Surprised, she just listens in silence for a second. “Okay, I was just throwing ideas out there,” she mutters, “I didn’t expect-” Silence hangs in the air.
“Is that a lead I hear?”
2 Likes
“Hmmm. That might prove to be useful.” Aralysa replies as she thinks for a moment. Then the purple and blue-armored bot continues.
“Could I see it, if possible?”
“I’ll come with. How many others are you looking for?” Stonefist asks the policeman.
1 Like
Roaster doesn’t even ask, already pressing buttons to pull up the schematics for Headbite’s design style and a modern version for comparison. Leaving Headbite’s current design and scan results in the middle, with the closest original model to its right and the a modern on to the left.
“See, this is you now.” Roaster says to Headbite and points to various sections as she speaks. “Parts too hollow here, conflict in connection here, techno-organic conflict here - this is more than just being low in Energon and stasis degradation. So what we need to do is remold this, re-forge that, make better connections here…”
Roaster goes on a bit, explaining how she’s going to rebuild Headbite. Something to better integrate the current parts and weapons and make her more cohesive. Should lessen the chance of CNA damage and mutation.
“Getting your current form working properly is the main goal, but if you want, we can do more. I can bring you closer to the original design, or update you to current trends if Primus allows.”
Pretty sure I told everything I know already.
“Not certain. He came here with me, but we split up awhile ago. I can take you where I saw him last, maybe he didn’t go too far.” Tokamak says.
2 Likes
“Maybe?” Hotfoot replies. “It seems like the cops are looking for you- er, not you specifically, just anybody who was involved in the attack. All this data I’ve sent you might help 'em out. Or y’know, you could give 'em the slip and go do your own thing if you don’t feel like tangoing with local law enforcement right now. Your choice, not my place to judge.”
“The mikesu behind you, along with Firestorm,” Watchdog tells Stonefist. “Do you know where your partner is, Stonefist? The one who transforms into a walking tank?”
“We don’t have it here on the shuttle,” the EMT tells Aralysa. “We can look at it when we get to the hospital.”
“If you would,” Overclock says, “that would be appreciated.”
2 Likes
Tokamak leads Overclock to the repair area he and Conjoint were at earlier.
1 Like
Ahh, Conjoint looked over at the closest descent point. It’s so dark down there I’m not sure where I’d even begin to come up with a believable excuse. Maybe I should search for somewhere more easily accessable.
He went back to the terminal and began scouring for whatever other locations might best qualify. This didn’t last long, however, as Conjoint was very soon looking at cat videos instead of doing something productive with his limited time. This isn’t even remotely intelligent! Humans have no taste in entertainment. I should watch one more just to prove how irrelevant this all is. It’s a matter of ethics, after all.
2 Likes
“Oh really.” Snowblind hums in thought, turning over the options in her head. “Might be nice to get some new contacts. See who I can trust here.” She begins downloading the data, continuing to think in silence.
1 Like
Stonefist sighs at that.
“That’s complicated. So it turned out that an Insecticon display wasn’t quite dead, so Aralysa and some other bot, Roaster, I think her name was, went with some EMTs to get the Insecticon all fixed up.” the rocky bot explains.
“Thought so. How far are we?” Aralysa inquires.
Headbite blinks at all the shiny lights and things she doesn’t understand. She quirked her head as she looked at bits and pieces of her, “Oh, those…I can make bits of me again…clones yea…”
She chittered a little, “I mean um…I guess uh…if you want to make some bits better that’d be nice, nice…”
1 Like
Roaster’s face slightly turns to Headbite when she mentions clones.
“Okay, so just fixing what’s here then. As for clones, I know insecticons are fond of cloning themselves, but right now, I estimate you’re only a few clone gens from bad mutations. This should prevent that until you can get acquainted with a new hive.”
1 Like
“Hive? I uh, probably wouldn’t fit in. I wasn’t designed for a Hive, I’m just supposed to roam about and find things, things. I’m not uh…social, social, it wouldn’t work, work…” she immediately protested anxiously.
1 Like
“Wasn’t your last mission with a hive to establish - well it doesn’t matter. You don’t have to go join a hive, it’s just a suggestion.” Roaster says and waits for the shuttle to make it to the hospital.
1 Like
Zip and Cargo
“Then you may need a few months, perhaps,” Cargo jests, laughing a little.
“How fast can you swim?” wonders Zip.
Graves
Graves shakes, startled, nearly dropping off the edge. “Uh, it wasn’t me, officer! I was framed! I would never drink and drive! This is cream soda!” He then recalls his current situation. “Uh, sorry, uh… ignore that.”
4 Likes
Niko was looking around the newcomers. He got a quick glimpse of what looked like a girl sitting on a big dragon-bot’s shoulder. But before he could get a closer look Watchdog approached him.
“Oh, hey there. Can I help you officer?”
“I can swim pretty quick when I want to. But goin’ fast isn’t really my style. Back home I love to float on the ocean surface for days at a time and let the tide take me wherever it wants to.”
Low-Tide said with a relaxed grin.
“Man, there was this one time I was swallowed by this mega big whale dude. I was stuck in there for like a whole month. Totally changed my whole outlook on things.”
2 Likes
“With drones, and it’d just be a bunch of mes…so…I mean…wouldn’t have gone…upside down, down,” she chittered out awkwardly, “Kind of a last minute planning thing…”
1 Like
Of course, Conjoint is no longer in Burthov, so Overclock and Tokamak do not find him here.
“Drat,” Overclock sighs. “Well, hopefully he’ll turn up, whoever he is.”
Hotfoot transmits a series of dossiers, one for each of the terrorists that he’d been able to identify. They are labelled with the names of the assailants.
Viktoriya Kaidanovsky AKA Night Witch
Loader of Kaon
Avalanche of Duratex
Turnpike of Burn-Rubber
Lowrider of Cybertron
Overwatch of Cybertron
Snapjaw of the Steel Shard Mountains
Saberchain of Tetrahex
Double-Take of Landquake
“Today’s just full of surprises, isn’t it?” Watchdog remarks. Then, Niko approaches him.
“Yes, actually, you can,” Watchdog says. “We’re trying to get everyone involved in the attack together for questioning. You’re not under arrest; the department just needs to be thorough.”
A police officer approaches, Low-Tide, Zipline, and Cargo, bearing sharp armor plating and canine-like features.
“Excuse me,” he says to Cargo and Zip, “but you two took part in the battle, right? Would you mind coming down to the station with me?"
The helicopter flies over to the rooftop and transforms, dropping to her feet.
“I’m Overhead, with the Iacon PD,” she says, displaying a holographic badge and identification code. “I’m under orders to seek out everyone who was involved in the attack at the Hall of Records this morning. We caught your mech on a street camera.”
“We should be just about there,” the EMT tells Aralysa.
Sure enough, the shuttle slows and descends onto a landing pad. It’s bay doors swing down, allowing all aboard to climb out onto the pad, which is atop the hospital’s roof. The EMTs waste no time in walking toward the entrance, hoping that the others will follow them.
3 Likes
Tokamak thinks about this for a moment and approaches the insecticon from before.
“Hey there! Going to have to change my potential ship repair time, got a cop visitation. Did you happen to see where that fellow I was with ran off to? Multi-colored, had one oversized arm?” Tokamak asks.
Roaster follows, encouraging Headbite to come with her. As they follow, Roaster asks Aralysa a question.
“Aralysa, how much do you know of cold construction? Did you learn it from academy or apprenticeship? I should have asked earlier, just want to establish a baseline.”
1 Like
“Sounds good to me. Lead the way.”
Niko replied.
“If you’re looking for everyone involved in the attack, then we had better come to.”
Maximus interjected.
Nova groaned in frustration.
“Come ooon. I thought we came here to take a break. Not get side tracked by robocop over here.”
She complained.
Having made herself known, Niko looked up at Nova. Moving the head of his mechanical beast so that he could properly see her.
Hello there. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a human who looks as nice as that.
The mikesu thought to himself.
With hair like that, I bet she’d make a perfect band member. Probably as the bassist. No wait! Drummer. She looks like she’d be an amazing drummer. I’ll have to introduce myself when I get the chance.
Maximus turned his head to look at Nova, looking a little regretful.
“I’m sorry kid, really. I promise that as soon as we get all this sorted out, we’ll come right back.”
“You’d better!”
Nova snapped.
“After that piggyback joyride from hell it took to get here, you owe me!”
Maximus looked shocked by the way Nova spoke to him. If one didn’t know any better, they might even say he almost looked intimidated. Given the high authority he held, and his generally imposing stature, he was very much not used to anyone talking to him like that. So to have someone, a young human no less, snap at him like this, he was certainly caught off guard.
“No-no, you’re right. Sorry. I swear I’ll make it up to you.”
Maximus replied, struggling not to sound too nervous.
Nova folded her arms.
“Thank you. Now let’s get this over with.”
3 Likes
“Alright, looks like I got all of them,” she says as the last of them finish transferring to her personal systems. “Thanks Hotfoot, you’re the best. I’ll tell you how the chat with the authorities goes, okay?”
2 Likes
Stonefist chuckles at that.
“It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it?” the gray-armored transformer jokes. He chuckles again.
Aralysa follows Roaster and the other medic bots as the shuttle descends and lands, and they head for the hospital entrance.
Replying to Roaster’s question, the blue and purple transformer says,
“Cold construction? I suppose I just sort of… picked it up over the years. Though a fair bit of it was learned as an apprentice.”