[ti]Ep 3[/ti]Accidental Adventure [Closed]

[Optimus Prime]

Every time an individual got a little too close to the truth, or actually did see them, there was a mountain of problems that occurred because of it. The trauma of having to try to clean up such a large mess could barely be articulated, and yet it was what it was, and the Decepticons had been the ones to make that mistake. That was one glimmer of a silver lining there, that it was not one of his Autobots that started that path, yet in the end, it was still a profound mistake. Thankfully the man would live another day, as it was better to have to come to terms with the fact there were aliens, than it was to simply be no more due to being killed in the incident to begin with. He had appeared safe enough on the side of the road, however, forgotten rather than culled.

"It was a shipment of raw building supplies. Too prevalent a resource to fabricate viable bait."

With such things used in countless locations day in and day out across the world, it would be borderline impossible to curate a tempting target that was not so valuable that it became an obvious trap. Skirting that line of being boring enough to look legitimate, while also having a large payout for minimal conflict, was tricky. Could it be done? Certainly. Was it something they could look into? For sure. That said, they did not know exactly what they needed to even set out as bait, as they did get away with that particular cargo, perhaps fulfilling that requirement so it would not be sought out again.

Weaponry was an option. They knew what types of missiles Starscream used for example, and referencing what records they did have on the current Decepticon forces could let them assemble something that had a little more value to it. Time would need to be invested into such an option. Whatever the case, he did know that going into such a situation alone was ill-advised, however, it was simply how it panned out in those moments.

"We are fortunate then that it did not come to such conclusions."

He had been injured, that much was as obvious as the blackened paint on the side of his frame, though things could always have been worse. At this declaration, Optimus peered ahead, taking one of the turns needed to head in the direction that was indicated.

[Miko Nakadai]

“Building supplies?”

She wrinkled her nose, looking at the holoform beside her as if looking for answers. Why would the Decepticons need building supplies of all things? The Autobots lived in a place that’d been once occupied by humans, and so it made sense for them to need things from a construction site to help patch things up like walls or whatever, but the Decepticons had a ship, made of Cybertronian metal!

Unless…

While the revelation seemed to click in Miko’s brain, she wouldn’t comment on it - Optimus was smart and had probably already worked things out, and she’d only be telling him something he already knew.

“Was there anything super useful on the truck? Like more metal than brick or something? Could be a clue what they’re after!”

She liked the idea of a bait truck, if only because part of her wanted to be there watching from afar as they took said bait and got totally busted by the Autobots. But Optimus was right in that a truck of building supplies wasn’t exactly the most enticing thing, especially when there were all kinds of places the Decepticons could steal from.

Settling back against the seat, she could only hum in thought at Optimus’ next words. It didn’t sit right with her that he’d fought three Decepticons alone, even if the mental imagery of what he’d told her was really cool.

She let the silence hang for just a second, almost as if she was hesitating on what she wanted to say, before blurting it out anyway.

“You can’t do everything by yourself, Optimus. If it was anyone else they would’ve been told to call for backup! What if something had happened?”

He’d been hurt - badly, by the looks of the blackened paint - and it was well known that the Decepticons vastly outnumbered the Autobots. Just as he could’ve called for help, so too could they if they really wanted to.

[Optimus Prime]

"Primarily beams, adequate for structure support or scaffolding."

The supplies didn't even need to be related to the project itself, and may simply be a means to make accessing certain points on the exterior more convenient. On surface levels this could point back to the Space Bridge that was made elsewhere after the loss of the one in orbit given it likely was of substantial size, though would no doubt still be dwarfed by the larger monstrosity that had been taken from them. That one had been so immensely complex and frankly impressive, that its destruction likely had a far-reaching impact beyond what they ever saw from their outside perspective looking in. There was a sort of quiet fear in play at the idea of such a behemoth being manufactured once more, yet there was little that could be done about such a hypothetical quiet worry.

This bridge was not Optimus' first consideration.

With a lack of sightings, mixed with Megatron's absence, and the Skylord's words that seemed sincere, everything pointed in the direction of the Nemesis, and with this in mind, such beams could be used to reinforce an underground location. This said, it could just as easily be for their mines rather than a home, which muddled it all further. So many variables, so many possibilities, with other fractions of clues that resulted in only the vaguest of guesses. They were stuck only able to see small clusters of a large puzzle to which the image as a whole was impossible to decipher. That was perhaps what made it so profoundly frustrating. It wasn't like when they knew what the Warship was, and what it was capable of, while just not knowing where it was... everything now was... all a mystery.

As Miko continued to talk, Optimus did not initially reply or even convey he was hearing her, simply quietly listening while she scolded him on something that he very much knew and understood. Should it have been any one of his Autobots, he would have been doing much the same, worried that things could have gone so incredibly south before a call to help was even heard. While he was not an arrogant soul, there was perhaps a level of confidence in his own capability that grew through the years. As modest as one may try to be, as serious as even the smallest of combatants could be looked upon, at the end of the day he was a powerhouse of a fighter that had downed more than his fair share.

A thought he did not enjoy.

It was a cost of war. A toll he had to pay upon bringing such misery to their home planet. He had taken many lives and would continue to do so going forward in his effort to guard that which he believed in, and those who he cared about. Knowing by experience that he could crush someone into nothing if he willed it could diminish a feeling of threat that was actually there.

Slowly, a mock inhale pulled in for a moment, before slipping out from the Holoform.

"It is not from you who I foresaw a lesson in caution."

Out of all the children... out of all of the base as a whole... Miko was the epitome of reckless abandon and a heart for adventure despite the threat of danger. It made her words perhaps stand out more than they would have from any other, giving a second pause over the logic that he already knew at his core. There was a high chance he still would have taken the actions he had, potentially avoiding an outright firefight if his soldier was as reckless as the rotary had been, though it was still notable to think over and a level of appreciation for her care must be acknowledged rather than dismissed.

"Thank you."

[Miko Nakadai]

Beams for structure support?

Well that was boring as heck, and to Miko it didn't make a whole lot of sense. Why would the Decepticons be after things like that? They weren't exactly remodeling the Nemesis' kitchen. Clearly there was a reason for them to seek things out, especially at the risk of being seen by humans in the process, but… why?

"What do you think they are using them for?"

Perhaps Optimus could fill in some of the gaps, and maybe she could in turn suggest things - depending on how he replied, anyway. She was sure the Autobots had already sought out Fowler for his opinion of things and to get a human perspective on what such materials were used for, especially if he had specific specs of whatever was taken - but Miko was creative and could perhaps suggest something that they hadn't thought of, simply by thinking outside the box!

She noted how quiet Optimus was as she gently nagged him - Bulkhead was the same when she told him to be more careful. More than once he'd gotten a scuff or something and she'd given him a stern talking to, not wanting him to get hurt when she wasn't around to make sure he was okay.

Yet it was the reply and the thank you that she wasn't quite expecting.

Normally she was written off quite quickly when she gave her opinion. Compared to Cybertronians, she had been alive for practically a blink of an eye - her lack of experience with the real world and the fact she was at times pretty much an agent of chaos meant that not many took her seriously.

But Optimus did – at least in this moment – and it made her smile.

"That's how you know you should listen!" if she was the one doing the nagging, surely there was some merit to her words. Perhaps in the future should another situation come up, maybe what she'd said would help him somehow, and she liked to think that it would.

"You're welcome, though. It's nice being able to give you advice for a change."

Normally Optimus was the one giving out the sage wisdom - offering help and being a listening ear to anyone who needed it, so it was weirdly rewarding to help, even if the help hadn't exactly been asked for.

Settling back in the seat, the familiar town of Jasper would slowly come into view. Even though she'd seen the sleepy town a million and one times, she couldn't help but turn to look - just on the off chance she saw someone she knew.

"Okay so we just keep going, the next town isn't too far out. It's way bigger than Jasper, too!"

Not exactly hard, and while there had been times she'd wished she'd moved anywhere but that boring little place, she was truly glad that she had ended up here.

[Optimus Prime]

"What do you think they are using them for?"

Optimus remained quiet at this seemingly simple question, considering how he was going to approach it given just who he was speaking to. While Miko may see herself at this moment as a powerful tool to give an outside perspective on things, she was instead a direct road to the rumor mill to rile up others should things go out of line. If he tipped his hand about the fact that he believed the Nemesis was downed and that Starscream had said as such, then suddenly everyone would funnel their efforts into finding that, and that alone, potentially leaving them blind to what may actually be happening. This would be even more damaging if Starscream's words had been deceiving to begin with, letting them all play into his game. On the other hand, to leave them blind to it, could also let others miss small clues they wouldn’t have known to be looking out for.

It was a balance.

He was starting to put together a plan to reveal all that he knew while subsequently assigning individuals to different tasks, yet he was still scraping up what little more he could before he set everyone onto their chosen missions. With Miko here in the now? She could spiral things. As much as she may promise, at the end of the day, she wasn't the most reliable to be quiet and do what was told of her, and he didn't want to cause any upheaval. Was this putting too much value on the power of a child? Perhaps. But Optimus knew well the impact their human friends had on the team as a collective.

"There is no lack of potential uses."

The Holoform's features remained looking forward, its gaze shifting to the side while passing another bus stop that was similar to the one where Miko had been found. He seemed to simply be observing, reading passing signs, and trying to get a bead on everything while she articulated just where they were going since he had yet to be on this side of town, but in actuality, he was doing it so that he didn’t make eye contact while he stepped around things.

Lying was never something Optimus was good at, and in fact, he struggled greatly, though what he could do well was simply omit truths, and as such for this moment he did not bring up the Nemesis overtly.

"Bracing for their mining systems, architectural support for an outpost, scaffolding for Space Bridge repairs, to name a few."

There was one thing he did feel stronger about, however.

"I do not foresee them being repurposed into other forms."

If the Decepticons simply wanted metal to melt down, then there would have been other raw sources instead of fabricated beams that were already in transit to their new home that would have been more lucrative raids. The shape itself had to be the needed item, and not necessarily what it had been composed of in his opinion. This detail would at least narrow things down slightly, and any minute aid could mean so very much when they were treading water.

[Miko Nakadai]

What a vague, boring answer.

Though it was so typically Optimus that Miko could only nod. As he began explaining some of the uses for the things the Decepticons had taken, she'd lean up a little as they passed the other bus stop - craning her neck some to try and see if anyone was sitting there.

Upon seeing that it was empty – not that she wanted to stop – she settled back against her seat.

Optimus may have been bad at lying, though Miko wouldn't have known any different if he had. Despite him omitting certain truths, though, she seemed to grasp at one part of his sentence in particular, frowning.

"They have more than one outpost? Isn't the Nemesis big enough?"

A scary thought. At least up there they were kind of out of sight, out of mind. But if they were Earthside, too? They could be anywhere!

Maybe the Autobots should think about doing something similar. It was always risky having one base, after all! Should the 'Cons find Omega One, they'd have absolutely nowhere to go. Well, maybe the place Fowler's guys hung out with that tank guy, but surely there wouldn't be enough room for all of them.

"Hmm… maybe the materials had some kinda tracking?" she offered, hopefully. Even though Optimus had said it was mostly building materials, that could include other things than planks of wood or whatever, right?

"Depending on what else they took, anyway! If it was barrels of stuff, sometimes there's GPS tracking inside - especially if it's valuable! They may not even think to look for one."

She'd probably been watching way too much TV, but it totally made sense that it was a thing that'd happen, if only to deter other humans from taking things without asking.

"Weird that they stopped a single truck and didn't raid like, a warehouse though. That's what I'd do!"

None of this really made sense. A warehouse would have way more stuff in it than a single truck, unless the vehicle was carrying something really, really important that they wanted.

[Optimus Prime]

"They have more than one outpost? Isn't the Nemesis big enough?"

Hmm...

Optimus did not immediately respond at this, though with his more calculated approach thus far, such a pause thankfully wouldn’t seem particularly out of place. He hoped. He had thought he was being careful enough with his previous phrasing, to show her that a possible base was a consideration, only in doing so it did imply that the Nemesis was not enough, or that it wasn’t even an option. It was a sign of just how unskilled he was when it came to being deceitful, though he would do his best to save it, without spilling the fact that he did believe the vessel was downed somewhere.

"It is not unwise to consider additional shelters, especially without the support we have."

Should something happen to Omega One, they thankfully had Fowler and his men to fall back upon for assistance. Even if it was temporary housing while a more permanent place was found, Optimus trusted his Autobots would be safe and sheltered. In contrast, the Decepticons would need to rely on a mining system with little to no technological support beyond the utmost basics. It was only wise to have somewhere else established with signal blockers and necessary systems. It didn’t have to be manned, it didn’t have to be used... it just had to be an option should the worst-case scenario strike.

On the topic of a tracker, a slow exhale would slip out.

"While valuable, there were no mentions of such things."

Optimus did not look into the company that had been stolen from, nor the financial cost of the materials that had been lost, however, he did not feel building supplies on such a level would have a tracker, and if they did, he expected Fowler's men to have reported as much when looking into the incident to clean up loose ends. It wasn’t as though it were a barrel of high-value chemicals or other smaller prizes that could be slipped off of a larger truck in transit. It was an entire shipment where any singular piece could be comparatively inexpensive, while the entire loss was where the true value came into play. If anything, the truck itself could have had GPS, though it hadn’t been taken with the supplies.

At Miko's additional comments, Optimus' Holoform would glance over at her again.

"A warehouse has greater security and numerous cameras. An isolated truck is an easier target."

Simply stated, it something that Optimus would do himself if he was in a position of needing to steal from an enemy force. The risks involved with taking on a large warehouse greatly outmatched that of a single lone driver in the middle of nowhere. If he were to find numerous targets across the states, he could get just as many metal beams with far less chance of discovery and direct conflict with the human military. Thankfully, he needn’t worry about such things. He was granted the use of the missile silo and was profoundly grateful for what supplies they were allotted to try to dig down and expand their modest base.

[Miko Nakadai]

It seemed Optimus' normal mannerisms, including the pause after her initial question, hadn't aroused any sort of suspicion, and as such? Miko would nod at his words. It made her realize just how lucky the Autobots were, in a way. They did have human allies, which probably didn't seem like a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, but it was certainly an advantage over the Decepticons - which was always a win!

But he didn't say anything about the Decepticons not having an additional outpost. Though it was probably expected. They'd been on the planet for a few years now, and just as more Autobots had arrived in that time? Surely more Decepticons had, too. The Nemesis was big, but it made sense to spread their forces out, especially if they had the means to do so. They had a bunch of those weird Vehicon guys who had to go somewhere, right?

"Well if they're out there, we'll find them!"

The Autobots had done well in remaining hidden, but they were also near the most boring city on the entire planet where nobody would even think to look. The Decepticons, though? Well, it came back to human allies. Fowler and NEST knew what to look out for, and so if there were signs of anything weird? They would know about it for sure!

Wrinkling her nose as the brilliant suggestion of a GPS hadn't revealed anything, nor did the mention of a warehouse seem to spur any sort of 'ah ha!' moment in Optimus, she'd hum quietly before speaking again.

"Makes sense I guess. Maybe next time they'll be unlucky and take something with some sort of tracker."

That did mean somewhere – or someone – getting hit again, which wasn't a good thing, but if the Decepticons took something valuable and it could be tracked before Soundwave worked it out? Maybe they could work out not only what they were doing with building supplies, but where.

Realizing this topic had probably come to an end, if only because there wasn't really much else to be said? Miko knew she didn't want to sit in awkward silence for the rest of the drive. The problem with that though was that Optimus wasn't exactly the best conversational partner, and she wasn't sure what to even talk about.

There was Ratchet, or Patch - and as curious as she was if there'd been any news that she hadn't been privy to? She didn't want to make Optimus sad. There was the attack on Bumblebee and Neon, but again… sad…

Maybe a general question could help, though she didn't have high hopes.

"So, uhhh… injury aside, how's it going?" a nervous smile paired with the words, because hooboy did that feel awkward.

[Optimus Prime]

When Miko spoke about hoping the next steal had a tracker involved, Optimus felt a dash of apprehension with feeling the same. On one hand, they certainly could use such a win, as even if the tracker was generalized and not very accurate it could grant them priceless information to assist them in this war, yet, on the other hand, it meant another driver or building being raided. Every interaction ending up with one or more individuals knowing about their kind, and there was only so much that could be done to keep people silent on such topics. Perhaps someday they wouldn’t need to hide in secrecy, yet if the world knew of them, there was a large risk of being rejected outright, individuals turning against that which they don't understand out of potential fear.

It was difficult for Optimus to imagine what it would be like, to go an entire life assuming that they were alone in the universe on their small planet. Since the day he came online the greater expanse of other worlds was simply known as a thing that was always there. It was curious, though not a thought he dwelled upon too much further, glancing over at Miko briefly as she asked a rather awkward question, one that made him internally grimace.

While some could find silence between them unpleasant, wanting to fill the void with something so as to not make it awkward, he did not necessarily feel that way, understanding the value in a meditative state. To many others it seemed to cause enough discomfort that they would say just about anything to try to fill the void, it an empty vacuum that demanded what it could take. In this case, it was perhaps the hollowest of questions, and just as Miko felt uncomfortable with the silence, Optimus then felt uncomfortable with the conversation.

He couldn’t be honest. That much was a fact. He was doing downright awful with a profound amount of stress pressing upon him. He wasn’t sleeping well, and he constantly worried about every passing day and how long it would be before he lost another one of his Autobots beneath the greater power of the Decepticons. He thought often about his discomforts and regrets, and he didn't even have his closest friend to turn to in order to seek any kind of balancing force or help. He had those he knew he could rely upon, yet that was different, for they all knew him as Optimus and not who he once was.

Not who he was deep down.

What could he even say? How could he dampen it all down to palatable words that wouldn't alarm?

"I am doing as well as I can be."

Even toned and hollow, the most absent of fillers just to patch the moment and try to move beyond it.

"How are things at school?"

[Miko Nakadai]

Miko wasn't quite sure just what the answer to her question would be. She had a pretty good idea it'd be some vague around the truth, or a simple 'I'm fine' which seemed to be common when she asked some of the others at base how things were going. She got it, though- aside from Bulkhead and Carbine, she didn't really have super in depth conversations with any of the Autobots. Bee tried to humor her sometimes, though there was the whole language barrier thing, and Raf wasn't around all the time to help translate.

So when Optimus did reply, she found herself nodding - knowing not to push, knowing not to ask further questions even if she kinda knew that it was an answer given out of politeness and nothing more. She was sure a lot was going on behind the scenes at Omega One that she'd pulled him from today, things he was worrying about, the presence of the Decepticons on Earth and MECH as well, that was a constant thought even at the back of her mind, let alone the one trying to keep a team of giant robot aliens hidden and safe from them.

That wasn't to say she wasn't curious about things like that, and while Bulk filled her in a little sometimes, even he kept things vague. Probably to protect her, knowing she was totally the type to want to rush in and help even if realistically she couldn't do much of anything.

Deep down, she could only hope that this little outing, as short as it would be - would be helpful in some way. Getting out of the base sometimes must be good, getting some fresh air- being able to drive and think about things… she didn't really see Optimus leave very often, then again she wasn't at the base all the time to notice.

"That's good!" her smile widened some, not knowing what else to really say on the matter, though wanting to show that she was happy enough with the answer, as vague and probably untrue as it was.

Then, a question was asked to her in return. School? Ugggh.

"Oh uh… It's going okay, I guess! Same old, same old, y'know? Art class is great, math class is… okay…" She was actually pretty decent at maths when she could focus on it, though she found herself bored quickly and wanting to do literally anything else.

"In science, we're doing physics, like energy and electricity and stuff- I guess helping Bulk with the generators a few times paid off, as I sorta already know a lot about what they're talking about!"

She wished the Autobots didn't have to remain hidden, having Bulkhead come along for show and tell, or even just having him there to sorta guest speak about stuff sometime would be amazing.

"Waaaay too much homework, though. It sucks!"