(Untitled)

[not_your_gun]

Who: IDW!Megs, Kino, Mikaela, Glit
What: Megatron needs a makeover. Or, really, he needs to be repaired almost completely, and so is going to be in one place for a bit...and gets to talk with some humans he's been needing to speak to.
When: Following Magnum's fight with Ironhide and This Declaration.
Where: Swindle's shop, Zone 5
Notes: Separate

Comments

[greasemunkygal]

Mikaela had a feeling that what she was about to do would not go over well with the Autobots, least of all Ironhide. She was frustrated with him, but she could never stay angry with the weapons specialist. She'd gone straight to help Ratchet with him, and directly after, she found herself making her way to the Swindles to help Ironhide's perceived enemy.

With her communications with Barricade and Megatron both, Mikaela occasionally felt like she was leading a double life. She didn't like keeping secrets, not from Ironhide, and not from Sam. She had a feeling if Ironhide knew, though, he'd locked her up in a closet somewhere and never let her out.

"I must be crazy." She mumbled to herself as she jerked the door open to the Swindles, pushing her hair over her shoulder as she entered. "Crazy...deranged...whatever. I've got to be insane, look at me. Helping a Megatron. I've lost my damn marbles." She shook her head, and shut the door behind her. She nodded to a clerk, who pointed her in the direction of where she needed to go. Poking

[not_your_gun]

Megatron was 'resting' by the time Mikaela had arrived, many systems shut down in a half-recharge mode but with most of the repairs complete. Not everything was finished, since there were some...additional parts he wished to add, and so he waited, circuitry still exposed, while Kino showed Glit to the supplies that weren't for public consumption.

It meant he did not have much to be paying attention to beyond the movements of the mechs in the hallway outside, listening for tell-tale footsteps to return...

...and hearing a familiar voice, instead.

"Ah, Mikaela. I see that you have made it." His optics came online, their red-glow in the semi-darkness being the only visible indication that he was more than a collection of wires and armor on a medical berth, and awake, at that. "If you were wanting the chance to look at a Decepticon, it seems that has been afforded to you. You may come up..." He smirked, a bit, dangerously, to challenge her. "...if you wish."

[greasemunkygal]

"Did you think I wouldn't come?" She's not being petty, she's honestly curious. She hovers for a moment in the doorway, hesitating only for a fraction of a second before entering completely. The darkness of the room and the redness of his optics created a disturbing ambiance she wasn't sure she liked, or felt comfortable with. It made him seem all the more menacing, even with exposed wiring and circuitry.

"Course I do." She scoffs, making a valiant attempt to not be intimidated. It doesn't completely work, but she does summon the courage to come closer. The medical berth is large and tall, and not something she can easily see over. If she's going to get close enough to do anything, she was going to have to hop up there with him, which would put her in an extremely vulnerable position.

She reaches up, and hauls herself up to sit on the edge for a moment before getting to her feet and facing him directly. She'd....never exactly been quite this close to him before, and she had to admit this was kind of...humbling. She'd worked on

[not_your_gun]

"I did not think that they would let you come, no." He chuckled softly, watching her climb without moving to assist. It was her decision to be here...it was her challenge to overcome, and it would be all the more worthwhile if she had to earn it, one slow step at a time. He wasn't meaning her trip onto the surface of the berth, besides.

The lights in the room remained off, conserving power while his normal companions were gone. With how strained relations in the Nexus had become of late, the Swindles did not seem as if they'd waste any resource easily, and it was amazing how much energon could be saved by simply flicking off a light switch.

He, on the other hand...had other methods.

Being originally crafted for work underground provided a few benefits, after all, and he started up the hidden running lights that were nestled in several areas along his frame. Not all of them were still connected after previous upgrades he'd been going through, and several were just burnt out from disuse and alternate activity, but where

[greasemunkygal]

She set her jaw, her eyes narrowing the slightest bit when he spoke.

"They don't...know I'm here." She confessed, her posture relaxing. "I didn't tell anyone I was coming." If they really wanted, they could track her on the network; her post and responses to him hadn't all been locked.

"...Nice trick." She commented with a tiny smile, pleased with the soft glow of the lighting he had provided. It would certainly help her to see, at any rate. She didn't have the luxury of optics and infrared technology like some of the mechs did. Mikaela was only human; she couldn't see in the dark

[not_your_gun]

"I'm certain you're aware of how dangerous that is." The smirk was constant, now, though the rest of him remained still. "...so I won't mention it to you. Or to them, for that matter." Even if he was, in fact, actually mentioning it now. That was part of the point

[greasemunkygal]

"Of course I do." She replied easily, still moving. "It's not like I don't realize talking to you is probably one of the dumbest things I've ever done." She shrugged; it was, at least, the truth. Honesty was best, she thought, especially when dealing with this type of mech

[not_your_gun]

"...it is only 'dumb' if you consider from an Autobot point of view. Personally, I'm..." He paused, to consider the best choice of word. "...impressed. You're taking actions to further your skills, and are aware of the danger, yet progressing anyway." It was what a Decepticon would do, and he paid the utmost respect to that philosophy. Come to think of it, he'd produced that philosophy.

And it had carried over worlds.His glower was significantly lessened now, though he did not answer any other of her questions. The knowledge that he had worked in a mine was...sensitive, in a way. It had already been used against him once, and he had no desire for his past to become a spearhead in an argument, again

[greasemunkygal]

"...Hm." She murmured, pulling her fingers through her hair. Impressed. She supposed that was infinitely better than being angry with her, or thinking she was simply worthless. That's just how she was, though. She'd always been the type to get what she wanted when she wanted it, and took action to do so. Sitting idle was something Mikaela had never been very good at. "Thanks, then

[not_your_gun]

He nodded, acknowledging her thanks simply. It was...strange...he decided, that he could converse so easily with her...but the root of it lay in the fact that there were so few people in this Nexus that he could converse so easily with. The Autobots were quick to oppose him, the Decepticons had certain expectations of him, and the organics barely registered to his perceptions, at all. It was only recently that he'd begun to see the worth.

"I'm certain there are secrets of your past you would not be comfortable with sharing, Mikaela. Especially to a perceived enemy?" He had noticed that eyebrow raise--it was not so different from the way Cybertronians would sometimes lift an optic ridge. Another peculiarity.

But she was learning, and this pleased him enough that when she asked, his engine slipped from its agitation into a steady smoothness. Not quite a purr. "Good. And yes. You may proceed."

[greasemunkygal]

"You have a point, I guess. I...don't talk about my past much with anyone." She admitted, settling in to start. "It's....I mean, I'm not like, ashamed of it or anything. It's just something I don't...really spread around." Running around telling the Autobots and her friends that she'd once been an accomplice (willing, at that) to grand theft auto just wasn't really on her agenda. Like, ever. "So...I can understand why you wouldn't wanna talk about it in general." She offers a tiny smile, though it falters.

"Okay. I um...might need to climb on you a little bit, so I can get to it." He's a lot bigger than her usual customers, and the much larger ones she usually had to climb on. Of course, with them, she usually just did it instead of asking first, but Magnum was right -- she was learning. She wasn't dumb enough to surprise him again. She rather liked being alive

[not_your_gun]

"So you have had...problems...then, in your history. ...I will admit I had not expected such things out of one so young, but your kind does continue to amaze me." He turned up the intensity of his runner lights, to provide better illumination for her. "And it can be...difficult...to discuss matters of secrecy with those who are close to you, as well, can't it."

His smirk returned.

"Convenient that this Nexus provides us other options, then."

He settled completely back, nodding his permission. "Thank you for asking, Mikaela, it seems that you..." His expression changed completely, going from vaguely pleased straight into surprise when she mentioned the pain receptors.

"Autobots can do that in your world?"
It was certainly something medics could handle, yes...they had to, in order to perform their surgeries...
...but...just turning it off like that...was...quite a different thought for him.

That would be extremely useful.

[greasemunkygal]

"...Mhm." She nodded in thanks when he turned up the lights. "Kinda--

Well, yeah. You could say I've had some uh...'problems'." She chuckled darkly, shaking her head. "It can be, yeah. Sometimes talking to your friends can be harder than talking to someone that...isn't." She cleared her throat, and nodded.

"Yeah. It...does." She was relieved at his permission, and grabbing what she needed, she hauled herself up on his leg to get a better look and angle.

"That I...?" She pressed, but she was cut off when he seemed surprised.

"Well...yeah. It's...not really advised, though. Unless you're in this situation or with someone you trust. Do you...not know how to do it?" That was one of the first things she'd been taught. Working on a mech who was in pain was...impossible, and it seemed...cruel.

[not_your_gun]

"Likely because Decepticons tend not to have friends, in our cases. I'm certain you have noticed." He leaned forward, a bit, offering a hand up onto his leg so that she could better progress up and down. Leaving challenges was one thing--making it more difficult for someone to do repairs on him was quite another. "Is there perhaps anything you wished to talk about?"

The next question caught him off-guard once more, however, and his optics intensified and narrowed.
"Can you turn off your pain receptors, Mikaela?"
He...realized that looking angry was not entirely fair to her, however, and relaxed his expression. "...its not common in my world unless we're being worked on...medics know how. I do not."
...
Imagine, competing in the arena with pain receptors off. So useful. "Though if you care to teach me...?"

[greasemunkygal]

"I have, yeah." She looked thoughtful, then hopped gratefully into his hand. He's a little bigger than what she's used to. "Actually...there was something I wanted to...tell you." She isn't sure if telling him is the smartest thing, but...she knows he will...maybe not understand, but be able to use the information for something

Sorry for tiny tag.

[not_your_gun]

"Oh?" He lifted an optic ridge. "Now you've made me terribly curious. Do go on."

Leaning forward gave him a better vantage point for the operation, and so he simply nodded. "Glit has done such to me before when enacting repairs. But if you could teach me, that would be very useful."