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

THE SHITTY JET HAS ARRIVED

[starscheme]

[OPENER Option A (Closed to Arcee and Signless]

Despite his misgivings and attempts to convince Megatron that they will need to handle the situation differently, Starscream arrives on the scene first, as instructed.

He hovers far above the provided coordinates, steeling himself for what will come next... There is absolutely zero room for fuck-ups here, but there isn't exactly a subtle way to handle the situation either. He's going to have to expose his true form, one way or another (it's not like his jet mode has arms to grab the damn hammer with).

The unfortunate downside to his otherwise superior air based alt mode is that it is going to look pretty damn out of place swooping down to street level, which means attention is already going to be drawn to him even before he transforms.

He knows there's really no helping that though, so without (much) more hesitation, he streaks down towards the earth and transforms, landing in front of the troll, bristling with anger and tone urgent.

"You just can't seem to get enough of getting your greasy little mitts all over our technology, can you? Hand it over before this gets messy."

[OPTION B, OPEN to anyone else]

UNSURPRISINGLY (literally, just as he predicted), all hell has broken loose and there's a full on space robot war breaking out over downtown LA.

While the others are preoccupied with the forge though, Starscream has a different quarry in mind. He is so fucking done with this troll getting up in his shit. It's time for some payback.

He's zipping all over the area in both jet and robot mode, seeking (heh) this troll out in a single-minded frenzy, which leaves him wide open for some plucky super heroes and vigilantes to try and take him on.

ORION | OPEN TO ANYBODY

[thanksoptimus]

Orion was already in the downtown area when this started happening, and now he's trying his damndest to scout out the situation without revealing himself. He's in his truck mode, at least - not that a semi truck pulling up to city hall doesn't stick out on its own.

More so, his leg still gives him a pretty bad limp. He doesn't know how much good he'll be physically, if it comes down to it. The idea of having to face any of the other robots in an actual battle is more than a little daunting, but he told Arcee he would help and he intends to.

He'll just have to wait and see if he can spot anything.

[scribes]

So much for robots in disguise. Di had always been worried about the Cybertronians being found out, of them forcing Legion's hand but she hadn't expected things to get so unwieldly so shortly after the Alpha member had warned the bots. Just what was going on that they were engaging in combat, not only near the city but inside it?

After helping clear up in the area of bystanders, Di is making her way back into the fray to try and figure out what is going on and make sure no one was left behind. That's when she spots Orion's alt mode and quickly makes her way towards him, dropping down from the buildings.

"Orion! What's going on?"

OPEN

[scribes]

[Things aren't looking to good here for anyone. Di can only imagine that things are going to be worse here once Legion arrives. Getting rid of giant robots without causing any more collateral damage isn't exactly going to be easy.

She takes a moment to crouch atop a tall building, surveying the city to try and scope anyone who might have fallen behind when all the civilians began running away. Weaponless as she was there wouldn't be much she could do, and at this point with the combat having begun she didn't think trying to be diplomatic would achieve much, especially considering she didn't even know the basic facts of the situation.

Di did the only thing she could do, got people to safety even if she had to haul them, blubbering over her shoulders.]

[thanksoptimus]

The moment Orion hears Magdal's, he's already starting to feel bad for having any part in this. What a disaster.

"Another Alternian has taken a Cybertronian artifact of critical importance, and has insisted to both the Autobots and Decepticons that it will be given to the first bot that retrieves it. Things have...swiftly escalated."

[scribes]

A troll? What the hell would a troll gain from doing this? Causing chaos and hurting others was hardly something unusual for Alternians, but considering they weren't on their home where they had the liberty to do as much it was hard to see it. Why put themselves at risk? Unless they were either very powerful, and had powerful allies to return to it didn't seem to make much sense.

Her brow furrowed and there was a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"Do you know the Alternian? What was this artifact?" She looked around to make sure the coast was clear before closing the remaining distance between them.

B

[scribes]

Much like Starscream, Di has a single target in mind: Signless. Also similar to him, she is absolutely furious. Furious that he would pull a stunt like this to pit two factions against each other, and even more that he would so deliberately do it in a place that would get innocents hurt. On a more petty level, she was also so angry about his complete and utter absence the past week. He had said he would not return to her home, but she hadn't expected complete radio silence, leading her to panic and worry and fret and cry over the high possibility that he was dead again, considering what he was returning to.

Sleep had evaded her entirely these past days, and her appetite hadn't been much better but with the chaos around her and knowledge of what Signless had done she was more than energized. Di didn't know why exactly she was trying to find him in this chaos--what the hell would she do? Wring his neck? Yell at him? Hug him? Probably all three.

Di had his scent but her maneuverability was significantly less than his and so she was having difficulty trying to track him down. She was so intent on finding him that she wasn't paying as much attention to her surroundings as she probably should, so when she turned a corner she was shocked to find a very big, a very dangerous, and a very pissed off Cybertronian on her path.

[thanksoptimus]

"I did not recognize the Alternian, but the artifact was a device called the Forge of Solus Prime. Legend states that in the hand of a Prime it is capable of creating anything if used with raw materials."

And knowing who the only recent Prime was, everyone's eagerness makes him nervous.

LET'S GO MOTHERFUCKER

[deadpartners]

Arcee's made an attempt at being discreet on this planet, but with all this -- with the Alternian and the Forge and the Decepticons -- there's very little room for discretion left. Whatever she'd said to Legion, whatever she'd promised about keeping the local population out of the conflict -- this is getting bigger than that now. She didn't drag a priceless, unimaginably important artifact into the open for a feeding frenzy, and she knows the Decepticons aren't going to play nice. She wants to avoid a fight, but let's be real, she doesn't have high hopes for that at this point.

The squeal of tires cuts through the air as Arcee screeches to a halt at city hall, rapidly transforming before she's even stopped all the way. Her feet hit the ground running, optics blazing as they settle on the Forge, on Starscream -- on the Alternian. That's a face she's going to remember. But for now, she has way more pressing concerns.

"Not so fast, Starscream."

[pullingamiko]

This is not a good idea. To me more accurate, it's a horrible idea, but the moment Miko heard that there were giant robots fighting in front of city hall, well. Of course she headed over there right away.

So here she is now, with her phone in her hand and a mini notebook and pencil in her pocket, and there are definitely a bunch of giant robots fighting. She mostly stays to the edges of the area, taking pictures whenever possible, trying not to actually get into the middle of the fray because she really would rather not get stepped on, but she is absolutely way too close anyway.

Noticing that there are some people who seem to be trying to remove civilians from the area, she makes an effort to stay out of their sight as much as she can (though that's not to say that she's always going to be successful in that regard). Getting away from giant robot showdowns is perfectly fine for some people, but no way is Miko missing this.

[scribes]

Well that would explain why the Cybertronians were fighting so hard for it. Di could feel a headache coming on and she rubbed her temples. If it could only be used by a Prime then it was pretty useless to any troll. How had they gotten ahold of it in the first place? It must be huge. They either had to have some sort of ship or psionics to be able to move it around.

Again she felt uneasy.

"Did the Alternian say why they are doing this?"

[thanksoptimus]

He would be frowning so hard if he wasn't a truck right now. His engine rumbles slightly with worry.

"They seemed to find the idea of us fighting over it...amusing. Ostensibly based on their contempt for the current state of our civilization."

[scribes]

It might not be him, but even if it wasn't Di felt like she ought to do something about this mysterious troll. Given the maneuverability the Cybertronians had they probably would have a bit of a difficult time getting to them, especially if they were a psionic.

"I'll try to help. See if maybe I can get to whoever this is," she sighed and gave shake of her head, "what more can you tell me about them?"

Re: LET'S GO MOTHERFUCKER

[sufferist]

Signless seems unmoved by Starscream's demand - the Forge is indeed with him, held tightly with his psionic coils. He just stares back at the bot impetuously, noticing the empathic signature of the very angry motorbike behind him. This is about the time that he takes his lead.

"You look like you're busy," he comments blankly, and takes that moment of distraction to basically sommersault away with the air of his glow red constructs. Letting them catch him so easily wouldn't do any good at all.

HAVE FUN.

[thanksoptimus]

Orion only saw a flash of the psionic before Starscream and Arcee had revealed themselves and given them the chance to give everyone the slip. The image was striking enough that at least one descriptor occurs to him.

"Their psionic markings were a distinct red light," he says, carefully. "They were moving quickly - they seem to be trying to hide from us."

Re: B

[starscheme]

Starscream's 60000% done with everything to do with today, but mostly he's done with this goddamn troll. As soon as Megatron had stepped in to take on the two wheeler he'd taken off in hot pursuit of the Alternian, completely determined to put an end to his obnoxious tricks once and for all.

He's proving hard to track down though. There are a lot of really excellent places for a tiny troll to hide from a giant robot in a city like this, and the difficulty of tracking him isn't exactly doing wonders for Starscream's mood.

So it's unsurprising that he's less than thrilled to run into yet another one of it's kind. The blasters are already out, but there's a whine as they warm up, ready to fire.

"Well well... what do we have here? An accomplice?"

[starscheme]

Arcee's arrival puts an unpleasant scowl on his face, rather than the insufferable smirk that he might otherwise reward her with if this weren't such a tense situation.

He locks eyes with her, fully prepared to mock her and inform her that she should get here sooner next time... And then the troll takes off without warning and he whips back around to watch him go, barking an exclamation of angry surprise.

"I really hate that guy," he mutters before turning back to Arcee, oblivious to the humans panicking below him. "I'd love to stay and chat, but I believe the decision that was reached prior to this little meetup is that this is a first come first serve deal." He crouches, preparing to transform: "So if you'll excuse me, I have a hammer to retrieve."

[deadpartners]

"You know I can't let you do that."

Arcee's optics are hard, set on Starscream, and she's never looked more determined. She doesn't want to break the tentative ceasefire, but part of her does want to fight Starscream. She's just waiting for him to give her an excuse.

"You've got one last chance to stand down and see if we can come to some kind of peaceful resolution here, Starscream. But if you try to take the Forge, I will stop you. You can count on that."

[worstprime]

Rodimus shows up fashionably late to a scene that is nothing short of chaotic. He skids to a halt in his alt mode, dismayed by the sight. He'd thought he'd gotten here fairly fast but already things are looking messy. There are people everywhere. There's no way they're going to be able to handle this discreetly. Confirming this, he can see Arcee in the distance, decidedly NOT In alt-mode, and...Starscream? Every Cybertronian who 'd been in the war for more than a meta-cycle would recognise those legs.
Scrap, even the 'cons had gotten here first.

Rodimus transforms into robot mode, all flimsy-pretext-of-caution to the wind. It'll be easier to avoid humans this way anyhow.

Despite all the goings ons Rodimus still finds a moment, as he makes way toward the action, to smugly think to himself about the irony of Arcee being first to break cover on Earth.

[starscheme]

Starscream can't help but laugh at that.

"A peaceful solution?" he tilts his head slightly, optics glittering with amusement.

"Pray tell, how do you plan to achieve that? Excluding any solution that involves letting that troll get away with the forge, or letting you Autobots just have it, of course, because I'm not about to consent to either of those things. You had best speak quickly: I am not going to give him much more of a head start." He flexes his talons expectantly.

[deadpartners]

Arcee knows this is a waste of time, she knows Starscream isn't interested in a negotiation, and she's itching to fight him, too. But she has to try. It's what Optimus would have done.

"And likewise, I can't just let you have it, either. But maybe we can work out a trade of some kind. We keep the Forge, and you get something else -- or you give us something."

[starscheme]

Starscream rolls his eyes, clearly un-amused. "A rather uninspired attempt, Autobot. I don't think Optimus would be very impressed... Just as I doubt Lord Megatron would be very impressed with me if I were to use his prize as a bargaining chip without his permission."

Deflecting blame for his own actions to Megatron never ceased to be useful.

"And with that, your time is now up. I think we're done here. If I were you, I'd just give up now; there's no way that you can beat me on wheel through a crowded location like this."

He springs into the air, preparing for lift off.

[scribes]

So they were a psionic as she had suspected. It made sense. Given the circumstances it was the only way a troll might have lugged a doubtlessly large artifact around while drawing the least attention possible.

That they were red only increased the chances it was Signless, not solidified it. Given that Orion could not recognize the gender it was unlikely that he would be able to answer the following, but she asked anyway: "Did you happen to see if they wore a sign? Or what their horns looked like?"

[thanksoptimus]

I was more accurate to say that Orion didn't spend much time thinking about gender, and so without clear marks of social presentation as one in particular, he finds himself wary of making assumptions. It was true, though - from this distance it would be hard even if there was a clear answer.

"I did not see a sign, though their clothes were accented with red as well." He knows that she said trolls tended to wear the same colors as their blood. In terms of horns, it was most accurate to say that he hadn't seen much at all. "Compact - perhaps not unlike yours."

[scribes]

There was a rather long pause before Di finally managed an "I see."

They wore red, they bore no sign, were psionic, and they had small horns similar to her own. Alone these might not have meant much individually, especially here on Earth, but altogether it seemed she had her answer.

On one hand she was so relieved that he was alive that she could almost cry, on the other hand it seemed that her belief he was making progress was wrong.

"I need to find him, Orion. Will you alright?"