[ti]Ep 3[/ti]"Summer and Lightning"
Oct 19, 2021 1:21:15 GMT -5
Post by Feldspar on Oct 19, 2021 1:21:15 GMT -5
Week Four, Day Five. Windshield and Dart.
Time: 11:45 PM, Pacific Standard Time.
Rain spattered across the parched desert floor, deeply pitting the powdery soil.
A pale flash in the distance illuminated the tall, craggy mountains. A while later, a distant growl of thunder made itself known. This storm was out beyond the hills in this section of the Nevada landscape. The wind was harsh and gusting, rattling the creosote bushes and causing the sharp leaves of the yuccas to twist and click. The air was muggy and smelled as if it were an old, junked hot tub with four inches of green slime caught in the bottom.
The heavy lines crisscrossing the sky above the electrical transfer station were swaying. Tall towers of metal braced against the encroaching weather. A constant, heavy hum reverberated in the air, the sound of machinery hard at work sending electricity across the desert and down into the concentrations of humans in cities and towns along the way.
Access was by a quiet paved road that crossed over a huge concrete pipe sunk into a dry wash. The road led up into an employee parking lot behind a black chain-link fence. Several cars were parked there, from battered and well-worked pickup trucks to a small silver Yaris with a bobble-head dog plopped firmly on the dashboard. Behind them were several dull and squat concrete buildings. Warm light spilled out of several windows, but most were dim and dark.
Swing shift had cleared out an hour earlier, leaving only the overnight workers to monitor the building and keep an eye on the softly lit dials and the inner workings of the facility.
When the greenish portal opened up in the desert, it was some distance away. Easily explained as one more flicker of lightning as it shone brightly for only a brief few seconds, waiting for Windshield to get through. It would quickly close behind him, leaving him standing in a barren expanse of country with the air currents driving raindrops sideways against his dark plating.
In the distance, there was a faint glow on the horizon that wasn't lightning. A city. Probably the closest one that this station supplied with power.
Windshield also had a mission directive. His talents had been recognized, his skills hand picked by one of the higher ups. He was to get into that facility warehouse, make it through the security, find a small electrical turbine that was in there being worked on, and steal it. In and out, keep it quiet, and don't get caught by the humans - or Autobots, for that matter.
Maybe they figured that he was absolutely, one hundred percent on board on not getting caught with that after his previous situation with them.
Apparently, he was supposed to have some outside help on this mission. A scout, or lookout of sorts, but well, whomever it was didn't appear to be in the same spot they'd dropped him at. Perhaps they were hunkered down by the station already.
Which meant he was going to have to hike down there himself from where the portal had dropped him off....