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Characters: @leah, @pharma, @moonwing Location: Clark County, Nevada Content Warnings: N/A Plot Summary: Remarkably close to Las Vegas, Nevada, Autobot Pharma must attempt to retrieve The Apex Armour before the human Leah Rhemer and Decepticon Moonwing.
It had been difficult to acquire the details at first, but once they had been deciphered, there wasn't much time to lose. Pharma had stopped long enough to tell Ratchet a heartfelt goodbye and tell him to stay safe; those were the same words he had said when he had told Cogwheel to leave Delphi. Thankfully, his journey, his flight, would not take him too far from Jasper, to Las Vegas, where the Apex Armor rested. Or, at least, near the glittering city that seemed to be an oasis among endless desert. Too bad the lights and glitz of the city didn't always last that far, and whatever happened in Vegas had to stay in Vegas, didn't it?
He wanted to claim the Apex Armor for the Autobots, yes. But he had another reason as well. No one, he believed, should ever have to feel as powerless as he did back on Delphi. Back when he had sent Cogwheel away once those barbarians had arrived. He knew the Arachnicon could hold her own, yes. But he had told her that others would need her more elsewhere, where she would be safe and able to mend them. She would be able to do what he was not able to when he had stayed behind, on so many levels.
He had told her he would be able to hold his own.
But he had been powerless to do anything when those mecha had overrun the facility and turned him into their slave of sorts. Sure, he was allowed to practice medicine, but he couldn't help but think he was doing harm under their thumbs. And that had never sat well with him. It had broken him.
The Apex Armor, he surmised, was the one way he had of protecting himself, and protecting those he valued. Not just his mentor Dr. Cogwheel. His favorite student, Ratchet. Ratchet's love and his adopted offspring. His fellow Autobots.
"Where are you, accursed relic...?" He grumbled, clutching to the device he had taken with him in order to try to track it.
He wasn't even sure the Armor would contain Energon in any form. What good would an Energon tracking device do then? Not much good. But it was still better to go prepared than not. He never wanted to feel unprepared again either. He wanted to have hope that he would be safe, or at least able to find what he needed...
It was her first serious mission, and Moonwing was nervous. This task assigned to her was much more than a simple patrol or mere errands to run: she was to go to the coordinates given to her and retrieve The Apex Armour before any Autobots claimed it, and return with it to her Lord and Master. The youngling did not know what this armour was, or what it did, but she did know that it was of vital importance that she found it as soon as possible.
The lights of the human city glittered and flickered like an enticing invitation to come explore, but the young seeker forced herself to turn away and suppress her innate curiosity to go investigate: now more than ever, she could not afford to get distracted. Moonwing knew she had to succeed in this mission, lest she bring down Lord Megatron’s wrath upon herself. She knew she had not been the ideal Decepticon soldier-in-training and his patience had waned regarding her shortcomings, and she feared that he would soon decide that her failures had begun to outweigh what few talents she had. She had to retrieve it, for she was certain her very fate depended on it.
She had landed not too far away from the given coordinates, so she was easily within walking distance of the relic. Unsettled by the quiet and hoping that she’d been the first to get here so that she might avoid a fight, Moonwing began to move in the direction the scanner indicated the relic was. Luck, however, was not on her side. Suddenly, she heard an unfamiliar voice. An Autobot! Fear shot up her spinal strut, and she bolted for the first shelter she could find. Shelter took the form of a large boulder, and behind it she huddled, peering out to evaluate her new foe.
Leah wasn't there for the Autobots. Truthfully, she wasn't even there for STARSCREAM. No, above all else, Leah was there for herself. She had entered a world among giants, and she was going to find a way to survive. So when Starscream had mentioned something about armor, and about the chance to survive anything with it, she knew what she had to do.
She had to get that damned armor, before anyone else did.
All it took was a bit of hacking, some fiddling with a few firewalls, and she was in. The location of that beautiful Apex Armor revealed itself to her within the Autobots' files-- thank you, Starscream!-- and she took off. More importantly, she took off WITHOUT telling Starscream, or her mother. Not that she really cared about that last part, to be fair.
She drove all night, fueled by energy drinks and pure rage. Honestly, it was exactly how she survived any other day. But this time, there was more tacked onto the rage. There was DESPERATION, and a need to survive. If she was going to live with these metallic giants, then she was going to need to figure out a way to fight. That was how she survived.
Leah Rhemer had FOUGHT every second of her life, and she wasn't stopping now.
When she arrived, Leah dimmed the lights, but continued on her way. She would need the car, ESPECIALLY if she was going to make a quick, clean getaway. Between the car and the guns in her passenger seat, she was going to be a-okay. She just had to find the damned thing.
Pharma seemed to shamble closer, his focus getting even more intent than ever. For Ratchet. He told himself. For Ratchet, for his family, for his dear mentor Cogwheel. He needed this. He needed it to protect them. This was what he kept telling himself. For them. For them. For them.
He seemed to see a flash of movement for a moment and grunted. "If you're going to hide, don't be so obvious about your movements." It was life advice he'd learned firsthand, and a warning at the same time. "If you're here for what I think you are, however, I'm not leaving without it." It was bold words from him. spoken in a more sinister tone than his first words. Possibly because he felt he needed to get a little more dangerous, he surmised. Unfamiliar presences drew alert, and alert put him on guard. His wings were held in a more threatening position, as though warning that he wasn't going to budge easy.
"You think you're going to get it before me, don't you? Well you're not..." He hissed, seeming to circle near the area he swore he was getting readings from. His movements were slow and seemed to be calculated despite his levels of agitation.
In hindsight, Moonwing ought not to have been so surprised that the Autobot spotted her instantly considering she had been rather the opposite of covert. She was also surprised by the fact that the Autobot was a seeker. Having lived the entirety of life in the shelter of Decepticon upbringing, she had never fathomed that any member of her kind would ever join the ranks of the enemy. Though his badge was different from her kind’s, however, the cant of his wings was clear to her: he meant business.
“I-I’m not leaving without it either!” She called back waveringly, sounding significantly less bold in comparison. Her own wings quivered and drooped in response. Still, she meant her words, and knew she too had to dig in her heels and prove to be the greater warrior -- if she did not return with this armour, she would be in a whole heap of trouble.
Her anxious thoughts were interrupted by the sound of tires bumping along over the ground, the sound of gravel crunching under treads. Moonwing tensed slightly at the sight of the ground-based vehicle, certain it was another Autobot, but when it failed to unfold itself into a Cybertronian, she took a closer look and found that there was a human in the driver’s seat. ‘Humans aren’t a threat,’ she thought to herself, peering at this newcomer with wary curiosity. This would likely be her first mistake.
Time stretched on as she watched the Autobot prowl around in a circle. She was content to stay behind her boulder for now, as if it could provide some protection if he decided to come at her.Her scanner indicated that the Armour was closeby. “Now what?” The tension proved too much to bear, and Moonwing ended up blurting out the obvious in her inexperience.
As soon as she noticed the two giant robots, Leah cursed. They were undoubtedly after the Apex Armor, just as she was. They CLEARLY wanted it nearly as bad as she did; definitely not more, she was sure. She was going to get this from them. The Apex Armor was going to be hers. She just had to wait for the right moment.
Which, judging by the way the two bots seemed to ignore her, was going to be relatively soon.
With a smirk, Leah decided to take advantage of their carelessness. Grabbing her tablet up, she opened the cover and activated it. The Armor was nearby. In fact, it was just behind the two mechs. Two mechs who, according to a quick assessment, were sizing each other up. They were about to fight EACH OTHER, and cared nothing for her. Clearly, they had their priorities.
She turned her car around without a word, placing it in park but not turning off the engine. She wouldn't have the precious seconds to start it up if she needed to escape. Those were seconds she could be gunning it down the mountain and heading home. So with the card left in park, Leah grabbed a few weapons up and leaned against the car. Her arms crossed over her chest.
She would need to act, yes, but only when the time was right.
The sound of the engines had started to alert him. She was moving the car. That human seemed to know what she was doing here. And that meant there was more than one threat here. Human, Autobot, and Decepticon. Which one here would get to the armor first? Which one was planning to use it best? Those questions were ones that Pharma could have pondered but now was not the time for that.
"So you're after it too, human? You wouldn't be here, knowing that two titans among your people are here without having at least a little knowledge of what you were looking for, yes?" He seemed to not yet be ready to shoot or cut anyone down. Unlike those who tended to draw their weapons, his other weapon other than his medical tools was his words. "Do you even know what the Apex Armor does? Or why one would want or need it?" His tone was almost condescending. "That's also a question to you, little Decepticon. You best think about it before you decide what to do."
He seemed to back from the boulder with slow steps, trying to keep both beings in his sights. Something he had learned during his ordeal at Delphi was to never ever turn your back on those who were ready to strike, lest you be struck in the back.
Moonwing may have been ignorant of its true powers, but she knew very well why she needed the Armour. She also knew that she could not let the insidious words of an Autobot convince her otherwise. She was no stranger to being talked down to, but the near-condescending tone made her dorsal plating ruffle up in distress. “There is no choice for me,” The young seeker said, for it was the truth, though her voice trembled when she spoke it. “I do not need to know what it does, for My Lord and Master demands that I bring it to him!”
The human made her nervous, for though she did not think such a small being capable of harming her, it was just… standing there, and watching, while her car rumbled idly. The human intended to try and claim the Armour too, it seemed. Moonwing was unsettled by the whole situation, and wanted nothing more than to run, but she had been tasked with retrieving the Apex Armour, and so that was what she had to do.
Slowly, shakily, she unsubspaced her blaster. It was her only weapon, for not even her in-built cannons and battle-systems had developed enough to come fully online just yet. Unlike the first time she’d encountered an Autobot, however, Moonwing anxiously made sure that it was loaded and that the safety was off. She didn’t know what was more unsettling: the fact that the Autobot had scared her enough to reach for her blaster, or the fact that she thought herself capable of shooting him if he got too close.
(She didn’t want to shoot anybody. She didn’t want to be here.)
Moonwing dared enough to slowly creep out from behind the boulder, knowing very well that the relic was close. With trembling wings, she weighed the pros and cons of what she was about to do, before realizing that pros and cons didn’t really matter much anyways. Finally, when the tension became too great, the young seeker bolted for the rock cairn that entombed the Apex Armour, making a break for it - and turning her back to both of her apparent foes.
The whispered declaration left the human a second after she saw the Seeker take off. She had seen her fellow humans-- small, frail things in comparison-- react far more bravely to danger than the giant robot was. Hell, she had seen people die herself; she had KILLED PEOPLE herself. And this little thing was running in the hopes of grabbing the armor and escaping?
Definitely not happening. Not on her watch.
Without a word, Leah simply pushed off the Jeep. She had a gun in one hand and the other free, though it was occupied momentarily to pop a piece of gum between her lips. She had less than half a tank a gas; this show needed to get on the fuckin' road. And it appeared that was finally going to happen, especially if the Autobot decided to go for the Armor as well.
She moved across the cave, her steps slow; idle. She had nowhere else to be, and she certainly wasn't beating the giant robots in strength. But she could use their distraction to her advantage. She could use their determination, and their stubbornness. More than that, she could use their disgusting loyalty to their cause against them.
"She's gunna get it, y'know," Leah drawled, and glanced over at the other bot. A red symbol decorated his form. She grunted. "Isn't that what you Autobots are supposed to do, man? Stop the fuckin' bad guys?"
It seemed that verbal manipulation wouldn't work here. He was banking on that to be his ace in the hole. It was how he'd finally gotten away from those psychotic Decepticon barbarians back at Delphi finally. He just couldn't understand why the little seeker was too smart for her own good.
"Your lord and master sent barbarians to kill innocents! Traitor to the good still left in Vos!" That was raising his hackles. But how to get closer without turning his back? He started sidling at the human's urging. "It's only a small part of my job. Strike behind my back and I won't have any qualms breaking the medic's oath." He would move finally to try to turn his back to the human and try to elbow the smaller seeker out of the way, transforming his right hand into a rather oversized chainsaw that he usually only used for surgery. "Don't even think about it, or you might find yourself with surgically clipped wings, little one." He hissed. He meant it too. He wouldn't hesitate to slice her wings off if he needed to in order to defend himself, and to get that armor.
Only, his right hand wasn't the only one he was transforming. The left too became another chainsaw. He wasn't taking chances; in any case, he was going to be chainsawing the rock cairn open if he had to. The sparks seemed to fly off as he revved it harder, gritting his denta sharply.
"If you have somethin' to bust it up, help me, fleshling! Medic tools only do so much."
((OOC: rip moonwing you gon get your butt kicked, presuming you don't accidentally kick it yourself first))
Moonwing did not know of barbarians or innocents, considering the propaganda she’d been fed her whole existence, but she was not so eager to find out. She had been warned of Autobot treachery and lies, after all, and this one seemed to be no different - and yet, his words were sincere enough in their vehemence. Accusations of cowardice were not new to her, either. She knew that her mentors and overseers in her training thought her weak, and soft, and it brought her great shame indeed for no matter how hard she tried, she could never overcome the innate urge to run from a fight - unless the stakes were too high to ignore.
“I have to, or he’ll kill me!” The young seeker choked out. It was not difficult to guess just who ‘he’ was, or why she was willing to risk getting her wings surgically clipped when there were bigger bots to fear. The human, however strange it was acting, was practically a non-threat on the scale of people she was afraid of.
The revving of chainsaws behind her made Moonwing turn to look over her bulky shoulder in open fear. What would a mere standard-issue blaster do against an Autobot with chainsaws for hands? “Doesn’t clipping wings go against your oath as well?!” The split-second diversion of her attention was just long enough for the young seeker’s foot to catch on a rock and send her tumbling with a shriek to the ground in a graceless heap, her face planted in the dust.The blaster skidded straight out of her hand and out of reach. “No!”
Last Edit: Jun 17, 2016 17:35:02 GMT by Counterklock
[ when will my motivation to fill this out come home from war]
MOOD
[ (ง︡’-‘︠)ง]
MUSIC
[ n/a ]
TAG
[ @pharma ; @moonwing ]
NOTES
[ ง︡’-‘︠)ง ]
« ☢ »
The human rolled her eyes at Pharma's threat. Seriously? Breaking the medic's oath? She had heard worse from her own MOTHER. But, she wanted that Armor just as bad (read: more) than they did, so she was going to have to work with the damned Autobot.
Just long enough to STAB HIM in the back, of course.
"Yeah, yeah, you big fuckin' baby, I'm coming." Hefting up her bag, she slung it over her shoulder and started down the cave. This was her relic, and her prize to claim. She just had to "play nice," as Starscream would say, until the balls were all in her corner. "You just keep the fuckin' 'Con off my tail, and we'll be right as rain, Sunshine. You got it?"
She didn't run. She didn't even HURRY. Instead, Leah simply meandered her way over to where Pharma was, each step slow and casual and purposeful. Once she finally arrived, she placed her bag down and began to fiddle through it. Guns, knives-- anything you could imagine. It was all in there. Including one homemade energon bomb, curtosy of Starscream's unwilling donation.
"Look, li'l bitch, if you want me to do this, your ass has GOT to stop calling me fleshlin'. Or I will gouge your eyes out and play with them until the cows come home. Deal?"
Vehemence? That was one way to put the venom in his speech. He still remembered the Decepticon Justice Division as a group of barbarians who had done so many horrifying things and made him do things that had all-but shattered his oath. Even now, thinking of them made spent energon rise in his intakes. But he wasn't about to just purge all over the place just because this little winglet was bringing up those memories. He seemed to swallow hard and thick to bring it back down, to not be sick once more.
He snorted. "Seems your glorious leader shows his true colors, doesn't he? Not all he was built up to be with all the lies you were spoon-fed with your early energon, was he?" He seemed more venomous than before. "But if I don't have it...he'll kill everyone that I and my allies care about..." He seemed to almost shake with a strange sort of rage. Was it sorrow and rage? Sorrow, fear and rage? A rage brought on by futile sadness? No one really knew, even Pharma himself. He couldn't tell you what he was truly feeling if he tried because there was so much inside him, so much tumbling through his field all at once.
He then snorted. "Well, young one, if the choice comes down to my life or your wings, I'm choosing to preserve my life." His tone took on a darker edge. When he saw the blaster go flying, he secretly cheered inside. There was not much she could threaten him with now except her little claws. Oh great. He could imagine those ripping into the old scars on his wings and that made him truly sick.
"I'll stop calling you that when you furnish me part of your designation." He quipped, almost coldly. "Doesn't matter which half of your human designation. Just something to call you other than 'fleshling'. We both tire of it. And please, if you need a term for me other than my designation...just call me doctor. Or doc. I don't care which."
“It… it isn’t a lie!” And that certainly was true. Lord Megatron was… strict. Strict, and intolerant of failure and incompetence. She had been taught (as all young Decepticons were, indoctrinated with propaganda and made to believe there was no other way) that any punishment dealt out, no matter the harshness, was likely deserved, and thus she strove not to do anything to ever bring down the ire of her Lord and Master upon her head. Luck had never been on Moonwing’s side, however, and neither had fate, for it seemed everything she did only displeased him further. This was to the mission in which she proved herself.
This wasn’t the way she’d imagined things would go at all.
Moonwing could feel the turbulence that was in the Autobot’s EM field. Rage and fury and sorrow, potent and distilled and so different from the other Autobot she’d encountered before, and it was all seemingly directed all at her. She cowered, her wings trembling and her head down low, trying to keep herself a small of a target as possible. Her little claws and her little fangs were nothing against chainsaws, and she was willing to bet that he also had ion cannons built in somewhere. She did not want to give him reason to clip her wings -- she knew he would, she knew -- and wanted nothing more than to run, but she had to get that armour. His ‘friends and allies’ were nothing but abstract concepts to her, especially when her own fate was on the line.
She watched as the human slowly, leisurely make her way around to stand next to the Autobot in what seemed to be some sort of alliance. The blaster had slid out of reach, but the armour was so close now. Certain that the Autobot and the human were suitably distracted, the young seeker tried to make a break for the rock cairn that hid the relic then, hoping that if she somehow got there first, she might still get out of this with her wings intact. She plowed into it, knowing she would not have time to remove the rocks one by one, and the silver disc went sliding across the floor amongst the tumbling stones.