(Untitled)
Characters: IDW Mirage, Open!
Content: In which Mirage feels homesick and takes a gamble on going home.
Location: Iacon Towers
Time of day: Morning
Warnings: None yet.
Status: (Active/Finished?) Finished.
( Read more... )
Content: In which Mirage feels homesick and takes a gamble on going home.
Location: Iacon Towers
Time of day: Morning
Warnings: None yet.
Status: (Active/Finished?) Finished.
( Read more... )
Somewhere along the way Slag had lost track of Drift. The ex-Decepticon was a sneaky bastard and the tricerabot was more than annoyed to learn that the mech had gotten away. So, in all his grumpy glory, Slag had taken to stopping around, ramming into buildings to relieve his stress and just plain being his jerk of a self.
He had somehow wandered into the area that could have been viewed as the 'Noble district' of Iacon--not that he knew that though--and all of the beautiful shops and buildings...yeah he didn't like it. Scuffing the ground with a forefoot Slag tossed his head then charged forward to slag into the side of one of the buildings, horns glowing as he hit his target and left a nice sized dent in his wake.
"Me Slag hate nice building!" he roared as he staggered back slightly, tossing his head again with a loud snort as flames licked at his snout. "Me Slag hate everything! Me Slag want to kill stupid white bot!" Stomping down hard on the ground the tricerabot lowered his head and turned away from the victim of his latest assault, stomping his way through the street as he came upon the Towers, glaring up at them in all their glory.
"Stupid buildings! Stupid place! Me hate you all!" Slag announced, making his way closer now and heading for the entrance with the intent on forcing his way inside to mess everything up.
Because he was just awesome like that.
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Still in a state of disbelief, Mirage moved wraith like through the hallway, performing as he went a routine scan for other energy signatures, his sensor net prickling at the intense silence. This had never exactly been a noisy place, but a background of soft, purposeful activity had always pervaded, as drones attended to the needs of the Towers and escorted his various business visitors. The quiet was eerily poignant. As was the lack of signatures anywhere in the complex.
In no time, Mirage arrived at a large concourse - a round arrangement filled with luxurious seating arrangements and elevators to his various business suites. Beside them, closed doors led to other parts of the building and to his own private access to living quarters and his office. He paused for a moment, debating which lofty height to ascend to. Anywhere 'up there' would offer a commanding view of Iacon, and he would be able to reassure himself that the rest of the city was not shut down like the Towers. Because it couldn't be, surely, could it?
Mirage was considering this appalling prospect when a 'ping' sounded in his HUD. The spy started. His sensors had detected just one other other energy signature, somewhere in the Towers. Mirage froze. He did not recognize the owner, but there was a weird familiarity about the signature which heightened his sense of unease. He had no time to consider it, however, as from somewhere outside came noises. What had to be very loud noises as they were penetrating the insulating sound proofing devices.
The noises were coming from the direction of the entrance. Then they stopped - but Mirage had heard enough. Leaving the question of who owned the mysterious signature for now and resetting his rifle, he sprinted back up the hallway in the direction of the entrance, alarmed at the sudden realization that without the security drones a break in may well be possible - even though the heavily fortified titanium door would prove a formidable obstacle.
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"Me HATE this place!" he announced loudly, dropping back into his root mode, head tossing this way and that. "Me no want any of this!" With that established the tricerabot scuffed at the ground, tail swinging back and forth before he threw himself forward, breaking into a run as he headed for some ornamental pieces on the other side of the room. Horns glowing Slag slammed into them, pieces flying everywhere as he planted his weight and skid to a halt amongst the wreckage. A loud snort escaped him as he stopped on one of the larger pieces still in tact, head lowering as flames licked at his snout again and he turned around to find his next target.
And it was about that moment that a spark signature registered in his HUD.
Optics flared dangerously and he let out a loud growl, swinging himself around to face in the direction the bot was coming from.
"Come on! Me Slag command you to! Me going to rip you apart 'cause me no like anything about this place!"
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Large, but not unfamiliar! Mirage’s optics widened as he stared in amazement, recognizing - a Dinobot. One of those creatures Wheeljack had made on Earth - helpful sometimes but generally more trouble than they were worth. Then Mirage flushed with indignation. What in the name of Primus was it doing in his house? Worse - it was that eternally angry, destructive one, what was it’s name? Something befitting its temperament. Mirage searched his data banks, but it eluded him. Damn! For a moment that irked him almost as much as the robot being there.
But then, the robot dropped into root mode and charged, seemingly for the sake of it. Mirage could not help but cry out as dents appeared in the floor, flames erupting everywhere. The creature honed in on several priceless artifacts, shattering them, and Mirage recognized - to his horror - several antique crystal sculptures, family heir looms for generations. The creature paused and then turned again, snorting, surrounded in smoke. “Slag!” Mirage exclaimed , remembering well now the name but not uttering the word entirely for this reason.
Mirage knew he would have to do something fast, or the entire Towers would suffer the same fate as before. He had had enough experience hunting large game not to be afraid, and knew that one dart fired at the location of Slag’s spark would probably finish him off. But he didn’t want that. He wanted explanations - and this Slag was his only chance right now of getting them. With a click, Mirage set the gun on standby for immediate fire mode, leaving it in its shoulder mounting.
Then Slag swung towards him, menacing, threatening. Mirage snapped off the electro disruptor and emerged to visibility, his hands up. “Slag!" he said firmly, "Now look here - it’s me, Mirage, Remember? A fellow Autobot. Now stop wrecking my house - please - or I’m going to have to shoot you. Believe me, I can do that.”
And all Mirage's systems went on full alert as he prepared to fire and/or move very fast indeed.
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...Well there goes all his fun.
Visibly deflating a bit Slag let out a loud snort as he scuffed the ground with a foot then stood still, head cocking to the side just a touch as he regarding Mirage for a long moment.
"Me no want to be shot. Me angry! Me no gonna hurt puny Autobot though!" he announced in a grumble, optics flickering irritably as he glared off to the side, tail swinging back and forth. "Me remember Mirage. Mirage traitor but not traitor." Apparently Cliffjumper had been ranting to the Dinobots at one point. "What you want? Me Slag got things to do!" Meaning he had more stuff to destroy, white mechs with swords to hunt down, and various other 'meaningfull' tasks.
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Now - if could just hold Slag's attention well enough to stop him from starting up again and long enough to get some answers.
It was difficult trying to talk to the tail thrashing Dinobot, who looked as though he could 'go off' again at any moment. Mirage's optics strayed to the shattered crystal shards which littered the floor behind him. "Look, Slag," he said, adopting a far kindlier voice than he in fact felt. "Any Autobot is welcome in my house as long as they don't tear it apart. And I won't shoot you so long as you desist from that activity. But please - we need to talk. Can you perhaps - transform? It would make life much easier."
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A warning.
"Me Slag like tearing things apart," he announced in a huff, scuffing the ground while keeping his head lowered. "There nothing else to do." Except find that stupid white bot that had darted off and left him behind. The white bot was going to pay when Slag got ahold of him!
Something in the back of his tiny processor told him to behave though, something that made him think of Wheeljack and after a moment and a lout snort he lifted his head, the glow in his horns disappearing completely.
"Fine." With that the tricerabot transformed into his robot mode, towering over the spy as he crossed his arms over his chestplate. "Me transformed. Now what you what prissy bot?"
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Then Slag transformed and was suddenly towering up there, his optics glinting. Mirage took a step back, thinking the Dinobot still looked as though he could wreck the place quite easily and keeping the gun primed, questioning the wisdom of the transformation request. But no - it should be easier in this mode. He just had to not say anything to antagonize him.
Keeping optic contact, Mirage nodded respectfully. “Thank you,” he said.
There were suddenly so many questions in his processor that Mirage knew not where to start. He decided to begin with something simple. “Slag - are we on Cybertron?”
He thought he must at least establish this. As a Towers mech he had, after all, been brought up to believe strongly in the Realm of Eternal Illumination - where mechs went when they stopped functioning. Mirage had always been somewhat skeptical - nor did he really believe that he’d died in the Unicron war, but - well - you never knew!
He added cautiously: “Is anyone else here - with you?"
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"Me think so. It look familiar to Slag but me Slag only go to Cybertron few times," he growled in response finally, shifting his weight a bit as a low rumble--maybe a thoughtful sound?--escaped the large bot. "Me see some bots but they not bots Slag know. Fake Opty-moose and annoying white mech."
Descriptive eh?
Slag's optics narrowed as he stared down at the racer, arms dropping from their folded position as he lifted one to point at Mirage.
"How prissy bot get here? Me Slag no remember coming. Do you?"
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"No - I don't remember," Mirage kept his voice firm but calm.
He didn't - and it made no sense. And what Slag just said made no sense either. What did he mean, a fake Optimus? There was only one Optimus Prime in the universe, and he'd be darned hard to impersonate - as if anyone would dare. Well, these Dinobots were hardly known for their great intelligence.
But they were not known for fanciful imaginings either. What Slag had said was just - very strange.
Mirage became conscious, then, of the intense silence. Other than the heavy intaking of the Dinobot and the much lighter hiss of his own intakes, there was no sound at all. Sure, the soundproofing was state of the art, but it had never kept out everything.
"Slag," he said, his optic ridges furrowing into a concerned frown, "apart from these other bots and the fake Optimus and the white one, did you see anyone else at all?"
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All he knew was that Grimlock wasn't here and that was a good thing. Everything else? Didn't make sense to him at all.
His helm tilted a bit as Mirage asked him another question, a low rumble rising in his vocal processor before he huffed and shook his head.
"No, no other bots. Me Slag not use scanners though since he lost white mech. Too angry. Might be others," Slag growled, finally turning said piece of equipment on though, to be quite honest, he still didn't have the best grasp on it either. The Dinobot tended to rely on his senses in root mode in combination with his scanners but he was at least trying.
There was something though...
"...Me feel another bot. Me not sure who bot is."
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Mirage remembered the strange energy signature he had sensed earlier. Turning his attention to it, he ran another scan. The mech was still there, somewhere in the complex. And again - not recognizable, but with that strange familiarity.
"Must be another intruder," Mirage muttered. "I own all the buildings in this immediate vicinity." It could - he supposed woefully - be another Dinobot who'd forced his way in, but Mirage did not think so. Slag's reaction would have been more specific, he surmised.
The Dinobot was a lot calmer, but Mirage sensed it was not a good idea to keep him in one spot for too long. He thought of his earlier plan and, much as the thought of Slag tramping through his house was somewhat less than appealing, it was better that he remained under Mirage's control than going on another frolic of his own.
"Slag, you have done well," he made himself say. "Now - there are places high in the Towers from which much of Iacon can be seen. I would be very grateful if you would accompany me to one of those locations now. Then you can show me where you saw these 'bots, and we can see what else we can see."
And, he thought, I can take a look at the Illusion Enterprises Database which will show every property and business I own throughout Cybertron and the activity status of each. Then we shall indeed 'see.'
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Slag just happened to be the worst at times.
Looking around the room they were in, the tricerbot shifted his weight again, fingers curling slightly into fists. He wanted to break more things, take out his anger on all the stupid not smart things because at least then Wheeljack wouldn't get mad at him if he ever found out. Hurting things without a brain wasn't a bad thing right? Right.
Wait, the snobby bot was talking.
"...Me Slag be guard to pris--...Mirage-bot?" The last bit was grumbled as he attempted to be good, that little voice in his head praising him for it. Still sucked though. He went quiet for a long moment, staring down at Mirage with another of his unreadable expressions before he nodded curtly. "Okay. Me do it. Me show you where bots were and me make sure no bots hurt you."
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The noblemech wasted no more time. "Thank you Slag, please come this way," he said, indicating back towards the elevator concourse, not convinced that politeness would work on the volatile tricerabot forever, but aware that so far it seemed to have done the trick.
Trusting the Dinobot would follow, Mirage started down the corridor, his feet making just a very slight metallic click click on the marble floor.
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He had to make Wheeljack proud and if this was how he had to do it..then he'd do it!
"Where we going, Mirage-bot?" he asked as they continued, his steps making much more noise than the daintier bot but he didn't seem to care. Dinobots and grace? If that ever happened, be sure that the world was ending. "We going to find hiding bot and squash him?" The tricerbot growled a bit as he said it, fists clenching.
He obviously still wanted to pound the crap out of something.
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Luckily, Mirage had installed an extra large elevator for use by his more - expansive - business associates. As they drew into the concourse, the doors to it opened on his voice command and he stood aside, indicating for Slag to enter.
They could view Cybertron from one of the larger, more basic meeting rooms, he thought. The one with the reinforced glass and furniture bolted to the floor which he'd used for union 'negotiations' after those mine workers got out of hand that time. The windows did not reach all the way to the floor in that one, ether. Yes, definitely the best choice. Mirage had no idea how the Dinobot would react to heights and open space. This wasn't Swoop.
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