Transformers: Steel Reign

[Agent Fisher]

Shellshock came to an abrupt stop as the door opened and Stryke and Crimson walked out. He took a step back to avoid crashing into them and quickly looked the pair over. "Stryke, how are you feeling?" There were a slew of other questions he wanted to ask as well, but those could wait for later.

Stryke looked up from his spot with his arm around Crimson. "Oh, hey, Shellshock. I'm feel better, obviously." He said with a smile. "Good as new."

[LadyTevar]

"Better than new," Crimson added, sending Stryke a teasing glance. "He may actually be able to keep up with me now."

Shaking his head, he finished. "That's all I remember. I do know that though I can't explain why, I feel much different from before." His expression brightened. "So, at least I'm alive, which I'm thankful for. Firetrack is back!"

Looking around the room, he saw several faces that seemed to radiate a mixture of dread and concern. "...What?"

Crimson, having overheard some of the drama, was one of those looking over with dread. "Oh Primus ... anything but that!"

[rhoenix]

Seeing those he vaguely remembered, remembered reasonably well, or didn't remember at all looking at him with expressions ranging from shock, to disquiet, to pensiveness, to dread didn't inspire him with confidence. Even Ratchet couldn't quite hide the look of one who foresaw disaster approaching behind his bedside manner.

Looking crestfallen, Firetrack spoke up again after a few moments of uncomfortable silence in the room. Had he any concept of how he might have been received once he woke up, this certainly wouldn't have been it. "...Well, thanks Ratchet - I do feel better than new. I'll...go get used to my alt. form, I guess," he said before walking toward and out the door.

Ratchet stopped him before he reached the doorway though. "Wait, uh...Firetrack. Your alt. mode now isn't a car or a wolf anymore. Let me give you some reference materials to look over."

Looking thoughtful, Firetrack nodded. "Alright. The systems I have now seem...very different than before, I think."

At this, Ratchet gave him an odd look. "You remember having both wolf and racecar alt. modes, and you don't remember changing your name to Blindside?"

Firetrack looked somewhat taken aback, and more than a little confused. "...Yeah, I remember those modes, but I don't remember changing my name," he replied, while following Ratchet over to the workstation.

Shaking his head, Ratchet swiftly found the files he was looking for, and handed Firetrack a data cable, which he plugged in after a few moments of searching for an appropriate port - one was found in his left forearm.

"There," said Ratchet. "Those schematics and write-ups Wheeljack and I made for you should help you get things figured out a bit faster. However, I'd recommend you experiment outside. Prime don't let the Aerialbots to fly around inside the Ark, so he won't let you either."

At this, Firetrack looked confused again. "Wait, I can fly?"

Fixing him with a blank look, Ratchet seemed to be studying him, and internally warring with himself about whether or not to say what he was about to say. One side evidently won, though he sounded reluctant. "Yes, Firetrack - your alt. mode is an agile assault fighter-class jet now, not a racing car any longer."

His expression going quickly from surprised to delighted, Firetrack disconnected the cable as the transfer completed. "I can fly now, and I'm a jet," he smiled happily. "Shiny! Thanks again Ratchet, I'll go get used to this new form."

As he walked out, he noted the mute faces following his exit, though it didn't dampen his enthusiasm. After he left, Ratchet looked very, very tired. "I need energon shots. Right now."

Without so much as a backward glance, Ratchet began walking toward what passed in the Ark for a bar, radioing Wheeljack as he did. "Wheeljack, I'm in the bar, having energon shots. I suggest you come join me for the news I'm going to tell you. Trust me when I say you'll need a stiff shot of energon for this."

Meanwhile, Firetrack had reached the exit of the Ark, and transformed a few paces out. A sleek, swept-wing fighter jet was hovering where he was standing only a second ago. "This is so shiny," he said to himself. "Huh, 'anti-gravity controls.' Let's see how this works."

The jet rose smoothly with a noise that sounded like wind rustling through the trees, and began to hover about 100 feet off the ground steadily. "'Vernier thrusters,' eh? I wonder what those do," he said to himself.

Suddenly, the jet shot gracefully sideways, and Firetrack was heard yelling something that sounded like "Oh, pits! How do I STOP?!" right before the jet crashed into the side of the mountain.

[General Havoc]

The soft clinking of light metallic footsteps and the sound of Hornet's chirpy voice humming some tune he had heard somewhere was the only warning any of them had before Hornet hopped around the corner and stopped dead in his tracks, spotting Shellshock, Crimson, and Stryke standing there. He hesitated only for a second before his face lit up.

"Stryke!" he yelped, and he raced down the corridor and practically tackled the larger ground bot with another gigantic hug. "You're okay!" he exclaimed, less in surprise than in happiness. It didn't matter that Wheeljack and Ratchet had been assuring him that Stryke and Blindside would be fine for a week solid. Hornet reacted like this anyhow.

What else could be expected?

[LadyTevar]

His expression going quickly from surprised to delighted, Firetrack disconnected the cable as the transfer completed. "I can fly now, and I'm a jet," he smiled happily. "Shiny! Thanks again Ratchet, I'll go get used to this new form."

As he walked out, he noted the mute faces following his exit, though it didn't dampen his enthusiasm. After he left, Ratchet looked very, very tired. "I need energon shots. Right now."

"I'll bet a full Energon cube that Firetrack will be back in the CR chamber within five terran minutes," Crimson said to Shellshock and Stryke after the rebuilt bot had walked away.

Then she heard Hornet's yelp, and knew what was coming. "Look-out, low-flying Hornet!" she warned, but not in time to prevent Stryke from getting tackled around the legs by the overenthusiatic teenybot. "Did I mention Hornet was worried about you too?" she grinned, looking up at Stryke as Hornet tried to squeeze his leg off.

[rhoenix]

Transforming back into his robot form after he hit the mountainside, Firetrack stood up, and looked a little chagrined. "Well," he said to himself, "perhaps I should do this more calmly."

Walking back to the flatter ground, he transformed again as he ran a quick structural diagnostic - thankfully, apart from some paint scratches on his left wingpod and left side, he had no damage. Deciding to take it a bit more carefully this time, he rose slowly straight upwards until he had cleared the elevation of the top of the mountain, and cautiously engaged his main thrusters. He was shocked as he appeared to be angling downward despite trying to aim straight - he skimmed a tree on the top of the mountain before he caught himself with his anti-gravity engines, and rose upward again.

Deciding to scan his notes as he got used to all his new capabilities, he mentally shook his head in wonder at all the new systems. However, he did discover quickly that his main thrusters could angle up or down up to 30 degree angles, which explained why he buzzed the tree. Deciding to try again, he lit his main nuclear thrusters, and tried angling the nozzles downward. He was shocked at how responsive they were as he raced upward - he also knew that with how responsive his systems were, he'd have much to get used to.

Leveling out his thrusters, he made a wide circle around the Ark, still going only about 400 miles per hour. He knew from his own systems that his main engines could push much stronger than that, but given his recent unexpected introduction to the canyon wall, he was feeling more than a little cautious. Besides - as he reasoned to himself - 400 miles per hour was almost twice as fast as he ever went as a car, from what he could remember, and he was doing so in the three dimensional track of sky, instead of just the two and a half dimensions of ground racing.

Making another wide circle around the mountain, he practiced turning, though went far further out than he'd planned. After each one, he cut his engines, and used his anti-gravity engines to right himself. They might be much slower, but using them felt much more intuitive than the complex system of jets he had. Especially those tiny, but powerful thrusters he had dotting his entire frame in this form - whoever heard of jets with thrusters dotting their entire frame? He had to admit though, he could see their use - if he could get the hang of them.

Falling into a slow, wide turn, he clipped a treetop near the top of the mountain with his right wingpod, and decided to gain some altitude. Angling his main thrusters downward, he lit them up, and opened them up full throttle. He couldn't help but laugh, even as he heard the loud boom that signaled him tearing right past Mach 1 and still accelerating. Deciding to open his throttle up all the way, his speedometer told him he was now past Mach 2, and now midway between Mach 2 and Mach 3 when his engines were pushing their hardest. He let himself revel in this speed for a few minutes, before consulting his internal cartography systems, and realizing he was now far, far away from the Ark.

Slowing down, Firetrack began a slow, wide turn until he had his nose pointed back at the Ark again. He was traveling about Mach 1.5, and feeling pretty good about his new capabilities. A few minutes later, the Ark was within visual range, and he cut his main thrusters entirely, gliding downward towards the ground. Unfortunately, he miscalculated, and lost altitude too soon, nearing the treetops. He lit his main thrusters too late, and at the wrong angle, as his nose caught one of the top branches of one of the taller pine trees, and his engines forced him to somersault. Quickly cutting them before they burned the trees, he skidded to a stop along the treetops, laying in jet mode upside-down. "At least I didn't crash that time," he thought, as he transformed.

Unfortunately, the wings and his jet form spread his weight around more evenly, which is what helped the taller pine trees to hold his weight for a time. When he changed into his robot form, physics dictated that he fall. Dutifully, he followed the decree of physics yelling as he fell all the way down, desperately trying to activate his anti-gravity systems at the last minute. Activating them is all that stopped him from imprinting himself into the ground quite impressively.

He lay, with optics wide open, as he faced the ground from a mere inch away. Gently turning off his anti-gravity systems, he got to his feet, brushing off the branches, pine needles, and dirt from his chassis.

Walking to the clearing, he was determined to have another test flight. He already loved flying, even if he wasn't very good at it yet.

[Charon]

Shellshock nodded to Stryke as he said he was fine, then watched as Blindside, or now it was Firetrack?, came to a few realizations. The old warbot pursed his lips then looked back to the couple as Hornet came blasting in. "I just wanted to see you and make certain you were all doing alright." Shellshock smiled some "And I'll want to see this new alt. form you've got some time. To see what it can do."

[B4UTRUST]

As Firetrack decided to have a somewhat intimate, if unromantic, though completely unprotected relationship with a tree, Slipstream watched him with much mirth. At one point, watching the newly minted flyer attempt not to seriously injure himself, Slipstream was literally on his back rolling. If it hadn't had been for the small upraised outcropping of rocks near the top of the mountain where he was he would have probably fallen himself. The mechanical peals of laughter could possibly be heard for miles, so great was the volume.

Slipstream regained his control and tried to clamp down on his chuckles, though a few still escaped. The look of amusement was clearly evident on his faceplate. The clapping just added to it. It was not the cheerful clapping of happinesss or congradulations, but rather the slow, mocking type of clapping.
"Holy Primus' Undercarriage, lad, where in the Pits did you learn how to fly?! The back of a shipping container of Energ-O's? Primus, I haven't aerial movement that bad since Sunstorm smacked into the side of the Shuttle Traffic Control tower in Stanix!

"Come on, you're flying like you just figured out what a two-dimensional independent convergent/divergent exhaust system was! Don't tell me they really let you out of the Ark without putting you through the flight sims first!"

[rhoenix]

"Holy Primus' Undercarriage, lad, where in the Pits did you learn how to fly?! The back of a shipping container of Energ-O's? Primus, I haven't aerial movement that bad since Sunstorm smacked into the side of the Shuttle Traffic Control tower in Stanix!

"Come on, you're flying like you just figured out what a two-dimensional independent convergent/divergent exhaust system was! Don't tell me they really let you out of the Ark without putting you through the flight sims first!"

Emerging from the treeline, Firetrack noticed and removed an errant tree limb from his shoulder joint as he heard Slipstream's mocking clapping and laughter from atop the mountain. Looking up, he regarded Slipstream somewhat annoyedly until he finished, when the eyebrows on his faceplate rose in surprise at the last part. "We have flight sims?"

[B4UTRUST]

"He's been in a training simulator in this very ship not but a few days ago and he asks if we've got flight simulators. Are you kidding me?! Did Ratchet forget to tighten down the bolts on your neural processor or something? Primus... Do we have flight sims?"

Slipstream shook his head and tried valiently to refrain from laughing too hard. Sadly, the battle was fought and lost and the war was all for naught as he succumbed to the hilarity of the statement and began to cackle.
"Whewwww, oh bot... Hey, you might want to go check yourself back in at the CR chamber. Your processor is roasted, toasted and burnt to a crispy electrocritter. Askin if we have flight sims..."

The laughter overtook him again as he began to cachinnate again.
"Oh, bot...oh Primus... Hey, did anyone else here this bot ask that? Hey, does anyone else know if we've got flight sims? The bot with the branch in his back wants to know if we've got flight sims! Oh bot that's fraggin PRICELESS!"

[SirNitram]

"I see I mostly missed what passes for banter." Overload spoke as he stepped inside, watching the flyers and shaking his head. "Hey, Shock. Any word on what happens next, or should I go get do another heavy load?"

[rhoenix]

"He's been in a training simulator in this very ship not but a few days ago and he asks if we've got flight simulators. Are you kidding me?! Did Ratchet forget to tighten down the bolts on your neural processor or something? Primus... Do we have flight sims?"

Slipstream shook his head and tried valiently to refrain from laughing too hard. Sadly, the battle was fought and lost and the war was all for naught as he succumbed to the hilarity of the statement and began to cackle.
"Whewwww, oh bot... Hey, you might want to go check yourself back in at the CR chamber. Your processor is roasted, toasted and burnt to a crispy electrocritter. Askin if we have flight sims..."

The laughter overtook him again as he began to cachinnate again.
"Oh, bot...oh Primus... Hey, did anyone else here this bot ask that? Hey, does anyone else know if we've got flight sims? The bot with the branch in his back wants to know if we've got flight sims! Oh bot that's fraggin PRICELESS!"

Brushing a lighter pine bough from his engine pod, Firetrack shook his head. He looked up at the bot giggling like a fembot on her first day to school on top of the mesa. "Careful there Slipstream, I think your engines are overheating your neural processor. You sound like a cheap fembot after her first date with Omega Supreme. However," he said with a smirk, "you have a point about the flight sims."

With that, he marched with head held high back into the Ark, on a direct path to the training simulator room. Just to be sure, he ran another structural diagnostic as well as a general diagnostic as he walked, and he privately felt a certain amount of relief as neither showed more than the scratched paint from earlier.

What neither of the diagnostics showed, however, were the mud streaks, a few pine branches still stuck in a few servos, and green smudges from his earlier high-speed encounter from those same pine trees.

[Charon]

Shellshock shook his head at Overload's question. "Nothing yet. But don't go too far. Once we get some orders and a new squad leader we should get back to work as soon as possible. Every vorn we spend doing nothing is a vorn the Decepticons are using to cement their position."

[SirNitram]

Shellshock shook his head at Overload's question. "Nothing yet. But don't go too far. Once we get some orders and a new squad leader we should get back to work as soon as possible. Every vorn we spend doing nothing is a vorn the Decepticons are using to cement their position."

"That's why I've been on the road. Someone has to move all this gear for the war effort." Overload shook his head. "Warbots get the glory and haulers do the lifting, some stuff never changes. Assuming the great war machines of the team are ready, though, shouldn't we try and find out what's going to happen?"

[LadyTevar]

"I've been helping Wheeljack get Hornet's new chassis ready," Crimson replied, pointing to the teenybot still firmly attached to Stryke's leg. Anyone who thought THAT wasn't a full time job was glitching. "Next, I get to hold him down for the paintjob."

[Agent Fisher]

Stryke smiles down at Hornet. "Hey, smallbot. How you doing?" The warbot asked, smiling. The warbot looked at Shellshock. "I went with a cop car for my new Alt."

[B4UTRUST]

Slipstream snorted through the laughter.
"Cheap fembot? Now, really. That's just st-stret-streching it a bit..."

Slipstream stumbled slightly and caught himself on some rocks, steadying himself.
"Where'd ya come up wi-with that one anyway?"

He began to snicker again, finding the idea of cheap fembots humerous.
"Sounds like a lot of personal experiance to me. Makes me wonder if you were the rebound date with the cheap energon-dumpsters afterwards...or were you the cheap fembot?"

He snickered again and almost lost his balance. It was beginning to become obvious that this really wasn't nearly as funny as Slipstream thought the entire situation to be. And normally he was more blatently beligerant and insulting. Add that in with the slurring of the words, the lack of balance and the large, though mostly empty, container of high-grade energon at his feet and one might come, and rightfully so, to the conclusion that Slipstream was a bit... well... drunk.

[rhoenix]

Firetrack was about to snap off another comeback, but the smell and sight of the energon gave him pause - literally. He stopped walking toward the entrance, and instead engaged his anti-gravity engines, floating upward toward the top of the mesa, landing somewhat uncertainly, though without falling, at the top.

Looking down at the mostly-empty container, he looked back up at the slightly taller Autobot with a raised eyebrow. "Any particular reason you're gulping down the good stuff like the heroine in mechporn?"

[B4UTRUST]

Slipstream glanced down at the smaller bot. He tried to concentrate on staring the new flier down. However, he only succeeded in making himself slightly dizzy and off-balance. He took a step back as he caught himself.
"Wassah matter with a bot havin' a little drink? Thasall. Just a little drink. Help calm me down and keep me out of trouble... B-but no. You hadda come up here and start trouble. Qu-questionin' my drinking li-like that."

Slipstream took the step forward and extended his hand out to poke Firetrack in the chest for daring to question his drinking methodology and reasoning. Obviously, at least in Slipstream's energon-hazed mind, he was being a bit of what the humans would refer to as a dick, trying to stop him from drinking. That just wasn't cool. That, in fact, angered Slipstream something terrible. All he wanted was a little drink and a little show for his entertainment. Was that so much to ask? Every time he turned around half the Primus-damned bots in this place were taking swings at him. So what if he had a bit of an attitude, he was good enough to have it, damnit! He had damned well earned his rights. Not like some of these new up-and-comers who all seemed so damned eager to suck on the 'former' 'con's drain tube and kiss his exhaust port. In fact, that made him really angry. Who in the Pits did they think they were, anyway? And this guy...this flier guy...thinking he's hot waste coming and asking about his drinking like he's somebody who's hot waste...

The poke missed, and by a rather large distance, in fact. The finger ended up somewhere in the empty air next to Firetrack's head. This just seemed to enrage him further. Damned bot thinking he was quick and better then him just because he had a shiny new paintjob. And moving out of the way of his poking. He was supposed to get poked in the chest, not move! The nerve of this bot!

Slipstream's faceplate contorted in anger and he reared pack and took a swing at Firetrack.

[rhoenix]

Continuing to look Slipstream directly in the eyes with a tolerant expression, even as the attempted poke to the chestplate went high and wide, Firetrack shook his head slightly. That Slipstream took a swing at him wasn't altogether surprising, but the anger he put behind it was. There had to be a story here.

As Slipstream took the swing at him, Firetrack leaned smoothly out of the way, grabbed the slightly larger bot's wrist, and flipped him onto his back. Looking down at him for a moment, Firetrack extended his open hand toward Slipstream's prone form with a raised eyebrow. "You want to explain to me what that was for?"

[B4UTRUST]

Slipstream's optics rolled slightly as his already inhibited gyrostablizers fought to find some sort of balance. He tried to remember what had just happened. It was mostly a blur though. He distinctly remembered he was having a well thought out discussion on the finer points of why the current generation of young 'bots were so completely arrogent of their presumed abilities in comparison to the older, "out-dated" models. He thought he had been making a good point. He seemed to recall a good point. He could have sworn it was his good point.

Then he remembered that the young bot who he was discussing things with had insulted him. Damned if he could remember what it was that he had said to piss him off though. But he distinctly remembered that it was something very insulting and very not nice.
'No worries,' he thought to himself. 'I'll remember sooner or later.'

His gyros achieved what was approximately a stable center, which was all relative when considered with the amount of 'good stuff' he had been knocking back. There was a high likelyhood he wouldn't be doing any high speed acrobatics anytime soon, that was for sure.

He looked up at the bot in question and tried to focus on his faceplate. The rest of the world seemed to spin slightly behind the bot's face as Slipstream's gyros once more reeled.
"'plain what what was for? Y-you're the one who hit me. I think. H-how'd you do that? I was standin' up there, and now I'm down here."

He tried to sit up, failed to do so and crashed back down to the ground, his head bouncing off the rock.
"Oucccchhhh," he stated out loud, followed by him laughing hysterically at the hilarity of it all.

[rhoenix]

Shaking his head and chuckling, Firetrack grabbed one of Slipstream's wrists and pulled him upward into a sitting position, and turned him so that he was sitting more or less stably. Firetrack crouched in front of him a few feet away so they were mostly on equal height terms.

"No Slipstream, you took a swing at me, and I flipped you," he said, smirking. "I'm just glad I haven't forgotten more than I remember of Metallikado. Are you going to be alright?"

[B4UTRUST]

If Cybertronians could vomit, it was very likely Slipstream would have done that about then. Instead his systems tried in vain to do something about this binge. He could go into a semi-stasis lock till it wore off. He could shove something pointy into himself and bleed it off or he could just try to ride it through. He chose the later. It seemed the smarter of the four ideas.

Once again sitting upright, more or less, Slipstream looked Firetrack in the optics.
"I took a swing at you? B-but I was winnin' the debate."

Slipstream looked decidedly confused as none of this seemed to agree with the events in question as he recalled them. He recalled being his normal, charming personable self, all very talkative and friendly. And he also recalled that Firetrack was being a very not nice person for some reason. He couldn't exactly recall why, but he felt that it was inconsequential at the moment and could easily be resolved later, over drinks. He firmly decided that that was obviously the best course of action. More discussion over more drinks. Now if only he could recall what it was he had been discussing in the first place. Again, not important. Firetrack would remind him, he was sure. What was the younger generation good for anyway, if not to record the thoughts and feelings of their elders and betters so that they one day might aspire to such lofty heights.
"Are you sure? Y-you're not lying to me are ya?"

He clutched his head, receptors in the back of it worked into the metal telling him that he had obviously suffered a blow at some recent point. Was he going to be alright? He wasn't sure. He tried to run a self-diagnostics but it came back very befuddled and not at all helpful to his current prediciment of trying to figure out if he would or would not be alright. Lacking, he decided, any obvious signs of great damage and an abscence of warning indicators, he must be at least alright, if not down-right healthy.
"I think I will be alright."

[rhoenix]

"I took a swing at you? B-but I was winnin' the debate."

This made Firetrack shake his head and chuckle. "Yeah, you were as eloquent and convincing as Megatron explaining that this entire war is about how he really just wants a hug and flowers."

"Are you sure? Y-you're not lying to me are ya?"

At this Firetrack nodded with a smirk, still looking him directly in the optics. "Yes. Yes, I'm quite certain, Slipstream. We can go over our mutual memory files in one of the workshops later if you want proof."

He clutched his head, receptors in the back of it worked into the metal telling him that he had obviously suffered a blow at some recent point. Was he going to be alright? He wasn't sure. He tried to run a self-diagnostics but it came back very befuddled and not at all helpful to his current prediciment of trying to figure out if he would or would not be alright. Lacking, he decided, any obvious signs of great damage and an abscence of warning indicators, he must be at least alright, if not down-right healthy.
"I think I will be alright."

Nodding, Firetrack smiled. "Of course you will be. That's why I'm waiting here until you are."

[B4UTRUST]

"Uh huh. W-what do you want, anyway? You got a good reason to interupt my drink?"