re_alignment_logs | Ace of Swords: OPEN TO ALL

WHO: Luxord, people who happen upon him
WHERE: The Junkyard
WHEN: First day of the monsters attacking
WHAT: KILLIN BEASTIES BEIN BADASS
WARNINGS: violence and verbosity?

When the warning goes out, he simply smiles.

"A challenge, is it?"

As for Trion's request, well, he never minded doing recon. Always an important part of keeping everything running smoothly.

Ever a pawn, eh? Never a knight, nor bishop.

He was at peace with this.

He stepped into shadow and out again into the strange not-light of the junkyard wasteland, shuffling his cards. There below were the seething masses of beasts. It amused him that so many of the others here instantly assumed that he was helpless, simply because of his size, or the species they assumed he belonged to. He did not answer any of their calls, or choose to work with them; when it came to war, he preferred to fight it solitaire.

He spread his cards, fanning them out, a set in each hand, and then dove into the fray, flinging them like throwing knives. As they flew through the air, they changed size, becoming nearly as large as he was and gaining a razor-sharp edge, neatly splintering a few of the weaker monsters into confetti. He spun, and with another card trapped one of the larger nasties in a Stop spell before turning his attention back to the mooks.

"Clear out the pawns, then take the Queen," he murmured.

Threaded | Top-Level Comments Only

McCrane had his own orders, of a sort--monsters needed to be directed toward the coordinates where they could set up the Max Cannon, and fire it. They'd be able to take out multiple targets, at once.

That made his job difficult, but he liked when it was difficult. He got to think. He got to fulfill his function. In the midst of combat, his strengths could shine.

It was what he'd been made for, after all.

He'd always wondered on it, especially with the more recent prohibitions regarding military robots possessing SUPER AI as he did. When other robots with the programming were built to fight, they became aggressive. He had not.

Granted, he preferred to consider every option before he acted, and he knew that doing so curbed some of his darker desires, but he still thought on them, nonetheless.

He thought on them, now, as he took aim to scare a monster, and found the human with the trenchcoat showing up inside his crosshairs.

Luxord?

Luxord was here?

Luxord was fighting.

More curious than not, McCrane switched his tactics, and shot off in another direction instead, moving to approach. "This can't be normal, where you're from," he stated, simply, and pumped the barrel of his shotgun to set in the next slug.

He'd actually started to get a little fanciful, at one point setting up a guillotine made of cards with a snap, at another a dragon. For the most part though, he was all business. Quickly, he raised a shield to push back one group, while sending out another card to attack one assaulting him from behind.

"I'll be honest," he said, snapping the shield back and putting it into offensive mode. "It's not. There's only thirteen as talented as I, and even I'm unique among that bunch. Not the most powerful, to be certain, but, I like to think..."

He spread his hands, then brought them together. As he did, his deck cut, slid together, and then executed a 'waterfall' shuffle... as the monsters were tangled inside it.

"... one of the more creative."

The question that was answered hadn't been expected, but it had been informative. This man was one of a small group of people, and that small group of people were capable of defeating large numbers of monsters. So capable, in fact, that Luxord seemed to be enjoying himself.

"And you do this on a regular basis?" he wondered, out loud, noting the almost elegant sweep of the human's wrist motions. If these attacks were normal on his world, then it was no wonder he'd seemed confident at their first meeting.

That, or there was something else to it. "Are you biologically modified?"

He changed his targeting, letting Luxord take care of one group of monsters while he continue 'herding' another, using his shots to distract.

"I am what I am," he said, cryptically. Luxord was almost done with his own group of beasties, shredding one and clipping the claws and teeth of another. "Or, more precisely, I am not as I was."

"I did have to do this regularly though, yes," he said. "My world was fraught with shadows, and it was my place to fight them off."

No need to say why. No need to explain. Let the other assume he's a hero.

Raf made a mental note; stick closer to his robot friends. Mainly because he'd gotten separated from Ratchet, and was currently being reminded of how utterly useless he was in a fight. At school, whenever someone had tried to start one, he'd always chose the option of getting help or simply avoiding it.

Right now, though, option two involved 'hide under some debris, and ping Ratchet on your Device until he arrived'.

There were some sounds overheard, what sounded like combat - if nothing else, maybe someone else was fighting them off? Slowly, he peeked out from his shelter, trying to get a glimpse.

And was that...a person?

"Scatter!"

Luxord was actually getting a bit tired. It was still fun, but after about seven groups even a Nobody could get a little worn thin, especially since he still hadn't found a single Potion or Cure spell. Even so... with this group he was down to just two, a smaller, vicious thing with a whiptail, and a huge behemoth.

"Stop!"

Too big to actually put into a card, but not strong enough to resist his command of Time. The behemoth froze in its tracks. Luxord spun and neatly decapitated the whiptailed thing, then set to work slicing up the behemoth. It wouldn't actually show the damage till the spell wore off, but...

... and so set was he on ripping up that behemoth that he didn't notice a second whiptail behind him. It speared him in the shoulder; with a cry, he fanned his cards and sliced off the offending limb, then broke the barbed point off. With another flourish he sliced it clean in half... only to be viciously knocked off his feet by the unfrozen corpse of the behemoth.

He fell off the edge of the pile of junk he'd been fighting on, tumbled down a few feet, and landed, unconscious, near Raf's hiding place.

At least the monsters were dead.

That may have been a person, but they were doing things that were above and beyond anything Raf had even seen a Cybertronian do.

He started in surprise at the spike hitting him, wincing in sympathy; when it didn't slow him down Raf began to relax, but then-

Then the man simply fell.

Raf hesitated only a second, and then he was skittering out. "H-hey! Are you all right?!"

He barely knew any first aid, what was he supposed to do-well, at least he could. Try and stop the bleeding?

"hnng?"

Luxord wasn't doing so well. Everything hurt, really.

"Think I've a concussion," he managed. "Shouldn't take the big ones alone. Foolish."

His blood was turning black around the edges already. Problematic...

He was too big for Raf to drag back in his shelter. But- maybe he could do something? Anything?

"I've got a friend who's on his way - he's a medic. He can help you. Just...hold on, okay......?"

Black caught his attention.

"...what the?"

He reached for it, slowly. Was that...oh, that was not good. Blood wasn't supposed to be that color.

"Please don't touch that," he said. Enough consciousness to do that. "Just don't."

His friend was coming. Great. "Does your friend know magic?"

Raf pulled his hand back as if it'd burned him. "Ah- okay." He could take a hint. It may not have been energon, but...it could be just as dangerous.

"...no, but he's a really good doctor?" Maybe he should try calling for Korra, instead, if she wasn't busy...she was the closest thing to magic he knew of.

Assuming Ratchet couldn't help. There...had to be a way. Right?

"Just get someone, if you would," he sighed. Everything was heavy. He hoped this wasn't the end, here he'd thought he'd just escaped that.

Did someone call for a doctor? Because the doctor is (finally) in!

Ratchet drives in, smashing a beast or two with his alt mode before swerving in and flipping into his bipedal mode. Even in this form, he hunches over the two organics below him, protecting them as best as he can from the approaching monsters.

"Raf. If I switch back to my alt, will you be able to get him into my trunk?"

It's a very slim hope, a question asked just in case, but without much chance of a good answer. He knows that Raf isn't very strong, and that Luxord is the size of an adult male. Still... if he's perhaps strong enough to drag himself over, that might help.

Otherwise, things might have to get a bit... barbaric.

Luxord tries to stand, but it doesn't go so well. He ends up faceplanting, and then proceeds to black out again.

That black stuff that his blood seems to be turning into has now started turning to some kind of smoke. Oddly, it smells faintly of ozone.

Ace of Swords: OPEN TO ALL

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I AM A TERRIBLE LATEY LATE LATE LATE

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