| abstract | - It's night time in Crystal City and true to its name, the entire residental sector is lit up brilliantly by the forests of buildings throughout the region. If an outsider were to come witness the majestic view of the city scape, they probably would not suspect that a metaphoric darkness blankets Crystal City in the form of tyrannical oppression. A beam of light pierces through the darkness in an unlit street way and finally ends in the form of a hover truck that parks itself within an empty lot. The doors open and out comes a Cybertronian of average height with a Decepticon emblem on his chest. He doesn't look like any familiar mech of note, but the voice the slips through his voice box reveals him to be Cerebros, "We're here at the rendeavous point, use the data hijacker that we brought with us to place faulty video feeds into the security cameras around here." Cerebros finishes by pointing in three seperate directions where security cameras, which are strategically located on street lamp posts, can be found. "The rest of you, check your weapons. We can't afford to have anything go wrong here. Our contact should be arriving shortly." Blades owes Crystal City's resistance, and he can't repay them. Flat-out. He can't. However, he can do what he can for them, and he will. That is why he has assumed the identity of the GUARD CITIZEN, FLY-UP. No one will see through this cunning ruse. Fly-Up does a weapons check, quickly and quiertly. He's good at those. The data hijacking is better left to people who don't stab malfunctioning computers. The Crystal Guard City medic known as Safety nods along with Cerebros, leaning against the hover truck looking very much like someone trying to look nonchalant. "This place gives me the willies," Safety says, looking down at the Decepticon tamograph on his chest. "This thing isn't helping, either." He runs his finger along it as if worried the insignia is going to fall off. Beyond the insignia, there are only subtle differences in his colour scheme from the familiar First Aid, particularly in the orange chest plate. His weapons are loaded, though hidden away for now. Upon getting his orders, Safety takes one of the data jacking devices and casually strolls up to one of the lamp posts. Kneeling, he makes like he's performing standard maintenance repairs to the column. Then, with a quiet *whoosh*, the security camera droops. Everything it's sending back to Decepticon HQ is a pre-recorded message now. First Aid continues to fiddle with his tool kit to keep the illusion up. BMW R1200RT-P Police Motorcycle vrooms behind Blades. He looks exactly the same as he usually does, except that his Autobot symbols are crossed out like the Ghostbusters symbol. "Hey Fly-Up, what if we like, pretended to be not us so hard that we actually like, became...not us?" The motorcyle tilts its front wheel towards him for emphasis. "Wouldn't that be weird? Like, if Groove went into Crystal City, but instead of Groove, I was..." He pauses. "Which guy am I? Am I Safety?" Bright lights! So many dazzling, distracting lights! Yeah this isn't the best place to bring Fireflight. But he insisted on coming anyway, somehow managing to succeed, which leads to the mech stepping from the hovertruck, all done up in deep green and black as well as a Con emblem slapped over the Bot one. Not the best color coordination, but hey, he's supposed to be a Decepticon. He doesn't have a fancy name yet though, so for now he's 'That guy' or 'You there'. With the cameras being taken care of the scout gets to work overlooking his weapon cache as well as his gun, unable to help looking up at the looming buildings and their lights now and then. "Hm.. Shame I never came here more often. So pretty at night." Coming up and poking his head out from behind Cerebros, is little Wheel-E! Yes, he looks pretty much like regular Wheelie, except this one is painted in blue. The exact polar color of his typical orange paintjob. Everything else looks the same, just... all the orange is now blue. Oh, and he's mute, and wearing no Decepticon logo. He kept coughing up bolts everytime he saw it on him. But getting back to the mute part, instead of actually speaking, Wheel-E is carrying around a little datapad. He holds it up to Cerebros as it displays neon yellow text. (LET'S HOPE EVERYONE ISN'T TOO MOODY. AGENT WHEEL-E, REPORTING FOR DUTY!) Great, he still rhymes... Silverbolt is painted slightly differently with a fake Decepticon badge on (perhaps with just a bit more red and black than usual). He follows Fireflight out of the hovertruck, wondering to himself why he'd allowed the other Aerialbot along on this...excursion. "Okay, remember Fireflight, you're Screamstar, okay?" he says in a low voice, and hands him one of the data hijackers. Taking one for himself he makes his way toward one of the lamps. "Help me plant the false datafeeds." Rather than be out 'in disguise' directly, Spindrift is ACTUALLY USING HIS CASSETTE MODE OH MY GOD. That is to say, he's a tiny thing tucked away on Cerebros where tiny rectangular things are easy to overlook, but he can pop out as he's needed. Cerebros nods in agreement at the disguised First Aid, "Agreed, hopefully our disguises will be enough to play the part." He then fires off a data hijack dart at the two remaining cameras before replying to Wheelie, "Good to see you're still in high spirits, keep an optic out for any movements in the area. The contact should be arriving shor---" "I hear it can get pretty dark in some places here in Crystal City, people can stumble around and find themselves in places they shouldn't be." A voice can be heard from a darkened corner of the lot, but the owner of the voice can't quite be seen yet. Yep. That's a blatant code word, and it's about as cliche as it can possibly be, but Cerebros goes along with it like the team player that he is. "Good thing we come bearing light, to help better guide our path." ...yeah, not the wittiest or greatest code word exchanges ever but it is as it is. At least that'll probably be end of the cheesiness for the time being... right? With the successful exchange of code words, the owner of the voice steps out of the shadows and into the light, "Glad to see your team has arrived. I'm Pitch, I'll be your guide for tonight. My agents haven't confirmed the arrival of the other two Autobot insertion teams, you're the first to be accounted for." Safety glances over, seeing an unknown approach the group. From the way he and Cerebros are talking, it looks like the newcomer is their mech. First Aid gathers up his tools and dusts off his hands, standing up again before walking back over to rejoin them. "Catch you soon, Sparkride," he mutters to Groove. "Cameras are taken care of," he says in a low voice to Cerebros and Pitch. "Where, uh, what do we do now?" First Aid doesn't really have this spy business down yet, but he sincerely wants to do anything he can to help these people resist the Decepticons. BMW R1200RT-P Police Motorcycle revs his engines when Blades does...whatever that was. As Cerebros' contacts arrive, Groove peels out. "Not Blades gave the signal! LET’S DO THIS." And then he drives away. Yep. FLY-UP does some hand signals that say he is going to go do a perimeter sweep to make sure no one is sneaking up on them, but the hand signals could also be interpreted as, 'bite the wax tadpole'. He has every confidence they will figure out the correct meaning, and he heads off. Rather than be out 'in disguise' directly, Spindrift is ACTUALLY USING HIS CASSETTE MODE OH MY GOD. That is to say, he's a tiny thing tucked away on Cerebros where tiny rectangular things are easy to overlook, but he can pop out as he's needed. Fireflight,while usually very cheerful, can't help grimacing at the name bestowed onto him. "But it's so.. so unoriginal." He grumbles softly, that opinion stemming from his more artistic side. "..But fine." However he waves away the data jack gun from Silverbolt, seeing as Cerebros does the other two on his own. With their contact out in the open now Fireflight maglocks his gun to his hip, though a hand hangs on it, before stepping over and giving a worried look at the mention of the other teams. "You don't think they've been found out, do you...?" Wheel-E hops up next to Safety as he taps at the datapad, before holding it up for Cerebros and Safety to see. (We're the first to touch down in here?) Looking over at Groove's peel-out, he taps again, before more neon text flashes up. (Is it wise to stray? Shouldn't we keep near?) Silverbolt sighs at Fireflight's distaste toward the name. "I didn't pick it out, so don't complain at me." He watches as Pitch and Cerebros exchange code words, but his features crease with a concern that echoes Fireflight's when Pitch mentions that the other teams had not been accounted for. "What were their last known coordinates? If they have been compromised, we ought to send an extraction team after them." As Pitch steps into the light, it turns out that he looks like a mismatched colour version of Windcharger. The Autobot operative wears a seemingly carefree smile on his face now prerequisite tasks as done with, but the subtle expression in his optics and the slight quiver in his voice reveals some amounts of anxiety, "What's next you say? Now we give you guys the access passes that you need to move around freely. The Decepticons have really cracked down hard, passes like these becomes worthless within a day and needs to be constantly updated with new codes." The Autobot operative holds out the passes in his hands, offering it to the gathered Autobots. Cerebros waves Silverbolt and Fireflight over, "Nice job you two, that should keep the Decepticons unaware for a while longer." Wheelie's inquiry causes Cerebros to frown in mutual concern as well but he responds with, "Their disguises grants them much more freedom than we do. Unfortunately not everyone can be city guards, it'd raise too much suspicion to have a group as big and mismatched as ours to be traveling together." Finally Cerebros looks over to Pitch, "It's essential that the other teams are accounted for and brought back to the safe house", he then looks back to the hover truck that they had come in on. Inside the container of the hover truck rests Fortress Maximus' torso and his drone, Cog. Pitch nods, "So I heard. Must be really inconvenient to tug that thing around with you. Can't say I like the idea. Too risky. 'Risky' doesn't play nice with mechs in our occupation." Having said that, Pitch transforms into a Cybertronian vehicle and drives off towards the street, "The safe house's about 30 minutes away from here. Let's move out of here before we draw unwanted attention." Pitch adds, "And don't worry about the other teams. We've got our mechs on it, delays happens all the time. You guys are apparently the exceptions." First Aid takes the access pass and looks it over, wondering whether they could be duplicated. Knowing Decepticon Intelligence it wouldn't be easy, but it's something to consider grabbing Chromedome for. The Guard City medic flips the card over, reading the infrared lettering. Name: Safety. Function: Medic. Built during the third era, moved from Vilnacron to Tarn to New Vilnacron to Agorahex to Crystal City... Primus, First Aid thinks, do the Decepticons really make everyone have their entire history on these things? At the mention of 'unwanted attention', First Aid glances left and right as if expecting those words to magically summon it up. "Right. Lets get moving." Safety transforms into hazmat van mode. Safety folds down into hazmat van mode. Fireflight's worried expression seems to fade as quickly as it came when they're all reassured the others will be seen to, smiling lightly once more and gladly accepting his card which he promptly overlooks... to see the name Screamstar. Ugh. Looks like it's official then. Thankfully he doesn't complain this time, just stowing it away and nodding at the signal to move out. "Not sure I'd be very covert flying above you guys, so I'll catch a ride in the truck." Fireflight rubs the back of his neck and smirks a bit, not having to state the obvious as to why he's not gonna fly. And with that said he promptly ducks into the hovertruck again, if only to be extra defense in case of attack. Wheel-E takes his own pass and looks up at Cerebros and Safety, before looking back at the pass and 'pocketing' it into the hammerspace behind his back, right next to his slingshot. Yes, he still hasn't gotten rid of the slingshot... and says nothing. Not even noting anything on his datapad. He just seems intent on listening to whatever they have planned out. The pass probably has no imperative information for him anyways. What's it gonna say? 'Function: Mute Rap Star'? Hazmat Van , as he settles down onto his wheels, says, "Hey, Pitch?" Cerebros gives Silverbolt a quick pat on the right arm, "I share your concerns for the other team right now, but leave things to the professionals for now. We'll be better equipped to launch any assistance if things does go wrong." The access pass that he's given is slid into a slot terminal in his arm, the credentials held within read and stored into internal memory, and along with it the fabricated history, function, and pretty much every significant details. Clearly a lot of work was put into this. The time to move out has come though. Sadly Cerebros' alternative mode is sorely lacking in situations like these, seeing as he transforms into a freaking head instead of something with wheels, so he waits for any other Autobots who might want to hop into the truck before he himself slips into the cab and takes the wheel, "Alright, let's roll out." Pitch hmms, "What is it, Safety?" Hazmat Van starts to roll along with the truck (and presumably Pitch). "A few Empties stopped by the New Maintenance Center a few cycles ago and said the Decepticons had knocked down half of the old Olympic site here in Crystal City to expand their barrack capacity. Some other Empties seemed to think that was crazy but, long story short, we haven't been able to get much in the way of a straight answer about what's going on in here. What's the deal?" The Empties had a few other stories as well but Safety decides to not focus on anything too controversial just yet. "Hmm. Well, alright." Silverbolt certainly hopes Pitch is right about the other teams. He nods, taking the pass, then transforms into his sleek aerial form and flies after Pitch. The Aerialbot leader is quite relieved by the fact that Fireflight has chosen to ride in the truck instead. At least he had common sense when it was most needed... Of course, Pitch is going to be WRONG about the other teams but that's a story for another night. We can't exactly have an exciting story to tell if everything goes right now, can we? Pitch responds to First Aid's query, "Afraid so, Safety. Lots of changes are happening. Some of the 'officials' here in Crystal City call it 'optimizating' the city's productive value. The rest of the people say it’s just folks doing what they want at the expense of others." The Autobot operative turns a corner on the road, "Discontent is the source of the resistance movement's recruitment." Wheel-E has probably toddled off somewhere by this point, his propensity to find the best hiding spots getting the better of him. Hey, if things get ugly, a little guy has to know where to go. Honestly, it's hard to say where he is; perhaps a mute Wheelie isn't the best thing to have all the time... Orange Cassette Tape has been quiet the entire time, still hitching a ride maglocked to Ceberos somewhere. He's listening, but hasn't heard any reason to speak up or uncover himself yet. At least until some of the things Pitch is saying finally coaxes a reply drawled out of the hidden dillo-tape. "Efficancy is nice an' all, but it shouldna be at the well-bein' of others just tryin' to do their thing." F-15E Strike Eagle is probably a bit /too/ happy to be pretending to be a Decepticon. He's chosen the name RAMTHRUST and is painted wicked purple, because you don't get more evil than that. As usual he's tailing Silverbolt, unable to fly in a straight line as he practices his thuggish 'con accent to himself. "As much as I hate to say it," Safety replies, turning down the road Pitch indicates, "But there is some merit in trying to flee the city and joining up with the Autobots at Iacon. I mean I'm not saying that the city would be abandoned, but fighting from under their very optics seems a lot more dangerous." This is why First Aid isn't a spy. Lik any other time Fireflight's attention span just kinda.. wanders now that he's in the truck, chin in hand and elbow resting where the window is rolled down, watching the scenery roll on by as they all follow Pitch's lead. "Hm.. how long do you think it'll take us to drive the Cons outta here?" He finally asides to Cerebros in the driver's seat. "The place is already neck deep in them." Silverbolt keeps his attention focused both behind and ahead of him as he continues to follow Pitch's lead, since Air Raid has chosen to take up a position on his tail. He appears to be having trouble flying straight, but at least he doesn't hit things like Fireflight does. Well, at least not thus far, anyway. He notices Raid practicing his "Decepticon voice" to himself. "...Who are you talking to, Air Raid? Er, ...Ramthrust." Silverbolt isn't a spy, either. "Huh? ...You! I think I'm going to give myself the most tragic backstory ever," Raid declares. "Jaded by war and pain, his femme exploded... two nanos after being /built/. Yeah. Maybe some reigning pit fighter... With a heart of gold. BEST seeker ever built. The prince of seekers. Named a medal after him, yep." Raid can only make mary sues. "Quite a few did accept the offer when the mess with Crystal City came to a head back then. The rest of the folks left are tied down here for whatever reasons. The offer is always there to smuggle people out, but they're the ones who have to take it. Promote the idea too much and you'll earn the remaining populations' ire, they have their reasons. The best we can do at this point is establish a mutually beneficial alliance." Meanwhile Cerebros responds to Fireflight, "Hard to say, Fireflight. Crystal City isn't a ruin like much of the rest of Cybertron, we'll have to handle things step by step. It won't be quick, or soon, unless something significant opportunity shows up." The group makes their way onto a speed way, where the roads snaps into place in front of the travelers as it leads them towards their specified destination, while the traveled portion disassembles itself behind them. After a bit of travel, they come across a ruckus happening in the street belows. "Please! We're not resistance members! Augh--" A distressed voice is stopped short with an audible whack. "Silence! The inquisitor will be the judge of that, you lot are coming with us." A group of citizens is being roughed up by a pair of city guards. The guard that's doing the beating seems barely able to restrain himself from any further acts of violence, his optics gleaming intently at the group of citizens, searching for an excuse to continue the brutality. "Won't the Decepticons expect to /recognize/ you if you're the best Seeker ever?" Safety asks. "Seems like it'd be easier to be some no-namer who's stayed in the background the whole time. Or heck, maybe a civilian like me." First Aid _would_ say that the Decepticons should have less information on civilians, but his access card sure proved that wrong. The Guard City medic is about to reply to Pitch when they hear the commotion below. "What th-" Brakes squealing, Safety pulls over to the side of the transforming roadway, transforming into robot mode to peer over the edge. "H-ey, they're gonna kill that guy!" Safety is already reaching for his photon pistol... unless someone else takes the initiative and acts. Hazmat Van asked that first question of, ugh, Ramthrust. Hazmat Van flips up into robot mode. "/Ramthrust/ is no mere peon! ...Okay fine. Ramthrust the purple background seeker. /With a smirk/." Raid pauses in his rambling at the whip crack, gazing down at the gathering. "Hnn... We ain't gonna' just leave 'em are we? 'Bolt?" "...if she exploded two nanoclicks after being built, how could--ah, never mind." Silverbolt mutters, deciding that arguing about this was pointless, and he's about to mention the same thing First Aid has, but then there is a commotion below that draws their attention away from 'Ramthrust's' ridiculous fake history. Silverbolt's initial reaction, of course, was to charge onto the scene and drive the guard off, blowing his cover. However, unlike some of his comrades, he has some self-restraint. There had to be a better way to handle this. "No...there are only two of them, perhaps we can convince them they're urgently needed elsewhere. Cerebros, Pitch?" he asks, wondering what the others' opinion of this was. Well, Pitch was more of an expert here than he was. Pitch is painfully aware of the situation and can only mentally wince when he hears First Aid's response, "Whoa now, these sort of things happens all the time." He brakes to a halt before explaining as quickly as he can, "They rough folks up so they can indulge in their sense of power over others. That's about as far as it goes most of the time. They aren't fully fledged Decepticons, just another one of those 'empowered' citizens abusing their new found authority." Finally Spindrift transforms, climbing up onto Cerebros' shoulder as he does so he can look out the window. "... Don't really make it right, proper Decepticons or not," he mutters under his breath. Well as much breath as robots have. After a moment, he looks to some of the others. "... We don't -all- need to blow it. Someone's still gotta get the cargo where it's gotta go..." "Regardless, Pitch. We can't just let them brutalize those helpless citizens." Silverbolt insists. "We can avert the situation without blowing our cover." Spindrift unfolds into an armored mechanical armadillo. "Yeah, I guess.." Fireflight muses softly before puffing a sigh and looking back out the window to admire the city whipping past. He's actually kinda silently dozed off by the time they come upon the two guards roughing up the group of citizens below, jolting awake at Safety's remark and looking around wildly, "Eh? What's happening??" And then he catches sight of the commotion with the rest of them, already looking ready to jump out of the truck whether it stops or not, only halting to look Pitch's way when he speaks, the mech already puffing up with a sense of justice. "But if we can't do /something/ to help a few people, what makes us think we can free an entire city?" Safety was already starting to take aim--not to shoot, but so he can yell at the brutes to let the victim go--when Silverbolt insists he has another way. "What's this better idea, Silverbolt?" Safety says, finger on the trigger. There's an obvious sense of urgency in his voice, as every Protectobot instinct running through his circuits tells him to jump down there and start protecting. F-15E Strike Eagle is chomping at the bit, finally descending to transform midway. He lands and peers over the edge with the rest, ailerons twitching anxiously. Though nothing brash from him, to his credit. He waits on Silverbolt, flexing fingers, optics narrowed. Air Raid folds and compacts into his robot mode. Pitch lets out a sigh. There's a reason why he's just another one of the many faceless background operatives in the Autobots' fold, he does things what normal and sane mechs would do. Heroics is reserved for the likes of the Autobots gathered here. However deep down he's also rooting for them and their decision, eager to see what the 'heroes' of the Autobots can do in a situation that normal mechs like him can only sit and grit their teeths at, "Well alright. Just understand that there are consequences. Every thing we do besides moving along, no matter how little, increases our exposure to the Decepticons." Cerebros halts the truck and brings it to the side, "Agreed. There should be a workable solution... alright, what do we have here that we can use to our advantage?" "We look enough like Decepticons, don't we? If those aren't really -true- Decepticons, they might be easily fooled." Silverbolt clarifies upon First Aid's request. "If we pretend to be officers and tell them they're urgently needed elsewhere, like oh, maybe they're shortstaffed over at one of the comm towers or power stations. Or maybe a situation at a security checkpoint or something. Maybe they'll listen to us and leave them alone." Fireflight smiles in relief when everyone decides on helping the civilians instead of moving on. "Good idea, 'Bolt." He grins to the Aerialbot leader. "And if things go south, the rest of you should go on ahead while we keep them busy." He nods in turn to Cerebros and Pitch in particular, since they were the main factors in this. It's then that he steps out of the truck, fully intending to help. He's an Aerialbot, it's sort of ingrained to do so anyway. Cerebros rubs the bottom of his chin intently, "That sounds like it has potential." However a thought comes to mind, and Cerebros promptly raises his right arm where he had inserted his access pass into earlier. After a split second of accessing the data stored within, he responds, "Looks like my access pass won't be fooling them, wrong occupation." He eyes the other Autobots present, "I have an idea what First Aid's function might be, what about the rest of yours?" First Aid, the most cautious mech in the faction, nods, "Alright, we'll go with that," he replies to Silverbolt, even though the Aerialbot Commander listed out *several* ideas. Here, the Protectobot need to protect those in danger outweigh First Aid's personal need to carefully plan everything out before taking action. There are mechs down there that needs help. Without another word, the Guard City medic vaults over the railing and lands on the streets below, right behind the 'empowered citizens' as they 'empower' themselves on a group of citizens. "Hey, you lot!" Safety shouts. He points in the direction of the city centre. "What're you doing wasting your time with these glitches?" he gestures disdainfully at the group of civilians. "Scrapper ordered for a new squadron at power station five, and you're the closest bunch. Chop chop!" Safety doesn't have to work too hard at pretending to be annoyed right now. "Send them off, tell 'em you're taking over so they can go do something more important? Sounds like a plan to me." That's about all Spindrift has to put in on the matter, planning isn't really his strong point. The mechadillo pauses. Where did he.. oh, right. He spits the pass out of his mouth into one shovel-like paw. "Excavation." Looks at his other paw and it's shovel-like shape. "Think I need to remind someone I gotta forcefield I gotta be able to use too." "...Aerial officer," Raid decides, nodding sagely. With a cheeky salute, he hops over the railing after Safety and adds a menacing 'yeah!' to the order. "This is the sorriest pack of slaggers I've ever seen," he grunts in his offensive Decepticon voice. Cerebros gives Spindrift a pained smile, "We work with what life deals us, we each got our roles to play. Come along now, we're going to be these guys' support if things goes wrong." He concludes with a friendly nudge at Spindrift before disembarking from the hover truck and vaulting down below as well, landing into a dark corner of the streets with a good vantage point of the city guards and the victimized citizens. Silverbolt nods. "Excellent plan, Fireflight. If our cover is blown, Spindrift, Cerebros, First Aid and Pitch may continue to the safehouse. The Aerialbots will distract the guards in addition to any Decepticon reinforcements that may arrive in order to cover your escape." And before he knows it, First Aid and Air Raid have already made off to execute the plan. He joins them, putting a stern look on his face as he glares down at the guards. "Citizens, an urgent need for extra mechpower has arisen at power station five in the west quadrant, sector G-52. Your assistance is needed immediately. I suggest you stop wasting time with these worthless empties and go make yourselves -useful-." "I'm uhh..." Fireflight rubs his head a bit, other hand patting himself down to find the little compartment he stored the card in, looking it over and squinting his optics to read. "...Corrections officer?" ..Great, he's a prison guard apparently. But he doesn't think long on it, attentions turning back to the scene as the others go about hopping down into the streets below. He doesn't follow just yet however, staying as lookout above with a hand at his maglocked pistol, acting the scout in case things get dicey. Spindrift is just along for the ride unless he's actually needed. "Who the frag are you?" The more violent of the pair of city guards turns his glare at 'Safety'. He eyes the disguised Protectobot up and down with clear irritation in his optics, "And who do you think you are interfering with city guard affairs? Don't you see we're detaining suspected resistance members here--" Suddenly more mechs shows up unannounced, throwing the first city guard into confusion and it shows visibly with his hesistation as he tries to figure out the situation. The second city guard, clearly more calmer than his partner here, walks forward. While he doesn't show any belligerence on his face plate like his partner, his narrowed optics speaks loudly of his suspicion and caution, " New procedures requires us to verify each others' identity." He flashes his access pass long enough for the Autobots to see, and his partner begrudgingly does so as well, "Let's see yours." "Oh fer-" Safety mutters, shooting another quick glance at the prisoners. "The Resistance isn't /that/ desperate for people." Safety hrms, thinking better of it as he looks them up and down. "Well, maybe they -are- now that I think about it." First Aid is very grateful to have a faceplate, making his emoting that much easier. Acting as flippant as he can manage, Safety takes out his access card and tosses it towards the calmer partner. "You guys take care of the power station and my crew will see that these, ahem, gentlemechs make it to safety." As the guard (presumably) catches and reads his access card, Safety moves in closer, 'whispering' in an incredibly loud voice. "Sneak preview: the guy behind me? His name is Ramthrust." Safety glances left and right. "Wanna guess why?" "Very well." Silverbolt agrees calmly, and shows them the access pass Pitch had given him, which shows that like Air Raid, he is an officer in Aerospace. "Now, please calm down." he says, more specifically to the belligerent one. "Defiance is not well-received among Decepticon ranks, whether from citizenry or from among our own. We -will- deal with the Resistance in whatever way we see fit. Now hurry along, before Scrapper grows impatient." Spindrift meanwhile remains perched on whoever Cerebros is suppose to be's shoulder, looking all the world like some sort of mechanimal pet rather than an actual cybertronian for the time being. The headmaster can probably hear the faint thrum of his internal systems spinning up though, should he need to bring his forcefields into play. Fireflight already has his displacer gun unlocked from his hip at this point, though he keeps it low and out of sight for now while overlooking the scenario. <> He comms back to his buddy. Besides, if they need an assist Fireflight could just literally crash the party, even though that outcome is usually unintentional. The second city guard listens to the thinly veiled threat that 'Safety' whispers to him and replies through gritted teeth in an unamused tone, "Yeah, he and my friend Reamer down two blocks will get along just fine." The access card is swiped from the disguised Protectobot's hands and accesses in a haughty manner. ...a city guard medic? The first city guard glares at Air Raid and Silverbolt's access pass, but the fire in his optics qwells down significantly as he realizes that he's being addressed by two aerospace officers. Clearly he's not the smart one of the pair and the show of authority from sows panic and uncertainty in the first city guard, "Uh... the situation is that bad for a city guard medic and two aerospace officers to come recruiting mechs like us to help out?" The city guards are confused more than ever, it's highly unusual to have these haphazard group of people showing up, but then again it could an emergency, it seems they're swinging between the edge of belief and disbelief over the situation. Perhaps a slight nudge will coerce them into fully believing that this isn't a resistance trick?! "*Guard City*," Safety corrects, annoyed. "Not city guard. It's- look, it's different." Once the second (smart) city guard checks out his pass, Safety takes it back and shoves it into a hip compartment. First Aid glances at the others for help in convincing them that they mean business. Air Raid's shoulders jerk in a small twitch. Persuasion is not his strong suit, though he /can/ come up with stories... they're not very believable. Or even entertaining. His fingers curl. <<... Okay, frag this, I'm going to punch this clown. You take the one on the left!>> Silverbolt folds his arms, continuing to glare at them. "My patience is wearing thin. If either of you are even remotely intelligent, shouldn't you have come to the conclusion by now that you aren't exactly in a position to ask questions? We have superior firepower, strength, -and- numbers." Though in between sentences he is urging Raid privately on the comm. <> He draws his electrostatic rifle from subspace. "We would prefer not to threaten you two, but really, you're close to not giving us much of a choice. Now, I will not ask again: Report to power station five in the western quadrant -immediately-." The two city guards takes a step back simultaneously as Silverbolt draws out an electrostatic rifle in front of them. Ok. These guys are definitely NOT one of those resistance cell members that's been fooling the city guards as frequently reported. First off, the resistance cell members are all woefully equipped when it comes to weapon and a freaking electrostatic rifle is definitely something civilians are able to get their hands on. Aw crap. These guys are the real deal. "H--hey look, we got it, alright? We'll go." The first city guard stammers out in reply. "We just didn't want to end up looking like the numerous others who've been made fools of by those rebels. We'll go. We'll go right away!" The second city guard responds before poking his partner's shoulder. They both transform and soon, dri--- no, races off away towards the specified power station. Meanwhile the brutalized citizens gets up onto their feet, but their actions suggests they're still in fear, "W-w-we swear, we're not part of the resistance cell. Have mercy." From their perspective, they've just been thrown from the pan and into the fire. Whereas they could've been let off with just a beating, they're probably going to be in a real world of trouble now with they believe to be real Decepticons. Safety's shoulders slump as the guards rush off. He undergoes an entirely different transformation: from confident, brash, violent (but terrified on the inside) Safety into cautious, careful, and peaceful (but terrified on the inside) First Aid. "Whew," the Protectobot says, letting go of a mechanical breath he didn't realize he was holding. He turns back to the other Autobots, not replying to the citizens just yet. "We're going to need new identities anyhow after this. No need to keep the show going, right?" Fireflight gives the biggest sigh of relief he can muster as he watches the two troublesome mechs speed off, keeping an eye on them from his vantage point until they're out of sight. It's only then that he turns back, sporting his usual grin and comming to the group in general, <> He even went through the psyching up process, trying to pump himself up despite not having a single mean circuit in his body. It would've been amusing, to say the least. Air Raid straightens, hands on his hips. "Hah! Look at 'em go. Way ta' go boss, that's the way to show 'em what's what. No fear!" Idly examining his fingertips, he lets the rest deal with the shaken civilians. "Aw," he laments to First Aid, "I worked hard on this identity..." ".. Well that worked out," Spindrift murmurs, quite glad he didn't have to get down from Cerebros' shoulder and intervene. Though now what are they going to do with the poor civvies? Silverbolt does what he can to hide the relief from his face. Phew... It had worked! He is tempted to tell the civilians the truth, but that probably wasn't in their best interests at the moment. He waves a dismissive servo in their direction, once again subspacing the weapon. "Eh, off with you...we don't have time to concern oursevles with empties." Although his voice sounds significantly less intimidating a lot more like the somewhat idealistic Autobot he actually is. <> he jokes lightly, which is quite the rare thing for the Aerialbot leader. He must really be happy with the outcome of this. Cerebros remains silent for a while longer, observing the situation intently, before finally replying, "I'm not sure about that, things have been going well for now but at this rate it just may blow up in our face..." He doesn't finish what he was saying, instead keying into his short range radio and relaying a transmission to all the Autobots, << Well done, Autobots. Do not reveal your identities, minimize contact with those civilians and extract from site immediately. >> <> Fireflight tries to sound determined and cocksure, but in reality he's rubbing the back of his neck up on the skyroad, looking just a tad embarrassed. If this were a less serious mission he might've just thrown a rude limerick at them or something. << But I agree with Cerebros, let's get out of here before those guys realize what's up. With the speed they were driving they'll probably be halfway there by now.>> <> First Aid replies to Cerebros. The Protectobot gives Silverbolt a long look followed by a nod. "I knew you had it in you, Bolters." He's still thinking back to that incident over Iacon. Safety climbs up one of the road supports to reach the upper level before transforming back into his alt mode. Safety folds down into hazmat van mode. Air Raid mutters quietly for being deprived of GLORY. "Bahh, all right. Let's scram." Eying the civilians, then making the two-fingered 'watching you' gesture, he turns, shifts and takes to the air. Silverbolt nods. "Agreed. Let's get out of here before the Decepticons get suspcious. Good work, Autobots!" No doubt those guards would be close to arrive at the power station by now, and thus figuring out that no one had sent for them. He transforms and takes to the air, heading for the safehouse as originally intended. Silverbolt folds up, transforming into a sleek Concorde SST. "Transform and roll out!" Cerebros tilts his head slightly towards the shoulder that Spindrift was seated on, a quick gesture to alert him that he's moving, "Secure yourself, Spindrift. I'm going to climb back up onto the speed way." Eventually the Autobot Headmaster vaults over the railing and onto the speed way before entering into the hover truck where he awaits for the others. Once all of the Autobots have gathered, Cerebros promptly announces, "We're ready to roll out, Pitch. Show us the way back to base." Pitch silently obliges and drives ahead, taking the lead. Some time later on the way, Pitch breaks the silence and idly comments, "I hope those citizens don't go reporting about your talks about getting 'new identities', that's just going to get them into more trouble. I'd give them a 40% chance of being wrongfully implicated for having association with the resistance. Here in Crystal City, it's not about the truth, or justice. It's just the way things are." Cerebros, who has been silently since the start of the drive, finally adds in, "Loose lips ends lives. We're in hostile territory, we have to remember that. Always be on guard." Annnnd everyone eventually arrives at the safe house!
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