October 28, 2011
(Mercury Rapids)
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Perhaps it was ill fortune. Perhaps it was some sort of divine punishment from Primus, but there was a shuffle among the patrollees to compensate for an officer than had a rather... unpleasant accident involving large malfunctioning doors. Horizon leads the small patrol, seeming to carry the sour mood he'd been in the last few cycles, but is doing his best to not let it interfere with his patrol. As they come up to the Mercury river, he holds up a hand and instructs "Halt."
Chromia's mood is just as sour, and it would have probably been worse if Shark hadn't volunteered to tag along with her. Horizon is the last mech she wanted to be paired up with, especially after he had thrown her into the brig for a full week. She follows the command grudgingly, but not before kicking a giant pebble into the back of Horizon's thigh.
Shark had been following the larger mech, his scanners at maximum as were his sonar and radar. He comes to a stop beside him and peers around, "Something up?" he asks Horizon before glancing at Chromia after she kicked that pebble into the mech's leg. "Or should I retract that question right now?"
One wouldn't exactly need any high tech sensors when reaching the river, only optics and audials as a loud splashing is heard upstream. At the edge of the river Chimera kneels in her robot form, leaning out over the liquid metal while staring at it. A few cybertronian fish lay a fair distance from the water, a freshly caught one still flopping. Thankfully she's yet to notice the group, focusing on dinner.
With a great feat of patience, Horizon, despite his agitated mood, manages it ignore the sensation of something small pinging against his leg. Or rather, uses his will power just not to turn around and glower at Chromia. He studies the surrounding area and then glances over at Shark. "Yes..." Horizon says quietly as he points towards where Chimera is knelt by the river, and then signals them all to be silent. The area had been marked as one of the possible locations of the strange femme, and thus had gained a rank in the dangerous category. Horizon isn't too well pleased with actually finding anything on patrol, knowing that he is due for a lecture and demonstration in Iahex soon.
Chromia crouches down with her rifle, straining through the scope. "I've got 'er." She doesn't fire yet, though--not without Horizon's say-so, ironic as that may be. She has no wish to wind up back in the brig. "Waitin' for permission ta' fire."
Shark looks over toward where he points and ohs, "I could transform into my submersible alt mode and try to surprise her." he offers softly to the larger mech. "She knows me so maybe she won't fight me too hard." Big maybe there, but worth a shot.
Horizon narrows his optical visor as he stares at the beat-femme, and then goes to crouch behind some cover lest she notice them, and tilts his head at Shark. "Better not to risk it. Prepare for an ambush," he tells Shark, directing him towards some nearby boulders closer to the femme. He glances at Chromia, and then says "Don't hit anything vital. We want to bring it back alive. Conscious, however, is debatable."
Chromia takes the shot, aiming for the lower torso. "Down and out."
Chimera pauses for a moment from her fishing, looking up suddenly with stiff posture and twitching ears. Jade optics glow bright as she looks about, head tilting into the air to sniff. Immediatly she catches the scent of the three in her territory, though it's unknown to her whether they're Autobot, Decepticon, or Neutral.
She isn't about to take any chances though, tail swishing in anxiousness as she stands though a sudden shot ringing out makes her reflexively jump. Thankfully she dodges the bullet, literally. Attention turns to the point of the shot, sharp teeth bearing while she hisses ferally. "Coward scum! Face me!"
A crackle of green electricity charges up at her horns before traveling to her hand and arching out when she points in their direction, hoping to zap any of the hiding Bots.
Shark frowns a bit but nods to the mech, intoning softly, "Yes sir." moving around as quietly as he can to the boulders to set up there and wait for the cue to spring the ambush. He takes out his pistol and aims for a non-vital area like a knee or ankle. He pops up from hiding and smiles. "Heya Chimera." then takes his shot.
There is a hissed curse as Horizon receives the jolt from Chimera's attack. His hands had been grabbing for his gun, and the electricity caused his hands to contract, squeezing the gun with all the force his hands have, slightly distorting the barrel of his rifle. It takes a moment for his systems to unlock his hands and he drops the rifle to the floor, flexing his hands from the momentary stiffness. He glances over to Chromia, checking to see if she's badly harmed.
Chromia is smoking slightly from the seams, but she's okay--not that she'd tell Horizon if she wasn't. "Slag. I like 'er already." Shaking herself off, she sets her rifle back up and takes another shot.
Shark gets jolted pretty badly for his shot, but then he did get decently close to the femme. His teeth clench, gritting against each other as he waits for the residual electricity to pass. He checks his weapons systems and frowns, "All right, it's up close and personal then." he growls lowly as he runs at her, hoping she doesn't recharge quickly. A gamble, sure, but its the only option available at the moment.
Chimera hisses inwardly in pain as Shark's round pierces her knee before her electricity reaches him, staggering in her spot to stay upright. She croushes from the pain, trying to keep off her leg while unintentionally dodging another shot from Chromia.
She perks up in time though to spot Shark charging her, but doesn't actually react as fast as she wants. The mech barrels into her, making her crash to the ground hard from his impact. Chimera snarls loudly, scrambling on the ground and crouching again in attack mode. she actually bellows a threatening roar from deep in her chest at him, springing from her position to try and bite down on his shoulder.
Horizon brings out his pistol and trains it on Chimera for a while, but finally determines it's too risky to take the shot with Shark so close. He glances over at Chromia. "Chromia, move in closer and assist Shark; be as vicious as I know you can be, but remember this is a capture!" Horizon commands. He also stands up, gripping his backup pistol tight, and begins heading closer to the target.
Shark isn't deterred by that warning snarl, though that bite certainly has him pause for a moment before he hisses out, "I got some of those too Chimera. Want them in your neck? Then keep fighting me." He's trying to go for a hold on the femme while she has his shoulder in her mouth by using his arms and legs both.
Chimera snarls viciously through a mouthful of Shark shoulder, unable to let go fast enough when he suddenly embraces her, trying to hold the femme in place. "Let go!" Her voice is a bit muffled, struggling now like a wild beast to try and break the mech's grip.
Shark holds on desperately to the struggling femme and hisses softly as Chromia frees Chimera's teeth out of his shoulder. "Thanks. Now would you grab her legs and hold them." he asks the green femme.
Chimera still struggles against Shark holding onto her, but the bulk and strength of him is too much. And then of course Chromia has to come along an snap her head back, Chimera's teeth dragging along the armor as it's pulled back, creating deep grooves.
Unable to move body or head the femme feels defeated, though she continues to struggle every now and again with less force. Thankfully for the two Bots the beast had had low power all day from lack of food, so that electric burst was the last of her reserves.
Horizon finally approaches now that Chromia and Shark have her held in place. Looking her over, he can see that she is wearing out. He stands beside her and takes a length of energy rope out of subspace. "Help me tie her up, Shark, and CHromia, keep a good hold of her! She won't be going anywhere!"
Shark keeps hold as Chimera keeps struggling under him. "Give up already, I got you beat." he tells her, "I wasn't kidding about biting you back." The warning is clear as Chromia moves to assist him by taking the femmes' ankles and trying to pin them down. He shifts his legs to get his weight on her back and goes for Chimera's arms to pull them back toward him. "Working on it sir." he notes.
Chimera puffs in both anger and growing exhaustion, energon reserves flashing a warning over her processors. Though to be fair it was already doing that before she'd started fighting. But overall she cooperates despite trying to lock her joints so they can't move them. But this ultimately fails in the long run and the wild femme is quickly tied by the two mechs and held by the femme. "Damn you, Bots!" She hisses like a cornered cat, sounding like an aggressive cobra. If she'd just eaten before they arrived... she might have stood a chance.
Shark holds her hands firmly together so Horizon can bind them together, he remains on top of her until her feet are similarly bound. "Brought this on yourself Chimera by preying upon neutrals." he states seriously.
After checking and rechecking the tightness of the bindings, Horizon moves a few paces away to give him room to transform. His voice emits celarly, "Let us head back to base with due haste and get her properly penned up."
He gets up off the femme and moves around to grab her by her shoulders and tandem lift with Chromia to load her up on the mech. "Yes sir."
Chimera doesn't respond to Shark's words, only glaring daggers at the two while she's loaded up. First the Cons, now the Bots. She could only hope this faction will be a little nicer.