21st May 2013
23:23 MTZ
Slipstream scrapes her right foot across the deck plate and examines her right fingernails as Arcee stares at her, fingers twitching and arm blades deployed.
"Careful." Slipstream stops studying her fingers for a moment and look at Arcee. "If the wind changes your face could get
stuck like that."
Arcee's eyes narrow to slits. "
Don't push me, Con."
Slipsteam shrugs. "So. Bike alt-mode. How does that work, considering your… You know."
"My
what?"
"
Your mass."
Bulkhead doors in the side of the room open, revealing Bulkhead with a barrel of energon over his shoulder. "Hey Arcee, where do you want-?"
Arcee steps aggressively towards Slipstream. "What's wrong with my
mass?"
Bulkhead hesitates for a moment, then steps back and allows the heavy metal door to close in front of him.
"I was wondering where you keep it. Since I left Cybertron I've had my eyes open for upgrades, and normal T-cogs can't just make mass disappear like that. I-."
The room's other door opens and Agent Fowler, Nurse Darby and Paul walk out at ground level, followed a few careful low-squish-probability steps behind by Ratchet. Arcee's eyes immediately go to the team's medic, while Slipstream only has eyes for her partner.
"Aside from a few minor scrapes, Agent Fowler and Nurse Darby appear to be in good health."
Arcee looks unconvinced. "I thought she shot them with a
null-ray."
"Null-rays impede electrical activity. Since humans are organic, exposure to its effects are far less dangerous to them than they would be to us."
Slipstream crouches down as Paul approaches her.
"Did Ratchet give you a clean bill of health?"
Ratchet shifts awkwardly. "I can't claim to be
entirely familiar with Nebulon cyber-organic implan-"
Paul grins, rolling his eyes incredulously. "
Yeah."
"-ts-. Ch-! Buh-!" Ratchet splutters, though whether he's shocked at the implication or embarrassed at being discovered in a lie isn't entirely clear. He takes a moment to compose himself. "So far as I can determine,
Borx effectively bridged the differences between cybertronian technology and human neurology. I have no idea what the
long term effects of bonding like-"
Paul smirks. "Never would have guessed."
"-this will-." He blinks, spots the jibe as Slipstream's expression mirrors that of her partner, then stares directly at him. "You have a piece of alien technology wired directly into your central nervous system.
No one knows what that might do. You have taken a foolish and unnecessary risk with your health."
"Doctor,
going outside is a risk to your health." He walks over to Slipstream and leans against her right leg. "But neither of us are going to stop."
"Cybertronian technology is considerably easier to repair than human physiology."
"Earth has about fourteen thousand high-yield fission bombs. How easy to repair are you after getting hit by one of
those?"
"Not very." Ratchet looks bemused. "That quantity seems… Somewhat excessive for a single biosphere. Though as you imply, even one close-proximity detonation would utterly atomise any Cybertronian unfortunate enough to be hit."
"There you go. Look, the Nebulons have been using this technology for decades. I'm not worried."
Slipstream nods. "
We're not worried." She stands back up to her full height. "Now where's the rest of our payment?"
The heavily reinforced door slides open again and Bulkhead lumbers in with the barrel of energon. "Here it is,
Con." He drops the barrel on the floor in front of her. "You can carry it out on your own."
"'Con'? Really?" Slipstream shakes her head. "That doesn't
matter any more."
"It matters to
me."
"Megatron used to command an army of billions. Now? He's got the crew of one ship. And most of
them don't like him very much.
Airachnid and Starscream are actively backstabbing him at every opportunity. And on
your side, Prime used to command an army of billions and now he's just.. got..
you. What are you even
fighting for?"
"Mom!"
A smaller human runs in from behind Bulkhead and embraces Nurse Darby. Slipstream pauses to watch him.
And then Arcee pointedly steps into her line of sight, blocking her view of him.
Slipstream smiles menacingly, and Arcee raises her arm blades.
"To prevent Megatron realising his ambitions."
Optimus Prime strides in, prompting Arcee to lower her blades slightly. Slipstream affects a nonchalant posture, but Paul can feel the tension in her frame. Optimus Prime is…
Bigger than in the images he'd seen so far.
"Even with a single warship, Megatron could destroy every city on Earth."
"Unless."
Slipstream is momentarily surprised by her partner speaking up, and isn't able to stop herself glancing down at him. Mouthing off to Arcee is
one thing, but the 'bot who led half of the war that ruined Cybertron and finished it off by
ripping out Primus's soul isn't someone she wants to have to fight. Again. But while their bond doesn't let them read each other's
minds, she can feel that he's going
somewhere with this.
"Unless you'd used any of the half-dozen times you'd been onboard the Nemesis to plant one of those fourteen thousand fission bombs on board and blown it up." He smiles. "Did I mention that we're for hire?"
"You did." Optimus Prime actually sounds sad. "But if you truly have no interest in continuing the war, I would strongly suggest that you both leave Earth."
Paul shakes his head. "Have you got any idea what India will pay for a working thorium reactor design? Besides, we need the energon. And I want to see what happens when Slipstream turns up to an anime convention."
Chu-tsche.
Arcee
morphs her right hand into its gun configuration, and everyone hesitates. Agent Fowler comes out of it first, ushering the Darbys out of the room. Then Arcee speaks.
"Are you just treating this as a way to get rich? How dare you not take the war seriously!?"
Slipstream
doesn't change her limb configuration. But she does smile.
"Why are you taking
that so personally?"
"Decepticons have murdered two of my partners."
Slipstream feels a pulse of confusion from Paul at the use of the term 'murder' to refer to killing an armed soldier during a war. And she thinks that he has a point.
"Huh. How about that. Do you know who
else has lost partners since this war started?"
Arcee pauses, perhaps realising that she's escalating too far but unable to restrain herself. "You, I hope."
Oh, that-!
"
EVERYONE! Literally everyone has lost people close to them! The fact that it happened to you does not make you special, and it doesn't make
them special! My whole squad died one after the other starting with the Kaon Uprising and finishing at the Fall of Iacon and I-. How many do you think are still alive today who started the war-?"
"One in every one thousand one hundred thirty seven." Optimus Prime steps between then, gently pushing Arcee's gun down. "At the last census taken before the launch of the Ark, one in one thousand one hundred thirty seven remained. By now, the figure is likely to be much lower. I imagine that the number on the Decepticon side was similar."
He takes a step closer.
"Slipstream, I would gladly stop fighting tomorrow. All the survivors of the war could return to Cybertron and work together to rebuild our civilisation. A new High Council could be formed with Autobot and Decepticon alike, and we could settle our disputes peacefully. I would even abandon my title of Prime if that were necessary. I would gladly stop fighting, if it were not for the fact that I know Megatron will not. Whatever he once believed, he is fully committed to dominating cybertronian society through force. Do you disagree?"
Slipstream hesitates.
"Ah-?" … "No."
"And that is why we fight. Thank you for rescuing our human allies from Knock Out. Now take your payment, and go."
