| abstract | - Wednesday, August 22, 2012, 7:25 AM Florida Florida is much more than just beaches and palm trees. Historical sites, lush forests, collections of fine art, professional sports and attractions ranging from large theme parks to small zoos and museums are just the beginning in this ethnically diverse state. Nevertheless, the ocean is never more than 50 miles away, either the jewel-green waters and sugar-white beaches of the Gulf of Mexico to the west, or the golden beaches and rolling waves of the blue Atlantic to the east. Unfortunately, water, water everywhere also makes Florida the state most subject to being hit by hurricanes. Tourism is the leading industry, followed by agriculture (such as oranges and other citrus fruits) and the manufacturing of electrical, electronic, and transportation equipment. After another lengthy drive to who knows where, General Cross has brought Amber MacKenzie down to the secret facility in which Marissa Faireborn is being kept! And yet, just as he lets Amber into Marissa's room, Cross pauses, and puts two fingers to the communicator in his ear. "...damn. I'm very sorry, but I have to go. But I'm sure you'll both be alright. If you need anything or if you're ready to leave, Amber, let one of the guards know. They'll take care of you." Dun dun dun. He turns and leaves. A few moments later, Cross is waiting on the tarmac of a military airstrip for someone! "Thank you, General," Amber calls after the man, her tricksy mind churning away at his sudden absence. Turning to Marissa with a smile, she greets, "Ms. Faireborn, it's great to see you again. I was wondering if I'd stayed too long that last time." She glances around the room casually. Marissa Faireborn has been doing a 'little' better every day though she still looks like she needs a good meal or ten. She looks up from a book someone had brought her as Amber arrives and blinks as she enters alone. "Amber," she states, then strains a little to look behind her to make sure there's no one following her. "No, I just overdid myself a little too much before you'd shown up and the excitement of seeing a 'good friend' after such a 'long time' was a bit much." She puts down the book and looks again towards the door, "You don't seem to have an escort today," she states rather than asks. Ambulance is almost giddy with good vibes. During the Olympics footrace yesterday he came up with some startling realizations that may crack that problem he's been working on for the past several weeks. As the ambulance pulls into the Air Force base's parking lot, he mentally reviews his findings. He wants to make sure the General has full confidence in his work given the sheer complexities involved. After giving his Autobot security credentials to the guards near the base's entrance, First Aid pulls onto the tarmac. "Heya Franklin. Enjoying the summer so far?" he asks. Hubcap may be the sweetest thing, but he's ready to move immediately upon the word of Amber. And he can manage it. Dodging around corners long before his clunking feet will alert Soldiers. He's been working hard to locate Marissa, he /may/ feel inadequate shortly. Amber MacKenzie shrugs and responds lightly, "The general was called away, but don't worry; your guards haven't deserted you." She idly waves a hand in the direction of the door. "So, tired of puzzles and moved to books, eh? I've brought you some magazines, current issues, to help you catch up." Marissa Faireborn looks at the magazines handed to her, smiling a bit, "Oh wonderful. Thank you." She flips through one of them, "You even remembered the ones I like." That was a big fat lie because she really didn't know Amber and Amber didn't know her but with the little video camera in a glass bubble in the corner of the room watching and listening, she was ok lying about anything so long as it fit the story she gave Cross a week ago about Amber being a longtime friend. Pink Techcar is currently in her alt mode, with this disguise shell surrounding her. The pink futurecar is a much more conservative color and shape, an officer's car in fact in the parking lot. Having tested the encrypted channel, Elita can do little for surveillance at the moment, but she can listen and coach if necessary. The shell was...discomforting, the paint job was fine, at least until she went back into her natural form, then her color scheme had some very unusual highlights. Off in the distance she can see the humans going about. This sort of deception wasn't right with her, but the circumstances were very unusual. Bluestreak is repainted and on standby, eager to help out with this. He transformed into his car mode and is waiting. Franklin Cross approaches the ambulance. "Too damn hot," he says, approaching the ambulance. He opens the passenger side door--he hopes First Aid will leave it unlocked for him. "But I imagine you have air conditioning in here, so it doesn't matter. What did you need, First Aid?" Stegosaurus has found a hiding spot, laying low, waiting for the request for his support. He isn't happy, though, as he's in bot mode, the configuration allowing him to be much lower and more inconspicuous, covered in camouflage tarps... Amber MacKenzie can't speak out loud without the surveillance device picking up on it, so she speaks indirectly to the channel. "You're quite welcome, Marissa. I'm sure you're sick and tired of being stuck in a bed, and though having two guards is reassuring, they aren't exactly much for conversation. Nor would I expect them to be; their job is to keep you safe, not entertain you." Ambulance 's passenger side door opens smoothly. His interior is indeed air conditioned as part ensuring its climate is suitable for patients. "I'm not going to bore you with the technical details, boss, but there was a lingering problem with the Groundbridge that I just couldn't figure out. Earth's magnetic field is constantly shifting, and during our test runs we had trouble ensuring the bridge's destination would wind up where we wanted. Now a normal spacebridge doesn't have this problem because..." First Aid coughs, "Right, sorry, got a bit technical there after all. The short of it is that we can start digging on your say so. I need your help as EDC leader to negotiate for suitable sites worldwide." Marissa Faireborn is quiet for a moment as she looks as though she's flipping through pages in a magazine but her eyes look 'up' at Amber through her unruly bangs that haven't been trimmed in over three months. She looks her over very carefully, and then raises a delicate eyebrow, "Yes. Can't get them to say boo to me, much less anything else," she said cautiously, trying to sound neutral. "Doctors won't even say anything to me other than give me updates on my progress, which apparently isn't as fast as I think it should be. Got this witch of a nurse who yells at me every time I get up out of bed. I swear she watches that video monitor that keeps an eye on me like a hawk." Datsun 240z is an anxious bot. He is not able to keep still for long, although he is stifling all urges to rev his engine for no reason except sheer nervousness. Pink Techcar keeps her sensors peeled as well. So many variables here, guards, blockades, political issues... What if.... She ponders to herself what options were available....then Repugnus said something on the comm that was very disturbing. The dinobot is thrilled... he's waiting, has nothing to do. He's even covered up so he can't lay there and absorb sunlight. He starts to talk to himself, in a vain attempt to stem off boredom Franklin Cross seemed more interested in the details of the groundbridge for a moment. "Are you saying that a magnetic field might disrupt the space bridge? I'm rather concerned about that--ah, but yes, I have the support of several UN nations, especially the ones on the Security Council. If we start with them, there shouldn't be a problem with attaining a high dispersal of sites." Amber MacKenzie stares steadily at Marissa. "You have a lot of friends who miss you, Marissa. And I'm sure you'd love to be with them right now, wouldn't you? Whatever I can do to help, I will, even if it's only delivering magazines." She stands up and walks restlessly around the room. "It's a nice day outside," she comments. "Too bad you can't have a look. Are you still stuck in bed?" Datsun 240z is aware that Elita just took the part of distraction somehow. Or Hubcap. Whichever one is doing that. Pink Techcar checks her positioning. The officer's parking lot was mostly deserted, and while she generally didn't use a holo-driver, the situation here called for it. The Major flickers to life. An average descript woman appears in the driver's seat, wearing the more casual uniform of the military. Dress gear would've been a tip off...she hoped. Elita logs a reminder to study the EDC tactics more when this situation was over. She pulled out of the lot, her engine having an added fake hum to it, to adhere to Earth standard rides. She makes her way to the hospital parking garage. That was the easy part, this far into a complex, hospital parking was easy...it was entering areas on foot that had more restrictions. "Don't take the similar names too literally," First Aid replies, "There's a lot of key differences between a hypothetical Groundbridge and a Spacebridge. If a Spacebridge is a jumbo jet, a Groundbridge is a paper airplane." The Protectobot nods inwardly at Franklin's agreement. "Great! Once you've drawn up a list and taken care of whatever paperwork and funding issues are needed, we can start digging. I've taken the liberty of going over some preliminary cost estimates with some of your boys from Finance and Procurement." Poor First Aid has no idea about all the chaos that's taking place not too far away. Datsun 240z sets off to the back of the hospital, keeping to the proposed speed limit there and parking himself not that far from the doorway. Marissa Faireborn finishes looking through one magazine and moves to the next, though she's not even looking at the pages. Her experienced ears and military training are picking up what she is pretty damned sure are well worded 'messages' to her from Amber. "I do miss them, very much. Been some time since I've seen any of them. Docs are talking like I'll be here for at 'least' another two months, possibly more of recovery, and Cross is agreeing with them. So here I sit." She is quiet as she flips another page, her eyes following Amber though she appears to be looking 'down' at the magazine. "I'd love to go outside, and no I'm no longer confined to bed. I'm out of bed at least four times a day, more if I can get away with it but that nurse is usually on me within moments of climbing out," she said with a smirk, passing on the message that any move she makes, she has watchers that will pounce. That camera has to be disabled first.... Hubcap is parked in his alt-mode in front of the hospital. But he doesn't have to be. Amber MacKenzie pauses in front of the camera in question and offers a perfect EDC salute with a perfectly straight face. "Yes sir, General Nurse, sir!" she recites crisply. "Glad to see that you take your job seriously, sir," she adds more warmly. Now, where's that fire alarm? Turning to face Marissa, she smirks widely as she blocks the camera. Then she taps her watch and glances towards the door before strolling back to the general's bedside. "How about a walk around the room right now? The more you exercise, the faster you'll improve." Franklin Cross is also blissfully unaware of the imminent betrayal. "Let me guess, the costs are going to be astronomical?" Cross says. "Well, as they say, that's the price of freedom. On the other hand, if we lose only one base it'll be less of a blow than losing one massive base all at once. God... I found out just today that they pulled Major Stanley's bones out of some rubble in Alameda." He rubs his face. "Just terrible. But now with the Ground Bridge we may at least be able to evacuate quickly." And lo, a somewhat muddy gold, red and gray stegosaurus is seen running down a hill, to turn a vengeful optic upon a harmless power pole, which is soon broken in half, yet, with some surprising delicacy, is laid down so when the humans come to investigate, they are unharmed, and the stego does his best septicon voice, "ME SLUGFEST! Me EVIL SEPTICON! RAAHR!" and mock charges the humans, scattering those who are likely not laughing their butts off Marissa Faireborn now looks up and actually laughs at the salute to the camera, then closes the magazine. She shifts them aside and pulls back the covers, revealing that at least now, she actually has surgical pants on. Someone actually brought her pants....thank god. She swings her legs out and her bare feet touch the floor, then she stands. She keeps a hand on the bed but she's obviously gotten good at keeping the IV and heart monitor hooked up to her while she moves about. She grins as she looks up at the camera, as if daring the nurse to come and stop her while she has a guest. "So how are the Olympics. How many Bots are participating in this evening’s event..." She knew that there were two events this afternoon, but not this evening. "I always heard the price of freedom is eternal vigilance," First Aid considers. "But also a lot of money, yes. I know it's costly, but the EDC really does deserve the best." The Protectobot goes quiet when Franklin mentions Major Stanley. The doctor didn't actually know the Major personally, but First Aid has known hundreds of EDC troopers who are no doubt just like him, and who paid the *real* price for freedom. "Look," First Aid says slowly, "I know you've probably heard this a lot of times before, and that no words can ever really make up for it, but I'm really, _really_ sorry about this. All of this, I mean. The Ark, the war, the bringing the Decepticons here... everything." Pink Techcar patiently waits for things to unfold. She sits in a parking spot not too far from the sliding double doors for the hospital. There had to be sensors here to detect fires, it would be silly not too. She considered exactly how much smoke and rubber would have to be burnt in order to achieve this faux fire, but it should work. Her scanners searched the nearby area approvingly. If the precious cargo exited this way, she had it covered... As Snarl smashes things, a few of the humans dial for help! Military troops mobilize, hopping into transports and tanks and whatnot, loading up what weapons they can and rolling out of the base! A few helicopters take off as well, hunting for 'Slugfest.' Wait, where did they come from? And why are they black? The word was given. Tires started to squeal as Elita revved her engine in her parked position. Bits of rubber started to peel off almost immediately, and within a few seconds, a cloud of smoke started to fill the garage. The beeping that came on shortly thereafter was exactly what she needed. The dousing foam however, was not as pleasing. Franklin Cross's fists tighten slowly as First Aid profusely apologizes for everything. His eyes narrow. He seems about to say something, then... "What? Here?! Dammit, try to scare him off, I'll try to get the Autobots on the line," he says, clearly speaking into his communicator. "Dammit... Well, I suppose I'm already in the safest place in the base, inside an Autobot. And my damn tank isn't anywhere near this place, so..." He sighs. "Not much I can do." "Hmm?" First Aid says, snapping out of his sincere apology as Franklin gets suddenly distracted. Word on the NEST broadband indicates Decepticons! "The rest of our meeting can wait, General. Let’s go stop some bad guys." Assuming Cross doesn't request to be let out first, the Protectobot activates his lights and sirens, pulling off the tarmac. "I don't get it, though... the Decepticons are usually actually pretty good about obeying the Olympics truce." He either tells Franklin this in person, or over the radio depending on what the General decides to do. The evil septicon Snarl, err, Slugfest seems to be less destructive than his other brethren. Cars are pushed aside, maybe knocked onto the back, but, he's refrained from going overly destructive. At most, the wreckage is something like a broken window or two, some paint work, the vehicles overturned are ones that would actually handle being on the roof... And the fires... those are in like garbage cans... A dinobot exhibiting restraint? Who would of thunk it? The fire alarms start blaring, and there's not a bot to face them. As people flood downstairs, the sprinklers start to hammer down. Amber MacKenzie jumps when the alarm goes off, shock showing on her face. First she glances to Marissa, then she hurriedly helps her over to and behind the door, then flings it open. "You two! Get the General out of here! She's in the bathroom! Hurry! Is that a fire? What's the safest way out?!" Without waiting for a reply, she darts back in through the door and waits for them to rush in, hoping they'll go straight to the bathroom without looking around. Then she'll pull Marissa outside and lock the guards in. The fly in the ointment will be General Nurse, who's manning the camera, but she's hopefully evacuating like everyone else. The two guards stare at Amber, open-mouthed, then exchange glances. "Hold on, missy. We got a procedure for this. We thought of EVERYTHING. First you gotta get you blindfolded." They eventually (?) follow her in, looking around. "The bathroom, huh? Does she WANT to burn to death? Geeze..." They seem to have what look like gauze strips in their hands. "Now, Faireborn, we're gonna wrap these around your eyes, and if anybody asks, your eyes got burned..." They step into the bathroom. Marissa Faireborn actually jerks at the sound of the alarm though it should have come as no surprise. She had just gotten her feet into slippers of some kind and is pushed behind the door by Amber. She blinks and turns holding the door handle a little to help Amber some but also to steady herself. Keeping her mouth shut and trying to stay as hidden as possible, she shrinks back and waits for the guards to enter the room. Normally she'd be the first one to jump into the middle of the fray but honestly the room just tilted a bit, her heart rate hammering as it is. This would NOT be a good time to play action hero. So she waits for Amber to be the heroine and is backup if need be. Apocryphacius's strange, screw-shaped flying device has broken down by the side of the road. It is terribly shameful. He should have got Triple A. Right now, he is trying to call one of the lab techs he knows to see if he can get a pick-up, but he doesn't have any signal bars at the moment. Franklin Cross looks apprehensive as he rides along. "Wait! I think I see Apocryphacius." He looks behind himself. "I guess he might fit in there...? Well, we'll think of something. Pull over and let him in." Meanwhile, three black helicopters and a few Army trucks are chasing after Snarl! Snarl hears from one of the helicopters: "DECEPTICON! Surrender or you will be destroyed!" Pink Techcar slips out of her parking spot as the sprinklers go off. The emergency crews would be investigating there soon enough. She shifts position to the other side of the main doors inside the parking garage, backing in, in case a quick escape was needed. Checking her review mirror, she had the angles covered so far... Ambulance screeches to a halt near Apocryphacius, "Er, sure thing, but my seatbelts aren't rated for Quintessons. This might be dangerous." The ambulance opens his rear doors, "Apocryphacius! Apocryphacius! Apocryphacius! No time to explain but there's Decepticons breaking the truce and we gotta go stop them! Hop in!" Either Apocryphacius does as requested or First Aid speeds off onto the highway, racing towards where Snarl is pretending to wreck things. Snarl aka Slugfest runs for his life... He keeps glancing back at the helicopters, his thagomizer swishing back and forth as he does his best to lead the black copters and such on a merry chase through the city. Strangely, humans hear the evil septicon apologize when he does something like smash a car more than he means too. Datsun 240z is still just waiting, while keeping his visual on everything he can see around him. Excitement making him more jittery than ever. All he needs is a signal, and he will move. Apocryphacius definitely does as requested, hopping on, and he assures, "Do not be concerned about my safety. I can just build some personal airbags out of these popcorn bags I happen to be carrying and some compressed air," which he starts doing. Oh hey, is that General Cross? Awkward. His boss is just the one he wanted to run into while his ride is broken. Franklin Cross rubs his face. Popcorn bags as airbags? "O...kay. Ah, right. Let's head off after that Decepticon, First Aid!" Amber MacKenzie isn't one of those Indiana Jones type people. She doesn't grin or laugh or toss off a clever one-liner. No, she's probably as grim as Marissa. "Let's get out of here, ma'am," she says quietly as she takes the other woman's arm and slings it across her shoulders. As soon as they're clear of the door, she kicks it shut and locks it. She knows the elevators won't work, so she looks for stairs going up to the lobby. "Sorry, ma'am... this is going to be an effort, but there are people waiting for us." As she can hear on the channel. They slowly move up the stairwell. The guards quickly realize they've been had, but too late. They angrily yell and beat on the door as they try to escape but to no avail! Normally all exits from the secret room are sealed and only unlockable if you have the right clearance. But some thoughtful person thought that maybe the locks should disengage if there's a fire! So there's no trouble accessing the stairwell. Meanwhile, the side doors on the black helicopters slide back, revealing miniguns! "THIS IS YOUR LAST WARNING, DECEPTICON! STAND DOWN!" Sirens blazing and lights whirling, First Aid races along the shoulder of the streets. Other drivers, realizing that something is going on and faced with an emergency vehicle. Even still, with him having to constantly speed up and slow down, it makes for an uncomfortable (though exciting) ride for Apocryphacius and Cross. Eventually, the Protectobot finds the trail of 'destruction'. A few gently knocked over cars and some pre-contained fires. Huh... looks pretty tame, but First Aid isn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Deploying his roof mounted decrystallizer artillery cannon. "They yours?" Aid says, looking up at the black helicopters. He doesn't recognize the type. Either way, the ambulance eventually comes face to face with Snarl, cutting the Dinobot off from the front while the helicopters approach from the rear. "You're surrounded, Decepticon! Don't make us... wait... SNARL?!" Marissa Faireborn snorts at the stupidity of the guards and would hope to hell her people wouldn't be that way after proper training. She nodded and held onto Amber and did her best to 'soldier' on. She was doing pretty good until they got to the top of the last flight of steps. She was out of breath! "Damn...*pant pant* I haven't felt this weak since before high school," she complained, trying to catch her breath. She didn't even want to think about what it was going to take to get back in shape. "Let’s get out of here quick..." And with that, she let Amber lead her to whichever door would get them to a fast car and a fast way out. You know it's only a matter of time before 'Slugfest' finds an alley he can't run through. Before him is a wall, behind him is several helicopters... At least he doesn't have to worry too much about them getting TOO close and breaking his disguise... his thagomizer keeps swishing, helping to keep them away, when he hears a familiar voice behind him... uh oh... Apocryphacius builds useful things out of weird stuff! Sometimes. After a particularly sharp speed up and slow down, one of his popcorn air bags goes off, sensing the speed change, showering the internal compartment with popcorn. He looks left and right, steepling a pair of tentacles, and then he apologises softly, "Must have made one of the accelerometers a bit too sensitive, sir." Franklin Cross squints out of First Aid's window at the black helicopters. "Sort of," he remarks. Something about that sounded kind of ominous. "But let's just say they're not exactly in my chain of command. Still..." His head snaps towards the dashboard, like First Aid's face is supposed to be there or something. "WHAT? That's one of the DInobots? My *God!* Did he follow you here and decide to just smash things?" He sighs, tapping the communicator hidden in his ear. "Yes. General Cross. Tell them to stand down. No. No, SHUT UP, that's an Autobot, you FOOLS! STAND! DOWN! Yes. Yes, *thank you.*" His head leans back, and he pinches his nose. "Idiots." At the very least, however, Cross has some popcorn to help take the edge off the situation because some just sprayed all over him. He sighs, and with a shrug, he pops some into his mouth. "Oh, no, it's fine, may as well enjoy the show." At last, however, just when it looked the Helicopters were going to open fire... the side doors close, and they fly away. Ambulance was about to question just what 'not exactly in my chain of command' means when they encountered Snarl. The doctor watches with horror as the Dinobot swishes at the helicopters defensively. "I-I don't know. You have to stop them, though," he urges Cross. "You can't let them shoot Snarl!" First Aid's gratefulness is immense when Franklin does just that. The black helicopters retract their miniguns and retreat. "Thank you... thank you..." Aid says to Cross with clear relief. That's only one problem solved, though. There's still a hulking razor-plated problem just in front of him. After quickly reporting in to the Autobots on their broadband, First Aid calls out to the Dinobot. "Snarl! Is that you? It's me, First Aid. What in the world is going on here?" Pink Techcar listens to the comm system as she idles, it sounded like Snarl was discovered and that entire debacle was starting. It would be a minor snafu, but the Dinobots were good, strong warriors and noted for being more headstrong than booksmart. It would have to do. One rather frantic evacuee tried to open her doors, but Elita had the good fortune to stay locked up tight. The Major turned her head with a disapproving look, before the human took off towards the outside. If many more people came this route, she'd find her exits blocked up. This could get tricky if the two came out this side. Stegosaurus gets clear, looks at First Aid, "Me..." He sits down, his thagomizer no longer swishing, "Me not sure what going on. Me told be bad, but not too bad. Me no know who talking to me in head." Bending down, he looks at the thing on First Aid's roof, "First Aid, you have new roof ornament." Amber MacKenzie and Marissa eventually make their way to the back exit, which is wide open to allow the hospital personnel to evacuate. And there, at least, is their ride out. Changing direction abruptly, she and Marissa hurry towards the vehicle, avoiding the throngs of frightened and excited workers. That's one way to get the rest of the day off. She doesn't speak to him; no need to get the surrounding people suspicious. Datsun 240z sees Amber with a woman he does not recognize, which he assumes is the missing director, Faireborn. He opens the car door for them to get into as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the guards were able to eventually escape the bathroom by kicking the door out, and though Amber and Marissa have a good lead on them, it's not long before one of the guards emerges from the back entrance, hand on the gun on his belt. "Hey. HEY!" he yells at the two women. Hubcap should see the other guard running out front, looking around for the two women. He tries to peer inside Hubcap. A hand claps Marissa on the shoulder. "Ma'am," says Captain Daalgard, stepping out of the crowd with a look of faint concern in his pale eyes. He's flanked by a number of UN peacekeepers; not mere civilian guards, but EDC executive guard. "Ares you safe? The attacks appear to be a Dinobot which has been coloreds differently." He looks at Amber evenly, curiously. "Ms. Mackenzies. You are visiting the Commanders? Kind of you." Pink Techcar starts to make her way out of the garage. It takes a few moments for her to find an appropriate route, civilians were standing about just outside the garage. The first exit proved impassable, the second exit worked after a few moments of waiting. She slowly crawled out of the garage, around back to where...Marissa was being confronted. Franklin Cross frowns. "He's hearing voices in his head? First Aid, does this happen often? Is he *insane?* Did I make a mistake in calling the helicopters off? What exactly is going on, here?" The black-suited guard seemed about to go after Marissa and Amber, but once he sees Daalgard approach her, he backs off, getting out a walkie talkie and speaking into it. Lars Daalgard has a small sticking plaster over his right eyebrow as a memento of taking gold at the EDC unarmed combat trials. He touches his collar and speaks a few words into it in Norwegian. Hubcap is casually parked and reacts to nothing, but he is unlocked, perhaps certain folks might decide to flee random Dinobots within him? Datsun 240z shuts his door, glad no one is looking his way. He also remains unlocked though. Stegosaurus looks at First Aid, then at the roof ornament. He then looks in the front windows of First Aid, "Aid, why you have bug and popcorn inside? You responding to emergency?" He waves a front paw at the occupant, before seeming to hear something "I wish I had better answers for you, General," First Aid says, terrified of the fact that he has basically no answers at all for this. Opening his rear and passenger side doors, Aid lets the two EDCers out. "Stay back, just in case he's still dangerous. I'm going to see if I can disarm him." Assuming the pair do exit the ambulance, First Aid addresses Snarl, "Same roof ornament, Snarl," he says slowly, trying not to make any sudden movements. "I'm going to transform now, okay? Don't worry. You're safe now." Shifting to robot mode, a bunch of popcorn falls from his joints. "That doesn't matter right now... no emergency. I'm just here to take you back to base. Can I have your weapons?" Marissa Faireborn scrambles the last of the way out the backdoor and towards a vehicle she recognizes from photos and vids. But the hand on her shoulder stops her short and she has to do her best not to whirl and try to hit whoever grabbed her. She's in fight or flight mode though her fight is leaving her fast. "Yes, yes. I'm quite safe. Listen, there's a fire inside. Amber was visiting and kind enough to get me out with the others. We're going to go sit down in her car over there that's got A/C until this clears up. Go help them investigate so that I can get back inside and rest," she states as if giving orders. Lars Daalgard nods at a buzz in his ear. "Ms. MacKenzies is to be detained. The EDC will escorts you to safety, Commander." The EDC troops immediately move to take hold of MacKenzie, although guns have not been drawn. Franklin Cross does indeed exit. However, he quickly loses interest in Snarl as he seems to receive another message! Two fingers to his earpiece, he paces about, initially screaming, "WHAAAT?!" then mumbling some other things. Lars Daalgard points out evenly, "Ms. MacKenzie is under arrest. And that car with the doors open? The fifty-five-year-old Datsuns? That is the Autobot Smokescreen. Or possibly Bluestreaks. Where would you like to go, Commanders? The EDC is at your disposal." Amber MacKenzie looks at Marissa with a bright smile. "I'll straighten this out with the General, ma'am. You just sit down and rest a bit." Turning back to Lars, she shrugs. "I'm sure this is something of a misunderstanding, but I'm yours to command, sir." "It is not my commands. I'm only passings it on," Lars explains with the faintest possible smile, and starts talking into his throat mic again. Generally the energy crackles about the pink futurecar, being emitted in a powerful burst. The disguise about her helped nullify that distraction, but the effect was the same. Time crackled if but for an instant, slowing...slowing...everything with a pinkish hue....and stopped. Certainly the Bot forces in the area were still free to move about as was the selective targeting of Amber and Marissa. Unfortunately for Elita, she was caught in it as well, the epicenter of the issue at hand. It would be a while before she would be able to rejoin the team. Stegosaurus looks up at First Aid, "You want my weapons? Me guess me can give. Gun has been acting up a bit." He shifts, before transforming, rising up into his robot form, towering over First Aid, reaching back to unlimber his solar rifle to hand to the medic. Marissa Faireborn squares her shoulders, "You will do no such thing, soldier, or I will have your stripes." She feels like crap right now but the years of military training come out in her in an instant. They are in trouble, they are cornered and they need to extricate themselves immediately. Her hand reaches over and grabs Amber and gives her a tug, "Ms. MacKenzie, please stand down." She looks at Lars, "Stand down, Soldier. You have no authority to arrest her since she was here upon my request...." She took a breath and was about to go on when suddenly, everything took on a pink hue and suddenly....stopped? She blinked and turned to look at Amber. "I think I've lost my mind....Did they all just...stop?" Datsun 240z opens the car doors again, making it easier for Amber to get herself and Faireborn in. Amber MacKenzie is boggling, too, but at least she has the advantage of listening to the tactical channel. "Er... that's what it looks like. Let's get out of here, ma'am. We can figure it out later." She takes another look at the frozen Lars. Yes, it boggles the mind all right. The pair of United Nations soldiers who were taking Amber into custody are frozen like statues, their hands only beginning to close on her almost imperceptibly. Captain Daalgard is still in the process of speaking into his throat mic, but his mouth is taking thirty seconds to form a single syllable. A bird flying by overhead hangs almost immobile in the air, its wings crawling downwards through the stroke. Franklin Cross tries to communicate with Lars. "Unbelievable!" he says, pacing, Snarl completely forgotten by this point. He tries to send more transmissions to Lars. First Aid sloooowly takes the solar rifle. He grunts from the unexpected weight of the thing and his legs are visibly wobbling. "Thank you, Snarl. I'm just going to put it down over here." The doctor backs away, setting the sword down away from the Dinobot. Snarl has other weapons, but given the Dinobot's strength Aid can't really expect to disarm him entirely. The tension is just starting to drain when Cross suddenly starts making exclamations. "What is it, sir? Was... was anyone hurt by this?" Aid would be holding his breath if he had any. All the affrighted patients form a still and silent forest around Amber and Marissa, water droplets hanging in air as they peel off their wet hair and hospital gowns from the indoor sprinklers. Datsun 240z knows this move very well, he’s seen Elita use it before on a mission. It is his hope this time that there are no bots with extensive amounts of limbs missing. He also remembered that he was on a mission with Hubcap at that time- well, this would not be the time to take that stroll down memory lane, he'd just freeze up again. Driving up to the women, since nearly everyone else was frozen, he encourages the women to get inside. Apocryphacius is frozen in time! He doesn't notice, of course. Marissa Faireborn sees Bluestreak drive up to them, barely missing one of the EDC officers. Just out of spite, she reaches up before moving to the car and grabs the small earbud from Lars that leads down to his radio, pulls out the plug for the throat mike and takes it with her. She is running on the last of her energy and she's had enough of this place. Climbing into the back seat of all places, she sits there. If she has to she knows she can curl up on the back seat. "Let’s blow this popsicle stand," she growls. Apocryphacius is not frozen. That was just this ice cream mortar shell he was carrying out confusing him. Whoops. Lars Daalgard is going to be so confused when time restarts. He was in the middle of a call! Pink Techcar shudders under the strain of power. Still conscious but completely vulnerable at the moment, she manages to feel slightly pleased that she's not dead. Her disguise on the other hand suffered a bit more than expected. Slowly, she started to piece together her thoughts, trying to put things back together, remember her situation...It was so easy to get lost in time for her now. She had never noticed it before because usually she was completely incapacitated. Time snapped back to current, with an almost audible pop. Figures started to go about their way again, imperceptibly. Now if only she could pull herself together, this escape could...what was she saying? Amber MacKenzie slips into the driver's seat. "Fine with me, General! And hullo, Bluestreak. Last I heard, Cross is out front, so we may pass him unless... Can you go cross country, Bluestreak? Avoid Cross entirely?" She stares out the window and wonders about ducking down, but then a driverless car would be equally suspicious to Cross. Here's hoping they can avoid being seen entirely. Datsun 240z wastes no time, once the ladies are in there, he is doing what Faireborn says and blowing this popsicle stand. Although that is a weird thing to call it, since it is an EDC hospital and is sure that popsicles are not sold there- what was he doing? Oh yeah, exiting out east. "Hey Amber. I am taking the east exit, last I was told, that was clear. So unless anyone says otherwise, I am just taking you out of here as fast as possible." He tells her as he starts to drive off. Snarl unlimbers the sword he carries, and offers it to First Aid. The bot did ask for it. And it is keeping the bot distracted. "Not now!" Cross snaps at First Aid, then resumes pacing about and talking on his earpiece. Lars Daalgard looks around in confusion. Commander Faireborn is gone, the journalist General Cross wants arrested is gone, and Smokescreen (or Bluestreak) is gone. One moment they were all here, then there was just a flicker of motion as if they had been suddenly whisked away at incredible speed. Nothing else has changed. Wait- as he tries to call in what just happened to Cross, he realizes something else has changed, the radio that his throat mic feeds into is gone too. He takes the radio from one of the equally baffled soldiers and calls Cross on that, to tell him what just happened. Or what appeared to just happen, at least! Once in the car, Marissa Faireborn pulls the ear plug attachment out of the radio and what you hear is this: Franklin Cross: ...and that's why you can't let either of them leave. Lars? Lars? Are you there? Lars? Meanwhile, some shady looking men in suits wait inside of a closed garage, which has a small fleet of black cars and SUVs. "Any word on Faireborn?" one asks. "Nah, last I heard one of the EDC'ers intercepted her," another says. "Ah, good then, I hate going out in the daylight." First Aid takes a startled step back at Franklin's outburst, but doesn't comment on it. He can't blame the General for being royally pissed off about this. Dang, dang, dang. He was getting so close to really making a difference in EDC/Autobot relations. Hopefully this will pass. For now, Aid has to deal with Snarl. After (barely) carrying Snarl's sword over to his rifle, Aid approaches the Dinobot. "I'm just going to do a quick medical scan before we head back to base. Is that alright, Snarl?" he asks. Snarl turns his attention to the human, his optics narrowing slightly, "Me think human is rude. Him should no be rude to you, First Aid. Should me have talk with him?" Then the question reaches him, "Oh, sure, First Aid." From the back seat you hear Marissa say into the radio with a very strained and yet, firmly controlled voice. "I see MR. Cross. Thank you for that update. I'll be sure to pass on that information." How much did she actually here? What does she know? Apocryphacius asks quietly, looking shifty, "So... how do you feel about weaponised desserts, anyway? Too beyond the pale or acceptable in some situations?" He stays a distance away from First Aid and Snarl, both nervous and confused. He frowns as the Dinobot makes a vague threat at Cross, though. Pink Techcar whirrs back to life, and motion. Her blasted holodriver was on the fritz due to that time stop. It was all she could do to reboot the thing several times. All she could hope for was that her mostly translucent windows would be enough to fool any onlookers until it restarted. Aside from that, the exit was still clear, though she took a longer way to get out than Bluestreak. No sense in the entire espionage party to get made... First Aid takes out a medical scanner, making sure that Snarl can see everything that he's doing. The last thing he wants is to do is startle the Dinobot. A brief scan later, Aid frowns inwardly at the results. He can't see any modifications on Snarl. This isn't particularly surprising. A cerebro shell (and that's still just a wild guess at this point) is still the sort of thing that's usually found via surgery. After a quick glance at Apoc (Aid doesn't answer the question), he tells Snarl, "No no... he has every right to be upset." The doctor sighs, "I don't suppose you can tell me what happened here and why you did all this?" Lars Daalgard gestures to the EDC soldiers, who start fanning out in search of their erstwhile Commander, but she seems to have vanished into thin air. Franklin Cross listens to his radio some more, then, finally, kicks a tin can out of the alley, red faced. He stomps up to First Aid, pointing up at him. "Did you know about this? DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS!?" he seethes. First Aid's optics widen as he freezes. Franklin's demand sends a chill down his hydraulics. With the hand holding the medical scanner shaking, Aid looks down at the human. "I... what? Know about what?" From the backseat, "You heard me!" The voice of Marissa sounds stern, angry. "I don't appreciate this game you've been playing. I would resign now if I were you. You won't like it if I have to drag out what you're hiding under the bed into public view. From the radio: “Marissa. Listen to me very carefully. You ARE sick and I'm the only one who can cure you. *Please* come back.” Snarl blinks, "Me just has voices in head. They tell me to break things, not hurt anyone." His attention switches to Franklin, "However, little human bug seem determined make me want hurt one human." Franklin Cross points an accusatory finger at First Aid. "Your Autobot friends just pulled Marissa Faireborn out of the hospital that I've been treating her in. You idiots, she has what is likely an alien contagion and you just released her on the world, or at the very least, signed her death warrant!" Then Snarl... threatens him? He fixes the Dinobot with a murderous glare. "..what?" Apocryphacius's faces shift with irritation, and he snaps, "You will do nothing of the kind, Dinobot! If you keep menacing your allies, you will not have many for very long!" Yes, he is pretty annoyed by the Dinobot trying to intimidate his boss, annoyed enough to say something unwise. From the backseat you hear, "The only reason," the voice has grown very cold, very 'military', "you seem able to cure me is because YOU are the one who made me sick in the first place. There's rot in the EDC and I intend to dig it out, and if that means I have to start with you, and go from there, I will." Did she just declare war? Apocryphacius transforms into his Apocryphacius mode. Meanwhile, black cars and vans deploy all across the military base, trying to track down the car that 'kidnapped' Faireborn, but by the time they finally get the call, Bluestreak has too great of a lead for them to overcome! However, he may see one speedy black Porsche doggedly pursuing him in his rear view! Amber MacKenzie rests in the driver's seat, the adrenaline finally easing off. "Well, *now* I've done something illegal. Cat would be proud of me. Mum would tsk about getting caught." She sighs and looks into the back seat. "How are you doing, General? And welcome to freedom." First Aid holds his hands up defensively, "What? No, that's impossible. I- I swear, General, there's no way that any Autobot would..." But wouldn't they? First Aid trails off, looking like he's about to panic. Faireborn? Rescued? And Snarl here... the Protectobot slowly turns around to look at Snarl, putting the terrifying pieces together. First Aid stumbles, almost falling before he manages to recover. Interposing himself between Snarl and Franklin, he says in a strained voice, "Look, I don't know what's happened here, but I promise you we'll get to the bottom of it. Snarl, we need to get back to base ASAP. General Cross, sir, I will get your answers for you on this." Please, please, please be satisfied by this. Datsun 240z does his best to dodge and go around things, to make the black Porsche lose the trail. "Hang on ladies." He punches it into high gear- he may not have the title of the fastest Autobot, but he was certainly faster than a mere Porsche. From the radio, you hear: “Your illness has made you paranoid and delusional, Faireborn." In which she replies with a snort, "We'll see about that MR. Cross. I believe I'm going to go to have a second opinion from a different 'doctor' and have greater minds work on this than yours. General Faireborn out." But she didn't turn off the radio, just handed it to the front for Amber to take. "Hold on!" Bluestreak tells Amber and Marissa as he makes a very sharp right up ahead, still at the fastest speed. Snarl looks at First Aid, "Okay. Me go with you First Aid. Me hope human no come with. Me not liking him." Pink Techcar follows along behind Blue and the black sedan, roaring down the road after exiting the base. It felt good to get into a higher gear finally. Eight miles down the road the last of her disguise flies off, revealing the pink futurecar in all her pink...ness... <> She mutters. Having given Bluestreak some foresight on navigation, and such on a secured comm, she waits for the moment to arise. Gunning her engine even higher, she waits for Blue to take an offramp onto another main road, then skirts inside the black sedan's path. The choice was clear, slap the breaks and hold on, or get sideswiped. Of course Elita had no intentions of harming the sedan, if her bluff was called, either way, it'd eat up valuable road time, letting Bluestreak get freed. Marissa Faireborn sits in the backseat, apparently having a conversation over the radio with ....someone before she finally hands the radio to Amber in the front seat and sits back, letting someone else do the driving while she looks like she 'wilts' with exhaustion. "Amber, Bluestreak...I need you to get me to the nearest high ranking Autobot officer so I can claim sanctuary....for now. And I need a workup done on me to see if what he's saying is true. Doubt it since Amber was to see me less than a week ago and she wasn't infected. But best to put me into quarantine till we can be sure." Amber MacKenzie had shifted in her seatbelt to look back at the Porsche following them, so she barely manages to capture the radio before Bluestreak exits, stage right. Bracing herself for the turn, she feels the centrifugal forces yank her around and then subside. No biggie. Hey, she's driven Sideswipe! Curious, she puts the radio to her own ear to listen. Franklin Cross looks fit to be tied. "*Answers.* I've got my answers, First Aid. You... you obviously came here to distract me while that vigilante Amber grabbed Marissa. Well, good job, you've got Faireborn. For as long as that's going to last before she dies in your care. Oh, yes, take your Dinobot friend with you. I'll *walk* back." Meanwhile, that Porsche isn't giving up! The driver also seems to be REALLY good, though maybe a little less concerned about collateral damage as he scrapes up against a few people as he chases after them. But Bluestreak is approaching the rest stop, and sure enough, the big ol' Autobot shuttle is right in the middle of the rest stop's parking lot, ramp lowered! Datsun 240z is trusting Elita to stop the Porsche in its tracks. "We will, but we need to make sure you get there first." He goes even faster, aiming right for that loading ramp. Even so, the driver of the Porsche may be somewhat careless, but he isn't suicidal. He's forced to slow down. He tries swerving past what's clearly an Autobot without hitting her, but Elita might have a bit more experience in combat driving. Snarl looks at the general, then at First Aid. There's one weapon First Aid can't 'disarm'. He shifts, transforming back to the altmode, and growling at him, his thagomizer reflecting his irritation at the general. Worse, flames seem to flicker Marissa Faireborn has to try and act quick to hang on for dear life in the back of the car or end up on the floor. "Oh man....glad I didn't eat lunch." she mumbles. Snarl looks at the general, then at First Aid. There's one weapon First Aid can't 'disarm'. He shifts, transforming back to the altmode, and growling at him, his thagomizer reflecting his irritation at the general. Worse, flames seem to flicker from his muzzle First Aid visibly winces as Franklin growls back. He tries to protest against the accusations, but can't think of any words that would absolve him of it. On the Autobot broadband, First Aid asks pointblank whether there was any planned operation. The response he got was as damning as any real answer he could have received. Eventually Hardhead denies it, but First Aid fears he knows the truth. Holding out a hand in front of the transformed Dinobot, Aid says, "Let him go, Snarl. He has every reason to be upset with us right now." He'll put himself between Cross and the fire if he has to. Pink Techcar indeed does have an edge there, a couple of eons but who's counting? She hits the handbrake, skidding around the Porsche, all the way in front of it, then shifts into reverse. Doing what she can to anticipate the Porsche, she continues her blocking for a bit longer, then jackknifes around, hits the gas towards the shuttle, intent on being the last one in. Apocryphacius finally gets some signal bars and that call to that lab tech goes through. So the animators just stop drawing him, because he has to go take this call. Lars Daalgard stays at the site to oversee the cleanup and thorough, if probably futile, investigation. He finds himself wondering if there was even any fire, or if there was, if it was set by the Autobots. Would the Autobots light a hospital on fire in order to kidnap someone? He wouldn't put it past them. Datsun 240z finally is inside the shuttle, he does a hard, HARD brake to stop his momentum, but they reached 'home base' as it were. Meanwhile, back in his Intel office, Repugnus sighs as he looks at some concept art--which he drew himself--of Bluestreak firing upon a burning Hospital while tears fall from his optics. "Some day. Some day," he says solemnly. Triumph! The Autobots have successfully absconded with their cargo! The guy in the black Porsche can nothing but come to a screeching halt just short of the raising ramp, and honks his horn in impotent frustration. Marissa Faireborn had put her feet and her hands against the back seat when she saw they were gonna have to make a hard stop! She gritted her teeth and knew to trust the Autobot but still tensed up. She was utterly drained and sweating now. Once inside and secured, Bluestreak asks his passengers. "Would you like to get out now? We are on our way to base." He tells Amber and Marissa almost apologetically, he knew it was a rough ride. Marissa Faireborn nods and goes to climb out of the back seat but finds her legs aren't going to cooperate. "You know, I think I'm going to just stay here for now, if that's ok with you?" "You need the rest, ma'am," Amber points out with a sigh. "After all, we did sprint out of a supposedly burning building and escape being arrested by the evil forces of the EDC in an attempt to spread some kind of alien contagion over the hapless world." Franklin Cross begins trudging away, clearly furious. Fortunately for him, though, he doesn't have far to go before an Army truck picks him up. He does give First Aid one last accusatory scowl before they leave. Stegosaurus growls, then turns to start wandering towards Autobot city, his thagomizer showing his irritation still, regardless of if First Aid will follow. Granted, his weapons on laying on the ground where First Aid left them Datsun 240z waits patiently for them to decide, he will stay in car form for the duration of the trip to Autobot City for them if they chose to stay inside. He is also a happy little Autobot- take that Cross. Marissa Faireborn stays in the back seat, having been unable to stand...well not 'unable', just having rubbery legs and utterly exhausted. She settles back into the back seat and ends up flopped down on it, falling asleep during the 'short' trip. First Aid does follow after Snarl. Another Autobot can come back for the Dinobot's weapons later. Hardhead has dispatched a shuttle to pick the pair up, and so Aid leads his wayward friend to the rendezvous site. The doctor is almost in a daze as he walks alongside Snarl as he tries to figure out how all this could have gone so wrong when everything was looking so right not long ago. ======================================================================================== Landing Pad The smell of heated tarmac hits you first as you survey the landing and liftoff point for all flights to Cybertron. The wreckage of previous battles here are off to the back in a jumbled heap. To the southeast is the massive form of Autobot City itself, a bit battle-scarred, but still operational. Surrounding you on all other sides are forests of large conifer trees. The spaceport absolutely sparkles with a new shine - in fact, it's almost blinding in direct sunlight. Spots are a thing of the past, and each building has a brand new coat of paint. Even the *scrap* piles look like they've been cleaned off and straightened up. Repugnus is standing on the Autobot City spaceport, hands on his hips and grinning evilly as he awaits the shuttles carrying back various Autobots... and humans. The shuttle eventually lands in the landing pad at Autobot City. Once everything settles down, the door opens and a ramp slides down, allowing Bluestreak to roll off of there, meeting up with Repugnus. Hardhead walks towards the lower tier of the Landing Pad, a medical team stands huddled together, studying something. He crosses his arms across his chest as he looks at the two incoming shuttles. He looks over at Repugnus. "Good work, sir." He offers under the roar of the shuttles. Datsun 240z says to the passengers. "We are here, and there is a medical team on standby." It is a long, lonely shuttle ride home for First Aid. He certainly isn't in the mood for a conversation with Snarl. The doctor starts, stops, deletes, and retries his report for the Autobot messaging system on this debacle about a dozen times on the journey. Finally, the Autobot Shuttle Honesty appears on the horizon, receiving landing clearance just after Bluestreak's ship. Carefully, the pilot brings the Honesty down on the landing pad next to its sister ship. Repugnus shrugs. "Oh, it was nothing. A little bit of planning, a few people in the right places, and a bit of improv, and ta da! Our best human buddy--after Spike--is safe once again! I mean, what, are the humans going to nuke us just to get to her?" He seems to think on that, then makes an "O" face. Stegosaurus looks back and forth, his thagomizer swishing a little. He finds the shuttle ride fun, though, a bit curious why First Aid is quiet. He moves up, looks at First Aid. Amber MacKenzie wearily gets out first, then pushes the driver's seat down to help Marissa out. The general is half asleep. Or maybe fully asleep... She pauses and looks for the medical team that Bluestreak mentioned. Waving them forward, she points them to Marissa. "She requested quarantine, ladies and gentlemen, just in case. Please take all precautions." To the Autobots present, she continues with, "She also asks sanctuary of the Autobots. Bluestreak also witnessed her saying this, if my word isn't good enough." Hardhead chuckles as he listens to Repugnus. "Then I guess we'll continue this conversation in the depths of the Earthen Hell?" He asks as he lowers his voice. "If we need a fall guy. Toss me under the bus, save me from the paperwork." As soon as they get out, Bluestreak changes back into robot mode, stretching his limbs out a bit. First Aid doesn't answer Snarl's unasked question with more than a worried glance. Once the Honesty's landing ramp descends, he motions for the Dinobot to disembark with him. Stepping down onto the tarmac, First Aid looks over at the other shuttle, where he sees Hardhead, Repugnus, Bluestreak, Amber, and... "Marissa," First Aid murmurs quietly to himself. The Protectobot slowly steps up to the gathering, not saying anything. Marissa Faireborn mmmm's as she half wakes when Bluestreak announces they are there, moving down the ramp. When he stops, she pries her eyes open. She just needs a few more hours, honestly...Amber then helps her out and though she's half awake, she's also half-asleep and struggling to keep from being completely asleep. "Yes, sanc...tuary." she half slurs in exhaustion, "And quarantine for now." A somewhat bitter look crosses Repugnus's face. "Nah. I've played the fall guy before. I'll do it again. Never did like having too much rank anyway. 'Sides, I'm due for a vacation." He watches everyone dismount, then his manic grin returns. "*Awesome!* Well, congratulations, Marissa, we Heroic Autobots wouldn't turn down a sapient being in need of sanctuary. Surely not! First Aid! Dawg, I know you gotta be upset about how I played you like a sucker, sooo, if you wanna take a swing at me, go right on ahead, I'm a big bot, I can take it. And once you're done, see about finding somewhere nice and comfy for Marissa and take care of her needs." The clack of the boot on the tarmac well announces Rodimus Prime's arrival before he does, almost running at top speed to catch the transports as they touch down at Autobot City's Landing Pad. Behind him, some more Autobot technicians.. some checking over the shuttles, some here to help with any medical emergencies. Pulling up well short of the others, Prime manages to walk (not run) up to the others. "Medical, I want Loadout notified to quarantine an area in the Repair Bay and close it off from contaminants." he blurts out to the ones behind him and the team assembled with Hardhead. "Rest of you, look alive." Rodimus adds for good measure, taking a moment to nod to each First Aid and Hardhead respectively.. only a smirk towards Repugnus. "So who's going to fill me in here?" Stegosaurus comes padding down the ramp, looking right and left at all the bots before him, including kinda cool Prime. He's still festooned in the green and purple paint, his thagomizer swishing back and forth Hardhead shakes his head as Repugnus once again outmaneuvers him. "Clever." He muses to himself and he makes a note to view any works written by Repugnus. He looks at First Aid and gives him a firm nod. "Sorry." Is all he can offer the Medic. His metallic voice is cold, but carries the ring of sincerity. He looks at Prime, giving him a salute. "We have a political refugee, sir." He motions to Marissa. First Aid locks optics with Repugnus, walking up to the Monsterbot even as he rattles off a semi-apology. There's obvious anger just beneath the surface. Repugnus is taller than him, and Aid has to look up at him once he's standing in front of him. After a tense moment, the Protectobot doesn't act on his anger, instead turning towards Marissa. As he turns, his gaze briefly hits Hardhead, but he avoids making eye-contact with the Headmaster. Focus on those that need help, he tells himself. That's the priority. Focus on... And then Rodimus Prime arrives. First Aid instinctively straightens up. He'll let the others explain first. There has to be more than 'we have a political prisoner'. Marissa Faireborn smirks as she looks up at Rodimus, "Evening Rodimus Prime," she offers as the medical team leads her to a stretcher, but she waves them off a little, "I can walk. Not a child," she grumbles. Looking back up him, "Been awhile since we last spoke. Sorry for the inconvenience and problems this may cause but I believe there's some deeper game being played within the EDC, but that's a discussion for later. Right now, unfortunately, BOTH Amber and I must be placed in quarantine and intrude upon your hospitality for a while until it can be confirmed if I'm a carrier of anything or figure out what has made me so sick and kept me that way for the past three months." Repugnus's works include various comments on other people's Facebook pages that typically aren't fit for reprinting. He may have written a book or two if he had the dedication to finish such a long term project. "What Hardhead said, Rodimus. Marissa Faireborn here seems to believe she was in some sort of danger while under the care of that new guy running the EDC, so we snatched her out. Eh, anybody record her request for asylum? We oughta do that, send it to that Backtalk guy. Shoot, even better..." He kneels down in front of Marissa extending a finger towards her, and some sort of microphone pops out the tip of his finger (which will never happen again in the grand tradition of 80's animation). "Ahem. Ms. Faireborn, what did you say you wanted from us?" After studying First Aid for a moment, Hardhead hands his head slightly as the peaceful bot looks past him. He takes in a deep breath and lets it out, a sigh. He turns his attention to Marissa and Amber, giving each of them a curt nod, before he settles his optic bar on Rodimus Prime, the others filling in the details for him. Stegosaurus looks back and forth, shrugs a little, then debates going to get his 'costume' taken off, his thagomizer swishing. Marissa Faireborn blinks owlishly and looks at Repugnus and then at Amber. She looks back at Repugnus and the microphone, "Simply I request ...." she says with a tired sigh, "asylum...sanctuary, whatever you wish to call it...protection, from the Autobots, by the Autobots for the time being." By now she'd gotten onto the gurney and looks half asleep again. "Oh." is all Rodimus Prime manages to get out when Marissa finishes her speech, a slight look of irritation when Hardhead mentions 'political' asylum. "Yes, it is being prepped as we speak. Rest assured, you'll receive the best medical care available under our staff." The last bit of that reply follows a quick look and nod to First Aid. "There'll be time for explanation later, you two should really get checked out as soon as you can." Rodimus follows up to Amber and Marissa. Then he looks at Snarl, "Can someone at least explain that?" he points to the G2-ish color scheme. Amber MacKenzie has done the talking for Marissa earlier, now it's the General's turn. She's tired, mostly from the stress rather than the physical activity, and perfectly happy to be quarantined, as long as she gets a good night's sleep out of it. It was never this tough fighting Decepticons! She doesn't look at Rodimus, instead returning Hardhead's nod. After several minutes of silence, she approaches all the Autobots involved in the operation in turn, offering quiet but heartfelt thanks. Bluestreak, for getting them out of there. Snarl, for impressive restraint and success in his distraction, Hubcap, who helped guide them out of the building... Repugnus and Elita One will have to wait for their thanks, though for different reasons. Amber MacKenzie blows a kiss to Repugnus. That'll have to do for now. Stegosaurus tilts his head, then looks at Rodimus, before looking at First Aid, "Can me go? Paint is itchy." First Aid looks down at Marissa. She requested this? While this doesn't absolve everyone, it does go some distance to reassuring him. Finally, First Aid speaks. His voice is quiet, but tense. "For my part, I was meeting with General Cross regarding our construction project at the Eglin Air Force base when we heard a report that the Decepticon Slugfest was attacking the nearby city." Aid glances over at Snarl. Prime should know where this is going. "Franklin, Apocryphacius, and I responded. It turned out to be Snarl, of course. The 'destruction' was a distraction, and to be honest Snarl did a... well, he did his best not to get anyone hurt by the fake rampage. As far as I know he was successful." Aid pauses. Looks like he won't get more chances to delete and retry his report anymore. "Cross soon figured out it was a diversion for the extraction. I tried to protest, but well... I guess he was right and I was wrong. He was, to say the least, pretty upset at me. I was lucky to convince him not to take me and Snarl into custody for this." Or, more likely, have those black helicopters rip them to shreds with their machine guns. "I promised him I'd get Snarl back to base." Aid looks at the Dinobot, "Yeah, I guess... I mean there's nothing medically wrong with you after all." "I was kept in the dark throughout this." He now looks to Hardhead and Repugnus, "I understand why you did it and why you didn't tell me, but I can only hope it turns out to be the right decision." Repugnus waggles fingers and grins at Amber. Then, as First Aid offers his side of the story, he says, "Yep! I didn't tell First Aid anything because he's just too much of a softie to lie anyone. See, I could tell him to lie about the color of the sky and I don't think he'd be able to do it even as a joke. But as for it being the right decision, well, lemme put it to you this way... it could be the difference between life and death for Ms. Faireborn. I just hope we're the ones keeping her alive!" Hardhead looks at First Aid, his optic bar flickers faintly as he looks down. "What if anything would sooth over General Cross?" His arms cross over his chest as he turns his attention to Marissa. "When she is back to peak operation, perhaps then the diplomats can sit down and exchange words. To make this the right decision, so to speak." He looks to Repugnus and then Prime. "First Aid was completely in the dark, Prime. As for the fall out, the request started with me and the blame should fall with me. The others were just following orders, some of which were legitimate." Stegosaurus heads for the repairbay to get his hull repainted, thagomizer swishing Something occurs to Amber, and she pulls out Lars' radio to make a call. Amber MacKenzie sends a radio message to Andi Lassiter: “Well, Marissa and I are here at the landing pad, about to be moved to quarantine. Cross claimed she had some super contagious alien disease that'll infect the world, or something stupid like that. Just in case, we're both going into quarantine.” Marissa Faireborn had fallen asleep before First Aid even got done with his explanation as to the events of the evening. In this state, she looks older, in need of a few good meals and a few weeks of some serious peaceful rest. Will she get it, maybe yes, maybe no. Only time will tell. "Whoa, let's pull back on the throttle, Autobots." Rodimus Prime finally interjects, stepping forward as the bots wheel Marissa Faireborn and whomever else to the Med Bay for close surveillance. "For now, we'll worry about their health and getting them back up to shape." He nods to Amber. Arms cross over his massive chest, the spoilers on his forearms tapping in impatience against the opposite bicep. "As for the 'operation', we'll have plenty of time to talk about that later." he gives Hardhead a nod of his chin, his disposition neither looking fortunate or unfortunate. First Aid nods at Prime, willing to let this rest. He does have one last thing, though. "Rodimus, I gave Cross my word that we'd have some kind of answer for him. Can I trust you to give it to him?" As Marissa is carted away, Aid watches her go. He can't enter the quarantine zone until he gets himself cleaned up, but he'll be right in to check on her later. The Autobots don't have all that many human doctors, after all. Loadout will certainly not be letting ANYONE into that quarantine zone that he is no doubt preparing until they've met his standards of cleanliness. Be afraid. Repugnus doesn't seem to want to let Hardhead get away with being the fall guy! "Pfft, shyeah right, Hardhead. I was doing all kinds of crazy nonsense behind your back that you never knew about!" But then Rodimus doesn't even seem interested in lopping off their heads and just smiles. "I'd been doing my best to locate her," Amber begins slowly, staring at the ground. "Pretty much me and another person were the only ones even trying. Miraculously enough, we did. It helped that Cross blindfolded me and took me to her, but it helped most of all that she used a silly word search puzzle to give me the name of the facility. During my visit there, she mouthed to me to help her, to hurry and get her out of there. And I couldn't. All two of us couldn't assault a base to free her, however desperately we wanted to. That left you guys." She finally looks up. "I was desperate, so I asked for help." With that, she trails after the doctors taking Marissa away. "Most certainly First Aid, I'll expect full reports to be filed with.." Rodimus Prime starts to make mention, then remembers that it was Ultra Magnus' turn for a vacation at Six Lasers. "Oh, Magnus is on a brief LoA. Welllll, I guess I can handle a -couple- of reports." His head swivels towards Repugnus, "Do I want to know the half of it?" Hardhead optics flicker as he looks at Repugnus and nods. "Of that I have no doubt." He looks back towards Prime and gives him a nod as he listens to his Commander. His optics dimming as he hears about Magnus. Repugnus grins at Rodimus. "Depends on whether or not you think I should continue to be an Autobot, sir!" He gives Hardhead a wink. First Aid is willing to suffer through Loadout's standards for the sake of helping their friend. Cross mentioned an alien contagion and seemed to be sincere about it. He'll have to confer with the other doctors on this. "Thanks Rodimus." After giving Amber (and only Amber) a sympathetic look, First Aid steps through the entrance to Autobot City. He needs to get working on being quarantine prepared so he can be with his new patient. Hardhead chuckles at Repugnus. "I vote we keep him our side. Otherwise, I am the worst Autobot on the books." He offers as a joke. Bluestreak just kind of stands there awkwardly, seeing Faireborn ask for asylum and watching both her and Amber get taken away, and nodding a 'not a problem' to Amber, he looks at First Aid. And that bot looked very tired, he watched as he too, walked away. Feeling that he has nothing more to do here, he makes to go as well, saluting to Commands as he walks by. Hubcap ...doesn't want to make any official reports on /any/ topic, and, let's be honest, who wants him to? Instead he asks the hard question. "How did we come to this?" Repugnus, for instance, was trying to get Bluestreak to set a hospital on fire. He snickers as he recalls that. Amber MacKenzie sends a radio message to Andi Lassiter: “Andi, could you check into the records of the medical personnel at St. Mary's? Marissa was supposedly being treated there for that alien disease, and I'd like to know if he had the best people on it. He claimed that only *he* could cure her.” Andi Lassiter sends a radio message to Amber MacKenzie: “Oh, um, right. I'll do my best.” Hardhead looks at Hubcap and shrugs to him. "As the Humans say, War is hell." Yeah, and Bluestreak looks at Repugnus strangely. Setting a hospital on fire? That won't do for this bot. Nope. Yeah, as if that's /all/ he's heard. Glancing slightly apologetically at Hardhead, Hubcap continues, "I heard some stuff about...Oh." "'Portant thing ain't how we got here," Repugnus says. "It's what we do while we're here. We gotta get Marissa better and back in charge. Nobody wants to see the humans joining the dark side again. I mean, sheesh, I wasn't around for the Protectorate, but what a mess that was! Did they really think they could outcon the Decepticons? Psh." Hubcap starts to raise his hand, then drops it. "Yeah," he adds in a mocking tone. "More fool them." Then he frowns. "Although Carbombya keeps seeming to be willing..." May be best to keep what he knows to some weak point amongst the Decepticons. Or the EDC. Hardhead looks at the others and nods as he turns to leave, his head looking straight ahead as he walks out. Hubcap shrugs uncomfortably, glancing around at the other Autobots present. Then he speaks up. "Uhm, Boss, you, we, okay, /you/ should probably make a statement about Marissa's presence amongst us, 'Cause the word is out, and Cross is... Making claims." "Not like this, Hubcap." Rodimus Prime makes note, giving the technicians working on the ships a few pats on the back and some fist bumps.. should we change his name to Obamimus Prime now? "After a proper debriefing of those involved, a personal meeting with General Cross, then we will make our stance known." he adds, handing a servo wrench to a mechanic who's got himself halfway inside the engine compartment. "Not before." Repugnus might have suggested Obaminus Prime. "Well, we had to get something out. First impressions in a news story make a huge difference. Terran media's like an ADHD kid after smoking a lot of crack--no attention span at all." Hubcap glances around at the other Autobots, even though none of them have his particular... insights. "Um, Boss?" Nonetheless he's wary, "Cross doesn't seem to share your diplomatic expertise." Then he glances at the fiery 'bot. "He pretty much out-and-out called us kidnappers. Making his way for Autobot City, Rodimus Prime turns back to reply to Hubcap. "A lot of things have been said about us, Hubcap." A pause, his eyesight falls down a bit.. then back up to make optic contact with the minibot. "None of which makes them true." And like that, he's off! ================================== Reports =================================== Message: 9/28 Posted Author Cybertron Datanet News Exclusive! Wed Aug 22 Backtalk ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ An excerpt from tonight's late-night CDN Exclusives. Backtalk on screen, the blocky robot behind his reporting desk on the Cybertron Datanet News Satellite. The viewport behind him shows the blue orb of Earth orbiting peacefully, with the smaller but no less impressive form of the Swordfish hanging over the planet. "And now for tonight's juicy gossip column, and boy have we got a hum dinger this time! It's no secret that there's been no small amount of controversy over the recent instatement of one Franklin Cross as acting commander of the Earth Defense Command. While some are in favor of his 'get tough' attitude on the Decepticons, others are worried about his view of Cybertronian lifeforms in general and it's been no secret that this has caused some tension between him and the Autobots as of late." Backtalk swivels in place to look at another camera, "Apparently there is also some conflicts behind the scenes that the world at large is not seeing! Contrary to rumors that she was deathly ill, one Marissa Faireborn has resurfaced again...and get this, in the custody of the Autobots. And if that don't beat all, she appears to have requested Asylum with them as well, with one source confirming as having referred to her -by name- before she made her request!" Flash to another camera perspective and Backtalk continues, "When questioned about this turn of events, General Cross expressed genuine surprise and seemed unaware of this development beforehand." Cut to a quote of Cross's voice, "I do not plan on taking action against the Autobots at this time, but nevertheless I do not approve of them filling Faireborn's head with wild conspiracy nonsense and absconding with her." "How deep does this petrorabbit hole go, faithful viewers? I couldn't even begin to guess, but I think we've got us one exciting development brewing on the horizon, and I promise you that Cybertron Datanet News will be there with the latest and greatest exclusives for all of you. Until next time, this is Backtalk signing off!" *Cue the Cybertron Datanet News Logo spinny* ==============================================================================
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