Ep 1 (AR) - Shoot & Smash (Closed)

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Zoom-Zoom gave a frosty smile in the direction of the Spec Op bot's voice, Mirage, if he'd heard that right. They wouldn't have called in a fellow grunt to verify Zoom-Zoom's codes, so the mech had to be of a much higher rank amongst Special Operations. He was well aware of how the top bots felt about the low ones. At least the mech was trying to be polite, which was far more accommodating than the other two Autobots had been.

Zoom-Zoom felt no such need to reciprocate the sentiment. It could be a test for all he knew, Spec Ops loved playing mind games.

Zoom-Zoom hated mind games. Mainly because he couldn't work them at all. Case in point: current situation.

"That's right," he replied in response to Mirage's question. Acridly, he sneered, "Come on, mech- sir. With all due respect, you wouldn't regard it as a pleasure to work with one of us. Only a few reasons for that situation. Most of them would involve us as bait. Expendable bait."

The hostility could come back to bite him on his aft. But if Mirage was testing him, probing him for actual reactions as additional information to the data Zoom-Zoom had downloaded onto the datapad, then he could not afford to fail. Zoom-Zoom had lost several members of his cohort this way, sacrificed for data and agents deemed too valuable and worth the risk. Such decisions had not endeared Autobot command to him.

And now he was trapped here. With Autobot Command. His original plan to sneak around, find any information about the 92nd Division and then sneak back out again had been blown to the Pits.

This was not the position he wanted to be in at all.

[Deleted]

Mirage was not sure which surprised him less: Zoom Zoom’s hostility, or the way Red Alert twitched at the mention of agents being used as expendable bait. The former had good reason to be surly given his station, and the latter….well, it’s only natural that a callous disregard for Cybertronian life would rub the Guardian the wrong way.

...Or perhaps he simply twitched because he was in the habit of doing so. Mirage had noticed through general observation that the mech seemed to have a tic of some sort which showed itself infrequently and at random, so he really could not say for certain what caused him to twitch as he did when Zoom Zoom tied the word “expendable” to himself and his fellows. He supposed it was a bit of column A, a bit of column B, and left it at that.

By contrast, Mirage did not react whatsoever to Zoom Zoom’s mild show of aggression. Partly because he knew the little bot was well within his rights to be upset, and partly because it took a lot more than a few passive-aggressive comments to get a rise out of him. He had been called vastly worse things by mecha of far more prestige and renown, and he had been disrespected by mecha he personally respected far more than this uppity little stranger. So, while a part of him was a tad annoyed, he did not feel insulted. His ego was far too stable to be shaken by a passive-aggressive comment from a stranger whose opinion he did not have any reason to value. Instead of biting out a scathing retort himself, he simply stepped over the unpleasant accusation Zoom Zoom made against his character like one would step over a mess upon the floor, and made a point of calmly correcting his assumptions while scrolling through the datapad.

“Mirage.” He began, mildly. “Please, call me Mirage. ‘Sir’ is a title one gives to those of superior status, which I do not have. It is also bestowed upon others as a sign of respect, which is clearly something you do not have for me.”

He frowned thoughtfully at the datapad, wondering just how outdated the codes he was looking at were, before continuing. “Now, I have no intention of holding that against you. Respect, after all, is something one must earn. However, if I may offer a bit of advice, I would suggest you refrain from antagonizing people who literally hold your fate in their hands.”

He glanced back to Zoom Zoom at that, the corners of his mouth curving into a wry smile as he gave the datapad between his fingers an illustrative wave.

“Of course, this is nothing more than a suggestion.”

[Deleted]

“Mirage. Please, call me Mirage. ‘Sir’ is a title one gives to those of superior status, which I do not have. It is also bestowed upon others as a sign of respect, which is clearly something you do not have for me.”

Uuurgh. So it hadn't been a mind game, Mirage was just being polite. Zoom-Zoom scowled at the Autobot still, not at all chagrined by his mistake.

"Respect-" he cut himself off and fumed bitterly. He was dwelling now on memories -on people- he did not want to think about. "Whatever."

He really just wanted this over with. His arm was beginning to ache from being held up in Fortress Maximus's grip. Not to mention, his armour was streaked with Primus knows what and it had began to set on him. Getting it off was going to be difficult.

Then Mirage spoke again.

"I would suggest you refrain from antagonizing people who literally hold your fate in their hands.

Of course, this is nothing more than a suggestion."

Zoom-Zoom would have struck his fists to his side and bristled had he any free servos. He could not see the datapad being waved about though he could feel the pressure on his cable. Nor could he see the wry smile being directed towards him.

"I just crashed a shuttle and survived," he blurted with a sense of mild astonishment over the fact that yes, he was still alive. "I have used up my daily quota of terror for now and will be appropriately scared of you mechs once I finish processing that."

He then levelled an impressive glare towards the general area of the other Autobots. Oh, he was terrified of them. So very, very terrified that his codes weren't good enough and they'd decide he was a Decepticon and kill him. He just tended to handle his fear by deflecting it and covering it up with sarcasm and false bravado.

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As a general rule, Mirage tried not to give credit to stereotypes by applying them to mecha he did not know beyond their first encounter. However, Zoom Zoom was giving him the distinct impression that he was a bit temperamental, a trait which mecha of his short stature tended to possess, at least in Mirage’s personal experience. He could be entirely off-base, perhaps having had the misfortune of running into the few surly minibots who were the exceptions not the rule, and he acknowledged that. Hence why he held off on his assumptions, at least for the time being. Perhaps Zoom Zoom was a feisty little ill-tempered bot after all, or perhaps he was simply having an off day.

Judging by the numerous things that had gone wrong for him within the past few hours, from crash-landing to being chased through the forest by a walking tank, Mirage was inclined to believe the latter option.

“Believe it or not, you are far from the first to survive crash-landing on this planet.” He replied, with no small amount of amusement.

Red Alert gave him a pointed look, as if warning him to hold his tongue before he could let it slip that nearly half the mecha on base had arrived in that very fashion. The look was not necessary, however, as Mirage had no intention of doing any such thing. He was more concerned with finishing his last look-through of Zoom Zoom’s code than he was with poking fun at their comrades' misfortune. As he returned to the aforementioned task and scrolled to the very end of the dataslate for the second time, analyzing the last few lines of code with a critical optic, he could not help but look back to Zoom Zoom and flash a faint smile.

“Considering you are one of our own---” He glanced up at Red Alert, nodding in a show of conviction. “---You have no reason to be afraid of us.”

He then unplugged the dataslate and returned it to his subspace, before politely placing Zoom Zoom’s cable back in his hand. “...Well, I suppose that is a bit of an overstatement.” He amended, after a brief pause. “I cannot fault anyone for being somewhat wary of Fortress Maximus.”

He tilted his helm back to look up to the mech in question before continuing. “And I do not mean that as a slight against you, Fortress. I am simply acknowledging the fact that you are a mech of impressive stature, to say nothing of firepower, and that gives you something of an intimidating presence. And I say this as someone who is not easily intimidated.”

Just to make sure the other mech knew no offense was meant by his words, Mirage made sure his field showed the contrary: he was actually rather impressed. Not many mecha could instantly sedate someone’s desire to step out of line just by stepping into the room, or simply existing in their general vicinity.

[Deleted]

So, the minibot was on their side after all.

Maximus' expression did not change as he took that in. If Mirage confirmed the codes, then that was good enough for him. He harboured no doubt in his mind when it came the spy's knowledge and skill. Mouthy and brazen the minibot may be, if Mirage said that he was an Autobot, then he was an Autobot. Nothing left to argue. Case closed.

It was grating. But Maximus was not required like it. Only to respect the truth.

He grudgingly exhaled, venting the last of his temper.

As he lowered Zoom-Zoom to the ground and released his grip he nodded to Mirage. The spy spoke with candour, and to his surprise Maximus felt a near-forgotten sense of gratitude stir in response to the praise. It had been a long time since he had been considered a daunting figure by his fellow Autobots. He had thought his presence lost, stripped with his authority.

“Comes in useful sometimes,” he said gruffly. “I suppose our friend here will need new codes, to prevent this sort of misunderstanding from happening again. I’ll leave that to you, Red Alert. Seems like a task that would find its way onto your desk eventually. In the meantime…”

Maximus glanced back over his shoulder. “I’ll go deal with the shuttle. Pretty sure I can extinguish the fire and get the wreckage dismantled and salvaged. I'll call for a bridge when I'm done."

[Deleted]

Zoom-Zoom had brightened considerably at Mirage's announcement confirming that he was an Autobot. He turned his helm towards Fortress Maximus and was about to triumphantly crow about his mistake-

Then Fortress Maximus released his arm and Zoom-Zoom almost pitched forward onto his face. He'd lost sensation in his arm at some point and had been unconsciously straining against the big mech's grip. He flexed his stiff limb but that did little to make his internal receptors respond. Zoom-Zoom exvented mentally and diverted part of his processor to developing a patch for that.

He really, really needed to see a medic at some point. Zoom-Zoom froze for an astrosecond at this thought. He was with Autobot Command. They had medics. Surely. MEDICS. Meeeeeedics. Healing mechs. Mechs that could fix him.

Zoom-Zoom's opinion of this entire venture suddenly improved. His mood lifted even more as he listened to Fortress Maximus's decision to go handle the shuttle.

"I'll see you around, Sir Stomp-A Lot!" he called in the general direction of the big mech. He turned his attention back to the remaining Autobots, Mirage and...Red Alert, Fortress Maximus had called the other mech. If they'd reacted to the designation Zoom-Zoom had settled on, the minibot couldn't see it.

"You have a medic right?" he asked. "Please tell me you have a medic. I could really do with one. I haven't seen one since...well, a long time before everyone bailed on Cybertron."

His processor caught up on the other thing Fortress Maximus had mentioned. New security codes meant that he was back in the Autobot ranks. Which meant..."Guess someone's going to have to debrief me too."

That was an instant mood killer.

[Deleted]

Red Alert nodded ask Max addressed him, sparing him the briefest of glances before returning his attention to Zoom Zoom. “I’ll get him sorted.” He promised, as he brought a hand to the side of his helm and began comming Ratchet once again.

“--Call if you need anything.” He added, over his shoulder, as Fortress Maximus turned back towards the crash-site. He doubted the other mech would need much in the way of assistance, but it didn’t hurt to make the offer anyway, just in case.

He refrained from also telling the former warden to be careful, despite the instinctive urge to do so. Fortress Maximus wasn’t a foolish mech; he knew to be careful without needing to be reminded. (Unlike a few other mecha he could mention. Humans too---humans especially.) He could be trusted to handle things by himself without setting himself on fire or burning the rest of the forest to cinders - two semi-irrational worries which had crossed Red Alert’s mind before quickly smothered them by reminding himself of the simple fact that Maximus was competent and therefore unlikely to encounter either situation.

Brushing those thoughts aside, Red Alert focused his attention on comming. Ratchet for pickup, though he did spare a brief moment to shoot a look at Zoom Zoom for the nickname he had applied to Fortress Maximus. Mirage, meanwhile, simply shook his head at the name and tsked at the minibot. Clearly he hadn’t taken what he had said earlier about not antagonizing people to spark--if he had, he would have thought twice about slinging names in Fortress Maximus’ direction. Either Zoom Zoom was a very foolish mech, or a very brazen one. Mirage assumed him to be a bit of both, and left it at that.

“We have medics, yes.” He replied, since Red Alert did not seem to be very interested in speaking with Zoom Zoom for the time being. “We also have washracks, which I suggest you make use of before trailing mud and soot into Ratchet’s medbay.”

He did not think the medic would appreciate having his workspace tracked with filth, nor did he think he would enjoy having to wipe away the grime from Zoom Zoom’s plates just to get a good look at his injuries. Injuries which, as far as Mirage knew, were not serious enough to warrant an immediate trip to the medbay. Had Zoom Zoom been a bit more vocal about his lack of sight, however, Mirage would have known otherwise.

“As for your debriefing, that can wait until after you have been cleared from the medbay.” He spared Red Alert a questioning look as he spoke, to which the other mech responded to with a noncommittal shrug. So long as Zoom Zoom was debriefed soon, he did not particularly care if it happened before or after he was seen too by a medic.

A few short moments after Mirage spoke, there was a crackle of static in the air followed by the tell-tale sound of the groundbridge blooming into existence behind them. Red Alert nodded to Mirage, prompting him to go first, while he gently nudged Zoom Zoom’s shoulder to spur him forward.

“Ah, there we are.” Mirage said as he stepped toward the portal. “Let’s show to you Ratchet, shall we?”

[Deleted]

They had medics. Yes. Zoom-Zoom did a little mental celebration over that. He liked medics. Even despite the surly attitude most of them developed having survived through the war. Zoom-Zoom was willing to bet the ones they had here wouldn't be all that much different.

The mud caking Zoom-Zoom's armor didn't bother him, it was unpleasant but Zoom-Zoom had made do covered in much worse. Such was the life of an infiltrator. Still, he could recognize the validity in the suggestion in getting cleaned up, made a medical examination a lot easier.

Zoom-Zoom's sensors picked up the tell-tale energy spike of a groundbridge opening and he felt Mirage's servo guide him towards it. "Right, washracks first then," he said as he followed the Autobots into the groundbridge, tracking them with his motion sensors. "I should be fine on my own. I think. Should be able to manage. Got a few loose wires in my helm, my visual feed's completely dead at the moment. Never tried to clean my armour without sight, might be a fun challenge," he mused out loud to himself.

He might actually be in need of a bit of help but Zoom-Zoom normally wasn't one for asking for assistance except in extenuating circumstances. For example, hanging from the grasp of Fortress Maximus. His cohort had only just began to teach him how to rely on others before he'd been sent on that fateful mission. Now, he was here, on a strange organic planet with a whole team of Autobots that he'd have to adjust to and learn how to work with. Zoom-Zoom did not look forward to these challenges.

The groundbridge swallowed the form of the Autobots. But traces of their presence here remained in the holes they'd torn in the great jungle and tracks left by their heavy footprints. But the jungle would recover, nature would eventually heal over the damage dealt to the landscape.

Though whether all parts of the Decepticon shuttle could be recovered or concealed was another matter entirely.

<<OOC: Think we're finished here with this thread. Unless there's a bonus scene with Fortress Maximus crushing a few hapless Vehicons sent to investigate the crash site?

Continues in Home Medicine>>