Now Where's the Other Half?

[purajo]

*Sunstreaker left the control room and all the chaos inside, and headed down the hallway towards the medbay, determined to find out what exactly was up with Sideswipe and why the frag he wasnt answering his comm-link (he had no idea that Sideswipe had left the medbay and was possibly headed his way

Comments

*kicks to the side again*

[dualsides]

Geez, loosen up and stop getting your manifolds in a twist. Ever heard of makin' the best of a bad situation? When'd you become such a voice of doom anyway?

And the voice in your head have a name?

*He led the way, through various corridors and junctions, till they finally made it to the exit*

"It's a little hard not being in a foul mood when the last thing you remember before ending up here was trying your hardest not to get torn to shreds by an over-sized Decepticon scorpion. I don't know what life is supposed to be like for you guys here, but it was a real disaster where I came from. And the kid's name is Hunter O'nion."

As they reach the outside world, however, Sideswipe's mood does actually lighten a little bit. He takes in the sights, glad to be able to see the sky after wandering around all those unfamiliar corridors. Granted, the sky itself is also foreign, but the blue overhead is still a nicer sight. His optics catch side of the road leading away from the entrance and he eyes it with anticipation. "Well, it's not too different from the area around Lake Michigan, anyway. I'm gonna let Hunter loose."

Reaching up, Sideswipe puts both hands on the sides of his head. As his optics dim to black, there's a low hissing sound as the connections in his neck release and his hands disconnect his head from the rest of him. Responding now to remote commands, the shell body releases the head unit to the ground, where it transforms before landing. Hunter comes down on his feet, standing shakily after a few seconds to get his bearings and readjusting to being able to see out of his own set of eyes again. In the background, he can hear Sideswipe snickering at his lack of balance. Behind him, the shell transforms down into vehicle mode.

Hunter glances up at Sunstreaker, suddenly feeling small now that he's no longer on level with the yellow Autobot. "Er, ready when you are."

Re: *kicks to the side again*

[purajo]

Couldn't have been too bad, you survived didnt you? That's what's important.

*He took a step back, then almost instinctively moved forward when he saw Sideswipe pull his head off. Willing himself to stay put he quirked an optic ridge at the whole process, then finally found himself looking down at Hunter*

Right, yeah... Um... hi Hunter...

*shaking his head, he transformed as well, revving his engine to warm it up*

Let's do a couple of circuits around the perimeter and see what's there to see. Just in case there's something hiding in the bushes...

*He led the way down the road*

[dualsides]

Finding Sunstreaker to be more intimidating than his partner for obvious reasons, Hunter only manages a nod in response before getting into the driver's side of the shell vehicle and pulling out a second later to follow the yellow Twin. For the most part, he takes control of the shell, working the steering wheel and pedals to keep pace...but not tailgate. The whole experience is a little dizzying at first while Hunter works on readjusting to all the information flooding his mind at once. Even the shell's tires against the ground are giving him feedback. In the back of his mind, Sideswipe attempts to reassure him and gives him a mental helping hand to keep things straight. He may not be the most patient bot in the world, but even Sideswipe knows that if he wants to run at maximum efficiency, he'd better train up his partner while he has the chance.

"This is crazy..." Hunter trails off after speaking, realizing that his voice is echoing from the vehicle itself so as to be heard by Sunstreaker. Shaking his head, he continues. "I'm not even seeing any birds in the air. Something just feels so incredibly 'off' out here. Sunstreaker, how many Autobots were there before whatever it was broke reality?"

Biting his lower lip, he then addresses Sideswipe, speaking out loud on purpose so their lead knows what they're doing. "Sideswipe, can your communication link scanners pick up on the in use frequencies here? We need to stay in the loop."

'I can try. Give me a couple of nanokliks to scan the airwaves.' A pause. 'I might try something else here, too. Hang on.'

[king_ofthe_road]

There is something moving through the underbrush parallel to the two Autobots, and it's keeping pace so it is possible that it is something that is driving, not running. Could that be the sound of a small racing engine?

[purajo]

There were quite a few of us... at least triple the number we have now

*Sunstreaker was about to give them a few more details when his scanners picked up a third blip that was not any of them. He started to slow down, trying to pinpoint the trespasser*

[SComm: Sideswipe/Hunter]You'd better be receiving me now. We've got company and it's somewhere around us[/SComm]

[dualsides]

Hunter tilts his head to one side, able to pick up on that third engine sound beyond the rumbling of the two Lamborghinis. It momentarily surprises him that he's able to pick up on that at all, but it just means he's still got some adjusting to do.

As Sunstreaker slows, so does Sideswipe.

[Sideswipe:Scomm:Hunter/Sunstreaker] "We read you, now. And we can hear whatever company we've got... Sounds like it's just off the road." [/Scomm]

A second later, Hunter patches in, his comm "voice" distinctly different from Sideswipe's. Whatever the Cybertronian half did in getting their communications systems working properly again, it's now rigged so that both personalities can be heard.

[Hunter:Scomm:Sideswipe/Sunstreaker] "So we can both talk at the same time? Great. Now... This is your turf, Sunstreaker. How do you want to proceed?" [/Scomm]

[king_ofthe_road]

Just then the small engine noise stops and there's some rustling and the sound of transformation...and then Powerlane leaps out from the underbrush, brandishing his machine gun. The diminutive Decepticon opens fire on the two vehicles, laughing maniacally and perhaps blissfully unaware of how outnumbered he is.

[dualsides]

Slagging--! Without waiting for a response from Sunstreaker now that live ammunition is involved, Sideswipe veers off the road to avoid being peppered by machine gun fire, though the response isn't quick enough to save him from taking a handful of shots to one fender. In the cab, Hunter is coming up with his own set of expletives. "Holy SHI--!"

If there's one thing both can agree on in an instant, it's that they don't want to be shot to pieces. Working in harmony, the two transform while still in motion... Driver's side door opens as the shell begins to covert. Hunter half somersaults out and transforms back into Sideswipe's head. The shell catches the head in one hand as the body comes up and *CLICK* *SNAP*! Sideswipe is back on his feet again with a head on his shoulders.

"You little punk!" Sideswipe draws his photon rifle and returns fire, keeping up some fancy footwork to make him a harder target as he backs further off the road and into the brush.

[purajo]

*Sunstreaker meanwhile had skidded and swerved to the other side of the road, the little Decepticon's weapons fire only serving to scratch the paint on his toughened armor.

But it was enough to piss him off*

"Slagging glitched out son of a toaster! I didnt survive an apocalypse to have my paint job fragged up by the likes of you!"

*He roared as he transformed and stalked towards the mech, who was busy taking shots at his... "brother"... Snarling he lunged for the mech and tackled him*

[king_ofthe_road]

Powerlane had already begun transforming when Sideswipe started shooting at him, and so he is completely in car mode as Sunstreaker lunges. He just barely slips away from the yellow warrior, tires kicking up dirt as he tears off into the underbrush. He zips back onto the road several feet away from the two and drives into the brush on the other side. Then he pops back out into the open in robot mode and shoots at them again. Oh, yes, he's taunting them, yet there's still nothing on radar to suggest that he has Motormaster to back him up. Has the little cretin lost his mind?

[dualsides]

Sideswipe watches as Sunstreaker misses, having managed a personal cease fire so as not to hammer the yellow mech with photon shots. When Powerlane takes off again, the red warrior growls in irritation. "Slaggit, that runt is fast! And you're probably lucky I didn't shoot you on accident, Sunstreaker."

"Coordination would be good." Hunter's voice is echoing up from the shell's speaker system, now. He's figured out how to work it so the comm links aren't his only method of communication when not in active control. "The last thing we need is serious injury due to friendly fire."

Oops, there's Powerlane again! Sideswipe puts himself in motion once more, still on his feet and running parallel to the smaller mech; head first into machine gun fire is generally a Bad IdeaTM, so here's to the strafing strategy! If Powerlane can't be caught immediately, he'll just need to be shot full of enough holes to slow him down so he is easy to tackle.

[keyinhand]

It's about then that a row of autoguns rise from the ground and rotate as they search for a target. Looks like someone at the Ark has noticed their plight and intends to help out.

Well, it looks that way until one set of guns swivels in Sideswipe's direction while another swivels toward Sunstreaker. But they haven't fired yet, so perhaps there's a glitch currently being worked out...

[king_ofthe_road]

Powerlane doesn't give any of the autoguns a chance to lock on him. He dives back into the underbrush again. There's a transformation sound, but it's at a different pitch this time, and it's followed by a loud roar. A hulking mech comes crashing out of the trees and promptly tears the nearest set of autoguns out of the ground. "Powerrig SMASH!"

Well, you wanted something to fight, Sunstreaker. At least he's not sporting an extra-large gun of his own.

[purajo]

*Sunstreaker stood his ground, he'd fought bigger mechs than this one, and if intelligence was anything to go by, this should be fun*

Y'know, you remind me of a movie I once saw, only, the guy was green and much better looking.

*Ahh... good ol' hand-to-hand combat... he missed this..*

[dualsides]

Sideswipe is momentarily distracted as the autoguns pop up...and turn in his general direction, as well as in that of his "brother." He silently hopes that they're somehow connected to the nearby Ark and that maybe, provided they're not messed up, will recognize their Autobot signatures and NOT fire.

Then Powerlane turns into Powerrig. Whether or not it's a good thing he just tore out some of the autoguns remains to be seen.

"Oh, frag this!" Leveling his combination photon/flare gun, Sideswipe takes aim. Hunter's just given some advice and he's going to take it.

[Sideswipe:Scomm:Sunstreaker] "Shutter your optics on three... I'm going to try and blind that freak! It'll make him easier to take down!" [/Scomm]

He counts and as promised, on three, he fires a flare right at Powerrig's faceplate.

[king_ofthe_road]

As the flare goes off, Powerrig roars, dropping the broken off autogun and grabbing at his optics. He staggers blindly, yelling incoherently.