The Chihuahua bot stared up at Snarler, the bot’s size making him feel quite small. However, the guy really did seem friendly, so Velocity began to lose his unease. He shot to his feet and shook the bot’s hand rather enthusiastically. It was nice to be doing something other than just sitting. He gave a nervous grin, and looked rather confused at the reference to one big happy family. "Well, you might not mean to hurt me, but a bot your size should watch where you step when I’m around," he said, with a quick giggle to show it was a joke. "An’ don’t worry about the shakin’, man, uh, it, it happens from time tah time." He didn’t know the most about the subject, but he had a good idea that saying 'oh, that’s just the drugs kicking in' wasn’t a good conversation piece. Ah...chess? I never played it before. Don’t know...many games, actually," he shrugged nervously, shifting his weight from foot to foot rapidly. "Unless you wanna play fetch or something..." he trailed off, realizing how dumb that sounded.
Digit chuckled, and Orb even vocalized a loud "HONK!" at the chihuahua's words.
Silverquick's audio receptors perked up. "Chess?" he said, not taking his optics from the screen in front of him. "Pawn to queen 3, knight to bishop 3, knight to knight 4, queen to rook 6, checkmate."
"Slag!" he said, to no-one in particular, "I thought I'd locked down those parameters!" Upon which, he typed more furiously and his muttering became unintelligible.
Velocity’s head jerked up at Orb’s loud cry, and he gave a small yip of his own. When he saw a floating sphere had created that noise, he looked even more confused.
Then, looking at the area around the orb, he spotted the femmebot, who was looking. At. Him. Now he was both confused and inarticulate. "...Uhm...ah, I...uh...hello and that....fetch was a...beast mode joke laughter, thing, is... is that yours?" he eventually managed to ask, looking between her and Orb. He crossed his fingers behind his back, hoping that A) she’d answer him and B) that she wouldn’t laugh at him if she did answer him.
Viracide began to laugh, "Ha Ha: fetch, dog: Ha Ha! I get it now! That's a good one!" Viracide sunk back as the Maximals started to stare at him.
Viracide glanced at the group. "OK: I think we should call the ship The USS Beard."
Goldstreak looked at Viracide, confused. He plainly didn't get it, but he wouldn't admit it to anyone. Then he turned to the big fellow, Snarler. "So, where are your barracks? This bot gathers we aren't supposed to go anywhere else, so that sounds as good a place as any." He raised a brow. "...What's chess, by the way?"
Velocity looked somewhat startled at Viracide’s laugh, but then he gave a quick grin. Maybe he was funnier than he thought? His ears perked upwards, and he looked proud (which, coming from a four foot junkie, certainly looked out of place). Yeah, Mr. I Can See Your Spark Guy was a good bot, all right. "Eh...USS Beard?" he muttered, wondering where that name came from. He then quickly snapped his mouth shut, so he wouldn’t miss Digit’s answer. He didn't want to pass up an opportunity to talk to a pretty lady...never mind that he didn't know the first thing about doing so.
The femmebot had looked up at the Transmetal Two's laughter also, but then returned her attention to Velocity again. She nodded, and said, "Yes, this little monster is Orb. I built him," she added proudly. Digit stood up and walked over to Snarler. Laying a hand on his arm, she asked, "Want to go yet? All the questions have been voiced it seems."
Snarler turned his attention off Velocity and towards Digit, "Yeah, I suppose so. After all, I want to find out all about that Orb of yours: more importantly, what it does."
"Anyone else coming?" he asked as he left and headed off to his barracks.
Digit followed him, and started talking about how innocent Orb was, but that he had a knack for downloading information.
Goldstreak looked around and said: "Yes, Goldstreak will come too, he doesn't have anywhere else to go." He then followed the three of them out of the room. Listening.
Viracide started to follow. "Ya, I'm coming. How about this for a name: the USS Stamp." Viracide started to list. "Or the USS Slag, the USS Clown, USS Nail, the USS Saucy Mare, USS Exit. I got a million of them."
Velocity hurried to follow the group, trying to continue his conversation with Digit, which he had forsaken as the girl put her hand on Snarler's arm. Did that mean something? He forgot about it quickly, as he tried desperately to think up things to say. "You, ah, built Orb? Well, it's real impressive and...uh..." he trailed off again. Listening to Snarler, Velocity nodded, trying to slip on the other side of Digit to better get her attention. The pacing was also good for the Chihuahua: due to the bot's size it was hard to keep up with Snarler, but with the High-O going through his system it was quite an enjoyable challenge. "Yeah, so what does it do? Can it, uh, talk and stuff? ...Scan for energy signatures and stuff like that?" he asked, in a stroke of brilliance. Glancing over at Viracide as he listed off his many names, he gave a confused grin and a shrug. "They all sound okay," he fibbed, wanting to look like he had some idea what he was talking about.
At that moment, Orb came flying besides Velocity, very low to the ground. With his single arm, he hit the chihuahua on the back, then sped off before Snarler and Digit.
Viracide laughed at this event, for no real reason. "Oh, this is what I call getting along!" Viracide stopped laughing to pose a serious question. "So does that floating ball talk? Does it have weapons? And can I have one?"
Velocity felt something smack him in the back. His armor had improved, but it still hurt! Velocity jumped into the air with a loud shriek and spun around, slipping his machine guns out of their holsters to aim at the person that had so violently attacked him...only to see no one there. Activating his limited Zoom Vision and spinning around quickly, he noted the Orb moving away from him. That stupid robot had done that to him?! "Well nice tah meet you too!" he snapped, his ears slicked back against his head in indignation and anger.
Viracide's laughter didn't make him feel any better, either. There was a pause, and Velocity realized how bad this looked—here he was, holding weapons, which were currently pointed in the direction of fellow Maximals. His green eyes widened and for a minute he was too shocked to do much of anything, before he quickly reholstered his guns, uttering a sickly laugh.
—DT, BB, LA, MC, DN
An unusual sight greeted Jynx as he emerged from the Maximal R-Chamber: not the Maximal technicians or the swarms of police he'd expected to find, but a single figure, lit slightly from behind in the eerily dim room. One of the Maximals from the Transmetallization room. The fox?
Rather than reach for a weapon or call for security, the other 'bot, in his robot mode, put a finger to his mouth, gesturing for Jynx to be silent. Then, he moved that finger in a beckoning motion, pointed for a door near the back, and, waiting for Jynx to follow, walked toward it.
Slowly attempting to take a step, Jynx felt kinda light headed. R-pot effect, he always called it, not a bad feeling at all, but kinda disorientating. So, this here fox wants me to be still, huh? he thought. Now why would I wanna do that?
"So," he said out loud, "Why is it you is wanting me to shut up and follow ya? How can I know yer not gonna stab me or sumthin when I walk by you? I oughtta be in prison by now, so this is gonna be one of those freak experiments, huh?"
Jynx reached for his gun, to find it missing, of course. He didn't like this. He didn't like this at all.
Kitfox shook his head emphatically, irritation on his face, and motioned again for Jynx to follow. He held open the door into the next room, looked around on the inside, and again wordlessly pleaded for Jynx's silence.
Seeing as he has no alternative, Jynx shrugged and concurred. "Oh well, have it your way, you freak..." he said, as he followed the fox, that sent a shiver down his spine.
Kitfox glared at him, and when Jynx had entered the room beyond, he quickly shut and locked the door. It was some sort of surgery and repair bay, currently unused. The lights were dimmed to all but the warm auxiliary, and Kitfox did not bother to raise them. Instead, he walked to a steel tray, and picked up an energon-bladed scalpel. His expression twisted into a pained grimace, and, in one quick motion, he brought the scapel up to his neck, and tore out the front of his own throat.
Jynx almost fell over in disgust at the sight of the fox appearing to rip his own throat out. "Shizz, I thought you was going to hurt me, now you go and kill yerself?" he said.
For a moment, Kitfox doubled over, leaning his weight onto the surgical counter. He gave a loud, heaving sigh, and pushed his fingers into the gap in his neck.
"I'm sorry..." Kitfox said aloud, "to alarm you." He pointed to the section of metal he'd removed, which sat torn apart on the counter. "Not KILL. What you're looking at is the device that your 'Magnaboss' installed to prevent me from speaking. It will REGENERATE if I do not stop it from doing so."
Already around his pressed fingers, the bronze cords of his neck were attempting to heal. A blue glow puslated impatiently from somewhere within him.
"Allow me to give you a proper introduction. The Maximals call me Kitfox. But rightly, I am Starscream, former commander of the Decepticon Battle Fleet."
Still shaking and confused, Jynx tried to pull himself together, but didn't really succeed. He almost hurled up some energon from his chest area, but luckily, he didn't. Hurled up energon is not a pretty sight.
"Ss-starcream, you say?" he said. "Sorry, never heard of ya. Uh-huh, Decepticons? Grandpa told me about you guys once, weren't you evil and stuff? Like, way back in the Great War?"
"So what do you want with me?" Jynx slowly tried to back away, as his bad feeling got a lot worse...
"Evil?" Starscream seemed taken aback. Then he considered. "NEVER HEARD OF ME? Why, I..." He took in air, trying to calm himself, and it rattled through the hole in his throat.
"I am not 'evil.' After all, I would never do anything like THAT—" he pointed to the chunk of metal on the counter— "to ANYONE! But Decepticons are DIFFERENT from Autobots, just as Maximals are DIFFERENT from Predacons. But we aren't that different."
"Right now, my...SUPERVISORS are indisposed. Discussing 'top secret plans.' But I overheard them talking about you. Your files. You know they can read minds, don't you?"
"Read...minds?" Jynx said, "Nu-uh, how was I s'pposed to know that? Geez, what kinda freaks do they make in this freak factory?" He paused, thinking about what Starscream actually had said to him. "But um," he said, "There ain't nothing special about my files. Is there?"
"Not particularly. Otherwise, they wouldn't have dismissed you so easily. But you don't care much for the Maximal oppression, do you? It's the kind of attitude they're likely to reprogram."
"REPROGRAM!!!" Jynx shouted, "No way I'm gonna let those white coats test their experiments on me!!! I like me just fine the way I is!" Jynx got about as nervous as a Cybertron could get before shutting down. "You got to help me get out of here!" he said to Starscream.
Jynx could not note the dark spark's inward smile. "That can be arranged. I can keep Scanner and his GOONS from tracking you down, if you do a favor for me."
Jynx wished he'd never tried to rescue that poodle in the first place. Oh man! he thought, That's a fine mess I got myself into. Either I let those white coats fix my head up, or I'm selling my Spark to this Decepticon.
"Uhmmm well," he said, "what have you got for me? Tell me, and I MIGHT consider... ya know, I ain't saying yes yet."
"It's nothing major," Starscream insisted. "But the Council has assigned their TOP agents to this secret mission... far too much secrecy than any other exploration mission would warrant. And the GROUP they chose... UGH! They haven't even got a real COMMANDER: it makes no sense! I know a LITTLE about the situation they might be getting in to. But if I could find out WHAT PLANET... An image file, anything! YOU almost got the drop on Agent Scanner. If you could talk to your friend for me...ask him what he knows...maybe follow them, if you have to?"
"uhmm you're talking about the dog?" Jynx replied, "Look, I hardly know the fella." At least, Jynx THOUGHT he hardly knew the Chihuahua. Actually, he was still curious as to why he tried to rescue the dog.... Maybe his agenda and the Starscream fella's did intertwine. "But like," he continued, "what do you expect me to do, just walk up to him and say, 'hey there, long time no see, where ya going?' I'll have a thousand Maximal guards on me before I reach him. I figure you must have a plan, or we wouldn't be talking."
"They'll be supervised extensively. But I know what ship they are taking. AND I know that Scanner and his Agents won't be surpervising their 'free-training' tomorrow. They have other business. You broke in here. Hiding in the ship or the training center may not be as hard as you think. Especially if I monitor and distract the Maximals while you work."
"Hmmmmm. It looks like I don't have much of a choice, huh? OK, I'll do it, should be interesting." Jynx decided to do it, seeing as this Starscream wasn't the kinda guy who would take no for an answer, and he was just plain curious.
"Good. I enjoy having a co-conspirator." He wrenched his hand from his throat, pulling against the tension of the metal that had healed around it. As his neck knitted together, sealing him into silence, he offered his hand for Jynx to shake.
Reluctantly, Jynx shook the hand.
I like him a lot better this way. Creepy voice, man! he thought. "Where...uhmm...is this training ground, you have a map of some sort? Ya know walking around blindly, hoping to bump into them, isn't the way I prefer it."
Silently, Kitfox handed Jynx a map which contained directions for reaching the training ground and the shipyard. Jynx looked at it, and memorized it. "Well, I'm off then."
As he walked by the fox, he turned around, and said: "Thanks, I guess..."
—AF, MdJ
Silverquick stopped muttering when he realized he was the only one left in the room. Looking around, he saw the forms of his 'teammates' retreating down a corridor. He downloaded the program he was working on into his portable computer, and hurried after them. Although not normally too social (despite his dolphin nature) Silverquick decided it would be prudent to get to know the others better, if for no other reason than to assess their individual capabilities. He walked around a bend in the corridor just in time to see the newly-Transmetallized Velocity with weapons drawn...
Goldstreak dropped into pace next to Silverquick. "So you would be the scientist on this trip? What do you think of those purple clouds? What would they be made of do you think?" Then he stopped and glared at the commotion that was going on up ahead. He realized that someone needed to keep the peace, so he moved forward.
"Well, the purple could be indicative of high levels of ionization in the atmosphere, or a concentration of energon-219 on the planet, which is an unusually inert isotope of energon, or possibly..." Silverquick's voice trailed off as Goldstreak moved ahead to investigate the commotion, something involving Digit's drone.
Snarler saw the whole thing, as he had turned around at almost the same time it happened. "You really should get your droid to apologize to Velocity," he said to Digit. He whispered the last bit: "He looks like he has had a rough time so far, and it might help."
The Transmetal chihuahua turned and looked behind him, seeing another bot arrive, the same one he'd seen before when he came out of the lab. He giggled to cover up how worried he was, putting his hands up in a surrender gesture to show he was unarmed. Looking back at Snarler and Digit, he grinned nervously at the two of them, his tail (he had one even in robot mode) tucking between his legs. "Eh...ah, don' worry about it, it..ah, it just startled me a bit," he said, with a giggle. "Sorry about the uh...yeah," he muttered, motioning to his gun holsters. He scurried in front of the group, determined to get to his room first.
"You’re right," Digit responded, looking with genuine concern at Snarler. Orb, in the meantime, was flying backwards proudly down the hall, shining with happiness for all the attention people seemed to give him.
"He's really not that special, actually," Digit continued. "Well, to me he is, of course!" she added in a hurry when she saw the droid's reaction. "What I mean is that he's really a rather wild personality in a shell with six servo-thrusters and an arm for manipulation. And he's good at downloading, but I... already mentioned that," she said more to herself than to anyone else, feeling clumsy.
Orb had come to fly next to her at shoulder height. Digit looked at her friend, then whispered, "Tell Velocity you're sorry, Orb."
The droid rotated around its horizontal axis, as if expressing an emotion of being puzzled. Then he dove to the ground again, only to halt right in front of the chihuahuabot.
"Breet nic nic," came the mechanic apology.
Velocity blinked as the Orb came into view, and even more at what it said. He turned his confused gaze to Digit and Snarler, who were behind him, and then looked back at Orb. This...oh! This was the apology! Right. Velocity decided to be a good sport about it—after all, Digit did seem to like the drone. "Don' worry about it, guy!" he said cheerfully to Orb. "Uh..thing..it, whatever you like tah be called. I'm fine, really." He then nodded politely to Snarler and Digit for getting the drone to apologize to him. Decent people, those two. So nice to be around, finally! He continued his walk down the hallway to the barracks. But, wait...just what were 'barracks', anyway?
—LB, MC, DT, DN, LA
Paradox grinned at Charmacon, almost about to say: "You embarrassed yourself in front of Laserbeak... Ha Ha!" But Paradox held back, being that he didn't want to get slagged. Paradox began to follow as well, to make sure they weren't followed.
Laserbeak reached the warlord's palace long before his Predacon tails. By the time they were ready to move to follow, he was already a speck in the distance, entering the immense gold-shingled compound through a gap in a skylight.
Nightfall shrugged, at least they were expected... She looked to the others, switching to Beast Mode and taking to the air. "Well, let's be off. Keep close, Aspis..." She circled over them, waiting for the ground-based preds to set off.
Charmacon was a bit dazed to see the actual legend himself. His mind ordered soon, as he thought: What in blazes is going on? Laserbeak... No wonder he didn't show up on my scanner. We're onto something big. Best follow them, I smell an oppurtunity here. Turning to the others, he said: "Uhhhm yes-s-s, I will agree to let you go under the current circums-s-stances-s-s, however, we will e-s-scort you for the remainder of your trip. Paradox, report to me...."
"Paradox?" He uttered, as he noticed the robot had already moved alongside the others.
"S-s-slag!" he said, as he quickly tried to gain ground on them, and vowing to 'teach the fly to show proper respect' next time.
Paradox had transformed into beast mode as well and followed behind Nightfall, still making sure they weren't followed. On his way he started to talk to Nightfall, "I must must must apoligize for my fellow guard, Charmacon, but he was just doing his job."
"It's no problem. We were hoping to get over quietly to avoid that, but it's done. At least we avoided a fight."
As the Predacons approached the metal structure, they noted that, though Laserbeak had found his own entrance, the front doors were already being opened wide, in seeming preparation for their arrival.
Nightfall landed, transforming to robot mode and waiting for the others to catch up before proceeding within. Laserbeak seemed to be their contact. There was no more sneaking. Aspis took a few moments to register this in his mind, then moved inside the compound.
Paradox still in beast mode followed behind the snakes and entered the building as well. "I I I guess your here." he said as his voice echoed off the walls. "Terrorize!" he shouted and then turned into robot mode.
The figures of the Predacons were reflected in the polished brass tile of the floor in the long hall. Though the walls were still pure Cybertron metal, they were lit with torches: honest fire, which threw streaks across the building night shadows. At the end of the long hall another set of doors stood ajar, and beyond those doors sat the warlord’s great black throne, currently unoccupied. After a moment, Laserbeak flew in from behind a curtain in the back. He assessed the audience once more, individually, then turned his head to the door beyond.
Warlord Serascar entered the room next, and the dim lamplight glistened on living scales black as tar. His head sat in the collar ring of a triceratops' head, and spikes adorned his shoulders. His body was decorated in red blazes honoring his Predacon rank, and his samurai sword was clearly displayed hanging from his side. He bowed his head to Laserbeak, folding his hands before him with respect. In a low voice he intoned: "It was a great honor to receive your visit."
The bird gave a single cry, and set off at once through an opening in the ceiling, from which the red city lights sent streams into the hall.
"He has informed me as to the reason for your arrival," Serascar said to the Predacon intruders. He gestured over to his right side.
The dusty light pouring in from above revealed another Cybertron. His stance was proud and motionless, but his eyes shone a fiery yellow. While the darker features of his physique seemed to be consumed by the shadows, his red Transmetal bodyparts displayed an eerie gleam. Both his hands were clasped around the hilt of a long sword that rested with its tip on the ground between his feet. Another blade was strapped on his back.
The giant Lord followed the gaze of the visitors, and with an appraising quality in his voice he introduced his agent.
"This is Stormclaw, one of my most loyal subjects. His combat skills are impressive, as well as his determination. I suggest you keep that in mind in the near future, as he is the commander assigned to you for a very important mission."
Immediately Nightfall studied her 'commander' closely, from this moment on trying to judge everything she could by watching him. Mannerisims, attitude, strength and weakness.
Stormclaw had still not moved as much as an inch. His faceplate hid any sign of emotion—it was unclear whether the robot allowed himself a silent smirk, or was indeed as cold as the statue he seemed to be. Finally, he turned to his Lord and made a light bow to him. Sheathing his sword on his back he walked off the platform with a feline grace, towards where the visitiors stood.
"Greetings, fellow Predacons. It pleases me to finally meet you "
His voice was calm yet strong. A strange gleam shone in his eyes as they momentarily became slits. Walking slowly around the others, as if to inspect them, he continued.
"If we are to work together towards our common goal, we shall have to trust each other. Don't you agree?"
Currently, he was looking down on Aspis, but he didn't seem intend on intimidating any of his Master's guests. Their eyes met, and Stormclaw spoke again.
"You are given time to prepare yourself for the expanded mission briefing later tonight. I expect you all to be there, you as well, Paradox and Charmacon."
The Transmetal Cybertron nodded his head to Aspis, then to Nightfall, who he studied a fraction of a cycle longer. Next he turned around to his Lord, bowed, and strode out of the room, leaving the visitors to the care of one of the servants that had until then remained hidden in the shadows.
Paradox almost fainted from the sudden news, "Me Me Me, huh? I'm just a simple guard, and so is Charmacron. I guess I do have a knak for piolting." Paradox bowed to his boss, Serascar and hoped Charmacon would do the same. "By your command."
Nightfall had noticed that slight hesitation... Attraction, or just the fact he'd already picked her out as some kind of danger to him? Ah well, she'd soon see. She didn't want to wait that long to find out where they were going... The fact the two border guards were going either meant they already knew too much, or they needed cannon fodder. She wondered if she fell into that category...
Oh well, she was dirty and frankly needed some time to think. "Are there any baths? I could use some cleaning."
"Lord S-s-stormclaw, wait!" Charmacon bowed towards the Warlord, and softly whispered: "Forgive my ins-s-solence, my liege, but I mus-s-st s-s-speak with Lord S-s-stormclaw firs-s-st" Charmacon saw the Predacon commander come to a halt, and patiently turn around, waiting for Charmacon to ask his request. "Pleas-s-se, s-s-sir, allow me to file a rapport firs-s-st about what happened out there! S-s-seeing as-s-s you s-s-sent us there, it is-s-s proper protocol!" "Very well," Stormclaw said, "if you insist. Follow me to my room."
—BB, MdJ, CB, AF, DN