Rude Awakening

[Deleted]

Characters: @spectron, Open to All Characters
Location: Warner Valley, Oregon
Content Warnings: Possible violence and injuries
Plot Summary: In the remote Warner Valley, the newest Cybertronian arrival to Earth crash lands amid a forested bed of marshland and lakes. His pod sends a signal to all Cybertronians, Decepticon and Autobot alike, announcing his arrival. As the pod hisses open, Spectron sets his optics on a world for the first time.

[Deleted]

His dreams were pleasant. Filled with the glories of the Decepticon Empire, their victories, their triumph, and their righteous struggle. The dreams taught him many things. Told him who he was. Spectron. A Decepticon. Spectron was only a little confused when he awoke to alarms. He glanced about, trying to ascertain his location. It looked like he was…in…some kind of thing. Helpful.

It was quite…tight. Spectron lifted his hands and pressed them against the upper casing. Ah-ha! A panel. Something about an error with the pod hatch. Well, that explained why he was trapped. And the alarms. Why was he here? He searched his memory banks for the answer, but it surprisingly yielded no firm answers.

Spectron had expected…well, nothing really. Hoped to just sort of jump in on his place in the empire. In any case, he wasn’t going to be doing much of anything until he got out of this pod. So, Spectron pushed against the upper casing, trying to free himself. “Hrgh…”

No good.

Panic began to settle in. What if he couldn’t get out?! What would happen to him?! Scared, Spectron glanced to the panel and fiddled with it, trying to see if he could get it to put him back to sleep. Send him back to his dreams where everything was so clear and bright and proud. The panel was unresponsive no matter how much Spectron scraped at it.

“H-help…”

In a bout of fright, Spectron slammed his hands against the upper casing only to recoil as pain shot down his arms. The dreams hadn’t taught him anything about this! That had…hurt! His first instinct was to curl up – but the space didn’t allow for that. Someone would come wouldn’t they? They had to. Or the dreams would come back. Yeah. He could just-

You cannot stay here.

Spectron froze. He blinked slowly. That was right. He couldn’t just wait. He had to take action like Megatron had. What was he doing? He was being weak, that’s what. No, he had to be like Megatron! His fate would be what he made of it. He had to push past this. He would not stay here and stagnate.

Spectron pressed his hands against the upper casing of the pod once more, grunting as he heaved and pushed against it. After a fair amount of struggling, it seemed like it would budge. It seemed like he would be free at last! And appearances proved to be correct when a shaft of light from a crack shot down, momentarily blinding him.

“Ahh...”

[Deleted]

Breakdown had been at the console when the signal had come and gave a stern look. Sometimes you had to take initiative, locate, and hunt down the source of the signal. It had come with an embedded coordinate code, which made it just that little bit easier for Breakdown to put it into the Groundbridge. Good. He would deploy the groundbridge after a few quick checks, then thunder through it.

And, apparently, somewhere wet, but rather full of plant life. A bit of muck stuck to the bottom of his large pedes, but it was nothing he couldn't handle. A single golden optic kept surveying for the pod that was the source of the signal. However, it wasn't sight that had alerted him, but the sound of a cracking and thumping. A pod opening, just to the right of his location. Of course it had been harder to see in that direction--one optic trying to stare past all his shoulder-kibble kind of did that to him when he was trying to ascertain the location from a stationary position.

He whipped around with a speed that was unusual for his large size, drawing closer to the pod. He then knelt to pull it open a bit further than its current crack, giving a huge grin.

"Lookie here. You the one that sent out that signal?" His bronze faceplates had settled into a small, comfortable smirk. One optic would cast its glow toward the young Decepticon in the pod, the other having been replaced by the optic patch rather than waste resources on a new optic.

"Got your signal. Name's Breakdown."

[Deleted]

Spectron flinched as the upper casing peeled away. A bronze face and yellow optics looked down at him, grinning widely. At first, Spectron was relieved, but caution set in. What if this was one of those Autobots? Pushing the rest of the casing aside, Spectron pushed himself up, optics scanning Breakdown carefully. When he spotted the Decepticon insignia, Spectron visibly relaxed, a smile forming on his faceplate.

“Hi! I’m Spectron,” he said, frowning thoughtfully as he recalled Breakdown’s question, “Signal? What signal?”

Glancing about, his blue optics went wide as he noted the world before him. It was so green! And blue! “Whoa…Is this Cybertron? It…It isn’t, right? It doesn’t look anything like the dreams…” Spectron moved to clamber out of his pod, moving slowly and uncertainly. “What happened to your face? Are you an Empurata? “

Sticking his leg out uncertainly, Spectron set his foot down amid the slippery organic muck. It was squishy. He swing his other leg out awkwardly, only to slip. He splashed down into the water and muck, optics wide. “I’m,” Spectron grabbed onto the side of the pod to help himself back up to his feet, “I’m ready to take my place in the Decepticon Empire! So, um, how do I take my place?”

[Deleted]

"Your pod musta set off a signal." Breakdown quirked his optic. "Well, Spectron, good to meet you." He had a sheepish smile on his face. The poor kid must have been startled by everything.

He then paused. "Nah, this ain't Cybertron. Far from it, kid. This is Earth. A place full of great energon deposits actually." He would then frown and look to the side for a moment. "Nah, that'd mean I'd look more like Shockwave. I kinda got a deserved punishment for letting Earth's fleshy humans capture me and take out my optic." He then winced. "But that ain't gonna happen to you kid. I'll make sure you avoid those stupid fleshies."

He had to hold in laughter at how the kid seemed to slip and fall several times. He himself had taken a while to acclimate to all of Earth's slippery organic gunk and he held a bulky hand out. "Stick with me. Someone who's already got his place in the empire." He gave a cock-sure grin. "Man, I hope Autobots don't show up." Of course, he almost felt like he was jinxing himself just by saying that. It did tend to happen like that. Actually, he sort of hoped they did show up so he could show that Decepticons were good, Autobots were bad, and show this kid some sweet moves.

[Deleted]

It hadn't been something Ultra Magnus had expected. Since his own arrival to Earth, there had been no freak encounters of any kind. They all knew of one another, and there were no new arrivals to his knowledge. Everyone was accounted for- that was, until a new signal pinged to his commlink.

He had sought to get Optimus' approval to follow up on the ping, but Optimus had been busy with other endeavors. Magnus resolved to simply gather information and relay his findings to the Prime at the nearest convenience.

From what he could take in, the area was desolate. There were no organics to be seen, but there was a distinctive Decepticon signal flaring up on Ultra Magnus' radar scans. As the Groundbridge spit him out mere meters from the other two, he made sure he was at the ready for any fight that followed suit.

[Deleted]

As usual, Sev had been patrolling outdoors, his alternate mode zooming along the blank highways in Oregon, revving to speeds of well over eighty miles per hour. His enjoying of the wind whistling was cut short when he received a Decepticon distress signal. Sure enough, his luck won out once again when Sev read his scans, discovering the source of the signal was off road less than a kilometer away. Sev knew going offered in his alternate mode was foolery, thus he commenced slowing down, initiating his transformation sequence once he knew it was wise to. 

Slowly, painfully, his T-cog did it's job, Sev forced his way into robot mode shoving his pieces into the correct position until at last he stood to full height. Now the mech began walking for the signal, knowing it'd be a few minutes, but Sev knew he'd get there soon enough. The vehicon didn't bother summoning a ground bridge, as he knew the source of the distress signal was practically within spitting distance. Less than a human kilometer was a hop, skip and a jump for a trained cybertronian soldier. 

Sev trekk over a hill or so before the pod was within sight. Sev stood atop it briskly, looking below as a familiar mech caught his eye: It was none-other than that good-natured mech called Breakdown. Sev grunted to a halt, watching as Breakdown assisted the new arrival. He was close enough to hear their words like murmurs, as he was about 50 meters away.

However, the two decepticons weren't to enjoy tranquility for long; a ground bridge opened, and a brawny blue and red Autobot stepped through. Sev drew his trusted gun, letting his Nucleon charge rifle begin to hum to life, charging as it always needed to before it fired. 
::Breakdown sir. I've got your back.:: Sev sent a transmission to the blue heavy-hitter. The vehicon was ready to fight, though he had a hunch this wouldn't be the only Autobot to make an appearance. Autobots had a team-oriented psychology, after all..

[Deleted]

“Earth, huh?” Spectron asked, still clinging to the side of his pod to steady himself, “Kinda weird name. Why am I here? Why are we here?” Spectron both meant what were the Decepticons doing here and why was he sent here specifically. “Is Megatron here?” He asked hopefully. If his hero were here, then everything would be just fine.

“What are humans? Fleshies? Who’s Shockwave? They hurt you? Then humans are bad, right?” The questions flowed out of Spectron’s vocalizer like an unending stream. While he awaited answers, he tried the whole walking thing again. Only to slip. Again. Splashdown. For the love of Megatron, he was bad at this.

Seeing that Breakdown had stuck out a hand to help him, Spectron took it gratefully, getting to his feet yet again. He nodded eagerly as Breakdown instructed him to stick with him. That he could do. His optics widened a bit as Breakdown mentioned Autobots. “They’re here? The Autobots? On Earth? What are they doing here? What are we gonna do if they show up?”

Spectron glanced around skittishly as if an Autobot could jump out of the greenery at any astrosecond. And, in fact, something did. Spectron jolted as a swirling green vortex appeared out of thin air, shuffling around Breakdown so that he was partially hidden behind the smaller mech. “What’s that?!”

[Deleted]

"Weird name for a weird planet." Breakdown quipped. He then looked to Spectron thoughtfully. "I suppose the best thing I can say is, Earth has the Energon resources and the relics we need to make a vast Decepticon empire a reality. And you, you're here to help, just like the rest of us." He had a huge, cheeky grin.

He was surprised at how woefully uninformed the rookie seemed, and for the first time, hearing all the questions, he was starting to think this one was a kid, at that. "Humans, fleshies, squishies--all different terms for the organic denizens most like us on Earth. They're the worst--tryin' to steal Cybertronian tech and sidin' with the Autobots. Can you believe it? Humans, siding with those jerks?" He scoffed. "As for Shockwave, he's one of the Decepticons' lead scientists. You'd know him by looks alone. All he's got to his face is this one big red optic and all he talks about is logic." Hey, he didn't say he quite knew Shockwave too well, but he was informed enough! When he saw Spectron slip again, he gave a small smile. Ah, sweet memories.

"They are, and they're makin' a huge mess out of our mines, tryin' to get the humans to take us out, generally tryin' to attack the downtrodden guy, the little guy, like you and me." He snorted. "As for what we're gonna do? Well, we're gonna defend ourselves. Fight or run? I'd choose fight any day. Can't always run from 'em."

When he saw the vortex that appeared and the branwy blue and red autobot step out, he narrowed his optic. ::Good. 'Cause we got a rookie or a kid here. And I intend t'make sure he gets to our ship safely.:: He would then glance to Spectron. "Keep your optics out in case. Where one Autobot is, another is sure to follow."

[Deleted]

The last thing Windblade ever expected to be tracking was a pod signal. She had been doing one of her solo travels as she often did from Crown City, keeping all her senses open for signs of the Decepticons. Then, the signal caught her attention. She was six miles away and was well within her range to detect it, making Windblade vaguely wonder what she was going to expect at the site. Was an Autobot or Decepticon? A trap to lure unsuspecting foes? Perhaps something from the Alchemor Team Bee had mentioned? There were quite a few possibilities and Windblade was trying to go over possible scenarios and how to handle them.

To cover the distance though, Windblade had her thrusters at maximum burn, wanting to try and get there before any Decepticons possibly could. But the closer she got the more she became aware that she was not alone. Aside from the obvious smells given off by the wetlands around there. Three, four other bots seemed to be there, whether they were friendly though would be another matter.

'Hm, better be ready for whatever might be coming.' Windblade thought, slowing her speed before transforming in mid-flight, kicking on the thrusters in her heels as her turbines were facing upwards and spinning at half power to keep her aloft and ready. From there, Windblade finished covering the distance until she spotted the sources of the signals and smells, one indeed belonging to the pod signal wise but it seemed the Decepticons had beat the Bots. And the only other one there was Ultra Magnus. Did this make the battle even if it resorted to that? She gave Magnus the advantage of a flight-based ally, but that didn't mean there wasn't a possible risk here.

Her attention left the red and blue bot, focusing on the Decepticons for a moment. Two of them seem more than ready for a fight while the third...was hiding? This caused Windblade to raise an optic ridge in wonder, focusing her optics on Spectron and seeing he seemed...scared? Uncertain? It was hard to tell. And a brief inspection of him seemed to show some youth. Perhaps a youngling, but she couldn't exactly tell for sure. ::Ultra Magnus sir, here at your service and ready.:: Windblade spoke up towards the mech through communications, reaching back to grab her Stormfall Swords hilts, though not yet activating them but having them held at her side just in case things escalated.