On the Hunt for Cuties

[Sideburn]

Takes place on Day Six.

Ever since coming to this planet, Sideburn's love life has taken a dive. Back on Earth there were plenty of red cars for him to chase and extol the virtues of. That hasn't been happening so much here. (Other than when he mistook Swerve for a local car, but he's not going to mention that.)

While the organic natives may be gone, some of their systems are still running. And he's bound to come across a red local vehicle eventually, right?

So Sideburn's found himself a hiding spot in the forest near the base, right next to the road. If any potential dates pass, he can easily hop onto the road to go after them.

Now all he has to do is wait for one suitable to pass...

[Override]

After some time waiting, the purr of a well-tuned racing engine can be heard... almost as soon as its owner can be seen. This sleek, well-built machine has at least as much white mixed in with its generous reds, and the design is on the big side (for those who have more love to give, don't'cha know?), but it sure is curved in all the right places, with fins that look like this vehicle can really fly.

And fly it does, down the metal road on translucent red tires, at speeds upwards of five hundred miles per hour - a leisurely stroll, that. So fast, it's little more than a blur of well-shaped red and white as it moves past.

Blink, and she's gone on down the road.

[Sideburn]

There's no way he misses the flash of red (and white, but it's the red he's concerned with) as it passes him. Instantly he takes off after that beauty, engine revving as he chases her down. "Hey cutie! What's the hurry? you've gotta have one fine engine to be moving so fast!"

One would think he would've learned by now that not all Autobots have Earth alt-modes, especially after Swerve. However, with his CPU already set to looking for non-Earth vehicles, it doesn't occur to him that this might be another Autobot.

[Override]

Alien highway, blue Earth sports car, one with enough speed to be gaining on her while she's already going fast enough to dust most racers on her native planet...

...Almost seems familiar, in a way, but Override can't think of the last time she's been called something like 'cutie.' Still, a challenge is a challenge (or at least that's how Override's going to read it).

"A /fine/ engine? Buddy, mine's the best." she answers, deep voice hinting at laughter that lies just below the surface.

[Sideburn]

While Sideburn doesn't spend much time at these speeds, he could easily go faster.

...And the red car replies to him. It's not one of the local vehicles. Whoops! That snaps Sideburn out of his lovesick funk and he takes a more careful look at what he realizes is likely a fellow Autobot. And while the pictures posted weren't from this particular view... "Hey, you're Override, aren't you? The leader of Velocitron? I'm Sideburn."

Oh well, hanging out with new Autobots is always a good activity. Especially one that he can really drive with.

[Override]

"That's right," answers Override, and still, while she doesn't quite laugh, there is laughter in her voice. "Who did you think I was?"

Curious, testing, she increases her speed just a little, now approaching six hundred miles an hour, interested in seeing if the blue car can keep pace. It's not officially a race (yet), but that doesn't mean she's not interested in seeing how well her new conversational partner can keep up!

[Sideburn]

"I was on the lookout for some of the local vehicles." Not that he minds talking to her instead.

Sideburn continues to match pace as the world blurs around them, tires humming on the metal road. The wind going over him cools his plating even as his engine keeps him pleasantly warm from the activity. He comes up behind her--my she has tailfins. And curves.

"You drive out here often?"

[Override]

"I'm new to the planet, pal," Override responds, tone amused and almost teasing. "This place has nice roads, though the metal's a bit weird. Practically begging to be driven on, but this is my first real chance to do anything about it."

"Wouldn't most the local vehicles be pretty much shut down at this point, though?" she adds.

Hmmm. Not bad, Override thinks as Sideburn keeps pace with her. Not bad at all. But how long can he keep it up? Kind of odd that he seems perfectly content to stay partially behind her, but no formal challenge was issued, and he could be intentionally letting her cut into the air first so that he has to struggle less. The idea that he might be taking in the view never occurs to Override.

With those thoughts in mind (all except for the view thing), she slowly adds to the acceleration once more, moving up closer to six-fifty instead of six hundred.

[Sideburn]

"Never know when you're gonna get lucky," Sideburn replies brightly.

"The roads here are pretty good," he agrees. "Much better for this kind of driving than back on Earth. No big cracks or potholes or the like. Not that we could go anywhere near this speed back home without my brother getting on our case for speeding. Is there an Earth in your universe?"

He accelerates to match her speed again. He's well beyond any speed he's driven at before and doesn't know how long he'll be able to keep accelerating with her. Not that that's going to stop him right now. And while she likely has a greater endurance for keeping up these speeds, he's not anywhere near ready to call it quits. Where would be the fun in that? And it would mean giving up this view.

[Override]

"Lucky? What's so lucky about it?" asks Override, obviously not Getting It.

As the subject moves on to Earth, however, she answers, "Oh, yeah. It's where most of the civilian Autobots are hiding out until the black hole's dealt with. I've been on the planet. Seems nice, though, as you've probably guessed, they don't keep their roads up like Velocitron does. Still, the humans seem nice enough."

She's still pushing, but slower, making it seem like a natural drift upwards in speed instead of intentional acceleration. Still, at this rate, they'll be speeding along at around seven hundred miles an hour before long!

[Sideburn]

Well, truth is, Sideburn meant the innocent version of that comment. "Well, there was a slim chance that a local cutie could still be active and pass by. Though really, you're better than any of the locals."

Did Sideburn just hit on Override, knowing who she is? Why, yes he did.

"The humans can build pretty well," as evidenced by the large number of hot cars on their roads, "they just don't keep up with their roads. We do have one human kid that hangs out with us a lot--Koji. The Predacons took his dad hostage to try to use him to find some big energy sources. We're trying to get him back.

"Black hole? Swerve never mentioned one. What's the deal with it?"

Sideburn drifts up in speed with her, paying more attention to the company than his speedometer, which is almost at 700 mph.

[Override]

So, wait. Is Sideburn implying that he digs unintelligent cars?

Did Sideburn just hit on Override?

Override's not sure how to take those two in combination, so she just answers, "I should hope so!"

"Of all the humans, we seemed to deal most with children, too. The brothers, Coby and Bud, and their friend, Lori. I'm not sure how the Autobots met them - they were already working together before they got to Velocitron."

"As for the black hole, Swerve might not have heard about it. From what I understand, he was pulled from right after the Cybertronians arrived on our world, so it might not have gotten around."

"You know, you're pretty fast there," Override observes. From her, it's quite the compliment.

[Sideburn]

Sideburn digs mechanical xenos. Red, hot ones. Unfortunately enough, the mechanical xenos on Earth are rather lacking in the intelligence department.

It's not supposed to be a reflection on Override's intelligence, honestly!

Sideburn preens at the praise. "Why, thank you!You're pretty fast too. Not that I would expect any less from someone who leads a planet of racers. How close are you to you-"

Sideburn's speedometer hits 700 mph and all of a sudden he just disappears from his position, only to reappear further down the road. He hits his breaks in surprise, dropping down to about 500 and exclaims over the Autobot broadband frequency on low power, //WHOA! What just happened?!//

[Override]

"What the-?!" Override exclaims as her blue tag-along suddenly vanishes, only to reappear quite some distance in front of her. She accelerates to catch up, something made easier by his slowing, and once she's passed him slows down to again match his speed.

"You don't know?!" she exclaims in answer to Sideburn's question. If anyone knows what just happened, he should!

[Sideburn]

"That's never happened to me before!" How was Sideburn supposed to know when he'd never experienced it before?

"I wonder if that was because of the speed we were going at..."