Transformers: Steel Reign

[rhoenix]

Interrogations reached.......a stalling point." Prime said, his voice had a low level of anger in it, almost like frustration, as he replaced his rifle where it belonged, "He's being taken to for repairs, maybe he'll be more open to discussion when he is reactivated."

It wasn't often that Blindside looked utterly confused, but this was one of them. He saw the Autobot symbol on the unmoving one's chest, and the look of cold anger and irritation on Optimus Prime's face as he stowed away his rifle, after explaining things and before walking away. Blindside looked at the Autobot leader, the great Prime, utterly confused, and his mind reaching a number of possibilities, none of them pleasant.

After a moment, he looked back at Crimson, Stryke, and Hornet, who was still hugging Crimson tightly before asking what was on his mind in a calmer voice than he felt. "So, what did I miss, and why do you think Prime would shoot a fellow Autobot?"

[LadyTevar]

"Because Wideload, and his partner Gridlock, were either Robosmashed or otherwise reprogrammed as spies," Crimson sighed sadly, wishing she knew how to ease Optimus' obvious strain and exhaustion. If Elita-1 were there, she could, but Crimson was no substitute. "They had been in charge of building a northern base for us. When Prime went to tour the nearly-completed base, they signaled Megatron, who attacked in force."

Crimson looked to Stryke for support as she spoke. "We lost the base, and nearly lost Prime and Overload. It was in our later counter-attack that we fought the ... Reformated Humans ... and ShockWave."

She gave a last look down the hall towards the medical bay where Prime had vanished. "Gridlock chose to go down fighting. Deathstrike and Shellshock were forced to scrap him. Wideload ...," she sighed. "I think Prime hoped for information, but I don't think we'll be able to get it out of him other than ripping it from his memory core."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke nodded. "We'll get the information, one way or the other." He said, then perked up a bit. "What was that whole business about Thundercracker earlier?"

[LadyTevar]

"I don't know, BreakOut, Blindside and I heard the alarm and rushed out to find Deathstrike carrying him, already in stasislock." Crimson answered, just as confused as any. "Hornet? Do you know?"

[rhoenix]

Looking at the floor for a moment, Blindside nodded, his face looking grim. He looked back at Crimson and Stryke, still looking grim, but not as concerned as before. "Thank you both for telling me. That also explains some of the looks the other Autobots were giving me."

After the question of Thundercracker had arisen, Blindside looked somewhat relieved at the change of subject, as it was obviously bothering him. "Well, how about the four of us go see what's going on?"

[General Havoc]

Hornet shook his head, having either declined to or forgotten to let go of Crimson. "I just heard someone say Thundercracker was coming in, and that the practice was cancelled. I didn't see him land." He lowered his head. "I was hiding from Slipstream in a tree."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson looked down at Hornet quizzically. "Are you calm enough to tell us what happened now? I want to know why Breakout punched Slipstream."

[rhoenix]

Hornet shook his head, having either declined to or forgotten to let go of Crimson. "I just heard someone say Thundercracker was coming in, and that the practice was cancelled. I didn't see him land." He lowered his head. "I was hiding from Slipstream in a tree."

At this, Blindside couldn't help but laugh out loud. He thought from the point of view of one who could call the skies home, though for his part, he made it a point to look all around him when hunting, especially above him. "I have to admit Hornet, were I a flyer, I'd never have thought to look for you in a tree."

[Dark Silver]

Location: New Kaon

I sit upon my throne, the sensor feeds and abbreviated information dumps into my positronic relay, which is then filed into the appropriate Cortical Synapse.

I know what has occured a full .965 seconds prior to Soundwave informing me.

"Lord Megatron, Thundercracker has gone rogue. His destination: the Ark."

It is as I anticipated. Thundercracker was always the least devoted to the cause of all the Seekers, only his fear of Mega....of my own power, or what Starscream would do for dishonoring their Brotherhood, kept him inline. With the appearence of the traitorous Deathstrike, and the Autobot's victories - despite the placing of Trypticon upon the North American eastern seaboard, have been growing. The tide of war changes in the Siberian sectors, and the assaults upon South American and Western Eurasia did not go as anticipated.

Thundercracker must be brought back into the fold. With Black Ice currently on extended "duty" after his failure to eliminate Prime in Canada - there is only one Mechanoid I can trust to perform such a extraction.

"Summon Reaper" I say, "I have a mission for him....."

----------------------

Location: The Ark, Aft Repair Bay 3

Prime looked away from Wideload's form, as Rachet went about the wearying work of repairing the traitorous mech. He instead, focused his attention to the recharging Thundercracker, stepping towards the repair pod, blue optics resting on the blue Seeker.

[General Havoc]

Hornet lowered his head, but did not cry. "Deathstrike told me to hide from Slipstream and ambush him with unpowered weapons, so I hid in a tree... but then... Slipstream went out to find me, and he called me on the radio and said that I was... he said I was all sorts of terrible things, and that I had better run away because when he found me he was gonna rip my spark out..."

Hornet took a couple of breaths and pulled up the audio recording that his radio automatically made, a feature Wheeljack had built in to check for bugs in Hornet's transcription protocols. All of Slipstream's messages played out, and Hornet winced as they did.

[Charon]

Shellshock was still in the room, not having left it except to glance outside at the sounds of a confrontation. When they brought Wideload into the repair bay Shellshock didn't seem very surprised or worried over the rough treatment of the traitor.

Shellshock's red optics turned to look at Prime as he focused on Thundercracker. "One of them is going to have to be moved before reactivation, I don't like the idea of two Decepticons being in the same room. Assuming Thundercracker really is here to switch sides, Wideload might try to eliminate him. Assuming not, I'd rather not leave two spies in the same room to communicate."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson was silent as the taunting played out, her optics narrowing. "No wonder BreakOut punched him ...." she muttered darkly. She shared a glance with Blindside and with Stryke, looking to see their reactions to the audio recording.

[rhoenix]

As Hornet replayed all the conversation between he and Slipstream during their training exercise, Blindside felt himself growing furious for just a moment. Within that moment, which only lasted a second or two, he felt impulses to taunt Slipstream mercilessly, to misuse the training he had painstakingly undertaken - but it only lasted a moment.

Blindside closed his optics, focusing on his energon heartbeat, feeling the fury ebb out of him. When he opened his eyes barely a second later, he realized the long, sharp, wicked-looking claws on his wrists and feet had snapped forward to cover his knuckles and feet, and he somewhat sheepishly retracted them with a thought.

When he finally felt calm enough to speak, it was almost exactly like his normal, calm voice. There was a very small, very subtle hint of a wolfish growl beneath his words, however. "Hornet, let me know if this happens again. I'll have a talk with Slipstream in private."

[General Havoc]

"N... no..."

Hornet's optics were glued to the floor as he spoke furtively but distinctly to Blindside.

"No," he said, "I'll... I'll talk to Slipstream. Just... just so long as you guys can make sure he doesn't... he doesn't just shoot me..."

He looked like he was considering the prospect of having to fight Megatron with a rusty spoon, but he didn't retract his statement. Hornet might not have been particularly wise in the ways of the world, but he knew that nothing Blindside or anyone else said was going to help, unless he himself spoke of the matter to Slipstream direct.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson noticed the bared claws before Blindside retracted them, and smiled inwardly at how Hornet had made yet another loyal friend. But it was Hornet himself who surprised her, wanting to talk it out with Slipstream himself.
"That ... is probably the best idea," Crimson had to admit, and to her it showed just how brave Hornet actually was, no matter what everyone else thought. Again, she made a note to herself to not only tell Wheeljack, but also Deathstrike and BreakOut. "Slipstream ... well... he could have been trying to taunt you into showing himself, but even I'm hearing it as a threat."

[rhoenix]

"Slipstream ... well... he could have been trying to taunt you into showing himself, but even I'm hearing it as a threat."

Feeling now much more calm, Blindside nodded. The hint of growl was now gone from his voice, though the hint of scorn wasn't. "He was likely trying to scare you into making a mistake, since you probably know the area around the Ark far better than he does. Even so, he should be trying to actually test his own skills, instead of resorting to stupid mental tricks."

[General Havoc]

Whatever Crimson might have thought, Hornet felt about as brave as an earthworm. Indeed he actually was physically shaking at the prospect of the upcoming confrontation. Whatever the others said, Slipstream might WELL shoot him, especially considering the argument they had had before the fight at the Spacebridge. Though he knew he HAD to talk to Slipstream himself if there was any chance of preventing more of this... he still took the opportunity to give Crimson one more big tight hug before releasing her and slowly walking out towards where Slipstream was.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke grinned, moving closer to Crim and putting an arm around her. "Teenybot absolutely loves you, Crim." He said, giving her a squeeze. "So, how did your training go?" He asked, a smile on the warbot's face.

[LadyTevar]

"The Teenybot trusts you," Crimson answered, snuggling closer to the green-painted Warbot, small enough to tuck perfectly under his arm. "A motion detector caught me on the way out, but by then I was close enough to gun it for an escape. Blindside didn't set off anything. Then Thundercracker showed up."

To Blindside, it was clear that Crimson had found her 'compatible spark' as the saying went. She was also clearly teasing the wolf-bot for being better. "Why aren't you in training, Stryke? Or is it just us Civbots getting tested?"

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke shrugged. "Oh, I'm sure I'll get my chance to be tested and told what I'm doing wrong." He said, before looking down at her. "And good job, as long as you get out intact, that's good enough for me." He said.

[rhoenix]

Watching Hornet walk off to go speak to Slipstream alone, Blindside smiled. After watching him walk slowly, as if bravely facing horrendous odds, he sent a private communique to Hornet. "Keep your chin up, Hornet. An old Terran quote I learned recently - 'courage comes after the act, not before.'"

Blindside watched him walk away, remembering how it took him until he was quite a bit older than Hornet to face his fears and keep walking anyway. After a few moments though, he turned to look at Stryke and Crimson. He just shrugged at Crimson's comment. "To be fair, I cheated somewhat. I only picked the hallways with noise and EM sensors," he said, smiling. He also got the subtle hint that Crimson and Stryke wished to have some alone time. "At any rate, I'm going to do my exercises - I'll see both of you around."

With that, he walked off toward the entrance to the Ark, and shifted smoothly into his wolf form as he was nearly there. Looking up to the top of the mountain, he began to ascend the rocky terrain at a shocking pace for one who couldn't fly.

After reaching the top, he shifted back into his robot mode, and began to go through his exercises. First, the slower, more gentle energy flow practices, followed smoothly by the more vicious martial sets. He smiled to himself as he moved, the moonlight falling upon him softly.

[LadyTevar]

"hmm... I was hoping he'd follow Hornet," Crimson sighed as Blindside took off for his exercises, before looking up at Stryke. "Elita-1 would have been happy to have me out in one piece, but I'd have still gotten a scolding for nearly getting caught. BreakOut didn't have a chance to critique our performance yet."

One part of her wanted to follow Hornet, and make sure Slipstream didn't do something stupid. Another wanted to get Stryke alone and try to resume what BreakOut had interrupted by calling her out to training.

Decisions, decisions.....

[Agent Fisher]

The warbot looked at Crim. "We could always follow Hornet. I wouldn't mind taking a swing at Slipstream." He said. "And give it time, I'm sure Breakout will tell you how to do better." Stryke said with a nudge.

[LadyTevar]

"Well... he is walking towards the front of the Ark.... we could just head that way for a drive," Crimson suggested, giving Stryke a smile that made a lot of promises, and a pat on his rear fender. It was fembot logic at work: just happen to be in the area for moral support, and true backup if necessary. In short, Hornet had two wingman.

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke chuckled, nodding. "Sure, and if we just happen to hear anything going down, we can step in." He said. "After you, Crim." He said.