We are a literate, intermediate to advanced AU Transformers RPG Based off of the first season of TFP with dashes of other incarnations sprinkled here or there. Characters from any continuity are welcome however must be restyled to match the TFPrime universe.
Active, with ongoing plotlines, we are always willing to integrate new characters into storylines once incorporated into the setting.
Nero had opened his mouth to answer to Rail. Skirmisher's remark however made him pause. A look of surprise briefly crossed his face before he turned to the enforcer to give him his full attention, his mouth quirked into a half-smile.
"My trip, do you mean?" he said. "Quite well, given the circumstances. Remarkably incident-free, even. Hm."
He studied Skirmisher with guarded curiosity and rubbed his jaw. "Yes, I'm Internal Affairs. An astute observation, Enforcer. I'm was a little surprised to read that a former Praxian police officer was among the Autobots on Earth. Praxians are exceptionally – tragically - rare these days. But you'll have to remind me why IA needed to get involved with the Praxus precinct. We handled a lot of cases during that time frame. Recalling a specific one would be difficult."
Rail was beginning to feel more than a little awkward twisting and turning to see the other three so he finally decided to say as much. “The three of you are making me feel awkward, want to plant your skid plates down?” despite the slightly rough slang, his tone was sheepish. If they did as he asked, it would have the added bonus of reducing Whirl's lanky form. Rail also felt somewhat intimidated by the three fliers, Skirmisher who was just plain big, and the other two who he just couldn't decide what to think of yet. Rail definitely wanted to get to know them though and he was drag himself out of his comfort shell. He really wanted to feel part of a cohort again and actually believe his own words.
“Just curious but what does the function of Internal Affairs actually do in practice y'know when… admin and bureaucracy are so minimal now?” Rail asked of Nero while waving a hand airishly. In his mind Skirmisher's function of enforcer made every type of sense and Whirl just made very little sense at all.
Whirl was the first to take the invitation and sit down next to Rail; an awkward motion that resulted in his knees framing his face.
"Internal Affairs is like..." he waved his claws around, "Corruption fixers. Dere's always corruption at da top, so after people finally notices, Internal Affairs goes up in dere dirty holes and sniffs out da dirt, at least until dey comes to da big thick wedge of Shanix dat blocks dere sens'a smell."
He snickered nastily.
"Also, Internal Affairs is fulla snobs what thinks dey is better'n beat cops cuz dey has records what's so clean dey squeak and feet to match," he cast a quick look at Nero, "And it all works just great up until IA has dere noses up dere own aft."
He sobered up a little though.
"It may surprise ya to know dat it was not Internal Affairs what caught me out with dat little thing of beatin' a prisoner half-to-death. It was Optimus what basically heaved me on his shoulder, and dragged me to the Senate and made such an all-fired fuss that nobody could ignore it any more."
“I think I'll take that invitation, Rail,” Skirmisher said, and carefully found a spot near enough to Rail and the others. "Thanks,"
Taking a seat, the shoulder mounted rotors shifted a little to compensate for the Enforcer's posture, and wherein the blades wouldn't have scraped the rock face. His attention though had been on Nero, with his optical visor still continually scanning the other mech from the helm to the pedes giving an internal display on the other mech's vulnerable spots and armored thickness. The function had been programmed into nearly every Enforcer worth note and while Skirmisher hadn't been one to have been voluntarily impolite to potential allies, civilians or even other Enforcers, he'd been programmed and forged to subdue rioters. The visor's scanning function had simply been an extension, one more tool in his arsenal.
“The cooperation and the more formal resources of IID had been requested by first the Mayor of Praxus following the request by the Commissioner of the Praxus Precinct. We had the firepower, and the manpower to back it locally. There were those in my Squad that would have preferred it to have been dealt with locally, but it was too high a profile situation to ignore. Typically a City-State's Enforcer Force wouldn't have called in or requested the assistance of the IID, but we didn't have access to cross jurisdictions that the IID had. The IID had the Central Penal Systems, among other such resources," he'd explained. He'd known that while Nero and Whirl would have known how the Tiered System of Enforcement operated, he'd felt that Rail wouldn't have in comparison given his original trade.
"There had at the time been a series of high profile abductions involving Senate Cohort Sparklings, and a major Chassis Trafficking Ring,” he'd explain, shifting one of his legs so that it rested a little more easily on the stone. “It wasn't common knowledge at the time, and as one can imagine there were those in that city that hadn't wanted it to be known. Praxus had a reputation of being an artistic capital, known for the Helix Gardens and more. Many Towerlings called Praxus their home, and if news of those illicit activities under their pedes had become known in the media it would have been to put it diplomatically upset over their newsfeeds. Those illicit activities included some prime players that had not only established in their view a lucrative business and were making a massive profit in doing so,"
“The entire operation spanned nearly two deca-cycles, but in the end the investigations and the stings paid off. Nearly half of the underground players, ranging from owners of many of the major alteration clinics to the traffickers that had called in their own hired muscle had been dragged out into the streets, irons slapped on them, and booked," he'd continued, not exactly proud of what had transpired. "The abducted Sparklings of the Senatorial Cohorts had been returned safe and sound. It was discovered following the destruction of about a dozen Enforcers throughout the operation that someone had fed our plans and even frequencies to the Traffickers,”
“It was one of the largest, most covered cases in Praxus' history up to that time. The case involved two Senators, two Towerlings, and even the Mayor's Lieutenant being found guilty of willingly aiding in criminal activities. Two Enforcers from my own Station, one of the Branches of the main Precinct were found to have been on the payroll of the Traffickers. A Squad Lieutenant, of my Squad, had been discovered to have been on the list of buyers of one of the main Traffickers. The other had been a Corporal that had held the unfortunate distinction of having lost three partners in the field. It wasn't a proud day, or even one any of us wanted to see. Imagine having to arrest one of your own," Skirmisher said, recalling his own actions during that. He'd been assigned to the roughly one hundred strong heavy escort which included armored large space cruisers, and at least sixty Enforcer patrol cruisers. "The Agents of the IID took over. Accompanied by a dozen IID Agents, I was among those assigned in the convoy when we transferred the convicts to the Garrus-Nine Penitentiary. After several follow up investigations by IID, the entire Precinct and the Branch-Stations were found to be clean of any corruption,” the Praxian concluded, waiting to hear what the others had to say.
Last Edit: Jan 2, 2019 3:41:05 GMT -5 by Skirmisher
"A fair question," he said lightly. "The dissolution of a functioning bureaucracy doesn't mean the Autobots need to spiral into incompetence and corruption. I may no longer have the backing of a functional Council behind me, or even High Command, but I still take my role as seriously as I did during the war. The ability to self-police is but one of the vital distinctions that holds us apart from the Decepticons, after all. So I observe, gather information, and recommend internal disciplinary action if I feel our forces here are becoming ineffective, bungling, or outright unscrupulous."
He paused before adding in a deadpan tone, "Not that they ever would, I'm sure. Skirmisher."
As the others sat themselves comfortably, Nero remained standing. His gaze turned back to the enforcer. "I'll have to look up the event you describe in my surviving records. I rarely dealt in trafficking cases, and what you describe sounds like a major incident. Arresting one of your own? Oh, I can imagine it very clearly. Not a proud moment, no, but not one devoid of its own satisfaction."
Up until now, rail had been debating with himself over Whirl’s apparent sanity, or lack thereof. On one hand, Whirl was possibly as crazy a he seemed, half a dozen short of a six pack. On the other hand, it was all just some act to keep enemies and friends alike on the back pedde. Plus the way he was sitting with legs hunched up instead of stretched out like himself, digititgrade or not, added to the confusion, but it was Whirl’s admittance that decided the matter for Rail. The little scout deemed Whirl to only be partly insane at most, more act than reality. On the whole it made Whirl just a bit more relatable, but still no less intimidating.
His question to Nero was more aimed at the fact there were so few Autobots now to police, but he still got an answer that satisfied his curiosity. It was what Skirmisher had said though out of the three other mechs that haunted Rail. He vaguely knew about the stuff that happened in the Praxus district, but he had always tried to maintain the bliss of ignorance. Such undertakings were just too wrong and Rail just simply avoided processing it.
Rail turned to Whirl “So, were you a officer of the law too, before the war started, before D16 decided he didn’t like his assigned function anymore and went mad with power and battle lust?”
Whirl had made his admittance because frankly anybody with five minutes and an internet link could find out how he'd been dis
He looked at Mitch, "Clean of corruptability, I know what dat means..." he looked at Rail and pointed to himself with both of his claws, his optic curving into a crescent, almost like a crazed grin, "FALL GUY!"
He nodded sagely.
"D-16? Oh, yeah, Megsy. Aka, Lord Death. But yeah, I was a cop. I was a lot of things. Even tried ta run my own business once. Functionists didn't like dat. See, somebody what is like... a Cassetticon. Data storage. Third class citizens. If dey didn't like it, sucks to be dem. It's easy to keep da little guy down, cuz he's already da little guy. Nobody likes when somebody tries ta rise above dere place, right?"
He continued cheerfully - or sounding cheerful, anyway.
"But when a high-paid guy in da Arial Corps, handsome, clever, best pilot in his class, with deep-wired guns, figures, 'I don't like this job, think I'll go make my hobby my job instead', dat's dangerous. Cuz people notice somebody like dat. And when it turns out dat he's even better at dat den he was at da perfect job for his alt mode... Guy like dat, he could be a great way ta show how Functionism is a load of bearings. Gotta teach a guy like dat a lesson. Make sure nobody takes him serious again."
He snipped his claws together meaningfully. His neck was really hurting right now, in that way that was making him twitchy. Talking about history was rapidly making him uncomfortable.
"'Scuse me."
He stood up, walked over to a large outcrop on the top of the outpost, and slammed his helm into it several times. Mitch had seen him do this before, when he was ready to break down. Whirl breaking down was not pretty.
"C'MON! DEAL! WE CAN DEAL! WE CAN DEAL WITH IT!"
He walked back and sat next to Rail. He sounded cheerful.
"But, it was all fer nothin', cuz it turned out dat guy's true callin' was as a Recidivist."
“I've disclosed what happened, and why IID was involved,” Skirmisher said, still curious as to Nero's reason.
“Now, why don't you explain to use whom sent you?" the Enforcer inquired, shifting his weight a little to sit a bit more comfortably. "While it's understandable that in this War our troops would arrive by intercepting Optimus Prime's call and it's likely you did as well, but having worked with IID before I know that IID Agents rarely travel if there isn't need. There is a branch or at least a unit of High Command still in existence, isn't there?”
“You'll have to forgive my partner. He does that sometimes when he's about to have a meltdown,” he'd said, in regards to Whirl's butting of his helm against the rocky outcropping. “Are you alright, Whirl?”
Last Edit: Jan 7, 2019 5:52:13 GMT -5 by Skirmisher
As Whirl’s helm impacted the rock, everything else went from Rail’s mind except the fear. Fear of Whirl and his very apparent insanity, fear for Whirl and his very apparent need for help. Fear was joined by concern. When Whirl again sat down next to Rail, he initially wanted to edge away, he wanted to act, and he wanted to run. He didn’t know what to do.
But they were all a cohort now right? That’s what he had said earlier. Rail cared, and that was enough. He still felt scared but he endeavoured to push through it, social situation were not his forte. Neither was psychology.
“Hey Whirl” Rail sighed trying to get to grips with what he wanted to say. “That scared me, you’re a scary mech but you know that right? But we were scared for you too. Were cohort, were all each other has and we care. We will help. Whatever bads are in your past, leave them there, don’t let them define who you are today. Please let us help.”
Rail couldn’t think of anything more to say, anything pertinent. But he meant every syllable, he hoped Whirl heard. A millions years of war hard beyond any possible imagination outside of that belonging to the survivors was just utter insanity. Insane was normal. For Rail, insanity meant that five years of solitude in a claustrophobic life pod was bliss.