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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 poor girl looks terrified, and it just makes Arcee's spark burn. It's bad enough that Airachnid's been around to inflict herself on other Cybertronians -- the fact that Earth apparently has a brand new infestation is that much worse. Arcee thinks an extermination migh tbe in order.

Her eyes are serious as she looks back at Matilda and she gives a grave nod. She might be sharing this information with her fellow Autobots, but as far as she's concerned, this is between her and the little human girl.

"Of course. I won't tell anyone."

Matilda isn't entirely sure if she believes that Arcee will keep her word, but she decides to give her the benefit of doubt. She looks around them to see if anyone is around or watching them before stepping a bit closer and turning her back towards the foyer to hide her hands and the picture she held in them.

With one more cautious look towards the double doors of the library, Matilda very carefully lifted the drawing above five inches from her hand.

"I can move things without touching them. I don't know why." She quickly took ahold of the paper with her hands again and dropped her hunched position.

"When she threatened me I, um," Thinking back on it that hadn't been the most sophisticated or impressive of tactics, "I swatted her with a tree. Then I ran away."

Arcee's only marginally surprised. She knows that humans with extra powers, like Cybertronian outliers, are uncommon but hardly unheard of. Matilda is obviously one of those. The idea of Airachnid being swatted around like -- well, like a giant insect is a strangely gratifying thought, though, and she actually has to keep from laughing, though her avatar still smiles in restrained amusement.

"It's a good thing you got away," she tells Matilda, her face shifting back into a more serious expression. She hesitates a moment, debating whether or not she should tell the little human any more. "Would you come inside with me? I'd like to talk to you more about this, but..." She gestures at the people all around them. "It's a little public."

That smile tells Matilda that the two of them will probably get along splendidly.

Asking to speak in private does make her a little nervous but it's not like Arcee is asking her to go somewhere isolated. Simply inside the library, so she gives her a nod.

"Do you know her?"

Arcee looks at Matilda as they head into the library, seriously considering. She doesn't want to lie to Matilda, but she doesn't want to put the Autobots in jeopardy, either. She finds a table that seems more or less tucked away in a corner and after a moment's thought, pulls out a chair for Matilda before she sits down herself.

"You asked me to keep what you told me a secret. Can you keep a secret for me, too?"

She was totally a secret agent. Maybe an intergalactic agent if she knew about the Cybertronian. Was Airachnid on the run and about to be caught for the plentiful crimes Matilda was certain she had committed?

Matilda tried not to let her excitement show--she had to prove she was a mature person after all.

"Promise!" She offered Arcee her pinky to show how serious she was.

Arcee looks down at the proffered pinky in bemusement, running a quick internal search on the gesture, because it's not one she's familiar with. Turns out it's an Earth way of sealing a promise. Huh.

She links her pinky with Matilda's, looking just as serious. "Glad to know I can count on you," she says, nodding. "I do know Airachnid. We...go back a ways, you could say. I know exactly how dangerous she is, and I don't want her to hurt anyone on this planet. In fact, I intend to stop her."

The avatar's eyes flash as she speaks, and she sits back a little, her expression somewhat dark. "Do you mind if I ask your name?"

Matilda gave a single shake before releasing it and sitting down on the chair Arcee had offered her.

The flash did not go unnoticed, and it thoroughly confused Matilda but for now she did not question it.

"My name is Matilda."

"Well, it's good to meet you, Matilda," Arcee says, nodding. "You can call me Arcee. I need to ask you some questions about Airachnid -- where you met her, anything you saw when she attacked you...I need to know as much as possible so I can take her down. That okay with you?"

Matilda tried to go back to that day. It was honestly something she tried not to think too deeply about, considering it plagued her dreams well enough.

"There's a forest not that far from the city. If you travel east you'll come to it. That's were I met her. I had noticed smoke rising above the treetops and thought it was some other campers but the closer I got the less it seemed like that. There was a lot of it. Once I got closer it looked like it was coming from a spaceship. She was doing something to it--trying to fix it, I think."

Well read as she was space ships were definitely not something she had much, if any knowledge on. It seemed a logical conclusion.

"That was when she noticed me. She acted nice at first," at this Matilda sounded particularly morose, "then she started chasing me and said she planned on making humans turn on each other. That's when I hit her, and then flew away." Talking about it makes Matilda wonder if she should have stuck around. She might have been able to finish off Airachnid when she was done but something about that makes her feel queasy. Even if she was able to, Matilda wasn't certain she could bring herself to actually end someone's life.

Yet wasn't that something Airachnid probably deserved? What if someone else had wandered into that forest and now was dead because Matilda hadn't done something? The possibility is not one she considered before and it makes her go pale.

Arcee nods along, looking attentive. Her eyes are intent, slightly narrowed as she listens, her mouth set in a grim line of determination. Something has to be done about Airachnid. She's going to make sure of it.

"She must be stranded," she says, mostly to herself, but she nods at Matilda. "You did the right thing, getting away. You're lucky you didn't get hurt. Look, I'm going to try to take care of this -- make sure she never hurts anyone again. But Airachnid is...a little on the vengeful side. If she sees you again, she'll want to finish what she started -- all the more for the fact that you hit her and got away with it. Do you have somewhere safe you can stay?"

That thought hadn't even occurred to her. Matilda had almost felt like Airachnid was part of the forest, keeping there and working her machinations from a distance until someone disposed of her.

The warehouse was definitely better than being out in the desert. Here she'd be surrounded by people all the time. That still didn't mean it was exactly 'safe' and it was only now dawning on her how she might be putting Aña and Tommy in danger.

"I have a home." She said somewhat belatedly, unsure of how to go about this. She wanted to make sure that the aforementioned were safe, but it's not like she could exactly go about making plans involving them.

"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."

"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?"

"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."

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."

"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."

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."

"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?"

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