What a wonder is a gun! What a versatile invention!
Who: Swindle and "Magnum". Kino's welcome too.
What: Testing out their shiny new toy.
Where: An abandoned warehouse in Zone 4.
( First of all, when you've a gun, everybody pays attention. )
What: Testing out their shiny new toy.
Where: An abandoned warehouse in Zone 4.
( First of all, when you've a gun, everybody pays attention. )
That considered, she wanted to see how their work had fared, and if Magnum liked it, and it would be good if she was there to help, in case there were any issues. Swindle had been very good to her, and she wanted to continue their business venture. And it wasn't as though she could realistically work on Hermes so late in the evening...
That decided, she hailed a transport and had them drop her off at the beginning of the block Swindle had directed her to. From there it was a brisk walk, and when she arrived at the incongrous building she was breathing heavily, lungs still not completely healed from the chemical spill.
"Mr Swindle!" She greeted happily, though she took her time crossing the oversized space to meet him, letting herself recover. "I hope I'm not too late."
Reply
It was worth a try, however...after all, for weapons testing, no one would probably care that a rusty shack like this got damaged, so long as it didn't fall down on his head, in the process.
Heading towards an inconspicuous alcove, Megatron tried the door handle, and, finding it unlocked, he peered inside.
......Aaaah.
That explained just about everything, then.
Unable to keep amusement out of his expression, he entered the warehouse, taking sensor readings of the stark but clean interior, taking notice of the targets, and finally taking Swindle and his rather casual confidence into view. Kino was there, also...which was fine.
"...you know, I ought to have expected this out of you, Swindle." He smirked, glancing around pointedly. "...its beautifully deceptive."
Reply
"Kino! Glad you could make it! There's some juice for you in the cooler," Swindle replied, carefully pulling out a bottle and offering it to her. "You did like apple juice, right? I think there's orange and grape in there somewhere." He was still getting used to the size of human things, and he didn't want to accidentally crush the bottle or anything.
And then the guest of honor, Megatron himself. No, Magnum; he still needed to get used to using that name in public. "Much as I'd love to take the credit, this place isn't my doing! Some clever bot decided to redo the place, and the other Swindles have been using it for stellar cycles. It's a shame the owner insists on making sure all the uses are legal. But for what we're doing? There isn't a better spot in the city."
"So, shall we install this baby and get started?"
Reply
The weapon pratically shone, but she gave it a quick check nontheless - no point in being unprepared, after all, and gave the canon a friendly pat when it met her inspection. "I think you'll be very pleased with it, Mr Megatron."
Reply
...but he was most looking forward to seeing how it handled.
Starting forward, he reached around to unlatch his current weapon from his left arm, setting it on the table behind the other cannon, careful to not knock Kino off in the process. "...I've always heard such recommendations of your work. So far, I'm impressed." His fingers ran along the length of the barrel, coming to rest at the end nearest to him before he picked it up and turned it over in his hands, getting a feel for the weight. "...ah, Kino. You seem to be lacking your overly voluble companion, today." He murmured, smirking briefly down to the girl as he continued his examination, engine purring just a little in gratification.
"Similar weight...similar appearance...you lengthened the barrel a little, didn't you, for better accuracy?" Megatron chuckled, glancing at its interface port, additionally pleased to see that it matched with his own so well... "...so. What do I need to know?"
Reply
Any nervousness Swindle might have had disappeared as soon as he heard that little purr. Megatron was definitely happy with their work, more than just flattering words would suggest. And why wouldn't he be? Swindle and Kino had spent countless cycles working to make it perfect down to the last detail. He'd have to be crazy to not love it.
"I was hoping you wouldn't notice," he replied with an apologetic grin, "but it couldn't be helped if I was going to add in the extra modifications." It was hard to resist going and picking it up, showing it off the features, but the way Megatron was handling it? He didn't want to interrupt.
"Well, first of all, there's some extra controls that might take a little getting used to. Like I said before, the power and focus are adjustable, and you can set it to lock onto specific targets, and it won't fire unless they're in its sights. Plus a few other things you might find on your own later; can't give away all the surprises, now can I?"
Reply
Her companion... well..."Hermes is... in need of repair. He's staying at home until I have a chance to get him working again." Her own fault, and she hated that it was the case... but there was no reason to dwell on the fact now. "As for your canon, your original frame was off by 4%. We've corrected that so this will be accurate to your aim up to 1000 feet, depending on at-mos-feric interference." She stumbled over the new word, but was confident in her facts. “It’s set so you should be able to use it without any adjustments, but we had to make a few guesses, so it might need some small fine tuning.”
She was as excited as Swindle to see it in action, though she didn’t particularly understand why having Megatron so pleased would be such a good thing. For her, it was simply the end result of a job well done.
Reply
He turned the gun over once more, satisfied, before attaching it to his arm. In this, at least, he did not fear trickery or deception--Swindle wasn't the sort to try that unless he had a lot to gain, and probably only after he'd been paid. It synced well with his systems, and his smirk grew wider, probing the new canon's menu of choices. All seemed to be going well so far. "I can't imagine getting 1000 feet of clearance in this city, easily...but for air targets..." He held up the canon, sighting along it towards the brightly painted marks laid out for him at the other end of the warehouse, noting the other features Swindle had mentioned as they integrated with his sensors to offer him various locks and beam intensities. "...I can see the use."
"However, Swindle..." He stepped away from the table and chose a medium-strength beam, locking on the center of the target before he fired. "...I do not like surprises."
Hm. Strange.
The lock was off by a few degrees, leaving the smoking hole at the bottom of the target. This must have been one of those 'small tunings' that were required. The rest of it, however....
Left him definitely pleased.
It responded to his input faster than the previous weapon had, and the rather clean hole that it left in the bottom of the target meant that there was little energy wasted externally--all the heat remained within the beam. "...it locks low, but other than that..."
"...its just what I was looking for."
Reply
He watched as Megatron fired, optics glowing in delight. It should have been a perfect shot; somehow, it was just a little low. "It's an easy adjustment; I can fix that right now for you." A quick hunt through his storage drawer located the necessary tools; he set them down on the table and nodded to Kino. "We'll have it ready for another shot in a cycle or two."
Reply
She slipped under Megatron's arm and around to the data point, quickly accessing the canon and entering a new set of instructions based on the degree Megatron was off by. After a moment of fixing she hooked a foot on one of his plates with an 'excuse me' and hefted herself on top of the canon, opening another panel. "You should be able to access the wavelength frequencies. I was looking to see if we could use this to create an EMP pulse as well, but that would have taken a lot more time and made the entire canon quite a bit larger, so we held off." Adjustments made, she jumped off to the counter and landed lightly on her feet. "There- give that a-"
She was interrupted by a hacking cough, one bad enough she had to sit and wait for it to be over. When it finally passed she took a long drink of the juice Swindle had given her, and remained seated on the counter. "Sorry." She apologized, looking embarrassed. "You should be able to try now."
Reply
It was admittedly strange to watch the human creature scrambling over his arm, her small hands allowing her easier access to make adjustments. It...tickled, but he could see the use, now, for keeping something so fragile around a workshop. "...however, if you can compact the EMP technology, I will certainly return for the adjustments."
Which reminded him..."...so we ought to talk about payment, Swindle. As I mentioned over the network, I might have an arrangement which would satisfy us both--" His optics blinked at Kino's cough, glancing away from Swindle and back down to the small Organic, removing his arm from the table once he'd gotten the go-ahead and sighting along it once again.
"...hm. Swindle. Your human seems to be broken."
He picked a new target, locked, and fired. This time, the hole was through the bulls-eye.
Reply
...even that seemed to be a bit too much for her, though, so soon after the spill. "Kino? You okay?" His voice was barely a whisper now; no need for Megatron to have to hear. "If you need some more time to recover, I can take you back home. We're almost finished here." He wasn't worried, really. Just taking a professional interest in her health.
"I remembered you mentioning that. So, what have you got for me? If it's anything like those schematics and blueprints you've got Cometfall working on, then you'll make me a very happy mech. Or have you got something else on your processor?"
Reply
Kino kept her lips pressed together until that wasn't what was going to be said, and shook her head. "It's all right" she assured firmly, quiet but not trying to hide the reply from Megatron. She didn't think she could speak so he couldn't hear, considering he was a robot. She appreciated Swindle's concern, but she would be fine.
She wouldn't allow herself to be anything else.
"But I wouldn't argue with a ride home, when we're done."
She leaned back against the cooler and watched the bargaining for Swindle's payment. It would be interesting to see what Megatron paid him with, and what Swindle considered it worth. She was still far from proficient with how credits and value really worked in this city.
((Feel free to skip over Kino from here on, unless one of you needs to ask her something direct. She'll sit and be a good quiet little human.))
Reply
"Cometfall's blueprints will be yours. Personally, I'd like to see a few more mechs taking advantage of being harder to trace by the authorities." He briefly ran through a few options on his new weapon, selecting different combinations of intensity, wavelength, and beam spread in order to get the most out of this test run, and took a few more shots.
Perfect.
...or at least acceptable, for now.
"...I've run into a different streak of luck, however." Lowering the weapon, finally, he reached around behind him to a storage compartment, and pulled out...an arm.
It was a fairly intact arm, probably from a Primax Gamma at one point in its history, but certainly re-usable and with the added benefit of having a pair of lasers still attached. He tossed it over to Swindle so that the 'connoisseur' could get a better look.
"Found a source of...parts." He smirked. "A large source."
Reply
He caught the arm easily, without any signs of being bothered by it. Looking offline bodies was something Swindle had gotten quite used to back home, and this particular arm was in better shape than most of the ones he'd dealt with. And those lasers were decent quality, worth quite a bundle.
"Parts, you said? Are they all as nice as this one? Or am I going to have to worth with pieces of scrap metal to get to anything good?" He knew how it was with parts. No consistency in quality, unless you were dealing with a specialist like Lockdown. Now that was a bot who knew his upgrades, and never damaged a single one that he'd sold to Swindle. Good business partner.
Reply
"...they're varied." He glanced back, honest. "Some are worse. Some are better. I didn't have any interest in digging at the time. A number of them are older pieces, but you seem to be able to get use out of anything..." Megatron smirked.
"...so I'll have my bots bring in parts for you, and you keep a tab on how much they're worth. This way, when I send someone to get equipment...we don't have to deal with any inconvenient credit exchanges."
Reply
Leave a comment