Ep. 1.5 - Barren Ground - (Closed)

[Deleted]

Maximus stood tensely.

He had thought that was the end of it. That turning his back would make the flier grow bored with him and leave.

But Thundercloud was still talking.

Silently, Maximus cursed himself out. His fists tightened. He was a fool, he knew it now. Allowing Thundercloud to provoke him had only enticed the flier into staying longer, to goad him with further taunts for his own entertainment. If he had only kept quiet and refused to be spurred into anger, then perhaps he could have avoided this - this -

The thought trailed off.

Startled, Maximus wheeled around.

"It's what?" he said.

He stared, taken aback. Then, slowly, his surprise gave way to suspicion. He glared at Thundercloud, even as he turned the words over in his mind, searching for the bait. The hook to lure him back into a fight. But the other mech only sounded amused, rather than mocking.

Leery, Maximus hung back. He braced himself and waited, his fists clenched. Wariness warred with fatigue. The unpredictability of both the conversation and the mech in front of him was wearing him down, and yet he still felt on edge. Battle ready. Once he had been able to handle a difficult situation without jarring wildly between stress and anger. Not any more.

"Have you ever thought of just... not talking?" he said testily. "Keeping your mouth shut in the first place might make life a hell of a lot easier on you in the long run. And your face."

[Deleted]

Oooh, the big guy went from angry back to being taken off guard. Thundercloud liked that, liked that he could keep the other mech on his toes, make him do a double take even when he was righteously pissed off. There was just something so very satisfying about being able to trip people up with just a few words spoken at the right time, in the right way, with the right tone and accompanying expressions and gestures.

Truly it was an art, screwing with people’s heads for funsies.

He watched as the other mech wheeled around, surprised, unsure what to make of what had just been said to him. Thundercloud smiled a bit, amusement rolling from his field in shallow waves. It wasn’t malicious this time around, there was no mockery or wicked intent, just simple amusement brought about from the frankly ridiculous situation he found himself in. There he was, cracking jokes and making casual conversation with an unstable mech who haaaaated him, as if he hadn’t just tried to beat him witless and tear his arm off in a fit of rage.

The irony was not lost on Thundercloud. He just chose to ignore it, because things were funnier that way.

After Fortress Maximus spoke, he took a moment to pretend to think, optics turning skyward as he donned an exaggeratedly thoughtful expression, before dropping his pretense with a shrug a half minute later.

“Eh, life’s never gonna be easy no matter what I do.” He replied, sounding...oddly genuine for once.

Of course, he just had to immediately subvert his sincerity and dampen whatever impact it may have had with his following comment.

“I’m always gonna be hot, though, no matter how busted my face gets.” He gestured towards himself, wicked humor flaring in his field.

“Imma walk back into base lookin’ like this and still make glitches thirsty as hell.”

[Deleted]

Maximus took a step back at that.

"You - that's not -" he said.

He sputtered, gesturing. For an instant his own bottled-up field slipped a notch. Rippling within it was shock and mortification, like static. It prickled around him and then retreated just as quickly as he realised his error and yanked it back.

All at once Maximus was angry with himself again. The flier was just baiting him. Teasing him. Prodding him to get a reaction. And it was working. Again.

And he was being so relaxed about it, as if there was no ill intent behind the words. Maximus nearly spat. He knew better than that. No one spoke to him in such a manner unless they were looking for a fight.

At least there was one good thing about this entire fiasco - one fortunate shred that he could cling to. This Thundercloud did not seem to be aware of who he was. Or else he knew, and was deliberately not bringing it up. Wasn't even touching the ugly subject. While his pride stung at the lack of respect for his name and rank and his former title, a tiny part of him was desperately relieved to go unacknowledged at the same time. Somehow it made things a little easier.

The warden drew upright and glared.

"That is not - a thought befitting an Autobot under Prime's command - and I'm going to pretend I didn't hear it," he said hotly. He turned his back to the flier again, his shoulders stiff and his tank treads grinding. "Just like I'm going to pretend this whole encounter didn't happen. We never met out here. You didn't see me, you didn't stop to talk to me - you don't even know who I am. And I don't know you, except that you're not the threat to - our security that I mistakenly assumed you were."

One red optic glowered back at Thundercloud.

"Isn't that right?"

[Deleted]

Thundercloud was many things, most of them distinctly unflattering, but at least it could be said that he was well aware of his own shortcomings. He could be an insufferable bastard when the mood struck him, and he knew it. (In fact, most of the time, he reveled in it.) There was just something so amusing to him about being deliberately obnoxious, just to see how people would respond. It was like some sort of twisted social experiment, to see how hard he could push people before they finally snapped or started pushing back.

Something gave him the distinct feeling Fortress Maximus was far more likely to snap than he was to join in on the fun and start harassing him right back - probably the fact that the mech had tried to maim him not even five kliks prior.

Ah well. It was his loss if he didn’t wanna play.

The killjoy.

At least he was still a fun to poke at, even if he didn’t prod back. His responses, when they didn’t immediately result in violent bodily harm, were priceless.

Case in point: The big burly mech who could probably crush his head like a grape took a step back and sputtered, his field rippling with a delightful mix of shock and mortification as Thundercloud’s words sunk in and promptly obliterated whatever response the former warden may have been preparing.

Thundercloud grinned. Damn he was good.

Alas, Fortress Maximus didn’t remain comically out of sorts for long; he recovered quickly, and fixed the mech harassing him with a well-deserved glare.

Then he laid down the law in that authoritative tone of his, and Thundercloud had to struggle to keep his optics from rolling or glazing over.

Fortress kept his back turned to him until the very end, not even looking at him until he finished what he had to say and turned to glower at him over his shoulder, to ensure they were both on the same page. It was at this point Thundercloud swung his arm out and snapped a jaunty, mock-salute.

“You got it boss.” He replied, somehow managing NOT to make an obscene gesture with his hand as he dropped his arm lazily back to his side.

[Deleted]

Maximus stiffened at that, but did not respond. To say a word would only give the convict an opening.

Bone tired, but unwilling to show it, he transformed. His robot mode broke apart, twisting and slamming into the earth as a tank. His tracks hit the dirt within a cloud of dust. He rocked back and forth against them, his suspension creaking.

The tank sat for a moment where it was, facing away from Thundercloud. It was careful to keep its main turret and machine guns facing forward. The low purr of the Autobot's battle engine rumbled through the earth, powering all of the combat systems that Maximus had brought online and then neglected to deactivate after coming back to his senses. They queried him relentlessly, seeking to bring targeting to bear on the large mech standing behind him.

Maximus reluctantly dismissed them. One by one they disappeared from his list of running processes. His head cleared a little. He was low on energy and it was getting late. He had missed a check in with the on duty watch at the base. They would be looking for him soon. Maximus suspected that Agent Fowler at least had been warned about his - problems. Disappearing without a word would not reflect well upon him.

He fired up his engine. The tank rocked on its treads again as it engaged with a throaty roar. His positioning system gathered data and Maximus pinged his coordinates to the operations manager. He tried not to feel as if he were the one under house arrest.

The day was wearing on, and he was a long way out. Despite the need for urgency, Maximus hesitated. His scanners flitted over Thundercloud. It felt as if something needed to be said.

He grappled with it. Though loath to examine his feelings on the matter, had to admit that he did feel... if not better towards the convict, then at least a little less hostile. Defensive. The mech was obnoxious, but now he was a living figure of metal and circuitry and not a formless demon from some clumsily repressed nightmare. And that was...

Better.

After a pause the tank swivelled its turret partially around, as if looking back at Thundercloud.

"Thanks," it muttered.

There was no malice in its voice, which only sounded tired. An instant later the tank's engine roared and its tracks spun, hurtling the big war machine forward. It sped over the desert floor to the northeast, throwing up a long line of dust behind it, which rose steadily upwards in the warm, calm evening air.

[Deleted]

Thundercloud had expected his last comment to be the end of things, for his mock-salute to be the punctuation which marked the end of their exchange. As Fortress Maximus transformed, his heavy frame folding and twisting until a tank stood where a mech once did, he had been sure the other mech had nothing left to say to him.

As he soon discovered, he was wrong in his assumptions. The former warden had one last word to leave him with in parting - one that made Thundercloud pause and wonder if he had actually heard the mech correctly.

Had...did Sargent Slaughter just thank him, even after everything he had just pulled on him?

Thundercloud wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. He simply stared at the other mech, watching as he took his leave, wondering how the hell he was supposed to interpret Fortress’ expression of solemn gratitude, and more importantly, how he ought to respond to it.

By the time he figured things out, Fortress was already several hundred yards away, too far to chase after on foot, likely too far away to shout at too, considering how the roar of the tank’s engine would probably drown out his voice even if it managed to carry far enough to reach him.

Shaking his head, Thundercloud decided to simply let things go, and leave the other mech with the final word. He could always harass him more later on - there was no need to drag things out here and now.

Looking to the sky, he rolled his shoulders, checking the limited mobility of his injured left one last time before attempting to transform. It wasn’t easy, as his dis-then-re-located shoulder wasn’t feeling terribly cooperative, but after a few false-starts the joint finally complied with the demands of his t-cog, and he was at long last able to take to the air.

He soared through the darkened sky, deliberately flying high above Fortress Maximus’, for the sole purpose of flaunting his superior speed, and not at all because he wanted to make sure the mech wasn’t left thinking he left a mech stranded in the desert, incapable of transforming. That totally had nothing at all to do with it. At all.

No, really. It didn’t.

As he left the desert and Fortress far behind him, Thundercloud marked his departure with a single, wry thought:

“Later, Cupcake. It’s been fun.”


~Fin.