[Original RPG] Shadow War: How Much Is Enough? (Tygun Span)

[Warcry]

Long haul transport duty didn't provide much in the way of excitement, but the pay was good. That suited Roadhammer just fine; he had never been much for excitement. He just wanted a safe gig that would keep him supplied with energon, and dragging rebuilding supplies from Iacon out into the smaller Autobot cities did just that.

The company could be better, though...

Autobot Security had been fairly adamant that the convoy wasn't going to cross the Tygun Span unprotected, what with it being a vast, unoccupied wasteland and their cargo being highly valuable and highly dangerous military equipment. The half-dozen ISS officers escorting them weren't the problem, though. The problem was the other transport driver.

"I hope we get some sort of action along the way," Jackknife said, as if on cue. "This run has been boring as the Pit so far."

"You said that ten minutes ago," Roadhammer reminded him. "And you'd better pray we don't get any action, considering what's inside that trailer of yours. If we do, we'll be running for cover while the soldiers do all the fighting."

"Killjoy."

Roadhammer considered replying, but decided it was better to just let the conversation die. He drove on for a while, eventually passing a sign that said:

NOW ENTERING THE TYGUN SPAN
PRAETORUS WHARF: 97 HIC
NOVA CRONUM: 132 HIC

(OOC: They're all ready for a Mafia hijacking, methinks. )

[Reflector]

Runaround had been straining his engine the entire trip for the cross-planet journey, but it was the mission rather than fatigue that caused him to let up. He wanted badly to shut off his headlights and just ram one of the transports before they knew he was there, but he knew he needed to assess the situation first. He cruised a half-mile behind the convoy, taking in the numbers and struggling to restrain his malicious intents.

[Heinrad]

Quickshot roared along, keeping up with Runaround but hanging back a little.

Holdup, not being built for speed, was doing his best to keep up with the group.

[Mechafox]

Doubledealer sat in vehicle mode a short distance from the route, checkiing his warhead systems. His instructions had been quite clear.
Keep the cargo intact, everything else can be destroyed

Krok had some reservations at attacking autobots, but they'd been quashed given how much money the mercenary had been offered. Skar was shadowing the convoy, feeding back coordinates, his aim needed to be precise.

Lying next to him, and dwarfing him a little, Bruticus looked carefully throught the sights of his blaster. When Doubledealer heard they'd be working together, he was mildly surprised, he'd never expected to see the combiner after he'd capturde the group for Bugbite, even more so by the fact that they didn't hold a grudge.

But most surprising of all was they had remained combined, never breaking back down into five combaticons.

Still, it was not the time to ask, he was an ally for the moment. Maintaining silence, they waited for the convoy.

[Warcry]

"Who's that?"

Jackknife's voice distracted Roadhammer from his sightseeing. Not that there was much to see; ruins all looked pretty much the same.

"Who's who?"

"There's someone behind us. He roared up, slowed down and he's following us."

"Probably because we're taking up the whole blazing road." Roadhammer jerked his nose toward the left, closing up the convoy's formation a bit. "Stop being so paranoid."
___________________________

Turnpike and Pinstripe waited along the road a dozen hic away, waiting for the Autobot convoy to arrive.

[Reflector]

With Roadhammer making way for him, Runaround saw his opportunity set. His engine wailed to get him past the convoy, just far enough that he'd have a few moments' advantage. Not thinking of his safety, Runaround transformed in the middle of the highway, skidding to a stop and waving pleadingly back at Roadhammer and Jacknife. He'd try the subtle approach, but his shoulder cannons were charging in case he needed them.

Behind the convoy, Boomstick sat immobile in gun mode atop Quickshot's roof.

"Get ready to move in," he muttered when he saw Runaround's move through his scope. "Soon as you see one of 'em swerve."

[optimusskids]

Tygun Span Airspace

Loop flew over high overhead laden with his cargo, mimicking the movments and flightplan of a commercial cargo flight as his sensors scanned the wasteland for the target.


"hehehehehe looks like we got ourselves the begining of a party." He chortled.

[Mechafox]

Skar relayed the scene below to Doubledealer, who calmly analyzed the situation before talking to Bruticus.

'Looks like another group is after the cargo. If things get too bad the cargo might be at risk.'

'We cannot risk the cargo,' Bruticus nodded, looking through his sights at the situation. It did not look well. The one infront was charging his cannons even as he waited for the convoy.

'Reccomendation: I'll launch an EM warhead and provide cover, while you grab the cargo. The warhead will scramble their circuits for several minutes,' Both members knew Bruticus was strong enough to lift the targetted crate.

'Very well,' Burticus began to inch forward. Doubledealer recalled Skar to a safe distance while his internal systems reconfigured the warhead. Finally Doublerdealer programmed the dead man switch, any shot to the warhead would set it off. His launch gantry raised the missile and fired. It shot straight up and would briefly enter orbit before coming down again.

Doubledealer slowly began to drive forward, careful to avoid being seen with the missle.

'Time to impact, 5 minutes.'

[Warcry]

Roadhammer slammed on his brakes, skidded and came to a stop a few feet away from Runaround. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Jackknife, for his part, swerved around the unfamiliar Transformer and kept going. The ISS security escort broke up, three of them following him and the other three transforming to robot mode and moving toward the stranger.

Squad Leader Clampdown strode forward with a challenging expression on his face and waved away Roadhammer's question. "Never mind that! Who are you and what the Pit are you doing out here?"

Behind him, Stockade and Checkpoint stood immovably, the former openly brandishing his photon rifle while the latter glanced around for any other security breaches. It didn't take him long to find it.

"Shuttle!" he bellowed, pointing up at Loop's vehicle moving high overhead.

(OOC: For the sake of having a visual reference point, all six of the security team members are redecos of G1 Red Alert in different police department colour schemes. Roadhammer is a redeco of Laser Rod Prime's cab, and Jackknife is a redeco of Clench, both coloured in white and black. Just so you know who you're shooting at. )

[Reflector]

Boomstick grumbled from Quickshot's roof as his scope revealed only one truck had stopped.

"Blow past that guy, catch up with the other one."

Ahead, Runaround looked between Roadhammer and the security team with pleading optics. He was a respectable actor, although his enthusiasm often got the best of him. He struggled to stay in character.

"Listen," he added some rasp to his voice. "The Sprion bridge is out! Finally collapsed after all these orns. I'm a local, saw yous guys drivin' by, an' I didn't wanna see anybody go into the gorge. You gotta tell your buddy to stop!"

[optimusskids]

Loop banked away from the road and headed towards Sprion Gorge which was out of sight of both forces.

"Ok gang the plan is simple Frag and Kludge , I'm going to drop you off at the Spiron Bridge, I want you to blow the span and then take up Ambush positions. Gnarl i'm going to drop you off behind them and act cargo with a tarp over me. That way they're boxed in. Those Autobots don't look to have much off road capacity between them."

Loop settled on the ground and dropped off his two gang mates before flying off with Gnarl to take up there position behind the convoy.

~*~

Kludge looked at the battered span. "So where do we start ?"

Frag eyed the cables

"give it a hard stare Klu and it'll probably collapse."

Kludge cast his expert eye over the bridge.

"Quints sure didn't waste any credits on high way maintenance."

Frag nodded

"I 'd say a couple of small cutting charges on the main support cables and then a sharp nudge with our Dozer blades and it's bye bye bridge."


~*~

Loop flew in a loop away from the road and rejoined it behind the convoy.

[Mechafox]

Doubledealer's sensors pinged.

'There's a jet coming up to the convoy from behind,' he radioed Bruticus, who lay a distance in front of him.

'I see it,' he calmly responded, 'it could intercept the missile before it gets within range.'

'If it starts to rise, shoot it, there's only 2 minutes before impact, they'll be able to see and here it any moment.'

'If any of them raises their optics, i'll place a shot right though them.' Both of them knew that even Bruticus' incredible sniping skills couldn't garruntee a lethal shot at this distance, but he was still gonna come pretty close at least.

Doubledealer drove up to a small projection, and with Krok transformed into robot mode. His CPU linked with with Skar, who was still flying near to the transformers on the road. Though not as effective as Bruticus, the closer view would drastcially improve his aim, even if he had to move closer.

[Heinrad]

Quickshot's engine screamed as he roared forward, zomming past the stopped truck, catching up to and passing the second, slamming on the brakes and slewing around, a small modified F1 racer facing down the lumbering, approaching rig.

Holdup, sensing that if he doesn't catch up he'll miss all the fun, strains to catch up, approaching the stopped truck at full speed.

[Warcry]

(OOC @ Mechafox: Doubledealer's partner is Knok. Krok is an Actionmaster. )


"What? Really?" Roadhammer had absolutely no reason to doubt Runaround's words, and he accepted them at face value...until Quickshot blasted past him like a mech gone mad. He'd seen this scene played out too many times to fall for it. "Ah, Pit! Hijackers!"

For his part, Clampdown was springing into action almost before the speedy mobster had passed him. He swung the butt of his rifle in an uppercut at Runaround's jaw, trying to drop the smaller Transformer with as little fuss as possible.

Stockade growled as Holdup rumbled past with all the subtle grace of a freight train, flipped down his rocket launcher and fired at the thug's back.

Checkpoint caught sight of the missile that Doubledealer had launched. Assuming it was part of the plan they were already trying to foil, he quickly spun and fired his shoulder rocket in the direction of the still-distant projectile.

"I kinda got that, yeah," Jackknife shot back at Roadhammer, up the road a ways. He saw Quickshot spin into his lane but made absolutely no attempt to stop, slow down or generally do anything that would keep him from driving over the gangster.

The second rig's escort began to reconfigure. Dice took the lead, accelerating and trying to ram Quickshot before he could collide with the thick-headed trucker. Kingbolt and Quasar dropped back, trying to block off Holdup's approach.

[optimusskids]

Sprion Gorge

Kludge and Frag transformed and looked down a the remains of the bridge where it rested in the gorge.

Frag looked over at Kludge

"no one's getting over there in a hurry."

~*~

Loop touched down on the highway and released Gnarl. He positioned himself on Gnarl's loadspace and fixed a tarp over himself.

"Ok Gnarl lets roll."

The small convoy rolled along the highway towards the Autobots.

[Mechafox]

The minute Checkpoint spun, Bruticus fired, but he was too late. The rocket detonated in a bright flash that sent EM discharges, crackling into the ground

Resorting to his backup plan, one he'd forgotten to tell Doubledealer, Bruticus' arm was a blur as he targetted 5 more robots (Roadhammer, Jackknife, Holdup, Quickshot and Runaround) and fired in rapid succession. Without wait to see if he hit Bruticus fired a spread above them all to encourage them to heep their optic's down.

Doubledealer stared in disbelief, what in the name of the Pit was Bruticus doing?

'Don't stand there, go down and get the cargo,' Bruticus' voice roared over the radio.

'Ok, but move before they trace your fire,' a plan formed in Doubledealer's mind. He quickly transformed into truck mode and began to drive full throttle towards the road.

[Reflector]

Runaround was surprised by Clampdown's agility. He'd begun to fire his shoulder cannons at Roadhammer when he realized the jig was up, but the rifle butt hit him squarely on his chin, knocking him off his feet and redirecting his blasts skyward. He frantically transformed to car mode on his back and buzzed off after Holdup, gunning to knock Stockade's legs from under him while he was at it.

Ahead, Boomstick transformed and dove from Quickshot's roof, his feet sparking on the metal pavement for a hundred yards. While he skated toward the competition, Boomstick set to his mission and fired one precise blast at Dice's tires, then two more toward Kingbolt and Quasar.

[Warcry]

The collapse of the Sprion Bridge had been hard to miss, especially since Turnpike and Pinstripe had been staked out a block away. The duo had quickly headed toward the ancient span, expecting to see it had fallen down of its own volition. Finding two members of a rival crew there instead was a surprise, but one that the gang leader wasn't about to pass up.

"What, exactly, do you ignorant fools think you are playing at?" Turnpike punctuated his demand by transforming to robot mode, drawing his machine gun and aiming it in Kludge's direction.

For his part, Pinstripe had a small smirk on his face as he started toward Frag, cracking his knuckle joints in anticipation.
____________________________

Bruticus's shot hit Checkpoint in the right side of his chest, lifting the Autobot off the ground, spinning him in the air and slamming him down onto the road.

Stockade tried to leap aside as Runaround charged him, but agility (mental or physical) had never been his strong suit. The small gangster knocked his left leg out from under him, tossing him into the air and dropping him on top of the mangled Checkpoint.

Roadhammer had been shocked into motion by Runaround's volley, so the blast that otherwise would have hit him square in the windshield only left a deep scar on the side of his trailer.

Dice took a hit in the rear bumper and started to fishtail, but didn't break off from his run on Quickshot.

Jackknife simply ignored the shot that tore off his right rear-view mirror, continuing to charge toward Quickshot as well.

Quasar's left wheel was blown off by Boomstick's shot, and the inexperienced Autobot skidded toward Kingbolt. The more experienced Autobot had had his tire blown out, but reacted with much more poise. He transformed, kick-spun over top of the out-of-control Quasar, and landed in a crouch on the other side.

"Have at thee, knave!" Kingbolt barked as he opened fire on Boomstick with his assault rifle.

For his part, Quasar continued to skid until he hit the ditch, rolled over, and slid into a signpost.

Clampdown watched the carnage as his security team was quickly and efficiently knocked around by the various thugs that had assailed him. This is no good. My team isn't trained for this sort of battle, and only Kingbolt and I have any experience at it. We need to bring in the professionals.

The team leader activated his comlink and scowled at the static that emerged; side-effects of the EMP charge released by Doubledealer's missile. Trying his best to ignore them, he shouted, "Ultra Magnus, this is Squad Leader Clampdown escorting Relief Convoy 34D-2 to Nova Cronum. We've come under attack along the Tygun Span by a miscellaneous group of ruffians. My team is badly overmatched, and two of them have fallen already. Send backup. Please."

[optimusskids]

Sprion Bridge


Frag and Kludge transformed

Frag lowered his A Frame a large spike glinting at it's apex

"We were waiting for you ?"

Frag revved his engine and charged Pinstripe. Demolition gun firing at the silver lined truck.

Kludge fired his smoke dispensors as he decided to charge Turnpike. He decided to try and psyche out his opponent.

"We're here to get rid of you, Black Shadow told us if we eliminate you we can be his top crew."

[Warcry]

"You're an idiot," Turnpike rumbled contemptuously Kludge as the other gangster moved to attack him. He didn't even bother to answer the thug's ridiculous assertion as he vaulted over Kludge, firing armour-piercing rounds down into the smoke cloud as he flew through the air.

Pinstripe's response was a bit less artistic, what with him currently being riddled with gunfire. The smaller Mafioso backpedaled, drawing his fracture missile launcher and firing it into the ground in front of the charging Frag. "Stuff it up yer exhaust pipe, ya fifth-rate hood!"
____________________________

Clampdown smiled tightly in response to Magnus's reassurance, but his voice was still tense. "We'll do our best, sir. If the situation changes, I'll let you know. Clampdown out."

With that done, he transformed to vehicle mode, flipped on his emergency lights and sirens, and shot off it the general direction of the sniper fire that had been terrorizing his unit, hoping to draw the hidden foes' attention away from the relatively helpless transports.