We are a literate, intermediate to advanced AU Transformers RPG Based off of the first season of TFP with dashes of other incarnations sprinkled here or there. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe.
Active, with ongoing plotlines, we are always willing to integrate new characters into storylines once incorporated into the setting.
He had been aware that Bulkhead was a Wrecker. The burly Autobot occasionally spoke of his past with a mixture of fondness and regret. They had talked a little about it once. Maximus was painfully aware of the debt he owed the Wreckers, for a service they had rendered that had been paid in death. Bulkhead had been careful to avoid the subject. He never wanted to tread on thin ice, to broach unpleasant topics. For such a boisterous fighter he was a gentle soul.
But Maximus knew little of Wheeljack. All that he had heard was that he was a capable salvager and engineer, and would be handy in a fight.
And for good reason. He was a Wrecker too.
Suddenly things made a lot more sense.
Wheeljack was speaking again. Maximus shook his head to clear it.
"Not a lot, to be honest," he said. "Landed out by Lake Mead a while back - landed, didn't crash," he added wryly. "Optimus offered me a place in base security. Red Alert arrived not long after I did, and took the role of Director. He's a lot more qualified for the job than I am. But he doesn't have my combat experience, so I stick to physical security enforcement. Seems to work out."
It helped that Red Alert was an excellent security officer. It made the loss of his authority a little easier to deal with.
Moving heavily, Maximus picked up another hauler. "I'm gonna go out on a limb and say you've met him. Red Alert, I mean. I bet he was thrilled to see another Wrecker around."
Wheeljack's interest perked at the mention that Fortress Maximus had landed a ship. Landed. Not smashed it to bits like just about every other new arrival had done. The Wrecker's gaze swept over the big mech again, viewing him in a different light. Finally, another competent pilot. Whether he could fly as well as Wheeljack was another matter but at the very least he could land a ship and that was a vast improvement over 99% of the Omega base population. He wondered how well Fort Max could talk shop.
"Landed, huh? Your ship is still functional, then. Any particular reason you're keeping it grounded?" he inquired, more than a little curious. He hoped there wasn't any outstanding issues preventing it's use. Or even if there were, it would be an interesting intellectual challenge at the very least. He was getting a little bored pulling apart wrecks and he could repair the Jackhammer in his recharge.
He listened carefully as Fort Max kept his story short and succinct. Head of base security till Red took over. Now in charge of the physical side of things. Whether Wheeljack felt anything that the big bot accompanying him could be pretty much be regarded as the security director's lackey, he didn't show it.
"Scarlet?" Wheeljack chuckled easily, loading the last hauler and pushing it towards the ground ridge. His gaze swept over the mine for one last look. There were some handheld mining tools he would snag once his servos were free, drills and the likes. "Yeah, I've met him. He and I get along fantastically. We're best buds, seriously, it's always such a delight to see him. Gotta love a bot who gives you twenty six forms of paperwork to fill out just to fix a power coupling. I'm starting to see those things in my recharge now."
Wheeljack's opinion of Red Alert could pretty much be summed up as "Amusing/Annoying obstacle: therefore must provoke as often as possible."
Maximus nodded. Yeah. He liked the security director himself and respected his dedication, but he could see how the bot could get on the nerves of someone like a Wrecker.
Red Alert was only doing his job. And he did it well. Maximus knew full well that no base, no installation, was ever one hundred percent secured. You were not safe in even your most impenetrable fortress. He had learned that the hard way, and paid for it.
Maximus bent and picked up a stack of haulers. Hs knee joints quietly groaned against the weight as he stood upright and balanced the stack against his shoulder. Valves in his legs hissed to release excess hydraulic pressure.
“He’s not bad,” he grunted. “Good to work with. And yeah, my drop ship is intact. In the bottom of Lake Mead, in fact. Turned out to be a good place to hide it. I'm keeping it there in the event it might be needed for something.”
With ponderous strides the big mech began to walk into the waiting ground bridge, careful with his load. The energy washed over him, crackling and snapping off the tiniest drops of spilt fuel spattered on his plating. Burning him clean.
“A few others kept from crashing their shuttles as well. Maybe Rook. Wash did. Does Optimus or Ratchet have you doing salvage work on the wrecks?”
The names Fort Max brought up weren't exactly familiar. Then again, it wasn't like Wheeljack had gone out of his way to get to know each and every Omega base bot. He listened to Bulkhead whenever his friend brought up new arrivals in passing but beyond that, Wheeljack had paid them no heed. So the spook and the uh...diplomat. They still had those? Wheeljack preferred to conduct diplomacy at gun point.
"In the lake?" Wheeljack raised an optic ridge. "Well, each to his own." Seemed like a shame, keeping a starship grounded -and underwater- instead of in the air like it was supposed to.
"Actually, it's more a case where I have the Omega base fetching wrecks for me to salvage," Wheeljack corrected He didn't work for Prime, it was a mutually beneficial relationship, one that the Wrecker had set up and initiated. "Optimus would have been content to let all those parts go to waste instead of just asking an expert for help had I not brought up the issue."
The Wrecker conveniently ignored that had the Prime approached him first, he'd probably have laughed him off and refused on sheer principle. The last hauler taken care off, Wheeljack started raiding the mining equipment. Some of the tools could come in handy and Wheeljack would prefer to have more things than he actually needed than to be in the middle of a project and come to the realisation that he was lacking some items.
"Think we've got everything we need here. We ready to blow this joint?" one servo patted the grenade that rested at his hip. Better that they wire the place up and blast it to rubble than leave it for the Decepticons to reclaim.
Last Edit: Aug 20, 2014 21:26:22 GMT -5 by Deleted
Maximus paused in the ground bridge. He raised his brow at the grenade.
"You mean literally," he said. There was a note of approval in his voice. "In that case, yeah."
Bathed in green energy he took one last look around the mine. With Wheeljack in the lead they had cut a bloody swathe in and out of the mine in little time. No elaborate plan, no tactics - just a simple bash and grab. It had only worked because they had worked fast, hit hard, and had not been spotted coming in. Now that the Decepticons were aware that there were Autobots who would stoop to such crude tactics, their mines would be better defended against ram-raid intruders in the future.
But this time, not much was left behind them. Just some scattered mining equipment, some raw energon crystals they did not currently have the tools or faculties to process, and the smashed bodies of nearly a dozen Vehicons.
Maximus' gaze hardened. He turned his back to the mine.
"Yeah," he said. "We're through here. Detonate it whenever you're ready. Blow it to the Pit."
One grenade by itself wasn't going to blow the mine by itself. One grenade plus some energon? That might do the trick. Wheeljack gathered the leftover crystals by the entrance to the cavern, spreading them out a little so the blast would cover a larger area.
Fort Max was already by the groundbridge. The Wrecker stood back at a safe distance, primed his grenade and hauled it at the pile of energon. Then, he turned and ran, quickly slipping into his alt mode to cover those last hundred meters. Wheeljack had just reached the green portal as the grenade went off with a furious roar. Heat and pressure exploded outwards, annihilating the cave's wall and bringing it down.
Wheeljack sped through the groundbridge, which was quickly shut behind him as soon as he skidded to a stop in the Omega base. Haulers full of energon had taken up much of the space in the control room. The Wrecker fluidly transformed back into root mode, tipping one such container with a servo and eying up just how much energon was stored inside. There was enough there to fill up the Jackhammmer and he set it aside to take back later when he groundbridged back to his ship.
"Well, that was fun," Wheeljack said breezily. "Guess I'll be seeing you around, Fort Max. Feel free to hit me up whenever you want to do that again or any of the other things we talked about."
Deliberately, Wheeljack ignored Ratchet by the groundbridge controls. Something told him he was going to be hearing about this little unauthorised jaunt from Red Alert soon. Not that he cared particularly. He'd got what he needed after all and no one had gotten hurt. No harm done, except to the Vehicons manning the mines.
Last Edit: Aug 22, 2014 18:56:09 GMT -5 by Deleted