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Who: Arcee and YOU!
Where: All around L.A.
When: THIS WEEK
What: Arcee's scouting out the city, gathering information and getting to know humankind.
Warnings: idk robots

Nothing about this mission has been easy. Not spending the terse weeks in the cramped Rod Pod with Rodimus, not trying to keep her troops in line, nothing to do with Optimus -- no, Orion now. It had been hard to let him go, to watch him walk away when she knows that she and the other Autobot pose the least threat to him. If he goes back to Megatron, Arcee's not sure what'll happen with the war. And the fact that Megatron's on this planet at all is cause for concern.

That, and the considerably more local threats. Orion's terrifying bout of mind control hadn't come at the hands of the Decepticons, but something Earth-based. Something deeply sinister. Arcee knows a bit about this planet, but not enough. It's starting to look like they might be here a while, so she decides it's time for some serious recon.

She has a holomatter avatar for precisely this reason -- blending in with the local populace, maintaining a low profile. It's a remote projection, solid enough to interact with its environment and relay data back to Arcee. She can learn a lot just by driving around, but certain information is a lot easier to come by when you get up close and personal. She can be found around the city either as her human avatar, who's gathering any information she might be able to find about Megatron's whereabouts and the strange happenings in L.A. of light, or as a sleek motorcycle on the city streets, either bearing a holographic rider when on the move (because a motorcycle moving on its own would definitely be cause for suspicion), or unattended while parked out of the way to watch passersby.

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The base wasn’t actually too far off from where he’d landed his ship. And now that he’s spotted the Rod Pod, he wonders how he’d missed it. Even if it was in hiding. It was certainly very…Rodimus.

The closer he gets to it, the more he can feel a nervousness building up in his spark. He’d promised Rodimus that he’d keep their plans to himself, and he would. He wasn’t too worried about that; some bots might write him off as an open book, but Drift could keep a secret if he needed to. Even so, he doesn’t like the idea of lying to his fellow Autobots.

If nothing else, it would be good to be among their ranks again…to actually do something instead of just sitting around and waiting for orders. As he walks up to the ship, he looks around to see if he can spot anyone.

“Hello? Is anyone here?”

The last thing Arcee's prepared for is an unfamiliar voice right in their little encampment. They're not exactly cloaked, but she'd thought they were far enough out of the way to keep from prying human eyes. It can't be a Decepticon, at any rate. A Decepticon wouldn't just...waltz right up, asking if anyone's around. Probably.

It's because she's cautious and wary that she appears at the entrance of the Rod Pod with both blasters out and trained on their would-be intruder, a demand for identification hovering on her vocalizer, but as soon as she sees who it is she relaxes immediately, cycling her blasters out for her hands.

"Drift!" There's a mix of surprise and relief in her voice as she steps out of the Rod Pod toward him. "Drift, when did you get here?"

“Arcee! Good to see you too!”

Drift grins – lowering raised hands as she switches out her blasters. There’s surprise in his voice too. He hadn’t been sure of who he’d meet at the base, but Arcee was one of the last bots he expected.

“I’ve been here on my own for a while now. Solo scouting mission and all that.”

Although he’s excited to see her at first, the more the reality of the situation sinks in, the more dread builds up inside of him. Not only will he have to lie to his friend, he’ll have to lie to the Autobot commander.

“But what about you? Things can’t be good if you ended up coming here yourself.”

The relieved smile on her face melts away almost immediately into something more grim, and she cycles air through her vents in a sigh. "They're not," she says, her face sober, and she shakes her head. "Come on, I'll fill you in, but first -- status report. I didn't realize your mission took you all the way to Earth. Weren't you scouting for artifacts? Command was wondering what happened to you. Last I heard, they hadn't heard anything from you for a while."

“My ship’s coms must be busted. I kept on trying to send out reports, but I never heard anything back.”

Drift thinks of the little arm attachment that’s stowed away; hidden in the back of his ship. Keeping the Phase Shifter a secret was hard. Harder than he thought it would be. An artifact like that could really turn the tides for them…but he couldn’t risk Arcee taking it. Rodimus was putting himself in danger for their plan to work. He’d keep the artifact and do his part, at least for a little while.

“It was the Phase Shifter – it wasn’t around here, but same planet. When I didn’t get an answer, I just stayed on standby for a while. But yesterday when I was doing my routine check, it was just…gone. I don’t know what happened to it.”

Arcee's optics flash in alarm, going a little wide. She feels her spark sink at that news. It's just been bad news all the way since they got to this planet. What is with that? It's like Earth is cursed or something.

"Drift -- wait. You lost the Phase Shifter?"

“I know…great first solo mission, right? I’m sure this will go over well for me.”

Fantastic. He didn’t even think about that. Everything just keeps on getting better and better.

“I was going to look into it, but I got a message from Rodimus...and, well...it didn't sound good. So I came here as soon as I could."

Arcee looks disappointed, dismayed. The Phase Shifter really could've given them an edge on the 'Cons, too... She can't worry too much about it now, though. They're still up one Autobot from before. That's always a good thing.

"Rodimus? You ran into Rodimus first? Where is he, anyway?"

The look Arcee gives is almost too much to bear. He knows the lie will come to the surface once Rodimus made his way back. But just how long would that take? Right now it was one lie after another and each one felt like a betrayal.

"We talked for a while...he went off on his own though. I guess he just needs some time to himself."

It's a good save, though. Arcee frowns slightly, but in concern, not in suspicion. She looks a little tired, a little heavy, and she vents out a soft sigh.

"I'm not surprised," she says, her voice subdued. "It's been...kind of a rough ride ever since we got here. Did Rodimus tell you about Optimus?"

Things are off to a rocky start, but maybe it’s better that he’s already said everything he needed to say. And now that it’s done, the anxiousness is replaced with concern. With everything that’s happened, he’d nearly forgotten about Optimus.

“He told me the basics of it. I’m still not really clear on all the details, but that doesn’t matter right now. How…how are you doing Arcee?”

Drift's always been good for a heart to heart but the truth is, Arcee doesn't really feel up for talking about her feelings right now. Mostly because she can't afford to. She has to keep her head in the game, keep focused on the mission, her team. This isn't about her.

"I've been better," she admits grimly, "but we've got way bigger things to deal with. Optimus is here, but he's...not Optimus anymore. As far as we've been able to figure out, at some point Megatron managed to take the Matrix from him and the two of them both wound up on this planet. I guess the removal of the Matrix just...turned him back into Orion Pax. He doesn't have any memory of the last seven thousand years, and his old friend Megatron got to him first. He filled in the gaps, of course, but with the Decepticon twist. Filled his head with a load of scrap about the Autobots being terrorists and the Matrix being corrupted."

Normally if Arcee didn’t want to talk, he might not chalk it up to much. But right now it feels troubling. He decides not to press the issue, but can’t help but feel that it isn’t a good idea. The news about Optimus is bad; worse than he imagined. And Arcee must have discovered it all first-hand. It couldn’t have been easy for her. Negative energy like this shouldn’t be contained for very long. It would make its way to the surface one way or another.

But maybe he’s just dodging the real problem here. Optimus, from the sound of things, is…gone. At least as long as the Matrix is. It takes a while for him to process everything.

“How…how could this happen? How is that even possible? Why would the Matrix take his memories?”

"I don't know, Drift." If Arcee sounds frustrated, it's because she is -- about all of it. "I don't know how this works, either. All I know is that it's Orion, not Optimus, who's on this planet, and Megatron's put his head in a spin. I talked to him as best I could, and I think I gave him a lot to think about, but...I couldn't force him to stay here. I wouldn't. I don't think Optimus would've wanted it that way."

“Wait a second, wait a second. He’s gone? Where did he go? Not back to the Decepticons?”

Drift isn’t angry. Or if he is, it’s not at Arcee’s decision. But trying to wrap his head around Optimus - Orion - willingly leaving the Autobots wasn’t easy. If Megatron really had gotten to him first, what Arcee’s saying makes an awful sort of sense. But it’s still hard to take in.

"No -- no. I don't think so, anyway." Arcee rubs a hand over her forehelm, shuttering her optics for a moment with a vented sigh. She's tired and frustrated and she wants this to be over with, and rehashing it again to Drift is just another reminder of that. "He's just...he needs time to figure things out. To figure out where he stands in all this. He's very confused right now, Drift. Put yourself in his treads -- if all you had to go on the last seven thousand years was hearsay, and everyone was telling you different, wouldn't you? I've told him all I can, and he promised to stay in touch. All we can do is just...wait for him to come around."

Her frustration is clear and Drift feels guilty for bombarding her with questions; she's probably had to do this more than once already.

"I'm sorry Arcee...I'm sure you've dealt with more than enough lately. If there's anything else, why don't you just fill me in? I'll listen and then think it over to myself for a while."

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