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

[bigfuckinggun]

"And you believe I would have to have some use for you to want you repaired?" It's true. But, you know. Whatever. Megatron raises his eyebrows like it isn't. "Is that why the Autobots have neglected to properly see to your injuries?"

[deadpartners]

Arcee's optics contract and dilate, flashing angrily. She feels anger rise in her spark at the mention of Jetset, at the cruel tone of Starscream's voice. Even now, down on the ground at gunpoint, Arcee won't just let him talk like that.

"I'm not talking about the battlefield, Starscream, I'm talking about the cruelty. Since when was poisoning our entire planet a moral way to fight a war?" Arcee's gaze shifts to the barrels of his blasters for a moment, then back to his face, optics narrowing. "And don't you dare pretend that what you did to Jetset wasn't cruel. I've never enjoyed taking a life, Starscream, but you -- you toyed with her!"

[starscheme]

"Toyed with her?" Starscream snorts, raising an eyebrow. "Please, I did you a favor; I cut and ran and was kind enough to leave her alive enough for you to have a chance to save her. That isn't 'toying'. This, what I'm doing right now? This is toying." He grinds his heel down to illustrate the point. "See the difference?"

Alright, what he'd actually done was leave her alive to distract Arcee from pursuing him further, but he's working up to a point here: "Her demise is hardly my fault. Maybe if you'd been a little faster, gotten to her more quickly, her end might not have been quite so tragic."

[scribes]

Just what the hell had Signless done to piss off this guy so much? Certainly anyone would be angry about the way he was baiting them with the Forge but goodness this seemed extreme. Unless there was some Cybertronian code she wasn't understanding.

It didn't really matter. His attention was on her now which meant she needed to concentrate on keeping him distracted long enough without actually. Well. Dying. That would be preferable. At least this point in time. She had the advantage of maneuverability here in the city but he was still much bigger and stronger, one false move and she was done.

Di jumped for the roof when Starscream let out those energon blasts, decimating the fire escape, sending shrapnel everywhere. Ok. That was ok. She'd nearly just gotten fried but that was ok. She was alive and now knew this Cybertronian had reach. It was also fair to assume he be a good aim considering those were literally his arms he was shooting from, so keeping close was the best option.

Or at least better than being far where he could easily shoot at her at his leisure. Di dropped back down into the alley, once more making aid of the walls of the surrounding buildings for her descent, intending to dart between his legs.

[thanksoptimus]

Orion had been intending on trying to track these two down as soon as the combat started, but up till now he's been waylaid by Megatron. So when he manages to make it there, he's more than a little shocked to see how far it's gone, and to hear the things that Starscream is saying. He's gone into vehicle mode again so he could move faster, but now he returns to his base form in a roll of machinery, almost crumbling over his wounded knee in the process.

His optics are wide - he can't believe this.

"Stop this!" he shouts, pleading. "Please!"

[deadpartners]

Arcee hears Orion in her periphery, and so does Starscream -- he's momentarily distracted enough for Arcee to twist under him, shifting just enough to shove both of her feet into the backs of his legs and knock him off balance. She whirls to her feet, both blasters trained on Starscream.

"You left her to die!" Arcee's voice is edged with static, cracked with emotion she's been fighting to hold back. The cool, collected face of command she always wears into battle is lined with anger and frustration and hurt, made all the more raw by her last encounter with Starscream, with his taunting claims. It's been a long time since Jetset died, but it's as fresh in her memory banks as ever -- the echoing rush of Starscream's turbines as Jetset bled out the last of her energon on the battlefield, Arcee arriving moments too late to save her or stop him. Arcee advances on Starscream another step, knowing that Orion's begging them both to stop, but she can't let Starscream go. Not for Jetset, not for the Forge. "You played with her, Starscream. You didn't leave her there for me to save her -- you left her there to prove a point!"

[starscheme]

Starscream lets out an extremely pathetic sounding yelp, slowly stepping back from Arcee as she advances. His mind races; Orion showing up was certainly unexpected and it presents all kinds of problems, but perhaps he can still make this work in his favor.

He cycles away his blasters and holds his hands up defensively, wings tilting back as he tries to ham up the gigantic coward act as much as possible. His words rush out, eyes wide and pleading. "Now now, there's no need to do anything irrational-- This is all ancient history, but look back at things from my perspective, it's hardly as though she was defenseless or unarmed and I had my back against the wall against an enemy combatant-- what would you have done differently?"

[thanksoptimus]

Orion is being ignored, that much is clear, and given the intensity of the situation he's not sure he has any right not to be. This has transcended the mission at hand, that much is clear, but he can't stand to see one bot he knows kill another. He limps forward a few steps, imploring them to listen to him.

"I don't know what has happened between you, but the Forge - this conflict - is meaningless! There is no Prime to wield it...neither side will be threatened!"

He's dubious of Starscream's sudden turn here - he had seen him only a few moments before, arrogant and cruel. But he isn't going to make judgements without the full picture.

"Please."

[deadpartners]

"Your back against the wall?" Arcee snarls, starting to respond to Starscream's pathetic attempt at backpedaling -- but then Orion's voice rings out again and Arcee's head jerks to look in his direction, feeling her spark clench in her chest again, though her blasters remain trained on Starscream.

"Orion, we can't let the Decepticons have the Forge! Think about it -- do you really think Megatron would be throwing his all into this if he didn't have a plan to use it somehow? He has the Matrix -- if he gets his hands on the Forge, what do you think he's going to do to us? To this planet? We tried to offer a peaceful resolution, an alternative to fighting, but he forced our hand on purpose, Orion! If we stand aside and let them take the Forge, we might as well be handing over the war, too!"

[starscheme]

Arcee's leaving herself wide open for some good old fashioned claw shanking, but Starscream actually chooses to abstain in this case. He's committed to this lie now, to playing the victim here. It'll certainly make the Autobots look bad, and that alone makes the risk worth it.

Starscream laughs nervously, hands still held in front of him in a pathetic attempt at placating her. "Megatron does not have the matrix... the artifact was destroyed, he told me as much himself. What he does have is fears that you Autobots have successfully corrupted Orion back over to your side where he could potentially use it against us." He casts a pleading glance over at the bot in question.

[thanksoptimus]

Orion looks between them - he's conflicted, but at the moment he is mostly angry with Starscream's implications. Speaking as if he would be somehow "corrupted" as if he has no personal agency in the matter. Orion had feared that concept before, but now...it is no strange artifact guiding his choices, it is the words and actions of the bots around him.

"Then he is being foolish," Orion says, looking at Starscream. "I am no longer a Prime, and the only commands I will follow are my own."

[thanksoptimus]

"They have not asked a single thing of me," Orion replies, his voice tense. "And yet they would do all that they could to help. Perhaps I do believe that you would use me - with how prepared you are to write me off as an enemy if need be, your only satisfaction seems to lie in controlling my actions!"

Megatron continues to turn him away at ever corner, but now he comes to him and fusses over his injury as if it is any way his business. It pisses Orion right off - he has no right.

[pullingamiko]

"Really? Why'd they need to leave? I mean, they're giant robots, if they wanna punch each other out in public, who's gonna stop them?"

She pauses. "Well I mean, superheroes maybe. They might be able to do that, maybe." Miko still isn't entirely sure on that, though. Though finding out would be pretty cool.

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron snarls in frustration – mostly at the fact that Orion is right, but against all reason he feels offended by it, too.

"Write you off as an enemy?" he growls. "I must consider him an enemy who sides with my enemies, Orion!"

[deadpartners]

"That's right," Arcee says fiercely, her gaze shifting back to Starscream. "If the Matrix really has been destroyed, then there's no one on this planet who could wield the Forge, and Megatron has nothing to fear from us. So either he's got some kind of other plan for the Forge in the works...or your boss hasn't been telling you everything."

Re: open

[goldpaw]

[She's fortunate enough to be presented with an easy opportunity, in the form of a struggling celebrity – one of the rampaging robots stepped on the hood of her car, and in her attempt to extricate herself and get to safety Vanessa has been injured by shrapnel. Frustrated and for once rather frightened, without any means to summon assistance, she's limping along the sidewalk, trying to stay out of the way of the fighting.]

[definitely a convenient chance for someone invested in maintaining a certain reputation – helping her out of the battle zone should be low-risk, and indeed, Vanessa Goldpaw is enough a well-known figure that the fact that Irene did help anyone at all would definitely get around...]

[thanksoptimus]

"I have sided with the pursuit of peace instead of slaughter, and the Autobots were the only ones willing to even hear me. But if you really valued me as a friend or an individual, you might consider my attitude towards your behaviour as a reminder - a reminder of what we used to fight for. For someone who once spoke for freedom, your only desires seem to be to overpower and control others!"

He steps forward this time, further into Megatron's space, as a pointed display - he's not afraid of you.

"Were the Autobots to surrender, it seems disturbingly likely that you would only take the opportunity to line them up and terminate them like high-castes did in the scrap yards of Kaon!"

[starscheme]

Starscream splutters unhappily, looking highly offended. "Well we don't know how this whole prime exclusive function actually works, for all we know Orion might still be able to wield it! It's a dangerous chance to take, I'd say!"

Like seriously, that's the only explanation, how dare you suggest that Megatron doesn't tell him everything even though he damn well knows that's true already. Why the hell didn't he notice that didn't add up sooner?

[thanksoptimus]

Could he?

Orion had considered it, certainly, but had been quick to write it off. He didn't have the power of the Primes and certainly not the wisdom. To think of him being capable of wielding a weapon of Solus...

But what if he could?

The uncertainty shows on his face, but it is quick to be replaced with determination.

"Were I able to use the Forge I would not wield it against you. Either of you. That is my promise."

[worstprime]

You'd be hard-pressed to find a worse insult than Starscream saying he might've done the same in your shoes, and the comment makes Rodimus' spark burn. The energon charge in Rodimus' blaster is hot, and he can feel it sizzling against his internal circuitry, but he ignores it.

"I'm not interested in what you'd've done in my shoes, you slag-licking scum," he snarls, stepping closer to Starscream, right up in his hypothetical grille [except not, because he's a jet HOHO], blaster still raised and ready. "The Decepticons were JUST as useless in Nyon as you are now."

He pauses, glancing past Starscream; he can't see any sign of the Alternian anymore, and that fact only makes him more angry. He grits his teeth and looks back up at Starscream. "So how about you get out of my way before I have to blast a hole through you."

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron's claws curl into fists, fangs bared. Orion's presence is a reminder, and it is not one that he likes in the leas. Freedom has indeed dropped a very long way down his list of priorities indeed – at least for anyone other than himself – but hearing Orion chastise him over it does nothing to make the idea of changing that in any way seem palatable. His has not been a wholly unselfconscious descent into tyranny, and he has spent a long time convincing himself it is justified. If anything can shake that it won't be getting scolded by someone he still considers naive.

It's what Orion says next that's the last straw, though, combined with the way he draws himself up, unafraid. He should be afraid. "How dare you?" With a roar of fury, Megatron seizes him by the windscreen and hauls him closer, with no regard for his injuries; "How dare you compare the necessities of war to what we endured under Cybertron's old rule?"

[thanksoptimus]

Orion lets our a yelp of pain as Megatron drags him closer, his knee jarring uncomfortable and his windshield creaking under the strain. It doesn't cow him for long, however, and soon he focuses's his gaze on Megatron's, his optics burning.

"What separates it? You are the one with the power now, and you have been for millenia. And this is what you choose to do with your freedom? Who do you fight for now? Or is it only yourself? The necessities of war do not include the slaughters of those at your mercy!"

[deadpartners]

Arcee gives Starscream a grim smile, her confidence bolstered. Orion might still be in more or less neutral ground, but he's taking a stand. That's what counts here.

"You heard Orion. Neither he nor the Autobots are any threat to you with the Forge. So what's it gonna be, Starscream?"

[starscheme]

He bristles, eyes narrowing. He doesn't quite drop the coward act like a sack of bricks (the transition is a bit more subtle than that), but he does undergo a noticeable change in demeanor. Man, he is sick as heck of getting into situations where he's forced to bargain over powerful artifacts with the enemy.

"Are you implying that you've given me some sort of new option here? Because allow me to clarify for you: Whether he 'promises' to use it or not changes nothing. You expect me to just nod and agree and let you take the damn thing, but you're wrong; I'm going after that forge, and you can either stand aside and let me finish my business with that troll, or continue to engage me in combat and put all of these poor humans at risk. That's the choice I'm giving you."

[thanksoptimus]

Could Megatron has a plan for the Forge? If Orion is the only one who can use it, it ceases to matter who actually picks it up. He's tempted to suggest that, all except the potential circumstance in which there is key information that he's missing.

Then mention of the troll suddenly catches his attention. Magdal's friend. It gives him pause.

"If the Forge is of use to no one, then we all have the options to simply leave. Do not play into the Empire's game, Commander Starscream. We all know that the Alternians are not doing this out of benevolance."