12072/A Mysterious Signal

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A Mysterious Signal
Date of Scene: 23 August 2020
Location: Sullivan County, NY
Synopsis: Blurr's Terran friends help come to his rescue, only to run into Lockdown.
Cast of Characters: Blurr, Nightingale, Siryn, Lockdown, Pixie, Spider-Man




Blurr has posed:
    A strange signal has been broadcasting all over the obvious frequencies, coming from a forested area in Sullivan County several miles south of Bethel. The signal is filled with strange symbols that can't possibly be from anywhere on Earth.

    But there is a certain teenaged mutant girl who might actually at least recognize them, even if she can't exactly read them.

Nightingale has posed:
     When the mysterious signal jammed up her phone, Shannon might not have been able to read the message--but she did have a pretty fair idea as to who it might be from. There were only two she knew of directly that spoke that language. One was friendly. The other, well, they might be best termed as a more neutral party.

     And while she was no expert, this smacked of a distress signal.

     Her own lingual skills came to the fore as she practiced the finer points of several different Earth languages. "Miss Grey's not gonna like this one bit," she muttered to herself. This was bound to get her in trouble.

     Leaving a message for Jean and Scott, along with a dump of the signal from her device, she went looking for the nearest source of help she could find. "Theresa... ummm, well... how do you feel about maybe a little trip?" Pause. "...and very possibly running into at least one offworlder?"

Siryn has posed:
"What??" Oh god, she needs a drink. "Explain, quickly." Because, if there was one thing she did happen to know about, Shannon was going with her, or without her. Terry pulled her jacket on as she waited.

Lockdown has posed:
Meanwhile, in the forest itself, a two ton Cybertronian bounty hunter had been monitoring the area for a while. While his cruiser was doing auto-repairs using drones (thanks, Blurr) Lockdown was using a transport pod for scouting. With a small cloaking field, he could monitor the area for anyone responding to the signal.

Blurr was not his target... it was everyone else.

Blurr has posed:
    Lockdown would have no trouble locating the Autobot. He's in a smoking heap in the ditch off of one of those two-lane country backroads, apparently trapped in his alt mode and looking very much like he barely escaped death. Because he kind of did, let's be honest.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Long story short, this isn't the first time I've seen this language. And right now, there's only two I can think of who'd be broadcasting it. One is friendly. Met them last fall, they go by the name of Blurr." Pause. "They're non-organic, mechanical beings, an ancient race. They might not like this analogy, but basically, like giant robots. There have been various encounters on and off over the past year, but the last I heard from Blurr was about three months ago, with no contact from then till now. Which worries me."

     There is a more ominous pause as she lets this all sink in. "Unfortunately, the other I encountered around that time was... well, a little on the less friendly side of neutral. I'm not sure of their name, but..." She scratches the back of her head. "My big worry on this is that we could well be heading for a trap. And I am not in the least sure what to do on this one."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn had picked up the odd signal too, and while she didn't know as much about the mysterious 'visitors' as Shannon, she had had a run in with both before.

She has caught up with both Shannon and Terry as they left, frowning a bit. "Hey...Shan, is this what I think it is?" because somehow she always seemed to know everything about everyone.

Siryn has posed:
Two more days, and she can have a drink. But, wow, this?

Terry listened, and frowned. "Because isn't that always the way?" Laughing nervously, "Right. You've left a note? Let's go find out *if* you are correct." And figure it out in the way there. "Okay? Let's go." But she did scribble a note for James, saying she was with Shannon.

Spider-Man has posed:
Where's the Fantastic 4 when you need them? Probably off planet, having some fantastic adventure. Probably don't have problems paying their bills either. Peter was fiddling with some equipment, trying to make a few improvements to his Spider-Suit when he noticed strange signals. His reciever isn't the strongest in the world, but it was apparently tough enough to do the job. He's a Friendly Neighborhood Spider-man, but he's had Alien tussles before, and he doesn't need another giant space Ant or whatever wandering over to the ol' NYC and knocking over a few buildings. He's hopped in his beat up car and drove most of the way out. Getting what he determined was "Close enough" he parks it, puts the rest of his Spider-man costume... uniform on and grabs his camera. He may have to fight an alien, but he could probably sell some pictures of them too.

Blurr has posed:
    Lockdown might be watching for Autobot activity, presumably Blurr's allies coming to rescue him, but there is no such movement. No trace whatsoever of any other Autobots anywhere. Perhaps they view him as expendable, or perhaps they simply have a -lot- of confidence in his ability to survive on his own. Maybe the stakes are too high. Or maybe it's a bit of everything.

    However, there are some Terrans approaching, it seems. The country road is rather isolated at this time of night, but as they'd approach, everyone but Shannon and possibly Megan may be puzzled to find that there doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary here. At least not on the level that they may have been expecting thanks to the bizarre nature of the signal, or of stories told. It just looks like someone got in a wreck, and went off the road. Someone rich with a pretty fancy custom rig that looks akin to something Stark would own, sure--but that's not all -that- uncommon around these parts.

Nightingale has posed:
     "If you're thinking our alien robot friends from a few months back? Yeah, it's pretty likely them." Shannon frowns a bit, crossing her arms as she heads out with Pixie and Siryn en route to check out the source of the signal. "Which leaves us two possibilities. One, Blurr's in a bind and needs help. The second, I don't like one bit. We could be heading for a trap, if... damn it, what was his name... ah! Lockdown! I think Blurr called him Lockdown. Yeah, if he's involved, we could be heading for trouble."

     Turning to Theresa, Shannon nods, and sighs. "They're not gonna like this, but I did leave Miss Grey and Mr. Summers a note, along with a data dump of the signal. Let's hope we don't need the backup."

     LATER....

     As the trio approached the area the signal was supposed to have come from, Shannon hisses softly. "Frak. It's Blurr." She'd know that chassis anywhere. "And if he's that beat up... keep your heads on a swivel."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn blinks at Shannon and nods. "Sounds about right! But those signals, can you read em? Sounds like a distress call but which way do we go?"

She sighs. Oh great, the giant robots. Her powers don't work so well against them. Still, she follows after Shannon, not about to leave her alone. At least Theresa is with them this time.

And as they arrive to the area, she blinks slowly. "Uh oh..Dunno what I can do to help but.." hopefully Lockdown isn't here too and she glances around nervously. At the least, maybe she can port Blurr to safety..

Siryn has posed:
"Frak?" Siryn gives a look to Shannon. "We'll get back to this later. You know him? Her? It.." The country road was silent. This might be a bonus!

Lockdown has posed:
Just then, as Shannon and company start to get close to the wreck, a white male with a leather jacket and jeans with a goatee and dreadlocked hair steps out of the forest, directly in their path.

He stands there, armed crossed, his blue eyes watching them as his right hand come up in a 'come here' gesture.

Spider-Man has posed:
Spidey's been tinkering with the gear again. He's experimenting with a digital HUD built into the lenses of his suit. It...sort of works. It is currently just telling him "There are no bank robberies in progress in a 100 mile radius". Super. He turns it off and does a quick leap, flip and fires a web to a tree. He swings into another and just sort of hops tree to tree to get closer. It makes him miss the big buildings in the city, but he has to adapt. He pulls out a small transmitter as he gets closer, triangulating the signal best he can till he spies the wreck. It's just a car. He's going to /help/ obviously, but a lack of Alien Pictures is probably going to make his boss a little peeved.

He spies people entering the area and someone actually moves in their path. His gut tells him something doesn't add up. Either that, or that pizza was more than a couple hours old. He tries the magnification on the lenses to get a better view.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn narrows her eyes at the guy as he gestures towards them. Who is he and why's he here? "Um, is he a friend or foe? Guess there's only one way to find out!" and she slowly, cautiously approaches him. "Hey, Whi are you? Are you a friend of Blurr?"

Nightingale has posed:
     While Shannon did not recognize the man with the leather jacket and goatee, she -did- recall that Blurr had the capability to project a holographic 'avatar' of sorts. And if he could, then it stood to reason that so could...

     "Lockdown. I hope that's not him." Her voice is barely a whisper, the girl stopping dead in her tracks, one arm out to either side to halt her teammates. Lovely. It didn't rain, it poured.

     "Pixie!" Shannon hisses out. "Get back here!"

Blurr has posed:
    Indeed, it seems several other people have approached the scene. Yeah, there are definitely several things that don't add up here. It can't -just- be a wrecked car, the source of the signal had to be somewhere, right? Maybe it's inside. But if anyone tries to look into the vehicle, there doesn't appear to be anyone in there.

    Examining the man who has just appeared with those lenses would likely send off more alarm bells. He almost looks too perfect to be real...

Siryn has posed:
Megan. Ugh. "Not with that hand, he isn't." Which means Terry has to join in, as long as Megan continues.

Lockdown has posed:
"I don't have any friends around here yet." A baritone voice replies. He pauses a moment, considering, before he shrugs, "well, I suppose I have some potential friends, but nothing serious yet." Then, the man begins to walk over to the three, "Trust me when I say this girls, you do not want to get involved in this." The mans head cocks to indicate in the general direction of Blurr. "He's got himself in a whole mess of trouble. Entirely his own fault."

He narrows his eyes, "fair warning. If you get involved, you WILL get hurt over a war that he brought to your planet."

Spider-Man has posed:
Something is definitely up. Spidey squints, lenses humming softly as he "Zooms" in on them. Too perfect. He looks at the crew that is approching as well, thinking at least one of them looks familiar to him. Since something is not adding up, he slides down a bit and hops over to another tree, slowly getting closer so he can hop in to rescue if need be. Or, you know, pop in if someone makes some ironic statement. He still has "No one can save you now" on his Villain Cliche Bingo card, afterall.

Blurr has posed:
    If Peter's suit has any temperature scanning capabilities, they'd also inform him that the man doesn't have a thermal signature like a human's, either. Whatever he's made out of, it's not flesh.

    The signal is still going strong, and still appearing to come from the wrecked but seemingly abandoned vehicle.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Okay, so. What kind of trouble, and for love of Primus, tell me he's at least still functioning?" Shannon crosses her arms, not any too happy with this. She did -not- like leaving a friend in trouble, but also had a feeling she was missing a big piece of the puzzle here.

     So much for staying out of trouble. Warpath was going to have a field day coming up with new nicknames after this one.

Siryn has posed:
"Well," Terry's Irish brogue comes out to play. "We'd love to ignore him, except, you're on our turf now. And it's very impolite of you to threaten us. Now, if you would like to back the frag off, we certainly would be thankful." Terry doesn't look very 'thankful'. Not at all.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn isn't an idiot, even if she IS impulsive. But it's a fair guess that he could be either friend OR foe and really only one way to find out! Still, she pauses, staying a cautious distance away from the stranger, eyeing him warily.

"Oh yeah? so you DO know him then..What sort of trouble is he in?" she tenses slightly, looking ready to fight if need be.

Spider-Man has posed:
As it happens, there IS Thermal Imaging in the suit. One of the lenses, at least. He gets enough of a reading to realize something's going down. Also the signal's still going on, so, that means its probably Alien O'Clock! Ok, so he'll workshop that one. He's unsure if this guy is good or not, but with civvies in the way, there's no sense in taking risks. He does take a moment to set his camera to take pictures of the area, then fires a web at a tree, jumps from the one he's in, does a flip and lands Hero Style on the top of the empty, totally safe, broken car. "Careful," he tells the non-space-folk, "I'm pretty sure that dude isn't from here." He blinks behind his mask a moment, then adds, "Uh, here being this planet."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon's brows quirk as she spies a Spidey, lifting her chin in a brief up-nod. "Hello there. Yeah, we kind of got that idea. Also have a pretty fair idea where he's from." This was not someone she'd expected to see, but the more help the better at this point!

     Looking back at the one she suspects may well be Lockdown, she waits for some sort of an answer, hoping that answer didn't come at the end of a plasma cannon....

Lockdown has posed:
Without answering Shannon, the man turns around, regards Spider-Man, then looks to the car wreck. "You know, Autobot.... you talk a good bit of narrative about operational security, but then you broadcast all over the system for a distress signal. Did that re-entry slag your spark as well as your body?" The man turns then, and looks back to Shannon, "the program impaired slag brain blew himself up, then jumped off my ship and went through uncontrolled re-entry."

The man turns back to Blurr and begins walking over to Blurr, "And while we're on the subject of you being such a major glitch, why in the name of the All-Spark did you think any of the Autobots in this system were going to risk picking you up?" One 'finger' jabs at Blurr accusingly. Yes, the man is lecturing a 'wreck' "All you had to do was wait a day, instead, you nearly turned us both to scrap and attracted everyones attention. The Decepticons know you mechs have a major presence here now. What do you thinks gonna happen?" He huffs, "'Operational security'."

Blurr has posed:
    Lockdown would receive no response from the Autobot whatsoever. Had he even heard him? Or is he even aware of the bounty hunter's presence? That remains to be seen.

    However, when Peter jumped onto the crashed vehicle, he may notice something flickering in his peripheral vision, or it may have been picked up by the sensors in his suit. The glass in the windows is shattered everywhere, and there is a glint of something inside that can just make out from his position. Some kind of light is coming from the dashboard, blinking in and out.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Whoah, wait a sec. Time out here. Just how major a presence are we talking about?" There -had- to be some way of getting Blurr out of there, find some way to repair him, and... damn it, this was all snowballing way out of control. But in the meantime, maybe she could keep Lockdown talking for a few minutes, and hope to hell some bit of information proved cruicial. But Lockdown was no fool....

Siryn has posed:
Uncontrolled. Re-entry. Fuck, even she knew that was bad. Fuck this, she was getting a drink as soon as she got back. But for now..

"Megan. Shannon. You watch him." She had decided Blurr was a 'he'. "Me and Spiderman we'll take this one down."

At least she hoped to.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn blinks as Spiderman appears from his hiding spot, and lands on the crashed vehicle. "Spiderman!" well, the more help they can get, the better. But...What is that vehicle he's standing on..? Is it the remains of Blurr?

She glances back at the man..Or is he a hologram? She'd seen something similar in the cockpit of one or both of the robots last time they had met. Either way, Megan slowly edges towards Blurr, still keeping an eye on the strange man. She's not sure how to repair him, unless they could find someone like..Like Bean, maybe? Or maybe Bean's friend? But first and foremost, they need to get him away from Lockdown, and she needs to teleport him somewhere safe..

"Huh, okay..Soo he injured himself fleeing from you and re-entering the atmosphere from space?" She folds her arms. "Well, we're not here for a fight, we just wanna help our friend and leave."

Lockdown has posed:
"I wouldn't advise doing that. Right now, I'm the best shot at getting repairs he's got." The man turns back to Theresa, "I have the chamber and I actually offered to do it earlier after he blew himself up." The man gestures over his shoulder with a thumb, "You start trying to fight me, and I might just leave him there while I take care of YOU instead. He's not my contract anymore, but I will defend myself."

Spider-Man has posed:
"Oh," Spidey says when Shannon notes that they kind of knew already. "Bad aliens?" he asks, since she seems to know more than he does. It's about that time when the not-really-a-person starts talking to the car. Spidey thinks, for a moment, he's talking to him, but then it becomes obvious who he's addressing. "I don't think it can hear you. You know, because its a car. Oh wait, is the alien in it? Is it some space goo? Because I've had encounters with that, and they do not end well." He squints, catching the blinking and angles his head before he just looks in through the window to see what's shining, ready to leap aside if his Spider Sense tells him its a good idea.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Ummm... Terry, I would -not- suggest attacking him. Please. There's got to be a better way around this that is not going to involve leaving a friend behind." Shannon sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose and shaking her head. Was this how Mr. Summers and Miss Grey felt when she got herself into a scrape and he had to hear the AAR?

     Peering over at Spiderman, she shrugs, flicking her wings behind her. "I wouldn't call them -bad-. Even Lockdown was more... on his own side. Neutral."

     And speaking of the ancient bounty hunter in question, Shannon turns to him next, pursing her lips in thought. "Okay, so. He's no longer your contract. Then what /is/ your remaining involvement other than the damage to your ship? Is there any way to secure repairs for Blurr and maybe avoid some unpleasantness?"

Siryn has posed:
"I'm waiting. One more inch.." Terry nods to Shannon, but she has her 'ammno' up and ready to be spent, so to speak.

Blurr has posed:
    As Peter peers into the window, he would catch a clearer glimpse of the light on the dashboard. It definitely hadn't been there moments ago. At first, it just looks like more of those strange symbols he'd seen in the signal earlier, but they flicker and twist a few times until they actually resemble English letters:

    H E L P....H I D E

    The two words almost blend together before once again returning to a string of alien symbols. But, there they are.

Lockdown has posed:
"Didn't you hear me? I said the war was brought to your planet. By /him/." The man gestures to Blurr, "This whole system is a warzone now, because Blurr was a glitch brained idiot. For now, I'm just here for information that has nothing to do with Blurr, but I'm willing to give him repairs."

He shrugs, "I could have come out with my body and bought a lot more attention to this, but I'm trying to be /nice/ to you terrans."

Spider-Man has posed:
Honestly, Spidey's just glad she didn't say "Super duper evil" but now the waters are good and muddied up. "Right, well...uh...ok." What do you say to that? "I mean, I know a good mechanic in the City..." he tells Shannon as she inquires from the stranger about repairs. When he sees the Symbols change to words then back to symbols, he mutters "Kitt, is that you?" Before, hopping back a step. "I.. think I may be getting a clearer picture now." He glances back after a moment, "If you have to tell someone you're being nice, you probably aren't. Also, this is probably going to be a weird sentence, but please, if you can help this car, do it?" All the talk of "Wars" is making things feel a bit tense, but he doesn't want to ask "What War" just yet. Got to keep up appearances, afterall.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn frowns, folding her arms as she eyes the hologram. "Uh. Sooo, now you're offering to help your enemy..Just because the contract ran out?" she narrows her eyes, "Soo, why would you do that? Why not just leave him?" Megan glances to Shannon and nods.

"Yes, please. Let's just leave the past in the past. Like we said, we're just worried about our friend." Theresa is given a wary look. "It's okay, I'm sure we can sort this out peacefully?"

To Spiderman she just shrugs and smirks, "Heh, it's a long story, but yeah, that's the gist of it.

Oh wait, what was that? Megan glances warily at Lockdown as he talks about information. "Sooo..what kinda information are you looking for?" she has a nagging feeling it has something to do with that..Object that Shannon found..

Lockdown has posed:
After about thirty seconds as the avatar 'scratches' his cheek in thought, he clucks his 'tongue', "Tell you what. If it'll make you happy, I'll even let you see the process, so you can be sure your 'friend' isn't being slagged. You'd have to come onboard my ship, but I can bring it here."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon groans softly. The last time she'd been on a Cybertronian ship, it had resulted in one adventure she still spoke of to pretty much no-one. "And after he's repaired? What then?" Pure, simple, to the point. She wasn't sure how far she could trust Lockdown, but right now, it made sense--he was Blurr's best shot at regaining full functionality.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn sighs as her second question is not answered. But maybe they should consider themselves lucky that Lockdown is at least offering to repair him. Didn't Shannon just say he's more of a neutralish guy anyway? It would explain why he hadn't just blown them up when they'd got in between him and Blurr the last time. Maybe.

She bites her lip nervously, stepping towards Blurr, peering at him worriedly. She had seen the brief message and it made her frown. "Hey Blurr, you okay?" she leans a little closer to him, lowering her voice, hopefully Lockdown is busy talking to the others. "Hide what? You? Or..Something else?" and that has her a bit worried.

Glancing back at Shannon and Theresa, she shrugs. "Umm, he's probably the only one who has the means and know-how TO fix him. Besides, you know I've always got your backs." she winks, hoping they get her drift. It's something she often says when she means to teleport them to safety if need be.

Lockdown has posed:
"You can leave with him. The Autobot thinks of me as his enemy because I take jobs from the Decepticons. With the war going on, both empires hate anyone who associates with the other. It's all been going on for so long they've all forgotten what peace looks like. I'm one of the few who remembers Cybertron before it was ruined by their stupidity."

Then, he turns around, and looks into the sky. "I just called it. It'll be here in about five minutes."

Blurr has posed:
    At this point in the conversation, Shannon's phone would begin going off again. If she'd have a look at it, the message is a bit jumbled and confusing but one thing is clear: Blurr does -not- trust Lockdown one bit, and he'd be slagged before he'd let the bounty hunter attempt to repair him. So it does seem he is in fact still alive and also aware of the situation...

    The scary thing is--she can't be sure if he can actually do that to himself or not. And based on what Lockdown said about his prior behavior, it certainly seems likely that he isn't bluffing about it.

Siryn has posed:
"Excuse me? I should think not. Do I look like a student? No. I am responsible for you two, and that means we don't go up. Regardless of how exciting this may be." Good grief. She hadn't started teaching yet, and was going to throw her job out the window. Where was that drink. Oi!

Blurr has posed:
    At Megan's questions, the message on the dashboard changes. Now it says "Get me out of here."

    Yeah he refused it before. And he's refusing it now, too.

Nightingale has posed:
     Okay, that was at least twice, possibly three times Shannon's questions to Lockdown had been completely glossed over. That did not exactly scream trustworthiness in her book. Not only that, but her phone was doing its buzzing dance in her little brown leather bag. While Lockdown is looking into the sky, she takes a quick look at her phone and frowns deeply, moving over towards Blurr as if to check him out for herself, with a discreet gesture towards Terry. "You've got our backs, huh, Pixie?"

     Smiling over at Terry, she just keeps it oh so prim and proper. "Been up once already. That's enough for me, thanks. No plans on going today." One hand rests on Blurr's hood in a familiar gesture. Friends stick together.

Siryn has posed:
Terry arms (god help us) curl up on opposite sides of her hips, "Thank the god lord." She nods suspecting an alternative plan.

Lockdown has posed:
"Who said anything about going to space?" The man looks over to Shannon, "I was just going to park it just above and let you watch the process, but suit yourself. Well, I'll have to set the beacon. Just a moment."

As he finishes speaking, the 'avatar' suddenly disappears. Then, there's a sudden sound of trees being knocked over and crashing just within the forest. In twenty seconds, out of the forest comes the gigantic true form of Lockdown in his mech mode. His red eyes start scanning those around, even as his two ton and a half chassis creates small craters where he walks. As he speaks, there's a grating metallic sound to it, "He's got a lot of damage. It'll probably be a half day at least in the repair chamber for him."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn bites her lip, glancing between Theresa and Shannon. Oh, she can understand Terry's wariness on the subject, and to hear that Shannon's already been there. "Alright then, you guys..Blurr's probably pretty nervous right now, why dont y'all come over here and help me reassure him."

Megan nods slowly to Shannon and Theresea, hiding partially behind Blurr as she continues to check in on him. Oh yes, she's noticed the messages popping up on Blurr's screen. He definitely doesn't trust this guy, but..

"You're right..Friends stick together." another wink. to the both of them. Let's just hope they trust her on this. And once they're into position, she'll rest a hand on Blurr, murmuring to him, "Trust me on this.." a nod is given to her fellow friends and she lifts her other hand to the sky. "Sorry, Lockdown, but I dont think any of us trust you enough for that. No offense, but we can't afford to get targets painted on our backs either."

She closes her eyes as she focuses on a secret destination she has in mind, a hopefully 'safe' destination, although it's a bit further than the usual, and will take considerable concentration on her part. "Sihal Novarum..Chinoth!"

A column of pink light surrounds the four of them..And an instant later, they're gone.

Lockdown has posed:
"And now The glitched brain dragged terrans into the war when he's one servo break from stasis lock, and he calls ME untrustworthy." Lockdown speaks to no one in particular.

Then, he brings up his control pad. He beacon is taken out and set.

They have no idea how to fix Blurr, and with Blurr in Terran hands now, he might even manage to get some acivity out of the Autobot presence in the area to keep technology out of terran hands... with the distress signal gone, he'll just have to hope to get lucky for his commission.

Just another day in the mercenary business.