Corporate Acquisition

[Rook]

Earth, Month 1, Week 2, Day 1, Semi-Private

A black man rides a black motorcycle through the black night. The night isn't actually black, of course, seeing as it's in a city, and all the lights make it so bright one can't even see the stars with superior robot optical sensors. The man isn't actually black, but his clothes are. Black leather jacket, pants, and black motorcycle helmet keep him protected in the unlikely event of a crash. The billowing black cape that trails dramatically behind him as he rides is purely for show. The man isn't actually a man, either. The motorcycle may or may not be a motorcycle.

Sometimes things aren't what they seem.

The man pulls into an alley and dismounts the motorcycle, removing his helmet, cape, and leather jacket, revealing a (black, of course) stealth suit underneath. "This is the place," he comments, seemingly to himself, as he looks up at the building in front of him.


OOC: Wanted to get this thread started, but Phobia's player was not around. If Phobia-mun is okay with the posing, the motorcycle Rook is riding is Phobia. If not, it isn't.

[Phobia/Pierce Fobster]

The black motorcycle is, indeed, a black motorcycle! Just a motorcycle that seems to swivel its front wheels around on its own accord, as if curiously peering at its surroundings. Not really the run-of-the-mill sort of bike, really. A fact which is quickly demonstrated when it chooses to the moment to speak up.

“What would you like me to do, sir?” Phobia asks very, very softly, meticulously scanning the vicinity for any hidden security devices or humans.

---

OOC: The posing is fine, thank you!

[Rook]

Both motorcycle and rider are, in fact, robots in disguise.

"I'd like you to use your empathic abilities to monitor the humans in the building. It's after hours, so it should be relatively empty save for the security staff. If you feel a sudden spike in alertness, warn me and start a diversion. Can you do that?" Rook doesn't doubt Phobia's competence, he's just not entirely sure how his empathic abilities work.

"I'll also need you to be available in the event that I need to make a hasty exit."

[Phobia/Pierce Fobster]

“Of course, sir,” although keeping an eye on the building like that would stretch his ranged abilities to its very limits. This actually would have been a better job for Ramp-

The bike quickly quells that thought. He doubts he’ll survive if he lets that particular slip of information out to anyone and he rather likes living.

“Any other orders, sir?”

[Rook]

Rampage would have been better suited to this task, yes. So would Frenzy, or Ravage, or just about anyone in the Decepticon Intelligence Division other than the cowardly interrogator and the civilian desk jockey.

Rook isn't a soldier, though. He doesn't enter into things thinking 'What team can I assemble to maximize the chances of mission success?' He is a diplomat. He enters into things thinking 'Who do I want to like me today?' Currently, he is courting Phobia. Because being a clever jerk at the negotiating table is much more fun when you have a buddy nearby who can sense your opponent's emotions.

"If you have to transform, make sure there are no witnesses," the Predacon responds, walking over to a side door of the building marked 'Authorized Personnel Only.' It has a keypad lock, which he pries open with a fingernail to inspect the wiring.

[Phobia/Pierce Fobster]

Oh, right. Well, it was a step up from being chased through a marina by a psychotic crab as far as courting went.

“Yes sir,” he says before falling silent and calibrating his senses, stretching them outwards, focusing it to peer into the building. Rook was a bright beacon of light with his current proximity, but there were other, murkier human presences in the depths of the building. It was going to take a few minutes for him to properly begin reading them; it was a bit like squinting your eyes to read faraway signs. At the very opposite side of the building, he can almost barely make things out.

[Rook]

Rook is only courting Phobia for platonic purposes, it should be noted. He's not into motorcycles that way.

The crow begins fiddling with the wires in the keypad, frowning in concentration. It takes him a few moments to get it unlocked, but he does manage to do it, the little light on the front turning green. When he reaches for the door handle, it turns easily. "Child's play," he comments as he slips into the building.

Taking a moment to orient himself, he heads down the hallway toward his destination, hugging the wall. //Anyone up ahead, Phobia?//

[Phobia/Pierce Fobster]

Oh, the player knows. She’s just poking fun at the choice of wordings there. XD

//Not within the hall,// Phobia murmurs softly, concentrating on the area around Rook for the moment. He then tries to draw some sense of the space from the occupants of the building. It was tricky when your ranged abilities were limited though, and even as a very experienced empath, the bike had some problems navigating the limitations.

//If you continue, you will likely have some... company soon, however,// he adds after a moment.

[Rook]

//Acknowledged,// Rook transmits back, turning down another hallway. Creeping as quietly as he can, he locates a large air vent. Looking both ways down the corridor, he unscrews the grating covering the vent and climbs in, replacing the unfastened grating behind him. Because there's always huge air ducts, right? Luckily, these even parallel the corridors, so Rook doesn't get lost. He has to transform to robot mode and use his claws to climb up some of the vertical shafts, but that's no problem.

He's on the floor with the Genetic Modifier lab, and feeling very good about himself, when a hand punches up through the floor of the vent and grabs his leg, yanking him downwards to dangle by his ankle, face to face with a horrible batlike creature considerably larger than himself. Fortunately, he's in robot mode at the moment, and thus not unarmed.

Daggers sprout from Rook's wrists, and are quickly shifted to his hands and thrown at the fusion creature, embedding themselves in its chest. The thing just narrows its eyes, bares its teeth, and growls.

//Phobia, new plan. Please proceed to my coordinates and save me from the horrible monster, if you would be so kind.//

[Phobia/Pierce Fobster]

//Oh.// The surprised blink carried through in his voice. //On my way, sir.// He does a split second scan of the vicinity for humans before revving up his engine and darting into the building. He may be a scaredy cat, but he doubts anything in this building could ever be more frightening than the tortures his superiors can come up with.

He follows the pathway he’d felt Rook take and pinpoints the Predacon and the accompanying presence shortly afterwards. It wasn’t entirely what he’d expected though; //My senses tell me it’s human- somewhat at least. How odd.//

The moment the monster comes into sight, he quickly brakes and opens fire with his alt mode guns. Between the sound of a motorcycle engine and this, whoever else was nearby in the building may have been alerted to their presence as well. //Sir, may I suggest a quick retreat after this?//

[Rook]

The room Phobia and Rook currently find themselves in is something between a large prison cell and a small holding pen. One doesn't want one's experiments running off, after all.

When Phobia shoots the bat-thing, it drops its Predacon victim, who quickly springs to his feet and draws his pistol, snapping off a shot at the thing as he backs toward the door. The creature seems more annoyed than anything else at all the gunfire, though its fur is clearly singed and it has visible wounds. //You may, but I reserve the right to ignore it. I'm not leaving without what I came for,// he transmits back, pausing just a moment to get his bearings before shooting out the lock on a second door and dashing through. //This way.//

Deprived of its original target, the somewhat-human switches its attention to the motorcycle.

[Phobia/Pierce Fobster]

//Yessir,// Phobia replies, trying to deter the creature with gun fire. Seriously, what is with ambitious higher ups getting in over their heads? Can’t they just be sensible and back out while the going was still good?

Phobia guns his engines and tries to quickly dart by the monster. He can’t take advantage of his full speed in the twists and turns of the place, but he’s still quite a fast little bike. If he succeeds in getting by the experiment, he’ll slow down and offer Rook a ride.

[Rook]

Rook isn't in over his head! He has all his escape routes memorized. If worse comes to worst he'll just ditch Phobia and jump out a window. He'll be very sad that he had to ditch Phobia, but he'll get over it eventually, possibly over drinks.

The bat creatures takes a swipe at Phobia as he dashes by, but its claws connect with only air, and it screams in rage as the motorcycle escapes beyond its reach.

When Phobia slows down, Rook gratefully mounts, up, barking out directions to their destination as a pair of security guards appear around a corner, panting with exertion.

[Phobia/Pierce Fobster]

It was too much to hope that the escape routes was shared information, wasn’t it?

Oh, security guards. Squishy bags of horrible gooey terror. Phobia doesn’t want to particularly shoot at them and get their disgusting fluids all over him (then he’ll have to find a quiet place to panic about it after this was all over). He also doesn’t want to appear completely pathetic in front of his superior.

Instead he fires off a few wide shots to get them out of the way and pulls the the tightest corner an alien bike with a rider could manage- and hopefully get past them with minimum fuss. Rook can kill them if he wants to though.

[Rook]

If Phobia knew the escape routes, then who would stay behind to distract the guards while Rook got away?

Phobia does indeed manage to get past the guards with a minimum of fuss. They're armed with pistols, and get off a couple shots. A bullet imbeds itself in the pseudoflesh of Rook's shoulder, but is stopped cold by the metal underneath. It's more annoying than anything else.

One more corridor brings the two 'Cons to the Genetic Modifier lab. There are two more security guards here, stationed near the valuable equipment. Rook draws his pistol and shoots one of them, dropping him with a smoking hole in his chest. "Such fragile creatures," he comments as the remaining guard opens fire.