[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Desert Secrets [Open]

[Cassandra Cassidy]

WEEK 4, DAY 2 - Continuing From Desert Winds

The Outskirts of Las Vegas, NV


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On a dusty desert road, a bottle-green and gray Ford Falcon sped along the pavement. Clouds of red sand spun and settled in its wake, the storm that deposited those grains gone in the Falcon's wake. Cars, trucks, and motorcycles whizzed by, all colors of the rainbow and all matter of great and small. The lunch rush was coming, and traffic was picking up into and out of Vegas. The old car was lost among their number, dust-marred and completely ordinary-looking. No one would think it different to any of the collector's cars that regularly came through the Strip.

The woman sitting in the driver's seat - white-knuckled and staring blankly ahead - desperately wished she was one of those people. Eyes locked on the way ahead, her foot ginger in how it touched the gas pedal, Butch said and did nothing but drive. Well, sort of - the flooring of the pedal was the doing of the sentient fucking being that the Falcon actually was. Butch couldn't figure out if she was hallucinating from sleep deprivation, having an intense lucid dream, or had finally gone insane. It could've been a mix of all three. She reached to try and pinch and triple-, quadruple-, quintuple-check she was awake, but her hand never made it that far. It would hover in the air for a moment, then shoot back to the steering's leather and hold it tight.

No music was playing in the car. The living metal on all sides contained the awkward silence like pressure in a soda can. Butch couldn't bear to open her mouth to speak, and had to stop from holding her breath. Everything about the situation wanted to make her freeze, hide, and make time stand still. Her mind would jump to the idea of trying to bail and make a run for it, but reason reminded her the car would catch up. There was also the matter of the fucking sentient jet still out there, who might try to circle back to them.

And it would circle back because this car was in a war, an intergalactic war, and Earth was his newest battleground. The jet above wanted him and every one of his kind - the Auto-something - dead. Had things gone sideways, Butch would've been collateral in a conflict that shouldn't fucking exist. Hell, she still could become collateral, and dared not look up in case she tempted fate.

The car said he'd keep her safe. He said he'd take her somewhere, explain everything to her. Butch had no reason but to trust him. What else could she do? If the jet came back, she was dead. If this was an alien abduction and they were going to a secondary location to dispose of her, she was still dead. If she tried to leap out of the moving car and hit her head the wrong way, she'd definitely be dead. All she could do was pray to a God she barely put a thought to, hope for the best, and try not to make any sudden movements.

If she got out of this alive, she was either going to start going to church, get fucking hammered, or both. Maybe on communion wine if there was a bottle the priest didn't mind sparing. Either option would be the result of a fucking miracle.

[Deleted]

The passing cars and motorcycles mixed with a decent number of Big Rigs towing Sixty Foot Long Trailers broke up a vast – though by no means lifeless Desert for miles. Sagebrush to Cactus that had adapted to grow in the otherwise arid terrain had been often the choice of sustenance for the various animals ranging from Mice to Snakes, Birds and Coyote that called the Region home had only made the Old Tessaran long for the Plains of Cybertron – sort of. At least, this Planet hadn't been bled dry of Energon as Cybertron had. Though, if the Decepticons had their way and Optimus Prime's Team Failed the Earth would have counted itself a dried out husk.

Kup had preferred the open Desert over the cramped confines of the City of Las Vegas with its Glass and Concrete Skyscrapers that had almost reminded him of when their Planet had been in its Prime before the current ongoing Great War. Unlike most of the other Surviving Cybertronians that had found their way to this Planet, Kup had spent more of his Operational Life in the Field – in one Muddy Trench to another fighting either Ick-Yaks to Shrike Bats to the Squid-Like Quintessons and those experiences had shaped his perceptions. Though, he still hadn't quite figured out where those little Pocket Monsters that used Electricity and Water to attack with came from or where he'd encountered them? Or had he?

The presence of Cassidy in his Cab hadn't been on he'd overlooked, or the fact that he'd nearly shattered her grasp of reality in her World. He'd seen it, and heard it plenty of times throughout the Ages of Cybertronians revealing themselves and their conflicts to local Inhabitants on Millions of Planets before the Rust Plague. The Human Psyche, as far as he'd observed, hadn't entirely been able to have comprehended the existence of Sentient Robotic or Cybernetic Lifeforms. He wished there had been a better Alternative for his Passenger to have learned of their Existence, but that Decepticon Seeker – Krieg had forced the issue and had for Kup's hand in the Matter. The Old Tessaran had vowed to Cassidy he'd protect her, even if that had meant his own Destruction and he'd see to it. The drive out from the confines of Las Vegas into the Outskirts and into the open Desert along some Highway the Humans had referred to as Highway 15 East. The Sandstorm that had plagued them earlier had passed along with their Seeker 'Friend' or at least as far as Kup's own scanners and his visual checks had been concerned allowing the Sun to shine through, and for other Drivers to have ventured out. It allowed him to blend in better among the other cars, but it made them collateral damage if the Seeker or the other Decepticons had returned.

* * * * * * *

[Sometime Later]

The Ford Falcon Futura had found a road off of one of the Main Highways or Freeways, and had turned off onto that back road when traffic had thinned out considerably. He'd made certain there hadn't been any settlements nearby, or humans out repairing some of the above ground power poles to Hikers that were out. He'd discovered that Nevada had been host to a vast series of Mountain Ranges to Deep Valleys which had drawn the more curious of the Adrenaline Junkies. The last thing Kup had wanted had been to have a curious Hiker or Hikers to stumble onto them. He'd noted Cassidy had been quiet most of the time, and hadn't blamed her for it. He'd shattered her reality, made her even question her sanity. He'd opted to have spent only long enough on the back road to have covered as much ground as possible before having used his own scanners to have scanned the area for either ruined structures, caves, or an old Ghost Town. He had to contact the Omega Outpost to request a Ground Bridge, but knew the risk if he'd called for one in the open.

“You have every right to question what's happened, Butch,” Kup began. “I don't blame you. No one could. We lost our Tail, that Jet back in Las Vegas. You can be reassured we aren't being followed,”

[Cassandra Cassidy]

Butch jerked back from the wheel when the car spoke, fingers releasing the old leather for a moment. She blinked and stared down at the center of the steering, as if a face would emerge and stare back. A couple of breaths later, Butch frowned and leaned forward again, taking each side of the wheel back.

"You're damn right I have questions," Butch grumbled. Her eyes went back to the road, and one foot - which had come off the gas, too - went to rest beside the brake. "If this is some kind of sick joke, I'm going to smash your windows in and slash the fuck out of your tires - what was your name again?"

Her eyes flickered to the side. They were getting out into wild country, now, and who knew if Butch could make a call out there. No one out there to see her running for help; no one out there to hear her scream. She tried not to think about everything that could go wrong if the car-thing went hostile.

Letting out a breath between her teeth, she straightened her posture a bit and adjusted her hands. Butch had be clenching her left one tight, making its pink, ugly scar bulge from its flesh. Pulling that hand off, she gave it a couple of shakes before wiggling its fingers. The digits produced a soft crick-crack, and Butch squinted and pursed her lips. That hand laid over a bar of the steering wheel, the fingers loose and uncurling at the ten-position.

"What happens now?" Butch asked after another tense stretch of silence. "You take me somewhere, and then what?"

[Deleted]

"I had that coming," Kup said. "It wasn't my intention to string you along,"

"The name is Kup," the Aging Tessaran said. "How good are you at keeping Secrets?"

Though he knew or had to assume she'd take offense at his question, he had to know her integrity. He had to understand how she'd keep their Secret, and he'd have to explain to her how vital it had been that she'd kept it from others. If by some chance someone else outside of those the Autobots had brought into their Company had discovered them, the Aging Warrior had known full well the results. The World would want to know who they were, how many, what they could offer in terms of Technology and if they refused how certain Parties in the World -- how some Humans in the World had planned to take it. The Reports he'd read or overheard had been correct that at least one Group -- M.E.C.H. had given into the temptation of their own inner greed to tear apart Kup's Kind to find some manner of Advanced Technology that Group could have Reverse Engineered for their own twisted purposes.

Kup had to know if Butch had been the sort that could have held a Secret, even when pressured by her Peers. His own Survival depended on it, not that it would have been that much of a greater Secret than she'd been exposed to during their Encounter with that Over-Eager Seeker that made the mistake of thinking he was a Petro-Rabbit. Petro-Rabbits his Aft Plating.

His scanners had detected a cave not far from their current location, and within a few minutes the Ford Falcon Futura had turned off onto an aging concrete road. The abandoned road had led to an old Mining Town, one so far off the beaten path it hadn't had a single visitor or a resident gracing its Halls in decades if not longer. The remaining buildings had been covered in white plaster that had darkened over time exposed to the elements, and had sections that had either rotted through to expose the wood beneath either by looters or through natural means. The fact his Scanners had detected any other Sources of Motion or Life had been reassuring, and had meant if they'd been able to make it to the cave or to the mine if his suspicions had been true wouldn't have drawn unwanted attention. Finding the old Mine that had sat in an old naturally formed cave, Kup felt the old rail ties beneath the tires allowing the Ford Falcon Futura to drive into the mine itself. The headlights lit up the sides of the mine, with its support beams coupled with the old rail ties, some old hand tools and more than a few old crates that lay off to the side. Kup had wanted to get as deep into the cave towards one of the larger chambers before having called in for a Ground Bridge since even in the middle of nowhere the lights from a ground bridge could have been seen.

Sometime later, more about ten or fifteen minutes later, the cave had opened up into a larger chamber which gave Kup some relief. Two old Miner's Rail Carts lay off to the left side near a branch of the mine that led deeper into the cave. The Aging Tessaran featured the brakes bringing the Futura to a steady stop a distance from the chamber's farthest wall, and scanned the cave once more.

[Cassandra Cassidy]

He answered her question with one of his own. Butch glared at the steering wheel for a moment, then turned to look out the window. "Good enough," was her terse reply, and she said nothing more as they drove. She didn't look at the wheel, either, or out the windshield.

The roads wound on, becoming more worn and unchecked as they drove. Dust began to cover the way in patches, moved aside only by the Ford Futura's wheels. Little vortexes spun up in the distance, and brush and cacti whizzed by. At one point, a crow flew in the opposite way the car was going, and the black blur made Butch jump in her seat. She whipped around to look out the back, jaw clenched tight and eyes staring wide. Her return to sitting was slow, careful and anxious, eyes darting all over the car and to the windows. Her hands rested in her lap instead of on the wheel - though she did not relax - and Butch stared out a side window again.

Butch frowned a little when the cave approached, and shot her bad hand to the driver's door. It was obvious Butch was ready to spring, fingers weakly reaching for the handle. Her eyes were darting again, and she was looking all over, evaluating. To her credit, she didn't fling the door open and dive out. That didn't mean she wouldn't given the chance.

[Deleted]

"I'm going to contact some of my friends, Butch. It is imperative that you won't tell anyone about this or about our Existence," Kup said.

"Do you have a flashlight or a lighter? Something to give off a little light?" the Tessaran said. "When the Bridge opens, I'm not going to be able to retain this Form. I'm going to have to Transform, and I don't want you to be caught up in that. I don't even know what will happen if you're still in my cab when that happens,"

'Kup to Omega Outpost. Kup to Omega Outpost. Is anyone receiving? Arcee, Red Alert, Jazz, Bumblebee? Anyone? If someone's there, I need a Ground Bridge opened a few meters in front of my current location. I'm in an old Mining Cave and underground...I think,' Kup said. He'd opened an Encrypted Frequency using his internal Communications System to the Omega Outpost, and hoped that someone had been manning the Main Consoles rather than playing a game of Lob Ball or Whack'a'Mole or whatever passed as fun this Planet. Though he could have easily requested a Ground Bridge out loud without the risk of having been overheard or found out, he'd chosen to have sent the Transmission over the Internal Communication's System with its Auto-Encryption Function mostly out of the fact he hadn't wanted to have freaked Butch out further, and that the Internal Comm-System had been the only piece of equipment he'd had that carried that Function.

A vortex sprang into existence, a blend of blues, greens, yellows, some purples, and reds mixed in had seemingly sprouted from the sheer wall of the cave ahead of the Nineteen Sixty-Four Ford Falcon Futura and its Passenger. Switching his gears into Reverse, the Futura backed up about fifteen feet -- enough room for Kup to have both allowed Butch to have left the Cab and to have Transformed. He'd been particularly relieved the ceiling of that chamber had been high enough to potentially have allowed his full height, or if he'd been off a little he wouldn't have minded crouching a little.

The Driver's Side door unlocked before having gently swung open allowing both the chilled temps of the Mine to have flowed into the Cab, and to have allowed his Passenger to have stepped out if she'd so wished. He'd hoped the gesture would have been taken as one of Trust, and that she'd stay to witness something the Majority of Humans on this World hadn't been aware existed.

"My Friends are on the other side of this Vortex, Butch. If you would Trust me, as you have so far, I will show you something only a few have known," Kup said. "I chose this Mine to avoid this Vortex from having been seen. We do have Enemies that would want to take me and those like me apart,"

[Cassandra Cassidy]

Butch listened in silence. Her grip was white-knuckled. Her teeth were set. Her eyes focused on a single point ahead of her. When he asked if she had a light, she said a quick, "Yeah," before a shaky hand went to one pocket. She pulled out her lighter, plastic and fire-engine red, and thumbed the switch a few times. Finally, it was set alight.

The minute the door popped open, Butch hopped out, scurrying off to the side to give Kup space. She stood rigid where she stopped, twitching a little as if readying to bolt. But the woman stayed, all nerves and fight-or-flight ready to go, while Kup was silent to her ears.

And then, the world exploded. A curse rang off the walls of the cavern, echoing and pitchy. Butch sprang backwards a few feet, dropping her lighter somewhere in the shadows. Trembling, she stared with wide, unbelieving eyes, unable to pull her gaze away. The air had the faint tang of ozone, and pinpricks crackled across her skin in a mix of fear and spiraling static. In front of her was a swirling aurora, neon green and lightning-gold. Flashes of white, ice-blue and teal punctuated the vortex, the middle rapidly deepening. It became a smooth, round hole, reminiscent of a drain in a bathtub. A bright light appeared from the other end.

This wasn't real. This couldn't be real, many would have said. Some would've fainted - others turned and ran. Butch just stood there, dumbstruck, mouth hanging open as she tried to comprehend what the fuck she was looking at.

"My Friends are on the other side of this Vortex, Butch. If you would Trust me, as you have so far, I will show you something only a few have known," Kup said. "I chose this Mine to avoid this Vortex from having been seen. We do have Enemies that would want to take me and those like me apart."

Butch nodded slowly. She said nothing, still staring at what was in front of her. Somewhere above, bats chittered in fright and flew away, disturbed by the noise and light.

[Avalanche]

Slowly, restlessly, Avalanche prowled around the command centre. The heavy pa-thunk of each footstep rang back from the rock and concrete, a metronome underscoring her thoughts. If anyone else had been present, she'd have desisted at once. It was always bad to let those under your command see their leader restless, and even though she wasn't in command of Omega, old habits were hard to break. But she was alone.

Patch was missing.

Avalanche's furnace-orange optics looked down at her hands; she opened and closed them, then reached up to rub her left shoulder. They felt better than they had in a long time. Patch had done that. She'd taken to the slight medic at once; professional, but unafraid to be conversational. There was a fondness there. So many of those she'd been closest to in the past had been medics. Perhaps because they were the one sort of person with whom you had no choice but to drop the mask. At least a little.

She vented a sigh. She could only hope her own former troops were prospering under Forgelight's command. Too many friends out there. Too many people she cared about, lost beyond her reach, and all she could do was trust that they'd do their best for each other.

The central console chirped, signalling an incoming message. Drawn from her thoughts, Avalanche crossed over to the console as the system automatically decrypted the incoming signal and played it aloud.

::Kup to Omega Outpost. Kup to Omega Outpost. Is anyone receiving? Arcee, Red Alert, Jazz, Bumblebee? Anyone? If someone's there, I need a Ground Bridge opened a few meters in front of my current location. I'm in an old Mining Cave and underground...I think::

She tapped a control, leaning down towards the audio pickup.

"Omega to Kup. Commander Avalanche here. Stand by for bridge."

She frowned slightly as her heavy hands moved over the controls; it was all a bit beyond an old construction bot like her, but she needed to know how to operate the bridge as part of her duties, so she'd put in the time to learn. Fortunately the system was built large enough that she could use it, even if it was a little fiddly. For a smaller bot, it must have been frustratingly gargantuan.

First she had to copy the coordinates indicated by the comm system as the source of the transmission... then make a small adjustment to offset by a few meters horizontally. Fortunately, the system was largely automated. Coordinates set to her satisfaction, she nodded to herself once.

"Bridge incoming," she announced briefly over the channel, then gripped the lever and pulled back. A rippling wall of light burst into being, shimmering green and gold. Every second the system was active cost them energon, so her hand remained on the lever, ready to shut it down the moment Kup came through.

Her other hand reached back to touch the shield anchored to her back. Kup's transmission hadn't indicated any urgency, but if this was some kind of trick, and hostiles came through... well. She didn't expect it, but a good soldier always prepared for the unexpected.

[Deleted]

"We'll be through momentarily, Commander. I'll be accompanied by a Human. Her name is Butch. I can tell you more after we arrive, but you can rest assured she isn't a threat," Kup said, through his own internal com-link. "She may be a little skittish and skeptical, but she's keeping it together. She does have a small knife, but it didn't even do anything to my interior,"

The Driver's Side Door gently closed, latching itself in place before the Tessaran decided to undergo the Transformation Process. The two front wheels angled inward followed by the two rear wheels followed by a fine line forming along the base of the trunk with a counterpart along the center-line horizontally from the center of the windshield to the far edges. Panels and gears slide into place, shifting allowing the Cybertronian's knee caps to form followed by his legs and finally to the pedes thick with armor that ran to the knee joints. The front wheels seemed to float at first before shifting to form the shoulders while the rear wheels were tucked into the back of the legs.

The front wheels folded out of view in their place at the shoulders allowing for arms covered in armored plating to form flowing down to hands with four digits each including a thumb which flexed. The hood of the car with the windshield folded downwards forming the top of his torso, and a breastplate while the trunk folded downwards along his back to lock into place. A humanoid head with hardened, wizened features had been topped off with an outdated thickened helm which flowed down to cover his audio receptors. Two pale blue optics peered out from beneath the trailing edge of the helm, framed a “face” featuring a nose with angled cheeks and a mouth. A thickened alloy belt formed about his waist, featuring what could have been described as a belt buckle featured armored pouches capable of containing either Energon rations in travel size or an emergency survival kit, or repair kit or whatever else may have been practical to use hung off the left and right side of the belt. There were signs in the form of what could be called age lines, and while there had been signs of wear and tear here or there nothing had been of a serious nature.

The twin ventral tips of the helm came close to striking the ceiling of the chamber, with barely a few feet in clearance.

"I could have sworn the ceiling was a little higher than this," he said.

"I promised I'd show you something very few on this Planet have seen, and that's what'll happen," the Tessaran said, looking down towards Butch. He'd knelt taking a knee careful of where she'd stood to speak with his Human companion, and laid his left hand palm open on the mine's floor.

"If you wish, you can climb into my hand. I'll keep it steady. Or, you can walk through the Ground Bridge on foot," the Aging Warrior said.

[Cassandra Cassidy]

The car unfolded in front of her. Butch hopped back at the first clank, almost tripping over a rock. Her hand fumbled down her leg for her knife, panic blinding her. Wheels retracted into a block of metal, replaced by legs and arms not unlike her own. The former car pulled up, becoming horizontal as his core became a torso. A hood and headlights became a chest piece, a trunk and rear bumper Kup's back.

Butch's frantic fear disappeared. Her eyes wide and round, mouth hanging open, her chin lifted as her gaze trailed up Kup's body. Gray-brown eyes met piercing blue, looking into a face that was eerily human. Worn lines and sharp angles came together to suggest old age and a hard life. Butch blinked, lips coming together a little.

She nodded as Kup quipped about the ceiling. It was all she could do. This...man, this car, this whatever-he-was-supposed-to-be was the size of a small building. Nothing about him was organic - he was all chrome and bits of vehicle, with neon in the eyes that shone in the dark. When the old-looking being offered his hand to her, Butch backed up again, almost hitting the wall. She was trembling, her breathing rapid.

"I promised I'd show you something very few on this Planet have seen, and that's what'll happen. If you wish, you can climb into my hand. I'll keep it steady. Or, you can walk through the Ground Bridge on foot," Kup said. Butch's mouth opened and closed, and she made a small, indescribable sound. Her head turned slow toward the portal, and she eyed it nervously before looking back at Kup. Her face was uncertain, all full of fear and hesitance better fit for a terrified child.

It still wasn't too late to run. Butch was smaller than Kup, and could use the dark to weave around and avoid him. He might try to grab her, but she was fast. The way out was not as far as the gloom and her nerves made it seem. Butch would never tell a soul about what she'd seen - what she was seeing - and be happy to forget the day ever happened.

But the jet was still out there. There was no telling what would happen if it somehow recognized her, tried to follow her again. For all she knew, it could be waiting outside, ready like a cougar to spring from an ambush. Kup had kept his word so far, and...no, there was no faking this. This couldn't be a hallucination.

Butch clenched her fists and dug her nails into her palms, blinking to ground herself. Kup was still there - this was no dream, no figment of her imagination. With a hard swallow, Butch set her mouth into a grim line and approached the giant. She walked into his palm with a shuddering exhale, crouching down and grabbing his thumb to brace herself.

He might've said Butch could walk, but she didn't know anyone else who waltzed through random portals. For all Butch knew, Kup was assuming she'd be okay if she did. It was better, Butch felt, that that the enormous robot who didn't bat an eye at the vortex show how safe it was to go.

[Avalanche]

Avalanche blinked, armoured shutters flicking down and up again over her optics. Butch? How common was that, as a human name? But the description sounded familiar. Skittish and sceptical. And by the sound of it, she'd just been introduced to all the truths that both sides, for reasons of their own, worked to keep from humankind.

On the one hand, that did offer her further chances to talk with one of the few humans she knew, without struggling behind the veil of artifice, constantly worrying she might betray her own inhuman nature through bizarre ignorance of common knowledge. On the other, the secrecy they maintained was for a reason. Upending Butch's whole worldview would cost the human a lot of peace of mind.

The simple fact was, it had happened. Move on. Next steps.

::Muscular human, orange hair? I've spoken to her before through holo. I'll step into cover, let my holo greet her. Better for her to see a familiar face on arrival::

From Avalanche's chest armour, a slender core of mechanical components ejected from its storage compartment, levitating for a quarter-second before the form of her human avatar snapped into being around it. Reaching up with a hand to the ridge of her chest armour where the holo stood, she lowered it - lowered herself - down to the main console. Thankfully, there were secondary controls intended for humans to operate the mechanisms; she could effectively man the console even at that scale.

There couldn't be long before they emerged from the bridge. Avalanche moved decisively over to the med bay, ducking through the doorway and letting it close behind her. If she needed to respond with her primary chassis, she could be through the doors and back into the main control room within half a second. Until then... her holo's gaze settled on the bridge, one hand on the secondary portal controls ready to shut it down at the first sign of any funny business, and prepared to greet one very unsettled human.

[Deleted]

The Aging Tessaran watched in silence as Butch climbed into the open palm, with his Servos acting as a cradle and a his thumb a guide post for her. If she'd stumbled, he would have tried to have helped her by angling his hand a little or put his other hand down for her to step on the lead Servo to have used it as a step stool. Slowly, and carefully, he would have straightened and once he'd managed a standing position the Aging Warrior turned his attention back towards the Ground Bridge Portal. He wish he could have conveyed to Butch what she'd possibly feel when they'd stepped through the Portal, but in his Defense Kup hadn't dealt with Humans going through the Ground Bridge before. He hadn't entirely been certain what effect it might have had or if they might have felt it.

He'd wait long enough for her to have settled, even if it had meant she'd braced against his thumb and to have allowed the reality she'd been high above the floor of the Mine before he'd proceeded towards the open Portal. His Pedes carried them steadily across the Threshold along the swirling tunnel with its bits of Greens, Blues, Purples and other colors. He'd kept his hand steady and level, with its palm open and his Servos motionless for her during their brief trip through the Ground Bridge Tunnel. The last thing Kup had wanted would have been for his Human Passenger to have lost her Wits even more, though he'd regretted having exposed her to his own Existence. He'd been concerned that she may have either drove the Knife through his Dashboard, or the Seat Cushions. He hadn't been concerned about his own Safety, but hers. His own Internal Repair Systems would have insured any damage sustained would have been repaired, but as far as he'd known Humans hadn't had that.

[Omega Outpost: Main Control Room: Ground Bridge Control]

"I'm Home," Kup said. "Home, Sweet Home,"

The Duo crossed over the Opposite Threshold into the Main Cavernous Chamber of the Old Silo re-purposed as a Control Room. Kup made certain to have cleared the splash zone of the Ground Bridge before having taken a look around with his own Optics to see who might have been in the Control Room, and more importantly that they wouldn't have frightened Butch further.

"I do hope no one's recorded over my Recording of Leave It to Beaver while I was gone? For Earth Programming, it's one of the few I've found I can enjoy," he smirked.

[Cassandra Cassidy]

Butch leaned back as they approached the vortex. She pressed her back into his thumb, hands moving down to balance her crouch on Kup's palm. She couldn't get away from the portal, but that didn't mean everything in her wasn't bracing for it. Pins and needles crackled all over her skin, and strands of her red, tied-up hair went askew.

The interior of the portal was bright and dizzying, a kaleidoscopic tunnel to put Vegas to shame. Crackles of lightning skipped across its surface, the floor a shimmering, opaque white. Butch leaned over and glanced down, pulling back and screwing her eyes shut a moment later. Shaking even more now, Butch had to breathe slow, inhaling through her nose and exhaling out her mouth.

She opened her eyes as Kup approached a bright oval of light. Butch squinted, tempted to bring her hand over her eyes. More lightning was coming out of its edges in bursts, and Butch braced herself to be shocked -

Nothing happened. The coolness of the mine and the scent of ozone gave way to something dry and dusty, tinged with metal and oil. Butch blinked, mind blanking for a moment, as she looked around at their new surroundings. It was some kind of wide, stone-walled room, filled with catwalks and enormous screens. Thick cables ran across the floors and up the walls. A huge, pale, stylized face - all made of triangles and rectangles - stared from the floor, solemn and pensive.

A soft breath escaped Butch. Kup's remark barely registered, sounding like it was being spoken underwater. Butch's gaze finished traveling around the room, coming to rest on a familiar figure. Brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, all muscle and with shoulder-length hair - Butch knew that woman. The cleaner's eyes bugged, and she pointed at Avalanche's holo.

"You..." Butch began. "I - " She tried to say something like Avalanche's "human" name, but it came out something like "Asfdgah". Then the groundbridge shrank and popped out of existence with a vwoop and a hiss, and Butch jumped forward. She damn near went tumbling off of Kup's hand in fright, catching herself on his fingers at the last moment. Leaning heavily over the edge of his palm, Butch slowly pulled up straight, eyeing Ava from her perch.

[Avalanche]

The portal hummed, strange subsonic frequencies resonating through the concrete of the control room and thrumming in the metal surfaces of the central console. Avalanche's gaze remained locked on the swirling surface, braced and ready for the worst.

The worst didn't come. Instead, just as he'd promised, the aged form of Kup emerged from the vortex, a single figure plated in faded blue. Avalanche's gaze flickered to his hand, catching sight of Butch's familiar figure, and she nodded to herself. Avalanche's holographic muscles tensed and she hauled down on the main bridge lever; it shifted easy, sliding down with a heavy mechanical clunk that was echoed a half-second later by the main control mimicking the motion via built-in servos. The swirling energies collapsed in upon themselves, diminishing to a pinpoint in an instant, then winked out entirely.

Quiet fell over the control room, underscored only by the hum of the air circulation fans. Kup made a reference to some native entertainment that Avalanche had never heard of, but Butch seemed in no position to listen, her gaze wild.

A gaze that intercepted Avalanche's own, and flared with recognition.

Avalanche raised a hand in greeting, then moved to the edge of the console. Since reaching Earth, Avalanche had used her holoform more than she had in decades previously. Using it within the base itself was a dizzying shift in perspective, all the more unbalancing due to her familiarity with the space suddenly rendered gigantic. The edge of the control station was a cliff, with a long gantry spidering back and forth down to the floor below.

For the time being, it didn't seem needed. Avalanche nodded at the red-haired human, and called across to the woman resting on Kup's palm, "Hey, Butch. Wasn't sure it was you when Kup reported in, but I figured the odds were decent. Guess you've got some answers to who I work for and why I was so vague about it. Come sit down."

Her head tilted back, brown eyes seeking Kup's glowing blue optics. While the muscular human holoform hardly resembled the Commander's true chassis, there was something recognisable about the expression, the set of her jaw. Her tone became more professional, and she said concisely, "Welcome back, Kup. Situation report. What happened, and how did it lead to bringing Butch back to this facility?"

There was no castigation in her voice, no implication that Kup had made a mistake. She was simply a professional soldier, seeking all the pertinent information about his excursion as swiftly as possible.

[Deleted]

"I really do need to get my Optics checked," Kup said.

His Optics had narrowed on Avalanche's HoloAvatar, something that had escaped his sight when he'd taken a look around the Main Chamber. Though, in his defense he'd been near the Gangplank of the Ground Bridge. One would have to have the Optics of a Sharpshooter, or so he'd thought. He wasn't getting Younger, and he really had to look into Renewing his Warranty Card which would allow him to start having his old Parts Replaced.

"A Seeker decided to play a little Footsie with us. It wasn't Screamer. He wrecked the Vinyl on my Hard Top, and earned a face full of Old Expired Oil Rations for his Trouble," Kup began. "I couldn't leave Butch behind, on the Side of the Road or allow that Seeker to have taken her to Old Megs or even Old Screamer. That guy still owes me a Cup of Oil,"

"My Scanners detected Butch wading through a Sandstorm on the Side of the Road leading to Las Vegas. I did the only GentleBot thing one could do. I pulled over, and let her have a Ride and to get out from the Sandstorm. Those Grains of Glass, and Rock can get into the most difficult of crannies. Why I remember..." as had been his habit, he had started to regale them with a Story. A few Nano-klicks later, he remembered why Avalanche's Avatar had called out to him. "Oh. My Report. That's right,"

"Our Seeker Friend decided to give us chase through the Desert and into a Parking Deck of a Hotel in Las Vegas. He managed to Depart, but probably tried to contact his Main Headquarters. I'll give that Seeker Petro-Rabbits when I see him next...the gall of calling me that," the Aging Tesaran said.

"I tried to explain to Butch as best with keeping certain tidbits of Information out, but she's persistent. She threatened to cut my Avatar's throat if I didn't divulge the Truth. She called my Stories Turbopony pucky, if you would believe that?" he chuckled.

"I couldn't leave her, and I doubt anyone would have believed her if she had decided to run. She would been have well within her Rights to have run, and left me behind. I don't know why she didn't," he began. Lowering his Optics towards Butch, he softly smiled. "I am eternally grateful you didn't, Butch. I will return that one of these Cycles,"

"I called up a Ground Bridge after finding an old Mine in the Desert somewhere East of Las Vegas. I did make sure no one had followed us, and we were far enough below ground there shouldn't have been any one to have spied on us,"

Crossing the Deck of the Silo's Main Chamber towards the Centrally Raised Dias, he'd lowered the hand that carried Butch enough to where it had been level with the safety railing.

"I think you'll be more comfortable in one of those Recliners than in the Palm of my Hand, and you'll feel better being on steady ground," he said.