12116/On the Hunt Again

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On the Hunt Again
Date of Scene: 03 September 2020
Location: Nevada desert
Synopsis: Lockdown goes looking for Autobots. He finds them.
Cast of Characters: Lockdown, Blurr




Lockdown has posed:
The trip back and forth to Soundwave had been fairly short, but now Lockdown had a steady source of incoming in the form of scouting commissions. Talking to the Terrans would have to come later... and besides, he could sell that scouting information to the Terran government as well, to earn a bit of rapport.

Assuming, of course, Lockdown managed to find what they could not.

He had decided to start in Pennsylvania. The Tactician would remain hidden in the Pocono's for now while Lockdown himself would be going to key points on the planet to put down tracker amplifiers. He needed to trace Autobot signals on the planet... and Earth seemed to be the epicenter of the relays.

Not all that surprising, with how much activity and fuel was here.

Once placed in the mountains and hidden, Lockdown had started to head west... towards the midwest, his car form making the trip much quicker. He would be in Kansas in days.

Blurr has posed:
    The search wasn't quick, though it was perhaps not as long as he'd expected before it actually did produce a lead out in the deserts of Nevada. The transmission had to be from another one of those probes, similar to the one he'd seen in orbit earlier, except designed for terrestrial navigation. But its IFF signal was definitely very similar...

Lockdown has posed:
Nevada? The deserts make sense, at least. Time for a detour.

Lockdown turned in place, skidding just slightly as he did so in the outskirts of the town he was just about to enter, before taking off for the nearest highway towards Nevada.

Blurr has posed:
    Nevada is mostly covered in sand and mountains, and those flora and fauna that grow best in arid conditions. Knoll Mountain is located due east of Highway 93, where this probe most be roving about. It's a good thing Lockdown's alt mode is fairly good for handling rough terrain--though it could be worse.

Lockdown has posed:
Once Lockdown is as close as he can possible get to the mountain without going into robot mode, he suddenly veers off onto the desert sands, heading in that direction. Once he's out of visual range of the humans, the holomater avatar he was using for simulating a driver disappears as he burns fake rubber towards the signal.

Blurr has posed:
    The signs of Terran civilization fade away the farther he gets away from the highway, and the sun is beating down hard on the scorching hot sand. Not that it matters to Cybertronians, certainly Lockdown himself has endured worse conditions on other planets.

    Sure enough, he'd spot a small sky spy drone heading north through a barren mountain pass. Alt mode definitely won't do the trick here, he'll need to climb after it.

Lockdown has posed:
Once he was at a point that the alt mode just wasn't going to cut it, Lockdown transformed heading up the mountains, starting to climb himself.

Luckily for him, he had rough terrain utility gear integrated into his frame. Being a bounty hunter meant sometimes going to some seriously screwed places... including high in mountain ranges.

Of course, with his massive weight, the climbing hooks in his wrists were massive as well, and would leave some marks.

Blurr has posed:
    Lockdown wouldn't have much trouble at all climbing the mountains. These actually are far from the roughest he's seen. The drone whirrs as it floats through pass, the bounty hunter slowly but steadily tailing it.

    Finally, it comes to rest right above a small, rugged valley that actually has a few green shrubs in it, along with clusters of cactii growing out of the sand-covered ground. However, there does not appear to be anything else here...

Lockdown has posed:
A sky drone means something in the area is scouting the mountains. Which means something will be alerted if the drone is destroyed.

Hiding behind a rock formation, Lockdown pops out the signal tracer, beginning to work on finding out who is watching the drone watching the area.

Blurr has posed:
    There is certainly a signal, that much is for sure. However, without getting closer or actually connecting up to it, it is impossible to tell where the signal is coming from. The drone simply hovers there, as if waiting for something. Or someone...

Lockdown has posed:
Well, time to flush out the ants.

Or, in this case, Autobots.

Fully alert of potential traps, Lockdown climbs up and over, heading for the drone... but wary of ambushes as he moves to connect his tracer to the drone itself.

Blurr has posed:
    However, when Lockdown tries to jack into the drone, red light flashes.

    WARNING: SELF DESTRUCT ARMED. EXECUTION IN 10.00 BREEMS.

    Quite suddenly, there is the sound of jet engines approaching, and four Autobots--in fact, he'd probably recognize them as the ones he had followed to the station previously--swoop out of the sky and transforming, landing on top of the rocks around he valley. They have adopted Earth disguises now, their alt modes appearing to be US military craft. Well now he is effectively surrounded, if not surprised.

    The squad leader, presumably the one he'd spoken to, is a tall, white and grey mech. He smirks, probably finding it satisfying that the bounty hunter seems to have walked into their trap. "Well, well. I had a feeling we'd see each other again."

Lockdown has posed:
"I was wondering when poking the node would get your attention." Lockdown stands up, looking completely confident even as he's surrounded.

"So, how's it feel to know your incompetence has a Decepticon force in system now?" Lockdown inquires, casually. THAT debrief must have been fun to attend.

Slowly pacing back and forth, Lockdown just watches the group. "So what's the plan here, child? I realize that you're almost as glitched as Blurr is, but surely you don't think attacking me here is gonna make a difference."

Blurr has posed:
    The mech, whose name happens to be Vantage, although he hasn't said as much yet, just sneers at Lockdown. "It was going to happen sooner or later, so you can stop feeling good about yourself for having -personally- brought it about. But we're not here to discuss that. We're here to demand that you tell us where you've taken Blurr."

    At this, their weapons emerge from arm compartments as the entire squad turns its guns on him. "And you haven't got all solar cycle, as you can see." Vantage says, nodding toward the drone that has turned into a ticking bomb.

Lockdown has posed:
"/You/ personally lost any credibility to negotiate with me once you opened fire on my ship in orbit, Autobot." Lockdown casually mentions back to him.

Then, several things happen at once.

First, Lockdown twists his chassis around, both autocannon mounts on his arms popping out at once as he begins to lay down suppressing fire in the general direction of the Autobots.

Second, he dives to one side, going beyond the drone that is now a time bomb... and uses one foot to /slam/ it in the general direction of Vantage.

Moments later, his alt mode is engaged as he moves to land, and he's already taking off top speed towards someplace less open with more cover.

If he's gonna engage in a battle here against fliers, he's gonna need to bring the Tactician in, and he's gonna need places to dive into when they manage to get advantageous positioning.

Blurr has posed:
    Vantage laughs derisively. "Who said anything about -negotiating-? You're hardly in a position to--" And then Lockdown starts shooting, and kicks out at him. Having been caught off-guard, he is knocked into one of the surrounding mountains.

    However, the rest of his squad opens fire as well, after a few quick evasive maneuvers to avoid the suppression fire. Perhaps wisely enough, the other 3 had kept to the higher ground, perched on rocks that jutted out of the mountainside.

    "You can't win, glitch!" one of them shouts. "You're outnumbered -and- outgunned. Just because you think you're a walking armory doesn't make you invincible!"

Lockdown has posed:
The four can afford to banter, Lockdown can't. Even if he wanted to, since, you know, alt mode.

He's already dodging and weaving, looking for a cave for cover. Take away their agility in the air, and force them to come at him one at a time, and Lockdown may have a chance. As it is, there's too much firepower decentralized to dare stopping. Especially with the Tactician so far away.

Blurr has posed:
    Unfortunately, this particular valley is a small one. While there are crevices in the rock, none of them are large enough to fit even an average-sized Cybertronian, even in alt mode. And Lockdown has a few feet on that.

    He has managed to avoid getting absolutely destroyed thus far, but he won't be able to keep it up forever. And then there's the bomb. The timer has 4 breems left on it. The explosion would engulf the entire valley, at least. The squad's ability to fly gave them the advantage here--they could easily fly away in time, unless it went off unexpectedly..,

    However, it's not to say there isn't any cover at all. There are several rock formations. So he could attempt to use the drone bomb against them, or try to climb out of the valley and escape--though that would no doubt prove difficult, given they can fly and he can't.

    Vantage recovers himself, taking the air as well. "Come on now, is your prisoner so valuable that he's worth -dying- for?" he taunts, as his wings open up and fire a salvo of light missiles at the bounty hunter.

Lockdown has posed:
Nothing for it. The best chance he has is a distraction.

Luckily for him, Vantage gave Lockdown the perfect one.

Instead, of finding a cave, Lockdown instead looks for the best place in the area to shield himself against the bomb he's about to set off... and just before he enters the outcropping, transforms back into his robot mode.

"I could ask you the same." Lockdown quips back, before he aims both Autocannons at the bomb drone and FIRES, and doesn't stop firing until he manages to hit it and set it off, even as he strafes his way into cover.

Blurr has posed:
    "What are you talking about, we don't--" Vantage sees what Lockdown is trying to do, and curses, transforming and jetting out of there along with the rest of his squad. "This -isn't- over! We -will- find you again, scrapheap!"

    The explosion shakes the entire mountain, causing massive boulders to start tumbling down toward the valley in a massive cave-in.

Lockdown has posed:
It was a longshot at best, hoping that he could manage to climb out of the valley before the avalanche buried him in there. Now that it was all but confirmed he was about to be buried alive, nothing for it.

He found the best alcove he could find, and braced himself against it.

Time to wait for the rocks to finish falling.

Blurr has posed:
    As perhaps expected, the rocks tumble down on top of the alcove, but since Lockdown is a bit bigger and tougher than most Cybertronians, he actually doesn't take too much damage. Certainly if Vantage had been in the same situation, with that lighter frame he wouldn't have fared quite so well.

    At any rate, it might take him a while to get out, or he could summon the Tactician to use tractor beams to dig him out. But he's more or less in one piece. And one thing is certain: Whoever was in charge of this operation was still around. Somewhere...

Lockdown has posed:
TIme to bring the Tactician in for an in-depth scan.

The control pad is brought up. Despite the rockslide, there's a signal, and Lockdown can already see the locator signal that it's a few minutes out.

Switching to sensors, he begins to program in a macro for the tractor beams to hollow out a tunnel for Lockdown to get out of.

The drone was likely bait... but Lockdown had to be sure.