Lean Mean Green Machines: Kup Interviews Springer

[Springer]

Shortly after arriving back at the underground Autobase, and departing from Perceptor, Springer is soon led by Kup to a secluded area near the Temple entrance.

The area is an empty parking lot for tourists - On one side, there's a restaurant and souvenir shop, both of which are more than likely highly over-priced. Inside the shop, they sell little carvings that look like the above-ground temple in potted plants that are long-dead thanks to the planetary evacuation.

Despite having seen his home planet all but completely abandoned, it's still a little creepy to Springer. Of course, he doesn't know what did it. Yet. And if he thought Thunderwing was bad...

Once Kup stops, Springer does as well, turning and looking at the old-timer. Then he looks away, huffing. "Still slaggin' weird to see you, even if you aren't the same Kup."

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OOC: Posing of Kup done with permission of player, setting courtesy of Kup's player.

[Kup]

"Well, like I said, get used to it, 'cos I ain't going no where," Kup answers as he removes from subspace the sheet of metal and the sharpened metal stick he's been using as stylus and note pad. He leans rather casually against the wall at the edge of the parking lot and looks back at Springer.

"Now, these interviews are mostly so we can get an idea what to do with new arrivals, since their abilities and backgrounds don't always line up with what we're used to, and that's assuming they aren't just complete strangers wearing Autobot symbols. Or weirder."

Kup pauses for a moment. He's not so insensitive that he can't tell he's about to move into tricky territory, but Springer's behavior pretty much demands a clearing of the air, and the sooner it's cleared, the better they'll be able to work.

"But first, since you keep bringing it up, anyway, you mind explaining to me why it's so slagging weird to see me up and about?"

[Springer]

Springer leans against the wall perpendicular to the wall Kup is leaning against with his arms crossed, staring at the ground for now.

"About a century back, after we were forced off of Cybertron, you disappeared. When I got pulled from, I had just finished commanding a rescue mission to retrieve you - My Perceptor and his crew found you on a strange planet covered in unstable, radioactive energy crystals." Springer pauses, his gaze still fixed down.

"When we found you, to be honest, you should have been dead, by all logic. You'd been there for who-knows-how-long without recharging, and the radiation on the planet had messed your mind up something terrible. You attacked the two groups we sent to get you back...only one survived out of both of those. They couldn't use weapons, for risking the entire planet getting fragged, and couldn't risk your sparkcore going critical for the same reason. However, I called in a specialist to get you - Trailbreaker. Though, according to him, the shock of seeing him out of nowhere send your sparkcore into critical, so he had to jury-rig a forcefield to keep it stable." Springer does look a bit distressed now as he finishes the tale. "Once he got you back on the ship, you were put on life support, and we don't know if you're going to make it. In my universe... You were really stubborn about not taking upgrades, enough that almost none of your systems are compatible with current tech."

[Kup]

Kup makes a quiet coughing sound at Springer's remark concerning his alternate being stubborn about upgrading. But really, what's the point? The modern trends seem largely towards making one's alternate mode obvious and making sure someone who's really strong looks really strong. What's the point of that? A downgrade in Kup's book. If the local techs can figure out how to repair Jazz they can figure out how to repair him.

Besides, Kup's met the Maximals. He's seen the end result of all this 'upgrading,' and he wants no part of it, thanks very much.

The veteran shakes his head. "So I've been missing for a century, rediscovered and dangerously loopy, then comatose and falling to bits." He cycles air once, twice then gives a single nod. "All right, I can see how that would be difficult to deal with, and I'm sorry. We've all had to make a lot of adjus-" and then something catches up with Kup.

"What do you mean, forced off Cybertron?"

[Springer]

This is...a better reaction than Springer expected. Maybe he needs to relax, and try not to dwell so much on the guilty feeling in his spark. It's possible, for a little while, but he keeps going back to what Siren said to him when he came back.

"No 'bot deserves that, Springer...no 'bot."

When Kup cuts off, Springer's jarred back to reality, looking over at the elder as he asks about Cybertron. Springer's optics flicker in a blink, then he answers him. "Cybertron's dead, Kup. A barren wasteland. Between Thunderwing and the war, Cybertron was stripped it of nearly all its resources, and became all but uninhabitable."

[Kup]

Well, Kup isn't aware that Springer sent the second team down there after the first one got slaughtered, rather than there being two different search teams sent down at the same time. That might have changed his reaction.

As Springer talks of Cybertron as a barren wasteland, Kup winces, imagining it of his own Cybertron. Springer isn't the only one reporting himself from a dead Cybertron reality - there's Jazz and his group - but he is the first from the "main clump," as Kup refers to them. Obviously one of the ones with sparks, and not the Maximals'... the elder hopes he isn't hearing about Mirage's future here. He'll have to wait to hear what else is being said.

But that name... Kup's heard it before. "Thunderwing, Thunderwing," Kup mutters softly, trying to remember the source. He flips his metal plate over, then snaps his fingers. "Nightbeat mentioned him during his interview. Said he was something called a 'Pretender.'" Then he shakes his head. "His Cybertron was still alive when he left, though, although they had reason to worry about its immediate future. What'd he do in your world that's so bad?"

[Springer]

Springer relaxes now that the subject is shifting, looking up now as he ponders what Kup said. "Pretender, huh... I s'pose you could call it that."

He then looks at a different spot on the ceiling. Huh. Looks like water damage.

"According to Jetfire's report on it, Thunderwing predicted what was going to happen to Cybertron in the midst of the war, and tried to warn various other scientists. However... Jetfire and the others ignored him. 'Course, his plan was illegal and unnatural." Springer visibly squirms to just think about it. "He wanted everyone to get into these...bio-cybernetic shell-things that bonded with their host. It would have survived Cybertron's collapse, but it was untested. And, well, just plain freaky. Even Megatron didn't want anything to do with them."

Springer looks up at Kup now. "So, Thunderwing flips a glitch and goes through with it on his own. Sure, he got the power to withstand Cybertron's collapse, but he went completely insane. He goes on this big rampage against everybody... Actually speeds up the cataclysm he was warning everyone about. So the war escalates as Autobot and Decepticon alike try to stop him, to no avail. Then, when all hope seemed lost, Cybertron itself swallowed him down into the depths of the planet..." Springer then slumps a bit. "And so, with that, Cybertron became a wasteland thanks to one Decepticon selfishly trying to save himself and accidentally speeding up what he hoped to avoid."

[Kup]

Kup's widens his optics. Ooooookay. This is a new one. And yet, several of the elements in it have started to sound familiar.

"That's... different. You know, uh, apparently back in Emirate Xaaron and Nightbeat's reality - and Rodimus's, I guess - they've got what I called Pretenders. We don't have them in my reality, but it's apparently... organic or organic like shells over a Transformer? Like I said, Nightbeat even mentioned having a Thunderwing, but while the guy was supposed to be slagging nuts, there was nothing like what you describe. From what I hear, when they developed their Pretender tech it went pretty much without major incident. Heck, apparently Hot Rod and their Kup were on the ship with the first Autobots that did it, part of the same crew or something."

The elder shakes his head and taps his metal sheet with his stylus. "And considering what you're telling me, I guess I'd better warn you about the Maximals before you meet them, or you might be in for a nasty shock. And they'd probably be in for a nasty shock when you're being shocked.

"The Maximals claim to be our 'descendants,' but we're not really sure what future they're from. Not mine, I know, because they've got sparks, and not Xaaron's and Rodimus's, for the same reason. Also, they're a lot less confused about females. Anyway. Apparently sometime in their past they had what they call 'the Great Upgrade,' which I'm told mostly involved making everyone smaller and more energon efficient. That's just for on-planet, though. Their off-planet explorers get equipped with some sort of... organic? Quasi-organic? Organic-ish? ...alternate modes to blend in with the local wild life. When Rattrap and Airazor are in their secondary mode, they look just like animals. We got another one, Clawjaw, supposedly from the same group. He still looks metalic, though, but thinks more like an animal than either of the other two.

"From further along in their future, though, there's this gal called Botanica, another Maximal. And what she has to say is pretty nuts. Not only have they reformatted themselves so the organic part ain't just on the outside, but completely integrated. What's more, she's saying they've reformatted all of Cybertron and every Transformer on the planet that way!"

[Springer]

...

Springer just stares at Kup.

"Are you sure you didn't spend a few stellar cycles on a rock covered in koo-koo crystals? I mean... part-organic transformers, and a part-organic Cybertron? Seems the more I hear about this place and who's here, the more I'm convinced that this is all a really bad dream..."

Springer shakes his head, then sighs.

"And there's females now?"

[Kup]

Kup narrows his optics and glowers at Springer. "You know, if you need me to cuff you upside the head so's you know you're awake, I can," he remarks dryly.

"And yes, there is, only for some of our realities, it's not so much a 'there's females now' as 'there's females.' My own reality's had females Transformers for as long as we've had Transformers, and female mechanoid Cybertronians before that. In fact, so far the ones that ain't got 'em have been the exceptions, not the rule."

"But back to the interview, though," Kup mutters, looking down at his metal sheet. "My reality has a Springer, and I know him pretty well, but assuming too much about alternates can get dangerous, so I need you to tell me... well, I'll start by asking you to tell me about yourself in general. What do you think I need to know about you?"

[Springer]

The triple-changer grins at the first comment, even chuckling a bit. "I may take you up on that later..."

Springer is then hit with bogglement once again at the idea of female Transformers. "Huh. Can't say I've ever heard of female Transformers back home. Never really gave the idea much thought..." Watch out, everyone. Springer's starting to think about girls.

"Talk about myself, huh? I figure I can manage that" he says, stroking at his chin a bit. "I command an elite tactical unit called the Wreckers. We go where we're needed, mostly to reinforce counter-infiltration teams or to take on various combat missions. We're known for turning things around when they look pretty grim" he adds, looking just a bit proud of himself. "I'm a triplechanger, quite skilled in combat in less-than-ideal conditions and situations..." Springer then looks up at the ceiling again, a rather ponderous look. "Anything more specific you need to know?"

[Kup]

"Oh, good, then you arrived just in time," Kup says wryly, "because things are looking pretty grim here."

The gray-green robot pauses and considers for a moment, frown thoughtful. "Specific... yeah. How big a team you used to ordering around, and how closely are you used to dealing with those who rank about you? If it comes ot it, you going to be able to deal with the possibility of being 'just a grunt' around here?"

[Springer]

"I imagine, with all the insanity I've heard about so far..."

Springer does a quick mental count of his team, then speaks: "'About seven to ten, give or take. And...well, the Wreckers, when you get down to it are just grunts that are really, really good at what they do. And I'm the grunt that's good at keepin' 'em in line." Springer smirks, then shrugs. "I'm just a field commander. Never was High Command material. Most of the time, never really got along with the guys up there, save for Optimus. Grunt's fine with me. Just point me at the bad guys, and I'll do the rest."

[Kup]

Kup nods, and makes another mark or two. "That's odd... well, a bit odd, anyway. Back home, you always got on better with Rodimus than with Optimus, and that applies to their respective command cadres, too. 'Course, you were practiaclly part of Rodimus's."

Then Kup spins the stylus around and taps the sheet of metal with it. "Oh, that reminds we. We've got an Optimus Prime here. Now, mind you, I've never met your Optimus Prime, but without having met him, I can still tell you that this one? He's not much like the one you know."

[Springer]

Springer straightens up, his face becoming puzzled. "Rodimus? Who's that?" And then Kup mentions this world's Optimus, and he becomes even more confused. "Eh? How do you figure that?"