Marissa's Arrival [OPEN]

[no_catsuit_thx]

Characters: G1 Marissa Faireborn, open
Content: Marissa arrives and has a run-in with some local fauna.
Location: Within Iacon city limits (there are a lot of towering gold buildings)
Time of day: Approximately 1800 per Marissa's digital watch, low-light conditions
Warnings: mild violence, fictional or incorrect military protocol.
Status: Active/

Comments

[my_achin_struts]

If either of the two would-be Decepticon captors had tried to give chase, ratchet had left them long behind him as he'd zipped across the city in a jagged path. Constantly switching directions, he meandered, both trying to throw off any possible pursuit, and looking for other Autobots. Alas, this Autobot had never even heard of the EDC, and so did not monitor those frequencies, nor receive a certain human-originated emergency call for assistance.

It was eerie seeing Cybertron so empty, and yet vibrant. Besides those two Decepticons, he's had yet to run across anyone else. Ahead, though, he detected significant vibrations. Now, the question was, were they vibrations from something - or someone - big moving on the surface? Or vibrations from another of those slug monsters tunneling about?

Only one way to find out.

Which was why Marissa should shortly have seen a rather ordinary looking Earth-style ambulance come careening around one corner and skid to a halt.

[no_catsuit_thx]

Marissa heard the screech and skid of a vehicle cornering sharply. Turning from the door she had been unable to open, she saw the ambulance. Either it was a Transformer in its alternate mode, or this was all some complex and surreal illusion. In any case, she could not pass up the chance to gain assistance, whether it actually be an ambulance from Earth, or one of the Autobots.

"Hello! Over here!" She waved her arms overhead to draw attention, her weight on her left leg.

[my_achin_struts]

(ooc: apologies for the delay, Marissa-mun. Was out all day yesterday.)

Well, it certainly wasn't another slug. Not yet, at least. Not that ratchet was all that pleased to see that Sari had apparently upgraded herself agai-- Just a nano... That... didn't actually look like Sari.

Ratchet closed the distance between himself and the small, armor-clad human, only to discover that it wasn't actually armor, but some sort of thin suit thing, and that it had apparently already failed in protecting the human inside.

A human? On Cybertron? Sentinel would flip his capacitors - all of them - if he found out. Assuming, of course, that Sentinel was even here. Or that anyone else was, for that matter

np, I was at work most of today.

[no_catsuit_thx]

Marissa watched the red and white Transformer unfold to his root mode. She had witnessed the like before, but never gotten entirely accustomed to it; She still found the gestalts, like Computron, particularly stunning

Re: np, I was at work most of today.

[my_achin_struts]

Half dozen capacitors (no), spare main wiring assembly (no), a handful of fuses(nope), box of band-aids (close but not quite), one of Bumblebee's spare game controllers (what the slag?)...

"Ah ha!" Ratchet proclaimed, fishing out a full medical kit. Should be enough in there to at least get her patched up and hopefully not hurting for a bit. "The lunar colony, okay-- wait. The what? What lunar colony? Sari never mentioned any Lunar Colony!" he groused.

"Earth Defense Command? What's that?" Either this Marissa was certifiably crazy, or something very, very weird was going on.

"Name's Ratchet. Never heard of First Aid," he replied, gesturing toward her leg with a roll of bandages that he'd removed from the kit. "You ever heard of somebot named Soundwave?"

[no_catsuit_thx]

Marissa was comfortable with exposition, having some experience liaising between humans and Autobots in her EDC career. She went into a practiced explanation, "Thanks to our peaceful exchange with the Autobots, which included the establishment of the joint human-Autobot defensive organization Earth Defense Command, we've been able to expand our reach to Luna, Mars, and more recently to moons of the outer Solar System, where we're involved in terraforming projects. My understanding is that not all Autobots would be apprised of our joint ventures, just as not all humans concern themselves with threats beyond our globe." Marissa then continued in a more casual tone. "My Dad often visited the Lunar Colony, without the family, but I insisted this time. I was on my way to meet him

[my_achin_struts]

Not all Autobots.... "Yeah, well, there's just one major problem with that idea. See, the only Autobots I know of that have any relations with Humans, besides, 'ew, an organic, get it away from me', is Optimus and the rest of his team. Which includes me. So if anyone would know anything about this 'joint human-Autobot defensive organization' of yours, it'd be me," he groused, handing over the bandages.

"And, yeah, Soundwave is a rotten Decepticon, and I'm beginning to think that this whole thing is another one of his virtual reality tricks!"

[no_catsuit_thx]

Marissa listened to Ratchet's arguments. "Optimus...Prime? He's alive?" She asked, quietly. If there was one Autobot everyone on Earth knew by name, it was Optimus Prime. She had already been an EDC officer at the time of his death. Internally, she was processing what she had heard and observed: Autobots who were disgusted by non-technological species, no EDC, virtual reality.

Marissa took the bandages in her left hand. She looked up at Ratchet. "There is definitely something going on! The state of Cybertron-Earth relations you describe is not at all what I remember. This could be virtual reality, or subconscious fears made real, or Quintessons corrupting the space-time continuum." Her suspicion was with the Quintessons, of course.

[my_achin_struts]

Ratchet turned a look of wary confusion down upon Marissa and frowned. "Of course Optimus is alive! Why wouldn't he be? It's Prowl we lost, not Optimus!"

"Stupid slaggin' ninja-bot," Ratchet continued in a low, rough mutter. Prowl's loss... hurt, and he still wasn't ready to forgive the Decepticons for putting them all in the situation in the first place that had resulted in Prowl's sacrifice to save Optimus. Save them all, really. "Shouldda been another way." He glanced away, ostensibly keeping watch for more predators, but mainly to hide the swift wash of sorrow that crossed his features.

"Quinte-what-ons?" he asked, turning a grumpy scowl back down on her. "Space-time, what?" He shook his head and frowned again. "You're taling Perceptor-ese. My bet's on Soundwave slagging with our heads again."

"Course... there's a good way to test that theory..." he mused, frowning hard as he attempted to think his surroundings, or even himself, different. It had worked the one time, after all

[no_catsuit_thx]

"Prowl?" She asked. She had never met one with such a name, but it had a familiar sound, like 'Ratchet', something remembered from reading others' mission reports. "The only ninja robot I recall is one reported to have been constructed by the famous scientist, Dr. Fujiyama

[my_achin_struts]

"Dr. Fujiyama? That doesn't sound like one of ours," Ratchet replied with a frown. Sounded suspiciously like a human name, come to think of it. Sumdac notwithstanding (since he'd based his work off of Megatron, after all), Ratchet had his doubts about some human managing to create something as sophisticated as a Cybertronian

[no_catsuit_thx]

Marissa Grinned up at Ratchet. "Captain Faireborn, if we're being formal. You may call me Marissa," she said. "Sounds like we have ourselves a duckatron

[giri_guy]

Even as Marissa spoke, a voice crackled over both of their radios. //Autobot Ratchet, this is Rodimus Prime. En route to your position. What's the situation?//

[my_achin_struts]

"You're welcome, Marissa," Ratchet grumbled, but, by now, it should be pretty clear that Ratchet's default tone is somewhere between "grumble" and "grouch". Hopefully Marissa doesn't take it too much to heart.

"Yeah, could be," he agreed, taking a moment to secure his bearings before choosing a direction that would lead toward where he'd once been partnered with a massive Sentinel/ship. "Course, it could just be that we're alo--"

As their radios crackled to life, he bit off his words. "Or not." He won't admit to how relieved he is to hear another voice, especially such a familiar one. Optimus would have been better, but beggars can't be choosers.

// Nice to hear a familiar voice, Rodimus Prime, // Ratchet replied. // Just trying to figure out what's going on. The city looks a bit too deserted, if you know what I mean, and-- //

Ratchet broke off there before he mentioned Marissa. While Cybertron felt like home, it didn't totally look like home. Ratchet couldn't take the chance, though, that it wasn't home, especially with him

[no_catsuit_thx]

Marissa was just removing her helmet and jetpack, as the communication from Rodimus Prime was received. "Rodimus," she said aloud, as she set down her helmet, trying to find a respectful place in Ratchet's interior.

She was somewhat puzzled by Ratchet's request, but she respected her new ally's request. She remembered he had said his past included some different Earth-Cybertron relations.

"I take it you also know a Rodimus Prime?" She asked. They both knew Optimus Prime, though his fate- fates apparently differed. There was something significant, Marissa felt she was missing. "The Rodimus I know is a friend," she said confidently. There was no other Earth term she knew that explained a relationship between an alien head of state and a military liaison that was simultaneously like that of a concerned sister and a younger brother.

[giri_guy]

//...Huh? Sentinel Prime?//

The name of his... pre-predecessor? Grand-Prime? Whatever - was only vaguely familiar to Rodimus, since he'd died long before Hot Rod had even come online. Still, there were all kinds of strange mechs running around on this version of Cybertron - it wasn't beyond the realm of possibility that Sentinel Prime was here too.

...Wonder what he'd been like.

Visual contact had been made: no enemies within sight or scan, although Rodimus kept Wheeljack and Perceptor's warning about giant slugs in mind. The red-and-white vehicle was - ...not the Ratchet he'd known as Hot Rod, unless he'd gotten a major overhaul post-offlining.

...Oh, 'Jack and Perce were going to be so disappointed.

He transformed and asked uncertainly, "Ratchet...?"