Flashback - Shake Your Business and Pour It - (Closed)

[Deleted]

Set in Iacon, shortly before the beginning of the War!

--------

If you knew where to look, the agency was not difficult to find.

That was a big 'if'.

The sky thundered as a transport bound for Uraya roared overhead, its engines glowing bright. It climbed out on its departure path, guided by the unheard voice of the on-duty tower controller. It roared over the small office that lay on the western boundary of the massive spaceport, so close that an observer standing at the door could look up and count the rivets on the belly of the sleek white atmospheric cruiser. The walls rattled, as did the steel shutters clamped down over the windows of the office.

The owner of the agency had to be fond of ships, to have set up his business on the threshold of a major Iaconian spaceport. The noise and vibration would otherwise drive a sane mech glitchy.

Within minutes the cruiser was a white star against the brilliant morning sky. Shuttle contrails laced overhead. In the distance the tall spires of the city rose high above the horizon, elegant and glittering glass. The hum of traffic on the inner city overpasses drifted out to the fringe district like smoke, where it hung in the air along with a lingering trace of wake turbulence.

The office was a nondescript building, low and streamlined. A single wall of curving windows faced the spaceport. They were tightly shuttered at the moment, sparing no glimpse of the agency behind them. It lurked at the end of a row of freight storage and logistics depots like it was trying to hide. Smog had tinged its metal dome a dark grey. Strange aerials and antennas and mystery radios masts littered the roof.

A single door faced the narrow street. It was solid steel and distinctly unfriendly looking, with an electronic code-lock to keep out the riff-raff.

It was also unmarked.

If you knew what lay beyond it, you understood the reason why.

[Deleted]

It had been hard to find the office, and it was certainly not a wonderful thing to be here either – though that was based off of the noise. Her audio's simply hurt from all the roaring of transport ships and she wondered who would want to work in a place like this?! Then again, it was likely inexpensive and if someone was fond of flight, or an aerial bot like this mech supposedly was, she could see the charm of it.

Or rather, she was trying to for the sake of being polite.

Really, the femme was covering her audio's as she wandered up to the building. She had questions that needed answering, and one of the other dancers had mentioned this place before as being a good place to find information for relatively cheap. Granted, Rota didn't have to worry about how much things were, but she didn't want to waste too much money if this mech turned out to be a complete and utter hack.

Still, it was worth a shot to see if Cipher was as he seemed, which felt weird just thinking about this. BUT! The femme wanted to be careful, she heard horror stories about mechs taking advantage of femmes. Might as well get either the signal that all was clear, or that she could forget about him, while the relationship was still young and before her cohort found out why she skipped out on so many get togethers.

Really, the last thing she wanted to do – was have the mech smelted, even if they ended up not working out. It would be cruel to end someones life over hurt feelings. Which, she simply hope would not be the case as she awkwardly shuffled from pede to pede before ringing the bell.

Hopefully, this mech remembered about her call – and that she had an appointment to be seen. Especially given the general appearance of the place.

[Deleted]

Inside the office, the door buzzer rang with a muffled sound.

Nothing happened at first.

A cruiser descended on approach at the spaceport. This one was designed with a livery of silver insulative paint, and two rusty green lateral stripes down the length of its fuselage. Its hard working anti-grav thrusters burned red as it slowly manoeuvred towards the threshold. Heat shimmered off the tarmac beneath it. It was a beat up looking ship, its paint and reflective coating worn, its flanks streaked with atmospheric dirt. Probably was a freighter rather than a transport.

Above the door a small dome irised open, revealing a tiny camera.

It swivelled its red lens around to focus down on Rota.

"Oh, it's you." The digitized voice echoed from an unseen speaker. "Hang on - yeah, got you on cameras three and four now too. It's Rota, right?"

[Deleted]

Oh how nervous the femme was that this was all a horrible idea. She was starting to think that maybe, just maybe if this mech wasn't in – she could slip away with a simple 'sorry, changed my mind'.

Alas, as a cruiser was landing and making her jump out of her plates, a red lens popped up and Rota's bright blue optics fell on it. Oh Primus help her now that there was no backing out of this. Still, she gave a nervous little smile as her helm tilted for her to look up and into the camera. The voice hit her audios too, and she could honestly understand while this mech was hiding behind his security door. After all, this line if work had to be dangerous, some mecha simply did not like having their lives prodded into – not that she blamed them, but here she was doing it to a mech she had only just met.

Even if no one could really blame her for her caution and wariness.

“Yes...it is me...” The dancer brought up before her optics widened for a brief moment on hearing how many cameras were pointed on her, she turned her helm a little, as if searching for the unseen things, before turning her attention back onto the main camera lens. “And yes, that is right...I hope I am not late or too early?” She asked, the nervousness was rather clear on her face – there was no need for a field reader to be used with how easily she shown it on her face.

[Deleted]

"No, no, you're right on time," said the voice. "Hang on. I'll disengage the door locks."

It sounded a little distracted. But an instant later there was a click from the door, which slid open smoothly.

Inside, the narrow office was mostly dark. Light fell in through the only unshuttered window, which stood at the far end of the room and faced the distant airfield. The glowing vista of blue sky and white control towers framed a desk and a handful of lit monitors. Closed circuit camera feed images flickered on their screens.

The space was cluttered with what could charitably be called junk. Gutted electronics lay strewn on tables and shelving units, along with spools of used wire, circuit boards, and holographic memory crystals. A crocked stack of datapads sat on the corner of the desk, next to a swing arm light. Everything in the room was spotlessly clean and free of dust.

Bent over one of the desk monitors was a lanky robot, a flier in brown paint. He glanced up at the door.

"Come on in, I've switched off the autoguns," he said. "Did I just say 'autoguns'? That's not very nice word. So, you're Rota. Er, you did come alone, right?"

[Deleted]

The femme wasn't entirely sure about how distracted that voice sounded – was she really right on time?

Of course, she was going to find out exactly why that voice was distracted what with the mention of autoguns being switched off. Her optics widened and her mouth was open before she snapped her lip-plates together and gave the flier a strained smile. “Yes...I'm Rota and I came alone.” The dancer told him before her helm tilted in curiously to take in her surroundings.

It was interesting, and an oxymoron to be cluttered yet tidy. This mech certainly had his hobbies but, everyone had hobbies or else their lives would surely be duller than than dull.

“Besides, I rather not have my cohort worry about my coming here or why I came to see you in the first place.” She explained, her optics narrowing for a brief moment as she shook her helm slightly. One thing was for certain, the femme was not going to point out the obvious facts this mech knew about how the Upper-Castes would react to this whole thing.

For Primus's sake everyone knew how mecha from the Towers would react if a cohort member wanted to find out more about a mech from the shipyards. It was why Rota was doing everything she could to keep this whole thing hush-hush, she didn't want to be smelted for her attraction to Cipher and she didn't want him to be smelted for being around someone 'out of his league'. At least, her fellow dancers did know enough about him that they suggested if she was as worried as she was? This mech would know how to look up information and do what was needed to be done so she could get some peace of mind.

[Deleted]

"Smart of you," said the mech. "I can imagine they'd look down on this sort of rendezvous in the Towers."

He spoke drily. "Please, take a seat."

Sure enough, in front of the desk were two chairs. One of them had been pulled back slightly, as if in anticipation of Rota's arrival.

Meanwhile, the mech collapsed into his own seat. He spun it around once using his heels before dragging himself to a halt behind the desk. He was a tall robot, thin and lanky, his shoulders broad where the wings of his alternate mode slanted down his back. It was hard to say what he transformed into - a sub-stellar scrub jet most likely, going by the engine pods visible in the armour of his lower legs when he rested his feet on the desk. His paint was a chipped and scratched shade of brown and his optics were bright copper.

"So, Miss Rotary," he said.

He banged one of his heels onto a datapad on his desk. It flipped up into the air and he caught it neatly and unlocked it with a wave of his hand. "Academy trained dancer, eh? And now you're here because you want me to gather some intel for you, on someone I'm guessing your interesting sensors can't get a read on."

Those keen copper optics glanced at her from over the top of the datapad. "Amirite?"

[Deleted]

There was a brief frown on the femme's face as the mech spoke so dryly of this rendezvous.

Though as loathed as she was to admit it, the mech did have a point that they would look down on this rendezvous. Which in itself was a thought that displeased Rota, because she really didn't want to disappoint her cohort despite the different mentalities.

Slowly, she walked forward towards the chair that had been pulled back and she took her seat. Which was with far more delicacy than how the flyer plopped down in his. Her posture straightened when he called her 'Miss Rotary', and the sound of his heels hitting the datapad made her jump ever so slightly. A strained smile appeared was starting to form as he caught the datapad in his hands, and unlocked it with a wave of his hand.

Oh Primus, was this a bad idea? Please tell her this wasn't a bad idea.

That strained smile grew as he brought up her background, and her sensors, even though it was something not particularly hard to find out. Still, it was unsettling in its own way and Rota slowly bobbed her helm 'yes', the brown mech was indeed right. “That is..Correct...” The femme started. “His name is Cipher, a dockworker...He is a nice enough mech but...” Her bright grey-blue optics never left the copper ones of the mech across from her. “I want to make sure that he is truly a good mecha and that he is not...Using me I suppose you could say.” Her helm dipped as her optics looked down at her servos that were folded gently together upon her lap.

Her optics lifted slightly, to look back over at the mech. “I do not want anything to happen if he wasn't as good of a mech as he seems.” The words were added, as if to make a point that she did not want this Cipher fellow to be hurt – even if he hurt her spark.

[Deleted]

"D'aww," said the mech. "That's precious."

He tossed the datapad back onto his desk and leaned forward onto his elbows. His bright optics gleamed as he sized up the little femme without a trace of modesty, his gaze roaming. The corner of his mouth crooked up.

"Look, cutie," he said. "Not a cycle goes by when some anxious mech or femme doesn't walk through my door and ask me to do a data-dive on their newly significant other. The first thing I do is assume a grave expression, like the one I'm wearing right now, before I tell them… what do I look like, a cyber-hookup site? A romance broker, gently nudging my fellow Cybertronians towards the blushing path of true love? Does the sign above my door read, 'Deuce's Dating Service'? Do I even still HAVE a sign over my door? Shit. I might have sold it to pay rent."

He looked thoughtful for a moment. Then he shook his head.

"Getting off track! Look, honey - for the right price, I can look up information on this dockworker of yours. I'm sure he's a perfectly charming fellow with absolutely no endoskeletons in his closet. The thought of a nice little thing like yourself getting used by the wrong mech makes my diodes burn with some kind of social outrage, I'm sure. But that said-"

He waggled his brow with a grin. "I would like to put forward that I am also a perfectly charming fellow who happens to be sitting right here in front of you? Eh? Eh?"

[Deleted]

Rotary stared at the mech with wide optics. Was he checking her out? Oh sweet Primus, she wanted to shrink into that chair she was sitting in until she just plain dissapeared.

It would only get worse as he ranted a bit, and a little huff of air left her vents in what could only be described as a sigh. Was this mech serious? Why did her friends recommend him so highly? Oh, there it was, he mentioned that for the right price he could look up information on Cipher, and he was waggling his brow at her. Oh Primus, he was hitting on her, wasn't he? Yep, she could offline right here and now. Her field? Was incredibly flustered and embarrassed at this point.

The poor Femme made a sound, so unsure of what to say or do. Should she just get up and leave? Should she slap the Mech right across his smiling face? Instead, her vents let out a wave of warm air. “I am sure you are a perfectly charming fellow, and that you happen to be sitting right here, but I want to know about this dockworker of mine. If he happens to be a wrong mech for me – then maybe you stand a chance.” Her words were smooth as her own brows raised as she did her best to remain composed.

“But to answer your earlier remarks you do not look like a cyber-hookup site. I know that on good authority you are one of the best mecha to hire for the money.” Her lip plates drawn into a thin line. “Now, what is your price?”

[Deleted]

Her fluster only made the mech grin wider. But he also leaned back again.

"Hmm," he said. He slowly rotated his seat around, his hand to his chin. He stared up at the ceiling. "Well. Standard rate is one hundred shanix per hour. I'm rather good, and subsequently don't come cheap. That said, you can take consolation in the fact that a data dive on some poor schub isn't going to exactly going to eat into my time. I should have all the dirt you're looking for on this Cipher fellow in a half cycle or so. So let's say…"

He stopped turning and squinted. "Five hundred shanix total? Yeah. Sounds about right."

Amused, Deuce glanced back at her. "Now is the perfect time for you to slap me, and declare that is Too Much To Pay! if you're still considering giving me a thwack on the face. I recommend hitting the left optic, it hasn't been worked over as much lately as the right one."

He helpfully pointed at it. Sure enough, a few scratches had been torn into the paint around his right optic.

[Deleted]

Oh Primus, he was grinning more about her being flustered.

That was just lovely, but at least they were moving onto business.

Which the quote on how much it would be? Well...It wasn't exactly as high as the femme was expecting – it was essentially chump change for someone of her status. She stared blankly at the mech as he stopped turning around in his chair and mentioned that it was a perfect time for her to slap him and declare it was too much to pay. He even went as far to point out what eye he recommended hitting.

Rota continue to stare, as if in shock over how much he wanted – but in reality? She was simply in shock with how little he wanted and how others had proclaimed it was too much. It was...Sad in a way and the femme realized so quickly that something that was 'nothing' to her was literally everything for someone else. It was uncomfortable sitting here in silence, and the dancer soon snapped out of it. “Five hundred shanix is fine.” She told him, her voice small.

“Do you want half now, and the rest later? Or all upfront?” Her voice was still small, but she was so nervous about this. If he ended up doing a good job? Well, there was certainly a bonus in it for him from a grateful Rota. But as of now? Five hundred sounded fine.

[Deleted]

Deuce gave her a long pleasant look.

"Upfront, please," he said. "That will nicely cover all of my operational costs, I think. If you have a credit chip I can scan it right here to transfer the funds immediately."

He bent to retrieve something from a panel in his desk, still talking. "I already have your contact information, so within a cycle I should have the information you're looking for. I wouldn't recommend coming back here in person to gather it. I'll fire you a message on the datanet with it all compiled into a single accessible file, non-encrypted. With luck, it will answer all of your questions about your would-be-beau, and set your heart at ease. Or you'll dump him because he is a rat? Who knows! The anticipation is half the fun of the courtship process. Or so I've heard."

After some digging he pulled up a credit scanner. It was a bit of old tech, little more than a penlight with a laser built into one end. He waggled it at her and grinned.

[Deleted]

The femme nodded slightly as he told her he would like it upfront. “Alright then.” She told him and really? If he had found information on her already? Well, there was no doubt in her mind that he could find information on Cipher with relative ease.

Still, the young dancer could not help feel nervous about this whole thing. Who could blame here? She felt like she was going behind the mechs back by doing such a thing, and that if he were to find out? He would hate her for it. All in all, the dockworker wouldn't care if he was having his past looked into – it would simply make sense to him. Especially, when that someone was a towerling who obviously was from a very different walk of life than himself.

Rota wouldn't know any of that though, and the fear that what she was doing was wrong? Was cropping up. She just had to do it, have the chip scanned by the penlight Deuce was wiggling at her with his wide grin. A slow huff of air left her vents and she slowly reached into her hips subspace before she pulled out the credit chip. There was a pause though, and her gray-blue optics lifted from the scanner, to meet his bright orange ones. “I am assuming that you will not tell anyone about this, correct...?” She asked him slowly.

“No one can know about this.” While she wasn't worried about her friends knowing, her cohort on the other hand...That was a different story. The same went for enforcers, because that would mean possibly horrible things for Cipher – which Rota simply didn't want.

If Deuce assured her that he wasn't going to say a word about their meeting? Well, Rota would let that chip be scanned so the gears could start turning.

[Deleted]

Deuce waved the light over the credit chip with a mixture of glee and undisguised avarice.

It beeped.

"My silence costs extra," he said.

Satisfied, he leaned back again and twirled the penlight between his fingers. He winked at her.

"Nah, I'm just kidding," he said. "Don't worry, girl. I am nothing if not discreet. I can keep my big mouth shut when I need to. I won't tell anyone what I'm after or who hired me. Of that you can rest assured."

He eyed her curiously. "Not interested in word getting out that you hired a broker to dig up information on your beau? Is this a Towerling thing?"