oo7 ★ LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN

[electrowhipit]

[ There is a sudden clattering noise- the phone has clearly been knocked from the hook and onto the floor. The voice that follows is distant at first- though obviously confused and desperate- but the volume varies as Jolt wanders around the house at 1249 Williams Road. ]

--ight. This isn't right. Hello? Is- is there anyone here? Please, I... Idon'

Comments

[weaponsparked]

[This voice is younger, harsher than the one Present!Jolt would know.]

... Autobot?

[electrowhipit]

[ there's stunned silence for a moment, then cautious footsteps approaching the fallen phone ]

Hello?

[weaponsparked]

[A pause on the other end of the line.]

Autobot? ... Who is this. Who... who are you with?

[electrowhipit]

[ another pause, and then a few muffled noises as he picks up the receiver, trying to figure out how it works ]

Who... who's asking? [ there's confidence in that voice he doesn't really feel, but damn it, the 'Cons got the jump on him once, and he's not gonna let that happen again. ]

[weaponsparked]

Did you... did you get the--the beacons were sent! Are you... are you responding? I need evac off this--we need... we need salvage... here.

This is Sideswipe. I... [His voice breaks briefly.] Who is this?

[electrowhipit]

[ Sideswipe. He knows that name. But... but what he's saying isn't making any sense, but it's obvious enough that Sideswipe isn't here to answer Jolt's own calls for help- and for some reason that realization is making something in this strange alien chest ache. ]

I didn't... My name is Jolt. I... I'm not responding to- I can't help you. It's just me, I'm... there was an ambush... I'm sorry.

[weaponsparked]

[He's never heard the name Jolt before. And for a long moment, there's silence. It's not help. It's not someone he can interrogate...]

... but I--but we... they were active. I know they were, they had to have been--

[The slight desperation in his voice changes abruptly, flattening out.]

Ambush? Was it--who was it? Who was it!

[electrowhipit]

... I'm sorry.

[ he flinches away from the phone slightly ]

I don't know!

[weaponsparked]

... It doesn't matter. Ah-hah, it doesn't... even matter. Who cares? Not them. Not anymore!

[He stops, getting a hold of himself.]

Your location?

[electrowhipit]

[ He's beginning to wonder if this is where they dump broken, half-crazed Autobots when they're no longer useful. Though, to find Sideswipe in such a place is a shock. ]

Some... dwelling of some kind. I... there's something very wrong in this place.

[weaponsparked]

[More silence. Half-crazed is a good term for it, really.]

... there's creatures... everywhere. It's wrong. So... wrong. [Maybe he's being punished for failing.] I'm searching for him. I... I can... look for you.

[Because an Autobot is an Autobot. The first live one for light years, maybe.]

[electrowhipit]

... I, um.

Please. I can... look for you, too?

[weaponsparked]

... Fine. But if you're too slow, I'm leaving you behind.

[electrowhipit]

[ that notion terrifies him, and he replies almost too quickly ] I won't slow you down.

[weaponsparked]

Fine. And if we see him... if we see him... he's mine. Do you understand me?

[Another awkward pause.]

... Are you... wounded?

[electrowhipit]

See... who?

... Not... too badly, but...