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Post by Swerve on Apr 5, 2009 14:13:02 GMT -5
OOC: Day 4, right after Broken and Busted. Semi-private.
While he's stopped spewing insult after profanity where everyone can hear, Swerve isn't quiet. His fans whine, his engine idles high and rough, and he's still snarling to himself as he puts as much distance between him and repair – Perceptor – as quickly as he can.
"Where's that torqueless mouthpiece get off?" he growls. "Smeltin' callin' me a liar like that!" He curses at a heat warning that pops up and punches the nearest wall, right under that urgent little blue image flashing on his left. It doesn't make the blasted thing go away. Fragger. I haven't lied! Swerve stands there a moment, scowling at everything and nothing, fuming and cyclilng air, fist still wedged into the rock. I never lied about it! I said I could fix things! I don't owe any slagging more than that! He rips his hand free and starts down the corridor again. "I don't owe anyone more than that!"
Anyone. Like Rodimus. Swerve's optics widen a fraction before narrowing again to bright golden slits.
That self-righteous bootleg said– Rodimus wants to talk. Swerve doesn't care; he's itching for a fight, someone to lash out against. Rodimus is as good as anyone else. Better, maybe, with that high and mighty attitude of his. "RODIMUS!" Swerve bellows at max volume, spurning the radio, stride stiff and angry as he carries on through the tunnels on his hunt. The Prime never said where Swerve was supposed to speak to him. "Where the smelt are you?! You're the one who fraggin' wanted to talk!"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 5, 2009 16:23:01 GMT -5
First, Rodimus had just left the area, and hadn't gotten very far. Second, he's just received a warning from Perceptor, anyway, so he has a clue as to what is going on when he hears Swerve roar his name.
"Down here, Swerve," he calls out, from just beyond a curve in the tunnel. He had started heading back when he heard all the commotion, and just now moves close enough to actually see Swerve. "Ah, there you are."
He nods his head. "That's right, I wanted to talk. Now, come on," he gestures with a wave of his hand before transforming and revving his engine. "Roll with me. We'll talk and drive."
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Post by Swerve on Apr 5, 2009 17:09:12 GMT -5
When Rodimus speaks up and appears from around the curve, Swerve's stride quickens. He has violence in mind and he just needs a little more momentum.
So when that offer of a drive makes it through the haze, it throws everything off and Swerve comes almost literally to a screeching halt. He fixes an angry, bewildered look on Rodimus and stands there, uncertain, fists knotted at his sides and every tensor cable wound painfully taut.
"What?" he blurts out, confused.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 5, 2009 22:49:44 GMT -5
"Well, we can walk and talk or we can ride and talk," Rodimus answers, tone calm and casual, though inwardly he's pleased to have put Swerve off balance. Good. Keep him there. "I don't know about you, but I know I rather ride!" And then the flaming Winnebago revs its engine once more to emphasize as he otherwise waits patiently for Swerve to make his call.
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Post by Swerve on Apr 6, 2009 0:23:26 GMT -5
Swerve's confusion turns to an unsettling mix of suspicion and anticipation. Rodimus could just be offering a drive. Or he might be trying to lead Swerve off. The racer can't figure out which it is and that aggravates him more, kicking the heat higher. And that makes it even harder to think.
Walk or drive? For an instant, Swerve considers just opening fire because that would be easiest on his straining processors. At length, though, engine snarl hitting a new pitch, he takes a wary step forward; he'll take driving over walking any day. "Fine!" he snaps, then dives into racer mode. The instant his tires hit dirt, he's off, kicking up a rooster tail as he lays hard on the accelerator. He may have agreed to the drive, but that doesn't mean he'll wait on Rodimus and it won't be his fault if the big slagger can't keep up.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 6, 2009 19:17:18 GMT -5
Rodimus had been expecting such a move, and so surges forward the moment Swerve does. He accelerates at an impressive rate, and takes the first turn the two come to tightly, like a car much smaller than his current size. On the other hand, while faster than many Terran sports cars, the Prime's top speed is still only 200 miles an hour. Should Swerve exceed that, he will get ahead, and there won't be much in the way of a talk. Even if Swerve does just keep pace, however, there isn't much of one. For quite a while... up to ten or twenty minutes, if allowed... Rodimus will drive in silence, headlights showing the path before them, turns being taken at breakneck speeds. The drive is one that takes concentration and focus in the gloom of the tunnels, and for the first while, the Prime does not distract from them.
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Post by Swerve on Apr 6, 2009 23:05:31 GMT -5
The fact that Rodimus, after all his stupid posturing and blowing all those fumes, isn't talking just torques Swerve further and further the wrong way. He pushes hard, runs loud and hot, taking that corner fast and forcing his throttle wide open.
"This ain't talkin', fraggit!" he snarls as he pushes ahead. "If this is it, go blow your tires somewhere and leave me alone 'cause I'm not gonna be slaggin' towed around for no smelted reason!"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 7, 2009 18:07:17 GMT -5
Although for the first bit, Swerve is given the opportunity to pull ahead, he delayed, he'll find that if he tries after the first few moments, Rodimus will attempt to use his massive bulk and exceptional maneuverability to cut the racer off.
Something Swerve himself should know is that not all races are about speed alone.
"This isn't it," he finally answers. "I was giving us both a chance to cool off before we get started. You don't want to take that chance? Fine by me, but this is not for 'no smelted reason.'"
"It comes down to this. There's a difference between expecting you to be nice, which I do not, and expecting you not to go off like an angry cassette every time someone looks at you funny. Maybe I haven't had the chance to earn your respect yet, but you know what? Respect or no, you sure as slag haven't earned the right to talk to me like you've been talking to me."
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Post by Swerve on Apr 7, 2009 19:44:51 GMT -5
It's just as Swerve moves to clear Rodimus's fender that the big guy veers toward him, earning a flurry of curses and a scraping roar as the racer's engine suddenly redlines for an instant and pipes hit the tunnel wall, sparks flying. He squeezes past and for an instant, he's ready to shift into reverse and ram the slagger. He nearly does, but a brief flicker of good sense stops him. He's gone up against racers almost as big and he isn't built to take them on like that. Not any more.
His engine settles again and he maintains speed, offering only a bitter, furious snort at the suggestion of cooling off.
"If everything didn't grind my gears," he growls, accelerating, "I wouldn't go off!" Because it's everything. Everything and anything all the time. "Like you getting nosy while I'm working!"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 8, 2009 20:18:36 GMT -5
"Listen, half-pint," Rodimus shouts, automatically falling back on the rougher, rasher behavior of Hot Rod now that calm and reason has failed him, "since it apparently didn't register what it means when you found out I'm second, it means, among other things, that I'm allowed to check your solder-smoking work, got it?"
"Oh, and you know, if everything grinds your gears, you know what's the common element, right? You! You're the common element, you're the problem!"
Rodimus continues to have no problems taking turns, but now that Swerve has gotten around him, if Swerve speeds up, Rodimus will eventually fall behind and lose sight of him, and Rodimus isn't ready for that just yet. On the other hand, the alternative...
...Well, the Prime hadn't wanted to do escalate things to this level, but he knows from experience that some things just won't sink into some people until it's been quite literally hammered into their thick skulls. Ask his native Kup - Hot Rod was that way himself. Sure, he'd heard rumors that Swerve had actually been a civilian racer, had just put on the brand as a means of snubbing his nose at those around him... but if the Velocitronian didn't bother to find out what that symbol was wearing meant before putting it on, he deserves having the mistake corrected the hard way.
Rodimus transforms, tumbles, then uses his momentum, once he's righted, to keep running at his top speed. He fires a blast from his right arm-pipes, aimed not at Swerve, but at the road right in front of the racer. He prepares to dive back into vehicle mode, but not having an accelerated transform, can't manage that quite yet.
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Post by Swerve on Apr 8, 2009 21:37:04 GMT -5
That shot flies and for an instant, Swerve lives up to his name; he veers hard to avoid it and skids from one side of the tunnel to the other, almost smashing into the wall. The close call sends a spike of the old thrill – and all the heat that comes with it – through his systems and if he wasn't so fragged off, he might laugh.
"I don't fragging need anybody checking my work!" he shouts back. "I smelting well know what I'm doin'!" The tunnel looks straight for a short while. Not very long at these speeds, but maybe just long enough. Gotta be fast! He throws his steering hard to the left and taps his brakes to put himself into a tight spin. He'll switch into reverse to keep moving once he straightens out and after that, he can return fire. "And my problem is slag-suckers like you, spewin' smoke and takin' the high road and pushin' me all the time!" Pushing him into scuffs on the track, pushing him in every conduct review, pushing every last button he's got.
It's almost enough to push him into overheat.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 9, 2009 16:32:46 GMT -5
Rodimus keeps running forward, bracing himself for whenever Swerve decides to start firing, not bothered by the weapon now pointed at him in the lease.
"Your problem," he shouts, diving forward to transform, attempting to take advantage of the slow down that spinning around and then driving backwards must have caused Swerve, "is that you demand from everyone around you what you're not willing to give anyone: trust!"
Rodimus accelerates, now closing the distance on the backwards-driving car, still ignoring the roof-mounted gun pointed towards him. In fact, it looks as though he intends to drive straight into Swerve.
"It doesn't work like that, Swerve!" he shouts angrily as the gas pedal hits the floor. "It's not fair, it's not right, and it's not the way things work. Trust is a two-way street!"
Did Rodimus just accuse Swerve of not engaging in fair play? Uh-oh! Granted, speeches about trust might seem pretty strange from a guy who seems to be trying to run one down.
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Post by Swerve on Apr 11, 2009 15:25:40 GMT -5
Fair play only goes so far with Swerve, and it doesn't quite reach when there's a huge vehicle charging at him. He feels justified in pushing himself to his top speed reverse speed and arming.
"Cyber Key Power!" he bellows, ignoring the heat, the warnings it sets off, and how the Key makes his relays crawl while his cannon arms, barrels unlatching and slamming forward into firing position. He adds angrily as he opens fire, aiming for windscreen and grille, "Maybe I'll think about it if any a' you fraggers actually start trustin' me!" Curve coming up, he's sure of it. He doesn't care. Rodimus is the bigger burr under his crankcase right now. "Or is tellin' me the 'real' reason for what I think what Autobots call trust? Second-guessin' me? That's slaggin' trust with you people?!" The backwash of hot air from his own pipes does nothing but add to the rage. "And you! Tellin' me I don't leakin' trust anybody?! Like you think you know me?! Frag you right to the Pit, sprocket-sticker! I trust that I ain't gonna get shot in the slaggin' back! That I've got somewhere to be! That–" That I belong! "–That I'm… rrrgh! Just forget it!" He can't keep shooting at Rodimus once he goes into the curve and loses direct line, but it doesn't stop him from peppering the tunnel with laser fire.
It doesn't stop the outrage or the pain creeping into his voice with reminders of days long past and systems overheating, either.
"Xaaron said I made the right choice when I took sides!" he cries between volleys. And coming from a mech who kept his word to Swerve even though he's really fragging weird most of the time, that means something for the racer. "That I'm in the right place! Looks like he had it dead slaggin' on, too!" Swerve almost feels right at home. "It's the same old scrap with more smiles!"
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Apr 11, 2009 21:14:24 GMT -5
Rodimus plows forward, ignoring the weapons fire peppering his unpainted frame.
"Second guessing?! I would say you were making too much of a casual glance, but you know, yeah, I did check longer than that!" Rodimus shouts back, adding, "Which I wouldn't have if you'd have been forthcomi- nngh... NO! Graaah!" His words get replaced with a strangely frightened sound of frustration and... struggle? One that comes too early to be the result of his having spotted the sudden curve.
Rather than making the curve, Rodimus Prime suddenly transforms. He's still going at a high speed due strictly to momentum, however, when he slams right into the tunnel as it curves away, denting his shoulder lightly (and the tunnel a lot worse). He collapses to the ground, arms crossed over his chest in apparent pain. All in all it makes little sense - Swerve has seen how he can take corners before, and there's no reason the Prime should have wiped out on that one.
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Post by Swerve on Apr 13, 2009 20:07:15 GMT -5
What the slag was that? Swerve watches, headlamps flaring bright for an instant in shock, as Rodimus loses it and wipes out for no obvious reason. Swerve went through that curve; there's no gravel or sand patch to ruin traction, nothing that should've made the big guy bottom out and crash. Definitely nothing that should scare him. It doesn't make any sense!
"Hey!" Swerve hits the brakes hard and his cannons drop, folding under and latching down against his rear deck while he skids, yawing wide from his course. He's travelling way too fast to stop in time and slams broadside into a wall. Pipes crumple and manifold seals blow open, welds bursting; panels crush, struts bend and crimp, and his tail lamps shatter on impact. The hit is dizzying and painful, but Swerve pushes himself hard to shake it off and shift into forward gear so he can make his way back.
He doesn't transform when he rolls to a stop. He stares instead, headlamps steady and bright on the suffering Autobot in front of him.
"Hey," he prompts again, confused and suspicious, "you break somethin'?" If he wasn't so caught up trying to figure out the problem – worrying in his own backhanded way – he'd just be more annoyed that Rodimus can hit a wall full tilt and come out with only a couple small dents.
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