Ep.1 - Teamwork - Closed

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<<OOC: Set at the start of Week 2.>>

The organisation known as MECH was coming to be more than slightly irritating. The humans were interfering with patrols via survellience and, lately, direct confrontation. They had little fear to no fear of the Cybertronians, and were keen to test their mettle against the Eradicons.

Megatron himself cared little for the humans, seeing them as vermin and beneath notice. Since arriving on this planet, they had not afforded his attention nor his army's resources. Remaining in disguise when encountering the native organic populous and arranging their flight path to avoid their primitive aviation efforts was a practical measure only. There was a war to win, and striking up a conflict with them would contribute to that end. They were pointless. Figures of mild amusement for a number of his troops.

The warlord had found, however, that the Autobots did deem the humans of value. That could potentially be useful, but hostages was not his intention at present.

Fairwinds alighted onto his shoulder armor with a clipped pulse of greeting, arranging herself between the first curving spike and his collar faring. She sat poised and alert, sharp eyes on the screens in front of them, tongue still.

::Morning, Master. I returned the rest of that solvent to Knock Out like you told me to, and it totally got up all that goo in my cupboard. And the little bits on your desk that looked a bit like pede-prints.:: Fairwinds gave Megatron a sidelong glance, pausing in her comm-line prattle to read the angle of his brows. ::You're still mad, aren't you? I mean, you're not yelling or throwing me out an airlock, but I can still tell you're mad. What'd-::

The wide doors at the end of the bridge's raised platform slid open. Fairwinds snapped her helm about to see Roulette enter. She'd not met the femme in the mesh, yet, but had heard about her through the gossip vine. Sharp shooter. Bit mouthy. Potential to be fun if scary. Why the two of them would have been summoned for a meeting together was a mystery.

"Roulette," Megatron intoned, more of an acknowledgement of the soldier's presence than an actual greeting. He waited for her to come front and center.

Fairwinds, as was expected of her, silently abandoned her perch on the large mech to land on the floor beside Roulette. She peered up at the femme, pitching her helm at a 'so what're you here for?' sort of angle.

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There was one glaring problem with the Nemesis, Roulette was finding. The lighting was oddly dim for such an illustrious creation. She jokingly referred to it as "mood lighting" to the drones when she ended up in their company. A naturally chatty creature by nature, she could only spend so much time alone to herself before she sought out some form of entertainment. Even if it was watching the plebeians work and distracting them with inane commentary.

Such moments were few and far between, however, as she devoted her free time to target practice from the top of the ship. Determined to get used to the atmosphere and how it affected her aim; she wasn't pleased with what she found. In comparison to Earth, Cybertron had been ideal conditions. Earth had too much going on for itself. For a small planet, it was annoyingly alive and active. She spent more of her time being distracted by the wildlife than actually correcting her accuracy.

When she was summoned to speak with Megatron, a flicker of guilty unease wormed its way through her body. Was she about to be punished for not marshaling her time better? However, the way to the bridge, she scoffed at the very idea. Her importance was middling in comparison of the other Decepticons in the ship and if she was going to be punished, it would have been by a subordinate not by the Big Mean himself. That self righteous assurance still didn't quell any lingering nervousness she couldn't quite shake when she was in his presence.

Some day I have to get a handle on that. I'm flashing him my cards too often.

With an appreciative gaze, she looked over the bridge as she crossed the threshold to stand before the over large leader. Even if it was dim and abused, the ship was lovely. Her admiring attention was distracted by the presence of the bird standing before Megatron.

Well that is just...absurdly adorable. Now I'm really confused.

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Fairwinds watched Roulette stiffen back to attention after giving her the once-over, remembering herself that she ought to be looking like a professional Decepticon too. She channeled Ravage, silently realigning the long plates of her wings into a smooth, predatory profile.

"As you are no doubt aware, the human organisation MECH have shown a developing interest in our presence," Megatron began, turning away from both femmes towards the screens. Footage from various Eradicons of black armored vehicles was playing. "For now they are not a threat, but Soundwave has been unable to determine the extent of their resources and intelligence. They may be working with the Autobots, whether or not Optimus knows of it."

With the commander's back to them, Fairwinds slumped a little and beamed up at Roulette. She opened a tight short-range comm.line. ::Hi! I'm Fairwinds, or you can call me Windy. Looks like we're being partnered up. Neat, huh?::

"You will locate one of MECH's teams and gather intelligence - their base, their financial channels, their operatives, their technology - everything, by whatever means necessary."

Cocking her head, Fairwinds sagged even more with brightened optics. ::Oh that sounds like a super fun mission, chasing after stupid squishies. Not.::

Fairwinds straightened as Megatron turned to face them again. His tone adopted a growled emphasis. "Hack them. Plant a virus so that Soundwave may locate their systems. Torture them. Just get it done."

"Yes, Master." Fairwinds made a point not to look at Roulette as she accepted her orders.

::Just agree and we'll figure it out after. I don't think Master's in a questions kinda mood.::

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Whatever she had been expecting from the small bird, it hadn't been a nearly sanguine chatter. For a moment she almost lost concentration over Megatron's words and smiled. Almost. Instead she'd kept a ruthless grip on herself and kept her field rather flat and attentive even if she was having a hard time concentrating on his orders against the absolutely bubbly chit chat from the diminutive femme.

Honestly, she was less concerned with the orders than she was over the small companion. Yeah, yeah, go find MECH and snoop. Easy enough a mission and she could finally take the time to enjoy some of the sights off the ship. But the femme...now that was a questionable partner for the mission. And she wasn't about to say that to the Big M. He wouldn't have stuck the two together if their skills wouldn't have complimented the other and he had mentioned hacking. That would have to be the chatter box's department over her own specialty. Oh, but she could very easily hurt them...

"Yes, my Lord." She bowed her head, ever the humble servant to his benevolent tyrant. Only after she gave him her attention and showed she had been paying attention did she answer the mini-femme.

::Not to sound supercilious, but who are you? I don't believe I've seen you around.::

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Fairwinds didn't reply immediately, waiting until they were summarily dismissed with their groundbridge coordinates. Then, she leaped with a boost from her thrusters to land on Roulette's shoulder as if it were her right. As if everything on this ship was a potential and willing perch.

"I'm little, and you don't come to movie night yet," she explained for the femme's benefit, for certainly this was the reason they'd missed each other. The control room doors hissed shut behind them, and then they were back in a corridor much like any other corridor on the ship.

Tucking herself primly down onto her feet, Fairwinds settled in for the walk. Her field was a happy blob of friendliness and anticipation on Roulette's shoulder. She showed no intention of moving. "But it's awesome that we're meeting now, and for a mission. Usually Master just leaves me doing routine patrols, false ion leads and keeping an optic on crew morale."


Now the cassette puffed up a little, beaming at Roulette. "The movies and gummies? Those are me. I make 'em - the gummies, that is, not the movies. Not allowed to keep anything organic on board, including film stars. And sometimes I get to do some data extraction. Messy mnemosurgery, Master calls it." She frowned at the ceiling, beak snapping. "But it wont work on the squishies, and I wouldn't want to eat their brain modules anyway, so I think it's cuz I'm small that I'm this mission."

The Fairwinds turned one optic on the sharpshooter and leaned in, as if conducting a critical examination. "You... You're earning your badge, I think. Showing what you can do so he knows where you go in the pecking order. That's why I said not to ask questions and to walk out like a pro, instead. Cool and awesome. Always be awesome and you'll do fine."

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As soon as she was dismissed, Roulette beat a hasty (but not too hasty) retreat with her new partner. She couldn't be too sure, but it seemed like Megatron had a nano-flea chomping on his aft, given his disposition. Or perhaps he was always that intense. She'd have to ask someone later on that account.

For now she had more pressing questions flitting through that processor of hers. Gummies? Movie night??

"Naturally, I would be tested. No soldier worth their salt is untried. But you are unlike anything I had imagined to be on this ship." You have a personality, is what she wanted to say. Instead she kept mum on that. Decepticon ships had eyes and ears on every wall and blackmail was so tediously rampant.

She continued on, making way for the ground bridge at an easy rate. It wouldn't do to rush off into the fray without at least getting to know her for-the-moment partner and hash out some sort of plan. Even if Roulette was more a burn bridges kind of femme. She at least liked to take a good hard look at the bridge before she torched it and then wade the river afterward.

"What do you know about MECH? All this trouble for a few humans, so I am forced to assume they are at least a little capable. The drones are only so forthcoming in their gossip."

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Still beaming with warm fuzzies at the compliment of her unimaginable uniqueness, it took Fairwinds a full five seconds to realise she'd been asked a question. Her opinion of Roulette went up several pegs when she wasn't prompted out of irritation.

"Well," she drawled, "I've not seen any of them personally, but I've seen all the footage the awakened and drone Raddies have compiled. Lots of squishies in black, some of them with light armor to disguise some of the squishiness, and all their vehicles are black, too. They've only made a few goes at outright attack so far, so their tech's a bit of a mystery, but there's definitely been some 'electrified grappling hook' and laser action. Soundwave's picked up the name 'Silas' floating around. Dunno if that's a codename for a person, a cell or an operation. We don't know much, really."

They were descending slowly through the ship towards the closest groundbridge control room, passing an armory and barracks on the way. Clusters of Eradicons passed them returning from or setting off on patrols, exchanging short-wave chatter as they went. The femmes were ignored for the most part, though Mustang raised a quick two-fingered salute to Fairwinds as they crossed ways.

"We do know they're not afraid of us, which is... a bit concerning," Fairwinds continued, her beak ducking down to emphasize a frown. "Either they're all suffering from delusions of superiority that they can take us, which could be incredibly dangerous; or they're backing up their bearings with legit technological prowess the likes of which we have not yet encountered, which could be incredibly dangerous. We don't know."

"Hence our super important, very special mission, which we are henceforth about to embark on." She extended her neck out, body straight, and grinned down at Roulette. "You all packed? All fueled up and ready to roll?"

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So squishy, carbon based hostiles were actually making the leader of the Decepticons concerned. Roulette admitted she was now fairly well intrigued by the shadow organization. What dirty little secrets must they be hiding? She mentally hypothesized plenty of reasons they'd consider the Decepticons enemies.

One: the Decepticons are generally the enemies of everything. When our bad rap doesn't precede us, our show of force does. Two: we are aliens and unknown. Anything sentient fears what it doesn't know and can't control. And, of course, that brings us to Shockwave's favorite, number three: MECH covets our technology.

Power was universal and sorely sought after. Roulette's species was a prime example of such truths. As good as the Autobots thought they were, they still wanted the same things they just lied to themselves better.

"I'm always ready to roll." She grinned at 'Windy' and stepped out of any errant mech's way. "One thing I learned from having the dubious honor of working with Shockwave was that one always needed to be prepared. Question is, do we have a plan of action or are we just charging blindly into the fray?"

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Fairwinds blasted hot air for the sole purpose of performing an extremely put-upon sigh. She cocked an optical ridge at Roulette, side-eyeing her. "Am I the brains of the operation? Do I have to do all the work whilst you stand around looking good?"

An appraising look, tipping forward on Roulette's shoulder to scan her frame. Fairwinds shrugged, apparently satisfied. "You do look pretty good, though. Alright." A datapacket was fired across. "So, here's a layout of all MECH contacts. Red're the most recent, and where they've had a go with some lasers and such. All East America, only two not in Nevada. Proves they don't have anything more advanced than human transportation. So, I think we should go to Nevada and make a spectacle of ourselves near or at one of these red dots."

Before Roulette could respond to this proposal, Fairwinds swept down from her shoulder. With low-power, sustained blasts from her thrusters, the cassette hovered in front of the femme with wings outstretched to stop her in her tracks.

"Oooor we can skive off for a day and you can tell me how you got out of working with Shockwave alive. Because frag and smelt that is one creepy-aft mech. How does anyone even end up doing that - mech likes machines and the company of his creepy self more than anyone I know."

Fairwinds directed her thrusters to drift forward, putting them only feet apart and perfectly at optic level.

"Did you have to procure 'specimens' for him? Have you ever seen him recharge on a berth like normal mechs? Does he have any hobbies or interests that aren't lab-based? Have you seen 'Frankenstein'? Did he ever examine you 'purely for science'? Are you traumatised?" She extended a foot and turned it out to Roulette in a symbol of offering. "If you are, I'm here for you."

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Roulette believed herself to be fairly attractive and was more than alright being the useless, pretty side of the duo. However, she didn't think Megatron would approve of such an arrangement. The datapacket was, therefore, gladly accepted. As mouthy as the cassette was, she was equally as informed and useful.

I think I see why the boss might put up with her.

All mirth crashed like a freight train running out of track with the onslaught of Shockwave based questions. That mech was like...a glacier. That was the only thing Roulette could mentally compare him to. Unmovable, unstoppable, chilly, and always casting a large shadow over anything remotely fun based. She openly shuddered at the very memory of working for him.

Yeesh, that was a lot of questions to answer. Did she have to answer them in order? "I don't need a day to tell you what it was like working for that mech." She held up a finger for each question answered. "I never gained specimens for him specifically. If I happened to procure someone, then he'd want the prisoner and an entire field report on how I got him. Suffice it to say, that didn't happen often. As for his sleeping arrangements, I wouldn't be caught anywhere near his domicile...not that I think he ever used it. And as for being examined, of course. He examines everything for its use. Where do you think he gets his parts?" She grinned teasingly with that last sentence.

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Hovering in silence but for the tick and hiss of her thrusters firing, the cassette stared at Roulette with over-bright optics for several seconds. When the femme grinned, Fairwinds was faced with the choice of accepting that she was joking; or believing that her final utterance was a coping mechanism: humour meant to deflect from the nauseating truth of her answer.

Fairwinds decided to go with the latter, because that was more interesting.

She wasn't so myopic as to think that anyone who knew about her own living arrangements wouldn't question if she, too, was traumatised. Most Decepticons preferred to be in their leader's presence as little as possible, and speculated that his simmering temper and bouts of bordering-on-psychosis vengefulness continued into his quarters. That a talkative, throttled cassette such as herself must surely be abused in some fashion.

Not that Fairwinds had elected to throttle herself to be more appealing to Megatron, as unconscious as that attachment was.

She didn't know Shockwave (and she didn't want to), just as many did not know Megatron. Fairwinds felt, in a rare moment of clarity, that she couldn't judge Roulette's experience with Shockwave. She was entitled to being freaked out by the prospect of spending that much time with the scientist herself, but not to poking at the weld.

Fairwinds returned to her perch on the sniper's left shoulder, touching the flat of her head into Roulette's temple for a moment. Humming a contented note, she smiled at the single optic she could see. "Bet'ya Shockwave wouldn't have let you near where he sleeps if you'd wanted to see. Totally where he keeps his collection of cheery puzzle games, pictures of fuzzy organics and plushy figures. Mech's gotta balance out all that scary detached science somewhere."

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Roulette had a routine for handling any emotional hurdle that threatened to make her buckle. She buried the feeling deeply under a thick padding of mental ennui and did her best to forget about it. Was it a bad coping mechanism? Of course. But it wasn't like the Decepticons came stocked with medics that were interested in the mental health of their soldiers. As long as she wasn't bleeding out and could shoot, she was fit for ranks.

Ideally, she knew that one day she would devolve into some sort of psychosis that would incapacitate her at the wrong time. Likely in the middle of battle, like her sister. Then that would be the end of her trouble. It was a ruthless, true fact she neither looked forward to or dreaded.

With a grin, she twitched her shoulder that the cassette perched on. "Tell you what, let's make a game of trying to decorate his lab without his notice. The first mech who can sneak something cheerful and bright in there without his initial notice will win a round of rations."

(About ready to wrap this one up?)

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Fairwinds grinned, equally delighted and impressed by Roulette's gall and willingness. She decided that the femme rocked.

"You are so on." She held up a closed foot, waiting expectantly for the proxy fist bump that would seal the pact.

Not that Fairwinds was actually going to try and sneak anything into Shockwave's lab, or go anywhere near it if she could help it. Roulette was welcome to go in there with yellow smiley stickers and Lego bricks and win a cube that Fairwinds would just take from Megatron's personal stock, anyway, then get caught and strung up inside out in the mess hall or whatever crossed the mad scientist's mind that nanosecond.

She wasn't stupid, after all.


<<Sounds good! New thread set in a MECH-sighted area?>>