Transformers: Steel Reign

[LadyTevar]

"Eeek!" Or at least, it was a close equivalent, as Crimson turned and stared at Stryke. "How long have you been there?!" she demanded, shocked that 1. she'd not sensed him and 2. he'd startled her.

Obviously, she was going to have to remember that she wasn't out here alone anymore. Over a Vorn on her own, no Autobots for company ... hell, no Decepticons either ... it was taking time for her to get used to being around other Cybertronians.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke smiled. "Not long. And I hope you get used to it. I'm your bodyguard, remember?" He said. "Sorry for scaring you."

[LadyTevar]

She shook her head. "I'm still not sure why I need a bodyguard..." she replied, turning back to what she was doing. "And I don't know the name of the song... I never bother to name them, since they're never the same twice."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke looked around. "It was nice. Soothing." He said, scanning the area. The presence of Deathstrike, and the lack of his chance to kill him, still plagued his mind.

[General Havoc]

Hornet had finally managed to drift off to sleep about an hour after being set down by Overload. He had remained curled up in a ball, peacefully asleep against the side of one of the maintenance sheds.

Many hours later, his systems slowly rebooted back to operational status, and Hornet woke up slowly, blinking back into consciousness before sitting up and looking around. Someone had been kind enough to drape several rolls of canvas and rope over him, and he slowly slid out of them and stood up, yawning (yes, yawning) and blinking as he looked around.

He heard voices, and a strange musical sound he couldn't place, and curiously crept around the corner of the shed to see Crimson and Stryke standing out in the oilfield talking. Hornet hesitated as he noticed Stryke, still not sure if the Autobot was still mad enough at him to...

He crept out into the tundra and scrub, keeping his distance, just watching the two Autobots without speaking.

[LadyTevar]

"When you're alone as much as I was, any Cybertronian voice is soothing... even if it was my own," Crimson answered wryly, still pacing out the area of the underground oil source. "It was just something to fill the emptiness...."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke was silent, thinking of what she must have been through. He looked to his left and saw Hornet creeping around. He ignored him and looked down at the ground. "You never can fill the emptiness. Not completely. Somethings just can't be healed." He said, obviously not talking about the silence of being alone on a ship.

[General Havoc]

Stryke and Crimson were talking. Normally when two Autobots were talking near him, they would pause just long enough to tell him to go away. They either hadn't noticed him yet however, or hadn't told him to leave, and so he decided to press his luck, crouching down in the scrub and making as little noise as he could.

Why he was doing this was beyond him, but it wasn't like there was a lot to do around here.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson had not yet seen Hornet, her attention on the ground, and then focused on Stryke. "You're talking about Deathstrike, aren't you." It wasn't a question as she stopped what she was doing and walked over to the warrior-bot. "Will you tell me what happened?"

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke sat down, once again reliving the last moments of his friend, Quicksilver. He rubbed his back where he had been hit. "Deathstrike put a missile into my back, right here." He said, touching the spot. "We were on a recon mission. Quicksilver and I. At Megatron's fortress at Kaon. By this time, most of the Seekers were out of commision, Starscream had been beaten back. Silver and I were finishing up when we got jumped by three traitor 'Bots. We took them out quick enough. Then he showed up. Deathstrike came swooping in. We ran for it, heading for a tunnel. Thats when Deathstrike hit me."

Stryke sighed. "We hid in a tunnel for a few seconds. Silver took off, tricking that 'Con bastard into chasing him. I made it out of the tunnel and made it back. I learned, shortly there after, that Silver bought it. My friend died for me, and I've never forgiven myself for letting him die. And I made a promise that if I ever had the chance, I would kill Deathstrike."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson closed the remaining distance and put her hand on Stryke's shoulder. "Sounds like QuickSilver didn't want to see his friend die either," she said softly. "Do you think killing DeathStrike will help?"

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke shifted his 'eyes', looking at her hand. "It will certainly help me feel better. But I've missed my chance now. He'll come out of that Stasis fully healed, and there will be plenty of other 'Bots here when he does. There's no way I can kill him now."

[General Havoc]

Hornet's optics widenned as he heard the story, but he stifled any inclination to say anything. He got the distinct impression that this was something he wasn't supposed to be overhearing, but by now it was too late. There was no way for him to leave without being noticed.

Thus all he could do was stay hidden and listen.

[LadyTevar]

"Might be better than way," Crimson answered. "This happened on Cybertron how many Vorns ago?" Her hand squeezed his shoulder gently as she looked at him sadly. "That's a long time to carry that burden, Stryke."

Maybe she had been exiled for too long. Grudge upon grudge, battle upon battle... was there ever going to be an end to this war? Elita-1 had hoped for one, but Earth itself showed how far the Decepticons were willing to take the fight.

[Dark Silver]

Gridlock moved from the C&C, having sent out the morning's orders for construction work. The Oil Production facility was prime important, followed by the defensive batteries.

At Maintance Bay Five, Gridlock transformed into his Robot mode, and entered, heading towards the CR Chambers holding Swiftshot and Deathstrike.

"Is wakey wakey time comrades" Gridlock said, as he hit the codes to unlock Deathstrike's pod.

The light within the pod brightened, the magna-seals hissed as they released, and the pod began bringing Deathstrike back online.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke looked at her. "I've forgotten how long ago, but it's never to long a time to carry a burden for a friend." He said. The green bot stood. "Now you know why."

[LadyTevar]

"So what are you going to do when Jazz gets here... or when Prime gets here?" she asked quietly, her hand dropping as he stood up twice her height. "If Deathstrike's sincere about changing sides, you will be working with him at some point."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke nodded. "I'm going to request that he be sent to a different team. I don't think I can work with him. Or I'll just go up behind him and fire my cannon into his head. Don't really know what I'll do."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson blinked at the bluntness. "Well... it's up to Prime, isn't it. Truthfully, we could use another flier up here. Hornet's still a little too inexperienced. One day he'll be a great flier ... now..." she shrugged, smiling. "Now, he's still learning."

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike stepped out of the CR chamber and flexed his limbs. "They do good work, even if I dislike the confinement." He big Decepticon was feeling good. Too many of his parts were replacements made from inferior materials for him to be at full strength, but to have them all functioning properly was a major improvement. Even if the Autobots had set his thrusters and missile launchers offline.

He strode further out into the bay. "When do I see Prime?" he asked.

[General Havoc]

Hornet couldn't help but smile happily. Crimson thought that he had the potential to become a great Autobot flier. Hornet himself had no other desire than to be such a thing. Sometimes he wondered if the others ever thought of him as more than a nuissance...

As to Stryke, Hornet hadn't the first idea what to think. It was something of a relief to learn Stryke wasn't entirely angry at HIM, but... still... shooting the Decepticon that had surrendered to them?! What would Optimus say?!

Hopefully Stryke was only kidding... though he surely didn't sound like he was.

[Dark Silver]

"Prime is due for inspection in two weeks. Prowl is attempting to contact to bring him here sooner. Springer and Jazz enroute to discuss with you."

Gridlock checked some displays on Swiftshot's CR chamber, then looked back to Deathstrike, "I wake you early to get you prepared, clean up and re-energized. You like fresh cube of Energon dah?"

Gridlock began to walk to the exit of the building, he wasnt all that afraid of Deathstrike doing anything, not with Wideload still outside and armed.

[Cynical Cat]

"Jazz will do. He was a good fighter, back on Cybertron. I imagine he has gotten only better." He smiled slightly. "He couldn't match me in strength, but he defeated me with skill and cunning. Prime chose wisely when he made him his special operations commander."

He took the energon cube and imbibed the charged plasma. "Ahh. Raw energon. That really fills the capacitors. It's been too long. There's more of a kick to it than I remember."

[SirNitram]

"The Energon's spiked with a human organic composite called 'Vodka'. It's a little inebriating." Overload rumbled as he saw Deathstrike. The big Autobot was still sizing up the defector, of course.

[Dark Silver]

"Dah, when time, I give you special brew. Is kick in diodes. Now come, I show you to quarters, let you 'freshen up' as American humans say."

With that, Gridlock walked out the building, and towards the facilities living quarters.