Arrival: Earth

[al_octane]

It's a long way to Tipperary, and an even longer way to Earth, but Von Octane's Express is finally underway. Sandstorm's holding down the bridge while Octane finishes processing the last of the contaminated fuel and catching up on his reading. Frostbite and Fatima are busy putting the two Stunticons and Elita One back together, while everyone else

Comments

DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

Drag Strip has his own messages to send.

// Breakdown, you alive down there? // Drag Strip sent on the Stunticon's private channel.

// Breakdown is just fine and so am I, // answers a Stygian growl that Drag Strip was not expecting. // What's your status? //

// Uh, Motormaster! Great to hear you're back online, // Drag Strip says tightly.

"Slag it, who out-bribed me? Moto's back online, Deadster."

"Ah, then we'll have a welcoming committee of friends and family," Dead End says with positively morbid glee.

Drag Strip flips off Dead End--that part of him is working, at least!--and returns to communications. "Figures she got your vocalizer working first! Hey, Frostbitch! When are you going to get me moving again?"

// Drag Strip, I'm waiting. // Motormaster's rumble suggests that keeping him waiting is a lot like poking a sharp stick in a tiger's eye.

// Both of us are kinda slagged. My transmission is stripped and Dead End did a high-speed smash-up without his forcefields. The sorry excuse for a field medic that the Autobots brought along can't seem to actually get me repaired, and she's barely got Dead End online. Oh yeah, and if you see Swindle, pulverize him for me. He ripped me off but good, and then got me in trouble with Octane. //

// Drag Strip, I did not recently switch processors with Optimus Prime, did I? // replies Motormaster.

// Uh, no? //

// Then why do I care that you are a moron who gets cheated by Swindle? We will meet you at Autobot City. Motormaster out. //

Drag Strip glances over at Dead End. "Wonder-fucking-ful. Moto is his usually jolly self, and he'll be waiting for us. And neither of us is in any condition to run."

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

Dead End ponders that. His face is bare, his mask and visor having been temporarily removed for access while Frostbite worked on restoring his systems. He looks quietly amused.

"I suspect that Onslaught will also be there to pick up his wayward brethren; Motormaster will not be eager to put himself in a bad tactical situation without us in fighting condition," Dead End observes.

// Dead End! Drag Strip reports you online. Report back, and give me the real status report! // Motormaster's transmission is peremptory, but not unexpected.

// Drag Strip has a stripped transmission, I have more extensive injuries. The Autobot field medic Frostbite has done a good job in the limited time of getting me at least online and able to move. Drag Strip has endeared himself to the repair staff here with his usual alacrity--you may have to get the Constructicons to repair him. I think Scavenger can still be bribed to work on Drag Strip, anyway. //

// The mission, Dead End? Were you successful? //

Dead End's violet optics narrow. So Motormaster had already gotten the reason for their space voyage out of Breakdown. "Oh dear, he's not going to be happy."

// Partially. We retrieved the Witwicky child, but were forced to retreat before we could get the humanized Decepticons. Something about an incoming Quintesson battleship. // Dead End replies cautiously.

// YOU ABANDONED DECEPTICONS TO QUINTESSONS? // The wrath of Hell awakens.

Dead End replies quickly. // No. The Dis was on approach, and they were requested to perform the pick-up. //

The rage is gone in an instant, replaced by a bleak tone that is far more chilling: // So Galvatron recovered his own, and you two failed me in front of him? I will be waiting for you! Motormaster out! //

"Oh dear. He's very unhappy." Dead End looks up at Frostbite. "I'm sorry to have put you to all this work, as it's very likely to turn out to be pointless. I doubt I'll survive the family reunion."

Re: DS, phone home collect

[eliteinpink]

"Shards and damnation, now is not a good time for me to be in Sickbay," Elita mutters.

Now is a very good time for her to be in Sickbay. While she may be brave, she's not really up to taking Motormaster hand-to-hand.

Re: DS, phone home collect

[kaci_celica]

Kaci, who had followed Frostbite in to stand by in case she could do anything to help with the repairs, was not privy to the Stunticons' private comm messages. Coupling this with her not knowing Motormaster as well as some others might makes for a somewhat confused and rather worried Kaci; her optics widen at Dead End's words. The single-word question is out before she can think to stop it.

"Why?"

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

Drag Strip snaps out before Dead End can respond, "Because the Deadster here has a really flawed risk analysis routine that makes him think a hamster running across the road will cause him to crash, burn and die! Moto ain't gonna kill us, but he may make us wish we were dead."

Re: DS, phone home collect

[ravynfyre]

Ravyn has been parked in a corner watching the repairs since Dead End had been carried in. Since there is nothing else she is really able to assist with on the ship for the duration of the trip in, ostensibly she's there to give Frostbite a hand, even if it's just to fetch and carry. Of course, the fact that she has absolutely no mechanical skills that would be of assistance, nor is she big enough or strong enough to be of any real use, has, blessedly, gone unremarked upon thus far.

"Dead End, you ought to know better. Hamster wouldn't be enough to do the job. It would take at least a squirrel. A big, fat ninja squirrel. Then you'd be doomed," she remarks.

Her cheerful tone and words are just a mask to cover her very real fear for the two Stunticons. Okay, mostly Dead End. Motormaster is dangerous and violent and even his voice alone scares the living hell out of her. She doesn't even want to know what private conversation with the big truck-former prompted their observations.

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

Dead End looks thoughtful.

"I actually have heard of a case where a squirrel wrecked a car. Some soft-headed human was so concerned about dodging the creature that he ran off the road into a tree. So it is possible."

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

"Yes, but even you aren't that retarded!" Drag Strip says. He looks like he's thinking up trouble and mischief for a moment.

"Wonder if you could take low-flying Aerialbots with squirrel ingestion?"

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

Dead End looks at Drag Strip. Whether he's weighing the merits of squirrels as anti-air weapons or judging the degree of Drag Strip's sanity is debatable.

"Too small," he finally says. "They'd just get chopped up in the compressor blades. You need something bigger."

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

Drag Strip ponders this.

"A ground hog?" He asks, holding his hands apart. "A raccoon? A dog? A mule deer? I know! A COW!"

Drag Strip looks at Dead End, his visor alight with unholy glee. "Let's get Motormaster to chuck a cow down old Silverbolt's intakes next time we tangle with 'em. Just to see what happens!"

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

"Oh. Thank you, Frostbite." Dead End says. He gropes around for his mask, before realizing it's not in the usual compartment where he stashes it. Possibly because he's not the one who took it off.

"Do you have my mask and visor?"

Re: DS, phone home collect

[the_deadster]

Dead End latches his battle mask back on and slots his visor into place, his true face once again hidden from the world.

// Frostbite... don't mind my brother. He can't help how he was made. None of us can. // Dead End privately messages the silver Autobot.