Roleplay

@Eclectic
ASDFGH again, sorry this is so late :'D
In case you need a quick recap on the gang, here's a link to everyone's bios!
I've also subbed!

---

"... Ey, Kick?"

"Hm?"

"Ya never did explain why ya thought it was a good idea'r t' drive straight int' a sand dune..."

Admittedly, there wasn't much else to do in the middle of a wasteland desert-canyon, other then skulk around in the caves. Some Cybertronians wouldn't even dare to leave the confines of such a secure hiding place, but sitting around in a cavern for cycles at a time, gets pretty boring after a while. Especially to a couple of rowdy brawlers like Kickbeat and Groundblazer.

The taller blue mech contemplated his answer for a long nano-second, before shrugging sheepishly. "... 'Cause it... seemed fun?"

His younger brother just barked out a laugh, giving Kickbeat a brotherly side-punch. "Jus' don't go runnin' t' Match, when Hook freaks out about ya trackin' dirt int' th' caves!"

The two laughed, bantering on about the Gang's medic. Following close behind them, were the other sibling pair, Counterstrike and Darkshift. They both rolled their optics at the brothers, who continued to cut up about Hookgear's overzealous cleaning habits.

"I don't understand how he can keep the med-cave clean at all," his sister stated, catching the flyer's attention. "It's all just dusty red rock," she chuckled gently. "You have to admire his effort, though."

Darkshift nodded absently, inhaling a heavy vent. He was honestly pretty glad to be out and away from the caves. Being underground was straining enough, but sometimes his family was a bit... smothering. He was a flyer—he needed some sky and clouds every now and again. Patrols like this were a great relief to him.

Well... he used the term "patrol," rather loosely. This was more of a spontaneous outing, that just so happened to follow their usual patrol route on the edge of the maze-like canyons.

Out here, they were nice and isolated. Far away from humans, and very far from any Autobots or Decepticons. Being a neutral group was sometimes such a pain... finding what little energon was left on this rock was tough enough. But having to fight for it, as well? It was becoming just plain ridiculous. But, the Rogues had little say in the matter... they couldn't even leave this planet. Unlike the 'Cons. They didn't have a ship. Didn't even have a groundbridge...

"You're awfully quiet today, Dark."

His sister's words quickly brought him out of his thoughts, and Darkshift shot her a squinty, knowing look. Counterstrike just grinned back at him, awaiting his explanation. The flyer held up his arm, a holographic screen emitting from a section on his forearm. It had a keyboard and a commlink system on it, which was currently addressed to his sister.

Just thinking a little more then usual, he wrote.

The femme opened up a similar commlink screen, reading the message. She grinned again, and looked back at him. "Dangerous practice. What about?"

Darkshift just shrugged in response, giving his sister a lazy, lopsided smile, as he closed up his holo-keyboard. He didn't really feel like typing right now... it was a pleasant day, and he sort of just wanted to walk the route, maybe fly a little more, and simply enjoy the sunshine.

Today just seemed so relaxed... as if nothing could go wrong.

((subbed too and no worries ^^' btw do you have a discord?))


Recon; what a brilliant idea to scout over an area that from all reports is literally a ginormous pile of finely grinded down rocks. There was no reported resources, spark signals, pit even the organics don’t live around here. As in, there’s nothing here.

And yet here he was.

Lazily cruising through the clear sky without even keeping an active comm link back to the Nemesis, he hardly bothered to scan the dirt planet below. Sand and more sand… hardly worth the time.

Primus, he had a job and it is certainly not to do some drone’s work. There's a reason vehicons exist, that's so the higher 'cons don't have to do everything themselves like the 'bots do.

It's just a useless scout mission of some dirt dunes, honestly Blackjack doubted anything can-

Why me?

Before anything is visual, what was online of his equipments detected signals. Spark signals.

Frame jolting from the surprise, he immediately swerved to the right to avoid directly approaching the signals, carefully veering in. There's actually signals here, how great. Might as well see, with no backup for miles and the other end probably seeing his signal as well.

Probably neutrals or somethin’, and I'm not a coward.

Weapon system boosting online automatically, the black and gold fighter jet cautiously approached and -

The moment he realizes how outnumbered he is -thered a flyer oh slag- the jet turned to flee.

Usually, the group had their signals masked in some way, but there had been a lull in Factioned activity for the past few planet-rotations, so the four had seen little need to waste energy on spark-cloaking devices.

Darkshift had protested the idea, of course, but the brothers had managed to talk him into it. There hasn't been anyone around in forever," Kickbeat had insisted that morining. "We'll be fine!"

He stopped dead in his tracks, systems suddenly blaring within his processor, warnings and scan results drowning out anything his comrades were talking about.

Unknown Spark signal detected. Seeker model.
Scanning faction designation....

Decepticon tag verified.

Everything in his systems locked up for a nano-second.

It had been quite some time, since they'd fought any 'Cons. Their previous encounter had been rather tame, in terms of combat and confrontation. They'd raided an energon mine, and only fought off low ranking Vehicon guards... the miners had surrendered almost immediately, so they had been able to get away without much trouble.

But this? This was a solitary signal—and it had been heading right for them, up until just now. It was turning, speeding off...

A scout. A scout who could report back, and give away their location. Yes, the report might be dismissed—neutrals were usually ignored by both Factions—but due their last raid, the warlord might be feeling vindictive.

Match wouldn't want to leave their fates up to chance, nor would he want to move on such short notice. Yes, the canyons were a maze, but flyers could map it out much quicker. And the 'Cons had plenty of scouts and Seekers.

Not realizing how far he'd lagged behind the group, Darkshift looked up to see his sister and the brothers had wandered quite a ways ahead. He revved his engines, catching their attention, before typing up a quick message.

Con Seeker, check your scanners. I'll chase it back here, you three wait and surprise it. Told you we shouldn't have turned off the cloaks.

Ignoring whatever reply Kickbeat inevitably had, the flyer quickly leapt up, shifting into his secondary form, and turning on his spark-cloak as he took to the air. He had never scanned an Earth vehicle—couldn't find one that would work with his make—but he was more then content with his Cybertronian build.

It got the job done, just fine.

It wasn't until his chaser wsd within range for heat signatures and such to detect that he realized he was being tailed. Damn it. A cybertronian model too, so the wistful hope of being chased by weak organics are gone.

Swearing creatively in his head while opening the panel to his sniper, the 'con released the gun from it's pod. Unlike his other two, this one can rotate and Blackjack had no intention of fighting his pursuit heads on. this is why we send drones…

Already swerving to get a better look on his follower, the moment he got a good look the sniper fired, a fast bolt straight at the others left wing. Wasn't his best moment of a shot, but it's not as if he carried a slag load of weapons on a recon.

Not even bothering to contact the Nemesis -they can track his last location if they want to- the seeker instead used it instead to boot up his afterburners and pull the speed up to a mach 2. Blackjack’d much prefer his cybertronian model but apparently it's 'not a good disguise’.

Taking another shot as the sniper finally reloaded, he made sure to do another agile maneuver. With enough time, he should be able to flee. That is if the chaser's by themselves... Primus he's never been religious but this would be a great time.

He'd caught up in no time, which was even more cause for concern. How had this Seeker gotten so close to them?!

Darkshift remained on the enemy's tail, keeping himself at a distance just for good measure. Seekers always had some kind of fancy weapon or gizmo hidden away. Upon spying a sleek, long range blaster, Darkshift knew this one was no different.

The shot to his wing grazed his armor, and Darkshift did all he could to not flinch. The second shot was sloppier, but he still had to bank away. Seeker was suddenly doing some semi-fancy flying, so he was probably reloading... Shifter could work with that.

He sped up, banking so he could try and pass the Seeker. This one looked like a somewhat bulkier model—which was kinda weird for a Seeker—so Darkshift figured he might be slower then usual...

If Dark could get around, he could possibly coracle the 'Con toward the ambush spot. Taking him head on was stupid—especially with that fancy sniper-blaster. Overwhelming him with speed might be his best tactic...

Revving his engines in challenge, Darkshift started pulling ahead, keeping an optic on that weapon. If Dark didn't shoot back, that might throw him off.

Here's hoping, anyway.

Why was the other so fast?

And why was he so slow?!

Stupid dense frame, if he had a lighter frame he’d have been able to take on a faster jet and he wouldn’t be here with some unknown neutral gaining up on him. Might as well use it to his advantage. He’s never having another ‘just a scouting’ assignment again, even if it takes pulling a couple favors.

Unhappily noting the other doesn’t seem to be damaged, he slotted the sniper away and waited a few more moments. When he was sure the chances of escaping the other through chasing and running won’t work, the mech finally give in and gave a sharp turn midair, thrusters ablaze.

Turning around to face the other directly, he estimated he should still be heavier and bulkier. Pit, Blackjack’s heavier than most fliers. Speeding as fast as he can go, the cover on his double gun barrels slipped open and fired rapid fire directly at whoever was chasing him. Just because no attacks are on him yet doesn't mean he's gonna give some peace or something. Besides... the more the moments dragged on the more he was suspicious.

Spark pounding in his chassis, Shifter found himself growing increasingly amused. He wouldn't admit it, but he missed this. It'd been ages since he'd faced off with a flyer that was worth the challenge.

He noticed the 'Con retracted the sniper-blaster. What was this 'Con planning...? Shift banked away, keeping his distance as he started to circle the other flyer. 'Cons were already unpredictable as it was, but Seekers? They were something else—he should know. When the enemy turned to face him, Dark quickly became nervous.

The 'Con suddenly shot towards him, a set of blasters going off, but Darkshift was quick to evade—but just barely. Several blasts nicked his upper armor, as he nose-dived to avoid colliding with the enemy. He straightened himself out, once he'd gotten out of the Seeker's crosshairs.

This 'Con was definitely agitated, now. That was surprisingly quick, even for a Seeker... the 'Con probably had a sore spot about his speed.

Dark could play that to his advantage...

If he were in his robot form, a truly wicked grin would've been plastered in his faceplate. Keeping up the pace, he quickly pulled up an open commlink feed, broadcasting it on a general wave. Seeker would receive this message weather he liked it or not.

Come on. You can do better. At least try to clip me, slow poke.

With his bait laid out, Darkshift preformed a tight loop—almost an arial somersault—just to show off and add fuel to the fire, before taking off back toward the canyons.

If all went well, he'd have an angry Seeker chasing him, right into a trap. Dark just hoped the others had come up with a plan for bringing him down...

Feeling at least some satisfaction when a few shots nicked the other, he was still ticked off that the other was basically playing with him. Like this was just some sort of game to them, although a small part of him whispered that he was being a complete hypocrite. Turning around after swooping in at the other, it didn’t take long for Blackjack to find the other jet again.

A beep sounded that signaled an arriving comm message. Who would-

How dare!


Engines making a sound that resembled to a growl or roar of a kind, the guns opened fire again as he didn’t waste time to think and this time he aimed much more carefully. Whatever weird background he had, he was still a seeker and this was simply a horrible insult to his pride most of all.

Now, if he was completely clear headed he’d have turned and ran but sometimes he get bored okay? And when he gets bored, he tend to take an unreported break and in his defense, he just happens to have a decent cube of high grade sub-spaced… Just a small cube doesn’t hurt.

Blasting another round of to aim at the rocks in attempt to landslide the other, through some risky shortcuts was slowly, somewhat gaining on the other. Just… need more time.

He heard the roar of Seeker engines, followed swiftly by blaster fire. He felt the heat from the blaster-bolts graze his left wing, which prompted him to speed up.

If he could, Darkshift would've been howling maniacally. This guy was fun to mess with! He might actually be a little sad, if his Gangmates offlined the Seeker...

No. When. Shift wasn't about to let him get away. And besides—Match wouldn't bother to keep a 'Con prisoner.

Banking down into the canyons, he kept up his pace. He caught sight of another round of blaster-blots, but they were aimed at the rockwall... sneaky Seeker was trying to slow him down! Clever.

He'd raced through these canyons too many times to count. Darkshift had an advantage with the territory, so... he had room to play along.

The jet heard a soft blip as he received a message from his sister.

Trying to blast him out of the air isn't going to work, if you two just speed by. I know it's risky Dark, but, try maneuver six, once you reach the spot. If you can keep him distracted and slow him down, I can get a better shot. If you can ground him, even better.

Oh. He'd practiced that one, yeah, but... looping back, transforming, and landing on an enemy was more then just risky. He'd only done it successfully about two times, and just barely.

If he crashed into the sheer rock ground, and exploded, he was going to haunt the everliving daylights out of Counter... and this Seeker, for that matter.



Counterstrike didn't usually work with anyone else but her brother, but, sometimes you've just gotta plan with what you have. And in her case, the femme had a couple of rowdy brothers...

The sniper had set herself up near the top of the canyon, hidden behind one of the outcrops. She dared to peek around, hearing the distant scream of jet engines. Blazer and Kickbeat were standing by, hidden on the canyon floor.

She just really hoped this was going to work...

Taking turns that were perhaps just a little wobbly and too sharp -as if the processor of the body was realizing he’s about to crash and pulling at the last moment- it affected some of his shots as well. Wasn’t as if Blackjack thought he was going to be in a chase.

Almost slowing down when the jet he was chasing was gone, it took his somewhat muddled processor a moment before suddenly realizing. Before he can swerve over, his body creaked when an extremely unwanted weight was upon him.

That’s MY move!!

If he was in his robot form he would’ve scowled and screeched, but instead the seeker instead recovered and started flying as fast as he can carrying another cybertronian around -slag- trying to throw the other off by swerving to fly upside down before he fragging crashed- If they were closer towards the ground he would’ve just transformed and easily use his superior weight to slam the other but currently, he didn’t want to risk being the one on the bottom.

The stinger on the of his jet right above his cockpit slipped out of its hidden place beneath the insignia, stabbing straight at the weight on his back. It wasn’t big per say, smaller than Blackjack’s palm but the moment he was sure it made contact the seeker was quick to fire rapid confusion and depression through the link it created.