Fallen Heroes - Adjustments - Chapter 2

[Threadbare]

"Certainly. Lead the way, glorious leader."
_________________
DIMBER DAMBER: (n.) A top man, or prince, among the canting crew: also the chief rogue of the gang, or the completest cheat. from CANT.

[Gatac]

What Iacon was to the Autobots, Polyhex was to the Decepticons. The legendary fortress of Lord Straxus still defies time and the elements many vorn after the death of it's master. It remains as museum (after careful search for and disarming of many, many deathtraps), housing a large number of artefacts and statues of fallen heroes. The city around it is what one would consider a typical tourist trap, with literally thousands of tons of outdated military hardware being traded. The occasional ruin of the original, bombed-out settlement looms in the distance, but 4 vorn of peace have done much to reshape this former example of total devastation.

A black, heavily armored halftrack vehicle and a strange, two-wheeled machine rumble through the darkness, oblivious to the occasional curious glance of bystanders. Their destination ? None lesser than the Fortress itself.
_________________
Gatac: Just making sure you are aware of life-saving buttsex.
Punkey: I've always been aware of life-saving buttsex. Best Red Cross training weekend ever.

[Gatac]

Having reached the fortress, Prime and Wingfoot convert to their respective robot modes. Prime takes a few steps forward, the steps barely sounding against the hard metal ground.

"The main entrance is closed by now. Ideas ?"
_________________
Gatac: Just making sure you are aware of life-saving buttsex.
Punkey: I've always been aware of life-saving buttsex. Best Red Cross training weekend ever.

[Threadbare]

"It was built mostly to keep out autobots. Let me take a look how secure it is up top."

With that, Wingfoot takes a stunning leap halfway up the main body of the citadel, and begins surveying.


(Edited by Threadbare at 3:10 am on Oct. 6, 2003)
_________________
DIMBER DAMBER: (n.) A top man, or prince, among the canting crew: also the chief rogue of the gang, or the completest cheat. from CANT.

[Gatac]

Wingfoot defies gravity quite nicely - some three hundred meters above ground level now, he hasn't even begun scratching the height of some of the highest defensive towers. The roof is mostly just armor, but there are manually operated flak cannons sprinkled over the slopes under heavy protective plating.

Wingfoot's not quite fresh on the architecture of the place, but makes the educated guess that these platforms have to have some sort of connection to the interior of the castle.
_________________
Gatac: Just making sure you are aware of life-saving buttsex.
Punkey: I've always been aware of life-saving buttsex. Best Red Cross training weekend ever.

[Threadbare]

Wingfoot skulks over to investigate one of the flak cannons. The shells they fire are almost as big as he is, a testament to the bulk of transformers in the earlier years. Given the choice, most of them would probably choose taking the shell impact rather than Wingfoot's.

Wingfoot notices the loading mechanisms for the guns come from below the roof, and an idea begins to forge itself.
_________________
DIMBER DAMBER: (n.) A top man, or prince, among the canting crew: also the chief rogue of the gang, or the completest cheat. from CANT.

[Gatac]

Prime radios Wingfoot over the Commlink.

"I've found an entry, but you need to disable the perimeter alarm system first. It's sensors are linked to the cannons, so there should be some sort of access node below them. And watch out for the motion detectors."
_________________
Gatac: Just making sure you are aware of life-saving buttsex.
Punkey: I've always been aware of life-saving buttsex. Best Red Cross training weekend ever.

[Gatac]

Elsewhere...

Drone #4628-Z stopped responding.

That may have been the result of having it's cranial armor shattered by a massive chunk of Duranium, formerly the leg of a holding table.

Mars dropped the improvised club to the floor and searched the body for weaponry. Apparently, the drone mounted an EMP cannon, but no other personal weaponry to speak of. Mars silently cursed his bad luck, but then decided that his only chance now was getting out of the room before they'd send more of these...these...these mindless automatons.

Outside, he noted with some surprise that a fight was going on in the corridor; six of these drones against an unseen assailant in their middle.

To put it mildly, the drones were losing.

One stumbled back, having lost all sense of balance, and suddenly crumbled to the ground in shables, obviously the target of a Crystalcution strike. From behind the other five drones, Mars saw glimpses of twisted arms, and then noted that two of the drones had apparently shorted each other with their cannons. A third robot was propelled away from the fight, crashing against the wall right next to Mars with such force that his armor collapsed, the sickening crunch of a metal insect crushed by a heavy rock.

The last two drones each caught a fist in their chests, collapsing to the ground immobilised after the loss of their primary actuator control circuits.

Mars noted that the last figure standing was Blaze.

The old Autobot grinned, then dusted off some imaginary dirt from his shoulder.

"And this is why you should not wake me from stasis lock and tell me slag. Speaking of slag, the floorplans on the walls are all wrong. I don't know how many more of these wrong turns I can take before I run out of energy."

Mars shrugged, then looked serious.

"I'm not leaving without the others."
"I'm not sure the others are even here."
"Then we should find out."
"Point taken."
_________________
Gatac: Just making sure you are aware of life-saving buttsex.
Punkey: I've always been aware of life-saving buttsex. Best Red Cross training weekend ever.

[Gatac]

Sureshot and Enigma dive into Maccadeem's, surfing the crowd a bit. Sureshot notes the following:

Autobots and Decepticons are sitting at tables together, getting overenergized. They're not genuinely friendly to each other, but rather appear resignated that the war is over.

Contrary to their first assessment, there are Cybertronians without markings. They are however quite rare, and seem lost. They even meekly vacate places for Autobots and Decepticons with markings, appearing rather like second-class citizens - a curious reversal of the situation above.

The method of payment appears to be some sort of credit tokens. Sureshot finds that Deadbolt has given them a few, but they hardly seem enough to just waste them on drinks. It does appear that there is a gambling table, though.
_________________
Gatac: Just making sure you are aware of life-saving buttsex.
Punkey: I've always been aware of life-saving buttsex. Best Red Cross training weekend ever.

[Gatac]

Prime comes up on Wingfoot's commlink again just as the small Decepticon is about to sever a cable.

"I take it you haven't gotten the security node yet. That may be a good thing. I have seen some Enforcement Drones wander around, and I suspect that they are patched into the system. I don't doubt that I could overpower them, but that would surely trigger the alarm. I am not even quite sure if my stealth armor is effective against their sensors."

There's a short pause as Prime seems to contemplate a few options.

"I do think that it is unlikely that the museum has a fully integrated security suite. Most likely, you can tap into the connection between the drones and the alarm system. That will get the attention of the drones, but their long-range communication will be out. We should then be able to dispatch them discreetly as long as we stay away from the other sensors. All we need is for you to make your way to the drone control point. It should be easy for someone of your skill."
_________________
Gatac: Just making sure you are aware of life-saving buttsex.
Punkey: I've always been aware of life-saving buttsex. Best Red Cross training weekend ever.