:) When it comes to research on weapons and military vehicles, I'm happy. I don't know why. :P
"We have to take out the fliers next." Armonie said, looking over at the three other files. "Blast Off will be hard to get, but I have a good feeling about Vortex."
"Uh, Army, they're fliers, and we're not. How do you expect us to get them?" Armonie made a face at Hot Rod.
"I don't like it much, but I think if Blades is willing he can take me up and I can get them down. Or at least Vortex, anyway. A shot to the tail rotor should get him out of the picture. Without the tail rotor, they just spin in circles." She added, pulling out her rifle and looking it over. "Not to mention lose altitude then crash and burn."
"Oh, no. I'm not letting you go up there with only Blades, offense intended." Hot Rod told Armonie firmly.
"Hey!"
"No. I'm not letting you go alone; I'm coming with you." Armonie regarded her adamant guardian with a raised eyebrow, thinking.
"You're a car," she pointed out.
"I'll scan a plane or something."
"Not a plane." Armonie corrected. "A helicopter."
-
"Are you okay?" Armonie called over the loud thunk-thunk-thunk of Hot Rod's new rotors as he wobbled in the air.
"I'm fine." He called back tersely, wobbling as he tried to take off. "Are you okay?"
Armonie laughed and patted the door. "Yes, for the fifteenth time, I'm fine. I'm strapped in, you big bozo."
"Not so easy, eh, Hot Rod?" Blades called down and poking her head back out of the open hatch, Armonie fired a blank in his direction, causing him to swear and bank sharply to get out of her range of fire. Gaelic swear words followed the insulted medical helicopter as he fled but remained close enough for support.
Grumbling, Armonie unstrapped herself and walked unsteadily to the cockpit where she plopped herself down in the captain's seat. "Like this, Roddy." With that, she showed him which controls to manipulate and how. "Amoux took me to the base a lot, and the helicopter pilots seemed to take a liking to me, oddly enough." she admitted when he asked.
With that, she went back to her spot and strapped in, letting her legs hang out of the chopper to rest lightly on the landing skids, her rifle resting across her lap. She occupied herself with looking out at the horizon, imagining that she was with Romhild, Amalia, and Antonio flying over some exotic rainforest in a helicopter tour.
When that got too painful for her, she looked at the trees then at the skies and clouds that passed by as Hot Rod got used to flying as a helicopter. "Up for some target practice?" she called to Hot Rod who laughed.
"Heck yah! Let's get that little bugger." Chuckling at his enthusiasm – so much like Antonio's – Armonie hefted her rifle up and sighted on Blades. Squeezing the trigger in rapid succession, she watched smugly as the Protectobot yelled and screamed, dipping and diving as he realized he was being shot at. Hot Rod banked sharply as Armonie reloaded then began to shoot once more as Hot Rod strafed the white and red helicopter.
"All right, Roddy. I'm out!" Armonie called half an hour later to her guardian who groaned.
"But we were just getting started."
Armonie laughed as swearing, Blades gave them a wide berth. She patted the door once more. "We can get him later."
"Okay. But you have to admit; he does look good in neon green and orange."
"If you two are done having your fun, shall we get going?" Hot Spot called from the ground. Quickly, Armonie hefted her gun then shot her last paintball round, giving the blue fire truck a spot of paint between the optics.
Even from their height Armonie could see his scowl at her as Streetwise and Groove howled in laughter. Armonie pulled on her head set and flicked the visor on her helmet down. "Now I'm ready. Guess I still had one left, Roddy."
-
Vortex still had a case of battle-fever from when they had destroyed that Autobot's fleshling's home a while back, and the fever continued to escalate as the Combaticons destroyed village after village and town after town. It irked Onslaught and Blast Off to no end, so much so that the space shuttle-now-stealth-bomber flew ahead to scout.
Laughing, he swung left and right so crazily that it almost appeared as if he were a drunken human. He flipped over and went back to swerving back and forth, not even registering the medical helicopter that pulled along side him until it moved until it was slightly ahead, the Autobot insignia boldly emblazoned in red on the white hull.
Immediately, he zeroed in on the Autobot and not thinking to call for backup – it was only one Autobot, after all – he gave chase.
That was when he noticed the Blackhawk UH-60 helicopter on this other side, the hatch open and a black-haired human leaning out. A braid of long black wire-like filaments flapped in the wind as it leaned out and hefted a primitive gun.
Bamf-ping-bamf-ping-bamf-ping-bamf-ping-bamf-ping-bamf-ping!
Roaring, Vortex spun at them, ignoring the other Autobot for the time being as well as the holes beneath his tail boom. The human lowered its weapon as the Blackhawk banked sharply and turned to come in for a neat strafe at a closer range.
As it did so, the human lifted her rifle and pulled off a few more shots, making more holes in his hull as the wind whipped its braid around. It didn't seem fazed as Vortex gave chase, calmly (or so it appeared to the Decepticon) reloading its gun.
The Blackhawk spun sharply and brought the human back into range for another round of shooting, nimbly dodging the rounds Vortex shot at them and coming alongside him once more to get a good strafe. This time the human fired faster, being much closer, and this time there was no sharp pings as the slugs tore easily through the now-weaker hull.
Bamfbamfbamfbamfbamfbamfbamfbamfbamfbamf!
The squat but hot shells burned through the wiring and hull, tearing a hot line of pain toward his engine, transmission, and fuel tank. As the Blackhawk pulled away, going the opposite direction Vortex was heading, the human squeezed off a few more shots, this time hitting the tail rotor and tail boom with deadly accuracy.
Without the tail boom and rotor, Vortex spun madly in the air, losing altitude before exploding when the hot slugs shot his engine and got to his fuel tanks.
For a while, the medical helicopter and Blackhawk were knocked about by the blast, the Blackhawk tilting so that the closed hatch took the brunt of the hit and not the open one where Armonie was strapped in and exposed.
As the fiery remains of Vortex fell from the sky, Armonie flipped her visor up and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Looks like those lessons with Amoux paid off, eh?" she called shakily to Hot Rod who chuckled and agreed. If he heard the subtle shake in her voice, he said nothing about it, and if she heard the shake in his, likewise she said nothing. Patting his hatch, she chuckled. "Let's get out of the air and back on the ground. We need to plan on taking Blast Off out."
