[ti]Ep 3[/ti]How's It Hanging? (Skystone, Oversquare, Bandit) (OPEN)

[Deleted]

Week Three Day One
North America, Nevada

The acrid smell of energon exhaust mixed with the dry air of the Nevada desert as the morning sun appeared on the horizon, a sliver of orange and yellow. 

Oversquare roared along a secondary roadway that interconnected to the larger highway system; her aft-light indicated that she would be veering off on the upcoming access ramp. There was literally no other living - organic, spark or otherwise - soul nearby, but the femme cycle wanted to make it a habit of employing human traffic norms. 

Therefore, her avatar rider had been programmed with the "flipping the bird" gesture as well. 

The black and orange tour cycle completed the ramp turn and exited onto the main section of the highway designated as Highway S14, which eventually connected with the next nearest human settlement some sixty miles distant according to the county and state maps that she had downloaded.  

Popping a wheelie, Oversquare smoothed out into the local speed limit and reset her internal scanning software to ping and locate any potential disturbance or threat. To the common passerby, she was nothing more then a femme organic out for an early morning ride in the open desert, radio on and blaring the local territorial rock music station. 

After her formal clearance and berthing assignment, 'Square had made it known - politely, mind you - to the authorities in charge that she was up for pulling whatever duty was available; not so much sucking up as the need to be useful. 

Idle peds and all that. 

Expecting trash duty, cleaning and maintenance or inventory or a combination of all, the older 'Bot had been both surprised and relieved to land patrol duty. 

The scanning program pinged her processor, indicating the eighteen wheeler semi-truck incoming from a mile distant. As the vehicle drove past in the opposite lane, she made a visual notation of the vehicle.

Older model. American designation. 1970's time cycle. 

And...wow...semi-naked organic female painted on the trailer, the paint adhesion peeling off in areas. The company name emblazoned above the risque model indicated some sort of shipping service. 

'Square liked the colors and layout but deducted points for the...lewdness? Whatever. Organics were kind of weird, so to speak. 

The older femme-cycle had been assigned to the AM patrol with a flight designated femme-bot as her patrol "buddy". The instructions indicated that this was now official policy.

She had protested, at first, as she could damn well take care of herself but ultimately backed off; apparently there had been a kerfluffle between one of the upper command officers and a pain in the aft human faction that was known to cause issues. Therefore, the resulting new policy was that no 'Bot was to go on patrol alone. 

Oversquare took some pride on the fact that she had returned to her cybernetic roots and joined a faction at least attempting to make a difference; it had been a long series of cycles since she'd done anything remotely "heroic". 

Activating the assigned frequency for the field team, she contacted her current partner. 

+ "Skystone, Oversquare. Checking in at the third mile marker on Highway 14. All quiet. How're things hangin' up in the wild blue yonder?" +

[Deleted]

The sun was blazing on Skystone’s wings, the air around her hot and extremely dry. Not a whole lot to see, from her view. At least, not easily seen from the air. She supposed that was why both her and Oversquare had been called for this patrol, she could see threats from farther off, but the grounder certainly could see more detail around her.

She flew at what for her was a relatively slow pace, trying not to overtake Oversquare and stay relatively close. This patrol...well, it needed to go well, to say the least. As task-oriented as she was of course she’d try to make it go as smoothly as possible, but with the situation back on base, there really wasn’t room for error here.

And as always, the Energon was needed. They weren’t in famine, but that didn’t mean they could become complacent about the resources they held.

Perhaps that’s why she found herself on these patrols so often. She volunteered for them when she could, on top of her work expanding the base. It was easier, to bury herself in what needed to be done and to not think about how chaotic her life had been since landing on this planet. It also meant she was generally aware of progress on base, which made her feel a little more secure.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Oversquare.

::Quiet here as well. Things are hangin’ just fine, thankfully.:: She left it at that-simple and casual.

She continued drifting, both in thought and in flight.

[Bandit]

It was a quiet day in Jasper… up until a green motorcycle burst from the back of a large tractor trailer with a weathered painting of a mostly-naked human female on its side, tires hitting the surface of Highway S14 and squealing a bit as they found purchase and began taking the bike swiftly in the opposite direction from the truck.

Bandit noted he was in the wrong lane, there didn’t seem to be any traffic to speak of this morning, except for another motorcycle and rider approaching in the other lane.

Frack, rider. I knew I was forgetting something, Bandit thought, and activated his holoform. Hopefully the human rider was too consumed thinking about human things like texting and laundry and mini-muffin baskets to really register the momentarily riderless bike going in the opposite direction.

A cursory scan revealed nothing else of consequence in the area except an aircraft flying overhead. Bandit tensed at this. He spent too long as an Autobot on Earth to not feel his internals clench a bit whenever he noticed an airplane on an unusual flight pattern. It was probably nothing, though. He came abreast of the bike and rider in the other lane and his avatar gave a friendly wave as he considered his choices.

His choices in the moment, not the choices he’s made throughout his long life that brought him to this moment in general. That consideration is more of an ongoing process.

Switch lanes, which would keep me abreast of this rider who is likely to start getting suspicious, or turn in this lane and follow the truck I just stole from. This is definitely what I envisioned my life being like.

Bandit pulled an exceedingly tight u-turn to point himself in the correct direction for this lane, and began going in the same direction as the truck, away from the bike.

[Deleted]

He came abreast of the bike and rider in the other lane and his avatar gave a friendly wave...Bandit pulled an exceedingly tight u-turn to point himself in the correct direction for this lane, and began going in the same direction as the truck...

Oversquare did a mental double take as her avatar physically manifested the action.What in the bleedin' Primus? She adjusted her speed and positioning slightly while maintaining a steady speed. 

Okay. Break this down logically 'Square. Human custom. The Organic is ridin' a contraption akin to your alt-mode, so there is obviously some camaraderie there. Have your program wraith wave back, don't be weird. 

*blip*

The telemetry jump pinged her just as the other cycle revved off in the opposite direction. 

What the....?

The femme-mech  maintained her course but slowed down a couple of klicks as her system processed the incoming data; the odd signal had accessed a dormant program, not used in damn near a few hundred cycles...but it was there, nestled among the partition folders in the matrix that was her brain.

*blip*

My ECM files?!

The basic root coding of the electronic countermeasures programs had been left on the proverbial autopilot for, like, ever. 

Leaving tire marks and the lingering smell of burning rubber in the cool early morning air, the femme-cycle pulled a turn and took off in the other direction, the black and orange cycle upped her speed to close the distance to the other motorcycle.

+Skystone. Oversquare. I've some weirdness happening down here; got buzzed by a local all friendly-like, but my internals picked up on something."+

*blip*

+"The telemetry blipped a tracker program I haven't accessed lately; I'm running a de-frag and tailing the local as a cautionary. Out."+

[Deleted]

Sometimes, one of the biggest roadblocks to being a flyer was the fact that keeping an “eye” on the ground wasn’t easy. She had her scans set for energon, so while she may notice a grounder, it wasn’t a guarantee.

That’s why she supposed patrolling with a grounder like Oversquare was efficient- the other femme would notice threats below, and Skystone would spot them in the above.

So safe to say, she didn’t initially notice the strange two-wheeler.

What she definitely did notice, however, was Oversquare below her pull a around and head in the opposite direction.

She kept her initial confusion quiet, choosing to keep a level head and trust the other femme’s instincts.

Trying not to draw too much attention to herself, she gently banked around until she was headed in the same direction as Oversquare, receiving her message while doing so.

Concern started to nip at her at Oversqaure’s words. Why would any human vehicle give off signals that would set off a Cybertronian?

::Understood. Be careful, and don’t follow too closely- we don’t want to set them off, especially if they’re MECH. I’ll try and stay inconspicuous up here.::

[Bandit]

Bandit had been a crook for far too long to not have a bit of a sixth sense for when he was being tailed.  Granted, Bandit's sixth sense was a bit oversensitive and he got a bit jumpy, like that time back in Australia where he thought he was being tailed for 13 kilometers by a bus full of tiny Earth children who just happened to be going to the same 'Rocks Shaped Like Things' museum.

Still, his rear sensors picked up on the motorcycle he waved at earlier coming up behind him.  Did they notice him jumping out of the back of the trailer?  

Almost certainly they noticed, unless they were blind, and if they were blind, they probably weren't legally allowed to be driving, so who's the criminal now?

Bandit picked up the speed, his avatar throttling the gas in a frankly showy display of 'oh look at me being a human motorist, howdy howdy howdy, I have a mortgage and a Safeway Club Card.'

[Deleted]

"...be careful and don't follow too closely..."

Keeping the patrol frequency on standby, Oversquare signed off and continued following the other cycle at a discreet pace. 

The older femme weaved about and around the few vehicles traveling, eliciting a honk from at least one driver towing what appeared to be a vacant animal transport container. 

'Square had her avatar flip them off with "the bird" and continued forward, settling into a pace with her subject of interest. 

"...his rear sensors picked up on the motorcycle he waved at coming up behind him..." 

With Skystones warning regarding MECH - the Big Bad here on Earth, so to speak - Oversquare made a conscious effort to maintain patrol decorum. 

She had her suspicions that MECH didn't make it a habit of popping out from towing containers, however. 

...then again, maybe they did...as a newbie with the 'Bots, it wouldn't do for her to go off half-wrench cocke---

* * * telemetry scan complete * * *
* * * internal defrag complete * * * 

Her primary processor musings were interrupted by the defrag program alert and the countermeasure tracking application that had pinged off while in proximity to the other cycle. 

* * * 70 percent cybertronian * * *
* * * 20 percent unknown affiliation * * *
* * * 10 percent 'Bot/'Con * * * 

"What in the bloody scrap?" 

The femme-mechs exclamation was mouthed out by her avatar, the vocalization carried away by the wind and dirt as she surged forward; the female holo-rider wavered in static and then blinked off as 'Square set her systems to caution mode. 

"Bandit picked up the speed, his avatar throttling the gas in a showy display of oh look at me being a human motorist..."

The black and orange motorcycle, now riderless, popped a wheelie and then swerved off onto the road shoulder and closed distance rapidly. 

+Skystone, Oversquare. I am in pursuit. Possible 'Con suspect+ 

[Deleted]

Skystone noticed Oversquare weaning around traffic, a little amused. Watching grounders dance around each other was always interesting, especially since in 3D movement such as flying it was usually a moot point. The way they honked at each other and interacted...it was much more connected than aerial travel.

The scenery flew by Skystone without much thought from her. She wasn’t expecting any trouble from the ‘Cons, and so far MECH had been relatively quiet. She decided to enjoy the slight serenity for a bit, considering the work she had to do once back on base.

Then Oversquare broke that serenity.

The minute the flier heard “possible ‘Con suspect” she began losing altitude, trying to get a better visual while also scanning the same way Oversquare did and finding the same suspicious results.

::Losing altitude. If you can steer him to a non populated area, I can catch up and block him off. Otherwise, see if you can figure out how to make contact.::

It was a risky move, but she didn’t want to fire without more information and they equally couldn’t just let the other mech go without knowing who they were and why they were here.

[Bandit]

'Hey, I wonder if maybe that other bike spotted me doing a sweet trick out of the back of a trailer' swiveled a sharp left into 'okay they definitely saw me' territory in Bandit's well-honed situational awareness.

Bandit gunned it, following suit and taking a sharp left off the highway and down an exit to a long, lonely stretch of state road.  He didn't know who it was -- bounty hunters, MECH, Decepticons, Autobots, but all of those options were not options he really wanted to deal with around human motorists.  

If that low-flying plane he noticed earlier was part of this, he definitely didn't want to tangle with that in the middle of a populated motorway.

He sighed to himself.  This was bound to happen, and part of him was shocked it hadn't happened sooner.  Damn his flair for the dramatic!  His Furby would never let him hear the end of this.

[Deleted]

Pebbles and bits of rock shot out from a rear tire as the crankshaft spun, the front wheel rose a few inches from the dirt with the force of the torque. Once the automatic suspension and equilibrium kicked in, the femme mech shot forward with an additional burst of speed.

With the shouts from annoyed organics and the sounds of screeching tires and blaring horns fading on the wind, Oversquare went full pursuit mode, like a mechanized bloodhound on a scent.

A desert quail slammed into her windshield; blood, bone and feathers scattered as the bird literally popped out of existence while a red squirrel faired much better, managing to scamper away from the incoming mech cycle grinding tires.

Her external optics pinged the distant green blur to the tracker program and with a quick processor calculation, 'Square swerved off onto an even narrower access road with the intent to intercept her quarry.

+Skystone+ Planning to intercept the target at the transmitted mile marker. +'Square out.+