Part of your World

[worstprime]

 Who: Rodimus and the Decepticons
Where: Outside the congest Conquest
When: Not long after the robot fight (12 hoursish) Nighttime
What: Rodimus enacts step 1 of his 1 part plan
Warnings: Robots?  Bad lying.



Rodimus is outside the Decepticon warship. Well....HALF of the Decepticon warship. He's not really sure what happened there, but makes a mental note to have a good chuckle about it later when he's NOT about to put himself in a situation that's either going to go, well, the way he hopes it will or...the way he hopes it doesn't.

Still, broken in half, functional or not, it's hard not to admit that the Decepticon dreadnought is pretty intimidating. He's not even sure how many cons are in there...although he suspects not many, considering Megatron made a personal appearance to obtain the forge. He shakes his head, thinking about the Autobots own paltry list of resources. Even if it wasn't functional now, this massive ship could be someday, and who knows how much energon and weaponry they had stored inside. The Autobots could barely scrape together enough energon to treat themselves after battle...they weren't ready for a long-term siege scenario. 

Rodimus feels a sudden pang of guilt thinking about the Autobots.  About leaving...no, let's be fair, abandoning the other bots back in downtown L.A. True, he never really saw them except from a distance, and didn't actually have any idea of the outcome of the battle when he decided to follow the 'cons trail back to their base, but Drift filled him in afterward and it...wasn't good. He now knows that Megatron had gotten the forge, and that the Autobots had come out the other side pretty roughed up. It didn't help that they all still had injuries from their last fight that hadn't been properly repaired.  And to hear that Arcee had taken onMegatron, one on one (Rodimus thought that was pretty badass and vowed to tell Arcee next time he saw her). Drift told him the details as best he could; had said she was stable but out of commission, and until they got a medic - Rodimus grit his teeth angrily. There wasn't anything he could have done. Not in the fight, not afterwards. And maybe that's what made it worse. Right now he felt so...so useless.

He looks up at the warship, it's outline menacing against the dark sky.  He vents heavily, and sets his commlink to bounce an unencrypted message at the ship.  No point in waiting.  If they're monitoring the radiowaves at all, they'll get it.  It's a simple message, he doesn't say who he is, just where and that he wants to join the Decepticons.  It'll get their attention...of that, he's sure.  

What he's not sure of, is how they'll react.

Comments

[buffthis]

"Mm." Knock Out lets out a noncommittal noise as he sizes Rodimus up, eyeing him carefully. Granted, he'll admit that the Autobots on Earth are facing an all-time low...adding one of theirs to the Decepticon ranks would only exacerbate that. Knock Out stops circling Rodimus as he comes round to face him again, though the saws still stay out.

"And I suppose you have something to offer us to convince us this isn't just some ill-advised scheme?" Knock Out drawls, leaning in close. He's not afraid of getting up close and personal with this Autobot, not when he's got a couple of saw blades and the bot has an injured shoulder. "One of the Autobots' little toys, perhaps, or some valuable information?"

[worstprime]

"....yes." Somewhere in the universe a star goes super nova and dies in the span of time it takes Rodimus to pause, trying desperately to think of something valid that isn't likely to endanger the lives of all the Autobots on Earth. Unsurprisingly he can't come up with anything, and this bot is all up in his personal space, making him feel pressured. "Yes I do," he says finally, matter of factly. "....have something. Information. I absolutely have some valuable....information."

[buffthis]

Knock Out has to resist the urge to roll his optics -- is this really the best the Autobot can come up with? Apparently subtlety is not a principle of Autobot training.

"I'm sure you do," Knock Out says, his voice richly smug, as though he knows a joke Rodimus isn't privy to. He cycles away his saw blades for his hands, reaching out to tap his fingertips lightly against Rodimus's injured shoulder. "And we're all just dying to hear it. Perhaps you'd be willing to step inside and share that information with myself and our lieutenant. Rodimus, you said?"

[worstprime]

"Yeah. I did. Ro. Di. Mus." he enunciates, sarcastically, shirking away from Knock Out's touch. How big do the flames on your chest have to BE before people remember this, Rodimus thinks to himself in irritation.

"'Course I'll come inside and share the info," he continues. "It's what, I'm here for, isn't it?"

[buffthis]

"Mmhmm. One would hope." Knock Out takes a half-step to the side and gestures with a sweep of his arm, his gaze alert and his smile somewhat mocking. "Well, Rodimus, after you. Let me escort you aboard the Conquest."

As if he's going to let Rodimus walk behind him. Knock Out's not convinced of Rodimus's sincerity, and with good reason, because Rodimus is a terrible fucking liar.

"I'll be your CMO. You can call me Knock Out. And as your medical officer..." Knock Out's optics flick over Rodimus's frame. "I'd recommend a physical."

[worstprime]

"Right," says Rodimus sedately, walking past Knock Out toward the massive ship, past, he knows, the point of no return. He casts a quick, wary glance Knock Out's way as he does so. "They never tell you in Autobot basic training how courteous the Decepticons are..."

Of course, the idea of letting any Decepticon medic - let alone this Decepticon medic - anywhere near him sets off about 500 warning alarms in the back of Rodimus' mind. In the very back. The way, way back with all the other warning alarms. The ones that he never pays any mind to anyway.

He steps onto the Conquest, knowing he's probably gone a bit further than he ought to have this time.

[buffthis]

"Oh, there's a lot they don't tell you in Autobot basic, I'm sure," Knock Out says smugly, following Rodimus into the ship. The interior is much cooler than the warm desert landscape outside, the fluorescent lighting considerably sparse. Megatron always has liked his mood lighting.

"For instance, how to do a simple parry -- if that Autobot I fought at city hall was any indication." Knock Out smirks, haughty and superior with a little flourish of his hand as he ushers Rodimus along the hall. He sends a private comm to Starscream, letting him know he's picked up the sender of the message they'd received, and that they're on their way to meet Starscream himself. "You'd think a showy bot like him with two swords would at least know how to use them...ah, I got him good. Pity I wasn't able to finish him off."

[worstprime]

Rodimus has to bite back a lot more than just a sarcastic comment at that, and he falters for a moment. The Autobot Knock Out's referring to is obviously Drift (Two swords? Stupid, Drift. Stupid.) but whether he knows this and is deliberately goading Rodimus or it's just a coincidence is impossible to tell. Not that it ultimately matters. Rodimus suddenly feels a resurgence of guilt for taking off so quickly after the fight. He hadn't even realised that Drift had been injured...they'd talked so briefly.

"Yeah...well. Just another reason to leave the Autobots, I s'pose," Rodimus says, in as joking a tone as he can muster. He tries not to meet Knock Out's gaze, doesn't want to see his smug expression; he keeps his optics focused straight ahead down the dim halls of the ship.

[buffthis]

Knock Out glances at Rodimus, cycling air through his vents in a soft scoff. Rodimus has a ways to go before Knock Out's convinced he's really here to join them, but even if he isn't -- well, they've just snagged themselves an Autobot prisoner. An injured one, at that.

"Well, I'm sure you'll find yourself right at home here," Knock Out says breezily, falling into step beside Rodimus. "And lucky you, falling in with such an illustrious unit...Lord Megatron and his lieutenant Starscream are both on this very planet themselves -- as I'm sure you've heard."

There's a slightly mocking tone to his voice when he talks about his commanding officers, as though he doesn't take them entirely seriously himself. (Spoiler: he doesn't.) Knock Out comes to a halt outside a door, signaling Rodimus to do the same, and leans in partway.

"Oh, Starscream," he calls, his voice a wicked singsong tone, "I've brought a new recruit for you."

[starscheme]

Starscream is in the middle of taking inventory, of all things, when they finally arrive. Just another token of just how short staffed they are. The sooner they have the means to transport more Vehicons here, the better; it'll save him the trouble of having to cross-check Shockwave's damn shopping list for him while the scientist is too busy getting up to Primus knows what in the Med Bay.

At the sound of Knock Out's voice he hastily punches in a lock-up command on the vault holding the spark extractor and the recently recovered Energon harvester, before turning towards the door with a critical scowl in his face. A new recruit? Please tell him it's another Seeker for a change, like the actual Thundercracker or Skywarp, they desperately needmore air capable troops...

His eyes narrow in suspicion as he catches sight of Rodimus. It's only been a few hours since they were exchanging verbal barbs with one another in the middle of LA, and now he has the poor judgement to show up at the Conquest? Curious.

"A half mangled Autobot? How very exciting," he rumbles in a manner that suggests that it's not very exciting at all so much as inconvenient. He raises a questioning eyebrow at Knock Out. "I'm assuming he gave you some sort of stellar, award winning speech in order to convince you into somehow thinking it was a good idea to bring him onboard the ship so suddenly?" He clasps his hands behind his back, waiting for an answer.

[worstprime]

Starscream ranks very high on Rodimus' list of Decepticons-he-didn't-want-to-see, and he has to work hard to keep what he thinks of the Decepticon lieutenant off of his face. He's still bristling from their exchange a few hours prior. He's also amazed that it seems they've interrupted Starscream from doing something....Rodimus was under the impression that his entire role in the Decepticon ranks was to strut around giving orders no one listened to and bragging about Decepticon victories that weren't ever going to happen.

"Your security does seem pretty lax around here," Rodimus says, conversationally, looking around the room absently. Decepticons had really poor decorating taste. "Lucky thing I'm not here bearing ill-will, huh?"

[buffthis]

"Starscream, please," Knock Out says smugly, hovering behind Rodimus with a roll of his optics, "is that any way to treat our new recruit? Of course he's genuine. Besides, he's injured -- surely if he did prove to be a threat, we would have little trouble disposing of him between the two of us, I'd say."

The look he's directing at Starscream, however, says something else -- I don't buy it, but hey, free hostage!

[starscheme]

He gives Rodimus a disapproving growl, responding with the smugly superior tone of someone who's trying way too hard to be deceptive and defend a point despite the fact that it's been proven wrong already. "Lax? Or perhaps just well hidden enough that you wouldn't even know it was there? I suppose there's no way for you to tell, really, not being privy to that sort of information."

He pauses for a moment, to consider Knock Out's unspoken message. He'd been thinking much the same thing, but would it really be worth the effort? He gives Knock Out a vaguely pained look back. Did they really need another flashy grounder wandering around the place, especially one that was likely more useful to them in a prison cell than otherwise?

Then again, interrogation could be a lengthy process, and if Rodimus was allowed to join their ranks, he'd be forced to share information in order to remain in their good graces, at least if he wanted to continue to hold up this poorly constructed facade, so ultimately this might be the faster option...

It's really the sort of thing that he should get Megatron's permission on before making any final decisions, but Megatron is busy sulking and refuses to be bothered, and Starscream can't just wait for him to come around. It sends a bad message, shows a weakness in their organization.

Fuck that. Starscream's his own leader, he reassures himself before continuing.

"We certainly would not," he says to Knock Out while still staring Rodimus down menacingly, "but I'm certain it won't come to that. As I'm certain that you're eager to finally have another patient to... attend to."

"I'm inclined to consider your candidacy, Rodimus... but what can you offer the Decepticons, as proof of your loyalty? We don't just let people among our number for the sole reason they've come to the right decision a few thousand years too late."

[worstprime]

Rodimus freezes, gets a sick feeling in the bottom of his fuel pump. This is the moment he's been dreading. The moment when he needs to carefully - very carefully - circumvent actually committing treason. Because it's certainly true that he does have valuable information regarding the Autobots. More than enough to convince the Decepticons of his...dedication.

"I-I..." Rodimus stammers briefly, his eyes locked on Starscream, trying not to look like he's desperately fishing for time. He clears his vocaliser and starts again, slowly. "I mean...I've got lots of information..."

He glances around thoughtfully, before raising a hand to count off on.

"I can give you the exact number of Autobots on Earth and more importantly, which..." Not a secret.

"...there's the open-channel comm-frequencies they've been using...." Also, not really a secret.

"And of course I'll give you the location of the base camp!" Going to lie about that one. "I assume they'll have moved it though....I haven't been there in over a month." He shrugs non-committally, hoping deep in his spark that this'll be enough to convince them.

[buffthis]

Whatever, Starscream, the Autobot basically offered himself up. What was Knock Out supposed to do, just let him continue wandering around their warship unattended? Sure, he could've taken Rodimus prisoner, but this is more fun. They can always offline him or toss him in the brig later if he proves himself to be...unmanageable.

Rodimus's offering of intelligence is even more paltry than Knock Out had anticipated, and he gives a long, exaggerated roll of his optics that is basically impossible to miss. "Oh, well, color me impressed," he drawls, examining his claw-tipped fingers idly. His voice is positively dripping with heavy sarcasm. "So what you're telling us is all you have to offer are points we already know...and intel that's a month out of date? Well, why didn't you say so? Starscream, what are we waiting for? We might as well promote him on the spot."

[starscheme]

Is this guy actually for real? Starscream has to make an organized effort to keep his face impassive while Rodimus dishes out his incredibly meager offering of intel.

Knock Out's sarcasm is actually, for once, appreciated, but Starscream has an image to uphold so he doesn't really react much beyond a quick snort while he keeps his narrowed eyes glued on Rodimus. "It's a start."

He crosses his arms, proceeding to tap the claws on one hand idly while he considers a decision for a moment longer. "Very well. We'll give you a shot, Rodimus. Under a trial basis, of course." The arms uncross, one hand coming up to point at Knock Out. "Make a note, Knock Out: He can stay, but until I give the word he isn't allowed a single moment alone on this ship." The stares back down at Rodimus again, pausing. "He'll have to prove his loyalty beyond a shadow of a doubt, first."

He then looks back at Knock Out once more, granting him a knowing smirk. "Go ahead then, Doctor. I leave him in your charge for now. Get him set up with a brand. And you may as well give him a thorough physical, while you're at it already."