[ open ]

[deadpartners]

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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Comments

[withhercleverhead]

The cat stares back, unblinking and curious in it's own right. He doesn't seem threatened by Arcee and, in fact, seems to approve more at this point. Which is probably not a bad thing, considering.

Annabel nods, puling out her phone. "It's very nice to meet you, Arcee!" She waves a little. "That's Bartholomew and I'm Annabel!" She smiles wide and hopes she had not made introductions on her end already. She's got a fleeting memory for such things.

"Oh, this is going to be so much fun!"

[deadpartners]

"You don't mind telling me where, do you?" It'd probably occur to someone a little more familiar with Earth culture that demanding to know where a six-year-old girl lives is probably kind of sketchy, but Arcee's focused on making sure nothing happens to her. She can't let Airachnid hurt anyone on this planet. She can't let Airachnid hurt anyone anymore -- not when Arcee's failed to stop her so many times in the past. "I'm not looking to bother you -- I just want to make sure she doesn't hurt you."

[deadpartners]

"Annabel. I'll remember that. And...Bartholomew." The cat sure is strange. Arcee makes a note to ask about it sometime -- although she doesn't want to pry too much. Or ask a strange question that should be obvious. She's done that a few times already. The avatar produces a mobile phone -- part of the hologram, of course -- with an email address displayed on the screen, and she holds it out to Annabel. "You can contact me at this address. Anything sent there will reach me."

[positiveenergy]

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?”

[deadpartners]

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."

[nailsandglass]

"I'd have to ask my family first." It did make her uneasy to be asked that, but even more her nervousness came from this whole situation being bigger than Matilda had anticipated. Should she have told Tommy and Aña about her encounter with Airachnid before? She had never really thought that they might be effected by it.

"Do you think she'd be able to find us?"

[positiveenergy]

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?”

[deadpartners]

"Maybe," Arcee says, a little grimly. "Look...why don't you contact me if when you've talked to your family? There's an email you could reach me at. I'd like to stay in touch, at least."

[deadpartners]

"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."

[nailsandglass]

That was something. If Matilda needed to get in contact with Arcee, she could always come to the library and use one of the computers here. Or one of those tablets over in the book stores. She turn her paper over and pulled a purple pen out of her dress pocket.

"I'll talk to them today. And get back to you as soon as I can."

[positiveenergy]

“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.

[deadpartners]

"Good. Good." Arcee feels a little bolstered by this, knowing that if she can stay in contact with Matilda, she can keep the human girl safe from Airachnid. Now she just has to worry about the rest of the planet.

Arcee takes the pen and writes the proxy email on the paper, along with her name, before sliding it back to Matilda. "In the meantime, just...lay low for a while. And Matilda, if she does find you again and I'm not there -- " Arcee looks grim, but she smiles all the same, intent. "Don't be afraid to swat her around with another tree."

[deadpartners]

"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."

[nailsandglass]

The idea of meeting Airachnid again is one that fills her with dread, but she looks at Arcee seriously and listening intently to what she says. Then she breaks out in a smile at the advice and nods.

"I'll be sure to use and even bigger one."

[deadpartners]

"Atta girl," Arcee says approvingly, grinning slightly. If Matilda's any indication of what the rest of humanity is like, staying on this planet for a while might not be as bad as she'd thought. Matilda's spirited. Arcee likes that. The avatar pushes the chair back, standing up to leave. She has to start looking for Airachnid, too, on top of worrying about the Decepticons. "I've got your back, Matilda. You just send me a message if you need anything, got it?"

[positiveenergy]

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."

[withhercleverhead]

She nods, grinning to this absolutely silly degree. "Wonderful! I'm so looking forward tot this! It's going to be wonderful."

She plugs in the email into her phone and the cat makes a soft noise. He seems pleased by this too, though less so than his owner.