re_alignment | [audio]

Entry tags:

brave police: j-decker | gunmax

[audio]

[No video for you, kids. Gunmax isn't about to put his face all over some mystery space internet. You do get to listen to him complain, though.]

Oookay then, now that I'm pretty sure I'm not having some kind of sensory malfunction, I figured I oughta start getting information out of the locals. The creepy dudes in the robes already dropped what I assume are the basics on me, but there's gotta be more to this than "hi, welcome to the robot planet. You're stuck here forever, make yourself at home". I kind of had things to do back home. Important things. Things that didn't include being kidnapped by alien robots.

Anyway. It's probably a long shot, but if any Brave Police just happen to be hanging around here, shoot me a heads up. Oh, and if anyone happens to find a really big motorcycle, that's mine. Try not to mess with it, yeah?

[Nope not even dropping a name. What a courteous guy right. He grumbles something to himself before killing the feed.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Oh, come on.

[Don't mind Gunmax he's just skeptical as all hell. And pausing in his tracks for a moment NOT BECAUSE HE'S TOTALLY ALMOST OUT OF GAS but because this is just too ridiculous ~~no it's because he's out of gas~~]

Robot space gods? Get serious, Deckard! What kinda stuff did you even see? There's got to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for it.

[Deckard is not at all surprised or put-out by the skepticism. There'd be something wrong with Gunmax if he'd /not/ reacted that way. Deckard completely understands it. But that doesn't keep the dark look from his face as his gaze falls away while he lets his mind go back and /remember/…]

I wish there was, Gunmax.

I've seen a maelstrom tear through this entire place, strong enough to heavily damage massive fortresses and rearrange the very landscape of a junkpile half the size of Nanamagari. I've seen people changed without warning into some kind of alternate realities of themselves –not just mentally but even physically altered. I've seen a stone pillar of unbelievable proportions appear out of nowhere, going from the ground all the way up into that. [He shifts to point skyward, to the Lambda.] I was part of the expedition that set out to destroy that pillar, because of the vile power it seemed to possess –affecting people's minds, changing their perceptions if not their bodies…

Maybe it was a robot space god. Maybe it wasn't. But something dark and powerful, far bigger than anything you and I have dealt with before, was behind that whole mess. And the energies are the same as those found out in the Badlands.

And whoever or whatever it is, is still out there.

[Gunmax still had his doubts, but with how serious Deckard was about the whole thing, he figured there must be some truth to it.]

Geez. If you were trying to creep me out, it's working. And let me guess, there's not really anything that can be done about this dark and powerful thing, is there?

I'd apologize, but you deserve to know what we're up against.

[He hesitates at the last, honestly unsure.]

We fight things as they come, the best way we can. Just like we were built to do. Maybe we can't the thing behind it all, but we can fight the agents and deal with the effects as they come.

I'm sorry . . . I wouldn't dump so much on you so suddenly, but like I said, you deserve to know. I'd only been here for a week when, pretty literally, all hell broke loose. I hadn't been up to speed on things yet, and it'd impeded my ability to really be effective in helping with what was going on.

[Not that anyone else had really had any better handle on what exactly was going on any faster than he had, but...well...]

What are you apologizing for, boy scout? Like yeah, it's a lot to take in, but I'd rather know what's going on than be left guessing.

Gotta wonder what all we can really do here, though. This is kind of out of our league, isn't it?

[The boy scout comment gets a small grin from Deckard. He just nods at the last, though.]

Way out of our league. I get the impression it's out of the league of most everyone here, though, so at least we're not alone in that. [And the little grin's back, if wry.] Besides, not like we've never gotten in over our heads before, hm?

[Never mind that this is FAR deeper over their heads than they've ever been before.]

[Seeing that grin makes Gunmax relax a little. He's not really reassured, but at least Deckard seems confident. Kind of.]

It does seem to be a habit we have, and we've always come out on top. It was one thing back home, but we're kind of lacking things here. Like people. I mean, it would be kind of funny to watch McCrane and Power Joe try to combine into some kind of half assed Build Tiger, but still.

[He /has/ to be confident, or at least muster as much as he can for others, even if he's not feeling it. For his team, he has to be strong. And he /has/ seen the strength of many of the others here.]

We're not as lacking as that, actually. True, we can't take our combiner forms - [He's not /even/ going to get into reminding Gunmax of the part where Build Tiger and Super Build Tiger wouldn't be possible even with the others here /anyway/, not without Yuuta.] - but we're not alone. Once we get your engine converted, I'll start introducing you to some of the others here.

[A frown as he thinks about that, studying his friend.]

Speaking of...how are you doing? [He'll kind of coax Gunmax into moving again too, if he can.]

Yeah, sure.

[It was probably for the best that the kid wasn't here, really. This place clearly wasn't built with humans in mind. Anyway.]

Ah. Actually...

[Gunmax shifted awkwardly (though tried to play it off in the least awkward way possible because Gunmax is way too cool for awkwardness), glancing around as though to make sure nobody was within earshot before turning back to Deckard]

I... don't think I can make it.

[It's really not. That was one of the /first/ things Deckard had realized about this place. As badly as he misses Yuuta when he lets himself think about it at all, he's...he's /glad/ Yuuta's not /here/.]

[Deckard frowned at that. Gunmax must have REALLY been close to - or /on/ - fumes to actually admit as much.]

Come on. I'll call the medics on the way. If need be, we can stop somewhere and have one come meet us, maybe.

Edited 2014-02-13 05:40 (UTC)

[yep TOTALLY running on fumes aaaaah damn]

Sooo, just out of curiosity. How far is this place?

[Because he's about the fall right the fuck over]

[That's a calculating frown you're getting, Gunmax. He's worried, okay?]

You can see the temple from here.

[He points. Driving, they'd be there in, maybe, five minutes. Walking...]

[Don't give Gunmax that look man he doesn't like that look.]

That's not too bad.

[And since Gunmax is a stubborn asshole, he'll just start strolling off in that direction-

aaand then fall flat on his face. NOPE.]

Oh come on, it's right there!

[Yeah he's yelling at himself just don't worry about it]

…

[He'll crouch to help Gunmax at least to sit up from his graceless faceplant, then plops down on a rock next to him.]

Let's just park it here for now. I'll call a medic.

[Well this was embarrassing and completely shitty. Gunmax is just gonna sit there for a while, arms crossed and looking none too amused. Today is a disaster.]

Medics, why are they called medics? Aren't they mechanics?

[The comments make him grin, remembering.]

I had the exact same question when I first got here. For Cybertronians, mechanics and engineers work on drones and down, any non-sentient, non-living machinery. Their medics, their doctors, work on them.

And us, while we're here.

Huh. That's different. What kinda AI do these Cypertronian guys have, anyway? Obviously, they weren't built the same way we were.

No, they definitely weren't. They have something called a spark, which . . . as nearly as I can understand it, is like a human's soul. They have an actual lifeforce to them that pervades their whole body! To the point that when one takes enough damage to kill him, his body loses all color and goes a flat grey.

…it's a really strange sight.

So... actual living machines? Geez, I almost feel like a poser now.

[he was about to make a comment on how crappy these guy's paint jobs must be or something, but that last comment Deckard makes really gets his attention. watching people die is kind of a big deal.]

How many times have you seen it?

[He pauses a moment to think about that.]

Three or four times? We had a few corpses that McCrane and I investigated together some weeks back, when that pillar first showed up and started affecting people. Made some of them crazy, and turned one into a . . . well, for lack of a better term, a vampire of sorts. Energon vampire. The worst was when the…vampire…[Yeah, there's a pause, because he KNOWS how ridiculous it sounds.] …got to a robot cat named Ravage. Despite his name, he's the sweetest, most bouncy and upbeat person I've ever met. Moreso even than Drill Boy. [His expression pinches.] Finding Ravage torn up and dead grey like that was . . . hard.

[He drags a hand down his face as he realizes something Gunmax needs to know about that's going to sound just as – if not more – improbable than robot vampires.]

And . . . yes, I talk about Ravage in present tense. He's fine now. The FirstForged . . . I don't know how they do it, but apparently when someone's been killed – Cybertronian, human…hell, apparently even one of us - they're able to try to . . . "catch" is the best way it's been described to me . . . catch the person's soul and restore it to their body. No, I don't understand how they're able to do it. No one else here seems to, either.

[Gunmax stared at Deckard like he's grown a second head out of his ass throughout pretty much the entire explanation, because seriously. Robot vampires, raising the dead? This was some weird horror movie level shit.]

Okay. So does that mean that dying around here is no big deal? What's the catch? How do you know if it works on us?

Edited 2014-02-18 23:54 (UTC)

It's still treated as a big deal. There's still the whole experience of being killed, although . . . people apparently don't remember it. They seem to lose all memory of the last however long. Which I guess is a blessing in its way. But there's no guarantee the Firstforged will manage to catch a soul, so the person could well stay dead. And there may be other effects as well. I don't know. I don't think it's actually happened very often. [rueful] We were just "lucky" a few months ago…

[His optics darken for a moment.]

And it does apparently work on us. According to Power Joe . . . it worked on Drill Boy.

What? Hold it, you didn't say Drill Boy was here!

[That doesn't mean he hadn't been here before, which definitely brought up some unpleasant implications. The look on Deckard's face was less than reassuring. It didn't take a genius to figure it out.]

Deckard. Did something happen?

…

[Oh right . . . he hadn't mentioned Drill Boy earlier. Because the young driller wasn't here anymore. He leans over, face in his hands –he wasn't built to deal with all of this. How has McCrane kept it together for as long as he has!?]

A lot of something's have happened, Gunmax. Drill Boy's not here anymore. He . . . he disappeared a few weeks ago. Same way you and I have in the past. People blame the Badlands but no one knows for sure. It just . . . happens. Supposedly.

[He makes himself sit back up, meeting Gunmax's gaze.]

It was a few months before I got here. Power Joe told me about it. He and Drill Boy, and McCrane, and Kagerou, and a bunch of others went after this powerful Cybertronian named Tarn. By all accounts, it took a pretty large strike force to take down him and his accomplice. A few people were killed in the fight before they was finally apprehended. Drill Boy was one of them. Power Joe could tell you more about it than I can. Apparently, it was really upsetting, though.

[Fortunately or not, Deckard…can't quite relate. He's thankful that he's never had to go through that –yet? –never having lost any of his men before. He…knows that Gunmax probably can, though . . . since he and the others had to go through the loss of Deckard himself that one time . . . ]

[Deckard's body language was speaking volumes right now. Even if it had just been a brief display of 'totally had enough of this shit', Gunmax could tell that captain boyscout over here was taking things pretty hard. Not that he could really blame him. Hearing that Drill Boy of all people had been killed and then vanished mysteriously wasn't exactly easy to swallow, but Deckard always seemed to have this way of bouncing back even after the shittiest situations.

Frankly, he wasn't looking too bouncy right now.

It was times like this Gunmax wished he was better at dealing with people, at being reassuring... or something. He was silent for a moment, deciding he wouldn't be able to really say anything reassuring while he was still trying to come to terms with this information himself, but he did reach up and give Deckard's shoulder a squeeze. It was something, at least.]

Nah. I don't think I'll bother Power Joe about it.

[Action] HAH PERFECT

[Action] XDDD

[Action] such badasses, clearly

[Action] Clearly XD

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[Action] LOL Gunmax ILU XD

[Action] he loves you too baby 8U

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[Action] *snerk!* Poor Gunmax...

[Action] HE'LL LIVE

[Action] \o/

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[Action] Apparently it's "How many times can we break Gunmax's brain" Day. XD;;;

[Action] It's okay man he probably wasn't using it anyway

[Action] snerk! Poor Gunmax...