Spinister Interviews: Demolishor

[Spinister]

Spinister is sitting out in one of the town plazas, next to a statue, legs hanging over the side of the dais. Hairsplitter has returned to him with a map of the mines, which he has uploaded to his datapad. He's reviewing it. The main thing that stands out to him is that there is more than one out of the mine. They have men down there right now, don't they? It's entirely possible, that even with an escort, they'll come out the wrong exit. Spinister is more worried, however, about the potential for enemy exploitation. He rubs his chin thoughtfully.

Spinister can rig up monitoring devices later. He needs to get back to his interviews. Fleetwind is done. Next on his list is Demolishor, the tank who reminds him oddly of Quake. He remembered seeing Demolishor over near Hook. If Demolishor is injured, he wouldn't want to disturb Hook. The less attention from Hook that Spinister receives, the better. He won't be directly avoidant. People can tell when someone is avoiding them. However, he doesn't really appreciate the attentions of extremely competent engineers.

Spinister decides to wait a little longer and review the mine plans. Maybe if he's lucky, Demolishor will just show up.

[Demolishor]

Actually, that's exactly what Demolishor does, after clambering up onto one of the more stable buildings to get a good look at the surrounding area. He's pretty sure Spinister's the pinker one, anyway.

"Hey." He waves awkwardly, not sure how this interview thing is supposed to work. "Hook bounced me over here to talk to you."

[Spinister]

Spinister is indeed the pinker one, although his purple is actual purple, as opposed to Needlenose's lavender. Spinister is also the one helicopter currently in the Decepticon ranks. At Demolishor's serendipitous arrival, Spinister brightens and slides off the dais. He lands neatly on his feet and waves Demolishor over.

Quite aware that Demolishor could likely crush his fingers, Spinister holds out a hand to shake and explains, "I'm Spinister. Starscream's assigned me to interview all of you to get a better handle on his forces and how each of you can be best used to destroy the Autobots. I just need to know a bit about you and your universe. I'll start with your weaponry, abilities, combat experience, and any skills you have, even if they're not useful right now."

Spinister seems cold but polite and professional. As an afterthought, he sits back on the dais and points to another nearby platform and offers, "You can sit over there," or Demolishor can stand. Spinister doesn't care.

[Demolishor]

"Erm..."

Demolishor sits down awkwardly next to him. He doesn't feel...disrespected exactly, but a bit like he's been reduced to a name-and-number cadet rather than an Important Person. It's a bit unnerving.

"Well, I got these and these." He indicates his fingers and shoulder turrets. "And they get more powerful if I get powerlinked, but I don't get anything unlocked. Abilities I mostly got basic repair and tech knowledge, plus combat stuff. Been serving as Megatron's right hand man for eons. He trusts me even more than Thrust!"

As with every time he says this, he seems to straighten up and puff out his chest ever so slightly.

[Spinister]

Spinister is an inherently unnerving person, and he enjoys that fact. Fear makes people slip up. Spinister, however, remains polite but distant. He writes his notes left-handed and mirrored, if Demolishor cares enough to look.

Spinister comments softly, "Useful." Demolishor is doing better than Quake already, which isn't hard, but it's something. "What sort of team experience do you have? What was the history of your war like? What sort of technologies did you develop? That powerlink thing, for example? And... this Thrust fellow, I take it that you don't like him?"

[Demolishor]

Demolishor shuffles uncomfortably for a moment. Who is this guy, Sideways' classmate from the Academy of Kinda Creepy?

"Thrust's a jerk, first off. Nobody likes him, not even Megatron. Me, I'm the one who keeps all the other Decepticons in line and takes care of business when Megatron's not there." Self-complimenting done, he deflates again and the bragging tone goes away.

"The war got started because...um..." Demolishor looks confused. They never actually went into that very much during training. "Well, it just did. And then the Autobots deported all the Mini-Cons so nobody could get at them, and we just now found them again on Earth. Right now we just need to get the three Mini-Con weapons and smash Starscream and then we can go home and take over the whole planet."

There's your Armada summary in a nutshell, filtered through the lenses of someone with very little eye for detail.

"You guys don't have Mini-Cons, so I guess you don't powerlink any. Hook says you don't have long-range warp either, which is pretty weird because everyone back where I come from does."

[Spinister]

As far as Sideways goes, in the Armada comics, Spinister did turn into a crazy Devourist who was not only eaten by Unicron but appeared in astral form and spoke for Unicron himself. This Spinister never did that and has no intentions of doing so.

Spinister explains, "There's a Thrust in my universe. He's a red VTOL jet. Bit of a coward but a very competent killer. Don't know him well enough to judge his personality."

Why is he telling Demolishor this? It's entirely possible that Spinister's Thrust will show up,and Demolishor ought to at least know that there are other people who use the name.

At the mention of Mini-Cons, he scribbles down quite a bit and prods, "What's wrong with your Starscream? What are Mini-Cons? Mini-Con weapons? I don't suppose that they're a similar concept to..."

Spinister reaches down and grabs his sniper rifle. Very pointedly, he doesn't aim it anywhere near Demolishor but simply sets it down next to him on the platform. Hairsplitter transforms, waves, and introduces, "Hello, I am Hairsplitter!" The Nebulan has all his armour on and his visor down, so none of his flesh shows. He just looks like an odd little robot.

[Demolishor]

Demolishor peers down at him, still very confused. "Sorta like that, but they aren't usually guns. They just transform the same way normal people do, and they don't talk. Just..."

He purses his lips and makes an admirable attempt at beeping and wheedling.

[Spinister]

"So Mini-Cons are small Decepticons that give you powerups, sometimes turn into weapons, and do not communicate properly?" Spinister inquires, to make sure that he has it straight. It makes sense to him that Autobots would deport a bunch of Decepticons, and Autobots are lame enough that they'd dump them on Earth by accident. Also, they already have small Decepticons – see the Micromasters. He is, however, making incorrect assumptions about the –con suffix.

Spinister pats Hairsplitter on the head and explains, "He's my Targetmaster partner. You'll see a few of these guys around. Now, what was that about your Starscream?"

He's curious, because it could lead to tensions with the Starscream that they have here, if it hasn't already.

[Demolishor]

Demolishor nods rather aimlessly to that comment. It's close enough to the truth, but not the total truth...but maybe Spinister doesn't deserve to know that yet. "The Autobots have 'em too, though."

"Starscream? Starscream's a traitor. He went after Megatron once, yeah, but we all thought it was just something he had to get out of his system. Then bang!" He waves his hand in the air. "Guy flies off and joins the Autobots."

[Spinister]

Spinister holds a hand to his head and revises what he has written. Boring his light teal gaze into the back of Demolishor's skull, he says slowly, "These Mini-Cons are a cross-factional thing?"

At Demolishor's explanation of his problems with Starscream, Spinister's hands twitch, as if itchy for a trigger, and mess up his current line of text. Optics glinting with a fearsome frost, he explains swiftly, "Demolishor, where I come from, I'm the leader of the Mayhem Attack Squad. We have other duties, but a big one is to hunt down and execute all traitors. I understand perfectly why you'd want to kill your Starscream, and I encourage this. The Starscream that we currently have, however, would probably shoot his own foot before he'd join the Autobots, so don't worry about that."

[Demolishor]

"Mini-Cons aren't a factional thing at all, they just are." It feels like trying to explain the concept of transforming to a human.

The idea of a team specifically designed to hunt down traitors makes Demolishor's face light up. "Your Starscream doesn't seem like a traitor, but he's still pretty annoying. Why can't we have that Dead End guy for leader instead? He isn't so screechy."

[Spinister]

Spinister is getting down some very interesting notes on Demolishor, which will certainly have to be edited before anyone sees them.

Vainly, he tries again, "Mini-Cons are a separate faction?"

The idea seems weird to him and vaguely like politics.

Spinister would grimace, had he a mouth, at Demolishor's question, and he inserts some reference links between Dead End's file and Demolishor's. Coolly, he reminds, "Leadership is not a question of who you like or don't. It is a question of capacity. Dead End is neither a tactical nor a strategic planner, and he isn't as powerful and talented as Starscream is. You can have your opinions, but you'd be wise to keep them quiet around his lordship."

[Demolishor]

More confused-face."Mini-Cons aren't really a faction. I mean, it's like animals on Earth. They aren't exactly their own group but they're different from normal people. Y'know?" Spinister probably doesn't.

At that latter comment, Demolishor chuckles. "I'm not gonna go yell at him again like I did before, if that's what you're wondering. M'not a moron. But I just think a real leader should be somebody people like, and the guys that people don't like can be advisors, like Thrust. Thrust's a tactician, but nobody'd stand him being our commander."

And, ideally, a leader someone with a voice that could melt chocolate instead of sounding like an advertisement for a lozenge. But Demolishor's keeping that to himself.

[Spinister]

Spinister is getting slightly frustrated by Demolishor's inability to explain things clearly. He knows what animals are. He's been offworld and seen organics. If Demolishor had said that in the first place, Spinister'd have a better idea here. Yet again, he tries, "Like drones, then? Not real people?"

He listens patiently to what Demolishor thinks of the leadership issue and comments, "Leadership is not a popularity contest. At times, a leader will be forced to make choices that make him unpopular, not out of any desire to make his troops unhappy, but because they are the correct choices to make. As a squad leader, I've had to discipline errant soldiers. They never like it, but if I don't, they won't correct their mistakes."

Shaking his head, Spinister wraps up, "That said, there's going to be a training combat session later. I'm sure that you know how to fight, but the more you know about what your comrades can do, the better you can work together."