of Polyhex, just that tower anymore."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "and craters. It has a LOT of craters"

<<Autobot>> Starlock says, "Eesh"

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Uh.. There'sa bit more to it than there, but yeah, mostly craters."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Whelp, I am looking around, and...no I don't think there is."

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Want me to drive on down and I can show you where the best holes in the ground are? Gotta haul somethign dwon that way anyways."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "I prefer hole in the walls myself"

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Well, I can do something with you but it'll mean you gotta dig."

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "So if you wanna help me haul.."

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "Want some help hauling. Like I have anything better to do."

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Works for me. So come on Huffer, wanna get some junk in your tracks?"

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "So Imager, come on, let's get some afts degrading"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Oh uh...Huffer Sir. I was just lookin over these orders to figure out how to make this scrap heap, and I quote 'Nightbird proof'"

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "No matter how much you something-proof something, it always finds a way in."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "ain't that the truth"

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "Just do your best. And then we'll pick up the pieces after."

It's a convoy of things down to Protihex. Some engineers, some heavy equipment, and a surprising among of stuff for a place that's just a hole in the ground. And a lot of holes in the ground, actually. Sideswipe goes to transform, and then moves to gesture at the other two. "Ughh. . Where is it.."

In Protihex, most everything that's done is on the back side of the tower, where snipers from Polyhex can't ply their trade as easily. Imager's just standing there, looking up at that hardened, blasted tower, with her hands on her hips.

Picking up the rear, as a late addition to the convoy, is the humble (read: self-deprecating) orange semi with a flatbed strapped with sturdy materials. Upon reaching the location, the orange cab detaches and transforms into Huffer, who looks around at all the holes. "That's a whole lot of holes." He's said that every time he's come this way, but smiles to himself, expecting somehow a different response. That is laughter. And yet, deep down, he knows he'll get none. His face quickly sours as he surveys the work that needs to get done.

Sideswipe would grunt, "Yeah, all the artillery that's been landed over here over a few hundred thousand vorn makes for some real nice cover." Sideswipe goes to poke around, "Where is it.. Where is it.." Then he comes to come to a partially buried Autobot symbol. "Here we go." Then the symbol goes to flash up and glow, moving to take a scan of his Autobrand as a small lift goes to open up and out of it.

Imager looks off towards the new arrivals, and gives a two finger greeting mostly to Huffer. He IS her CO after all. She approaches the two, "You hear the news about here a few astroweeks ago?"

Placing his hands akimbo, Huffer looks at the disagreeable lump of a tower and shakes his head. He gives Imager a lazy half-wave of his hand when she greets him. "Which news was that?" He then quietly mutters, "...it's all bad news so I can't keep it straight." He steps back from his vantage point and walks back to where he left the flatbed to start unloading, now that Sideswipe has got the hidden entrance open.

Sideswipe would shrug, "Uh.. I know that Spitze brawled with Hun-Grrr a bit back. Something else?" He would inquire over as the hidden entrance would be shielded from view, and Sideswipe is going to pull some of the containers from the convoy over.

Imager shakes her head, "Nah, apparently Nightbird somehow got..." She gestures with her hands, "Inside the tower here and tried to jump Big Pink! Way I hear it, Elita put her through three floors, into stasis in one blow."

Sideswipe would wince, "That I'd heard. I didn't know what happened or that it was here." He would shake his head, "And lemmee guess.." HE would grumble over. "That glitch is far gone." HE would grumble.

<<Autobot>> Protihex Automated Security warns, "Warning: Decepticon presence detected."

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Scrag. Anyone about get behind cover and hunker."

Suddenly, an alert klaxon sounds indicating an unidentified contact is approaching at high speed. It's not long after Blitzkrieg comes screaming into the area from the direction of Polyhex. "So, you hafe decided to ignore the varninks. Perhaps you need a lesson in vhat happens vhen you trespass on ze borders of ze Reich." he says, angling down and sending a spray of laser fire around the area to announce his presence. "Leafe, or die, Autobot schweinhunds!"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Sideswipe!"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "why would you CALL that monstercon over TO US?"

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Polyhex."

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "Of course. This sort of thing always happens."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "yeah well, I'm sure he's going to definitely NOT come over here"

<<Autobot>> Starlock says, "...Oh thats gonna cause a problem"

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "All right, all right, I said the wrong thing."

After the alarm hits, Imager pulls her shield and starts look to the skies, because the attack always comes from above, "Cripes. Okay, its probably that Hunger guy again. Lets.." Then a burst of laser fire gets her attention, and she hustles sort of towards the commotion. She stares up to the flying jet. "Oy!" She's been listening to Encore too much, "Hey flyboy! Scram!"

<<Autobot>> Starlock says, "oh my god"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "SIDESWIPE, MUTE YOURSELF"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "you've doomed us all if you brought that thing here!"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "That's an emperor of destruction!"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "those titles ain't free"

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "My fault, I'll talk him down and get him a beer later."

<<Autobot>> Starlock says, "...Not gonna lie, I'd laughed Waaaay to hard if that had worked"

And then Sideswipe calls out, "So you fall from the air and crash? Let's see how well we can make you play Ramjet." HE would grin, then go to LEAP up and over into the air, moving to try and take a swing up and over with his fist in a quick jump attack over at the turboprop!

>> Sideswipe misses Blitzkrieg with Punch. <<

When the warning rings out, Huffer already had a bundle of metal girders many times his height in arm. Squinting up at the incoming Decepticon laying down warning fire, he frowns deeply, letting most of the beams fall to the ground with a large clank. However, he hefts one over his shoulder, standing his ground, shaking his free hand in a defiant fist. "Aaaahhhh.... clear out!" He looks at the jet, looks at the girder, looks at the jet again. Now in throwing range. Instead, he whips out a blaster and fires grievances at Blitzkrieg. Not that it will do any good.

>> Huffer strikes Blitzkrieg with Blaster <Low>. <<

Blitzkrieg turns out to be a bit more nimble than Sideswipe realizes, and with a quick side slip and barrel roll, avoids the red Autobot menace. As he's banking around, he gets hit by Huffer's blaster strike, but the shot just bounces off his armor. "A nice try, Autobot schweinhund, but not good enough. Here, try zis on for size..." he says, and a barrage of 30mm cannon shells come flying at Sideswipe...

>> Blitzkrieg misses Sideswipe with Mk 108 30 Mm Cannon <Medium>. <<

Imager just looks sour, "Are we really doing this again? Did you lose a bet? Are you trying to get promoted?" She tries to catch a bead on Blitzkrieg, but suddenly Sideswipe's up there. She curses something about stupid jetpacks, and flicks her shotgun down to single barrel firing. She squints and aims as he roars by, trying to lead her shot, as a pinpoint of plasma lances up into the sky. >> Imager misses Blitzkrieg with Pistol <Low>. <<

The quick shot goes past him from Blitzkrieg, even as Sideswipe dives out of the way to try and quickly boost himself to get another flip. Then he goes to try and yank up through the air, going to try and get one strut of the flier, then moving to try and hurl him towards the ground!

>> Sideswipe fails his generic combat roll against Blitzkrieg. <<

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Sideswipe. its a jet. You can't wrassle it."

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "Let him try. Failure is a good teacher."

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Hey, I can wrestle plenty of things!"

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "...Sometimes..."

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Hang on, did you guys bring any cabling? We could try to net him if we have micromesh"

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "Sure. And when he sees what we're up to he'll avoid THAT too." <<Autobot>> Imager says, "Hey, I'd be happy if he scrams!"

Well that didn't work. Huffer might be embarrassed if he didn't already deem it a pointless endeavour. Despite his boxy appearance, though, Huffer is not without his own athleticism. He backs up to give him space for a running start, then uses his girder to pole-vault onto a mound of materials. Steadying himself, he watches the jet flying in the air, blaster following the Decepticon's movements. He then pauses, looking at his Blaster. "Why do I even..." Grabbing the girder once more, Huffer lobs in the air, aiming at where Blitzkrieg seems to be headed - hopefully not hitting Sideswipe instead.

>> Huffer strikes Blitzkrieg with Roundhouse. <<

<<Autobot>> Dust Devil says, "At least I'm not the one causin the problems tonight"

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Whoa!"

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "So I'm NOT going to find a glitter bomb in my things tonight?"

Blitzkrieg once again manages to duck out of Sideswipe's way, but this puts him right in prime position to get a girder to the fuselage. With a loud CLANG, it bounces off, but leaves a neat 'I' dent in his side. "SCHEISSE!" he snarls, and banks around to take aim at the one that seems to be actually having luck hitting him. "You vere beneath my notice, but you now hafe my full attention." he says, and beams of purple energy sail from his wing cannons towards Huffer.

>> Blitzkrieg misses Huffer with Heavy Laser <Medium>. <<

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Huffer just launched a fricking ferrosteel girder and hit him with it!" <<Autobot>> Huffer says, "Not hard enough."

Purple energy scatters onto the ground towards Huffer, the minibot's definitely less likely to soak that sort of damage. Suddenly, Imager's shield is there as the big femme intercepts the fire, glancing it off of her shield. "Oh give it up!" As Blitzkrieg roars by, she looks over at the pile of girders and slams her foot on one, causing it to bounce up into her hand, "Lemme see if I can do me some of that!" The much larger femme hefts it in her hands....

>> Imager fails her generic combat roll against Blitzkrieg. <<

Imager launches it poorly, it clanks to the ground only a few yalms from her.

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "I know! I know, that was stupid!"

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "You're doing fine!"

Going to then move to land and pick up a rock, Sideswipe goes to move to try and hurl it through the air over at Blitzkrieg, "Hey! Womp Rat!" It goes to launch as Sideswipe calls out, "You got one of those real big long lines like Jazz has?"

>> Sideswipe misses Blitzkrieg with Kick. <<

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "Okay look, Lets not ALL just throw rocks at him okay? We have guns."

Optics bulge when the girder actually hits. Ahem. he meant to do that. Huffer straightens up, placing his hands heroically at his hips. But then the jet comes in hot, aiming at him. "Why me!?" Huffer jumps off the pile of materials, seeking cover. From the clearing smoke, his blocky silhouette pokes back up. There's plenty of things to throw at the Jet, but Huffer isn't going to push his luck. He gets out his blaster again, scowling at it. "Better than nothing."

Huffer mumbles quietly to Imager. "Thanks..."

<<If only we could get him down, I could give him a wollop!>> Huffer fires ineffectually at the jet from behind cover. >> Huffer misses Blitzkrieg with Blaster <High>. <<

Blitzkrieg this time manages to duck and weave and avoid both Autobots. "You test my patience, Autobots." he says with a snarl. "Perhaps ve shall turn up ze heat?" Banking around, he makes a steady level pass, and a series of bombs drop from his wings heading for the tower area. Upon exploding, napalm is sent flying everywhere...

>> Blitzkrieg attacks Sideswipe, Imager, and Huffer with Incendiary Bomb, striking Huffer, and Imager. <<

Imager tried to showboat and it didn't lead to anything good. She's still standing next to Huffer when the carpetbombing begins. Fire explodes across the area, incidentally hitting the supply transport that was just hauled in. Fire blossoms from the entire trail, and despite her shield being raised, the fire washes over her. She steps back, reeling from the flames. "Primus damn it!" She turns around, fuming and still a bit on fire. "Somebody hit this guy!" She fires several shots into the air at Blitzkrieg's wake, trying to adjust her shots to catch up to him as he banks on by.

>> Imager strikes Blitzkrieg with Pistol <Medium>. <<

<<Autobot>> Imager says, "There go our supplies again"

The incendiary bomb goes off, and Sideswipe dives out of the way, "Huffer!" Moving to quickly tyr and leap up and over into the air to try and slam once more over into Blitzkrieg, "Hey, always thought you Cons were supposed to be brave. So you're such a scaredy-con, flying over and running away." He would taunt, going to try and simply land atop of Blitzkrieg if he could to try and pummel on top of the frame!

>> Sideswipe critically strikes Blitzkrieg with Kick! <<

<<Autobot>> Sideswipe says, "Hey, nothins' blowing up, they're gonna be fine"

<<Autobot>> Huffer says, "Don't speak too soon."

Flinching, Huffer braces as Imager tries to shield him. But it's not the direct blast that gets him, but some build up of hot air trapped among the supplies causes one of them to blow, spraying Huffer with hot debris at an unexpected angle. "Imager! Get what you can save underground! You can carry the most in one trip! We'll keep this Decepti-jerk occupied!" Huffer hops out from behind Imager with a tube that is still crackling with fire. He spins three times and then throws it like a javelin at Blitzkrieg!

>> Huffer critically strikes Blitzkrieg with Kick! <<

Blitzkrieg snarls as Sideswipe grabs hold and starts pounding on him, jinking and rolling to try to throw off the Autobot to no avail. "Hurenshon! You zink you hafe bested me, but let us see if you can handle ZIS, Autobot!" he shouts, and starts to do a series of very tight barrel rolls, unknowingly his course heading him towards the tower...

>> Blitzkrieg rams Sideswipe! <<

Imager raises her gun again, and hesitates. She looks down to Huffer, " B...I mean, I..." She shakes her head, "Alright, yeah, right, good call. I'll be right back!" She starts pitching burning items off of the convoy loader, then hefts the hitch up onto her shoulder, and starts to move it manually as Sideswipe and Huffer lay into the Con.

And Blitzkrieg goes along with Sideswipe, even as he goes to pull a Ramjet onto the ground! Sideswipe hits and splits, bouncing along hard and rolling along. "Hah! See, you can wrestle a jet to the ground!" Take THAT Huffer! Even as much of his torso is caved in, various bits are snapped off, and he's busted up. Then he goes to charge in over at Blitzwing, going to try and give him a two servoed piston smash to the.. Wing strut?

>> Sideswipe strikes Blitzkrieg with Bash. <<

Blitzkrieg smashes into the tower with a glancing blow, spiralling towards the ground as he struggles to recover. He's in pretty bad shape. Sideswipe's slamming his wing with pistons is pretty much the knockout blow, and he begins to painfully gain altitude. "You may zink you hafe von, but let us see how vell you build zat tower vithout supplies, Autobots! You hafe not seen zee last of me!" he snarls, as he heads back towards Polyhex.

>> Blitzkrieg retreats from the area, escaping all attackers. <<

With Blitzkrieg retreating, Imager going to try and salvage supplies, Sideswipe goes to take out his laser rifle, but is in no position to get a potshot off. "Wuss. Guess that menas we're going to have to kabonk him later." Lowering the blaster. "You okay, Huffer?"

Huffer winces just a little seeing the beating Sideswipe has taken. But they are all standing. Huffer looks around at the mess, shaking his head and tsking. "Tut. He'll probably return with back-up - undoing all our efforts here." Huffer crosses his arms, then winces, lifting an arm up in alarm, looking at a wound in his side. "Oh. Well. I guess I better get that taken care of before he does." Huffer looks back at the scattered supplies. "Well let's see if there's anything Imager missed that can be salvaged, and then we can go get yelled at by the medics."

Sideswipe would nod over at Huffer, "Eh, I'll be fine. I get banged up worse than this all the time with Sunny." Probably not the best comparison but still! "I'll help you get anything on down and then we can go in and see what we can work with. And eh, he's not gonna come back without someone kicking him in the tailpipe."

Huffer looks around again, and then a slow smile appears on his face. "We better clean up this HOLEY mess." Huffer honks out a laugh at his own joke as he goes to help with the clean up while he's there. Repairs can come after. The amusement doesn't last and soon Huffer is muttering a long string of complaints about the task before them.