Transformers: Steel Reign

[Charon]

Shellshock looked at Crimson and nodded. "Yes, if he will stop working for a moment, but if he won't, don't push him and let him know."

[General Havoc]

Hornet nodded nervously to Crimson. "I... I won't... talk about it... but... but what's going on?" He lowered his voice. "We don't... really think Swiftshot's a Decepticon... do we?"

[LadyTevar]

Crimson looked from Hornet to Shellshock, obviously wishing for the older 'bot to explain that one. "It's not looking good, Hornet.. Shellshock, I'll go talk to Gridlock."

And she turned and walked out of the C&C as fast as she could.

[Charon]

Shellshock looked at Hornet and sighed, kneeling down to be a little closer to the miniscule 'bot.

"It's something that we have to take into account Hornet. There are holes in his story, and we saw that there were a few other problems with the fight zone. I don't want to think he's a decepticon. But there are too many things pointing to the fact that, at the very least, Swiftstrike isn't telling us everything. Now, on the off chance he is a Decepticon, we can't risk him getting wind that we're on to him. So we don't want to give anything away."

[General Havoc]

Hornet lowered his head and sighed as Shellshock explained. "But... we're not gonna do anything... I mean... we won't do anything to him unless we know... for sure... that he's a Decepticon, right?"

His optics were filled with wiper fluid tears as he looked up at Shellshock. "I don't want everyone to be shooting each other..."

[LadyTevar]

On her way to Gridlock, Crimson made a side-trip, stopping at the CR chambers. She stopped and peered in at the stasis-locked DeathStrike. "When you get out... we're all going to owe you an apology," she said quietly.

A few moments later she was reporting to Gridlock, both to see where he wanted her to work, and to warn him quietly of what Hornet's recon camera had revealed.

[Agent Fisher]

Swiftshot and Stryke had headed to the construction site, moving materials and getting them set up.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson walked by, eyeing Swiftshot and Stryke, but saying nothing as she carried a bundle of electical wiring. She'd given Shellshock's message to Gridlock, and had been given her orders on which section of the defensive wall to work.

Since she was smaller than the others, she could move into the structure easier and help out the humans when they needed something braced or had something that needed fetched and carried. Amusingly, it seemed like the humans (nearly all male) were censoring their language around her...

[Charon]

Shellshock nodded to the teenybot. "Not until we know for certain, but firing is bound to happen. That's just a part of war."

Shellshock started heading out of the room. "Now then, go catch up with Crimson. I've got to find Jazz."

Shellshock then started heading for the broadcast room, Jazz and Springer had said they needed to report all of this, so it was likely they were still there.

[Dark Silver]

"We've got incoming" Springer said, monitoring the security screens, and Shellshock's approach, "Looks like Shellshock."

They had been all but ignoring Deathstrike's words, intent on their tasks. The image of Prowl on the communication screen said a few words, then blinked out.

"Prowl will forward to Optimus. With luck, he'll take word of your arrival and intent to come to our side as a reason to move up his schedule some."

Jazz walked out of the comms room, to meet with Shellshock, leaving Springer and Deathstrike alone.

----

"Shellshock," Jazz said as he stepped out the room, "I thought we ordered you to help with the base construction. We got a schedual to keep my man."

[General Havoc]

Hornet quietly nodded, blinking the wiper fluid back out of his optics. "OK..." he said to Shellshock, and he quietly left the room to find Crimson.

It took him several minutes before he came upon her and a group of humans installing what looked like electrical wiring and equipment inside the building. He wasn't entirely certain what to do now. Weighing only a quarter of a ton or so, and small enough that he couldn't even fit an adult or teenaged human inside him, Hornet was not much more useful in terms of brawn than a human would have been. Indeed, two particularly strong humans could actually lift him in vehicle form. Still, his servos were mechanical, and thus he was capable of carrying considerably more than a human could, and with his size, he could fit easily where even Crimson could not.

In the end, perhaps it was best to ask.

"Crimson?" he asked quietly, "Shellshock said I should find you and help out..."

For the life of him, he could not figure out why several of the humans looked so horrified at the thought.

[Charon]

Shellshock raised his hands in a sign of friendly surrender, then lowered them again. "Just thought I'd let you know. Hornet remembered he had a recorder after you left. It was running while he was sweeping the area Swiftshot was attacked at. I got a chance to look at it and there were a lot of things that don't add up beyond Swiftstrike's unusual story. You want details, or should I get to work?"

[LadyTevar]

Crimson noted the humans reaction, but ignored it for now. Besides, there was something he could do...

"Good," she said, then nodded to a metal-wrapped strand of wire still on the wheel against the other wall. "Think you can carefully take the end of that wire and run it through the holes drilled in the wall joists? Like this..." she demonstrated it on her side of the wall. She was doing it because the humans would need a ladder to reach the holes, while it was only chest level to her. To Hornet, it would be eye level, but still an easy reach.

[Dark Silver]

"Get to work, you've all been ignoring direct orders long enough, and we've already have more important things to worry about. We need the defensive perimeter ready to go, there's been hints that the Decepticons are planning an attack here for weeks now. Why do you think Autobot Command sent your group here?"

"Look 'Shock, just cool your intake a bit and dial back the octane man. Springer and I got this covered."

with that, Jazz patted the giant autobot as best he could on the arm, and headed back to the comm center.

[Charon]

"Understood." Shellshock was gone before Jazz could try to assuage the older 'bots feelings or whatever it was Jazz was trying to do.

Shellshock walked in to the construction zone and found Gridlock. "My apologies for being late. What do you need me to do?"

Shellshock got to work immediately.

[General Havoc]

Feed the wire through the hole. That was all there was to it. It should have been foolproof, and it was, but it was apparently not Hornetproof. Nothing was.

"Er... Crimson?" said one of the human contractors assisting the Autobot energy recovery expert. "We got a problem over here..."

In less than twenty minutes, Hornet had managed to run several of the thick wires around himself in trying to run them through the appropriate holes, then in attempting to untangle himself, had managed only to further complicate the tangles, hooking several of the wires on and around sconces and other pieces of equipment. By the time a contractor found him and alerted Crimson, Hornet was compltely cocooned inside a tangled web of cables suspended from the wall, hanging like an overripe fruit, and completely mystified as to how he had managed to get into this mess.

Nothing was Hornetproof.

[LadyTevar]

For a moment, all that Crimson could do was stare.

".. how?" she finally squeaked, then looked to the Human. "Why didn't you try to stop him, or get me to help him sooner?" she had to ask, before looking back at Hornet.

"How in Cybertron did you manage to get it this glitched?" she asked in shock, walking closer to inspect the knots around him, seeing if there was a way to get the Teenybot free.

".... oh... Illioutkh...... if we have to cut you out, it will waste nearly the whole roll!" she moaned, trying to follow the loops of the wire as they crisscrossed and twined about him.

[General Havoc]

Hornet squirmed and struggled inside his cocoon of cords, but could not get loose.

"I... I just was plugging the red one into the wall there, and I tried to wrap the green one over it, and I tripped and the blue one got caught around my waist and..." he gave up explaining as he hung there like a fly in a spiderweb.

"Can... can you get me out of here?"

[LadyTevar]

Crimson's hand went to her head as her processor tried vainly to figure it out. "Hornet, all I wanted you to work with were the big Silver wires, like I was working with..." she said softly, shaking her head slowly. "Why did you start on the colored wires?"

She reached up and started tracing the nearest wire, trying to see if she could untangle him without resorting to cutting the wires off him. Two breem later, she had gotten only ONE of the wires free. "How can you be so good flying, and such a klutz on the ground?" she asked, exasperated and annoyed by how long it was taking to get the wires off him. At least he was no longer attached to the wall......

[General Havoc]

Hornet did his best to help out as he was very slowly disgorged from the nest of wires he had gotten tied up in. At the same time, he was praying that his processor did not pick this time to make him start to fall asleep. The wire cocoon was oddly comfortable...

"I thought... I thought you wanted me to do all the wires," he explained sheepishly. "I was just trying to..."

Hornet suddenly fell about a foot as one of the wires let him go, only to be arested suddenly when another wire hanging around his neck suddenly snapped taught and caught him in a noose. He dangled there, hung by his neck as well as his wings and chest, and blinked in surprise. Had he been human, he no doubt would have snapped his neck, and any heavier, and the wires would have split, but as it stood, he was just heavy enough to remain hanging there like a human horsethief from the old west.

"Um... little help?" he asked.

[LadyTevar]

"I should take a Holo, just so the others will believe me..." Crimson muttered, looking at the new mess Hornet was in. A flash went off beside her as one of the humans took a few pictures with a cellphone camera. The female 'bot frowned a little. "Please move back..." she suggested, waving the human away.

Her right arm was lifted, the hand folding back, transforming into a short but effective knife. "I was hoping to avoid this....."

SLASH! SLASH! SLICE!

THUD!

"Now get up, go outside, and give me a moment to see if I can salvage anything here, ok, Hornet?" She did not shout, she never even raised her voice. It was just a sad disappointed sound.

[General Havoc]

Hornet got up off the floor and shook the last strands of wire off of him. He felt really bad for having dissapointed Crimson, and he could tell he had by the sound of her voice. "Okay..." he said quietly, his head lowered in shame. "S... sorry Crimson."

And with that he walked back outside, feeling useless once again (and for decent reason)

[LadyTevar]

Probably 8meters of wiring, all wrecked. She'd managed not to cut the steel-bound heavy-load wire at least, but the red, blue, and green ones were in pieces. Her head turned, looking out the opening where Hornet went. "At least he got the silver wire through a few of the joists first," she sighed.

The humans could finish hers, she'd had only two joists left when interrupted. She took hold of the silvery steel wire and yanked hard, causing the roll to whine on its wheel and the ribbed wire to clatter through the joists. "Let's see how long it takes to get this side done...."

[SirNitram]

Overload looked up from the massive load he was carrying presently. "Hey, Hornet." He called to the tiny Autobot. "Having trouble helping with the construction? I got something you can do for us, and it's perfect for a flyer." He hadn't actually stopped work as he spoke, but the old warrior was smiling.

[General Havoc]

Hornet was shaken out of his self-despondancy as Overload told him that he had a job in mind, and a flyer's job at that!

"Really?!" he asked, suddenly enthusiastic again "What... what is it?!"