“Uh-huh,” Backbreaker says. “You don’t live as long as I have without making a few enemies- trick is to make as few of 'em as you can, if you can help it.”
Oddball continues snooping around, getting further away from the arena to explore the outer reaches of the complex- as far as the guards would let him go, at least.
“Makes sense.”
Maximus said.
It was then Railfire walked in.
“Maximus. Juliana wanted me to inform you that you will need to find a new informant for tier 2. In her current state, it will be some time before she is well again.”
Maximus nodded.
“Alright. Good to know.”
“And Backbreaker.”
Railfire said, turning to the autobot.
“I was hoping I could ask you a favor.”
There wasn’t much he already hadn’t seen. Now that he looked around, perhaps he would notice just how many guards there were in this place.
“Another one?” Backbreaker asks jokingly.
Noting the high security, Oddball looks for a garbage chute.
“This is something different. I’ve had… Concerns weighing on my mind as of late. I was hoping another veteran such as yourself would be willing to grant me your council.”
There was one near his location, with no guards nearby.
Backbreaker raises an eyebrow.
“Huh. Alright; what’s eating at ya, doc?”
Oddball shifts to robot mode, redirecting some extra mass into his legs so that he could reach the top of the chute and open it’s lid and look down into its depths.
“I would prefer we do this somewhere less public. I prefer not to openly share my past…”
He said nervously.
The chute went far, far, far, far down. He wasn’t able to see the bottom. The chute itself was too narrow for him to fit through, at least in his current state.
Backbreaker understood; there were things about the war he didn’t want to share with people, either. To him, Railfire was showing a level of trust that he wasn’t sure he had earned from the medic.
“Sure,” he says, getting up.
“Sorry kid, feathers,” he says to Maximus and Axis. “We can swap more stories later.”
Oddball narrows his eyes. Undoubtedly the Vex were smart enough to have installed some form of security measures to keep people from escaping through the garbage. If it was that easy, Backbreaker, Juliana, and the other old-timers would’ve busted out ages ago.
…Still, he was bored, and nothing cured that like wanton risk-taking. He pulls himself up to the lip of the trash chute, reshaping himself to be smaller, and more compact. He sharpens his hands and feet into blades to jab into the sides of the chute, and- before climbing in fully- jabs his right hand into the metal for a test.
“Don’t worry about it. You two have your war talk. We don’t mind.”
Axis said pleasantly.
“Perhaps we could speak in the Forge. Its a scarcely visited location.”
Railfire suggested.
The walls of the chute were thin, but would hold his weight.
Backbreaker nods, and proceeds to the forge.
Oddball looks up and rotates his head three-hundred-sixty degrees to look guards before going through with his attempt.
Railfire walks with him. He waits until the both of them were in the forge and away from anyone else to begin.
“I’ve been concerned about… Factions, I suppose. Past mistakes. Deep regrets. I’m sure you can understand.”
At the time there was no one there.
“Certainly can,” Backbreaker affirms, nodding his head. “I have a few of those myself- reckon most everybody in our generation does.”
Oddball then begins to carefully crawl down the chute, jabbing his blades into the walls and slowly creeping downward.
“If… If it were to happen again. Say Optimus Prime and Megatron return from the grave and start the war again. Would you take arms? Would you go back?”
There was a solid metallic pang with every jab. After he got down a fair distance, he might hear the sound of running footsteps from above.
Backbreaker raises an eyebrow.
“Interesting scenario you’ve thought up, doc,” he says.
Curses, Oddball thinks, their sense of hearing is more attuned than I had anticipated.
He stops moving, swiveling his head around to look up the shaft as he holds himself in place.
“Indeed. But tell me, what would you do?”
The medic asked again.
The lid above him opens, and a figure could be seen. It was the guard from earlier.
“Hey! Just what do you think you’re doing?”
She shouted. Then looked away for a moment.
“Zed get over here already!”
Backbreaker ponders the question. If the Great War started up again, what would he do?
“…I guess I’d join up with Prime and the Autobots again,” he says.
Oddball had to think of something- fast.
“Woodle-fwa-zwoop!” he blurts up the shaft.
“I, uh, dropped something down here!”
Railfire sighed.
“I thought as much. I’m sure such a choice would be easy for an autobot. History tells us you were the heroes of our story. But for myself, it’s not so simple. The decepticons were more than a tyrannical regime bent on conquest. We had a cause. A belief. One that was lost, but a belief I still hold. But after all the fear, death, and destruction brought by the war, I do not know if I could do it again.”
The guard groaned in abject frustration.
“If its that important to you we’ll have someone retrieve it for you. Now get up here!”
She demanded. Then looked away again.
“Zed for the Queen’s sake what is taking you so long!”
She shouted.
“I’m sorry I’m sorry! I’m moving!”
Replied another voice.
Backbreaker shrugs.
“I wouldn’t want to do it again,” he explains. “I hope I don’t. But if bad guys started causing trouble for the universe again, you’d bet your skidplate I’d be on the front lines fighting 'em off.”
“Wa-woo! Zwa-wa-boop!” Oddball chirps.
"I can’t! It’s really important!
“I suppose. But my situation is… Different. Tell me, what do you know of the Destron Warriors?”
OOC: New element I’ve devised for the decepticon military structure. Kinda what inspired this interaction.
“Then I’ll send Zed down to get it for you! You’re not allowed down there!”
“Wait what?”
The other guard said as he arrived.
“You heard what I said!”
“Nothing,” Backbreaker says flatly. “First I’ve heard of 'em.”
Oddball begins to climb further down into the chute.
“Woo-woo-zwee-bop-dee-do,” he warbles as apologetically as he could fake.
“Uh, sorry! Sorry! I really gotta get this thing back pronto!”
“They are similar to your wreckers. Elite warriors sent into insurmountable odds. Missions that anyone else would deem suicide. Only in our cases, they were. A destron was a soldier called upon by Megatron himself. Elected in a time of crisis and consumed to further our cause. Only a very select few survived their given mission. It was seen as the highest possible honor a warrior could achieve.”
“I said get back here!”
She barked angrily.
“Zed! Go get him!”
“What?!”
Before Zed had time to protest, his partner grabbed him by the back of the neck and chucked him down the chute.