South of Ayers RockA billow of dust and dirt, mixed with a hefty serving of ash and rock, raced south towards the last recorded signal of the viridian patch transmitter that had been placed during the initial stages of the Peruvian assignment. Nova Strike had been concerned with the yellow minibot's state of mind when he had planted the device on the inside left shoulder so it blinded in with the black gear protective sheath. It allowed him to track the smaller Autobot through a great many disruptions and even depths. Given the events that had transpired, Bumblebee falling into the depths of the human mine, Nova Strike had been sure that the covert installation of the patch was well worth the risk. He had also anticipated that, as had Prowl, the geological make up of the valley made scanning beneath a certain depth almost impossible with standard instruments. Even with the Ranger's expansive sensor package he had deemed the disturbances as a relative pain in the aft.
So when the distress call had been received and the region around the initial signal had been lost, Nova had been able to triangulate the probable location of the signal and use the radiation from the patch to further hone in on the small scout's location. Thus the ranger had sped off from the advance up the mountain. Knowing the traumas the yellow spy had endured only furthered his expenditure of fuel as he lanced from his position towards the south.
Arrows of dark energy began to rain down from the summit and impact the ground around him as he drove. His engine was redlining as he swerved and avoided impact after concussive impact, though shards of stone and glass carved into his armor with surprising ease. He served to his left as his tactical sensor picked up a burst of negative energies lance through a formation of Decepticon fliers, who's signatures bared little note. It impacted within a few inches of his rear passenger quarter, causing him to spin violently almost out of control... and straight into a shallow ditch that had been freshly carved from the sandstone. Thus Nova Strike came to a crunching halt upon its furthest bank, his driver side windshield shattering upon impact forcing his armor plates typically used for his secondary combat form to rise to take its place.
Nova immediately cut his nearly overheated engine and shunted as much coolant as he had remaining into the emergency channels that interlaced his interior. He then transformed and took a step forward, his vision blurred from the dislodging impact as well as had his gyroscopic stabilizers. The ranger fell to one knee and began coughing as various leaks began seep fluids into his various coolant fans.
After a moment or two, Nova Strike wiped a streak of violet liquid from a small gash that traced itself haphazardly over his left optic. He dimmed his visual cameras and tested his more durable sensors in an attempt to locate the faint veridian radiation signal. It took a few seconds before the signal was pulled from the background hell. Its position had changed to the last known location of the Longevity, and from there... Nova Strike's sensors flickered indicating they too were reaching their endurance and overheating. Only then had he realized that his sensors, sonars and other various detection devices had been on overdrive trying to gather as much information for the battle on the summit, as well as the appearance of the Jolly Green Giant.
He deactivated the worst of the sensors, leaving the primary rudimentary package in operation in order to at least keep himself from being blown to bits from another orbital shot. Nova Strike pulled himself up to his feet and drew one blaster in his right arm as he channeled power back to his now stabilized optical sensors. In orienting himself towards the Longevity, Nova Strike angled his path down the narrow bed of the carved out trench.
Slowly he walked over bits of cracked earth, burnt glass and scraps of twisted green flecked metal. A severed arm, painted black with a red trim to indicate a particular rank... or was it unit? Nova could never be sure as to how the 'Cons worked on those things. He kicked the tired equipped arm with his right foot and as stunned when a low moan caused him to step back. The barrel of his magnum blaster was immediately leveled on the arm and three bursts of energy traced a triangle around its position. After the low level stun bursts faded into memory, he kicked the arm again and waited for a response.
There was none.
Instead Nova Strike could hear basic stammering and groans further down the trench. He punted the severed arm out of the trench and continued further the trench. A few rises and dips, evidence of a violent landing. Soon he arrived at a crumpled wreck where the trail of green and yellow paint flecks and shards of scrap metal ended in a ball of twisted cybertronian metal. A green and yellow lump of metal with a twisted insectoid head.
The ranger was not entirely familiar with the individual what was muttering to itself about how the universe did not care for it... Waspinator was the name it muttered. The decepticon symbol shown through a clump of mud as the head shifted from left to right. Nova Strike knelt down and opened his left side holster and extracted a small vial of sedative, not enough to knock the Decepticon out but strong enough to dull the pain. For the ranger, who held a rather annoying immunity to most all sedatives and deathly allergic to the ones in which he wasn't, the vial was only for such instances when he came across a wounded Autobot.
Clearly this mechanism was suffering from excruciating pain and incredible damage. To offer this Waspinator a moment's respite... well it fulfilled at least the spirit of the truce that Magnus and Razorclaw had agreed upon. Nova flipped the syringe over in his fingers and thrust it straight into the broken optical fiber line at the base of what remained of the neck. A muted pneumatic hiss soon followed as the powerful chemical was injected into the damaged Cybertronian.
As he waited for the sedative to take effect, Nova Strike's proximity alert sensors flared to life. A large fragment of stone had been launched from... well his sensors could not triangulate the exact origin. Testament to the damage his systems had suffered due to the near impact and subsequent overloads and overheats. Swiftly he clamored up the edge of the cut ditch, temporarily leaving the wounded Decepticon flier at its bottom full of pain killers.
His targeting computer quickly assessed the tangent and arch of the object and noted it would not fall too close to his position. In fact the target landing zone was only a dozen meters away in a relatively pock marked but still flat portion of the desert. Still, the velocity of the object was increasing as it had passed its zenith and began a rapid descent towards the surface. Immediately Nova's sensors pressed what was left of their resolution and focused on the potential impact zone. Instantly the faint signal of an Autobot friend or foe transponder registered on his scans. It was faint, and almost unfamiliar. Nova did an instantaneous check to known registries and found an entry for one Autobot known as Backdoor.
Nova did not need his systems to tell him that his primary cannon had been rendered unavailable when he had taken the intense heat from the near hit. Instead he shifted his remaining power to his undamaged legs and entered into a dead sprint.
Back on Cybertron he had been a champion athlete. Playing a version of what the humans called 'Power Ball,' only in three dimensions with hard laser defenses, teams of seven on seven. Obstacles abounded from electrical platforms that moved in various directions to automated drones that hit like a Metro Titan. Had to be fast, not just fast but agile to survive the games. It also helped to be tough... and probably most important, foolhardy. Nova had these traits in abundance.
He pushed off one crater and then to another as he ate up the distance between the downed
Waspinator and the disabled
Backdoor. Weapons were not an option, and his mass wasn't enough to plow through the rock before it turned the smaller Autobot into a greasy smear. There was but one option... win the game with five seconds on the clock. Nova's foot dug deep into the dirt and tore loose globs of sand and stone as he finalized the last meters. The stone's shadow engulfed the area.
Without wasting a single moment to adjust his trajectory to avoid taking a blow himself, Nova dove forward with his hands splayed forward like powerful shovels. The sensation of cybertronium hit the tips of his fingers as his hands dug into the dirt. He coiled his arms back and threw them forward to add to the momentum of the smaller mechanism as he attempted to roll the damaged Autobot from danger. There was little chance of failure in this regard, Nova was fast enough to cover the distance at a sprint. But the after effect, the concussive thud that would soon follow to his back panels... Nova would endure, but the repair bill...
OoC: Drugging Waspinator has been approved by the owner of Waspinator who is also the player of Waspinator to which plays the character known as Waspinator that is own by the player who controls Waspinator to which plays the scene of Waspinator... try figuring that one out 
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[ Click to attempt signal recovery... ]
