[RP: Time off!]

[chaos_gunner]

[Editor's note: This is meant to be happening in continuity with this thread and this one. Rodimus takes time off; Galvatron takes advantage!]

*descends from Terran high-orbit, zigzagging through the vast amounts of spacejunk and debris that seem to be flying around up here* *muttered cursing at the nuisance*

Graah - anyone could tell that humans

Comments

[firstlieutenant]

*obeys the touch to my controls without hesitation - and willingly, even though I could not do otherwise with my own command programs now inactive under multiple layers of safety interlocks and one-way gates* *falls smoothly into a long, sweeping dive that brings us deep into Earth's atmosphere, and into human airspace

[chaos_gunner]

*brushes thumbs lightly across firing studs, very tempted by the thought of littering the landscape with the blazing wrecks of these feeble adversaries! - but no, the ceasefire still holds, and I have something else in mind!*

No!

*pulls up into a hard climbing turn, veering to port* *smirks to myself as one of the enemy fighters, too slow to match the move, goes skidding uselessly underneath your flank*

*goes right over at the top of the turn, getting me an upside-down panorama of the city through your cockpit windows* *studies my next intended move, battle computers subliminally racing to process terabytes of data at split-astrosecond speed* *this is going to be insanely difficult - but in that case, who but Galvatron should attempt it!*

*grins wolfishly* All right, Cyclonus, this calls for the performance of your life! Give me your best!

[firstlieutenant]

*all my reflexes are locked down, of course, but somewhere inside myself I still shiver with the aching thrill of your touch teasing over my fire controls before you draw back* *and then again, and harder, at your next words...*

Give me your best!

/Always, mighty Galvatron!/

*waiting on your command, every circuit charged with anticipation...*

[chaos_gunner]

*grinning, fingers tightening...*

Now!

*flips us over and down in a plummeting rollercoaster drop, crashing through the middle of a second incoming wave of enemy fighters who scatter like panicked skuxxoids*

Ha-haaa! Yes! - run, you cowards! Out of my path or face your doom!

*levels out in a hard pull-up and accelerates, screaming across the city so low that I can feel through your sensors the sudden drag as the tops of the buildings tug at our slipstream* *windows rattle and walls shake in a four-block-wide wake behind us, sirens howl - yes, yes! Destroy it, destroy it all, blow this pathetic toy stronghold off the map of the galaxy-!*

*-no. No! Not today, at any rate, not yet...*

*with a quick snap of concentration, shakes off the brief urge to total destruction* *instead, focuses on my original target: the tall white needle that commemorates some long-dead human leader, with its coloured scrap of a banner flying from its pinnnacle...*

[firstlieutenant]

*linked as we are, feels your sudden flare of bloodlust as though it had been my own, and gasps inwardly at the dizzying force of the sudden hot need for death and destruction* *but if you can resist it, so can I!*

*and then we are all but on top of the white marker-stone that your attention is so focused on; skimming to starboard of its crown with no space at all to spare, proximity alarms screaming in the back of my mind, too close-!* *subtlest twist of the control yoke, dipping my port wing no more than a few wiresbreadths, and something whisper-soft but intensely tangible snags my leading-edge sensor arrays*

*performs the jetmode equivalent of a sidelong glance as we pull up* *total, awed amazement*

*has the flag from the top of the Washington Monument snagged over my wingtip*

/Only you, my lord-!/

[chaos_gunner]

*glances out of the cockpit window, grinning at the sight of the humans' warbanner trailing like an old polishing rag!*

*pulls us away and rockets for the skies above; drunk with exhilaration, reckless with triumph* *shakes a fist in farewell at the hopelessly disarrayed and traumatised organics far below*

Yes, Cyclonus - only Galvatron, lord of the galaxy!

*laughs fiercely* *runs a hand over your console panels for a moment, possessive*

Now, onward! The humans have had their reminder of my power - now for the Autobots!

[firstlieutenant]

*to Autobot City, then; no more than a few cycles of flight time at my preferred cruising speed, slightly less at yours* *watches over my wingedge as the fighter jets who had chased us earlier fall behind and then fall back, balked of their prey - not that they ever stood the least chance against the mighty Lord Galvatron!*

*as we fly, ventures a careful enquiry*

/What plan for the Autobots, my lord? Do I take it that the ceasefire is still in operation... at least for now?/

[chaos_gunner]

*and there is Metroplex, lying powered-down in the sun for all the universe like some great guardbeast asleep on its watch!* *banks and pulls away to starboard, taking a wide arc around the city, studying it thoughtfully*

Correct, Cyclonus! The ceasefire continues - which means that we are not to fire so much as a laser bolt at anything wearing an Autobot brand!

*optics gleam*

Of course, if they fire first, all bets are off!

*dives!*

[firstlieutenant]

*it goes against all my instincts to come in for what amounts to a strafing run with my guns silenced and my missile racks unmounted, but as you command it, so shall it be done!* *putting myself in your hands, trusting you yet again and without hesitation as you throw both of us headlong and unarmed into the teeth of our enemies' greatest weapon*

*and it seems that as always you were right, since the giant city-Transformer's cannons and batteries remain silent; even as we skim above the tower so closely that I almost feel metal graze my underside* *his inhabitants show less assurance, and they point and cry out and leap to alarm stations as they catch the first glimpse of us*

*watches them, sensors alert in case one of them should forget himself and open fire on us; although even if they should, it was worth all of this merely to see the looks on their faces at the sight of the Decepticons' two greatest warriors suddenly descending from an empty sky like the wrath of Unicron himself...!*

[chaos_gunner]

*laughs* Excellent! That ought to get their attention!

*pulls up out of the strafing run and turns in a sweeping quarter-arc, setting up the next run on a vector perpendicular to the previous one - just to make certain our enemies have gotten a good look at us!* *dives and goes in again, engine noise echoing and thundering off Metroplex's iron walls* *rolls hard to the side, with hardly an astrosecond to spare, to slip past the edge of the central tower*

(And yes, stare, Autobots, because - hah! - you're quite right to think that that manoeuvre should be almost impossible in full atmosphere and gravity...!)

*pulls up again and turns, swinging back, watching the scene below with interest* *optics sparkle brightly with exhilaration*

Well?! Aren't the Autobots' finest going to do anything about this?! *gleeful laughter*

[giri_guy]

*halfway through my third cube of high-grade, my commlink squawks, and a sinking feeling in my fuel tank tells me this is serious even before I hear the agitated voice on the other end*

Prime speaking... Whoa, slow down, I don't -!... What?... What? Decepticons?.... They did WHAT?... Anybody hurt?... Well, of course the President's mad, but... Is that even possible? No, on second thought, don't answer that... Okay, I'll... there's more?... He's WHERE?... What do you mean "here?"... Oh, Primus!...

*gets up and somehow manages not to wobble much*

C'mon, Arcee, we've got to get back to Autobot City!...

[apprentice_lurk]

*is watching over Scourge's shoulder in a control room somewhere on Charr, optics wide with awe and amusement, every now and then letting out a gasp of panic as the jet disappears between the towers seemingly too close to even imagine coming out safely before cheering and laughing as they do, every time*

Oh, Rod is going to have a hell of a time explaining this one! ^_^ *really doesn't envy him, but can't help both finding this absolutely hilarious and being intensely proud of the jet and his master*

[chromeplatedcat]

*clicketyclicketyclick* *bemusedsmile*
*tappitytappitytap*
*staticky connection to Rodimus* Given my approval of your current cease-fire, I suggest you make sure nobody does anything rash. Your rival has very carefully not fired a single shot.

[chaos_gunner]

*scanners pick up the existence of the comm signals, though not the content* *grins, realising that the transmissions can only mean one thing*

All right, that was your cue, Rodimus Prime! Come, Cyclonus - let's make sure we don't miss anything!

*circles wide and climbs again, watching the landscape below - confidently expecting to see at any moment a firebolt-marked trailer truck racing to the rescue as fast as its wheels can carry it!*

[giri_guy]

*right on cue, crests the last hill and comes within view of Autobot City*

//Rodimus Prime to Autobot City - status report!//

Doesn't look like there's any damage from here... *brings all scanners up full and is almost immediately accosted by a purple-hued double-signal on my heads-up display*

That's - *transforms, grasping for my rifle out of habit, but just barely remembers to leave it in subspace*

*open channel to the Decepticons overhead*

//Rodimus Prime to Galvatron! What the frag are you DOING?//

[chaos_gunner]

*sees you come charging over the hill with more enthusiasm than grace, dust cloud trailing behind you*

Ah, and here is the cavalry!

*opens comm channel* /What am I doing, Rodimus?! *merry laugh* Absolutely nothing!/ *continues, with a diplomat's courtesy but an irrepressibly playful edge in my voice* /...and yourself?/