“Huh. That’s a fair point. I’ll keep it in mind.”
Axis said. She wasn’t quite sure how she’d handle something like a spy, but better to keep the idea in thought than to forget about it outright.
“You do that kid. What we’re doing is basically a covert operation. We gotta do it on the quiet, only making noise when it benefits us, like with your riot idea. Your idea of a riot itself is sound, but it’ll take some serious sneaking and planning to capitalize on it.”
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OOC: Laughs in dramatic irony.
“Thanks. I can tell you’ll be a lot of help with this.”
Axis said with an appreciative tone.
“Not a problem kid. I’ve never been much of one for stealth, I prefer to settle things directly, but let’s just say I had to learn on the fly.”
Railgun kept his calm, neutral demeanor outwardly from that response, but inwardly he wanted to roll his eyes. It was just a politeness protocol. At least, he thinks so. He keeps with her pace and as now the other two are far enough ahead, he could now ask questions.
“If not classified,” Railgun beings, more softly than usual. “What happened?”
“You mean with Maximus?”
She asked, gesturing back to the barracks.
“So if you didn’t want to be a spy, how’d you get the job?”
She asked curiously.
“Let’s just say that when the war started, everyone was expected to pitch in, and given my alt-mode, they decided to put me in the covert ops. My Alt-mode is somewhat obsolete, as player pianos are common, but that also allows me to blend in easily.”
“I don’t know. I think most bots would take notice if a piano just showed up in their base one day.”
Axis said jokingly.
“That’s why I hung out in the bars and watering holes. You’d be surprised what bots will let drop when they get a bit of a buzz on. I simply snuck in, rolled out the old piano, and replaced it with myself. When the day was over, i did in reverse.”
“Primarily.” He says simply, keeping his main reasons for asking closed.
“So were wooden instruments just a common thing back then?”
Axis asked, genuinly curious.
“Your guess is as good as mine to be honest. Mentally the kid is a mess. Which is why I think he was so stubborn with the simulation. Then your crane friend started up his own preset which went crazy. It somehow managed to summon a small army of minicons that attacked us all at once. The predacon panicked and discharged all his electricity with an e.m.p. Then he passed out, and that’s when you showed up.”
OOC: Heads up. Just about to start work. I’ll be back in 2 hours for my 10 minute break. Then two hours after that I’ll be off.
“Somewhat. It was considered ‘classy’ to have wooden instruments.”
Railgun almost blurts out, “It what?!” but manages to keep it in. However, his face could not keep such composure and betrayed his thoughts. It was surprise and shock, followed immediately by worried concern. If the sim did what he thinks happened…Well, that could be bad news. He resumes his former composure and tries to keep a closer focus to Maximus.
“Perhaps something to do with his phoenix friend? She seemed to be in some emotional distress earlier this morning. We didn’t investigate, so I can’t say why or if it’s related.”
By now, the two are likely near the den’s entrance.
Nebula definitly noticed the shocked expression on Railgun’s face, but decided to keep her suspicions to herself. For now at least.
“Oh right. The maximal. Kinda forgot about her. Maybe you guys could into that. I can’t exaxtly work with Maximus as he is.”
“You old war era bots are weird.”
She stated, in a rather mater-of-fact way.
“That’s probably the Earth influence. Those little buggers are a pain to defeat. They’d rather go down dying than let themselves be captured, and no matter how good you treat them, they refuse to be held prisoner.” He responded, with a combination of bitterness and grudging respect in his voice.
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“Right. Earth.”
Axis said. Speaking as though she momentarily forgot the planet even existed.
“Have you ever actually been there?”
“A few times, when they needed an extra hand, but due to my size, I didn’t really fit in. I can’t mass ■■■■■ see?”
“Makes sense. I’ve never been there myself. Maximus went there once though. But it under much different circumstances to say the least.”
“I heard something about that. Time-travel shenanigans wasn’t it? Eh, you never met the Humans. Those guys are what made earth special, beyond it’s natural resources of course.”
“Maximus loves going on and on about their religion. Stories about gods, giants, dwarvs, and monsters. I hardly understand any of it, but it’s still fun litening to him talk about it.”
Axis spoke with a plesant smile, as if fonding over pleasant memories.