[Original RPG] Collapse: None But My Own (Tarn)

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Post by Classicor »

Edge of Victory Square, Tarn

Snaptrap sorted through the debris, searching - embarassing as that was for him - for more parts for his "construction project"...

He and his Seacons had turned their back on the civil war, waiting for a moment in time that a true leader would unite the diverse Decepticon factions with Strength, as it was meant to be. In the meantime, they had established a secret hideout in the Mitrhil Sea, a hideout which - and that was the part that infuriated Snaptrap - the Seacon leader had built with his own hands.

Ever since the Seacons had taken refuge within the depths of the Mithril Sea, Snaptrap had faced challenges he was not used to - commanding his team on an extented mission was one thing, but setting up a (potentially permanent) camp for his warriors, finding the necessary resources for repairs and refuels... those were things he, as a warrior, had found himself ill-suited for.

A least at first. After a while, something activated some sort of secondary programming, engrams that enabled, no forced him to build, to construct, to repair... so he had built the Seacon hideout with parts salvaged throughout Tarn - the leftovers of the citybots had proven especially valuable. And he had hated every nanosecond of it.

Still, useful as these new skills were, Snaptrap resented them. He was a warrior, no a Killer, not some sort of engineer. Only once had he shown any sign of mechanical abilities, way back on planet earth - when he helped Shockwave repair the body of what later turned out to be a Megatron clone (ooc: taken from the Marvel uk comics). And even then, the Seacon hadn´t known how he had done that. He was a killing machine, the "butcher of the bogs", yet he could not stop this secondary programs to kick in at the most unopportune times...

Reaching for some actuators that had once been part of Metroplex, Snaptrap let his optical sensors wander around Victory Plaza. There, sillouetted against CYbertron´s night sky, was the form of a mech - an Autobot, perhaps? And wasn´t there some sort of voice? Slowly, and as careful as his massive bulk allowed, Snaptrap moved towards a pile of rubble behind which he would have a better view of what was going on...
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Zisteau
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Post by Zisteau »

Victory Square, Tarn

The voice shocked Huffer out of his torpor. His head jerked around, scanning the area in the growing darkness for any sign of movement. He retrieved his laser pistol from subspace and called out tentatively, "who's there?"
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Post by tahukanuva »

Victory Square

Sunstorm strode confidently from the shadows, hands raised to indicate no ill-will, "Just I, a lonely rejected Seeker. Tell me, what's a lone Minibot doing traversing this irradiated Hell-hole? It's not a particularly scenic route, and if you have memories here, they're probably best forgotten."
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Post by Zisteau »

Victory Square

Huffer eyed Sunstorm suspiciously for a few seconds, then subspaced his pistol. He glanced at his wrist as the constant low tick tick tick of its rad counter picked up as the radioactive seeker approached. "I guess, in a sense, I'm mourning. Whether for Metroplex himself," Huffer patted the massive piece of Metroplex's body he was leaning against, "or that yet again something I built has been utterly destroyed I can't tell you."
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Post by Classicor »

Snaptrap watched as the Seeker stepped out of the Shadow. He fully expected a firefight to break out, but instead the Autobot subbed his pistol, while the two engaged in a conversation.

What´s that supposed to mean?, the Seacon asked himself. Autobots and Decepticons shouldn´t talk, they should fight, just like in the good old days of Cybertron. What did the Seeker think why his kind was called "Seekers" in the first place? What did he suppose was he built for to seek, if not Autobots?

Feeling Anger rising inside of him, Snaptrap summoned his shield and rifle from subspace. This looked like the perfect opportunity to let out his anger and frustration, to punish someone for what was wrong with the Seacon leader. But he would do it with style, like he used to. His opponents had to respect, no FEAR him! A battle cry, that was the idea! He spent some moments searching his memory for battle cries he had used in the past, until he found the perfect one. Powerful, frightening, just the right ring to it to make his opponents realize that their lifes were over.

Snaptrap jumped up behind the pile of rubble, and aimed his gun at the two mechs, but - seeing Huffer´s hand on the Metroplex fragment - felt his secondary programming take over, split seconds before he could shout his war cry.

Instead, he was deeply unsettled by what he actually shouted, before he could take even one shot at the mechs all across the plaza:

"Get away from my SPARE PARTS!"

whoever did this to me will pay for it, he thought depressed...
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Post by tahukanuva »

Victory Square

Sunstorm nodded at Huffer "Mourning, huh? It's safe to say we've all had our share of that recently." Sunstorm's optics flickered momentarily before his attention was diverted by Snaptrap's spectacle. The Seeker raised his energy cannon, but could only manage a blink in response to the Seacon.
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Post by Zisteau »

(ooc: this is going to be fun. We've got three lunatics in the middle of nowhere :) )

Victory Square


Huffer spun around to locate the new voice. The logical, analytical part of his mind (which was most of it) processed the threat and identified the angry individual as Snaptrap, the leader of the seacons and a very powerful Decepticon. He further analyzed and recognized that he was far from Autobot territory and that Tarn was virtually surrounded by Decepticon held land.

A smaller, less refined portion of his mind, tucked away in a corner in the back and rarely accessed, was terrified.

And yet another portion of his mind, one he didn't recognise and didn't have a fully catalogued and referenced file on, made itself known. To use a phrase, something within him snapped.

"Your what?!" he shouted back, surprising himself.
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Post by Classicor »

Snaptrap waved his rifle around, aiming first at Huffer than at Sunstorm. then again at the Autobot. And while his combat-experienced brain fed him targeting solutions and kill probabilities, his secondary programm kept informing him about the potential damage he would cause, and the to be expected repairs to fix that damage again. That prevented him from shooting altogether. So, with a frustrated "FRAAAAAAG", he fired his gun into to air, before he returned it to subspace as well. (he kept his shoulder-mounted shield, though, just in case...)

Strolling slowly forward the other mechs, he said aloud:

"Mymy, what a beautiful band of misfits we have here. An engineer who is depressed that his creations keep gettin blown up", (looking at Huffer), "a seeker who cries over the fact that nobody likes him", (looking at Sunstorm, "and a killer who can´t kill anymore because he might actually damage something or someone in the process", (looking to the ground)... "really, that´s quite a tea party we have here! And now take your hand of that power coupling, I´m afraid a part of me for which I´ll have to punish someone in the near future needs it for a project!"
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Post by Zisteau »

(ooc: out of town for the weekend :) )


Victory Square


"What?" Huffer asked. "You mean this power coupling?" He brought his gun back from subspace and vaporized the item in question. He left his gun pointing at the smoking remains of the power coupling as he stared back at Snaptrap.
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Post by Classicor »

Snaptrap sighed. "look, little Autobot, I´d glady tear you to pieces, but I would probably just end up putting you together again, which in turn would make me so mad that I´d have to destroy you again, repair you again, destroy you again... I really don´t have time for this; but if you insist, I´m up to it!"

Turning towards Sunstorm, Snaptrap added: " What were you doing here again?"
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Post by tahukanuva »

Victory Square

Sunstorm lowered his cannon and crossed his arms, "Honestly? I was hiding. I became sick of my faction's constant infighting, so I abandoned my post. Decepticons aren't know for their kind treatment of deserters, and I certainly wouldn't relish destroying whoever they sent after me. So, I came here, this irradiated wasteland being the one place I would go unnoticed. Now, little Seacon, what are you doing here, and what are you yelling about?"
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Post by Classicor »

Victory Square

Snaptrap turned towards this Seeker unit that had dared to call him little. He waited a moment, then started to laugh. "you sure have some spark in your fragile frame, Seeker. I could make you suffer, of course, but you are right with one thing -there has been too much infighting recently, at least too much indecisive fighting. Me and my team have withdrawn from the minor skirmishes, waiting for a true leader. Until one Decepticon actully remembers what it means to be a warrior, and who our real enemies are", (at this point Snaptrap glanced at Huffer, "we Seacons will mind our own buisness. Talking of which, what exactly I´m doing with the parts I collect here surely isn´t any of your buisness!"

Abent-minded, Snaptrap had picked up some broken parts from the ground and had reassembled them into some complicated kind of gearbox. Realising what he had done, Snaptrap growled and threw the thing across the plaza.

Returning his attention to Sunstorm, he added: "But I wouldn´t worry about being called a deserter, Seeker. If anyone asks, just say you´ve created your own faction - seems to work for everybody else so far..."
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Post by Zisteau »

Victory Square

The anger vanished from Huffer in an instant, and with a tiny gasp at the realization of what he'd done, he subspaced his laser pistol once again. Thinking like an engineer, he treated the situation he was in like a project. He tried to imagine a blueprint where he could extricate himself safely, but couldn't see a way.
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Post by Classicor »

Victory Square

Snaptrap took a long look at Huffer.

"I see your little show of aggression is over. A pity, really, I kind of liked that side of you. At least I know now that this cursed secondary programs that keep interfering with my main function have not been copied from you; in my current state I would have actually been unable to cause this kind of destruction."

The massive Seacon leaned closer to the Autobot.

"Still, I understand your frustration. Must be hard for you, now that you Autobots have the peace you crave so much. Nothing left for you, engineer. No fortifications to built against Decepticon attacks, no installations to repair after a battle. There´s nothing left for you, except the remains of your destroyed creations, and no reasons whatsoever to rebuilt them. This, my little Autobot friend, is the utter stagnation of peace which we Decepticons have been trying to avoid for millions of stellar cycles. You are the best example, the proof we never needed, that we were right after all. But you are starting to realize that, don´t you?"

Snaptrap laughed.

"Hoe strange - you, the peace loving Autobot, have become useless with the end of our wars, and me, the Decepticon Killer, I have been busier than ever building my very own base. Doesn´t that fill you with despair? Doesn´t that make you mad? Is it sadness or rage you´re feeling? Or do you have some larger plan, to reconstruct your own purpose in this existence?"

Turning to Sunstorm, Snaptrap changed the subject.

"I think I remember you now. The levels of radiation I receive from you kind of gave you away. To be honest, to me, all you Seekers look alike - the only reason I could recognize Starscream from the rest of your kind was that he just wouldn´t shut up... ah well, not that it matters any more. So, who´s side have you been on in the civil war? Who do you think will emerge victorious, who will become our next, glorious leader? Megatron? Gigatron? One of the smaller players? Or did you decide to turn your back on all Decepticons, all of our ancestral conflict? It´s not like you´re radiating confidence."

Snaptrap laughed again.

"haha, radiating. Whoever had been the source of my engineering programs must have possessed some sense of humor."

Frowning, he added in a much more serious tone:

"If I ever find the one who did this to me, I will personally kill him - a thousand times if I must..."
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Post by Zisteau »

Victory Square

As if there was a short somewhere in Huffer's mental circuitry, and a subroutine that kept popping in and out of existence, as Snaptrap mocked him, the anger flared back into being.

"Nothing left for me, huh?" He asked over his shoulder as he strode off towards Metroplex's forearm. "You see this?" Huffer said, pointing at the remains of Metroplex's left hand, missing two fingers and a joint off the thumb. "This is still left for me," he said, and without another word he lifted the massive hand above his head and turned towards Snaptrap.
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Post by Classicor »

Snaptratransformed into his Giant tortoise form, the massive barrels of his back mounted sonic-shell cannons aimed squarely at Huffer, and snarled in a bestial voice:

"Go ahead, little engineer, show me how you fight for these scraps of metal!"
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Post by Zisteau »

Huffer threw Metroplex's hand at Snaptrap.
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Post by tahukanuva »

Victory Square

Sunstorm raised his cannon and fired at the hand as it passed by; he glared at the two combatants, "Now, what exactly would be gained from this fight? A little bit of injured pride? Is that what this whole war is about? Bruised egos? You're both pathetic. Your whole race is pathetic."
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Post by Classicor »

(OOC: Sorry for being away for a while, I moved and switched providers)

Victory Square

Snaptrap didn´t even bother to evade the giant hand. He would have been to sluggish in his turtoise mode to escape anyway, but his hardened outer shell shielded him from most of the impact. Still, he was knocked back several steps.

"Not bad, Autobot. Now my turn!" he snarled, firing the sonic shell cannons at his back at the wide-open Huffer

He ignored Sunstorms comment for the moment, but thought: Watch and learn, seeker, and before the end you might remember what it truly means to be a Decepticon
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Post by Zisteau »

Huffer dove out of the way, realizing for the first time that his melancholy had got him into some serious trouble, more serious than the trouble he had already been in. He dove to the side in an attempt to dodge the blast Snaptrap shot at him, avoiding most of the blast as he landed behind some debris. As he rolled over to take his bearings he felt a terrible burning pain in his legs, as if most of his outer layer of protection there had been burnt away.
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