[ti]Ep 2[/ti]I should have brought my Flip-flops (Open)

[Deleted]

By the time Bumblebee moved to end Sparklight's 5-second long spree of chaos, she had only managed to attack the priorly mentioned piece of scrap and communications array. This was because after slicing through the latter object, Sparklight was then about to turn suddenly and cleave through the energon processor, but thanks to his intervention, her blade instead made contact with Bumblebee's left hip, the sharpness and velocity of the blade causing it to slice a fair amount into his armour. It wasn't lethal, but it wasn't a scratch by any means either.

Such was what the young femme came to realize the second the sickening slice (It wouldn't have been at all sickening if Bumblebee was a Decepticon) echoed around them, staggering back slightly as her mind came arrived at the conclusion she had stabbed Bumblebee. Ultimately her response could be argued as a more optimal outcome than what could have transpired, but the scout now had a large blade lodged in his side.

"Sorry! Sorry!" Sparklight exclaimed worriedly, but not before a loud gasp escaped her mouth. The femme lunged forwards (A movement which due to her previously staggering did not fully close the gap between them) with both arms outstretched, tapping into her powers as an outlier and dislodging the blade from Bumblebee's hip, by pulling it towards her with one quick and harsh motion - one that could arguably cause just as much pain as it did when it had entered, perhaps even more than that. Rather than float in the air like it had before, the blade fell to the ground, hitting the sand with a quiet 'thud'.

Continuing to panic somewhat after stabbing her idol, the femme attempted to fix the damages she had caused in her short spree of chopping apart her former base. Reaching out yet again with her powers, she picked up the top part of the communications console, the part she had cleaved off. It levitated in the air, following the movements of her hands as she pivoted on the spot, moving the chunk of metal back above where it had once been connected, and rested it there. No matter how much Sparklight wished it would, this act wouldn't fix the console at all, just make it look less... chopped up.

The femme then attempted a similar maneuver with one of the chunks of scrap she had kicked away prior, thankfully due to her smaller and more frail frame, along with the fact she had wheels for pedes, it didn't go very far. It had landed just to Bumblebee's side and fortunately still within her reach, and reaching out with her abilities yet again, it rose into the air as she tried to move it behind Bumblebee, which was when it came crashing down to the ground. This was because the fact the scout was in between her and the metal, his Sentio Metallico frame (A metal she couldn't manipulate) blocking her powers and thus her ability to control the piece of scrap.

As the ball of junk hit the ground, Sparklight let out a frustrated sigh, lowering her arms back to her sides and adjusting her posture to a more raised position, just as Carbine began to rant at her. The femme simply shrugged as he began to question what she was doing, and responded in a relaxed tone. "You told me to dismantle the base." Sparklight responded, looking up at Carbine, seemingly not panicked by his tone of voice - an odd factor given her reaction to stabbing into Bumblebee.

And then Carbine decided to continue to interrogate her and what she was doing. A polarity gauntlet? What the hell was that? The Mech's wording resulted in Sparklight becoming just as confused as him. Quickly her mind threw itself into her databanks, trying to find mentions of a 'polarity gauntlet' in the brief history that had been uploaded into her mind by the pod. Ah, there it was! A powerful tool used to control magnetic fields and metals, added to the list of things high command believed she might need to know due the status of polarity gauntlets as powerful relics.

Now the question Sparklight was asking herself wasn't what a polarity gauntlet was, but why he was asking... wait a second, her powers! How she manipulated and controlled certain objects using magnetism! This however, only led Sparklight down a spiral of further questions, one which she now aimed at Carbine over herself. With a curious tone in her voice, Sparklight spoke up to ask that very question.

"Wait, you mean you can't do this?" To illustrate what 'this' was, Sparklight extended her right arm out to a piece of metal nearby her (And unlike the other piece of metal she had tried to lift before it, this one didn't have a cybertronian standing in the way), and then began to slowly raise said arm up and thusly the object itself, leaving it hovering in the air as her arm remained outstretched.

Sparklight swung around as Bumblebee began to speak, bringing the object with her, almost hitting the already unfortunate scout, however just short enough in terms of distance not to smack him square on the side of the head. "Why would you need this stuff? You already got my message so you must have working comms... probably an energon processor too! Right?"

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee was usually really good at paying attention to his surroundings and the people around him. As a Scout, he had to be alert and observant at all times! But somewhere in his mad scramble to get between Sparklight and the equipment, not once did he think “Maybe this is a stupid idea”. He had situational awareness, sure, but he also had a slight problem of acting without thinking sometimes, and this just happened to be one of those times.

It was a stupid idea indeed. Well, on paper it was okay! But put into motion? Not so much.

This acting without thinking and mad dash over was why he didn't notice Sparklight turning quickly, slicing the blade clean into Bumblebee's hip and lodging it there before he could even think to react.

And at first? He didn't even notice. The blade sharp, the cut clean and deep. Only once he heard the faint spattering of Energon dripping down onto the sand below did he look down to see what'd happened. Then his sensors began screaming at him due to the sudden Energon loss.

Oh.

Oh this wasn't good.

Still, at least it was him and not more equipment that they could salvage. Right? Not that it'd hold up well in an argument as to why he'd rushed forward. The loss of himself or another Autobot was far more damaging to the team than some smashed up equipment. Not that he was in any danger of dying from this hit but if she were taller, and that blade aimed higher..?

Well that would end even worse. 

While Bumblebee hadn't noticed at first that he'd been stabbed, Carbine indeed had. Bumblebee sensed the alarm spiking briefly in the helicopter-mech's field, and would glance up briefly to stare him down - as if silently telling him not to move or attack the femme. To Sparklight, that's all it would be, silence between the pair. When infact he was frantically comming to the other mech so he didn't lash out and attack, for what Bumblebee deemed a simple mistake.

::It's fine, don't worry! I'm fine!!:: He quickly commed to his teammate. He was anything but fine, but like Primus he was going to say anything. The last thing he wanted out here was a fight.

He'd glance back down to the wound, and it seemed he couldn't seem to avert his gaze from the blade that was now lodged into his hip. His optics whirred. The aperture lenses widened and shuttered audibly. Bee himself was quiet, not even a beep of confusion or pain escaped him. He was staring, as if trying to work out what to do. Should he pull the blade out? Should he leave it? In the brief moment that he hadn't realized what'd happened, it didn't hurt. But now he was aware of it? It hurt.

A lot.

Her voice snapped him out of this temporary quiet shock and confusion he'd lost himself in, and he would glance over to look at her – which was probably for the best because a half-second later she'd wrenched the blade from his hip using her super cool powers how did she do that oh my gosh. The blade being dislodged had hurt more than the initial slice, which was no doubt due to the fact he hadn't even felt that to begin with. His frame tensed in the seconds after the blade removed, but he quickly relaxed.

Time to play it off like it was nothing. 

--Hey, hey! It's aight! No harm done!-- He boasted proudly. While really? It stung like an absolute glitch and the Energon that continued to spill from the wound showed that harm had indeed been done. But if there was any pain? Bumblebee sure didn't show it, at least outwardly. Not wanting to look weak or lame infront of Carbine and this newcomer femme who seemed to look up to him.

He'd hold a servo on his hip and shifted his stance so that more of his weight was on his other leg to try and ease off it some, to see if that'd help the fact it stung. It didn't. But whatever.

He was confused some by how calm she was despite what'd just happened, and watched perplexed as her attention shifted once more and she moved the top of the communications console back into place. That... No.. That wasn't how.. Noo... Then she continued, picking up more scrap. Which came to a sudden and crashing thud behind him that made Bumblebee flinch. Did her powers stop working? What happened? He briefly glanced over his shoulder, then to Carbine, then back to Sparklight.

Sure, he found the magnetism and blade manipulation thing weird like Carbine did, but he was more fascinated by it than anything. Especially with the ease that she seemed to be able to do it. That was SO cool. 

While her attention was on demonstrating her awesome powers for Carbine, Bee would glance down to his hip with a frown - as much as he wanted to watch her do her thing, the fact he was playing off this wound meant he hadn't had a chance to really look at it. It was a deep cut, and bleeding, but... It could've been worse. The frown was the only real hint that this was bothering him. He didn't get a chance to inspect it for long, as she'd swung around again - and this time he looked up just in time to avoid being smacked square on the helm, taking a scrambled step back and away. Man this femme was a menace! He'd beepily chuckle nervously and rub the back of his neck with the servo that wasn't again firmly on his hip.

--We do have workin' comms and stuff yeah, but if they break? We aint really got the supplies to fix stuff up. Well we do.. But... Yeah! More supplies are always needed. Seems silly to waste stuff when it can be recycled, ya know? When we said dismantle we meant in like... One piece.--

[Carbine]

She had hit him.

SHE HIT HIM.

All of the logic that dictated that this was an approved Autobot flew out of the window at that moment, Carbine seeing only an unfamiliar and still untrusted newcomer that was so ignorant and eager to please she was probably going to be a danger to herself and others. It did not matter that she was a femme, because when it came to the Ex-Cop's possessions, he was rather... well... possessive...

Carbine was a loyal individual when it came to the right things. Once he latches down into what his team is, and what his new working family became, it followed the same paths he ran as a cop. A squad, a tight nit group, all working together as one to accomplish a goal with unity and force with some humor and minor harassment for fun. If someone goes down because some criminal got a lucky hit in? Well... the others surged to the defense to right what was wronged and bring the offending party to justice. Carbine was no different with the level of dedication he could form for a team, but the core reason couldn't be further from the noble paths his metaphorical brothers in arms took.

He was dragged onto this team at Thundercloud's side, but it was now HIS group, HIS teammates. Bumblebee may serve under Optimus, just as Carbine would, but the scout was still part of CARBINE'S team, and to see him get wrongfully hurt by something so foolish, made him snap back to days of old when a fellow cop would get injured. Sparklight had no right, and the first thing Carbine did was start to go into arms.

His lax posture shifted, a small spike of alarm and shock over what had happened flicking through his field before the energy signature dropped off the planet into a dark hollow void of the silence before the storm. He stood as a dark figure clashing against the pale sands and sky, bright yellow optics almost drowned out by the surrounding light to turn his faceplate into a solid sheet of shadow that was angled in Sparklight's direction. His hands flexed momentarily, before gingerly curling into fists, white fingertips tucked down firmly to make the joints creak ever so faintly.

He would have acted, would have done something, but Bumblebee commed him, the simple frantic message rooting him down to not act out of impulse, but sit and listen for a change. It didn't change the quiet growl of his field though; it didn’t change the tense posture and his willingness to fight. The comm didn't even change the fact his internal engines clicked up a gear, ready to move into action at a seconds notice, but it did keep him rooted, and it did keep him quiet, watching, and listening, to see how the femme reacted and how this all panned out.

And wow... what happened next was what the humans would call a 'clusterfuck'.

He couldn't believe what he was seeing. She had hurt Bumblebee, and then instead of focusing on the issue of the injury, and addressing it past a quick 'sorry', she went to try to cover up her mistakes. It was like she thought Bee's words of encouragement were enough, and the situation was now in the past and invalid. Carbine watched as metal chunks were lifted and thrown about to try to re-assemble, Sparklight's jerking attempts to try to cover her own tailpipe from trouble, yet when she turned to address him as to WHY she had done what she had done, she seemed so calm.

TOO calm.

She had HURT Bumblebee. She had drawn Energon on a teammate out of recklessness. She barely addressed it past a couple words, and then threw stuff around that could hurt the scout further who was still in range. She then scurried on to re-evaluate herself as if she was the center of the universe in the moment, and that the injury she had formed was already old hat and a non issue. When Bumblebee looked Carbine's way, he would see the cop mech wasn't even looking at the yellow scout any longer. His attention was locked on Sparklight so intensely, it was bordering dangerous.

He was going to be good though...

He was going to be a proper Autobot for a change.

He wasn’t going to fly off the handle and let humor or anger start a new fight.

He had attacked Bumblebee out of anger a few days prior... and he had attacked Thunder more than his fair share out of petty grievances and the thin veil of 'fun' and 'amusement'. He also harassed Zoom-Zoom and unintentionally chased Fortress out of the Outpost for good it seemed. He even antagonized Optimus on Thunder's behalf to try to help his friend out! But no... he would be good today. He would do what some other Autobot would do, which looking at Bee seemed to be to roll over like a submitted dog when wronged... only... she then showed off her most notably NOT normal powers and nearly swiped Bee again.

Enough was enough.

Just after Bumblebee got done talking about how they needed the parts from the base, Carbine finally lifted his rooted peds from the ground, and took a couple abrupt strides at Sparklight, using the length of his limbs to cross the distance in a flicker of a moment. His shadow consumed her he was so close, his left arm snapping out sharply to grab onto the floating piece of metal, and tearing backwards to rip it from its gravitational field, ignoring the subtle tingles that ran through his fingers at doing so. Once he had it, he cast it behind him carelessly, trying to toss it behind him and out of the way where it embedded into the sand with a soft thump. It was before this action was even completed, his right hand was wrenching forward, sharply grasping onto the young Autobot's upper arm. His hand alone consumed the entire 'bicep' of the limb, locking into place with a strong grip to try to keep her from doing anything fancy or keep her from slipping free. She would be rooted, and the size and strength differences between them meat she wouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.

"You need to slow͝ ̢dow̷n̵ a̸nd open your eyes t-to͟ ̸what ͜i̸s͏ ̢g͢o̸ing on."

Carbine's static laden words growled out in a low tone, a subtle snarl rumbling deep from his chest that was far more primal and animalistic in nature. It part disgusted him he was being the 'adult' here, but he knew they couldn't afford to take senseless injuries, and the fear of her powers and the unknown of what they could do in full was rather notable. For all he knew she could just use it to scramble their processors, and rip them apart. She was a danger.

"Stop th͠r-̨t̷h-̸t͞-lobbing slag around, and stop̀ ju̵mp̶in̢g͠ ah̴ea̴d. You keep th-that up and you will D́̕͡Į͜E̶͝ on this world."

Sure, Carbine meant that in the 'You play the child, Decepticons or MECH will tear you apart' sense, but with him standing over her holding onto her arm with real threat and danger radiating off of him, it muddled the lines. Implied he would do something far worse himself, which... he was not above doing if she became a true danger. Protect the team; protect his new brothers and sisters in arms. The ex-cop slid back to more root days, speaking with authority and power of an officer that he was very much not any longer.

"You are going back sit k͠z̛͢z̴̛͡t̴ to on yǫur ͝d͏amn̢ ̡h͘a̕n͢ds, and watch while we handle st-uff. If you don't like me for this? One: Me neit͞he̵r̸. Two: I don't care. I have reach̴eḑ ͢'fu͢ck̷ ́th͞i̛s̷ ślag o'clock and aint going to see Squea̸k͜e̵rs͠ ͞ge̸t͘ting shred̸-shŗ-̴sh͡-torn up."

[Deleted]

Sparklight listened to what Bumblebee had to say, taking in his explanation on why they needed the base and in what condition. To further show that she was listening the femme turned again, this time however Bumblebee would only be at risk of being struck by the piece of metal if he suddenly sprinted forward a few metres, as after the first near miss she had shortened the range at which it hovered from her significantly, now she passed it from servo to servo, or atleast performed such an action with her servos, causing the ball of scrap to imitate. 

As she did this, Sparklight's optics remained on the scout, her focus divided between him and the ball, which meant that she was entirely unaware of Carbine's rapidly changing attitude - something which would cost her in the coming moments. For now however, she simply nodded with a smile in response to Bumblebee's explanation, gently bouncing the ball of scrap in the air. 

Suddenly however, things took an abrupt turn. The femme's vision seemed to darken rapidly, brought on by the fact she was now caught in the looming shadow of Carbine. Turning swiftly to discover the cause of the shadow, Sparklight was presented with the mech himself, who tore the piece of scrap away from her, discarding it behind himself. That in itself was a pretty dick move in the femme's eyes, but what followed was unarguably worse.

The mech's arm surged forward, his huge servo suddenly clutching the majority of her upper in moments, clamping down with a powerful grip - a grip which caused her some pain to say the least. Sparklight's optics rose up to observe Carbine's faceplate as he locked her in place, gritting her denta some as she attempted to pull it use, a maneuver which would obviously bring about no avail due to his superior size and strength.

Despite this however, yet again the young femme showed next to no signs of intimidation, most of her faceplate relaying her pain at the vice-like grip displayed by Carbine. However, on the inside, Sparklight's mind raced forwards at why he was doing this and what could come about of it. Obviously there was tearing her arm off and even killing her ((Both of which were quite intimidating)), but she remained convinced that because he was an Autobot neither would be the case, and thus was not afraid for the most part.

This observation was hopelessly naive, having just exited her pod the femme only knew of the fact that Autobots were meant to be paragons of justice, and not that most were just soldiers fighting a war they deemed pointless and hopeless, some were even criminals, some such as Carbine. Another observation she had made related to her earlier attempts to struggle free, and the femme halted her tugging entirely.

The pain the grip Carbine enforced on her arm caused Sparklight to ponder many things, such was the fact that maybe he wouldn't be doing this if she was bigger than him, or stronger ((Something which yet again, was horribly skewed)). This trail of thought led her down the path of wondering what she would do if she possessed either of those traits, and she promptly concluded that she would tear his grip off of her arm and proceed to knock him about a bit. Then she suddenly snapped back to reality.

Pain.
Arm.
Oh right, Carbine was holding her arm.
And it hurt.
Quite a bit.
And now he was shouting, even better!

At this point Sparklight had mostly allowed the first portion of Carbine's words to go over her head, although she subconsciously taken them on board. Then he moved onto how she was likely to die here, something which raised quite a few questions in that little helm of hers - especially given how she had jumped ahead because Carbine was curious about what she could do.

And then Carbine seemed to come to end of his little rant, commanding her to sit around as the professionals handled things. As much as she'd have enjoyed helping, a brief look around what she had caused - notably the destruction of useful items and most importantly the fact she had stabbed Bumblebee, she was happy to oblige and sit out. "I'm fine with doing that if you let go of my arm." Sparklight replied in a somewhat mature manner, something which made it seem like there might be hope for more of such behaviour from her, but one could hope, right?

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee was beyond relieved that his frantic comm to Carbine had actually worked. Having been on the receiving end of Carbine's anger and gotten into a physical fight with him just a few short days earlier, he didn't want a repeat show of that with this femme they knew nothing about. Sure, he'd been stabbed. Sure he was leaking Energon. Sure it hurt. But Bumblebee was partly to blame! He'd rushed in. Acted without thinking. Yeah, she probably should've had better control of her weapon and her... Powers... Whatever they were, but... Bee had ran straight into it almost – thinking of the needs of the many instead of himself. They were both at fault.

While he felt the comm had succeeded in stopping Carbine from rushing in with an attack, he knew this probably wasn't over. The femme's calmness, and the fact she acted so nonchalantly about the entire thing were a little troubling. She'd seemed a little scatter-brained which Bee had found amusing, but now he couldn't help but wonder if she realized how serious this could've been, and probably actually was.

Which was probably also partly his fault.

He had said it was alright, and no harm done... But she'd brushed it off so fast. If Bumblebee had done that to another by accident, he would've doted over them, made some attempts to patch it up or something because of the guilt he would've felt. But she'd just moved on to doing the super-awesome-cool-power-metal-lifting-thing-again.

The whole thing was weird.

But maybe that was just Bumblebee picking up on and in turn reacting to Carbine's body language and the subtlety of his field. Maybe he should have disciplined her, scolded her instead of trying to act tough and playing it off like it was nothing. Not that he had any rank to discipline anyone, but surely in this case it would've been alright. Had he done wrong in playing it off?

Bee found himself on edge, like he knew something was going to happen. It was just a matter of what, when, and what should he do if it did? In the second he'd glanced over to Carbine, he saw that his gaze was locked fiercely on the femme. He noted his posture. How tense he was. How quiet he was. That in itself was eerie.

Maybe it would be okay. Maybe Carbine just wanted to be broody and quiet over there, and Bee's encouragement and assurance would be enough to move things along. They could get back to disassembling the ship, call in a Groundbridge, Bee could see Ratchet about getting fixed up, and things would be alright.

As he spoke of why they needed the parts, he found his gaze lingering on the piece of scrap as it was tossed from her servo to servo. No sooner was he done speaking, however, did he see movement from the corner of his optic.

That thing that Bee thought was going to happen? Yeah it was happening.

Carbine.

::Hey w-whoa, wait man! It was an accident!:: He tried to comm again as Carbine strode over toward the femme. But the other mech was too fast – the distance closed in not even a blink of an optic, and it wasn't like he would even listen at this point anyway. Bee's field spiked briefly in alarm, unsure what Carbine was planning to do. He watched as the piece of scrap was snatched roughly from the femme's grasp and flung. Bee sidestepped, and would continue moving until he was now stood at the side of the pair, although he kept his distance. He didn't want to be behind Carbine, because not only had he worked out that Carbine didn't like that, he didn't want Carbine to somehow think that Bumblebee was on the femme's side in all this, and in turn see him as a threat.

He would stand quietly, listening to Carbine as he spoke. He found his gaze shifting between his teammate, and the weapon that belonged to the femme that still lay on the ground. She'd demonstrated earlier that all it'd take was her lifting her arm to pull it to her... And she still had one arm free. Should she choose to do so? Carbine was now right there in striking range. She may be small, but that blade was sharp.

Bee would know!

It was a tense few seconds. Bee's servo would remain on his hip, but he was more than ready to charge in to assist Carbine should he need it. Which he shouldn't against the smaller femme, but who even knows what else she was capable of – especially now she no doubt felt threatened by the much taller mech.

There was nothing. No attack, no awesome-cool-powers making the blade fly up and into Carbine's throat. Nothing. Instead she just told him to let go. Good. Good. Bee would relax just slightly, venting out a soft sigh of relief almost. His door wings would flutter, and he'd look back at the pair. His field, which had been tense before, would level, as if trying to calm the situation.

--Yeah man c'mon, let go of her. We'll get the base dismantled and stuff, wont take us long since we're good at that!-- He tried to add some humor into the situation to lighten the mood, a throwback to their terrible first attempt at building the shelves.

He then glanced to Sparklight. --Sittin' out would probably be for the best, ya probably need to rest up after crashing and being by yaself out here for a while anyways. Carbine and I got it, don't worry!-- He chirped, trying to diffuse the situation further.

One thing was for certain though, and that was that Bumblebee was honestly surprised that Carbine had reacted the way he had. It'd been five days since they'd been at each others throats over shelves, and he would've thought that Carbine would've just taken Bee at his word that things were fine, and gone on to start dismantling the temporary base. But it seemed like he actually cared and gave a slag about what'd happened. Bee would've done the same, because that's just who he was, but it was admirable what Carbine had done. Not that Bee held any animosity toward the other mech over the shelf incident, but if he did? It'd no doubt be gone after today and this small action.

[Carbine]

Sparklight would see nothing in Carbine's visor but a black slate, his optics the faintest of ghost images projected behind the sheet to convey emotions. But these features were drowned mostly out by the sun and reflected light, giving her only his body posture, tone of voice, and field to work off of to derive emotions from him. It wouldn't be a hard task however, for he was unhappy, and this was as apparent as the orange on her frame.

Staring down at her, Carbine watched how she reacted to being scolded, and observed that she didn't seem to be particularly bothered by what was happening. No fear, no anxiousness, just dabs of pain and discomfort and a sort of forced maturity that felt artificial and fake. Her words even seemed calm, but at the same time felt antagonistic to him in the way she didn't just submit, but made a declaration of 'if', as if it was something he had to offer, in order to get her to comply.

She was in no position to make demands!

But he also knew when he was pushing a line.

The smooth faceplate of his helm twitched slightly to the side while Bumblebee spoke, the only indication that he was listening to the scout who was trying to talk him down. Really... it was the smart thing to do. He needed to let go of her and back away from this situation. As childish as Bumblebee was, he was the 'veteran' member of this team, and likely held more sway here than himself since he stuck to Optimus' aft half way through this war. It is because of this, he finally eased back and upright some, staring down at Sparklight for one additional moment, DARING her to do anything, before he let go.

Carbine's hand peeled away from her upper arm carefully, intent to not unintentionally snag on any armor flares or undercuts as he did so. It was once he was detached that he eased upright and flexed his left hand that had grabbed hold of the suspended object, moving his fingers about idly while looking over in the direction of the shuttle. He took the moment to shed and bleed away as much animosity as he could, focusing on what the scout had said while talking him down.

"Need somet̢hìng͠ dís̕mantled? We ya͞h̨ ͜b̴o̴ts!"

Chirped out in a forced cheerful tone that pitched up. Some of the stress was still in his voice, but he was trying to make an effort to fall back into his typical state of being, trying to move past the incident smoothly. While he said this, he swung up his left hand to plant the thumb on his chest, a mock boasting action before he began a sideways strafe to maneuver to the shuttle, without turning his back completely on the Femme.

::I have never seen ͡a̢n͝yth͟ing like that Bee. Not with-̛w͡i-͜kz̷z̛t-̵void clunky external drivers and machinery::

He silently sent this back to Bumblebee while walking up to the damaged communications array, his frame lowering down onto one knee to try to get a better view. The metal ground below crackled from sand being pinned between it and the curved knee armor, a fine white powder formed that dusted the slick black armor. He didn't seem to care about the dirt and grit getting in his joints though, his hand feeding forward to try to press behind the damaged system to see if he could unplug or unlatch it from the wall where it was mounted. If he could get the entire thing off in one piece, then that would be beneficial.

::I don't t-trust her with it. She acts͘ l̷ike͟ she was sparke̢d͡ l̡a͠s͜t ̢week::

[Deleted]

Sparklight held still as her arm remained locked in Carbine's intense grip, given that she, quite frankly, could do little else granted her aforementioned predicament. She glared up at Carbine's emotionless faceplate, still seemingly not intimidated - a fact still rather odd. Whilst she certainly wasn't calculating why this situation didn't provoke fear within herself, it wouldn't be unwise for someone to put it down to the fact she had never seen war in person,

Or as Carbine would later state, the fact she acted like she was sparked only a week ago.

Whilst obviously a hyperbolic statement ((as the fact she would have been sparked last week seemed a little bit impossible unless sparked in an offworld hotspot)) the statement actually held some truth. Sparklight hadn't been online for more than a few days, spending the long period between being sparked and arriving on Earth in stasis lock - a factor in her childish and immature nature.

Finally however, it seemed that Carbine would release her arm. Thank Primus! Rather than pondering her own childish nature, Sparklight had instead been passing the brief seconds questioning herself on if Carbine would ever let go, because the time he had been holding her seemed like somewhat of an eternity to the young femme.

As he let go, Sparklight stepped back a few small paces, grasping where he had held her and rubbing it gently with her other servo, still aching slightly given his tight hold. And then, she proceeded to do as told, skating gleefully over to a piece of scrap roughly large enough for her to sit on, doing so with such joy it seemed she had already forgotten that she had been scolded.

Even further yet, she actually sat on her hands.
Apparently she hadn't quite grasped sarcasm yet.

Now perched on the ball of scrap, Sparklight began to gently hum to herself, looking off into the distance, unaware of whatever Carbine and Bumblebee were doing. She hummed as a form of entertainment, and fortunately this kind wouldn't cause Bumblebee harm, unlike her earlier attempts at keeping herself occupied.

The young femme's mind then began to wander off ((as per usual)), contemplating whatever came into her head first. Like what would happen if a piece of scrapmetal thrown from Cybertron by some guy struck Bumblebee in the head? Probably something bad. Maybe it would be better if it hit Carbine instead....

[Bumblebee]

They weren't out of the woods yet.

Carbine still hadn't let go of the femme. And while she hadn't attacked the helicopter yet? The longer he held her arm, the more scared she would probably get. Which increased the likelihood of her lashing out with that blade... Thing... He'd felt what an accidental slice could do, what could that thing do if she were actually striking with intent to harm?

Ugh let go maaaan...

Bee stood awkwardly, servo on his hip as he kept his gaze intently on the pair. Every possible scenario was now running through his processor, and he just hoped that his words had gotten through to the other mech. Carbine was right in that Bumblebee was the 'veteran' member here, despite his young age, his words had sway with a few of the higher ups; and he did receive quite a bit of respect for all he'd been through and done.

He found it curious how she wasn't acting scared. How she didn't seem the slightest bit intimidated by the fact that this mech, who was probably almost twice her height, had hold of her arm and could probably crush her with a well aimed squeeze to her faceplate. Bee himself was fearless, but watching this play out infront of him was weird – especially as she was outnumbered!

Then again he would've been the same, and he couldn't begin to deny that.

Maybe it was just a last-sparked thing. He couldn't help but find it interesting how she shared that trait with him. At least in Bee's case, he'd been sparked in the middle of the war and being fearless was all he knew – while it was reckless and more than a little stupid, it was the only way to survive back then!

He didn't get to linger on his thoughts for long, however, as Carbine finally released her arm. Bee vented out another soft sigh of relief. His gaze wouldn't leave Sparklight, although he watched out the corner of his optic as Carbine strafed over to the shuttle. He would've had Carbine's back even if he had turned it on the femme, but figured it was just habit that the other mech had moved the way he had.

Speaking of movement? He would watch as Sparklight skated over to a pile of scrap. His gaze would linger on her for a moment. She seemed so... Carefree despite everything that'd happened in the few shorts moments that he and Carbine had been here... Maybe she needed a checkup with Ratchet or something? That was the protocol with newcomers to the base. Had she hit her helm when she crashed? She seemed fine but this spaced out thing she kept doing was worrying. 

Then again Bee did worry a lot.

Carbine's comm to him would make his attention snap from his thoughts, glancing to the other mech. Once he was satisfied that Sparklight was going to stay put? (Or so he hoped she would) He'd limp over to the remains of the shuttle to see what he could do to help.

::I aint seen it either! Read something similar in a comic though! Not that it helps any! Maybe she can just do it. I dunno man. I trust her, I mean her codes checked out and stuff. She's a bit of a...:: He'd glance over his shoulder to look at her, almost as if he was paranoid she could hear this private conversation over the comms between the pair, before glancing back at Carbine. ::A bit of a ditz, but I mean.. She did just crash. Earth is scary for newcomers. Maybe she's just in shock. Ya should be more nice.::

He'd peer back at her again, optics whirring in thought. What a strange little femme.

[Carbine]

Carbine wanted nothing more than to correct Bumblebee and his ideal.

People couldn't be trusted just because of a badge they wore on their chests, or arm... or side... or wherever... point was that label could be faked and it hardly defined anyone past allegiance. The scout's idea that he trusted her just because she had this brand on her frame and donned the appropriate codes... well... it was silly. He didn't know how Bumblebee was alive all this time if he believed this to be true, since Carbine himself had seen the brutal reality plenty of times. Maybe Optimus' shadow was truly that safe, but the outskirts of the battlefront were vastly different.

Teammates turning tail to run and flee for their own lives, abandoning others to be overrun and killed was a good example. Or how about those that sell out others for a bit of extra ammo or other wares for their own needs ((Carbine may be guilty of that one there)). But self preservation wasn’t always the driving force, sometimes people were just shitty aft people like Fortress Maximus who decided that attempted murder was on the menu.

Fortress had scared Carbine. The ex-cop thought he was going to become a smear in the hallway of the Omega Outpost, and considered himself lucky to still be functional and kicking without losing a leg or more. That brute of a tank had gone ballistic, and if they harbored such a ticking time bomb for so long, than it was no surprise trusting others was an uphill battle.

Also kind of explained why they let Thunder and himself in no issues...

EITHER WAY

Carbine wanted to argue with Bumblebee, to point out his childish and flawed logic, but... he was tired, and Bee was telling him to be nicer. Not that that really held much weight mind you... Carbine would do as Carbine does, but, he knew it to be true on some level. He had to back down some and learn about the team, but that didn’t mean he had to take the blame if Squeakers were to get killed out here.

He wanted nothing more to be able to record the moment past raw memory files, to be able to present it to others if things did go pear shaped again, but he couldn't navigate his own HUD to do so. He'd have to rely on his words verses bad evidence where they paint him to be some murderer! Oh well.. He only replied to Bee with a disgruntled snort, before the clasp he was fiddling with finally came free.

The communications system, or what was left of it, suddenly detached from the wall and slid sideways on the uneven flooring, falling into Carbine's grasp with a heavy screech and thunk. He looped his fingers underneath it, before he hefted upright, and walked a few paces to a clear area, where he dumped the object in prep for transport through a Ground Bridge when it would open up. He would then move back to start to work on another piece of machinery. He had no idea what this thing was, but it looked valuable! So that had to count for something.

"...How far ou̸t̴ ͠a̵re we?"

He finally asked Bumblebee, wanting to know if they were spitting distance or what.

[Deleted]

Remaining perched on the ball of scrap, Sparklight continued to hum to herself, eventually starting to rock her body back and forth in timing with the rhythm of it. The femme did this for what equated to about 10 seconds before being bored once more. With a sigh her humming halted entirely, and she leaned forward, elbows resting on her knees as she held her head in her hands, looking out at the pair as they dismantled her base, her boredom made evident across her faceplate.

Sparklight stayed this way for about 10 seconds more, before reaching the same result as she had prior - boredom. Intense boredom. The femme began to wriggle and fidget as she remained seated, but knew that she would need to occupy herself somehow. Her optics wandered about the area, darting from point to point in the hopes of finding a way to mitigate her boredom.

This time, she found such a method in her seating itself. The ball of scrap was charred, squashed and scrumpled up. It had gained these properties from two sources, for starters, all three had been caused by entering orbit and hitting solid ground, as for the second cause, one might describe it best as 'experimentation', which meant that it had become an effectively useless ball of scrap as part of Sparklight's self discovery of her powers, manipulating it for hours on end before crushing it into nigh-usefulness.

Regardless of the fact that Bumblebee had told her they needed as much as they could get, the femme reasoned that they wouldn't need the ball given it's aforementioned state, but just to be safe, perhaps she only needed a tiny piece of it, that wouldn't hurt, right? Either way, Sparklight slowly reached down to the bottom of the ball, feeling out a jagged piece of metal and then removing it in one harsh, singular snap.

Breaking it off had been relatively easy given the metal's damaged state, the fact that it had been burnt and compressed made it rather brittle. Now in her right servo, Sparklight held a shard of that very metal, and examined it in her palm for about 5 seconds before coming to a halt as she contemplated what she could actually do with it.

Finally, it came to her. With a grin on her face, the shard began to float upwards from her palm, levitating about a foot above it as she rotated her hand, bringing it down by 90 degrees so it hovered between both of her hands. Just like before, the femme started to bounce it between the two, launching it one way and then the other. She did this slowly at first, but rapidly began incrementing the rate and velocity at which she 'bounced' the fragment, keeping her optics on it as it whizzed between both of her servos, entertaining her innocent spark.

Well atleast it would for another 10 seconds or so.

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee's 'ideal' stemmed from his youth and naivety. He was innocent and more than a little credulous, and expected the best from those he met - and often went on first appearances and actions alone. Even then he was all up for giving second chances sometimes, should the first impression not go so well! It probably wasn't the best idea or way to do things, as rogue Autobots and infiltrators were a thing, but hey it'd worked out for him so far! And even if one day it didn't? He had that cocky, arrogant side to him that meant he would try his best to outsmart and outfight anyone who dared take advantage of his forgiving personality. He was nice, and trusting of others, but he wasn't stupid.

If this were an obvious Decepticon that stood before them, he would've been a little more wary and acted differently – but Sparklight had Autobot codes that checked out, and an Autobot badge! So his first instinct was to trust her. Or at the very least be a little more warm and friendly – while keeping his guard up of course, just incase.

...Although it obviously hadn't been up enough, given he'd rushed in and gotten himself stabbed. But that'd been an accident! ...One she didn't show much remorse for, and one that hurt a slagload, buuuut it was an accident all the same.

War was all the little yellow Scout knew, and while he didn't skip around the frontlines handing out friendship bracelets and wanting to be best friends with everyone he met? He did want to be kind and welcoming to the newcomer – and any others that would arrive in future that were on their side. The Autobots were regretfully lacking in numbers, so if a good first impression made by Bumblebee would help convince a new arrival to stick around rather than going off to do their own thing once they'd recovered? Then he would do that. Earth was a scary place, especially for those that crash landed and assumed they were alone out here! Bee would hate that more than anything else, so that was part of why he was so friendly.

Carbine shouldn't have worried too much regardless. They both had the upper hand here in that they outnumbered the femme should she actually turn out to be not who she said she was - despite her awesome tricks and the fact Bee was now limping because of being stabbed, they could easily subdue her between the two of them. She was innocent until proven guilty as far as Bumblebee was concerned, and had obviously been through a lot which would explain her actions. She'd crashed, was probably confused after being out here in the middle of nowhere for so long, and maybe the ditziness was nothing more than her processors way of catching upto speed over the fact that.. Oh yeah, she'd stabbed him!

Maybe not. 

Okay, so trust was probably too strong a word for someone they'd just met. But if she were a bad guy or whatever? She would've retaliated and lashed out when Carbine had hold of her arm! She had an arm free the entire time, and that's all she needed to do some serious damage with that floaty blade thing of hers! What Bee felt was probably more of a 'I'll give her the benefit of the doubt, even though she STABBED. ME.' thing. Yeah.

Bumblebee was honestly just excited to meet someone new. Someone who seemed to be around his 'age' as they seemed to be few and far between (and mostly all dead. Yay.) – there was also the added bonus in that she could do that really neat floating-blade-thing, and the fact that he wanted to see more of said neat floating-blade-thing. He was also super excited to be the first responder to her distress signals. As much as he loved doing the school run, this was the most excitement he'd had in a while! It wasn't often Bee got to man the monitors in the control room incase Fowler called - so this was extra special to him in a weird way.

...Okay so he wasn't even manning the monitors today. This had been a lucky one in a million chance and he'd happened to be in the room at the right time when he was messing around with his holoform - but nobody would ever know.

His attention was drawn from staring at the femme as he heard the communications system detach from the wall with a screech and a thud that made him jump. He probably should help the other mech, but he found his gaze back on the femme as if trying to work her out from afar. He watched curiously as she made the shard float upwards, then bounced it between her servos. He really, really had to ask how she did that. Because that was hella cool.

Once again, his attention was drawn from the femme by Carbine – this time by the question.

--Huh?--

Oh, right.. Carbine probably hadn't seen the screen back at in the Control Room that had the location pinpointed, as Bee had dragged him through there pretty fast in his excitement. This should be a fun surprise. He'd take a step over toward the downed ship, deciding now that he'd help out as best he could - even if he couldn't shift things as easily as Carbine. He'd move to start dismantling another part of the ship, trying his best with one servo, the other still on his hip.

--Sahara Desert, man!-- He paused, incase Carbine didn't know where that was. --Uh. Africa! Yeah. So quite a ways from the base,-- He laughed. --She picked a real dumb place to crash, huh?-- Not that she would've really had a choice in the matter, as was the joy of crashing. At least it wasn't the bottom of ocean or something ridiculous though!

[Carbine]

Even if Carbine had seen the screen at the Control Room, the chances of him understanding what was displayed was about zero to one. He couldn't make out what would have been written down, and the imagery on the topography and map layout hinged entirely on him having at least a fundamental understanding of the planet, and what the current inhabitants labeled regions of their land masses. Carbine's experience when it came to this world was... limited.

When he and Thunder got hold of a computer and were permitted to look and explore things the Humans did and had listed online, most of what they did was opposite of its intent. Meant to learn, meant to understand, try to get a grasp about how to behave around humans and function in their world so that they could blend in better. But... Carbine turns into a police copter, and Thunder a huge jet, the chances they would interact with the public wasn't even close to the same tier as Bumblebee. So... the two used it to look up stupid humor, videos, and bad words.

Carbine could list off a slew of profanity that could make the most hardened sailor blush, but he couldn't tell you what any of those words actually MEANT. It was a wonderful level of ignorance and knowledge blended together, that completely left out actual facts. It is because of this the 'Sahara Desert' flew right on over his helm, and 'Africa' made him pause trying to recall where he heard such a thing.

"It's like, opposite o͝f wh͢ere I and Thun̸de̴r ̧l͜and͟e͞d!"

He declared at last.

"We landed in all thįs ̀whit̢e stuff, cold, blasting winds. I th-think they called it... Rus̷s̀ia.̸..͘ I̧ ̡do̡n't know... this an͢ywheŗe ͞near̡ ̢tha̢t?"

That betrayed his ignorance right there.

While Carbine spoke to Bee, leaving Sparklight completely out of the subject, he turned and started to pull and tug on the other machine he saw. It was... really secured in place. It seemed to be more a case for the components, able to have individual pieces upgraded if needed, instead of ripping the entire terminal out in one go. This... made it troublesome, and he ended up hefting and pulling for a good deal of effort before it ripped free, trailing cables and wires in his wake.

Really, Carbine would just continue to jabber and chatter at Bumblebee while he worked, snubbing Sparklight for now, though occasionally glancing her way to make sure she stayed put. She seemed to be obeying, though was always fidgeting and moving around. A short bit to the right, a short bit to the left. Turned about. At one point he could have sworn she was testing him by inching closer, but he chalked that up to paranoia on his part. Alas, the work continued, and with such a small shuttle it didn't take long to have it torn apart into a true husk.

The shuttle where it had once stood, was now hollow. The outer shell a thin hull, with insulation ripped out and windows missing entirely. It looked like a skeleton in a way, arching bands of rebar and the structural cage looping into the blazing day sky. The parts that were all harvested, from insulation to wires and motherboards, to even the seat where Spark had called home for so long, was now piled up in an orderly stack to be ready to bring home.

Carbine was tired and overheated however.

The ex-cop's vents were spiraled open as large as they could go, and he was rasping in air in a desperate attempt to keep his body from overheating. Trails of distorted air wavered and curled off of his black armor, snaking away from his frame with the mirage like illusion. He just... was built to run, and bleed off the heat associated with that kind of high action and exertion, but this was different. He felt like he was suffocating in the heinous heat that was pelting down upon them.

Limping off to the side, Carbine draped his arms over some of the skeletal beams of the shuttle, letting his mass and weight hang across it like he was a towel set out to dry. It was while he did this, he pointed at Spark, wherever she might have ended up. He 100% stole from what Bee said earlier, and added.

"Real dumb place͟ ̛to ͞c̷r̢a͢sh̨.̷ Ŕeaaallll dummbbbb..."

[Deleted]

Sparklight was content to sit around and wait for her 'rescuers' to finish dismantling the masterpiece of a base she had constructed... for all of about five more seconds. Launching a shard of charred and broken metal between both of her servos alleviated her boredom in a sense, but that feeling of boredom quickly came creeping back, gnawing at her mind intolerably - and when it came to tolerance for such things as boredom, you would find Sparklight somewhat lacking.

For the next five or ten minutes (or as she would note it, an eternity of waiting), Sparklight switched between activity, ranging from something she hadn't bothered to remember to other things she found herself not deeply enough engaged in to really care to recall (by now if she had remembered, she would've noticed she was repeating activities). And then, Carbine called out to her. Her head jerked up like she was that of a meerkat ascending from it's residence in the ground, filled with excitement and curiosity, both of which sparkled in her expression. To further conform to the simile of being such a creature, she bolted up from where she had sat, dropping whatever had been keeping her attention and swiftly skating over to the large mech.

"Dumb? I didn't get to choose where I crashed... maybe if I landed in a desert... that would be cool!" The young femme exclaimed with an expression that matched her eagerness. Of course, if Cybertronian deserts and Human deserts bore a bit more resemblance, she may have pieced together that was where she already was. "I've heard the sea of rust has a bunch of cool stuff and hidden places! Well I haven't actually heard it... someone just programmed that into my head..." She happily explained, trailing off into simple muttering towards the end of what she was saying.

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee was lucky in that he had access to a computer pretty much whenever he wanted. Okay, sort of. Raf had a laptop, as well as a crappy desktop that was stored in Bumblebee's quarters... But Bee couldn't actually use them by himself, as they were far too small for him to make much use of, but the point was? They were there. He had the freedom of the internet at his fingertips, and could look at anything he wanted.

Except, he really didn't really look at stuff. He had this certain... Fear, that Red Alert would be watching and logging everything he did or looked at online, which kept him in line. Then again Bumblebee really needn't of worried any – he had absolutely zero interest in the weirder, dirtier side of the internet – so what he looked at was always in the company of Raf, and was always pretty tame and could be considered boring compared to the stuff that Carbine looked at when he had access to the world wide web. A silly video here, a video about computer games there. Lots of research for homework related stuff. The occasional conspiracy website which, for some reason, Bumblebee seemed to frequent...

The point was, there was a lot of knowledge out there. A lot of it was free. His love for the planet Earth and love for helping Raf meant that he took in almost everything eagerly and with great enthusiasm. It wasn't just the internet, there were so many neat animal documentaries and stuff on the TV, too! He knew so many random facts about Earth and about so many random topics that he could probably talk for days about some of it if given the chance. He always wanted to learn more, he found it all so completely fascinating – and it wasn't like there was any excuse not to! It was all right there, just a click away!

So when Carbine asked if Africa was anywhere near Russia? Bumblebee stopped yanking on the piece of whatever-that-was and stopped to look at him. His mouth safely covered by his armored face guard, but it was obvious he was gawking at the other mech as if in disbelief.

--Russia? Nah, nah man that's... It ain't even close! Like over four thousand miles away! And the white cold stuff? That's called snow! Aint just in Russia, though!-- He beepily laughed. He wasn't talking down to Carbine, nothing like that – but... Just... How... how the heck did he not know all this basic stuff about the planet where they were now living and probably would be for some time? Maybe one day Bee would have to sit down the ex-cop and give him a geography lesson or something. Because that'd go well.

He'd turn back to the task at hand so they could get this whole thing over and done with. While his bright yellow finish reflected a lot of the sunlight, unlike Carbine who was mostly dark grays and black, it was still way too hot for his liking. His own vents were fully open as he worked. It was slow going, given he had one servo held to his hip for the majority of the time, but he made quick work of some of the smaller parts of the ship.

Eventually, they'd dismantled everything, and now just the skeleton of the ship remained. He'd cast an occasional glance over to Sparklight just to watch her do the cool floating thing, but had actually managed to remain mostly un-distracted other than that.

He chuckled in amusement at Carbine's words, even though they were basically a copy of what he said. Although his attention would shift past the ex-cop and he'd watch curiously as Sparklight quickly skated over. For a brief flicker of a second he was worried she'd taken the comment the wrong way and was coming over to confront the pair, but her reply made him tilt his head just slightly.

Someone else who needed a lesson about Earth – then again she had an excuse in that she'd literally just crashed here and knew nothing of the planet.

--Ahaha... Weeell... This kinda is a desert! In fact, it's the biggest one on Earth! Now that is cool!-- He replied, and while he didn't sound quite as eager as the femme, his tone was playful enough and could be considered lighthearted. The thing she said about the sea of rust was really neat... Not that he'd ever gotten to visit it himself - he'd instead heard many stories. But... The thing that came after? That got his attention.

--Never went to the sea of rust myself. Maybe Carbine did, though, so he can tell ya bout the awesome stuff there. It's cool that ya know about it 'cos it was programmed in, though! Maybe ya can teach me some stuff and I can teach ya about Earth in return!-- He paused. It took him a second, then it was like a light bulb turning on, and something clicked. Preprogrammed information? Welp. His optics would widen just slightly as he now stared at the femme. --...Wait. Wait wait wait... So that's how ya knew who I was?! That. Is. AWESOME! Is that uh. Is that how ya can do that weird floatin' stuff, too?-- He hesitated in asking, but he couldn't help it. After watching her manipulate the blade, then make that ball of scrap metal float around when she'd been sitting down? He just had to know how she did it. She'd asked them earlier if they could do it themselves, but neither of them had given an actual reply - mostly because Bee had gotten stabbed and their processors obviously were elsewhere at the time.

[Carbine]

Four thousand miles… sure sounded like a lot.

Ask Carbine how much a mile was though to a human and he couldn’t tell you. It isn’t like he could read the instruments in his Alt-Mode and have any semblance of a concept of distance, alas, four thousand were the words he actually clutched onto, and he let out a strained huff through his vents, blasting out hot air. They truly were stranded in nowhere! One good thing came of it though, and that was the fact they would probably load stuff to the base through the Bridge then. No need to manually lug it back to save on fuel!

The idea of getting to walk back to the cool base, and get a heft of crisp clean air into his systems ((even if it was for only a moment before he had to go back to the sands)) was exciting. His posture changed ever so slightly due to this while he worked, and the rotors on his back hiked up a bit, reinvigorated by this thought.

A goal!

Alas, things wrapped up, and he found himself draped out to dry, looking over at Spark.

Carbine was pleased to see the little ignorant spazz had remained where he had ‘left’ her. She didn’t skedaddle off, or wasn’t hiding playing make believe behind some dunes, and was seeming to listen to him! Yay! But while he had no authority for real, and she probably could have misbehaved with no ill effects, it worked out well because it didn’t get a rise out of him.

Maybe it was the heat that was making him short fused. Maybe it was all the repercussions he himself endured from his own mess ups recently. Maybe it was the way her powers creeped him out. Or maybe it was the way that he was forced into manual labor when he had been aiming to do something ANYTHING else this day. Maybe… just maybe… it was an awkward combo if all of the above, but seeing things going his way? It helped curb his attitude. Made him feel more himself, even if it was for the briefest of moments.

Yellow optics watched her carefully as she skated over, being mindful of any dangerous shrapnel she was taking on the way. He couldn’t see anything floating around however, so he remained slumped over the metal rib from the ship. He was plenty content to remain being useless for a minute, planning to let Bumblebee make the next calls on when they were opening the bridge and having to keep hauling things.

Instead he got a lesson about Earth, which… wasn’t bad, but wasn’t what he wanted. It didn’t mean he didn’t listen though, picking up on what was being taught. So this expanse of shit and grit and more crap went on for a great distance? So this was the planets Sea of Rust? No wonder it was so miserable.

“S-saw it once, mostly rem̵em͞-b͟er ͠t̢h̶-t͞h-e smell. Wasn’t p͡leasant́.”

Carbine interjected this when he was brought up, but was otherwise content laying low. Bee seemed to be having fun now chatting to the girl, and Carbine opted to do his own task while they conversed.

Finally having ENOUGH of the overbearing heat, Carbine grabbed onto the horizontal beam of metal he was laying on, and leaned backwards as far as he could go without his legs kicking up in front of him. The beam creaked and groaned, but he wouldn’t be doing this for long, as he quickly unlocked a latch on his back mentally, and a huge mass of metal slammed down and off of him to the ground below.

The chunk whacked into the soft sand with a heavy thump, spraying a bit of grit around it like a tiny crater. The object was... odd... a half diamond shape with multiple prongs and connectors on the flat side that had been against Carbines back a moment prior. It didn’t remain looking like this odd backpack for long though, as a spiral of components whirred out, and it transformed into a canine cassette with a very delayed reaction of being dropped.

The dog was large, larger than Spark, holding long limbs and a thick powerful neck that lead up to a clamp like maw. The Cybertronian animal was elegant in a way, a barrel chest sloping down to a thin waist not unlike the faster running species on Earth, with thick cables connecting segments to add flexibility and power. The canine’s colors matched its owner, primarily black, with duel rings of white around each shoulder blade, with a white jaw that hung slack and open. But while the animal was typically energetic and happy, he seemed less than thrilled this day.

Bolo stood up warily after he was ejected, his head hung low with limbs and ears splayed wide. His features had no discernible expression of note, but he seemed confused and unhappy, baking in the sun like his master for this entire time. His paws sunk down into the sand to the wrist joints, and he slowly lifted a foot in dismay before placing it back down.

While Bolo didn’t want to be anywhere near this gritty stuff in this kind of heat, Carbine felt instant relief. Not having the huge weight of the dog to carry, and not having that much more insulation meant that his back could BREATHE better now. He flexed his rotors out while forcing a mass of air through his system, before watching the others. He had a hypothesis on WHAT this girl was, but that was so rare and so weird that uttering the term was not something he wanted to say offhand. So he kept quiet, silently urging Bee to open that bridge back to crisp clean cold air conditioning paradise.

Maybe he was staring a bit intently...

Please...

PLEASE.