Ep 2. - 'Exercises in Bonding' - Closed for now

[Deleted]

<<Week 3, Day 3>>

Fairwinds, no stranger to Haven, strolled out of the 'bridge into the Atrium singing.

"I've been workin' on the railroad, all the live long day!"

It was unclear if she'd been singing on the Nemesis, or if the strange seconds inside the whirling vortex had been what had inspired her to song. Whatever it was, her shrieking was loud and joyous, intended for all.

"I've been workin' on the railroad, packing C-4 clay!"

Layby watched Fairwinds enter from across the room where he was quietly overseeing the comings and goings. The 'bridge didn't immediately close behind her - there was a long cord extending from a collar around her neck that ran along past her tail plates. After a few seconds and several feet of cable, the dumpster-with-wheels came into view.

"Might get a carriage of humans, or some cattle carts of live beef!"

The cassette's wagon was piled high with reels of cable and hoses. Fairwinds was here to work, and towed her cargo at a determined pace.

"Not just a laugh for us crewmen: gives MECH killer grief!"

She made a beeline for the tunnel that wound down to the special collaboration control room of short-term-co-operation and no-murdering. Really it needed a name, Fairwinds thought. It probably had one - she hadn't checked. She was just here to meet an Autobot and get to wiring the consoles into the Haven power grid. Fiddly business that would required a delicate touch.

Eradicon work, really, but Megatron wanted her audios and optics here. Hopefully she'd get something worthwhile to report back, and some juicy gossip (or inspiration for entertaining lies) from the Autobot for the Raddies.


<<OOC: Up to you if you'd like Smokescreen to already be in the room, or if he arrives after she does.>>

[Deleted]

(OOC: it kills me how long this tag had taken.)

Smokescreen was late.

He was late and he was supposed to meeting with a Decepticon. Working with a Decepticon.

And he was late.

This was not a good start.

Even now, a few days after the fact, a small part of him still couldn't believe they had a truce. A truce with the Cons. Which meant battles with them in the foreseeable future was shelved. Which meant Smokescreen's opportunity to prove himself in a fight was on hold. Unless he wanted to get in on a fight with...MECH.

Ugh. Even thinking about them still made his plating crawl. They were the reason why the Autobots had this truce with the Decepticons in the first place. Things were easier with Decepticons, at least he knew what to expect, what to look out for, in general, that is, and under non-trucy conditions.

MECH was something entirely new.

But that was neither here or now or what was important. What mattered was that Zoom-Zoom, that little Pit-sent pipsqueak, was now in charge of base supplies and prying supplies from him, supplies that were going to Haven (and by extension, to the Cons. Ish), had been an exercise and a half. Now Optimus Prime might be Smokescreen's personal hero and all, but this decision had left the young soldier somewhat flabbergast. Even more so than the truce announcement. Had Prime...not met with Zoom-Zoom before? Dealt with him in any form or shape? Heard any of the reports about the minibot?

Had Zoom-Zoom not put a hole in Prime's ceiling?

As a mech who had put up with the small red minibot on more patrols than not, Smokescreen was baffled that Zoom-Zoom had landed a position of some responsibility. Especially when it had led to a delay in the acquisition of crucial components for the ongoing truce effort.

Okay, it was mostly a toolbox. A toolbox tucked under Smokescreen's arm as he hurried to the ground bridge. And another box in his other arm, filled with cabling supplies.

It should have been simple and quick. But, as Smokescreen had come to learn through extensive dealing with the minibot, things rarely were easy with him.

It was with some small relief that Smokescreen stepped through the ground bridge and was whisked away from the Omega base. He would apologize. A lot. Profusely. To a Decepticon. Hopefully that'll make it alright. And not cause a breakdown in the Bot-Con relations.

Please let it not cause a problem in the diplomacy things.

He hadn't been to Haven before. Smokescreen stepped off the ground bridge and then checked his momentum as he took in the bit of Earth that a few neutrals had claimed as their own. It occurred to him then that he also did not know where he was going specifically.

There was a mech there fortunately. A really big one. Layby, according to the information he'd been given about Haven and its inhabitants. Not a Con, then. One of the folks that had made Haven what it was.

Well, there probably wasn't anyone better to ask then.

Smokescreen headed over to the mech. "Hey there," he said gaily, like he wasn't running late. "Layby, right? I'm Smokescreen and I'm here to help with the wiring. With a Con." Smokescreen's tone lost its casualness and his disbelief showed through for a moment at that. Working with a Con. "A Decepticon that I have no idea where they are. Could you point me in the right direction?"

[Deleted]

Layby took a few more steps away from the groundbridge controls now that Smokescreen was safely through. The portal had come through from the Autobot end, with Haven's groundbridge only acting as a receiver. In areas with potentially high volumes of people moving back and forth, not to mention harder-to-detect humans, having an absolute set of co-ordinates for incoming groundbridges was essential. Otherwise there was always a risk of a fold in space opening in someone's body.

Layby's job at the controls was largely just to oversee - both factions had made very sure that their originating co-ordinates could not be stored on the receiver's console.

"Welcome t'Haven," he rumbled with a smile, raising a hand to convey that he really didn't need to rush to meet the Decepticon he'd be working with. "An' I can do better than a direction - she's over on the sofa."

The Decepticon in question had arrived an hour early with a bag of gummies and parked herself in front of the television. Layby suspected that Fairwinds wouldn't have cared if Smokescreen hadn't turned up at all, and merrily carried on watching cartoons and MTV for the rest of her work shift.

It didn't look like Fairwinds would be skiving off away from her commanders', however.

Layby pressed his lipplates together and whistled loud enough for the cassette to hear him over the volume of the television - and how close to it she was sat.

The television changed channel twice before the right button on the remote was mashed and it turned off. Fairwinds' head popped up over the back of the sofa a few seconds later, gradually followed by the rest of her as she clambered up the metal-mesh cushion.

She perked up at the sight of the Autobot, crest rising in interest. "S'up! You my assistant to assist with the wiring?" Her pointed little helm cocked to one side and she grinned. "You got here second, and I was watching 'Spongebob'. Totally makes you the assistant, natch."

[Deleted]

Layby's relaxed manner helped enormously in setting Smokescreen at ease. If the Decepticon was upset, the neutral surely wouldn't be so laid-back, he figured. Or maybe Layby would, he was quite big and heavily armoured, looked like he could handle himself.

"Welcome t'Haven. An' I can do better than a direction - she's over on the sofa."

"Thanks," he said, flashing the mech a big grin as he turned around, following the direction of Layby's attention and where he'd whistled at. He noted the interaction with interest, Layby seemed to be good on terms with the Con, maybe the Decepticon he'd be assigned with wasn't so terrible.

Smokescreen had barely got a chance to process woah, a Con watching human TV? I didn't know they did that!- then the screen was flicking off and where was the Decepticon, surely they couldn't be sitting on the couch, he couldn't see anyone there- then a head, a small one, popped up above the sofa.

Smokscreen blinked.

It was safe to say he wasn't expecting his Decepticon partner in this venture to be a cassette. He hadn't even seen a bird cassette before, woah, look at that, how cool. While he reeled mentally at that, an answering grin was already tugging at his face in response to Fairwind's friendliness and her apparent lack of hard feelings over his lateness. He'd had reservations about this venture, Smokescreen wasn't sure how he was to handle an hostile partner, but at her greeting, he'd eased somewhat. He'd already resolved to be on his best behaviour and co-operate as much as possible with the Con he was working with. If there was going to be a breakdown in the playing nice department, Smokescreen didn't want it to be on his part. Another bot might have bristled at a Decepticon claiming them as assistant but Smokescreen was easy going enough to roll with it.

"You've got it," Smokescreen accepted simply. "Assistant mech, it is. I sure hope this means you know a lot about wiring because I don't. Would hate to get something wrong and cause stuff to fritz out."

He adjusted his grip on the boxes he was carrying and walked closer to the couches. "Name's Smokescreen," he said. "Assisting Autobot to…?"

[Deleted]

Mistress Overlord Starkiller.

Supreme General Aftkicker.

Bob.

Fairwinds caught the tip of her glossa in the end of her beak. The appendage in no way contributed to her speaking, but the bite-your-tongue sensation was an effective physical prompt to not just say the first thing out of her processor.

Finally, her vocaliser gave a little digitised chirp. "'m Windy." Then she cocked her again with a grin, tail plates fanning and readjusting. "Or 'Your Awesomeness', I'm easy."

Satisfied that the introductions were out of the way, the cassette spread her wings and leapt off the top of the sofa. Her flight engines were quiet, firing just enough to keep her aloft as she performed a lazy loop about the Autobot.

"Smokescreen, huh? Not heard of you on the hit-erk-happy friends we haven't met yet list."

Fairwinds finished her loop to land boldly atop the boxes Smokescreen was carrying, leaning one large optic into his faceplate as if in analysis before hopping 180 on the spot. She bobbed her head forward, which in turn bounced her whole body on her skinny legs, and indicated the tunnel down to where they'd be working today.

"I already stashed my stuff down in the control room. You got the clippers and strippers, right?" She leaned to one side and waved a hand-foot at his face, flexing her new thumb appendage. "I'm pretty dexterous but the handles still elude me. And I'd rather not use my face to cut electrical thingies."

[Deleted]

Smokescreen gave a polite nod as the Con gave her name as well as offered up "Your Awesomeness" as an alternative designation. He couldn't help it, he liked her attitude, or what he'd seen of it thus far. Grins were pretty easy to come by in response.

...which was not how he'd thought this would go at all. It was like chatting with a new Bot, not the 'temporarily not our enemy right about now.' In Smokescreen's inexperienced mind, Decepticons practically oozed with evilness. They definitely weren't regular people who you'd sit down and chatted with.

Mind.

Officially.

Blown.

When Fairwinds launched herself off the sofa, Smokescreen wasn't sure what her next move was. He kept an optic on her as she circled around him but otherwise didn't move much in place.

Smokescreen, huh? Not heard of you on the hit-erk-happy friends we haven't met yet list." 

The young Autobot didn't miss her slip there. Aaand there it was, a hint of the Decepticon Smokescreen had been expecting to see. But he didn't push it, things had been going good so far, no need to start harping on something small. Instead, he decided to play along.

"That's right," he said easily, his tone thick with amusement and it was clear in his voice that he wasn't being serious at all. "Secret special agent Smokescreen at your service. I'm so good, I get the job done with no one the wiser. I'm not surprised you've never heard of me. I'm really good about being secret."

To lay it on thick, he gave her a wink at the end of it.

All in all, he was pretty proud he'd managed to deliver that with a straight face, given that Windy had pretty much shoved hers righto into his.

Smokescreen started moving in the direction she'd pointed herself at when Windy finally turned around.

"You got the clippers and strippers, right?" 

"Sure do," Smokescreen answered. He was pretty certain that Zoom-Zoom had given him the right stuff. Then again, this was Zoom-Zoom and that alone was enough to cause significant doubt to arise even though Smokescreen had been confident in the contents of the box only moments before. Slag, he better have the right tools.

The Autobot went slightly cross-eyed as he took in the foot Windy have pushed into his face. "Um, is using your face for wiring a thing you have to do often?"

[Deleted]

Fairwinds shrugged, which was still a recognizable movement on a condor-frame lacking in 'shoulders'. "Neh. Only when it's convenient, y'know. On the nick, need to disable the warehouse alarm, beaky-beaky-snip-snip. It's just easier." A blurt of sound like a chirp. "Get a little kick if I lick the wires. Sometimes good. Sometimes fall-down."

She rolled her wings over her vents, seeming to twitch bodily as Smokescreen walked them towards the tunnel. It made the overlapping plates in her flight mechanisms and tail shift with a metallic whisper. It was pretty awesome being carried places by grounder Autobots, in her opinion.

The red cassette straightened up primly, cocking an optic ridge at Smokescreen. "But no cheap highs today, Mister Secret! We've got work to do. Gotta get the consoles connected to the other consoles connected to the existing cables connected to the knee bone connected to the ground bridge, and make sure the wireless is working. We frag up, we're lawn ornaments or whatever."

That big round eye leaned in again, though nowhere near as close as before. "What is Autobot disciplinary procedures like, anyhow? You gotta hand in your friendship bracelets or something?"

[Deleted]

Smokescreen upped his appraisal of Windy when she brought up needing to silence alarms. Ooh, she was a sneaky Con. Right on the tail of that thought was oh, duh, what else would she be? Windy's little cassette build wasn't exactly front-liner material.

Gotta get the consoles connected to the other consoles connected to the existing cables connected to the knee bone connected to the ground bridge, and make sure the wireless is working.

Say what now.

The what is connected to what-bone?

It was beginning to strike Smokescreen that a) he had no idea what Windy was talking about and b) it was entirely possible that the little cassette was insane. Or high.

Maybe she'd already taken a buzz from the wires.

"Well there goes all my plans for skiving off work," he answered bemusedly as he carried her down the tunnel. Heading for the control room. "And...getting high off the wires." It was clear in Smokescreen's tone he was highly dubious on whether to believe Windy on this one.

He was slightly better mentally prepared for when the cassette leaned in again. Or maybe it just helped that Windy wasn't as close. "Yep, you lose your friendship bracelet for a week. And your free hug privileges are revoked for a month. It's all deeply traumatizing. What, do the Cons hand in their naughty people badges?"

[Deleted]

"Yup, and the stickers, too."

The picture they were painting of the factions was hardly flattering, but it had ventured so far into 'absurd' that their remarks could no longer be classified as inappropriate or insubordinate.

Maybe. Hopefully. If no one else hears about it.

Fairwinds eyed the tunnel as they travelled deeper into the mine, acutely aware of all that stone surrounding them. At least Layby had fixed the lights in this passageway since the cavern at the end had been elected to be the control room. Random flickers into darkness when every sound echoed and the air was stale in that way that dust got when it didn't see the sun for years... Not a happy time had by all.

The control room was well on the way to looking like an operational base. A row of servers dominated the back wall, set up with data from the Nemesis and the Autobot base. It had been easily agreed by all parties to copy information and store it here rather than have digital links back to their respective mainframes. On the opposite wall to the servers were assorted consoles and screens - all dark.

"Hnf," Fairwinds harrumped when a cursory glance about the room didn't show up a power socket. "Guess 'plugging everything in' is gonna be step one. Power cables are probably... Ah, up in the ventilation system. Cooling but dusty-fi-ing."

She hopped about on the box again to face Smokescreen, pleased that he hadn't gotten irritated with her rattling it around like that in his hands. Honestly a Con would have dropped the box without warning with her jumping around like this, by now.

"You wanna start unpacking this slag whilst I fly on up and start unscrewing panels?"