Nightbeat
Minor
Lord High Instructor, Duke of Snack
Cybertron's Greatest Detective
Posts: 373
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Post by Nightbeat on Jun 6, 2007 20:34:22 GMT -5
OKay, so Omega Supreme hasn't killed Long Haul yet. He--apparently--is going to give Long Haul a physical. Part of him says, 'yeah, so what?' because, after all, the Long Haul he's familiar with is a Decepticon. But this one's wearing an Autobot brand.
Different universes and all, but even Nightbeat takes the Rite of the Autobrand pretty seriously. If the guy's got an Autobot insignia, then he's on the same side.
Nightbeat's not usually one for inaction, but there's a difference between inaction and knowing when not to make a move.
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Post by Long Haul on Jun 6, 2007 20:41:43 GMT -5
There's a Rite of an Autobrand?
Boy, won't Nightbeat be surprised when he learns that in Long Haul's reality, the Autobot symbol was originally a slaver's mark!
Long Haul does not resist Omega Supreme. As the Guardian lifts him up and studies him, he looks calmly back into those visored blue eyes.
Though the larger robot almost completely fills his vision, he is able to note the distress of the others, and he transmit a message over Autobot broadband, his first since arriving in this world, to calm them. Then he looks right up at Omega Supreme and says loud enough for the other to hear, but no louder, "Do whatcha need to to confirm it, Omega."
The Constructibot is, after all, innocent enough to believe that an innocent mech has nothing to fear when his innocence is called into question. The poor fool.
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Synapse
Minor
Do not touch...please
Posts: 380
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Post by Synapse on Jun 6, 2007 21:19:59 GMT -5
Synapse remains hovering overhead, slightly shaken by the booming resonance of Omega Supreme's voice. His rifle remains out, but lowered, gripped tightly in one hand.
Verification? Product verification? What is that supposed to mean? Synapse makes a hiccough sort of noise when he sees Omega extending a circuit probe.
He isn't able to wonder much more as rain pelts down onto him. Harmless. Perceptor said it was harmless. Then why does it feel like billions of things are pelting and sliding, well, sensuously against him? Oh right, nodes. He sends out an abrupt signal to the spheres and waits for them to make a speedy return. To anyone else, he looks more twitchy than normal. That much is true. Hey, sensory overload by water droplets isn't the way Synapse wants to go.
The nodes return easily enough and are sealed away in their mounts. Apologies, but no more watch/patrol for the Autobots. They'd have to hope that no one decides to sneak up on them in the middle of all of this.
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Post by Perceptor on Jun 6, 2007 21:45:03 GMT -5
Perceptor... is frightened. He is frightened for Long Haul, a mech so innocently naive that he had turned his back on unknown mechs within moments of meeting them, trusting in a bit of red paint to keep him safe. Long Haul may finally be seeing for himself that Omega Supreme is not the mech he saw but days ago, however Perceptor is fairly certain that the true gravity of that reality has not fully processed in the constructibot's CPU. Perceptor is frightened and worried that Long Haul isn't fully aware of the true gravity of the situation he has willingly placed himself in.
Omega Supreme is an Autobot still, however, he is an Autobot fueled by rage, and Long Haul... This Long Haul is all but an innocent child, staring into the face of that rage. Perceptor cannot help but fear for him.
And yet, Omega Supreme is fully capable of destroying Long Haul at a distance, rather than snatching him up. Perceptor can do nothing but trust that Omega Supreme is still Autobot enough to believe what the evidence shows, and to trust that Long Haul, innocent as he is, knows what he is doing by urging them to let this drama play itself out.
Oh, and maintain that weapons lock. That, too.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jun 6, 2007 22:28:21 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron closes the distance, since he wasn't that far from Long Haul, only as far as he can get when walking at a stiff clip. There is a voice in his head that tells him that the only thing dumber than trying to climb Omega Supreme is trying to climb Omega Supreme while wearing a pair of dragon wings, in the rain. It's not like he's going to have any traction now. Emirate Xaaron is studiously ignoring that voice. Common sense applies commonly, but this situation is unusual. Besides, if Omega Supreme sends him flying, he actually has wings, at the moment. Emirate Xaaron doesn't actually find this thought comforting or amusing, but it's there.
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Omega Supreme
Minor
Shorter and Coloured Funny but Still Angry as the Pit
Posts: 456
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Post by Omega Supreme on Jun 7, 2007 10:27:00 GMT -5
There is a little gold and silver winged fellow trying to climb up his leg. Who crossed Goldbug and Starscream? Normally, dispatching such a trouble would be no issue at all, but both of his limbs are currently occupied. He just works faster.
Omega Supreme awkwardly cradles Long Haul upside-down and opens up his paneling. It doesn't take much to show that these circuits have never shuddered under the unwanted caress of the robo-smasher.
What the robo-smasher did could not be undone. The circuits don't lie. This is the Long Haul who died with Crystal City, not the walking mockery that stands in his place today.
Numbly, Omega Supreme closes up Long Haul, sets him down, and brushes the gold fellow off his leg.
Then, the Guardian sinks to his knees and covers his face with his talons.
One of his dearest friends has been returned to him, by some miracle, and Omega Supreme has nothing to offer him. He is utterly bereft. He cannot feel anger or hate at Long Haul, but that is all that is left to him. So he offers Long Haul nothing, the best that he can do. The rain beats down upon him, and it might as well be his tears.
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Nightbeat
Minor
Lord High Instructor, Duke of Snack
Cybertron's Greatest Detective
Posts: 373
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Post by Nightbeat on Jun 7, 2007 19:40:07 GMT -5
"Well strip my gears and call me a junker," Nightbeat mutters as he watches Omega Supreme sink down.
Of all the ways he'd expected things to go, this was certainly the last of them. Maybe he'd misjudged the giant Autobot after all.
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Post by Long Haul on Jun 7, 2007 20:31:56 GMT -5
Long Haul trusted in his innocence, and that trust pays off. This time.
The experience of being probed is a bit awkward, especially given the position he's held in for it, but he comes out of it none the worse for wear. Xaaron gets knocked off Omega’s leg, but Long Haul reasons that the gold robot wouldn’t be hurt from his tumble; he took a worse fall thanks to the dragon whose wings he's now wearing. And then the giant collapses to his knees before them.
"Oh, Omega," Long Haul cries out, the sight of his friend in this state hitting him like a 90 ton payload. The green robot rushes to the other's nearest knee and then collapses against him, body, head, hands and arms leaning against for maximum contact. "Oh, Omega, I'm so sorry," he murmurs, feeling for the other the love and friendship that Omega himself is denied. "I'm sorry." And he is, but that is not what he wants to say. He wants to tell the Guardian that it'll be all right, that they'll find a way to fix everything, to make everything better.
But Long Haul is a very honest mech, and those words will not come.
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Post by Perceptor on Jun 7, 2007 21:31:59 GMT -5
Never has Perceptor been more grateful for such an anticlimactic resolution. Not that he is pleased to see the mighty guardian so broken and battered, but perhaps with Long Haul's help, the fallen giant may yet again be mighty and strong. Perhaps stronger now than before. Time would tell.
Perceptor transforms, swaying wearily on his feet as the rain begins pelting down harder. As he'd surmised, dihydrogen oxide with trace impurities - and fewer of those than a similar sample from Earth would have yielded. A cleaner world than Earth.
He cannot help but wonder, however, as his gaze sweeps across Long Haul trying his best to comfort the bereft Omega Supreme, that with Decepticons also on this world... how long will it take them, all of them, Autobots and Decepticons alike, to spoil it's clean beauty.
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jun 7, 2007 23:00:27 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron braces for impact, but that doesn't mean that the ground does not rise up and hit him. It does, and it hurts. Also, the rain means that the ground is fairly swiftly turning to mud. Emirate Xaaron moans and sits up. Nothing major seems broken, and the blasted wings are intact. He's muddy. He's wet. He has clumps of grass sticking to his armour. Lovely.
Now that he's done focusing on himself, he looks back at the others. Long Haul is safe on the ground. Synapse, Perceptor, and Nightbeat look well enough. Omega Supreme, however, looks broken, and Emirate Xaaron frowns thinly. This will not do. The Autobots need Omega Supreme functional and ready for combat, not a sobbing mess. if he doesn't get over it quickly, Emirate Xaaron will... need a better plan.
With a groan, he gets to his feet and starts to brush himself off. Well, the rain does seem to be dissolving the mud. That's one thing.
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Omega Supreme
Minor
Shorter and Coloured Funny but Still Angry as the Pit
Posts: 456
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Post by Omega Supreme on Jun 8, 2007 14:58:17 GMT -5
Omega Supreme flinches at Long Haul's touch and words. He doesn't deserve such a friend, not anymore. He wanted to kill Long Haul. Now, he didn't. He checked first, but the desire was there. Facing monsters is never easy, and it only gets harder when the monster is the man in the mirror.
Long Haul would stay away from monsters, if he knew what was good for him. He would stay away from fallen friends with murder on their minds, but by the time that Long Haul learns that, he won't be Omega Supreme's Long Haul anymore, and Omega Supreme will be bound to kill him.
Miserably, the Guardian croaks out, "Fault: mine," and it is. His fault for believing their lies and abandoning his city. His fault for not being on watch when Megatron took them. His fault for not believing this Long Haul. He gently tries to push Long Haul away. As if gripped by icy talons, Omega Supreme fears for Long Haul, fears for his future, but most of all fears what he might do to the transporter.
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Nightbeat
Minor
Lord High Instructor, Duke of Snack
Cybertron's Greatest Detective
Posts: 373
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Post by Nightbeat on Jun 8, 2007 20:26:36 GMT -5
Letting Omega Supreme and Long Haul have their moment, Nightbeat instead approaches Xaaron.
"Emmirate," he says, snapping off a salute. He's not really one for military dicipline, of course, but in times like this, it seems more than a little bit necessary. "You all right then?"
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Post by Long Haul on Jun 8, 2007 21:17:40 GMT -5
Long Haul is a fairly strong robot, and normally when he doesn't want to be pushed somewhere, he can't be. But "normally" does not apply to Guardian robots. He is pushed back, although he struggles to get nearer to Omega Supreme once more. "Omega, I ain't interested in laying blame right now. 'Sides, if the version I heard is accurate, sounds like most can get heaped on Megatron, anyways." And, as much as it might pain Long Haul to hear it again, and Omega to tell it, he is going to have to try to get the larger mech to retell his account of the story. If Long Haul ever makes it back to his home where and when, and if Long Haul is to prevent things from playing out as they had, he needs to go armed with as much information as he can get. But asking that story can wait.
Not everything can.
"But Omega..." he reaches for whatever bit of the larger robot he is allowed to touch. "I... I hate to have to say this... but we've got work to do. There's other Autobots to gather up, there's Decepticons on this planet," Long Haul does not mention that there's at least one confirmed Constructicon on this planet. That may shake the other out of his funk, but in entirely the wrong manner for someone who still clings to the hope that Hook may yet be saved, "we ain't even got a consistent power source yet, and that's without going into how we've gotta figure out how and why and where we are and how to get back and..." Long Haul trails off, and sighs.
"Omega Supreme, I'm really sorry. But we got work to do, and we need you."
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Post by Perceptor on Jun 9, 2007 9:23:50 GMT -5
Perceptor crosses the distance between where Omega Supreme had deposited them and where Xaaron is now slowly sluicing off in the rain, stepping carefully in the mud that is quickly growing slicker.
"Arcee and Swerve should be arriving to rendezvous at this location shortly. If we are planning on investigating that power receiving station and tracing back to the base transmitter, I would recommend returning to the city once they arrive. There is likely energy yet to be scavenged from there before attempting to cross the black desert again, and, based upon my initial calculations, I believe the transmitting station will be found beyond the location we three initially arrived in."
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Post by Emirate Xaaron on Jun 9, 2007 22:37:45 GMT -5
Emirate Xaaron returns Nightbeat's salute. He replies, "Quite all right, Nightbeat. Good to see you. Now, Long Haul has a dragon over there. Think you could see to it?"
There is too much angst here, and someone needs to put an end to it. This is generally the point where people say, 'Sorry to disrupt this touching scene,' but they never mean it when they do, and so Xaaron refrains from indulging that worn, old phrase.
He's spurred Triple-Changers to action after crises of faith. He's snapped Optimus Prime out of blue funks. He has never had to try to motivate a Constructic...bot or a Sentinel, however.
"Long Haul is correct. You do have work to do, all of us do. There will be time for misery and self-pity later." Yes, he just said that to a Sentinel. Go ahead, strike Xaaron down. It'll torque Perceptor off, at the very least. "But perhaps you'll find yourself too busy for such woes, and you'll be all the better for it. As Perceptor said, we are expecting company, so buck up."
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