[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Telephone Line - Hot Rod/Dart

[Dart]

Week 1, Day 2 - Dart and Hot Rod  oh. Hey, Jazz. 

Dart was ready for this week to be over.

The trail-head parking lot was empty right now. At this time of evening the trails out on the far end of Wildhorse Lake were usually like this. Once in a while there was an old white Subaru station wagon parked in the far corner, but it wasn't there tonight. She kind of missed it. The sheer amount of bumper stickers it had on it were interesting. They were probably holding the paint to the car at this stage of the vehicle's life.

The rock face in front of her was also daunting at the moment. Normally, she would have been more than happy to climb it; the longer a patrol took out here, the longer it meant that she didn't have to be back at the outpost. Which was fine with her. Anytime she could lay lower than low, she was grateful.

The courier's avatar leaned against the hood of her vehicle mode. Her phone was in her hand, and she was taking a moment to just enjoy the fact that there was a cell tower nearby and poke at her email. Oooh, there was a book sale going on at her favorite book store down in Portland. Cool. Those were the kind of messages she liked to get.

The phone suddenly chirped and buzzed. Dart startled and almost dropped it as it flew through her hands like a slippery fish. Juggling, flailing, and grabbing, she managed to grip it. A sigh of relief escaped the car and the woman as she righted it in her hand and looked down. Oh, a text, maybe it was--

Hey there, good lookin'! It's Hot Rod. Roddy.

I enjoyed the date we had the other day. I know the truce is over and such but I was hoping that we could hook up again.. ya know... so I can prove to you that I'm not some soul sucking jerk just because I'm an autobot. Plus, I'm going stir crazy here and I really need to get out from these four walls before I lose it. Just give me an address to meet you at and I'll be there. Hope to hear back from ya soon."

The courier stared at her cell-phone and said the first thing that came to mind.

"...buh?"

Which was immediately followed by her thumb frantically scrolling back up, reading it again. The car's pop-up headlights slowly rose up even as the young woman's expression remained completely baffled. A soft whoosh-snort of air escaped the both the Trans-Am and Dart's avatar at the same time. The car's hood jerked upwards, then thumped back down as the avatar nervously peered over her shoulder and began to pace.

"Wha- huh, what?" she mumbled out loud, still staring at the phone. She shook it as if it was a Magic Eight-ball, but the message remained perfectly where it was on the screen. Probably a good thing that she was miles and miles from anyone else.

I didn't give him my number...

To be honest, Dart really had no one to give her number to. This was her phone, and she used it to do things like oh, look up directions, read Facebook, and take pictures of scenic by-routes. Off the top of her head she could think of very few people who had it, and even less who might come in contact with the Autobots. She certainly couldn't see Rafael or Max handing it out to Hot Rod.

Actually, there was no scenario her brain could fathom where Max and Hot Rod would be hanging out together and her phone number would come up as a discussion that would lead to her getting a text like this.

The car twitched. It shifted from side to side and then wiggled a front tire, the worn treads attempting to paw nervously in the dry dirt of the parking lot. The side mirrors folded back then flicked forward as the avatar held the phone out from her at arm's length as if she was considering tossing it onto the nearest rocks and running.

Dart's holo winced. She'd had to collect a lot of pop cans for this phone. It wasn't getting shot-putted, not when she'd just figured out how to create folders for her photos.

Maybe this  isn't Hot Rod, she told herself warily. Maybe it was someone who had found out about that chance meeting and decided to give her grief about it. Then again, if someone was hacking her phone to lure her into a meeting, she couldn't see Soundwave or Soma using terms like date and hook up. That just seemed like it was totally out of their comfort zone. The idea of either one of them writing something like this note was laughable.

It sure wasn't some trick within her head, either, because the only things she hooked up with were message routes, and that encounter they'd had was certainly not a date in any way, shape, or form. No. Nope. Nada.

When would he have gotten - oh. Oh. Oh geeze. Right, he reached over and filched my phone off the table and was goofing around with it for a few minutes. I saw him scrolling through my photos but I thought that's all he was doing.

Well, that was disconcerting.

However, it proved once again that he certainly wasn't stupid. Actually, she'd found him pretty articulate and intelligent. Outspoken on more than a few things, but Dart was used to listening beyond that and picking out the unsaid parts. Everyone threw up a persona, and his was pretty sure of the world around him, but not sure of himself. He didn't like the rules. He didn't like the structure at his base. He didn't like being penned in, and that she could entirely understand and relate to. Walls were walls, even if they were keeping you safe and sound.

He had also thought the truce wasn't quite going to give the Autobots and Decepticons what was wanted and needed, and he didn't have a problem speaking his mind...

A thoughtful look settled onto the lanky young woman's features. The courier lifted her free hand and rubbed the side of her nose. She stared at the phone a while longer and shifted her weight back and forth. Her worn sneaker lifted and scuffed at the dirt; a rock pinged off the toe of her shoe and bounced into the dark. Slowly, she tilted the screen back into her hands and began to type.

Aw, hey, hi! I didn't expect this at all, but...yeah, I get that. The four walls thing, I mean. Okay, sure, we can meet, how about Red Robin

Oh gosh, of course, now she'd accidentally hit send. Erk.

Sorry, autocorrect! Red Rock. I meant Red Rock. The canyon, tomorrow night. Lower parking lot will probably be empty, if that works? Let me know. 

That would give her enough time to at least get there, and also figure out an excuse to be out that far, just in case.

[Hot Rod]

     The time that passed wasn't that much of a bother as an inconvenience, sitting in the dark waiting for a reply and hoping that no one spotted him in the room. That wouldn't be creepy at all, right? A mech like him, sitting there staring off into nothingness. He was pretty sure it was the right number, unless there was some coding that changed the number. Scrambled? No way, that couldn't have been it. Of course it was the right number. His skill in acquiring things like this were absolute. Sure, maybe he had messed up a time or two, but this time he was certain.

     He waited, legs crossed as an index digit tapped on the tabletop in the rec room to an unheard beat- the same one that possessed his pede as it hovered above the floor. He could wait, knowing that at the end of the line there was a fish just watching the worm wiggling on the hook. It wouldn't take long, he just had to-

     A chime rattled in his audials and his HUD alerted him to an incoming message. He pulled it up on his field and started to read.

     Aw, hey, hi! I didn't expect this at all, but...yeah, I get that. The four walls thing, I mean. Okay, sure, we can meet, how about Red Robin

     Not soon after that, another text.

     Sorry, autocorrect! Red Rock. I meant Red Rock. The canyon, tomorrow night. Lower parking lot will probably be empty, if that works? Let me know.

     A half smile came to his face. Hook. Line. Sinker.

     Perfect! I wish it was tomorrow night already, but I guess I gotta work on that 'patience is a virtue' scrap, huh? What a drag. I should be able to sneak outta here around nine or so. That's about the time they stop checking to see if you're actually in your room or not. Anyway, I'll see you then! Later!

     With that he ended the communication and stood from the chair and started to head out of the rec room. Though he had said 2100 was the last round of 'checks', that wasn't completely true. Red Alert was always watching, but that mech didn't bother him in the least. What could he do? Yell at him and tell him to get in his room? He would be able to drive off faster than he would even know what was going on. For now he would just have to wait until tomorrow night to see the femme that had his interest.

[Dart]

Dart was probably making the worst mistake of her life.

Okay, no, no, she admitted to herself. I've made a lot of mistakes over the last few years.

Which is technically all my life. 

However, true to her word, Dart was where she said she would meet him. She was also early, but that was pretty par for the course. It had been good to lope across the empty expanses of the dry desert between Oregon and Nevada. It was always beautiful country; the landscape was barren, rugged and mostly empty. She knew all the routes that avoided most people. Sure, when she had to, she folded up into her vehicle mode and used that, but mostly it was free range running room.

She loved that. Just her and the landscape; the rush of a river, the feel of sand and stone underfoot. The scent and sound of well-traveled roads turning into the tang of trees and brush. The places where a sniff of something metallic warned you to be watchful, instead of frantically being overloaded on the city-stink and wondering if the car driving up towards was really a car, or was it something far more dangerous?

Standing quietly in the dark lot right now, Dart rested her hands on her hip carriers. Her fingers nervously fiddled with the latches on them before she shifted her weight from foot to foot, rocking as she sniffed at the air. Then she scruffed at the thick gravel of the parking area with her toe and eyed the horizon and the sky.

Nothing around but stars and tall outcroppings of stone. The high red ridges around her had turned indigo with the night. A crescent sliver of moon silvered the gravel.

Something skittered in the dark. She turned on her heel, spoiler pricking over her shoulders, all long legs and motion, but was only met with a tiny flash of sandy fur bounding off into the brush.

A soft, tiny snort escaped the scruffy femme. The courier ducked her head. Slanted blue optics glowed softly in the dark, reflecting of the edge of her helm, back onto her pale grey nose and cheek. It was the brightest spot on her, Dart didn't really have any bio-lights. She was built for the open spaces of Earth, and lights in the wilderness attracted the wrong kind of attention.

She sheepishly grinned to herself.

Oh. Rabbits. Of course it's rabbits, Dart...

Still no Hot Rod, though. Possible he got caught sneaking out by a superior officer. Or- well, or he'll drive on up at the last second to nine.

Flashy entrances seemed like the sort of thing he'd do, that was for sure.

[Hot Rod]

     Once he broke past the hidden door in the side of the mountain he was home free. Having to get past Red Alert had been a chore, but he figured he'd done his best. If the Security officer didn't notice him, he wasn't doing his job. If he had been spotted, then he wasn't doing his own. So it was just a matter of who was better at being a sneaky pain in the aft, really.

     Silently he made his way through town. It was a quiet night so there weren't may people out- mostly those returning home after their work shifts or the night owls that used this time to hang out. Jasper had the late night crews that sometimes carried out their little races, but those didn't seem to be happening tonight. He paid mind to the traffic signals, signaling when he needed to turn at the light and kept to the speed limit as not to draw attention. These quiet nights one especially needed to be careful not to draw attention since there were a lot fewer vehicles for Patrols to chose from to pull over.

     He'd even been careful enough to use his holoform . The long, dark-haired man sat in the driver's seat with the window down, one arm braced on the windowsill and his music playing at an acceptable level as not to disturb the peace.

     A responsible adult. Wow, he was getting old.

     Once the town was cleared he increased his speed to be just under what was posted. Even if he weren't traveling at anything high rate as he normally would, he could still enjoy what was going on. The feel of the pavement under the tires. The sounds of small bits and pieces that kicked up against the undercarriage. The wayward animals that came out at night to avoid the daylight when there was an excess of people out and about. The cool air whipping around him as he drove.

     Who wouldn't enjoy the open road? Airheads were really missing out.

     He made his way to the meet up point. Late, as was his style, but he was fashionably so so it was all good, at least to him. The small two seater was careful of the travel down into Red Rock Canyon, as he wasn't made to last if he happened to go over the side. He could handle the roads just fine, but a weird little suicidal deer could ruin that skill in an instant and send him to what would surely be a very uncomfortable death. Or he would at least be severely damaged and would need to explain himself to Ratchet. So, death, no matter how you looked at it.

     He spotted Dart, standing there, staring off at whatever managed to catch her eye. Keeping to the shadows and weaving in and out to stay out of sight. His presence wasn't hidden from her, but physically he would. When he got within an acceptable distance of her he came to a stop and transformed, making sure he kept his cover up so she wouldn't see him just yet. 

     "Sorry I'm late. Scatter brain is always watchin'. It's good to see ya. Thanks for meetin' with me." Though he spoke as normal, there was a slight difference in tone and with an odd drawl, but that could have been just him trying to impress Dart with a new, smooth voice aimed to lull her or whatever other childhood nonsense.

[Dart]

Dart had been expecting him to drive on up and slide to a stop in a rush of gravel and flash.

Instead, there was almost what felt like a hesitation. A quiet drive up and settle. He wasn't being stealthy, far from it, but he certainly wasn't as wired as he had been the other night. That flamboyant, almost manic energy had smoothed.

Maybe- maybe he just needed to have that space to burn off some of his stress, she thought. The Autobot had almost been on a manic edge last time they'd met. Nothing that felt dangerous. Not at all. It had been more along the lines of something she herself understood; when you were so keyed up and feeling so penned in that you simply needed to move, to burn off energy, to gallop as fast as and far as you possibly could.

Red Rock at night was good for that. No one for miles, just speed and the road beneath you.

Dart lifted her jaw, tilted her head, and sniffed at the air again. 

So used to reading her whole world first and foremost by odor, the courier searched for the familiar scents of the other mech.

She hadn't forgotten. Hot Rod smelled like- like warmth and heat. Not burning, no, but like the smell of a heater unit coming on cozily in the dead of winter inside of a well-maintained and clean building. Where everything was in good shape and excellent working order. It wasn't the unpleasant odor of something charred, or on edge of burning out and dying down. More as if it was carefully stoked, waiting at a moment's notice to flare up and be ready to work.

The note in his voice caught her attention. Something didn't feel quite on as far as that went either- and now Dart found her nervousness rising. Flightly and wary by nature, the courier was even more on edge lately with everything that had gone on within her brain. Okay, what was going on in other mech's brains.

Her personal goal was to keep hers safe from having white, cold fingers poking around in it.

The courier eased her heel back against the heavy gravel of the parking lot and shifted her weight over her left leg. Her hand started to come up as if she might wave, and then it dropped to her side once more.

"S'okay," the lean, lanky femme offered quietly. "Don't worry about it, honest. Work comes first, I totally respect that."

A pause. "Gosh, yeah, good to see you too, but... aw, you sound a little rough. Is everything okay?"

[Hot Rod]

     "I didn't say work was keeping me. Our Security Chief like... never recharges so he's always glued to the monitors to check for trouble. Honestly, I'm surprised that I managed to get outta there without being spotted. He'd tattle on me to Optimus in no time." There was a heavy sigh. "If that was the case I would have been locked in and not been able to make it, though. That's the only way I know he didn't see me." There was a deep, hearty laugh at that, and the tone he used definitely made it known that he was quite proud of himself that he had snuck out from under the nose of Red Alert.

     Who knows what it was going to be like when he got back to base, though. There was no way he would be lucky twice in a row. If he was... then Red wasn't as good as everyone thought he was, and there was no way he'd let his reputation be ruined.

     "Yeah, I'm good. It's been a rough time. Lots of stuff going on and not enough hours in the day to get it all done in. You know how it goes."

     He remained in the shadows for the time being as he spoke, blue optics shining bright against the dark he was surrounded in. He was looking around, as if checking for signs of trouble. There was a shift in them and he turned his attention to her again.

     "Sorry. Habit. With the truce over and all that I have to make double sure that there's none of your friends hiding out somewhere waiting to take me out. Not to say you would lead me into a trap, but who knows who may be scouting out here and get wind of my signature." His was shielded for the time being, just until he could make sure it was all safe before he would come out into the light. At least if he kept in the dark he could use those to his advantage while making a speedy getaway.

     "But now that I know it's clear..."

[Jazz]

     "But now that I know it's clear..."

     The blue optics disappeared in an odd pixelated effect, first going entirely dark to where nothing could be seen, then chevron-shaped visor took its place. The blue beam from it radiated brilliantly as the heavy pedsteps of the mech carried him into the light. The chassis was the first thing seen, since the front half of the vehicle mode stock almost straight out from his frame. That would have been the first hint to trouble, coupled by the white paint and blue and red racing stripes that ran down the center.

     Fully in the light, the pretender came to be seen and stood there looking at Dart with a half smirk on his face. He was unarmed, with one servo placed on his hip and the other hanging freely at his side. While he clearly didn't seem to have come here with intentions to fight with the femme before him, that didn't mean he couldn't defend himself if she tried anything underhanded. This was Jazz, and he was notorious for a spectacular array of other types of weaponry. Just because he didn't have a blaster in his servos didn't mean he was harmless. Though who really knew... Dart may have not known who he was, which meant that this could have been a lot more frightening than he seemed to have intended so he just stood there trying to be as non combative looking as he could.

     Best to clear the air before someone got itchy.

     "I'm Jazz, but I'm not here to fight'cha. I just wanna talk."

[Dart]

Dart was trained to run messages, and when people spoke them to her she followed them to the letter, even to the inflections in their voice. She shifted her weight nervously back and forth from foot to foot. Her head tilted as she followed his explanation; the lift of his tone here, a fall here. She couldn't remember him talking quite like that, but really, they'd only been out here for one night.

Well, at least he wasn't calling Optimus Pops tonight. All she could think of every time he did that was exactly how Megatron would have reacted being called Pops. It would have probably resulted in a very plain and simple funeral.

She stood quietly though, and offered up an empathetic nod of her head as he explained how things were going back at the base.

It made a lot of sense that they would monitor like that. She'd never been stationed in a situation where they dedicated resources to that kind of thing. Pyrotech's teams had been dumped in the most backwater places - where were you going to go to?

When he mentioned her fellow Decepticons, Dart immediately shook her head and nervously lifted her nose into the air currents, but the area was dry and still. A quick glance around the area as if to reassure herself that there was no one else out here. That no one was watching.

Waiting.

Listening.

The points of metal behind her narrow shoulders twitched back and forth.

As he said it was clear and started to step forward, the air currents shifted around the stones he'd been standing between. It ever so slightly, but it was enough. Her olfactory sensors snatched immediately at the air, pulled it in and in that second, Dart's optics widened. There was none of that warm, deep scent she'd come to associate with the mech. This was something entirely different. It was the smells of metal and powerful engine; energon and wide open highways.

Blue optics became a band as the mech stepped forward. However, even before the flash of white and the curve of his broad chest even were completely definable, the femme in front of Jazz reared back in shock.

Spooked into terrified motion, the slim robot in front of Jazz frantically turned on her heel to bolt. She cut a divot in the dirt as she spun sideways and-

Promptly caught her foot right under the bottom rung of one of those incredibly silly fences that Hot Rod had spent so much time making fun of.

In the battle of fence versus giant robot, Dart lost. She tripped. The strip of metal behind her shoulders desperately attempted to counterbalance her forward motion, but there was nothing for it to help. She pinwheeled frantically in an effort to keep from landing on her face. The dried out section of old log fence snapped in half with a sharp crack, and totally threw her off balance again.

Dart yelped and pitched forward.

Somehow, she managed to keep her footing for a few yards without tumbling head over heels but it was about as graceful as a mule on a water slide. A second later, she lost her footing entirely on the loose dirt and stone. There was an entirely ungraceful thud as she landed hard on the desert floor. A scrabble, but she couldn't get her footing under her and all she could do was look up-

Not Hot Rod. Oh god, I'm dead, I messed up, I messed up, how stupid, I- not... wait. What?

She sat in the dirt, all lanky leg and limb, left hand braced behind her. Her duct-tape covered right arm curled up protectively over the center of her chest.

"J-Jazz?" she echoed, sniffing the air. She didn't recognize this mech, she had no idea what- who he was.

Then again she really only knew Optimus Prime and Ratchet off the top of her head as names, but to be fair, they were interchanged with cursewords among the Decepticons. So it probably didn't count.

Not here to fight. The words registered. Her blue optics stared at him, and then focused on his empty hands. No gun. No gun in his hands at least. Not that it meant that much, half of these mechs transformed parts of themselves into weapons of mass destruction.

"I- I... talk?" she stammered, as a whole lot of reasons a strange Autobot disguised himself as someone and then wanted to talk to her rolled through her brain. Erk.

[Jazz]

     Jazz could only watch as the femme started to scramble, obviously startled by him being there rather than the hot head she had come to meet up with. Though what transpired was a lot more than what he had thought would go down. Seemed the fencing wasn't on her side, at least.

     "Yikes," he said with a flinch after it was all over. The saboteur had wanted to help when he had seen everything unfold in front of him like a rug unrolling itself for the first time, but he figured that would only spook her more and he didn't wan to risk a 'caged animal' situation where she would lash out at him or risk hurting herself further.

     Or rather, that he didn't want another fence jumping out of nowhere and hurting her.

     "Okay, I expected ya to be alarmed when I showed up instead of Hot Rod which is why I didn't just come in here with the whole horse and pony show, but I didn't think there would be all the... dramatics." Jazz stared at her as she sat in the dirt, then glanced over at the mangled fence that would surely need a bit of repairing to be recognizable again. He made a face. "I dunno what ya did in a past life, but it must have involved ya kickin' that fence's ancestor or somethin'. Cause, man... that thing was ready to take ya out faster than Inigo Montoya wanted to take out Rugen for killin' his father."

     When she seemed to calm down some, Jazz dared to take a step forward and reached his servo out very, very slowly towards her. "Come on, lemme help ya up wonder woman. And careful, ya got some chain link still wrapped around your ankle. I don't wanna have to ask Ratchet to come out here and tend to ya cause ya managed to dislocate it. He would never believe me that ya did it on that thing."

[Dart]

Dart had smacked into a lot of things in her time on Earth.

Mostly tree branches, though. Oh, wait, a telephone pole. Also, someone's laundry that they'd hung out to dry. She still felt bad about that one, and hoped the person had found all their socks in the end.

That's where mismatched socks actually end up, strewn for miles across the Alaskan wilderness by a giant alien robot.

However, she was pretty respectful about fences, even small ones, so this was sort of a new experience. Low on her list of experiences, but still, it was new.

The mech wasn't shooting at her though. In fact, he was just eyeing her, then the mangled fence, then back at her.

When he started talking though, Dart inclined her head. The blue light from her optics washed over the bridge of her nose as she ducked her helm slightly in obvious embarrassment. In a past life- well, maybe he was right. It was possible she had kicked that fence's ancestor, but then again there were a lot of possible things she'd done or was. Who knew. She didn't.

Wait, whoa did he just quote...

It was such a human reference that Dart blinked. The tiny points of her spoiler came up and pricked over her shoulders.

Some Cybertronians just- they parroted. Like, they might yell out a human swear, but they had no idea where the expression came from. Same with movie quotes. This didn't feel like that. The inflections were his own, the casual drop of the comment within the conversation. This mech- Jazz- he knew human movies, and he'd obviously watched this particular movie.

Not- not anyone to do with Soma, her brain insisted. No one associated with him would know that. It's obscure enough that heck, even a lot of humans don't know it.

Slowly, her blocking arm and hand moved away from her chest. Dart's motion exposed a weather-worn, scratched and grimy stylized silver lightning bolt, as well as her Decepticon sigil. It had four deep and nasty burn lines across it. As he stepped forward, she immediately drew back and her free foot lifted ever so slightly off of the dirt before she followed his visored gaze down to her ankle. Oh.

"Oh gosh. No, no, that's okay, that's all right, sir," she blurted quickly, even as her hands fumbled towards the tangle around her foot and tugged carefully on the wire. "Really, it's okay. I'm not hurt, I'm fine, don't bother Ratchet, honest, nothing's hurt, promise."

Dart had actually met the Autobot Medic once. The idea of him being dragged out of work and finding her to be part of the reason again wasn't one she wanted to even be part of. He didn't seem like the sort of soul who took being bothered lightly, and she had the utmost respect for medics. They had a hard enough job with all the unpleasant do not touch me I hate doctors people who wanted to punch them.

Also, she'd seen Ratchet slice a Vehicon almost in half once. In one hit.

Frankly, if she had to pick between who had been more terrifying at that moment in time, it wasn't Fortress Maximus. It had been Ratchet, thank you very much.

Cautiously, she twisted back a chunk of the fence bits and then realized he was reaching out his hand. Unsure, she looked up at Jazz and automatically started to tip her nose towards him to take a sniff before she caught herself and sheepishly focused back on pulling the last of the fencing away from her ankle.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled apologetically. "I appreciate that. I mean, the not trying to startle me, sir. I just- I wasn't expecting..."

A pause. She seemed to struggle with words for a moment, and then a soft puff of air escaped the corner of her mouth.

"Is everything all right?" Dart managed to ask.

[Jazz]

Jazz hadn’t moved when she had sniffed at his servo, neither asking what she was doing nor looking like he was weirded out by it. Instead he stood still as not to startle her away and let his servo hang there, digits and wrist loose in an non threatening gesture so she wouldn’t stop in the middle of the action. This wasn’t the first Cybertronian who had inspected his scent, and he was used to some of the critters on their home planet doing the same so he figured it was just part of her filing process. Sniff him out, inspect the scent, file it away for later identification purposes. While he didn’t have issue with it, the way she pulled away after doing so made him pretty sure she’d been patronized for it before.

“Nothin’s wrong. Your boyfriend is safe back at the base. It’s more that I wanted to talk to you more than anythin’ else.” She seemed to be relaxed enough now with him but he didn’t want to push it and risk ruining the peace they seemed to have reached. “More pointedly, I wanted to discuss the two of ya.”

There was a bit a hitch, then his visor flickered brightly as he laughed. “And also? Don’t call me ‘sir’. That reminds me that I’m up there in age. I hope I don’t look that ill kept and aged.”

He watched her as she fumbled with the last remaining bit of the fence and vented as he knelt down and looked at what she was messing with. Just so he wouldn’t get in her way, he took hold of the strand that wasn’t hugging her frame and pulled away the strands that were loose or not attached, to give her an idea of which parts of the mangled chain link were still a problem for her.

[Dart]

A small, oddly grateful look crossed Dart's face as Jazz left his hand still and quiet. The back of the mech's hand was facing her, his fingers were loose and slightly curled inward. Most Cybertronians would have stretched it out palm up, thrust it it out in the universal language of- stop that right now. Or they would have drawn back and stared at her like she'd lost her mind, snatching their fingers away with a look of disgust. He didn't do any of that. His body language was calm and at ease.

Nothing's wrong. Well, that was good. Good to know that Hot Rod hadn't been picked up by MECH and wasn't completely eviscerated within some cavern in the middle of Russia. She'd sort of beeen afraid of that. Well, she was afraid of that for a lot of folks, not just him, but Hot Rod was flashy and noticeable. That shiny Autobot symbol smack in the middle of his chest would attract attention, and not just the wrong kind of Decepticon attention.

The scruffy femme froze. Not a twitch, not a jitter.

"W... what?" she asked, her blue optics wide. "Your- your base?"

The tips of her spoiler flicked frantically back and forth behind her shoulders. Dart's fingers dug into the dirt of the side of the parking lot as she blinked and stared at the mech in front of her. A thousand things went through her head, her thoughts were here and there, galloping pell-mell into places they had no place being.

She didn't even flinch as Jazz knelt down and and reached to help twist back the remaining fencing. Once it was pointed quietly out to her where it was still tangled, she quickly had herself free to scramble to her feet. Once there, Dart shook herself with an soft rattle of plating. Red desert dust drifted off of her as she straightened her shoulders.

"All- All right," she said, taking a deep pull of air in to her systems. "Discuss, okay. Discuss. Right."

A quick shake of her head. "Oh. No, no, you're not ill kept."

Whoops. Whoa, whoa, the other thing, don't forget the other thing- 

"Er, or old, s-" Dart hastened to say, lifting her hands palm up in apology. "What am I allowed- er, what should I call you, then?"

[Jazz]

     "Just Jazz. Really, it's fine. There's nothin' fancy here and ya certainly don't gotta do formalities with me. We're just to pals chattin' it up. No need to ruin it with senseless stuff that's reserved for wartime measures."

     The formal stuff was never his scene, even within the Elite Guard, but it was required because of respect that the officers with that carried. It had never sit right for anyone to call him 'sir' or by rank. Even now he didn't tell anyone what rank he had been there- for one, it didn't matter. For two, he didn't want anyone to feel that he outranked them and as such had to put him on a different level. The only time one should have been looking down at another was to make optic contact with one much shorter in stature.

     "With the truce gone it puts everythin' in a much different perspective, ya know? Cons and Bots are supposed to be shootin' at each other again and usin' whatever leverage they can to break the ranks of the other team. Which is why I wanted to come out here and poke at ya about your boyfriend." Jazz's sensors picked up something and he turned his helm slightly to the side, his visor flickering as it scanned the area. After he determined it was just a deer who was now well on its way, bouncing off into the brush to tell the stories of the giant weird things it had seen to its friends, he turned his attention back to Dart.

     "Ya good, by the way?" Jazz motioned to her foot. "Ya took a nasty drop and that fencin' ain't the best but it can definitely screw up your alignments if it gets in the right space. No twist or bend?" The talk of Hot Rod could wait. For now he wanted to make sure that after this was over he wasn't going to send her off with a messed up ankle that he should have been aware of what would probably cost her in the long run if the wrong person found out about it. "Even if it feels fine you outta take a good look at it just to make sure. Don't want an injury that ya weren't aware of to suddenly debilitate you later on. From what I remember of Megatron, he doesn't take too well to injured soldiers."

[Dart]

Dart drew in a small gulp of air. There was a hesitant tip of her head. Her hands dropped and stayed loose by her sides, careful to leave them where he could see them.

She listened quietly to what Jazz had to say.

He was right. Dart could admit that she'd liked the truce and she felt a little guilty that sure, it had probably been for a couple of purely selfish reasons. One, that she could slip around without worrying about being instantly shot in the back or beat up. Two, was that if she was seen in the company of, er, not Decepticons, she at least had an excuse. Sort of. Three...

Well, three was absolutely selfish. Maybe they'd all pack up and go home and leave Earth behind. Dart was okay with that until she sort of took a heavy look at it from another angle. Which was, in all honesty, no doubt she'd have to leave too. Sure, she could probably survive off of Earth's resources for a good long while - until parts started to need replacement, or she had an serious accident and no one was around to help. Also, MECH wasn't leaving the planet either.

Not only was the idea of setting foot on a ship and flying daunting as heck, it meant she'd leave the only home she'd ever known. Were there amazing worlds out there to explore? Yes. Hopefully not the sort where she tried to frantically negotiate with a friend's angry ex-girlfriend, or ask to borrow money off a friend's cred-card so that she could pay off the insurance co-pay (or worse, a lawyer) but even those moments were better than being shot and left out in the desert to die.

There would be alien plants, animals; beautiful  strange planets, spaces with gorgeous art and even better? Something she wanted desperately. That she didn't have mostly be in her head to make her own choices and be around friends she knew and adored. That would be incredible.

But- I might never come back here again in my life.

Dart struggled with that. For so many reasons. Right, hello brain. Focus.

Leverage, to break the ranks of the other team. Okay, understood, but she didn't understand how that issue had to do with-

A whiff of animal caught her attention, the faint, dry-musky scent of one of the black-tailed deer that roamed Nevada. Apparently the mech noticed it too; his visor glimmered in the dark as he turned his head.

"I'm okay, really," Dart replied quickly. "I- I take tumbles all the time, honest."

She'd certainly learned to bounce over the years, but politely, carefully, she extended her leg out a bit and rolled the ankle once, testing it before she set it back down. Sure, it was still sore but that was more to do with life in general than this poor innocent fence.

"Leg stuff, I notice. I'm careful about it - promise. Thank you, though."

A pause, and she glanced down at herself. Dirt from nose to foot, scratched and scuffed, her tape wrapped arm, the weathered burns over her sigil. Well, huh. There was a tiny, lopsided smile, echoed by the slope of her spoiler.

"Er, I don't think Lord Megatron doesn't really have time to specifically notice those of us who aren't frontliners, s-"

Dart caught herself.

"At least I don't think so," she admitted.

A slight fidget from one foot to the other now. "So, er, how did you know to come poke me?"

[Jazz]

     Jazz gave her a skeptical look and he shook his helm. "Ya know, if ya take tumbles all the time ya outta get yourself looked at by a medical professional. Could be somethin' miscalibrated or out of line that should be fixed. Not that I'm tellin' ya how to live your life or nothin', but ya should take better care of yourself. Duct tape can't hold ya together forever." As he said the last part he pointed ot the piece of duct tape that was hanging off of her arm like it was trying to catch some air and fly away. "Or at least get yourself some industrial strength stuff. I know a place that has the best on the market. You'd just have to stroll in with a hum- holoform." He corrected himself, figuring that the Deceptions didn't have human allies to do things like shop for them like they did.

     "I mean, if ya even got one of those?" Come to think of it, Jazz didn't think Megatron or his troops would be down to making themselves anything organic looking to fit in with this planet, even if it was just a holomatter. Convincing the Warlord to do something as ridiculous as taking on a scan of Larry and pretend that it drove around when he was out and about was probably as farfetched as thinking he had a collection of flowering violets in his personal quarters.

     That thought aside with a flinch, Jazz came back to the here and now.

     "Well, I am a spook of sorts so it's kinda my job to know things, especially when ya got the Security officer practically living at his desk and ya just don't wanna trigger a break down that would set the place on fire." Not that he imagined Red Alert would do something like that, but in the interest of keeping everyone safe he certainly wouldn't put it past him to at least blockade all the exits. Best way to keep everyone safe was to just.... keep them permanently in one spot forever. He was sort of surprised there weren't reports of him nailing some of the flightier ones to the floor.

     "That aside, your sweetspark ain't exactly one who can sneak around without bein' noticed. It's easy to tail him and... eventually lead to you. Ya kinda make yourself a walkin' billboard when you're hangin' out with a giant glowstick."