Transformers: Steel Reign

[LadyTevar]

"What was it you said to me...? Don't scratch your paintjob?" Crimson tried to give him a smile, but it was a little flat. "I should have blown it in the first place, Stryke. Then we'd not have this problem..."

A few cycles are spent wondering if she should speak up now... or try to catch Prime in the hallway and volunteer. He'd ordered her to help blow the oil rigs, but had failed him. Would Prime let her try again?

To cover her lapse, she patted Stryke's leg. "Scratch your paint, and I'll have WheelJack give you racing stripes." Which would be the ultimate irony, considering his lack of speed.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke smiled. "I wouldn't mind, as long as the stripes are Crimson." He teases her. He looked down at her, giving her a hug with one arm. "Don't sweat the rigs. If you had insisted checking them, he might have killed you." Stryke said in a soft tone.

[LadyTevar]

"I doubt that... he was still hiding then," Crimson pointed out quietly. "But I will make you a deal. Come back with your paint scratched, and the stripes will be crimson red ... but for every part you lose, the color goes down the chart until it reaches hot neon pink."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke stiffened. "Oh thats cold. I'll get the stripes even if I come back without a scratch, but the pink? Thats just mean." He said.

Stryke looked around. "Well, he didn't want the rigs to blow, I'm betting, so if you were there, he would have had to set the charges or kept you from seeing there were none."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson sighed. "I'm circling the same drain again, aren't I. I let him talk me out of it, and here we are." Her optics again drift to Prime, still considering talking to him. "If he reconsiders, I'll go. If not... I'll stay at base as ordered."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke sighed. "I know I'm going to regret this." He muttered to himself. "How about you and I go to him after the meeting and I'll support you going on the mission as support." He said.

[Charon]

Shellshock nodded as Optimus said he would consider the request before glancing at Hornet. "I already said that you were going to be my spotter. But know that I'm sticking my neck out here asking you and Crimson along, if the two of you get hurt I will be demoted to sweeping the Ark."

[LadyTevar]

Stryke sighed. "I know I'm going to regret this." He muttered to himself. "How about you and I go to him after the meeting and I'll support you going on the mission as support."

Crimson reached over and hugged him. "Thank you." She knew how hard that was for him to say, so the thanks was for both his support, and for all it meant.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike was pleased. Prime was evidently on top of the situation and if he regarded Deathstrike as a Decepticon thug, he regarded him as a Decepticon thug who was good in a fight.

[Marcao]

He had expected that he would take part in an operation of this magnitude. It would have been foolish for him not to. This was the sort of strike mission that he was in many ways ideal for. Still, he was aware of the entirety of their situation. This move was a desperate one. His optics allowed him a better view of his surroundings. How many autobots would fail to return home after this mission? How many human families would lose loved ones? For an astro-second he allowed himself to entertain the numbers before he ruthlessly ended the process. He could not afford to lose focus on the task at hand.

Prime continued but only a part of him listened. Inwardly, he was already devoting processing power to the most efficient load out for the upcoming mission. The information relayed from their spy satellite tapped and analyzed as he considered the ten most elegant scenarios. Even as he ran multiple processing threads in parallel, he considered the possibility that he would have to worry about killing humans. The idea would have bothered him not too long ago but he was surprised to discover that some of his reservations had melted away. They were the enemy weren’t they? And yet there was something odd about perceiving the world in such black and white terms.

He was an autobot. He had been built to defend and yet he had taken the form and mantle of a destroyer, a weapon of war. It was what he wanted to be. It was what he needed to be. He knew it down to the smallest of his cerebro-circuits. Builders would not win this war. Destroyers would. And here he was, ready to kill and devastate in order to uphold those very ideals. His optics displayed him the entirety of the ordnance available to him and he spent the next cycle meticulously choosing his inventory. The mathematics involved was clear. The majority of his inventory was picked to destroy deceptions and dealing with Fort Maximal’s decepticon defenses. Others were designed on their ability to deal with less well armored targets. Yes, this would do.

He waited until it seemed that nothing more was left to be said before making his way towards the nearest support bay. He needed the ordnance he required in order to fulfill his obligation.

[Cynical Cat]

Deathstrike moved swiftly to the nearest weapons bay. He would undoubtedly be employed against large, well protected targets and his weapons load needed to handle that. He chose the missiles with the larget and most powerful warheads available, choosing a pair of dissabling electron pulse missiles and then loading up with armour piercing proton warheads. Against faster and more maneuverable targets he would have difficulty scoring hits, but against them he had his x-ray laser. His concerns were dealing with Chimera and any combiners or Guardians that would be present.

He tried not to think about Shockwave. The master strategist would kill him without hesitation. It was the logical action to take during battle and that said it all. Deathstrike wasn't so sure that he could muster the same coldness. Perhaps he wouldn't have to find out.

[General Havoc]

"I'll be careful!" insisted Hornet. "Honest!" It was perhaps too much to ask that he actually do so, but he hated the thought of Shellshock getting in trouble because of something he had done or failed to do. "He still wasn't totally certain he wanted to go on this operation, but everyone else was going, and he didn't want to be left behind like baggage. He wanted to be allowed to help out his friends, and he knew that even if he couldn't stop a full scale Decepticon by himself, he might be able to tip a combat in favor of his allies. After all, he'd gotten three or four assists last time, and nobody had even shot at him!

Slowly Hornet began to quiver as he tried to remember what Wheeljack and Jetfire had told him. "It's okay to be afraid, just as long as you do what you have to do anyhow." He hoped they were right.

[B4UTRUST]

As the others began to file out of the room Slipstream walked over to where Hornet was. Looking down at the much smaller Autobot he made the cybertronian equivilent of clearing his throat.
"Hey...Hornet. I-I'm sorry about earier."

[General Havoc]

As everyone filed out, Hornet gingerly hopped down from Overload's shoulder, where he had been perched like a sparrow on a tree, and made his way out to see if Wheeljack had any more instructions beyond the usual "don't get killed". As he prepared to leave however, Hornet hesitated as he heard Slipstream's voice. He turned around slowly and tentatively, looking up apprehensively at the larger Autobot flier as though expecting to get run through.

"You were saying that Wheeljack never should of built me," he said guardedly, "and that he was a maniac or a Decepticon because he did." Tears came to his optics, but he stubbornly refused to cry. "Why'd you say that?! I never did anything that bad. Even Ironhide never... thought I..."

He clenched his optics shut to keep from spilling his wiper fluid everywhere and lowered his head, unable to continue.

[LadyTevar]

"Time to see if we can catch Prime," Crimson said, rising to her feet and starting after him.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke stood and followed the Fembot, heading towards the red and blue Autobot leader. "You want to talk first or should I?" He asked her.

[LadyTevar]

"You can," Crimson said quickly, as doubts rose in her mind. Logically, the Oil Rig was a minor thing, as was the Energon Production. When they hit Maximal base the SpaceBridge would be the important target... why was she being so admantant about the Oilrig?

[B4UTRUST]

"You were saying that Wheeljack never should of built me," he said guardedly, "and that he was a maniac or a Decepticon because he did." Tears came to his optics, but he stubbornly refused to cry. "Why'd you say that?! I never did anything that bad. Even Ironhide never... thought I..."

"You're taking it a bit out of context and don't understand the full ramifications of what Wheeljack has done in creating you. You are... unique to say the least. I didn't mean to imply that you shouldn't have been built.

"I meant that Wheeljack should have taken some situations into mind outside of his lab's relatively safe environment when designing you. You know your size in comparison to most of the others here. You know your strength and what sort of damage you can take. Now compare that to the others. You get hurt a lot easier then the others don't you?"

[Charon]

Shellshock filed out of the conference room ahead of most of the others, making his way to an armoury the old warbot picked through various rifles and explosive ordinance. Collecting a few specialized shells for his cannon, and a heavy emplacement Proton cannon which he slung over his shoulder, Shellshock came to a pause infront of the hand-to-hand weapons. Looking over them carefully before picking up two energy blades and clipping them on his belt.

With a sigh Shellshock stepped out of the armoury and headed back toward his quarters to make certain all of his weapons were under proper maintainance.

[General Havoc]

Hornet's voice fell as he stared at the floor, scuffing his feet gently against it. "... yeah," he said. "But... I mean... I just want to help! Why can't I do that? I know I'm not big like the others are but... I'm fast! And I've got weapons!"

He raised his optics to Slipstream almost in suplication, before lowering them again.

"M'not an insect..." he said softly.

[SirNitram]

Overload sighed softly as he saw Slipstream and Hornet talking, walking over to the two. "Lil' guy.. He's not trying to insult you. You're little, though, and we all worry you might be out of your league here. We don't want you blown out of the sky because you're not armoured as well as the rest of us."

[B4UTRUST]

"I never said you were an insect. Not even sure what exactly that is on this world anyhow... But think about it, Hornet. Why didn't Wheeljack make you bigger, or at least better armored? Why did he make you so... well, frail?

"It's nothing against you personally, Hornet. I've got nothing against you, and I'm sure you're useful in your own way. My problem is with Wheeljack. It doesn't seem right or smart, or Pits, even nice, kind, or benevolent to make you so tiny and underdeveloped in comparison to others. It's like building you purposely with a severe weakness and then letting you losoe into a world full of Decepticons ready and willing to take advantage of it all and kill you. It just doesn't seem like he had your best interests in mind when he made you this way. It's kind of cruel, actually. Sending you out into the world like this. Sure, you've survived so far, but we're in a war. We're fighting for our right to live here and he's giving you all the wrong tools to do it with!"

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke shrugged. "Gee, thanks." He said, walking forward. He started going over what he would say in his mind.

He looked down at her. "Any advice on what to say?" He asked.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson looked up at Stryke, and shook her head. "I'm beginning to wonder if I really am needed on this mission..." she admitted, not realizing they were within audio range of Prime.

She sighed. "If I had doublechecked the oilrig, they'd not have had the resources to set up a base, Stryke. It's my fault... but is this the right way to make up for it?"

[General Havoc]

Hornet glanced back and forth between Overload and Slipstream, clearly trying to judge if this meant he wasn't going to be allowed to go with everyone else.

"I..." he said sadly. "Wh... Wheeljack said that... that there wasn't any other way..." He lowered his head again sadly. "He said that I was... s'posed to be special... not like everyone else. And that part of that was that I had to be smaller than everyone. He said that... the humans I was s'posed to be liked were smaller and that it was really important..."

Hornet sniffed softly, or at least made the sound for it. "He said he... did everything he could to give me all the same systems as everyone else, but that... I couldn't have heavy armor and still be able to fly. That's why he gave me an overpowered engine, so that I could be quicker... even if I was still smaller..."

He shook his head. "But... I don't wanna be... deactivated!" he said, tears begining to run down his face. "I don't wish that he hadn't built me!" He turned to Overload with a pleading sound in his voice. "Please don't let them turn me off just because I'm this small!"