[ti]Ep 2.5[/ti]Wandering The Halls... (Open)

[Deleted]

Week 2, Day 3...

Since Agent Fowler had sent in an Augusta Westland Wildcat helicopter for Whirl to use as his alt-mofe, the blue mech's appearance had shifted slightly, but he was as gangly and stretched as ever as he wandered around the base aimlessly. He felt a lot better, now that his rotors were functioning for the first time in vorns.

He hadn't been given any deadly deadly missions yet. He'd need a medical examination first from a real Autobot. Whirl couldn't stand medical examinations. Doctors always said "Does it hurt when I do this?" which showed how much they knew about Empurata. Everything hurt, almost all the time, but his wrists and neck especially. It was something he'd come to live with. Things he didn't even have any more hurt.

Hey, it had to be better than prison. Most things were. And if Bulkhead was here, then he wasn't actually aware of Whirl's presence yet, which was another thing. Whirl got the sneaking suspicion that the former Wrecker wouldn't be ecstatic to see the ex-Wrecker.

"Well, he wasn't there. He didn't see it. He didn't have to oil his joints, drip-feed him Energon, change his bed-pan!" Whirl punched a wall as he spoke briefly to himself.

He'd passed the Med-Bay, although he hadn't gone in. Yes, he'd have to go back there eventually, although Ratchet didn't leave things lying around like the last doctor he'd known. Just a few tools.

What the frag. He had his own room now, and that was something. But the lack of action was boring him. In order to occupy himself, he began acting out a scene from a bad intergalactic movie he'd seen while in prison.

"So..." he spoke to himself again, something that Whirl commonly did, "I'm a private detective from Iacon, and my partner is a bulldozer infused with the spirit of Senator Sentinel!"

He started humming the theme tune to James Bond, dodging around the corner of a hallway. It had mild overtones of how Raf had played at Arctic Explorer just before the original base had been turned into a scrapheap... the difference being that Whirl was supposed to be an adult Cybertronian. Even as he performed a tuck and roll around a corner, he was busy aiming his claws like a gun.

One of the first things Optimus Prime had said to him upon his arrival had been something about the native species. He'd been very 'Whirl, we are guests on this planet and must behave accordingly' and Whirl had been all, 'Okay, I guess', and Optimus had been all 'Whirl, I'm serious, you need to watch where you step, the humans are vital allies in securing this planet' and Whirl had been 'Sure thing, boss. Can't wait to meet 'em'.

So far, he'd only seen a picture of Agent Fowler. Or his head, anyway. Apparently he'd need to learn to tell humans apart, since they were very good at telling Cybertronians apart.

It would be nice, he considered, if humans didn't think him as creepy as other Cybertronians did. That was how disfigurements worked. Or it might be that humans were all jerks and Optimus Prime was being super-noble again.

He dived around another corner, still humming a tune and aiming his claws randomly at the walls, ceiling and floor as he explored the base alone. Thus far, nobody had offered to show him around, and he wasn't exactly being very quiet.

[Miko Nakadai]

After the excitement from earlier in the day? Miko was bored.

Again.

She was pretty sure that watching Bolo and Bee scuffle in the Control Room was the most exciting thing that'd happened to her in... well, forever! No real damage had been done, and everyone had gone their separate ways once it was over and done with. Raf had gone off to clean his glasses or something, Bee had gone to see Ratchet about his hand... Carbine had taken Bolo and gone somewhere else. Leaving Miko alone.

It was hard to make your own entertainment in this place when half the dudes who lived here were too scared to interact with you cos you were so tiny. That, and things had been overly tense as of late, even Miko had picked up on that. It didn't help that Bulkhead was busy, too. Or she'd just go bug him! 

The TV was boring, there was absolutely nothing on except stupid daytime drama shows... She'd beaten all the games they had here, and the ones that she hadn't? They were more fun with others, and Raf still hadn't come back. Not that he'd probably be up for video games as he had homework.

Then again, so did she. But that was a problem for future Miko!

She'd go find something to do, she decided. Maybe she could find Carbine and learn more about Bolo or something - she'd been totally fascinated by him, even if he was like a hundred times her size. Patting herself down to check she had her phone, she'd do a lazy half roll off the couch in the Control Room, catching herself on her feet, before heading down one of the corridors - leaving the TV on, because of course.

She hadn't explored much of the base as a whole, a lot of the doors had keypads that she couldn't even begin to reach – unless she got a broom or something, and even then she didn't know the codes to open the doors! Still though, wandering the corridors was usually a good way of finding people. She kept to the edges, which would lessen her chances of becoming a Miko-pancake, and would hum to herself quietly.

She hadn't been wandering long when she heard a noise... Was that Bee punching a wall again? Wasn't he supposed to be in the Medical Bay? Ratchet was gonna be so mad!

Only... The voice that she heard with it – didn't belong to anyone she'd met. It wasn't Bulkhead, or Carbine with his static-y talk... It wasn't Optimus or Ratchet... No, this was a new voice.

What were they even talking about? Were they humming the James Bond theme? They so were!!

Amused by this, she'd quicken her pace to find whoever it was, starting to turn the corner just as a HUGE blue blur dived toward her from the other side – making her shriek out in terror and quickly pin herself so her back was safely flush against the wall. Okay she'd been expecting someone, but not this.

One eye? Claws? What the heck?!

Was he a Decepticon??

“Ahh!!!”

She wouldn't run away, although would scramble to grab her phone from her pocket - flipping it open and quickly taking a photo, the flash on – maybe it'd distract this totally obvious creepy Decepticon long enough for her to run away and to get help!

[Deleted]

'Stealthy' wasn't a word that showed up often in Whirl's vocabulary - for him, a graceful tuck and roll sounded more like the collapse of scaffolding. He certainly hadn't crept up on Miko. It was his appearance that would have startled her the most. She wouldn't have been told about Empurata. It would have been considered too gruesome a topic for a child.

The blue mech was taller than Bulkhead - almost as tall as Optimus, even, and those rotors on his shoulders would tower above the Autobot leader - although he was much, much skinnier than either of them. Autobots had blue optics and Decepticons had red optics. This mech however had a single yellow optic, set in the middle of his face - a face which, even by Cybertronian standards, did not actually exist. It made the mech look less like a person and more like an object, except that he was currently pointing large claws directly at her in a manner like a child playing at pointing a gun.

"Huh?" Whirl blinked at the camera flash - yes, Whirl could still blink with that optic - and looked down at what he had almost rolled into, "Oh! Hey dere. Hmm..." he formed a quick picture frame with his claws of Miko's face. He'd only seen the face of Fowler telling him about his new alt mode. Yeah, this resembled one of them, although it was even smaller than he'd expected. Optimus would have bust a gasket if he'd trod on it. He pulled a foot back quickly, and crouched down - and down, and down, until his knees framed his face, "Are you one of da humans Optimus has got runnin' around da place? You gotta be more careful; I could'a run right over ya..."

He reached out with those large claws and picked up Miko around her waist. It was for a moment utterly terrifying, even as she was brought up to optic level. After all, the slightest fumble and she'd be sliced in half.

"Optimus sez you things are real delicate," he told her, "He'd grind on my gears harder'n a Quintesson Judge if I damaged one 'a ya." It was impossible for Whirl to know how she felt about being picked up by those razor-sharp claws, but he had millions of years of practice with them, and even if his motor skills weren't what they used to be, Miko was being handled as delicately as a snowflake.

That single, yellow optic cycled slightly to study Miko. Whirl had never had a high regard for carbon-based lifeforms previously. They were so delicate. And they transformed (or rather, evolved) so slowly. To make up for it, they reproduced faster than Petro-rabbits. He tilted his head, fascinated.

She looked... well, she looked kind of scared. Most people didn't know what to make of him the first time they met him. And really, Optimus had a point; she seemed to be more delicate than a fresh-forged Sparkling. He liked Sparklings, although nobody in their right mind would trust him for a click with minding one on his own, and frankly he'd agree.

"Cool..." he mused, studying the human with an analytical optic.

"Heh, but you don't look so fragile to me," he joked, and let out a coarse cackle of laughter, before putting her down as gently as he had picked her up, on both feet, "Hey, don't bust a nut, human. Is it da optic? It's da optic, isn't it? It's always da optic. Cuz it reminds everybody of Shockwave, or somethin'."

This wasn't really accurate, but it still felt better than talking about Functionist propaganda.

[Miko Nakadai]

The tiniest of squeaks escaped her as Whirl blinked.

Okay, so the flash didn't do anything. Hey it was totally worth a try, though! At least it got him to stop aiming his claws at her like guns, although now he was framing her with them – and she wasn't entirely sure yet if that was a good or bad thing.

He didn't sound overly aggressive when he spoke, but she would keep herself backed up against the wall – not making any sudden movements incase she spooked him or he was a Decepticon and somehow his vision was based on movement!

“Huh?” she repeated his confused noise with one of her own, and she stood perfectly still as he eased himself into a crouch before her. Okay if he was a Decepticon he probably would've just smushed her and been done with it by now, she figured. Or gone off to find a target of actual value, like Optimus.

He was probably an Autobot after all.

“Yeah, I'm Miko!” she thumbed to her chest as she spoke her name, although would tilt her head at the last part he said. “Dude I was being careful – we stick to the edges of the corridors if we have to move somewhere without a catwalk. Yoooou were the one doing crazy barrel rolls around the place!”

She scoffed, although that was cut off by another panicked squeak as he suddenly reached out and picked her up without warning. She'd been picked up hundreds of times by other Autobots.. Bulkhead, Optimus.. Bee... Even Arcee a couple of times! But there was something about being picked up by not only a stranger, but a stranger with CLAWS FOR HANDS that had Miko internally stressing. She'd freeze, remaining completely still in his grasp – trying to stifle her breathing even, as if thinking that the tiniest movement would slice her in half.

But he was surprisingly gentle.

“Yeah he would, so you better not!” she managed a grin at that, relaxing some when she realized that he wasn't about to cut her into tiny Miko-ribbons. Being up here was still a little scary though, especially as she hadn't wanted to be snatched up like this – but hey what could she do about it?

He seemed to be looking her over. Understandable, humans were always a curious sight to newcomers – just like newcomers to the base fascinated Miko! There was something weird about being up high and held right up to his single optic, though... The only other Cybertronian she knew who had one eye was Shockwave, and this definitely wasn't him. Was it a fashion statement? Ah, if only she knew the truth...

“We aren't that fragile, I'm as tough as they come!” she huffed, blowing a strand of hair from her face as she was set down, where she'd immediately look down at herself as if expecting to find a huge slash across her stomach, but nope! Nothing. Despite the claws, he had been so very gentle with her.

“Bust a nut?” she laughed – it was always funny to hear them using human terms, especially ones that didn't really apply. “And no, you just spooked me is all! Something about turning a corner and almost getting steamrolled by a Cybertronian, little bit terrifying!” There was amusement to her tone now, any fear she had was practically gone now and she laughed.

“Interesting but sweet aesthetic, though!” She tucked her phone back into her pocket, having realized she'd been clutching it this entire time – forming claws with her hands and looking at them curiously. Maybe his job was to cut wires or something...? She'd then look up to him again. 

“What's your name dude? I haven't seen you around before!”

[Deleted]

Whirl was rather taken off guard by Miko''s reaction. Usually, for some reason, people's fear of him lasted for years, not the matter of minutes it took to get over a jump-scare.

Oh, stop playing dumb; it's da Empurata. Also you're an aft.

It would have been nice to assume that might be because she was open-minded but if he was going to be honest with himself for five minutes, the fact that she believed it was an 'aesthetic', or a choice, meant she probably didn't know what Empurata was, and so had never been exposed to the hateful Functionist propaganda that pegged everybody who had it as either a criminal or a monster.

Okay, so Warborn mechs hadn't been directly exposed but then again - in Whirl's opinion - surviving Warborn mechs were even more fragged up than he was, with their thaw-to-war and three-step-programs and their primary skill being the ability to assemble a path-blaster with their optics closed and hands tied behind their back.

Still, whatever the reason, it was nice to meet somebody whom he didn't disgust on sight.

He was torn on whether to tell her himself. After all, now that he was actually here, she'd probably be told by somebody that mechs with Empurata were bad. At least if he got in first he'd be able to tell her the truth. Then again, he didn't exactly enjoy talking about it.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "It, uh... happened before da war," he admitted, "I guess it's cool dat you think it's cool, but... it weren't really my choice." If he'd had a face, it would have been twisted up in a tortured grimace as he decided how much to tell her, "More of a... form 'a torture, y'know?"

Yeah, that was enough information right this minute. At least that way she'd know that the real monsters were the people who had condoned it. He crouched right down, on an optic-to-face level with her again.

“But don’t you be lettin’ dis little toolkit scare ya off,” he snapped his claws for her, “Dey still comes in handy for my most favorite activity – makin’ shadow pictures of myself!” He held them up demonstratably. She definitely didn’t need to know how much his wrists and neck ached perpetually.

“And you, tough?” his optic cycled to examine the little human in an experienced way, taking in her determined expression and confident stance. Half of being confident was appearing confident; the other half was acting confident. If you actually felt confident doing those two things, it was a happy coincidence, “Yeah. Yeah, I can see it dere,” he nodded, "Bein' tough is a matter of perspective, kiddo. Like, some forty-foot combiner-dork what transformed into three tanks once said I looked like a wimp, right up until I transformed his rivets into ball-bearings and smeared his Energon all over da ceiling."


He nodded, pleased with himself.

"Heh. Anyway, Miko, da name's Whirl, but all my friends call me Whirl. Heh heh. Just dropped off here yesterday,” he continued, “Makes total sense dat a guy like me would be needed if dis planet’s swarmin’ with Decepticons. After all, I used ta be a Wrecker!” he preened a little, the rotors on his shoulders twitching and spreading in a manner vaguely reminiscent of a peacock’s train, "Nobody busts up scumbag 'cons like a Wrecker!"

[Miko Nakadai]

As Whirl spoke, Miko would slowly relax her hands and drop them to her sides.

Oh, now she felt bad. Really bad. He'd been tortured? Did that mean that he had two eyes and normal hands at one point? What about Shockwave? He also had the one-eye thing going on. But he was a Decepticon and probably deserved it. This dude seemed pretty chill from what she'd seen so far. Maybe it was a case of wrong place wrong time?

She had questions, like why.. what did he do? How did it happen? But she knew better, and was polite enough not to ask. If she'd been through something like that she wouldn't exactly want to go around talking about it. Some things you just didn't talk about, and this was one of them. Kinda like Bee's beep-boop voicebox.

“Oh.” She frowned sheepishly, “Sorry dude.”

It still looked cool though, and in her opinion he totally rocked the look – it was nice to see something different and unique, even if the reason behind said look was rather morbid.

He seemed to take it well though, and she'd smile as he crouched down again. She liked that, he got on her level and didn't talk down to her. Not that she had issue hearing bots that did that but it was kinda awkward to shout up at them sometimes.

“I'm soo not scared by it! Don't worry!” her smile only grew, her words genuine - and she'd copy his action of holding up his claws – holding up her own hands in front of herself once more. “Shadow puppets? That's cool!” the lighting in the corridor wasn't exactly good for that, but she was sure in the better lit areas of the base he could put on a badass show.

At his comment, she'd shift her hands to her hips and stood up a little straighter. That smile would shift into a grin as he agreed with her words.

“Whoaaaa. Three tanks at once?!” she didn't even know that was a thing!! “You must be pretty tough too though to do that!” she'd comment about how if he managed to survive torture then well, duh, obviously he was – but she didn't want to bring that up again, even if it was trying to paint it in a good light.

“Nice to meet ya, Whirl!”She nodded, giving up a thumbs up. “Just yesterday huh? Welcome to Earth!”

The next part of his sentence made her pause, and she'd gasp out excitedly - thumbing to herself proudly.

“Wait you were a Wrecker?! Dude! Resident Wrecker right here! Wreckers don't call for backup, they call for cleanup!” she stated the motto loud and proud. Man she wished Bulkhead wasn't off on a mission, these guys must've known each other! Maybe she could introduce them later, though. Or reintroduce. Yeah!

She'd perked up considerably, and was having trouble standing still – bouncing from foot to foot almost.

“So did you have a tour of the base yet? I should totally give you one!!”

[Deleted]

When Miko told him she was a 'Resident Wrecker', Whirl couldn't help but chuckle. She was a human Sparkling, after all. Wreckers took actually being a Wrecker too seriously to hand it out as some kind of joke, and he wondered just what had posessed anybody to name her as one, "You? Somebody made you a Wrecker?"

His laugh wasn't really one of humour. Then again, he wasn't laughing at Miko either, small as she was. Whirl was more concerned about how there were other Wreckers around. He doubted they'd be enthusiastic to see him after how he had been kicked out. Despite how hard he'd tried to explain everything, they just didn't seem to get that Springer wouldn't have wanted to be remembered for off-lining as a vegetable. 

It had just been Tox-En to the wound that Springer had started waking up a few weeks after he'd been kicked out. If he'd been by his side then, he'd be a frikkin' hero...

Well, what happened in the Wreckers stayed in the Wreckers but if she thought she was a Wrecker too...

"So, dere's Wreckers on da planet. Oooh. Ouch..."

He rubbed the back of his neck. If they were around now, he got the feeling they wouldn't be overjoyed to see him out of prison.

"You givin' me a tour, Ay Miko?" he nodded, "Dat sounds cool. You can tell me about da base, and me, I can tell ya about dose three tanks! See, da guy was actually triplets and he combined inta one big guy, right? Big man thinks he's big. And he is... but he's slow too. In more ways dan one, if ya get my drift..."

He snickered.

"And bein' big just makes him an easy target. I just got me da new Shoomer," he patted his back, "Need ta start tryin' it out sharpish. One hit with it and one guy is now three guys, but with enough parts to make up two... Dat's before I start beatin' him up all over da wall. Well, dem, really."

That was just the short version of the story. Of course he was exaggerating slightly, but he had totally torn those guys apart in that factory. One of them had ended up in a metal saw.

"And now I'm outta da Pokey and ready ta use dose new skills ta beat on Decepticons!" he told her enthusiastically, "It's like they don't want me ta know where all da cool weaponry is lyin' around! Or where we beat da scrap outta each other for fun! Or where I can steal meds from!" Was he kidding about that? Sometimes even Whirl wasn't sure, "Think you could show me?"

He straightened up, "And you can tell me who made you a Wrecker!"

(Note: When I say "Tox-En to the wound" I don't mean it exists now presently, it's just a saying like "Salt to the wound")

[Miko Nakadai]

Miko tilted her head at the chuckle, rubbing the back of her neck as she rocked on her heels some.

“Uuh well I'm kinda in training, but yeah!” she nodded, as if confirming it. She knew how big a deal the Wreckers were – and here she was, talking to someone who had been a part of the group itself. Maybe he didn't approve of what she'd said. Then again that was to be expected . She was, after all, nothing more than a tiny human girl who didn't look like much at first glance. But that was only a tiny detail! She had an abundance of moxie, and her heart was in the right place, Bulkhead had told her as such – and Wheeljack, too!

Ugh why did Bulkhead have to be out scouting today! Still, there was time to reintroduce them all later.

Maybe.

His reaction to hearing that there were Wreckers here on Earth wasn't exactly a good one, noted by the word 'ouch' - and she'd give a quiet hum of thought, wrinkling her nose some before he shifted the topic back to the tour. Maybe she'd ask Bulkhead about him later or something, as it seemed to be a sore subject and she didn't want to upset anyone!

“Yeah I'll totally give you a tour! Haven't ever had the chance to show anyone around, so it'll be fun – promise!” she beamed at that, straightening up and shifting her hands to her hips as he told his side of the 'deal' and spoke about the three tanks again. “I soo didn't know there were combiners! That is so cool!!” immediately she got weird but hilarious mental images in her head – imagining Bulkhead combining with Ratchet or something into some beefed out but badass ambulance, or Optimus and Bee as some weird yellow truck! Heh... It was probably only specific bots that could do that, and there was probably good reason for it.

“Awwyeah! I'm all for beating up Decepticons!” she grinned at that, but it faltered slightly. Right. Riiight. Truce. “Uuuh... You got told about the truce, right? I'd hate to encourage you only for you to get in all kinds of trouble with Optimus and Megatron for breaking that!” she felt weird being the one to tell him about it if he didn't know, but hey – she was doing her duty as a good Autobot to inform him!

“Weaponry? Pff even I don't know where that is!” she laughed, shaking her head. Miko and weaponry was a bad combination, anyone with half a brain knew that! “As for beating each other up, there's huge rooms downstairs with some target dummies and room for sparring.” She did always like watching Bulkhead smash things up down there with his wrecking balls, and she wondered what this guy could do with his claws. She gave another quiet hum of thought, blinking at that last part. “Uuh.. steal meds? You could just ask Ratchet y'know! Although I think he's fixing Bumblebee's hand right now cos it got chomped on. Are you hurt?” she peered at him then, watching as he straightened up. He didn't look like he was hurt... Hm. 

“Oh! Uh, Bulkhead! Although Wheeljack can and will confirm!” her tone boastful, thumbing to her chest proudly. Having Bulkhead and Wheeljack backing you had to mean something, right?

She'd tilt her head then.

“Soooo awkward question but... Think I can ride on your shoulder for this tour? Will go a lot faster, don't have to worry about stepping on me – stuff like that! Or you can just carry me, that works!”

She figured it was always polite to ask, even if he did pick her up for no reason earlier... 

[Deleted]

"Yeah. Skirmisher an' Bluestreak said somethin' about a Truce, and Optimus said some stuff about how," Whirl did a bad Optimus impression and wagged a claw like a finger, "'Whirl, don't disappoint me' and all dat."

He really didn't want to disappoint Optimus either. In fact he respected about three people in the universe and one of them was Optimus, at least for the moment. He definitely didn't want to see that look Optimus did, looking like a kicked dog.

"And combiners... well, some of 'em were born dat way, so Megatron went through dis phase durin' da war thinkin' it would be a good idea ta get together teams 'a cons with radically different personalities - up ta six of 'em - and den turn 'em into combiners with massive guns and mental instabilities ta match. He probably wishes he had an army of 'em. Don't know if there's any full teams left."

"Nah, I'm not hurtin'," Whirl lied, his claws snipping slightly. If he had a face, Whirl would have been a terrible liar. As it was, his lack of face forced a deadpan expression upon him, "Nothin' hurts at all. I mean, I haven't even been in a fight yet!" he thought about old 'Ratchet the Hatchet', the best Medic on Cybertron, and seriously doubted he'd understand - which was actually a plus from how others wouldn't understand at all - but still, in a few hours his wrists and neck would be agony.

"Sure, dese shoulders are nothin' if not fer ridin' on!" he joked. He reached out with a claw and very gently picked up Miko again around the waist. This time he lifted her up to his shoulders, and when he straightened up, she was almost 25 feet off the floor - several feet higher than Bulkhead's shoulders. And that was Whirl in his typical bird-like crouch, "You can show me da trainin' rooms first, Ay?"

He started walking - it might take a little getting used to since Whirl walked faster than Bulkhead, and with a slightly bird-like strut, but there was plenty to hold on to.

"And hey, Bulk and Jackie are here?" Whirl asked as they began the tour, “Hey, dey are two of da best con-killers! I always said Bulk was way too nice ta be a Wrecker though.” On the up side, Bulk could be very forgiving, no matter how he felt when he first saw Whirl was out of prison. On the down side... well, he had no idea how Jackie would be.

[Miko Nakadai]

“Yep that sounds like Optimus!” Miko couldn't help but laugh at his impression of the Prime, and the smile on her face would linger. Optimus was such a dad – always wanting the best from everybody whether they be human or Cybertronian. There was just something about him that made everyone act on their best behavior, even Miko didn't want to disappoint him or let him down! All the Bots were sort of like family, now she thought about it. Ratchet being the cranky Grandpa, Bee the cool cousin... Bulk obviously the kickass older brother she never had! Arcee was like... a super serious aunt or something, with Wheeljack being the awesome Uncle who let her get away with waaaay too much! Not that they needed human roles or counterparts, but she did consider every single one of them family.

As Whirl mentioned Combiners, she'd nod her head eagerly – totally engrossed in his words as she listened. The thought of Cybertronian being able to merge into one form was fascinating and something she was still trying to wrap her head around.

“I've never heard of Combiners till now! Bulk never mentioned them – I doubt there's any left if they were all working for Megatron! You Autobots kick so much butt that you probably wiped them all out!” she grinned at that, rocking on her heels. Bulk could totally take on a combiner and win, and part of her wished there was one around so she could watch him do what he did best! ...Once the truce wasn't a thing, anyway. Heh.

“Good! Don't be scared of going to Ratchet if you ever are, though. He's cranky as heck and super old but he means well!” she gave a sage nod at that, like it was some profound advice that she was sharing with him. Ratchet kind of reminded her of her own grandpa in Japan in a way – super formal and serious about everything, a hard worker, a little cranky - although managing to relax or show some humor once in a blue moon.

“Yeah the truce has kinda put a damper on all things fun.” she wrinkled her nose some at that, frowning. “But there's always sparring! I'd love to see what you can do with those claws!”

As he reached out toward her, she'd remain still once more. Gentle or not, she knew if she was extra squirmy there may be some damage done even if he was doing everything he could to prevent it. She'd wait until she was placed on his shoulder before easing herself down so she was sitting – not wanting to risk losing her balance from all the way up here! Man he was tall! Waaaay taller than she realized now she was actually up here.

He moved forward then, and his gait was so weird compared to that of Bulk, which she was used to. She'd hold one arm to the side, resting it against him for balance and to keep herself steady.

“Training room first? Can do! Just keep going down this way – eventually we'll get to an elevator!” it was the quickest route she could think of – although on the way back she'd show him the stairs, just so he knew there were other ways to get down to that level of the base.

At the mention of Bulk she'd perk up again and nod. There was a slight head tilt at his name for Wheeljack – huh, just showed that he did know him, as not many people called him that!

“Uh-huh! He arrived with Optimus and the others! Wheeljack arrived later, he sorta comes and goes and does what he wants. He checks in a lot though. And heck yeah they're the best con killers! Best at the base, that's for sure! Nobody can stop Bulk!” she grinned at that, punching out at the air as if mimicking Bulk – before resting her hand against him once more before she toppled forwards. “Aw, yeah - Bulk is really nice but man he knows how to fight! Did you get to fight alongside him and see him in action?”

A lot of the bots here were like that... Super nice, but when it came down to actual fighting? Nothing could stop them. Part of her hoped Whirl had seen Bulk fighting, she did always love stories full of buttkicking. Bulk had told her lots, but she knew for sure he hadn't told her everything. 

The corridor they were heading down was pretty straight forward – the Omega Base been a human military outpost a long time ago, so there were a few smaller doors here and there that were old storage rooms, they were all locked though and she wasn't sure what was in them, that'd be a question for Fowler – but as they ventured further, eventually they would arrive at an elevator. It was big enough for even some of the biggest Cybertronian, so Whirl had no worries about fitting or not.

“Okay so we go in here and then go down a level!”

[Deleted]

They followed the elevator.

"Yup, I've seen Bulk fight all right. Some pretty deadly group missions, Ay? He's got some sweet moves. He can rip a 'con's spark-case right outta his chassis, did'ja know dat?" But Miko being an honorary Wrecker or not, what happened in the Wreckers stayed in the Wreckers, "Everybody'd get at me if I told'ja da super-gory details though. Dat's kinda up for Bulk ta do. He tells 'em better anyway."

They arrived on the next floor and Whirl followed Miko's directions to the training area. At this particular moment it was empty, although a non-sentient sparring bot lay slumped in one corner.

"Not as big as da one I remember from da Wrecker Base," he told Miko, "But hey, my last trainin' room was da prison canteen. For some reason everybody thinks dey gotta get at me. Prejudice against da mentally problematic, is what I call it."

Or it could be to do with the fact that he was an ex-cop. He strode over to the control panel and looked at the options, then pressed a button, "Hey, hey, claws nothin' right now, see dis baby's moves," he told Miko, as a row of targets rose up.

He took the Shoomer off his back and sank to one knee, resting it on the shoulder that Miko was not on. It vaguely resembled a very, very large missile launcher - almost half as tall as Whirl - but it also hummed quietly in a way that a regular missile launcher shouldn't do.

"I ain't against kneelin' to Decepticons - if it makes it easier ta aim," he chuckled. "Dis is Da Shoomer. But it's been years. I gotta check my baby's workin' right. Dat nobody goin' around liftin' parts while she's in storage, or... well, I dunno. Probably not a good idea for it ta malfunction though."

He fired at a target, which ultimately proved that The Shoomer didn't require a whole lot of aim. The act of firing pushed him back several feet with recoil, even kneeling like this, and as he had said, the sound was SHOOM.

The shot travelled relatively slowly, but when it hit, the blast radius decimated not only the target, but the targets on either side, and there was a new and rather large hole in the rock wall behind them. If a light mech like Bumblebee or Starscream had been standing there, they could well have been completely destroyed by the weapon, which was many times more powerful than any of the Autobot's built-in hand blasters.

Whirl lowered it and re-loaded - it could only fire one shot at a time, and the ammo storage worked something like a miniaturised particle collider.

"Beautiful, ain't she?" he asked Miko, patting the weapon, "I got her in da mail after I subscribed ta 'Guns And Ka-Blammo' and joined da Wreckers. Everybody says she's gotta be some sort of war crime, but I figure dat just gives me an' her somethin' else in common!"

* The downers of the Shoomer are detailed in Whirl's profile and still count in training.

[Miko Nakadai]

“Hell yeah I knew that!” Miko grinned, and nodded in confirmation. “Bulk's told me all kinds of stories about all the butts he's kicked! He's real good at acting them out too.” she'd give a demonstration of things Bulk had told her he'd done, but she didn't want to do much of anything all the way up here on Whirl's shoulder – the last thing she wanted was to fall off!

“Aw, you can totally tell me! Gore doesn't phase me, honest!” she gave a 'pff' noise at that, waving a hand dismissively and would push her bottom lip out into a pout – but ehh, he was right, Bulk did tell the best stories. He had a certain eagerness and enthusiasm to his words that drew people in, plus the acting things out? Amazing! She didn't want to make Bulk sad though by hearing a story from another person first, though, and would give a solemn nod. “I guess you're right though. Maybe later you and Bulk can re-enact some stuff though!”

She held tight as they went down the elevator, and she'd give the basic directions of where to go from there once they arrived at the correct level. Luckily there weren't too many rooms down here – mostly just storage, a couple generators, boring stuff like that. The training room was fairly new compared to the rest of the base upstairs. Actually this whole lower floor was!

“I think they're gonna add more rooms down here, don't quote me on that though! Maybe with more Bots arriving they'll expand a little more.” it made sense, right? She totally didn't even think about the amount of WORK it'd take to do that, plus they probably had to get permission from Fowler, and he'd just whine about paperwork or something. But hey, conversation was conversation!

They moved into the training room, and Whirl moved over to the control panel. For someone who hadn't been here before he sure knew what he was doing!

As Whirl shifted to one knee, Miko would scoot a little closer toward his helm – inching along on her butt the entire time and keeping her left hand steady on his shoulder, the right grabbing tightly (not that he'd feel it!) onto his armor plating. Then there was movement, and Whirl pulled a gun from his back that she honestly hadn't noticed until now.

“Whoooooooa.”

Okay yeah – he was right! Claws ain't nothing! Big guns was where it was at!! And that gun he had? She'd never seen anything like it before! It looked like it could do some serious damage, and needless destruction of epic proportions was totally Miko's style.

“Shoomer? That's a cool name! I like it!” she chuckled at his words, “Dude it so better not malfunction when I'm sat right here!” she didn't sound scared by the possibility, not even a little – there was enthusiasm behind her words and she clung a little tighter to him in anticipation of what was about to come.

As he fired, she flinched some at the noise, hiking her shoulders up in an attempt to try and cover her ears. The tiniest of squeaks escaped her as they were pushed back a few feet due to the recoil, her hair whipping forwards as they moved back. She hadn't been expecting any of that, and it'd caught her off guard. She didn't fall off though, and she watched with wide eyes as the shot traveled toward its target.

Now she understood why he called it the Shoomer!

The impact from the blast was waaaaay bigger than she could've imagined – and her mouth hung open in a gawp.

“DUDE! THAT. WAS. AWESOME! I bet Decepticons don't stand a CHANCE against that!” she practically squealed in delight, yelling above the ringing in her ears. It didn't bother her any, she listened to her music at near-deafening volumes at the best of times, so it wouldn't be long for them to go back to normal.

Once the dust settled, she noticed that it'd completely OBLITERATED the intended target, and the two next to it! But screw that! That hole in the wall? Ohh man. They had to have heard that noise from upstairs – not to mention felt a shudder from the shock of the missile hitting the wall. Still, it wasn't like Miko would get in trouble for it – or at least she hoped not! It wasn't like she'd told him to do it.

“You got that thing in the mail?! Aw man, all I get is junkmail and letters from my parents!”

Cybertronian mail was way cooler than Earth mail, she decided. Guns and Ka-Blammo' sounded like something she'd definitely be into – although she was unsure if he'd even get mail anymore from them, it wasn't like the UPS guy would deliver a huge gun like that to their door!

Although that was a funny thought...

“I wouldn't fire another now we know it's working, at least not inside - we don't want to get in trouble with Optimus or something!” she grinned at that, and there was a familiar mischievous glint in her eyes regardless – her gaze not leaving that of the impact crater in the wall.

Yup – coolest thing ever.

Huffing a strand of hair from her face, she'd ease herself up into a stand on his shoulder.

“I feel like we should've saved this room till last, the tour is gonna be super boring now!” she laughed, “Speaking of, where did you want to go next? There's storage rooms down here I guess we can check out if you wanted. Or you could see if your claws still work!”

Tiny hint there, maybe.

[Deleted]

Whirl preened slightly at the praise, his birdlike appearance making him resemble a peacock, "Yeah, dis baby blows 'cons right offa dere feet. By which I mean, dere feet are da only things left!" he chuckled. He examined the Shoomer closely, checking for problems.

"Yup. Da 'Guns And Ka-Blammo' subscription. Weapons developers set it up ta find people what'd test dere stuff. It's like a club for people what don't mind da risk of havin' dere entire body compacted into a singularity. Gonna have some back issues coming soon."

He chuckled at Miko's suggestion about his claws.

"Hey, I tested my knees on the way out. Let's see what we can do about da claws..." he tapped an instruction into the keyboard carefully, and the non-sentient sparring robot straightened up.

"I tink you should be where it's safe," he told Miko, and picked her up off his shoulder very gently. The cockpit on his chassis opened and for a moment he looked about to put Miko in there - or at least, in the passenger seat. Then he stopped. Optimus would probably go on and on if he started training with a human in his cockpit. He placed her on the floor instead. Perhaps she could ride in the cockpit another time.

"You just don't get yourself underfoot, Ay Miko? Okay, settin' sparrin' mode to..." Whirl tapped the side of his helm thoughtfully, "Unarmed. Yeah... No! Dat's boring. Set to Melee! Aggression, high."

The sparring mech produced a sword of its own.

"Autobot detected. Capture."

"Aw, capture?!" Whirl whined jokingly, "Is dat da highest settin' dis bot's got for trainin'? No wonder you guys are askin' fer help!"

The bot charged forward, sword held high, at the unarmed Whirl, who braced himself. The two collided, and for a moment it looked like the sword had skewered Whirl through for a moment, before it became more obvious that the sparring bot had missed his body, being used to more heavily built enemies. Whirl grabbed the bot's wrist between his pincers, pushed it up, and closed his claws. The sound of metal being sheared filled the air, and after a few seconds the hand holding the sword fell to the floor - the sword itself missing Miko by just a couple of feet.

Miko had repeatedly seen Bulkhead fight - a bit like real wrestling. Whirl's style was completely different; it was ugly, and went for low blows. The training bot, deprived of its right hand, was having serious difficulty already.

"You're probably too young ta be watchin' dis though!" he shouted over to Miko as he pushed the training bot into a wall and then jammed an elbow into its lower torso, making it double over.

The entire point of the style that Whirl had learnt in prison, was to finish a fight before the guards noticed there was a fight. Whirl threw the bot to the floor, dropped his entire body weight on top, and pinned it face down. One highly angular knee was placed in his spine and he used one claw to club the bot around the back of the head, then started slamming its head against the metal floor repeatedly and without stopping. You wouldn't see ugly moves like those on a wrestling mat.

Finally, Whirl opened his claws again, and rested one edge-up under the bot's jaw. If he slammed its head down again, it would be decapitated.

Obviously real mechs were a lot tougher, but the programmed aggression of the training 'bot was nothing to how vicious and highly focused Whirl's attacks were.

"Now technically I could rip dis chinless dweeb apart, but den somebody would get all "Whirl, ya broke it, so ya gotta fix it" and serious, I've had enough 'a dat ta last six or seven lifetimes," he told Miko, "Besides, it takes more skill ta show restraint," he rested one elbow on the back of the bot's helm while it strained to keep away from his open claw, "Or so I'm told," he added, twisting his knee.

"I submit!" the bot told him, clearly realising it didn't have the data files to adapt to his chaotic style.

"Glitch went down like fresh fish," Whirl looked up at Miko, "Trouble with da claws is dat dey is deadly and all. If ya had, like, twenty spare trainin' bots here I could show ya how good I really am because den it'd take more'n thirty seconds, ay?!" he joked, still lying on top of the training bot.

[Miko Nakadai]

Miko cackled with laughter, imagining a pair of smoking feet like in cartoons – oh man she'd love to see the Shoomer against an actual Decepticon if that's what happened! That thing could probably blow Megatron to smithereens! Although that was probably wishful thinking – if Megatron had survived this long against the Autobots, he could probably withstand a hit by a rocket.

Would still be cool to see, though.

“Back issues?!” her whole face seemed to light up. “So you'll be getting more weapons soon? Dude you have to let me watch you test them out when you get them!” that was the least he could do, right? She could help test them too by evaluating them on a scale of coolness or something. Althoooough anything that caused an explosion was pretty up there on the awesome scale. She wondered if he'd even be allowed to test them here in the base after today though, they were so going to get into trouble for the crater in the wall. But oh well, problem for the future!

She watched curiously as he tapped the keyboard, trying to work out what it was he was doing – she didn't know how to work these things as she wasn't allowed to touch them. Seemed like he was resetting the sparring bot though, as it straightened up a moment later.

“Ahah probably for the best yeah!” she grinned, even though she liked being involved in the midst of all the action and was perfectly content to cling to his shoulder, the last thing she wanted was to get hurt and get herself and Whirl into actual trouble. Again she would go still as he gently picked her up – and there was a moment of excitement as she saw the cockpit on his chassis open. Yeeeees!

…

Nooooo... At his change of heart she'd frown, but nod. Eeh he was probably right, the floor was probably the safest spot for her, and this way she could watch and see everything from up close!

“You got it! I'll be out the way so don't worry about me!” she'd give a confident nod and thumbs up before scampering to the side some – well out of the way of any danger, but still close enough to the point she could be seen and heard, and more importantly? Could see all the action!

She'd scoff at his playful whine, laughing.

“Dude I don't know, you'd have to talk to Fowler about that! Least I think him...” she wasn't sure who was in charge of the sparring bots or the settings involved, but if it prevented total annihilation of the base? It was probably Fowler, or maybe Red Alert.

She'd watch with wide eyes as the bot suddenly charged forward, letting out a squeak of panic and slamming a hand over her mouth as it seemed like it'd stabbed right through Whirl in an instant. A blink of an eye later though revealed this not to be the case, and she cheered as Whirl grabbed the bots wrist.

“Wooo! Go Whirl!!”

Ohh that noise was epic – and there was an odd feeling of glee as she watched the severed hand fall down to the floor with an almighty crash. That sword was a little too close for comfort though and a nervous laugh escaped her before she backed away further, moving closer to the edge of the room. Whoops! That was close!

She liked the way he fought and she found herself unable to look away - it was always interesting to see how each Autobot moved and did their thing in battle. Bulkhead was more of a wrestler, Bumblebee was more of a boxer... Whirl was fast, he fought dirty but it was so cool to watch. Blink and you miss it action! For free!

“Too young? Dude I'm like fifteen!” she grinned, shouting back – eyes widening as he pushed the bot into the wall, wincing as the elbow was thrown. Oof even she felt that! Her gaze didn't leave the fight though, and she squealed in delight as he threw the bot down and slammed himself ontop of it. She cheered again. What happened next was brutal, but she found herself unable to look away.

Whew, she was glad he was on their side! He really did fight dirty! She even found herself feeling a little bad for the sparring bot! He'd stood no chance!

“Ahah yeah don't break the poor guy even more!” she shouted over to Whirl, resting her hands on her hips. She wasn't sure if slamming the poor bots head into the ground repeatedly was showing any kind of restraint, but she wouldn't comment. “You kicked his butt though!” she laughed, moving closer now the actual fighting had stopped and it was safe enough to do so, stopping a few short steps away to pull her phone from her pocket to take a photo of Whirl in his victory pose!

“Aw I don't need twenty bots to see how good you are! Dude you took him down in like ten seconds flat! That's impressive!” she wasn't sure who even fixed the training bots up. Raf, maybe? Whoever it was had their work cut out for them after this.

“We should probably keep going with the tour before someone sees that crater and we're both grounded for life!” she snickered at that – only half joking.

[Deleted]

Whirl let out a coarse cackle at Miko's enthusiastic request, "Yeah, maybe you and me can go for a ride with a Psionic Blaster sometime, Ay?" he told her, amused.

As he finished the battle, he stood up off the defeated training robot. Remembering what Ratchet had said to him before, he reached inside the non-sentient mech and started messing with it, not fixing it outright but making it so that its own self-repair would be pretty simple. It would still look terrible, and that removed hand would need to be replaced properly. But some of the internal work was done.

"Glad ya liked da show," he preened slightly.

"But hey, wanna see somethin' really cool dat doesn't blow up?" he asked, "Dis scientist I know invented somethiin' and handed it out for testin'. All I had ta do was tell 'im it was impossible. Ya gotta know how ta talk ta nerds."

He tapped his helm and something scanned Miko.

"Scanning native life-form," a tinny voice stated, "Making personality adjustments."

"See, what it does is-" Whirl was cut off by suddenly transforming right in front of Miko, into his rotary form, "Well, I wasn't expectin' dat..."

Then Miko watched as an image started to form in front of her. Well, kind of an image. Basically, it looked like a person was forming.

"See, it scans da native life-form and ya get an avatar dat takes on your personality!" Whirl stated cheerfully.

A girl started to form. It became apparent quite rapidly that it was going to look a lot like Miko.

It... he... or she... was even skinnier than Miko, and as the image came into focus, she had blue hair - not dyed like Miko's streak, but natural. She also had very long pigtails, and an ugly scar across the left side of her face and over her left eye, covered by an eye-patch.

She was wearing blue denim dungarees and a collection of punk accessories, and there was a large Autobot symbol on the front - which also had an eyepatch on it. The scanner seemed to have picked up some of Miko's Japanese heritage too.

Also, the avatar looked about ten years old. And had two Uzi holsters, one strapped to each thigh.  They could almost pass for sisters.

"Well, dat was not what I was expectin'," 'she' stated calmly, drawing them and looking at them. Her voice wasn't all that different to Whirl's either, although it was a little higher.