11547/A New Contract

A New Contract
Date of Scene:	25 May 2020
Location:	British Columbia
Synopsis:	Lockdown finally hunts down his target...but is he too late?
Cast of Characters:	Blurr, Lockdown

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Blurr has posed:
    Zoom zoom zoom! Just like that old Mazda commercial. Blurr is blasting his way through the southern parts Garibaldi Park of British Columbia. Out here, away from most human civilization, he is enjoying a stint of empty road, knocking down trees and cracking rock formations as he passes by at the speed of sound.

    Still though, he does make an effort not to leave massive boulders blocking the highway, since he knows Terrans need those! And he has, oddly enough, actually gained an appreciation for the fleshbags ever since befriending some of them lately.

Lockdown has posed:
Being out in the open also means that visual sensors are able to easily confirm Blurr's location. He's been prepping for this for the better part of a day in the armory, doing modifications to his chassis to better duel the Autobot. It's around the point that he cracks yet another tree in half that the telltake sound of a pod firing can be heard. There's nothing at first... but soon, the unmistakable visual of a heated atmospheric entry can be seen from above, heading to the road directly ahead.

It's very similiar to the other pod Lockdown came down in, during the initial skirmish....

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr saw that pod coming down from miles away. He speeds up toward a fork in the road that is sandwiched between two large outcroppings that jut out above it. The sonic booms slam into the rocks, causing several large boulders to come tumbling down onto the intersection. Hopefully this will buy him some more time, as he swerves sharply onto the path that would take him -away- from the direction the pod is coming.

    Even as the rocks fall everywhere, he transforms and vaults over and through them, twisting in the air before landing and transforming back to vehicle mode again before hitting the ground.

Lockdown has posed:
*BOOM!*

The shockwave is pretty easy to see at this distance, as is the crater the pod made. Out of it comes a car mode Lockdown, who is already heading in Blurr's direction. Behind him, the assault pod that brought him down autopilots it's way back up to the Tacticians ship, to be taken by tractor beams and reused later.

Lockdown is back on Earth... and Blurr is once again being chased across it. Seems like the bounty hunter has a new contract.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr doesn't get a chance to see where exactly the pod touched down, but he's not too concerned about it, either. He is, however, fully expecting Lockdown to come tearing after him very shortly. Well at least now there is a pile of rock between him and the bounty hunter. Not that it'll keep him back for long, but every astrosecond matters, at least for someone as fast as Blurr.

Lockdown has posed:
Then, the rock wall is caught up to...

Behind Blurr, he can hear the unmistakable sounds of massive bombs being exploded, with debris flying *everywhere* as the path is 'cleared'.

It takes about twenty seconds to clear it all, which gives Blurr plenty of time to continue running.... of course, Lockdown is right behind him, and his muscle car is almost as fast as Blurr is.

Not quite there, but it's close.

It's a chase across the planet, then.

Blurr has posed:
    Yep, there he is. Blurr catches sight of Lockdown's alt mode on his sensor arrays, coming up behind him. He could lead him on a wild chase across the entire planet until they both run out of fuel causing all sorts of collateral damage, but that would accomplish nothing.

    No, he needs to either run him into a trap or convince him to give up. Or both...

    Suddenly, the Autobot veers off of the road, transforming to his biped form to better traverse the rougher terrain. Maneuvering deftly between clusters of trees and rock formations, he starts to head for the mountain.

Lockdown has posed:
Lockdown... is right behind him. Only he's using speed to ramp over what he can, taking the hits to try to catch up.

There comes a point where it's just too much though, and Lockdown transforms midair, coming into his robot mode... and that autocannon begins to take pot shots at Blurr from behind.

Well, not *at* him, but around him. He's trying to trip up the Autobot as he goes.

Lockdown has all the time in the world after all... as long as Blurr is kept on Earth and the data wasn't transmitted, there is absolutely no rush for this contract.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr jumps and somersaults around obstacles, using his superior agility to try to avoid them and the potshots that keep kicking up the ground around him. He's headed for a large cavern at the base of the mountain, something that popped up on scans. It appears to be slightly below sea level as well, and deep within the heart of the structure. And if the scan data is right, they should both barely fit into the tunnels leading there in their vehicle forms. Not side by side, but one behind the other...

Lockdown has posed:
Yeah, that's a trap and he knows it. He might not have prepped it yet, but there's no way he's gonna chance that.

His aim goes from the ground, to the cave entry... and he starts to fire the auto cannon in a continuous stream. High Explosive shells slam into the area around the entrance in a rapid fire fashion as Lockdown tries to collapse it before Blurr can get there.

So much for the bait.

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr watches as the entrance to the cave is peppered with autocannon fire from Lockdown, unfortunately collapsing it -just- before he can dive in.

    Indeed, to add insult to injury, he was just -too- close. The rockslide the bounty hunter caused results in a massive boulder falling down the mountainside and catching the Autobot in the left foot to effectively pin him down.

    "Ugh!" he grunts as he is jerked back when he tries to dash away. It seems his attempts to trap Lockdown had backfired...and now the bounty hunter need only move in for the kill. Or...whatever it was he had planned.

Lockdown has posed:
With Blurr pinned, Lockdown... does not aim that autocannon right for his head. Instead. The autocannon retracts and the other arm's secondary mount comes out; an ion blaster.

it's aimed right for Blurr's legs.

"My client was not pleased you switched the data for useless junk, Blurr. I have another contract to retrieve it. Not just the data chip." Lockdown narrows his visual receptors at Blurr, "where is it?"

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr doesn't appear fazed by the ion blaster, instead he just smirks up at Lockdown when the bounty hunter demands the location of the data slug. See, now he doesn't have any human hostages to threaten.

    "If you think I would just tell you, you're even more of a glitchead than I thought. Besides, you're too late. I already completed my mission." But how could that be? If he has not left the planet...is he bluffing? If they had decided to use a subspace transmission after all, surely Soundwave would have known...

Lockdown has posed:
"Worth a try. I know you children are always looking to impress the adults. It'd be amusing if it wasn't killing us all." Lockdown grunts, the ion blaster is kept aimed. Instead, Lockdown pulls out a verifier from a utility compartment, beginning to run it over Blurr.

If Blurr has any data slugs, that device will find it.

Blurr has posed:
    Sure, Blurr has some data slugs on him. But, whether any of them contain the information he's looking for or not is another question.

    "Ha! You accuse -us- of killing everyone, yet you willingly carry out the desires of the Decepticons for a few -shanix-. They're just as much to blame for the mess our homeworld is in, if not -more-! Can't forget, -they're- the ones who betrayed -us-."

    The Autobot glares up at Lockdown now. "You might as well be one of them."

Lockdown has posed:
"Don't get your accusations mixed up, child. I'm accusing both the Decepticons *and* you Autobots. Far as I'm concerned, you're all slag brained idiots who refuse to compromise and think long term." Lockdown grunts as he starts to pull data slugs from Blurr's chassis. "I never joined with the Decepticons officially, and I never will."

As he pulls the slug and starts to examine it, he continues, "Getting caught up in all the pettiness is the Cybertronian speciality these last few million cycles, I grant you."

Blurr has posed:
    "And yet here you are, doing their -dirty- work for them just so you can line your accounts with shanix!" Blurr scoffs, even as Lockdown starts pulling out everything he has in the way of data drives. "You're the biggest hypocrite since Megatron."

    "I told you, you're -too- late. You can take everything if you want, rip me to pieces if you want. The deed is done."

Lockdown has posed:
"I have to eat somehow, Blurr." Lockdown points out as he continues to examine dataslugs, "You both keep fighting despite it all, like petty children. If I were a hypocrite, I would have joined either faction eons ago."

Another is taken, and examined, "Care to tell me what your mission was?"

Blurr has posed:
    "Yeah, that's not obvious at all." Blurr remarks dryly. "Of course, it's not as if there aren't millions of -other- ways to make a living in this galaxy." Again with the sarcasm.

    "You really are a full-fledged glitched diode aren't you? You'd be extracting the intel from my dead memory cortex before you'd be getting -anything- of the sort from me!" he says defiantly.

Lockdown has posed:
"Worth a try." Lockdown notes, again. Another dataslug down. "Honestly, I'm just as happy working for the Autobots, but you're all stubborn fools who refuse to see the universe as anything but your own way. The Decepticons aren't much better, but at least they don't pretend to be all high and mighty."

"Blurr, I want the data. Do I need to actually slag your chassis and do a forced memory dump for this? I'd rather not, but you're not giving me much choice."

Blurr has posed:
    "Oh they don't, do they? Ha! Hahaaha is that what you think?" Blurr laughs derisively. "If Megatron didn't fully believe in his own moral superiority over us, then he wouldn't have justified the mass genocide he's committed! Or the innocent mechs he killed at those disgusting gladiator matches in Kaon! Or even the cruel way he treats his -own- slagging soldiers! You're deaf and blind if you think they're any less of hypocrites than we are!"

    The last data slug is examined, and it appears to be empty just like all the others. The speedster sneers. "You could do that, but you wouldn't find a thing. I never uploaded anything to my own memory banks, or even looked at the intel myself. I didn't need to, because I can actually -trust- my superiors. And like I told you, you're too -late-. I already passed the intel to my contacts."

Lockdown has posed:
"Blurr, Blurr..." One of his metallic feet presses against Blurr's chest, "I'm going to need that data. No one has left the planet, and there have been no subspace transmissions. This is a contract, so I'm here for the duration." He leans forward, that ion blaster going under Blurr's chin, "As before, my reputation is at stake here. Point me in the right direction, and I'll even help pull you out of this mess and leave you be."

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr smirks, despite the foot on his chassis and the blaster under his chin. "Heh, yeah. That you know of, anyway." he replies vaguely. "You can grill me all you want, even kill me. But it won't do you any good. You wanna protect your reputation I suggest you get rid of your client before he can start blaming anything on you."

    "That is, if Megatron doesn't end up handling that part for you. I gather the reason you're here is because that coward Rossum is scared for his own aft. He hasn't told anyone yet, he's buying himself time while you're out here. If he'd let on that the Foundry had been compromised, his superiors would've sent an entire unit to this planet already."

Lockdown has posed:
There's a long pause as Lockdown regards Blurr. Blurr can practically hear the gears whirring in that sparked Cybertronian chassis. Then, those red eyes narrow just slightly, "Regardless of whether any of that is true, you know as well as I do that any Decepticon units sent here would just turn this planet into slag trying to find you. They won't have as much *restraint* as I do."

He leans forward, the gun retracted and replaced with the hand sickle, which is brought right up to Blurr's throat, "It's in your best interest to give me a clue where it is so the organics here don't suffer from the war."

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr laughs, scoffing at the threat even as Lockdown's sickle is held up against his neck. Does this merc think he hasn't seen worse? Been through worse? "Ha! Stop pretending as if you -actually- care about the Terrans! Pff! 'Best interests'. You bounty hunters don't understand, do you? You just look out for yourselves and your own shanix! You'd crack as soon as anyone threatened you or your -personal- reputation. But -I'm- a soldier, Lockdown. A soldier is ready to die for his cause."

    "The Decepticons won't come here unless Rossum gives up on you--and on his own life. You need to get rid of him if you want to preserve YOUR own best interests, mech. That precious reputation of yours. I'll even help you. You cause a diversion, and I'll take him out. They'll never know you had anything to do with it!"

Lockdown has posed:
"Believe it or not, I've got no interest in the galaxy burning between Optimus and Megatron. There's a reason I never officially joined any sides. Turning the galaxy against us is just one of the many reasons this petty war has to end."

Then, Lockdown just sighs, his left hand coming up and pressing a button on his chassis. Slowly but surely, the sounds of Cybertronian engines can be heard coming closer; Blurr can easily recognize the work of Cybertronian cloaking technology. "Looks like we're doing this the hard way."

Blurr has posed:
    Blurr shrugs. "Well you're not doing yourself any favors." he tells him. "Because I'm -not- telling you any more than what I've already told you. There's simply nothing more to tell. The job is done. That's it. Unless you want to try storming an Autobot fortress alone, there's nothing else you can do other than prevent your client from spreading the news of your -failure- to the rest of his people--that is, before he gets ripped to shreds by their 'justice' division."

Lockdown has posed:
"We'll see about that." Lockdown growls out; challenge accepted?

As the Tactician hovers overhead, another button is pressed, and an electronet capture pod is launched from the bottom of the ship, right at Blurr. Lockdown steps off Blurr just in time for the net to take the Autobot and subdue him.

As he walks away towards the slowly descending exfiltration hook, Lockdown grumbles to himself, "It's jobs like these that make me want to slag myself. Bunch of self-righteous sparks."

Blurr has posed:
    "Yeah, yeah you definitely -will- see about that!" Blurr taunts even as the net comes down like a hunting trap on an animal. "And you're going to see that I'm -right!-!"