Arena: Security Sweep

[Holi]

Unfortunately for Wheelie, Holi's a little busy trying to haul Tiny bodily back up the steps since she wants to go downstairs and he's worried about breaking the leash, so as sympathetic as the Micromaster would like to be, he's a bit distracted.

"I guess Scorponok is well-behaved," he offers, grunting and hefting up the squirming mecha-dragon with his arms under her forelegs. "Or he wouldn't have been let out. Now," and he puts on his best Captain's Voice and fixes a stern look on his charge, "if you don't behave as nicely as he is, Tiny, there won't be any special treats tonight!" Maybe she doesn't understand the words, but he knows she knows what that tone means. And he knows she knows because she gives him what he has decided is her best "you wouldn't!" look and stops thrashing her tail against his legs. She still grumbles when he warily sets her down and her ears and wings droop sullenly. Everything about her body language reminds Holi of Jan when the little boy was throwing one of his no-fair-no-fair fits.

Only Jan wouldn't bite him if he got too fed up with the Micromaster. Holi gives Tiny a cautious pat to try mollifying her before looking back at Wheelie.

"At least we're up here and he's down there," he says reassuringly. "And you don't have to go near him if you don't want to. I think I can break up these two if they don't get along!" And he flexes his arms for effect. No, he isn't trying to not-think about that Cannonball off helping Midnight.

…Okay, so he is.

[Cannonball-3]

Cannonball gives a polite nodding greeting to Kup, and then facepalms at Midnight's bit of ...research.

"I swear, lad..." he mumbles, heading on over to the bank, and carefully trying to remove a section of the front of the building so that the seeker could get out without destroying the rest of the building. "Jus 'old still. You bring the house down, an' we may as well be sendin' up a flare to tell the Prime where we are."

Sure, he was really exaggerating... Can't be too careful, though.

[Midnight-3]

Midnight scrambled out of the building, plucking off bits of wallboard and other debris that had lodged in various joints and niches. "Seriously, that building cannot have been up to code. All Ah did was walk on the roof!"

Native of Cybertron that he was, it didn't occur to Midnight that aliens might not build buildings to hold the weight of Transformers on their roofs as a matter of course.

"Ah'm not a structural engineer, Ah'm a bomber," he grumbled good-naturedly. "Don't think there's any 'Bot traps here, lessen they done run around weakening the roofs or something."

[Blackout-3]

Blackout considers the problem of covert construction for a moment. "Perhaps, then, we should fortify a different location. Let their spies see us somewhere distant to draw attention away from here to buy time to complete repairs and planning. We'll have to establish collapsible escape tunnels first, but that shouldn't be too difficult."

He looks up at the new sunroof. "Depending on how well your Decepticons have surveyed the area, we may be better off simply collapsing the building entirely or moving underground. If the intention is to avoid drawing attention to one spot, we shouldn't stay here for longer than a few days at most anyway. Complacency dulls the optic; one doesn't notice all the details after a while, and in a situation like this, that can be fatal."

He glances up at the orange bot in the upper levels, but says nothing about it. That one hadn't radioed in yet. He assumes Holi would've reacted by now if there was a threat, but just because it's not a threat to Holi doesn't mean it's not a threat to someone else. Besides, now the numbers are even, size classes notwithstanding.

[Kup]

Kup probably can't see the broken roof from where he is, what with him being on the floor on the inside of the arena and the building on the outside, though he did look in the direction of the noise when it first started happening.

Now, however, he has a distant look to his expression as he receives some radio signals from elsewhere, resulting in him only half listening to what Blackout is saying. When they're done, he then radios his second in command, deciding that Holi and Wheelie shouldn't be left alone at the moment. Sure, it's important to develop trust and whatnot, but there's also a lot to be said for sensible precautions.

"Again, lad, I'd prefer to wait and see what our next move is before I dedicate too many resources to defending a place picked randomly off a map. This was mostly just meant as a mutual meeting spot, right?"

"Anyway, something's come up, and I've got to go. Bumblebee should be showing up soon, and you can talk about what ideas you've got with him."

//Holi, Wheelie, I've got to go.// he radios, using the smaller robots' personal frequencies rather than the shared ally frequency. //Bumblebee will be in shortly, though. Oh, and Wheelie, might want to introduce yourself over the shared frequency. You seem to be spooking the chopper.//

With that, Kup returns his stylus and metal sheet to subspace, transforms and rumbles off at what is, for him, a fairly high speed. He heads out the arena, past the building Midnight had crashed through, down the street between the small cluster of buildings near the large arena, and out into the forests.

---

OOC: Out of thread.

[Bumblebee]

As Kup vanishes, a friendly toot of a car horn can be heard. It is a rusted old yellow Camaro, offering a traditional earthen vehicle greeting to one of its vehicular comrades.

It's not long before the Camaro enters the view of the others. It arrives, transforming in front of Holi and Wheelie, but hopefully far enough that Tiny isn't startled by the rough driving of the car.

It transforms back into Bumblebee. He waves politely at the gathered Decepticons and Autobots, but seems to halt at Blackout. Only briefly, however, as he reminds himself it's not the Blackout he knows.

//bumblebee reporting.// he transmits. This is not the voice the Decepticons might have heard (or more likely, NOT Have heard) from their Bumblebee. //someone want to update me on the situation, please.//

[Wheelie]

Wheelie, for all his poor social skills, is also very good at accessing a situation (being duped by Starscream notwithstanding), and takes in his friend's predicament with a helpfulness that pushes aside his own issues.

"Wheelie wants Holi to know he's to have no fear. If Cannonball's not so good and he draws near, before he can blink, before he can attack, he'll have Wheelie's knife in his back. Holi is good and Wheelie's friend, so he'll keep him safe until the very end."

He does, however, spare a rather helpless look for the Tiny situation. Animals are not his specialty.

//As you say, Kup, Wheelie will respond and let them know what's up.//

[Holi]

//Yes sir, Kup sir,// Holi chirps back, nerves driving his manners overboard even while he notes the location of a large, heavily cracked section that hasn't quite collapsed yet. Luckily, it's up and to the left a bit, but he still tenses when Bumblebee drives up. "Uh, sir – Bumblebee, sir," he warns, "you should be careful. On the left – er… your right? – the floor looks weak. You, too, Wheelie." He turns a grateful smile on the Minibot. "And thanks."

What would he do without friends like Wheelie? Well, that isn't really something he wants to think about.

//Weak floor on Level circle-with-two-dots-in-it, Section crescent-around-lozenge,// he reports on short-range before looking again at Bumblebee. "Er… I'm very sorry, sir, but Kup was talking with Blackout down there and I didn't really hear much of it. Any of it."

[Cannonball-3]

So much for attempting to carefully withdraw the Seeker from the building. Cannonball shakes his head. "Or, it could be just that th' buildin's 'ere are old an' dilapidated, lad."

Then Wheelie chimes in over the radio, and for a moment, Cannonball's oil runs cold for a moment. Gotta remember that this isn't the little orange terror from back home. Just like Holi isn't the little liar he knows, and Bumblebee isn't the psychopath. 'Bee's more obvious, though, as he shares a different vehicle mode. However, his kind can change alts fairly easily, so it's not much consolation. Either way... Gotta make some kind of start toward getting along.

Cannonball turns up to the stands where the Autobots are, opening the radio. //You lads need a 'and up there?//

[Midnight-3]

Midnight twitched at the sound of Wheelie's voice over the radio and half-raised one gun as he looked around. "Somebody confirm that there ain't the Wheelie I know of real quick, 'cause I ain't lettin' that crazy psychopath run loose an' someone maybe gettin' their fuel-lines sliced. Seriously."

Then Bumblebee arrived--a bit shabbier than he was used to, and the radio voice wasn't quite right, but he still stared suspiciously at this duplicate of the sadistic thug Midnight knew of. His servos whined and complained at the rapid swiveling they were forced to support as Midnight looked from Wheelie to Holi to Bumblebee and back.

[Blackout-3]

Blackout merely nods at Kup's exit. "Good luck."

He freezes at Bumblebee's appearance; not out of shock or panic, but more out of keeping his weapons systems from reflexively deploying. Radio confirmation or not, Blackout knows too well what his Bumblebee can--and will--do. The fact that this one not only spoke (sort of), but hasn't pulled a weapon or tried to jump anyone yet, is an indication that it's not his Bumblebee, but he's keeping his EMP generator prepped, just in case.

Blackout's height lets him see some of what's happening outside the arena through the open entrances. He does see Midnight preparing his guns, and switches to their faction's radio rather than the allied frequency. //Lower your weapons, Midnight. If it is the Bumblebee we know, he's mine. Until then, do not engage.//

Scorponok doesn't react nearly as well, however. His tail blades unfurl with an audible snap, and he rears up slightly, claws spinning up to drilling speed. Only a hasty hand-raise from Blackout keeps the bug-bot from diving into the ground.

Blackout switches back to the allied frequency. //We were discussing ways for our teams to learn to work together before going into battle.// The voice isn't the angry roar Bumblebee may be expecting.

[Bumblebee]

Bumblebee holds his hands up in a calming gesture at Midnight as he points his weapon haphazardly at his fellow Autobot.

Why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends, why can't we be friends...¹

That being said though, if Midnight doesn't back down soon, it won't be music that Bumblebee responds with.

Strangely enough, the one Decepticon Bumblebee has the most reason to fear and mistrust--the powerful right hand man of Megatron from his world--is the most helpful of this crowd. He even radioed back rather than speaking. That wasn't necessary. Perhaps Blackout is assuming Bumblebee is using his radio for some reason other than necessity--after all, his counterpart can talk, but simply chooses not to.

Bumblebee takes four deliberate steps to his right (and Holi's left,) before giving the Micromaster the thumbs up with his left hand.

---

¹WAR - Why Can't We Be Friends[/i]

[Wheelie]

Wheelie catches just enough of what Midnight said to be curious.

"Wheelie don't see how he could be so bad, even in upside-downside backward place, why the very thought makes him quite sad," he rhymes, then ultimately shrugged his shoulders.

He takes a couple of steps back, then takes a running jump, deftly landing just aside of the weak spot in the floor in a crouch. "Easy as one, two, three, when you can move like me!"

[Holi]

//No!// Holi answers Cannonball, maybe a little too quickly. He winces, modulates his tone, and tries again. //No, thank you,// he amends with what's supposed to be a friendly-sounding laugh. //We're okay. No need to come up!// Well, it's true. And for all Holi knows – he's no architectural engineer – more weight up here might cause more of the floor to weaken.

Speaking of which, he isn't sure Bumblebee should be doing that and he gives the yellow Autobot a fretful look bordering on the panicky. Now if only he could make his mouth work.

"S– sir–?" The weak spot's that way!

[Cannonball-3]

Cannonball joins the others in attempting to calm Midnight, waving a bit in his direction to lower the guns.

Holi's sudden response takes him by surprise, but he shrugs. //...alright, if ye say so, lad. Jus 'oller down 'ere if the lot of ye need us.//