Mallet and Matchstick were so close together that a shot might wound the both of them, or hit the wrong target entirely.
Facelift’s shop was deep inside the network, so as to avoid attracting the authorities as much as possible.
Gronius lowered the shot gun. He wanted to help Mallet, yes, but this would only do the opposite.
When she had the shop in sight, Delta turned to her robot mode and slowly approached it.
Mallet and Matchstick were tearing each other apart. Surely one of them would win eventually, but who the victor would be was hard to discern.
Alarms begin to sound in the cargo hold from the earlier explosion. No doubt security would be arriving in short order.
Two of Facelift’s henchmen eye Delta cautiously as she enters. Facelift himself could be seen at a table, dissecting a dead insecticon.
Gronius swore as he lifted his shot-gun again. He had to finish this before the guards would show up.
Delta’s optics open widely.
“Uhm… Hi…?” she asked, almost whispering.
Mallet and Matchstick stand close together, each of them aiming their guns at the other.
“This is gonna end today, Fusebox,” Mallet says. “One way, or the other.”
“Aw, but the last 800 years have been so fun!” Matchstick, or really, Fusebox, quips. “You trying to kill me, me trying to kill you; Scheme after trap after ploy… whichever of us survives is going to miss this, I’ll reckon.”
“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Mallet sardonically replies.
The two mercenaries fire their weapons simultaneously, their shots striking each other’s chests. Fusebox falls onto his back, while Mallet collapses, both either dead, or in stasis lock.
Facelift whips around.
“Oh, hel-lo!” the cyclops cheerily greets Delta, clasping his hands together. “Always happy to see a new face! Now, what can I do for today, miss…”
Facelift’s voice trails off as he waits for Delta to introduce herself.
Gronius tilts his head in confusion. He really was 't expecting thisnsort of ending. He jumped off the container and ran to Mallet, checking if he is still alive.
“Uhm… Delta…”
Mallet was alive, but in stasis lock. Fusebox’s shot had burned through some of the armor of his chest, but it hadn’t quite pierced his sparkchamber. If he got medical attention soon, he may yet live.
The alarms continue to blare. The damage was to the hold was little more than a few busted energon cubes and smashed crates, but a security team would be down here soon. That might be a good thing, actually, given Mallet’s condition.
“Delta!” Thrift repeats, extending his right hand to offer a handshake.
“Pleasure meeting you, Delta! I’m Facelift. Now, what brings you around here, eh? We just got some new insecticon weapons from the last battle. Acids, nano-slimes, cerebro-shells, you name it! But if that’s not you’re style, I’ve got a sale on eyes going right now. I got a lotta those; green, red, orange, gold, purple- nice and intimidating, a pair of purple eyes are. Makes you look like a terrorcon!”
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OOC: Let’s just hope that they will not confuse Gronius for the attacker of the two.
IC: Seeing that Mallet was alive, gronius quickly jumped to Fusebox, quickly checking his condition.
“Uhm…” Delta said, shaking his hand. Compared to him, Delta was looking like a terran child compared to his parent. She was small, her hand barely being able to shake two fingers in the same time.
“I want you to make me… bigger. And I want another alt mode… If you can.”
Like Mallet, ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■ was in stasis lock. Mallet’s shotgun had burned through much of the armor on his chest, and he too required medical aid.
Facelift puts a finger to his chin.
“Bigger… new alt-mode…” he repeats. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure I can do that, but it won’t be cheap, I’m letting you know. You got the shanix to pay for all that?”
Gronius looked to his left, to his right, and after he assured that nobody was looking, he kicked Fusebox in the side of his body, before returning to Mallet and taking him in his arms.
“I… guess so.”
Fusebox’s limp body jerks from the kick.
A small team of four enters the hold, taking note of the smoldering and damaged crates, as well as the two wounded bots. One approaches Gronius.
“What happened here?” she asks, curious.
“Wonderful!” Facelift exclaims. “You wouldn’t believe how many bots’ve come down here, wanting something like a new face or t-cog or a fusion cannon built into their arm, and when it’s time to pay up, they got nothin’! So then I gotta throw them back on the table and rip all that scrap back out! I don’t do this for kicks, slaggit!”
Gronius quickly explained her what happened, purposely forgetting about his attempt of sniping Fusebox.
Delta’s optics once again open widely, full of fear.
“Uhm… How much is it again?”
The head guard nods.
“So, a couple mercs got into a grudge match, huh?” she recaps.
“Well, that depends,” Facelift says. “Depends on the alt-mode you want, and how much ‘bigger’ you wanna get.”
“Something like this, I guess.” he said, frowning at the sigh of Fusebox’s damaged body. “Tho I am pretty sure that son of a gun is a Decepticon and that he has a history with Mallet.”
“Well… I want to be as tall as the average bot. As tall as you, for example.”
“Yeah, from you’re story, I’ll be these two have a history,” the guard agrees. “Maybe they can enlighten us after paying Forcep a visit.”
Facelift chuckles.
“Alright, alright,” he says. “And the alt-mode? Whatcha wanna turn into, miss? I see you as a hovercar kinda gal, myself. Eh, that’s just me, though.”
“Need help with them? I and Mallet discussed before about this guy.” he said, tilting his head towards Fusebox.
“I want a… Techno-organic, transmetal, whatever you have. Something with a beast mode.”
“What did he say?” the guard asks.
Facelift nods.
“Can’t do techno-organic, sadly,” he says. “Too complicated, even for me. And even if I could do it, I don’t have what I’d need. I can get you a mechanical beast mode, though, no problem.”
He explained her about the conversations they had before they went mining on the asteroid and he found the dead body.
“OK. What do you have in stock?”
The guard nods, signaling that she understood. She signals her comrades to take the two mercenaries and get them to a medical bay.
“I’ll take it it’s best to keep them in separate rooms, then,” she quips.
“I’ve got everything I need to get you a new alt-mode and a few feet taller,” Facelift says. “But, uh, I’d need a schematic to work with. You got one for me?”
Thrift, the junkion in hangar thirty, sold all sorts of items that he had acquired during his travels. It was possible that a few alt-mode schematics were among his inventory.
@Toa_Vladin @meepinater @TheOnlyGuyWhoLikesMistika @ToaNoah_Wafflemeister @BlackBeltGamer98 @MaxinePrimal
Our heroes receive payment for their efforts in defending Salvation against the insecticon hive.
Blight, Delta, Gronius, Alterion, Redstocker, SideStep, the Splitter brothers, Ace, Roadkill, and Epsilon-5 each receive 500 shanix for successfully defending the Fleetcarrier. Zepar receives 900, the extra shanix being for resolving the conflict with the hive queen peacefully. Sprocket and Grommet pay Torchwing a total of 3,000 shanix for the discovery of the ancient ground bridge and stasis gallery and the data he had brought back.
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“Pretty much, tho I will be actually a little surprised if the first thing that they would do when they’ll see each other is to jump at the other’s throat.”
“Nnnoo… Tho I think I can get one.”