Ep. 1 - Close Encounters - Open

[Deleted]

Takes place shortly after "Empty Spaces". Open to all Autobots! If you'd like to join in, just fire me a PM first and yer set! :]

---

They were somewhere around Grand Teton, on the edge of the desert, when the boredom began to take hold.

"Punch buggy!" cried Wash.

The blue Lancer swerved, light on his tires, and playfully tapped the front bumper of the other Autobot as he swerved into the left hand lane ahead of him. This upset a few other drivers and made them grumble, mostly the ones who had wanted the spot he had just nabbed for himself. In the crowded far right lane the lime-green Volkswagen Beetle trundled along, oblivious to the delight its appearance it had just inspired.

It was five o'clock in the afternoon, and the traffic flowing out of the north-west limits of Las Vegas was heavier than usual as tired commuters began their daily trek from the city. Route 95 was thick with cars, shiny and sparkling beneath the bright afternoon sun, while the haze from their exhaust drifted up to smog the air. Heat shimmered over the hot black asphalt and over the hoods of cars, casting wavering mirages over the lines of idling traffic.

For the two Autobots an hour had already passed, much of which had been spent navigating Las Vegas. Without precise co-ordinates to lock on to, Ratchet had been forced to open a ground bridge on the western fringe of the city, where a rocky gulch next to the Arroyo Golf Club offered shelter from human eyes. It had been up to them to drive into the city and sidle into the flow of stop-and-go traffic departing to the north-west, through busy intersections and past bustling suburban houses shaded by palm trees and flowering gardens.

It had been a long hour. A long, dull hour, full of yellow lights and irritable honking. Now, at least, the traffic was beginning to thin. The open desert beckoned ahead of them, where the traffic was light and only a handful of scattered cars sped off towards the distant foothills. Within another ten minutes they would be free.

And not a moment too soon.

"Ah, that never gets old," chuckled Wash over the private commline.

His avatar, a sandy-blond man in a Hawaiian shirt, waved affably to the driver of the red Sunfire who had just given him the finger. "Sorry to drag you out here on such a nice day, Blue. Especially in this traffic. But I do appreciate you coming along to check out this signal with me. I hope I didn't interrupt you while you were in the middle of something."

[Bluestreak]

At the light tap, the silver Datsun had immediately applied the brakes. The driver didn't throw on the horn or yowl curses at the offending blue car. Instead, it easily slowed down to let the blue car take the point. Not that they'd been going all that fast for a lot of the drive. Traffic down here was horrible at this time of the day. The sun was blazing overhead, and for anything that didn't have air conditioning... Nevada was downright miserable.

"What's a punch buggy? Wait, I missed something, what did I miss?" was the immediate answer. "Seriously, what did I miss, this is some cultural thing, isn't it? Or some inside joke. I can totally keep an inside joke."

A burst of laughter bounced over the private line. "I guess if you tell me then it's not an inside joke, is it, huh, Wash? I swear though, I could totally keep it, unless it's something that's sort of off-color, because I'm terrible at keeping those with a straight face, sorry."

Inside of the Datsun the avatar of the blond-haired young man rested his elbow on the edge of the open window and let his fingers trail out in the breeze. He eyed his hand for a moment and then made zooming gestures in the air. "Wow. Neat, these things are a blast, you know that, oh-- nah nah, I totally appreciate it, don't mind at all, I kind of wanted to get out anyway and familiarize myself, so I guess this is the perfect way to do it. Besides, this traffic's nothing, you know that, all good all good, and yeah you don't want to go out by yourself and check out weird things, because that's a way to get yourself into trouble."

"So, what's the deal...?" he asked, trailing off with obvious curiosity.

[Deleted]

Wash chuckled.

"Well, for the past couple weeks I've been picking up an odd radio signal from somewhere in the La Madre Mountain range area," he said. "It's falls within the UHF band, which are radio waves that are based upon line of sight - in essence, the higher the signal is broadcast from, the further it travels."

His avatar lifted a hand in thanks to the woman driving a beat up old Volvo who had just let him cut back into the middle lane in front of her. The blue Lancer slipped neatly into the narrow space and picked up a little speed as the traffic flowed ahead of him.

"Normally I wouldn't be too concerned about random signals like this, but... I don't know, something about the whole thing is a little odd. That's a wilderness area for starters, so there shouldn't be a commercial station transmitting out of it. I don't know of any official repeaters established there to propagate local UHF signals. It could be just a ham radio enthusiast who has gone and set up his own repeater on a hill. In fact, that is probably exactly what it is. But considering the growing threat that MECH presents, and the fact that we don't know where any of their operational bases reside..."

He sighed. "It seems safer to just go for a drive and investigate it. I know I'll rest easier at night having confirmed it's just a ham chatting with his fellows. Or one of those mental UFO chasers with a tinfoil hat and a handheld radio. Or a crazy survivalist shacked up in the hills."

The blue Lancer laughed then, his tail lights flashing. "And what the hell - it's just a nice day to go for a drive. Followed by a hike. How well do you operate off-road, Blue? We're gonna dust up our tires a bit in the hills if we have to go exploring for the source of our mystery signal."

[Bluestreak]

"You know, I have absolutely no idea how well this is going to operate off road," Bluestreak pondered after a moment. "Seems okay. I mean, I guess that I'll just make it work, because it's got four tires and sort of a bit of clearance, why not! How bad can it be, seriously?"

He laughed and smoothly maneuvered around an empty plastic bottle that had been blown into his lane. It spun wildly around in the draft of air as he passed over it, and then bounced off into the dry ditch. The silver Datsun smoothly accelerated, dipping past a weather-beaten truck and a Toyota who had spent the last five minutes with the signal on but had never actually changed lanes.

"Huh..." Bluestreak began, even as he slotted away all that information. "Yeah, that seems odd, even if we're out in Nevada. Must be something about this place, because I've been watching a lot of TV lately. Did you know that this state seems to attract more aliens than any other state. No wonder it is full of tinfoil hats and UFO chasers, and what's hilarious is that we're right here driving past them and they're totally oblivious."

His avatar wiggled his fingers spookily out of the window. "The truth is out there."

The mech flicked a windshield wiper like a dismissive grin, brushing away some of the fine powder of dust that their drive had swept up along the clear expanse of his window. "I can kind of see what you're saying though, the middle of the desert doesn't seem quite a place where humans would go and hang out. Seems a bit inhospitable. Maybe it's some scientific thing, could that be possible some experiment they've -- ohhh, right, UHF, wow, that's sort of an outdated concept. Still could be science, but now my bet's on a crazy survivalist. If they have a tinfoil hat on, let's take a picture, seriously. I bet we could totally make Red Alert roll his optics at us if we all walked around wearing ones like it for a while..."

A pause. "On second thought no, we better not do that. I'd feel kind of bad about making him stress out even more, whoo. But-- ahhh, you're thinking MECH. I hope it's not those guys, every thing I've heard lately points to some bad, bad news, Wash. If they have a base this close, it means that they're going to have more chances to run across one of us out by ourselves on a patrol."

[Deleted]

Even over the radio, Wash somehow managed to communicate a wince.

Not long ago he had been caught out by MECH agents in Washington, D.C. During his flight back to Nevada he had nearly been run into exhaustion by a patient relay of MECH tails, deliberately positioned to trap him on the road in his vehicle mode, unable to call for a ground bridge. If not for Rook's quick-witted intervention, he would have been run down and taken prisoner, if not killed. Arcee had been quite stern about that during his de-briefing.

Since then, the agent had developed a healthy respect for the human organization.

"Yeah, we're in trouble if they've bunkered down somewhere nearby," said Wash. "This could really place a strain on base security. Not to mention the ground bridge - we can't risk driving in and out of the base any more. Too much risk of being spotted and discovered - by the 'Cons, and now by MECH as well. I don't particularly envy Red Alert for his job right now."

He sighed. Ahead of him the traffic eased, cars accelerating as the distances between them spread apart. The desert beckoned as the last of the city limits fell behind them, suburban sprawl giving way to tan rock and dirt and far off foothills, speckled with daubs of green brush.

In a lighter voice, Wash said, "But! Let's not get ahead of ourselves. No point in getting overly pessimistic yet, right? We'll zip out, check out the source of this signal, and be back in time for Top Gear reruns. Ratchet said he would keep an audial on the emergency frequency if we need any backup, so we're covered. Personally, I'm looking forward to a little off-road time myself. I've been itching to test my suspension on those desert hills. Ha! Hey!"

The blue Lancer hunkered low over its tires and shot off as the highway opened up ahead of him. "Finally! Good bye, Las Vegas five o'clock traffic! Hello, twenty miles over the posted speed limit! Allegedly."

[Deleted]

Rook wasn't honestly sure what he was doing. In theory, he was running ground patrol. It involved a lot of driving around through minor roads, circling this sector or that around the base without ever getting so close as to betray its location directly. You ran around and hoped not to see signs of Decepticon infiltration and, given that they were rarely that obvious, you didn't see them anyways.

He'd finished the circuit before an hour was out, and simply kept on driving. The endless edges of the road were soothing to his mind, allowing him to become distracted by indulgences he could rarely allow himself anymore. He had spend every moment of his first ground patrols learning to ID the usual and not-so-usual speedtrap locations, and he could have danced around them blind. Merging into the main highway, he found a snug spot just in front of a russet minivan and not quite behind a dirty white something-or-another, still lost in Very Important Thoughts.

--f course to add a congealing agent, have to wait until it's tacky, so it doesn't break it down, but I bet I could cook up something, and flavoring after that it's practically an afterthought. Just need the molds. Wouldn't be hard to make, but would anyone actually eat energon candy? Primus knows --

At that moment a familiar blue Lancer passed him and his optical shield, startling the thought right out of Rook's mind and leaving him disconcerted. Attack? Friend? Foe? Ambush? What...?

Or just Wash, off to find trouble to get into, probably in the unseen company of whoever else in base had managed to escape with him. Not willing to distract the Autobot and not sure what the situation was, he risked only the briefest of comms. What, I don't even get a hello? Ought to let the next speedtrap get you, Lancer.

[Bluestreak]

Over the radio came a whoop of delight. The silver car dodged around one final little old lady who was toodling along in a low slung black Cadillac. She glared at him through the curve of the steering wheel, but by then the two cars were shooting forward on that flat stretch of road, and left her easily behind them.

That wordless moment didn't last long for Bluestreak though. He quickly filled that empty space with his concerns, even as his steering wheel did minute corrections to keep him straight and level on the road. "Yeah, I suppose you're right. All those things are risky. I can't believe it, if it's not one thing, it's another. Who would have thought that the humans... well, never mind. Fowler's er... ah, he didn't seem particularly impressed to see a bunch of new mechs, did he. Not that I blame him, but geeze, it's not like we're all going to roll out and each bring back another Miko or anything. Then again, it's probably good they don't come in packs, huh?"

"You're right, no need to get ahead of -- ohhhh hey, I totally love Top Gear. I caught that the other day have you seen the one where they go and get the campers and drive them in the race to get to that spot and the things totally self-destruct?" A long, low, whistle echoed across the line. It was of pure amazement. "Totally off-roaded the things and they just shattered apart and..."

"Hey, now that I'm thinking about it, hope this mode's a bit more sturdy than that, otherwise Ratchet is going to just have both our metal hides turned into pretty berth covers. At least our colors compliment each other ha ha ha- ugh. Nope, let's not do that. At least he's on back up, right? That'll be just fine as long as we keep it like that, back up."

The silver Datsun easily cruised along at a comfortable pace, glad to be finally moving. He weaved slightly between the lines as if stretching himself out, working out all the little hitches in his system. "I do like this alt mode though, it's nice and - oooh, totally off subject, did you see that one car we passed though? That really nice one? I think it might have been a Dodge Challenger, I didn't catch the badge on the back, did you?"

[Deleted]

Wash's only reply was a yelp.

The startled blue Lancer swerved, much to the umbrage of the red Mustang that had been tailgating him. The big muscle car honked its annoyance and swept past him, it's engine gunning as it hit the open road. Wash sputtered and coughed as its bump draft sent dust swirling into his grille.

"Holy sh- holy toledo, Rook is that you?" he said.

He sent his scanners fanning backwards, over the traffic that flowed in his wake. Cars jostled in and out of lanes, jockeying for position now that the highway had cleared. And there, tucked neatly between a white car and a minivan, was the unmistakable form of the sleek grey Aero.

Delighted, Wash said, "It is you! Oh lord, don't jinx me on the speedtrap thing. I hit three coming out of Indiana. I charged the tickets to the US government. Agent Fowler is going to skin my metal butt."

He slowed and fell back into the middle lane, giving the Aero a chance to catch up if he so wished. "You out on patrol? Hey, Bluestreak - have you met Rook yet? Rook, this is Bluestreak. He's the silver Datsun coming up just behind me. Our newest arrival, and a sharpshooter on top of that."

[Deleted]

Rook slid sedately out of his hiding spot and picked up speed to bring up the rear behind said silver Datsun, keeping enough distance to give the mech breathing room, not so much that someone would get clever ideas about trying to dart between them.

He was, he had to admit to himself, surprised to be received so warmly. He was a spook, he was used to being... well, used to not being, mostly. Not seen, not noticed. Wash's warmth was both cheering and disconcerting and left him, for a moment, groping to remember how to be friendly. Surely it hadn't been that long since he'd last passed the time with easy grace!

Primus, but he needed to get out more.

Well, maybe you ought to talk to someone who patrols this stretch of dust often enough to know where the traps are hidden. Less paperwork and all. His tone was just this side of teasing before dropping to a more even, calm tone. Was on patrol. Done with it a few miles back, taking the scenic route back home. Why, got something more interesting to do? Anything's better than four walls and another twenty ways of writing 'nothing' on a report.

A sharpshooter, not a bad asset to add to the ranks, all the more so since Rook knew the 'Cons had at least one of their own. Bluestreak, pleasure to. Where's this crazy dragging you off to? Idly he wondered why someone on the silver spectrum would be called Blue-anything, but he wasn't about to ask that out loud just yet.

[Bluestreak]

Bluestreak angled his mirror back as if he was eyeing the car that had slipped smoothly in behind him. Sleek, grey -- oh now that was a nice alt mode. Elegant, all streamlined, it looked fast even at the cruising speed. Where had that car been when he was picking through them at that car show in the casino parking lot. Then again, he liked his too, and from the amount of humans that turned to give him an appraising eye, so did they.

"Wait, whoa you got a ticket, seriously? Where's Indiana, I need to remember that there's a lot of law enforcement there, I guess... not anywhere near Vegas. No, I haven't met Rook yet," Bluestreak offered, and the silver car sped up just enough to keep a perfectly even pace for the mech behind him to match. "I actually haven't met a lot of mechs yet that are stationed here. I met Air Raid on the way in and Electrocap - both of them are awesome. Oh, also I got briefed and met a few others. Ratchet's just as cheery as ever, go figure. Hey, hi, hullo, Rook, totally awesome to meet you!"

His voice was open and friendly over the comm channel and the avatar in the front seat twisted a bit to wave out the back window at the car behind him. The woven bracelet on his wrist slipped back and forth as he did so, then settled back easily into the spot behind his hand. Bluestreak was distracted for a moment and bounced it on his wrist, admiring the flash of the silver charm in the middle. Amazing what detail these avatars could have. He'd never really needed one before; he didn't interact like a diplomat had to on Cybertron or on any other planet. Not his job. Here, though, they just made life so much easier.

Hmm, what if humans had avatars. Wonder what they'd look like, what they'd choose if they could be Cybertronians, he thought to himself, and glanced around the road. Huh, wait, haha, that was funny, if you thought about what cars they picked for themselves and their families. Lots of human femmes being minivans, at least near the school zones.

"Aw, well, I'm not a bad shot," he offered, and in front of Rook, the silver Datsun swerved slightly, in a rather humble vehicle shrug. "I've seen mechs far better than me, some of those guys who used to shoot in the big tournaments back home were just amazing. There was this one guy, I took a course from him, had to pay like out some serious credits for it, I remember that but wow, it was worth it, he's the one who told me - oh, Taprock, that was his name, gah, I feel stupid now. It's been a while, but - oh right, so he totally could shoot, but he was the one who really told me that you needed personalized equipment for the job, you can't just pick up any old gun and expect the same sort of calibration that you do off of a gun that's built for your reaction times. Someone asked me once if I wanted a build in, but nope, no thanks, too much that can wrong when you do that, and you just can't fine tune a darn thing out in the field by yourself."

He laughed again, and then remembered he'd been asked a question, and bounced merrily back to that conversation without skipping a beat. "Oh, as to where he's dragging me, ha, well, we're off to investigate this UHF signal that's been up in the hills out of Vegas. Wash here picked it up and thought something's sort of off about it. Sort of were passing back and forth the thought that we thought MECH might be lurking around out here, but we sure hope not with the rumors... um, Wash could tell you more than I could, that's for sure, he's the one who's leading."

"You coming with us, Rook? I mean, it's a great day for a drive, if nothing else, and hey, totally get to test out my shocks on the backroads. Which is good, I need to figure out how this place works terrain wise. The wind's really different here, and the weather. Got to learn it all over again, you know, but it's neat. Vegas traffic though not so neat. Heh."

[Deleted]

Wash just cruised down the open highway and let's Bluestreak's stream of friendly chatter ride itself out. He seemed to have experience with this sort of thing.

"Yep, we're just heading up Route 95 here for another handful of miles and then we're turning onto the 157," he said. "From then on it's a pretty straight shoot to La Madra, a mountainous wilderness area just west of the city. We'll have to turn south and go offroad into the hills to track the signal after that. It's all rock and steep climbs and brush out where we're headed, but I can guarantee it will be a lot less boring that patrolling."

He swerved around a Prius and laughed. Dust flew up around his spoiler and swirled in his wake, his wheels humming. They raced across the desert now, all flat and hard-packed earth speckled with dried brush. In the distance to the west the foothills loomed, growing larger on the horizon as the three Autobots drove onwards.

"As I was telling Blue here, there's a chance this UHF signal we're hunting down could belong to either a crazy UFO chaser, or MECH," said Wash. "If it's a small MECH outpost, oho boy, it is going to be payback time. It'll be a hard slog across rough terrain, and there's a good chance we'll need to climb on two feet rather than four tires, but there shouldn't be anyone around for miles to spot us. And we could sure use your help, Rook, if you're game to join us."

[Deleted]

... and that would be where the name came from.

For a moment Rook couldn't even reply, his mental gears metaphorical overloaded by the sheer amount of information Bluestreak had managed to include after one introduction and an idle question. He was silent because he knew he was going to say something vastly unintelligent and unimpressive if he tried to say anything at all before digesting all that he'd been given.

Which... was a lot of tangential information that the sharpshooter, somehow, managed to keep straight. His humility was perhaps the most refreshing shock - so many sharp-eyes tended to carry their skill like a badge of pride that entitled them to Primus-knew-what.

In the end he opted for winking his lights at the Datsun, his avatar throwing a lazy wave back. There were times when he considered changing the look of it to something more mainstream, but then again when did he ever have to use it other than beyond the tinted windows of his alt-mode? He could've had a faceless mannequin in there.

Traffic's only bad when you're in a hurry. The faint note of humor was back in his tone. If nothing else, going out with these two promised to be interesting. Perhaps, as the humans put it, in the Chinese sense, but interesting nonetheless. You and MECH, Wash. Well, I better come, just in case. Someone sensible ought to be around to keep you out of trouble so you don't give Bluestreak the wrong impression.

As the traffic faded and the space became theirs, Rook shifted so he could be slightly off to the side rather than directly behind them. What do you know about the signal, other than it being there? Could be just a tinfoil hat extremist, you know. Planet seems to have them by the wagonload.

[Deleted]

Patrols were going out in double groups now that MECH had been deemed a threat. Spaced apart, of course, but close enough to converge on the other team if there was an attack. They would not risk using a groundbridge within close proximity of an adversary they could not yet predict. Team Prime didn't throw grenades through blind. The Wreckers did. MECH, they couldn't hazard a guess.

Delta patrol were out on a long country run - few structures, lots of natural vantage points: MECH's preferred terrain for testing their mettle. As an extra precaution (and because she'd been getting that particular sort of restless that did raise Megatron's ire), Fairwinds had been dispatched as optics and human-dedicated sensors in the sky.

After four hours the patrol was finished, the Vehicons converging into a convoy of six as they waited for their 'bridge home.

Fairwinds wasn't paying attention to them, or the communications with the Nemesis. She'd been scanning radio channels and found a very interesting frequency.

::Signs of Autobutt comm. chatter up ahead:: she informed Breakdown, their control Con/receptionist for the shift. ::Can I go snoop?::

There was a short delay, then a familiar vortex opened across the dirt road ahead of the patrol. Fairwinds circled and descended, thrusters grumbling.

Then Breakdown came through for her. ::Yeah, sure, why not? Surveillance only - this ain't one of their known grids, so just watch what they're up to and come back when you hit bingo fuel.::

Fairwinds grinned (as much as her frametype allowed), regaining altitude as the groundbridge winked out. She'd been stuck inside the Nemesis for ages, and buzzing Autobots was the best way to stretch one's winds.

::You got it, breaker-breaker. Snoop'n'scoot.::

::I mean it, Windy: do not engage. Megatron'll have my bearings you so much as get your finish scuffed on my watch.::

The cassette glyphed an affirmative and cut their channel before he could get worked up. Then she banked left and put on a burst of speed to catch her quarry up. They were on a much busier road, and she angled herself up a little higher.
Though their scanners would pick her up if they looked, Fairwinds used the cloud cover to mask her presence from the hundreds of humans in their dead-metal vehicles below.

It took a few minutes of scanning across the vehicles as she overtook them to determine which ones were Cybertronian. Finally, though, she could match their speed and keep both Autobots directly beneath her. Oh, to be an organic avian frame for just ten seconds...

They drove on for another ten minutes doing exactly bugger all, and as that was boring and not at all indicative of what they weredoing, Fairwinds decided that it was tactically prudent to investigate through more direct means.

Setting her comm.s to transmit on the most common channels, Fairwinds made her presence known.

::Good evening, Autosaps! This is your Decepticon optic-in-the-sky, bringing you the latest traffic news. Krrssh! Yep, yep: it looks like there are two junker-bumper bozos hogging the 95, no doubt off to spread peace, love and sparkles to all the organics. Hopefully the Nemesis's new Ultimate Death Ray will be clearing that bit of do-gooder congestion out real soon, and we can all get on about our day.::

[Bluestreak]

Bluestreak couldn't help but laugh again. Apparently the tinfoil hat joke had gone around base a few times. Probably just because of Red Alert, who was likely back there lifting his head and frowning since they'd even thought about him. It was sort of spooky how he did that, whoo, but hey, that's why he was on Security. Bluestreak could respect that. Security was a tough job, and one you had to constantly fret about someone doing something internally as well as external threats and sources...

"Aw, well, we weren't in a huge hurry, but it's pretty bad," he remarked, his tone light-hearted and affiable. "I mean, Vegas traffic. I kept flicking over to the Google maps, and everything just gave up and went red whenever I asked it for an update. I mean, in Vegas. Outside it seems pretty mellow and on the backroads, there's nothing. Also, oooh, hey, guys did you see all those big metal animals by the side of the highway? I'm really hoping those aren't life sized, because if they are, no wonder there's all those yellow signs all over the place with - those are sheep? I think they're sheep. Pretty sure they're sheep."

He paused to think about that for a second. Sheep, deer. It really didn't matter he guessed, what did matter was not hitting them out here and putting them through your windscreen. "Yep, sheep," he decided, the front end of the Datsun bobbing in a little nod. "Er, as for the sparkles--"

His chatter came to an abrupt mentally screeching halt. Sparkles? Wait, he hadn't been thinking about anything sparkly at the moment, and hold on, that wasn't the channel they were on? Immediately the Datsun's mirrors turned, the reflective surface peering around him as if he was turning his head from side to side. Instinctively, he swerved a bit while he scanned the area around him. Wash in front. Rook behind him.

"Company, guys, and sure not the good kind," he blurted. "Wait a second, hold on, did they just say Ultimate Death Ray? Do they even have one of those here? That wasn't in my briefing, did I miss something, because if I missed that that's an awful big miss...."

[Deleted]

Wash already had a bad spark. What he heard over their channel did not do it any favours.

The startled Lancer swerved, veering in and out of the fast lane. His tires chirped against the asphalt and he got a hold of himself again, running hard down the highway. When everything under his hood stopped beating madly he veered his scanners upwards, searching vainly for the source of the unknown transmission.

They were being chased from above. An aerial tail was bad enough. A Decepticon one was bad news all around. But at least this tail hadn't opened fire upon them yet. It was following them. Which meant it was more interested in being curious than it was ambushing them. That was good. Maybe it was interested in talking too. He could work with that.

And if he couldn't, well... Rook was here. Rook had saved his butt once already.

"It's okay, Blue - I think we would have explosively found out already if the Nemesis was equipped with that sort of firepower," he said faintly. He cleared his vocalizer, and then to the strange flier trailing over them he said in his lightest diplomatic voice, "Attention, Decepticon eye in the sky! This is the Autobot Action News Van. What kind of weather can my fellow commuters expect on this afternoon's drive? Sunny skies, or cloudy breaks with a chance of fiery precipitation?"