ROCK'EM SOCK'EM ROBOTS [BIG OPEN FIGHT LOG]

[sufferist]

Who: Signless, Robots, and YOU
Where: City Hall, and all over downtown LA.
When: April 14th
What: Signless bates the Cybetronians into having a big fight in downtown LA while attempting to get a valuable artifact. Earth civilians and superheroes are SUPER WELCOME to notice the fuss and try to stop the fighting/safe people from collateral damage.
Warnings: SUDDENLY ROBOT ULTRAVIOLENCE

Signless leaves himself, and the hammer, visible at first. He wants them to see him, to know that the battle is imminent - and with any luck, a conflict will start. He'll do his best to disappear and keep them hunting for him as as long as possible after he's initially been spotted. Maximum collateral damage is his goal.

It also helps that he's an empath. He'll be taking whatever opportunities he can to agitate people's emotions, whether it be anger, panic, or fear, in the attempt to make ever more chaos.

This is a party style log, meaning you can make you own threads and scenarios. Signless will be around with the hammer. LET'S MAKE THIS AS BIG OF A CLUSTERFUCK AS POSSIBLE, GUYS.

Comments

[pullingamiko]

Miko shrugs, lifting her phone to take another couple of pictures. "I guess that's what you get with robot fights, huh."

She turns back to Sollux. "So, do they not know you're here or what?" Either he's got permission from giant robots to hang around during their big fight thing, or he's sneaking into the danger zone behind the giant robots' backs. Either way, this just makes him that much cooler.

[starscheme]

"If that's meant to be some kind of jab, it's not a very good one. And I take that to mean that you are together then. Which means we are now officially done talking," he ends with a snarl. He gets right down to it and fires off two energon blasts in her direction, one directly at her and one towards the fire escape that she's perched on.

[starscheme]

Starscream whirls around to face Rodimus before he even starts to speak, picking up on the sound of shifting metal that comes along with transformation. This is incredibly inconvenient: he has no interest in a fight either, since right now, his primary concern is hunting down that troll.

That's not to say that he isn't willing to give a cocky little autobot a few scratches for their trouble, though.

Blasters cycle out, and he fixes Rodimus with a vicious sneer. Primus, does he hate being called Screamer... it makes his damn circuits sizzle. Already this guy is going up on his shit list. He searches his memory banks, trying to identify the interloper (there were way too many Autobots to keep track of, which was another good reason to cull a good chunk of them out of the population if you asked him). Ah, now he remembers...

"I'm afraid you have me at something a disadvantage. It's Hot Rod, isn't it...?" he says coolly, completely disregarding Rodimus's attempt at a witty one liner. "From Nyon? Amazing that you're still alive, I would have thought you would have gone the way of your city by now."

[starscheme]

Starscream goes flying into the nearest building with a squawk, shattering glass and crumbling the stone wall there on impact. It takes a few seconds for him to get back up, shaking his head and reversing what little bit of the transformation process he'd managed to get through. He rubs at his chin to find he's leaking a bit of energon from down there. His eyes narrow dangerously, recalling Megatron's instructions. That counted as striking first, right?

Game on, then. If Arcee was the only autobot on the scene so far, the forge could wait.

He springs back to his feet and fires off several shots in her direction, aiming straight to kill.

[positiveenergy]

So she was a journalist? Ok, at least the pictures made sense. Still…no matter the reason, it would be dangerous for her to hang around so close to the fighting. Most Cybertronians had to be more than half her size. He doubts the Decepticons would take time to go after any humans right now…but if one got in their way? Well. That would be that.

Except if she’d seen even a fraction of the fighting, she must know the risks. And first impression of this girl said she wasn’t the type who would leave. No matter what Drift said to her. He finds himself grinning – the wound forgotten for a brief moment.

“Really? You’ve taken pictures of giant robots fighting before?”

[pullingamiko]

"Well I mean- not exactly." "Not exactly" here means no, not at all. "But I kinda make it a point to get up close when there's shit going down like this. And I have met a couple of you guys before!"

[worstprime]

Rodimus bristles at the mention of his home city. It takes a lot of willpower to not let loose the energon blast charged in the chamber right into that smug face.

"It's Rodimus," he spits back, all pretext of his own cockiness gone. "Of Nyon. And I'll not hear another word about my city from you, Decepticon."

Nyon definitely wasn't Rodimus' only, sore spot, but it was definitely the last one he expected to hear about from...well, anyone, frankly. It was enough of a sore spot that he was seriously reconsidering his no-fighting-the-cons clause for today...at this point his injury from the last fight was the only thing staying his shot. But only just.

[deadpartners]

Even as much as Arcee's been waiting to fight Starscream, her spark clenches knowing that she's just been the one to break the non-aggression agreement they'd made with Legion -- it's even worse knowing that this is exactly what Megatron wanted. But she's not about to let him have everything he wants -- she'll get the Forge back, and then she'll deal with Legion. And it'll only be a matter of time before the other Autobots show up -- all she has to do is delay Starscream and keep him from engaging the locals. She can do that. She'll have to try.

Arcee hits the ground running, her heavy footsteps kicking up gravel as she skirts away from Starscream's fire. She puts the thought of Legion and the agreement out of her mind; instead, she remembers her last encounter with Starscream, focuses on the reawakened fury over Jetset's death. Her optics harden, narrow, and she dodges another shot as she cuts in close, too close for blaster fire -- close enough to ram her knee into his midsection.

[starscheme]

There's the cracking of glass as the spike on Arcee's knee connects with his stomach, and Starscream is thrown and staggers back a few steps, ex-venting in pain. He recovers quickly though, using his superior height to his advantage to lash out with a vicious backhand, taking advantage of the moment she's off balance to lunge and latch on to her face face with one hand. The other hand flexes, claws at the ready.

[bigfuckinggun]

It's not too long after Starscream arrives and clashes with Arcee that Megatron shows up. He needed to sort out a few things before heading straight for the scene, and he's frustrated to find, on his arrival, that the situation does not seem to be panning out the way he had hoped. Starscream is busy tangling with Arcee, and Megatron can't tell where the hell the Alternian's got to. It's while he's trying to scan for him that Megatron spots someone else between the human structures – someone he definitely didn't expect to find here.

His optics narrow. (I am allowed to say that even though he's in vehicle mode because the top of his head pokes out of the top; awful.) For a moment he just hovers there. Then he descends, transforming as he lands directly in front of his target.

"Orion Pax," he says. "I had not expected the Autobots would force you to fight for them. Clearly I gave them too much credit."

[thanksoptimus]

Oh wow, no. Orion backs the fuck up in his truck mode, his tires screeching gently with his surprise. He doesn't know whether he should be frightened or not.

"I am not fighting anyone," he says, his voice tight and also a little angry. He hasn't forgotten about the last time they spoke.

[nitrodamus]

He glances at the pictures she's taking. He knows the bots probably won't appreciate that, but at the same time, if they are going to throw down like this stealing on camera isn't going to change anything.

"They know I here," he says. "I'm looking if they need to get gone."

[deadpartners]

"Argh -- "

One hand flies to Starscream's arm, Arcee's much smaller hand trying to take hold of his wrist -- but she knows she can't overpower him, not like that -- she cycles her other hand into her blaster, firing on Starscream. She's shooting blind, but at this rage, he'd be hard to miss, and she needs him off her. She's got a whole world of pain to visit on him for Jetset.

[bigfuckinggun]

"No?" Megatron leans down a little, ignoring the yells of alarmed passersby. "Then what is your purpose here? What use could Arcee possibly have for you?"

He has not forgotten the last time they spoke, either. He had felt, after Orion's avatar had fled, leaking, briefly guilty, of all things – he had failed to achieve what he had wanted out of the conversation, and he knew that it was his fault. He had, of course, turned it around in short order so that he blamed Orion for driving the conversation to conflict, and he is still angry about it now.

[thanksoptimus]

When Megatron leans towards him, Orion impulsively unfolds into his base mode - it doesn't seem like this can be made much worse, and leaving himself in vehicle mode is a disadvantage. He straightens up against the other bot, though he is moving backwards and away.

"That is none of your concern," he says, though he doesn't actually know the true answer. He doesn't see himself of being much good for anything, here.

[starscheme]

Starscream yelps; most of the shots go right up in front of his face, and though they miss, the noise and the proximity startles him. One of the shots, however, catches him right in the shoulder for the arm that he's about to try and gore her with, and that in combination with his panicked state leads him to react by winding up and flinging her as hard as he can at the ground a few feet away. He sends a missile chasing after her, just for good measure, expression contorted in a vicious snarl.

[deadpartners]

Arcee manages to transform so that she hits the ground tires first, but the missile blows out one of her tires before she can get far and she spins out, hurriedly transforming back with a snarl of frustration. She manages to stagger to her feet after a few paces, whirling around to aim her blaster back at the Decepticon.

"Starscream!"

She takes off at a dead run for him, weaving and firing off energon blasts, her optics flashing. "The Decepticons have done enough damage -- I'm not about to roll over and let you have the Forge, too!"

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron straightens up with a satisfied glint to his optics as Orion transforms – a glint that turns steely as he notices Orion is limping.

"You are wounded," he observes, with an almost angry disdain that isn't really specifically directed at Orion himself. "Do the Autobots have no medic?"

[thanksoptimus]

Orion flinches slightly as Megatron notices his limp... He doesn't want to be seen as vulnerable here, and he also doesn't want to give away Autobot information.

"We are all short on resources here," he says uncomfortably. This is the first time he's transformed in a while, and the pain in his knee is sharp.

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron narrows his optics. "Indeed. However... were you to return to the Conquest, it would be a simple matter for Knock Out to repair you." He takes a step towards him. "Surely the option is worth considering. We certainly would not impede your departure, after the fact. After all, it is clear you are of no use to our enemies as a combatant."

[thanksoptimus]

Orion wishes that he could trust him about that, but he can't. After everything Arcee has said...

"Every individual has their uses," he says. "I am just uncertain what yours is for me."

[starscheme]

He sidesteps several of her shots, grunting with exertion and lunging to meet her straight on. He lashes out again, sending her flying and knocking her flat before marching over and pinning her with one foot. He looms over her, growling and training both blasters straight on her.

"Damage? You say that as if your own forces have had no hand in any of this war whatsoever, but you forget that it takes two parties to do battle. You autobots are so obnoxiously righteous, taking the moral high ground and looking down on everyone else like you can never do any wrong. And when you do get your hands dirty you claim it's all in the name of justice as if the Decepticons have never acted for the same reasons. It's despicable."

[deadpartners]

Arcee stares back up at Starscream, optics cold and blazing. "You think I don't know the Autobots haven't had to get their hands dirty? You think I don't understand war, Starscream? The difference between the Autobots and the Decepticons is that the Autobots still fight for liberty -- that our leader still believes in the sanctity of life -- whereas yours -- well, all Megatron cares about these days is power. You can try all you like to bring us down to your level, Starscream, but the truth is that if Optimus Prime were willing to throw away half as many lives as Megatron is just to win, he'd have ended the war a long, long time ago. But unlike your precious leader, Optimus never lost sight of what he was fighting for in the first place."

[starscheme]

Starscream rolls his eyes, groaning dramatically. "Oh spare me your little morality lecture. If thousands of Decepticons choose to sacrifice their own lives to the cause that's hardly any decision of ours; that's just dedication, and their right, as your precious leader would be so eager to point out. So what lives could you be talking about, hmm?" He leans down prods her in the optic with one blaster. "Autobot lives? Are you going to try and tell me that it's immoral to take down an enemy on the battlefield? Or are you going to finally be honest with yourself and admit that you're just taking the death of your partner a bit more personally than you'd like, as if I gave any more of a scrap about snuffing her spark out than any of the others that I've taken."

[starscheme]

"Rodimus...?" He doesn't look particularly impressed by Rodimus's bravado or his fancy new name; in fact if anything he looks sort of amused that he'd apparently landed upon a sore spot. "Now now, I didn't mean to criticize your actions... I might have done the same, in your position." He might have taken that further, if it weren't for the fact that he didn't want to risk getting distracted with scrapping this punk.

"But I digress. I suggest you turn around and go back to wherever it is you came from; I'm in no mood to be entertaining imbeciles." He gestures back down the road with one gun, for emphasis.