Ep 2 - Big Dreams, gangsta (Flatline and so many regrets)

[Flatline]

Uh oh... did he break them?

The silence was unpleasant on multiple levels. He didn't appreciate this in the slightest, but he also wasn't pushed so far just yet to try to speak more and prod a reply from them. What he did do however, was adjust his rear view mirror, the multipurpose tool that appeared to be just a reflective surface angling down to try to see them better in his interior. Finally, the female spoke, and she didn't seem thrilled...

For the split second she could express as much...

When the voice of reason between them all piped up, Flatline was a bit surprised it had been the littlest of them all. He expected the female to be rambunctious and aggressive, just as she was, but he anticipated the oldest male to speak maturely as the leader between them, not just something to physically restrain the female. The small child he thought would be huddled off to the side, scared, too immature to really grasp a concept greater than 'danger'.

"I am not lying, I made a mistake, and I am trying to rectify it."

The best lies were laced in truths, so he spoke as 'truthfully' as he could, while trying to dance around the situation. He knew he wouldn't really be something they could trust however, but he planned to at least kind of maybe somewhat earn it. So try to show this, he popped open the side door, leaving it ajar to show that yes, the doors were unlocked, and yes they could make a run for it. It however was letting in some of the hot air from the surrounding wasteland, but if that was a problem they could close it again.

"See? You can depart. Really, make a request and I will do what I can to fill it."

His voice may have been pitched higher, trying to sound sincere, but it still had the grating rasp behind it of a part grumble. Flatline didn't have the smoothest of voices, and it plainly showed when he was doing anything but complaining over something. Alas, while the children tried to figure things out and put the puzzle pieces together, he pulled up a comm frequency and sent a quick statement back up to the Nemesis, to someone he really didn't like relying upon.

::Roulette. Have you worked with organics on this planet at all? Because I think we have a problem. I say 'we' because if I get killed this day, you will be serving Shockwave alone, and that IS your problem::

All the kindness and sincerity and good natured emotions he was adding into his words for the children, was raked away violently when he addressed Roulette. The statements were critical, cutting right to the point and outlining why her snubbing him may not be in her own best interest. It was very.... Decepticon and typical...

[Deleted]

Behind Raf, Miko and Jack were having a whispered argument that was fairly loud despite their best efforts. Mostly a whole lot of back and forth about what they should do. The young computer geek just sat there contemplating the front of the Decepticon interior with stoic quiet while his heart imitated a jackrabbit's own thumping organ. He knew Bee would have told him to remain calm and quiet in these moments but honestly, Raf never really thought this moment would happen.

Oh sure, the Bots and Fowler planned for this type of happenstance. They'd all discussed the possibility of the worst case scenarios. But no one really believed it would happen. Even Ms. Darby didn't find the inherent threat that believable or she'd have refused to let any of the children out of the city limits much less near the Autobots.

So finding himself in the very real thick of danger, Raf was...simply at a loss. He couldn't think of a cunning plan to get them out. No gimmicks up his sleeves. He had his phone but calling for help might actually get them killed. All the Con had to do was just start transforming without removing the children from his form...

At the thought, Raf blanched and peered over at the other two. Miko was rolling her eyes but was sitting up and quiet. Even if the moodiness was nearly palpable. Jack suddenly looked much older than he was and Raf had a strange, vertigo esc moment of feeling like he was glimpsing the future man he would become. When the kid blinked, the worn visage was replaced with another moody teen who just looked tired and maybe a bit scared but trying his damnedest not to show it.

All three of them turned to the door when it popped open. It was nearly too good to be true. So naturally, all three of them hesitated to fling themselves out and into near freedom. What if it really was a trap? What if this was just an elaborate ruse? Were they any safer at arm's length than in the veritable grasp of the enemy?

"...Ok, what gives?!" Miko's silence apparently went out the door before they could have. "You kidnap us, threaten us, and then you're just going to let us go because you made a mistake?!"

"Miko!" Jack shoved at her, trying to get her to just get out before the Con changed his mind. Raf worried at his lower lip, trying to put the puzzle pieces together that just didn't fit. If the Con was so worried about his mistake, why didn't he just...destroy them and erase the evidence?

"He's just trying to trick us, Jack! They can't be trusted! You know this!" Miko's tirade was cut off as Jack just physically shoved her out the door to land in the dust. Before getting himself out, the older teen held a hand out to Raf. Ever the one to put others before himself.

"Come on, Raf." With a bit of shuffling, the two of them squeezed out of the hearse and picked Miko up from the ground. Instead of fleeing the immediate vicinity, they turned to warily watch the Con, suspicion making their body tense as a live wire.

[Deleted]

Roulette honestly hadn't thought she'd hear back from Flatline so soon. Their little spark to spark over Shockwave's shambling, sleeping body had been a few cycles ago and the two weren't exactly the best of buddies. She had the feeling that, no matter how nice she was to him (spoiler, she wasn't) Flatline would rather eat a hot coal than to ask for her help. So getting the message was...just terribly out of character.

She almost suspected a trap at first.

::Is this actually Flatline? Because I have got to be the last person he'd ask for help. Who are you and what have you done with the proxy?:: Well, if it was a trick, that would get a response. If she got a measure of sincerity and concern from the mech she'd know damn well it wasn't the real Flatline. Which meant that if he was asking for her help...then he really was in trouble.

He did have a point about Shockwave, however. Serving the mech alone was exhausting in and of itself. And training another, newer proxy would be painful. She didn't think she had the spark to do this all over again. But how in the frag would he be getting killed? Did he honestly think she'd have any sway over...whatever situation this was? And why in the slag was organics involved?

::You hit an old woman, didn't you?::

[Flatline]

The children's lack of trust was understandable, but that didn't make it convenient in any way. At least it was only one of them that seemed to be a vocal complainer about this fact, barking out loudly and obnoxiously while the oldest tried to quiet her down. Flatline half wanted to dump them on the side of the road, and then manually disrupt his chronometer. If he could lie and fake his way through this, make a fabrication that he had done this far before he knew of the truce? Then... then he'd be golden! But... could he lie that good?

He wasn't a fool, he could have a silver tongue if needed just like most other Decepticon, but trying to lie to a fellow Con was far more difficult than a Bot or Neutral. Trying to lie to Megatron? Well, he might as well just curl up into a little ball and hope the punishment stomp down would be over quick or just kill him quickly. All of this was clicking through his processor while he watched the children try to add two and two together and figure out what was going on.

"Would you rather I smash you into a pulp and pretend none of this ever happened?"

A threat, a very real one masked under  sincere question and a confused tone. He watched as the eldest one pushed the female out and into the dirt, while the youngest and most mild mannered individual slunk out a moment after to get to perceived freedom. Once they were outside, he continued to speak, playing up a ruse and weaving lies.

"I understand it, the Autobots want to paint us all like monsters, I get it... Makes us a lot easier to mow down on the battlefield... and hey... a lot of us do some bad things to keep ahead, but we don't go around killing and torturing for fun or anything."

Once the humans were plenty clear, the hearse's shape clicked and violently transformed a moment after the fact. This transformation wasn't rushed like the first time when he had to try to catch the humans before they scurried, armor plates sliding back into new locations solidly, while other pieces unfurled and spiraled into creation. After a moment, Flatline would be before the children once again, though he kept himself lowered down, hunkered on his haunches not unlike a dog with his digitigrade legs. This left his primary limbs planted in front of him, palms spread over dusty earth and stone, while helm was lowered a bit.

He put on his best look of sorrow and concern traced with worry. The last bit wasn't that hard to fake honestly, since he was worried! ...just about totally different things.

::I didn't hit someone you dolt!::

He snarled back to Roulette, which was hopefully enough proof that this was Flatline who could somehow find means to get surly and aggressive even when seeking help.

::I assume you got Megatron's verdict a little bit ago? Because I had done something spectacular, only for it to become a war crime::

A bit of buildup, he had to frame just how much slag he was in so Roulette would hopefully take it seriously.

::I managed to kidnap all three of the Autobot's human pets before the announcement and am now stuck with them out in the desert...::

[Deleted]

Apparently Miko couldn't stay quiet for too long. It had to be some unspoken law of average. When a Miko was in action, no rest would delay said action for longer than a scant minute if at all. So when the Con finished his poor him spiel, she all but exploded with words and sharp gestures. As if she couldn't get the words out fast enough before Jack clamped a hand over her mouth. Or something.

"What?! You just said you were going to smash us to pulp!" 

"Miko! ..He said he could smash us to pulp! It's completely different!" Jack had the surreal moment of defending the enemy and didn't actually like it. That felt...odd. 

"He was going to take us away, Jack!" 

"And he changed his mind! Don't persuade him to rethink that!!" 

Now Jack was in on the gesturing. Meanwhile, Raf just stood nearby and looked up at the Con with the temerity a wary bunny reserved for a quiet fox. At some other point he'd reflect on the differences between Con and Bot but right now he just wanted to keep an eye on the small grabby hands. They were creepy and he didn't want to repeat that again. He was pretty sure he'd have bruises around his waist from the initial grab. 

"Why'd he change his mind, Jack?! They don't suddenly go nice without a good reason!" This she turned to glare at the Con. Clearly high on being free and not smashed to pulp for the moment. Though, Jack quietly had to admit she had a point. Why change his mind? He could have flung them out and fled. He could have done a number of things. Instead, he'd tried to apologize. And it was clearly grating on him. Because Jack knew that tone. The 'I'd rather eat paint chips than apologize' tone. 

"Can we just all calm down? It's hot and...and we just need to stay calm." Jack felt like he was trying to communicate to spastic animals at this point. Only Raf was cooperating and that's because he felt the young kid was in some sort of shock. The last thing they needed was for him to keel over in the desert. 

[Deleted]

Meanwhile, while the three kids were having a minor meltdown (literally, it was hot out there) Roulette was cackling obnoxiously in Flatline's comm. Oh, oh this was delicious! She almost wished she could see his face. She could picture the panicked, underbite thrust of his jaw. She'd bet a credit his little raptor arms were kneading at each other in worry. What a dolt.

::And they say my luck is bad. You take the prize for ill timing. Utterly. If the Autobots find out you have their pets they're going to go nuclear. Not to say anything of what our walking disaster of a Warlord will do.:: 

Oh, but she could picture it. It would not be a pretty moment. Actually, thinking about it made her tank squirm in discomfort. Megatron lead with his temper first and asked for semantics later. How could Flatline know that they were going to manage a stupid truce? Those things came and went so quickly. It was a wonder they managed to kill each other at all.

::Oh...oh alright. Send me the coordinates. Maybe we can bribe the grubby brats with something and no one has to know about this. And I mean no one.:: 

It wasn't like this was violating several laws they had. Well, not like that was a new thing to Cons. Rules were made to be bent out of shape, after all. 

[Flatline]

Letting the larger two of the small trio bicker and banter, Flatline felt mostly confident that he could work with the situation to some extent as long as he kept playing his role and didn't let an immediate response hinder anything. He put up a bit of a buffer to try to guard his reactions because of this, to throttle down any immediate scoffs or eye rolls he'd naturally want to throw, most likely in response to Miko.

Noticing Raf was staring at his secondary's however, Flatline pulled them back further against his chest. They had nowhere to vanish into, mounted directly on the exterior of his frame, but they were slender and small, and he could notch them underneath his chest flaring to some extent with tiny hands nervously clutching one another. The orbs they connected to were still visible, and the bottom edge, but he was making an active motion now to keep them hidden, as if self conscious. His helm even lowering a bit further.

Comon... bite into the act you stupid little things...

"You ever have an instant reaction and just do something, then regret it? Mistakes were made. What do you want me to do to prove as much? What do you want me to do to fix this?"

He pleaded this, while schooling his features as best he could while Roulette laughed. Her cackle in his metaphorical ear was just grating and he knew she had him by the throat now for all of this. The sneer he wanted to make was hard pressed to remain vanished, the tiniest of threads hanging on that kept his faceplate contorted to worry.

::I am WELL aware of what he could do to me, let's not think about that and let's focus on a solution::

Pleading this back, Flatline's helm lifted a bit to look down the vacant street, seeing just a long expanse of desert and barren road before his attention returned to task, sending the coordinates of his current location to Roulette. She would be safe to Space Bridge in just about anywhere so long as it wasn't on top of them, no obstacles to contend with.

::I am playing stupid right now. Saying I panicked and never actually wanted to hurt them. Doing the 'not all Decepticons are so called bad guys' gig. Kind of hard looking innocent though with my appearance...::

Why did he have to look like the cliché villain?... ahh well... his frame suited him well.

[Deleted]

Raf also looked around the area with growing curiosity. Sure, he was still getting over the fright of being kidnapped. But the beauty of being a child was having a stupidly fast rebound. His body had bruises that hadn't even settled in and he was already feeling the sway of intellectual curiosity latching on like burrs. Why had the Decepticon grabbed them? Was it just a simple mixup? Why didn't he flee from them now? Why hadn't Jack called Optimus or Arcee? 

Raf knew the answer to that last one. He was too afraid to grab for anything and trigger the Con into violence. It was easy to remember the threat of smashing when the temptation to radio in a mayday reared its head. Likewise, the other two had probably thought the same thing. Though it was a minor miracle Miko hadn't pulled out her phone even once during the whole encounter. She was usually the first to whip the device out and start snapping candid shots. Raf couldn't imagine that going over well. 

However, the girl seemed to be content to argue with Jack in a heated whisper just aside of him and the Con. Leaving Raf to his own devices to watch the Con and to shuffle awkwardly in the dust. What did one do with an enemy? They weren't fighting. It would be a short fight if they did. He'd never been in this type of awkward situation before. Bee always had an action but it was mostly a forward action. Movement. Violence if he had to. Something. This was just...weird.

"Um...a sorry would be nice." Raf froze just after he said the words. Behind him, Jack and Miko paused mid-word and turned to him like two hawks finding a mouse in the field. 

"Sorry? You want him to say he's sorry?" Miko couldn't seem to get the words out of her own mouth.

"Raf, I..." Jack just trailed off, looking from the younger male to the Decepticon. He mentally could not with this one. The puzzled look on his face suggested that he was stuck on a mental hang up. Who asked Cons to say they were sorry?!

"It shows good will." Raf nodded to himself, a nervous twitch of his neck. It seemed like a good idea before it had left his mouth.

"Go-good will?!" Miko gestured like she was having a mini seizure. "He kidnapped us! There is no good will there! He owes us!" 

[Flatline]

Humans had a painfully small lifespan, their lives flowing into action, and cutting abruptly short with what seemed like a blink of an eye. Their species itself hadn't even been in existence when Flatline was functional on Cybertron. Young, naive, technologically stunted, they were flecks of dust within the cosmos. They would be forgotten in short time.

Just as they forget simple commentary in mere seconds.

Flatline's lower eye twitched up a bit at the request, mostly because he had already uttered the sour words right from the onset. He had apologized, he said he was sorry; he was playing passive and was acting in a way that they had all the power. Yet... they wanted more? Maybe it was an Autobot thing. For a Decepticon to act so meek and passive, you knew they were likely regretful, or they were defeated enough to not be a burden any longer. Hunkered low, submissive, it was giving POWER to the other person so they knew they had an upper hand.

Autobots must be far more... emotionally inclined, needing heartfelt words dripping with honestly and kindness that was foreign to Flatline. He could grovel, he could look immensely beaten down if he needed, but he just COULDN'T for these stupid little organics. He could for Megatron... beg for his life and curl up tiny, but not for these three.

Paying attention to the eldest of the trio had worked out well for him, but now it appeared the youngest needed to be dealt with. He was, as much as Flatline hated it, giving him something to reply to rather than just bickering semantics. It is because of this, Flatline moved.

Gradually, with a calculated action to show he wasn't about to cause harm or do anything brash, Flatline's right primary folded out from beneath him to reach gingerly forward towards Raf. His fingers were all curled down against his palm, coiled away so the blades were unseen, but he did extend his pointer finger. He held it out to the small organic, a sort of peace offering, a 'shake', a motion that was gentle and calm to show he was really backing down.

"I am sorry for what has occurred, and want to make it right."

Red optics looked down at Raf, but if eye contact was made he wouldn't keep it for long, peering off to the side or breaking it in some way. He knew his gaze could be intense and sharp and he didn’t want to hinder his apology with some implied threat. Mostly because he wished he could just smash them and be done with it. It was then he looked over at Miko who had made it clear she expected something more substantial than words.

"I can take you three back to the city if you want-"

AKA: PLEASE let me do so, so you don’t call an Autobot for help.

"-or did you have something else in mind?"

[Deleted]

Luckily, Roulette didn't waste time. Normally when assigned a task she didn't want to do, she'd take the longest route in the ship to get to the location. It wasn't that she was lazy. Although one could accuse her of that, certainly. No, she just knew what she wanted to do. And menial tasks weren't on that list. Neither was aiding an idiot cohort even if she did need his continued existence. Shockwave went through proxies like he went through lab equipment. 

She didn't foresee this task actually leading to something regretful. So she didn't bother packing anything at all but what was on her. She stayed armed, of course, and probably had a spot of fuel on her somewhere for emergencies but it was just a short jaunt to the location, a quick fix of communication with the little weevils, and back to the ship. If they were both lucky, no one on the ship would find out about their mistake and neither of them would be punished. 

It was odd, Roulette reflected to herself, that she was so easily throwing herself into possible trouble just to help the likes of Flatline out. She could very well let him writhe in agony in the mess that he had put himself in. It would serve him right for being such a brown-noser. But no, she didn't feel...comfortable letting him possibly get smashed into pieces by an angry Warlord for violating a damned treaty no one on the ship had known about beforehand. It wasn't like he'd violated the law on purpose. Hell, a cycle beforehand and he would have been in the right. The fact that timing was to blame couldn't really be held against him.

She was still going to rib him for it for the rest of his existence. 

Bartering with Soundwave to let her out was another fun experience. Luckily she felt he was more amused by her weird inclinations than irritated. And her ah...encounters with the Lord of the ship had certainly put her in some position of begrudging trust. Whether anyone wanted to or not, she had a slight favoritism for as long as it lasted. Just enough to earn a quick run to the planet side to aid a coworker with a task. No, no, nothing too special. Don't tilt your head. It's fine. He's stuck in a city with humans and just needs a route out.

Not technically a lie.

Ignoring the quiet bit of suspicious judgement, Roulette stepped through the bridge and to the coordinates with a prickly rush of bending space. She hated the damn things. One miscalculation could send someone anywhere. Or send part of them someplace. 

As the dust settled around her feet, she looked around and had to twist to face the other proxy and his ah...oh...well, that was weird. 

"Aw, shaking hands already? Flatline, you can't keep one." 

[Deleted]

This was a new situation for Raf. He'd never considered being anything approaching a leader. Especially of taking charge of a situation like this one. And he still wasn't going to. Even if everyone had turned their attention to him. He almost bolted for the nearest bit of scrub brush if only to get the attention off of him. But running in the heat really wasn't good for your health. And his mom would probably not like it if he torn up his clothes on dry bracken. 

However, as he was being offered an ultimatum, he didn't run. But he did flinch despite Flatline's care. It was an involuntary reaction, really. Just a slight twitch of the shoulders as Miko and Jack looked on with open distrust and worry on their faces. Or anger, for Miko. She always seemed so angry. Raf couldn't figure out why. Under the bouncy, rambunctious zest for life, Miko acted like she had a grudge against the world. Which was strange considering that her life was actually pretty good. Maybe it wasn't all that great underneath? It occurred to the younger of the three, that he'd never bothered to ask her. 

"Um, apology accepted." Raf placed his hand very lightly on the offered digit before darting it back to him, fully expecting something horrible to happen. He couldn't conjure up the thoughts of gory amputation (as he hated medical dramas and didn't like horror movies unless they were rated PG) but his imagination had no problem screaming something could happen and it wouldn't be good. 

Before he could continue, or let Miko do something openly gape and cross her arms in a huff, a portal opened nearby. All three of the kids looked up with painful expectation, almost like they were waiting on a Bot to rescue them. Instead, an unknown walked out. Raf felt his expression fall into a pout. Not another Con! When she spoke, and apparently it was a femme, Jack turned downright horrified for a split second. He...didn't have a good reputation with Con femmes. 

"Dude, did you just call backup to handle the three of us?" Miko's voice was uncertain but at least not baiting or angry. 

[Flatline]

When Ref's hand touched down onto the upper arch of his claw that was not sharp, Flatline didn't move it. He knew if he twitched or pulled it back because such an ugly little animal touched him, it would just spook the humans and make him seem that much more untrustworthy. Instead, he held still, intent to stay that way until Raf had retreated properly, but from that point on he didn't have an opportunity to move, catching onto the overly familiar sound of a bridge opening, and the painfully familiar voice speaking to mock him.

Oh... he wanted to throttle Roulette... Why was it that someone he needed help from, someone he worked with on the regular and he SUMMONED here, could still make his metaphorical hackles rise with agitation as if she had barged in uninvited and wrecked a project in the works. This frustration was only amplified when the female human spoke up, and Flatline couldn't help but let the quills on his dorsal armor flare up in twitching flicks of frustration.

Pulled back and away, Flatline's primary that had been reached out at Raf returned to his front, planting down against the dusty earth just long enough to raise himself to his full height once more. He loomed overhead suddenly, a massive figure compared to the humans that only barely made it to the height of the hawk of his digitigrade limb.

"I am not keeping any of them..."

Grumbled out, he brushed his hands down the front of his armor to try to smear some of the dirt and dust off his frame. The scuffle from before, and kneeling down to deal with the humans, left a film of dust from the desert like surroundings that was painfully visible against the once gloss black plating. It was most notable around the pronged hooves of his peds, the prongs dingy and taupe tinted. The attempts to brush this off his central form was futile though, it only leaving clean streaks that cut and scraped through the grit, making it more noticeable. He then looked at Miko, not even wanting to honor her question with an answer, frustrated at what the truth was.

"Ok Roulette, your turn. They want something of me, but won't say what, and are just angry and don't believe me when I say I have no intention of killing them. Obviously I am not equipped to handle humans."

Speaking as if the children weren’t even there, he started to walk over to the femme, finding comfort in the aura of another one of his kind instead of the little organic mongrels. As much as he wanted to throttle her, she was part of a very small team he was in, and that was something of note. Alas, his left primary reached up to rub at the corner of his eye as if it was bothering him, speaking in a low droll.

"Look out for the female, she reminds me of you."

[Deleted]

"We are nothing ali-"
"No, we're no-" 

Roulette cringed when the small human (girl, she mentally supplied. That was a female of their species.) chimed in at the same time she did. Well. This was surely awkward. She very decidedly did not look at the runt or the other two little beasts. There was no way she was anything like the humans. They were grubby weirdos and she was older than their ancestor's ancestors. 

I knew I should have left him to fend for himself. Megatron probably wouldn't destroy him outright. Just a small beating. It improves morale, I've heard.

She wouldn't know, of course. She'd never fallen under the hand of anyone. And for good reason. Her temper wouldn't allow such a thing to happen. No matter if it was a commanding officer or no. Shockwave only got away with laying a hand on her because he always sedated her before she knew it was coming. Blargh, just the thought sent a shudder down her spinal struts. She clamped her armor tighter to her frame as if banishing off a chill. Or the stirred dust choking the air. 

The quicker they settled this, the faster they could part ways and get out of the grit. Which was a fair point. The little humans looked like they were cooking in the heat. Good. That was something she could use.

"Alright. Let's get this over with. It's hot and we're all getting covered in sand. Unless anyone here wants to spend the next hour arguing in the heat." She looked at all of them, head tilted slightly as if waiting for someone to make that decision. As if it would happen. The kids exchanged a look but kept quiet. What a mercy that was. 

"I'm sure my colleague has explained the mix up.  No one got hurt and he promises to never lay hands on you again." She bit that last part out and glared at him as if this was all his fault. Which it sort of was. That and if she gave in to the kid's anger, maybe they'd relax their guard a little. 

[Deleted]

Jack didn't like her. Which, sadly, was probably a prejudice on his part. He'd dealt with one Decepticon Femme before and she was the worst thing he'd ever had the displeasure of dealing with. Forget the boogey man. Whoever made up that fairy tale had never met Airachnid. He still had nightmares! Not that he'd admit that to anyone. Ever.

Miko didn't like the femme either but that was probably because she didn't like any Cons. They were the enemy of Wheeljack and therefore, they were bad. She had a simple, easy system she stuck to. Jack almost admired the ease with which she made her decisions sometimes. Not all the time. She didn't allow for situations like this one. Not that Jack believed either of the two Cons for their face value. But he also didn't spout off at them and tempt violence like Miko did.

Raf just seemed to be either petrified into a statue or melting in the heat. He'd gone suspiciously quiet on them. Possibly still trying to process shaking hands with a Con. The worst part of it was, they couldn't actually tell their respective guardians about this, either. Not one of them wouldn't rail at them for not calling for help. 

Which brought up the question of why they hadn't. It would take nothing to flip open a phone right now and call in a MayDay. Except that...in the space of a few seconds, they could be flattened into paste. It wasn't like the kids had the upper hand here. For some reason, the Cons were willing to let them go. And that was the part that didn't make sense! Which made the paranoia worse. Well, since they were asking, there was no more harm in adding to the discussion. Even if he privately agreed with the Femme. He didn't want to spend any more time out in the heat than he had to.

"Why are you letting us go? Not that I'm grateful for the reprieve!" Jack held up his hands, feeling like he was taking a scissor to his own strands of fate. "It's just...well..you know..." He looked at the both of them, nervously shifting his feet in the dust. 

[Flatline]

When both Roulette and the female replied close enough the same to make his point, Flatline couldn't help but let a twitch of a smile form. It curled up the corners of his mouth in the smuggest of looks as if he was proven right on something far greater than just a childish observation, his field rippling with a laugh that he didn't allow to be made verbal. To try to avoid any retaliation from this, he took one casual step away from Roulette, to make sure there was a great enough buffer that if she decided to pop a swing at him he could try to avoid.

Perhaps he should be meeker, more accommodating and less antagonistic, but... Roulette set herself up for this one and he just couldn't NOT cash in on it! He was certain she would probably rub this day in his face for ages to come, or... as long as they were forced in one another's proxy, so he entitled to enjoy this moment. Alas... this mirth and amusement faded away, when the situation rooted itself back down in reality, her words trapping him into a corner.

The threat of Megatron's wrath loomed overhead as a dark shadow. The happiness in his field recoiling like a dying snake. His smile faded into a mild sneer, and he juggled with whether or not he wanted to shout at her through comms for just prompting the child to ask- and there it was...

Fabulous.

"I told you-"

Flatline spoke fast after the child's question, his voice raised a bit in order to attempt to cut off anything Roulette would say. He still felt it was best if the kids didn't know the truth, as then they would be unable to call in any ludicrous favors or demands. After he barked this out to try to hip his way into the conversation, he continued at a far more calm tone.

"I am not in the business of killing people, I am a medic."

To punctuate this statement, he reached his hand up, clicking a long talon down underneath the rather universal medic emblem scrawled across his shoulder. The red stood out boldly in the bright sun, made even more visible when he canted the plating down at an angle so they could see with their short statures.

"When you recognized me parked there, I panicked. Acted out of impulse more than logic. I bring Roulette here to validate this; we don't really WANT to take you back to the Nemesis."

Flatline gestured down at the children then, pairing the motion with a crooked helm in Roulette's direction. While he didn’t send her a comm, and his field remained tucked back and passive, the look in his eyes SCREAMED for help. Begging for her to just tag along and ride this lie out like he was planning to. He was going to take this lie to his grave if she would allow it.