re_alignment | [Video -> Text] [Transmission Originating From: Vectorian Sector]

Entry tags:

✘ real steel | noisy boy

[Video -> Text] [Transmission Originating From: Vectorian Sector]

[The video is only on for a few moments - long enough to show a purple bot with wide shoulders, a samurai helmet, and glowing yellow optics - before shutting off. After that is a burst of text.]

Many of you exceed WRB height restrictions. You also violate a number of other WRB regulations, including illegal use of weapons and possession non-standard upgrades.

I am not where I should be.

[He would just like to let you all know YOU ARE SO ILLEGAL. SO. ILLEGAL now down to a few extra messages-]

If anyone happens to see Charlie Kenton I would like to be informed. He is a human with short, dark hair and brown eyes. He also has a son, Max. I do not wish them to be alone with unfamiliar bots if they come here.

Gunmax. Thank you for the ride, when we arrived. It was kind of you.

To the bot with the fins on his head: My name is Noisy Boy. 'Soundwave' is a terrible name.

And there was a red and white bot. I apologize if I fightened you somehow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[With so many bots in America, they can afford to be picky, really.]

They direct our actions in the ring, yes, but we are the ones the spectators see. It was me that took a hit I could not recover from. [That, and he's extremely forgiving of his handlers. Especially Tak.]

Our handlers book the venues and fights; it is why they are handlers. And their reasons are not something they divulge to me. [Their reasons - money, grudges, or whatever - are their own, he figures, and that's good enough for him.]

[Picking who or what to protect. Hrm.]

I must think on this.

Pardon. I am not sure if this is forward, but you are rusting. [Rust is bad.]

But it shouldn't be taken out on you if your handlers direct you to the wrong actions and you lose.

[He has very strong feelings about cannon fodder.]

[He nods.] Take your time. It's a decision that deserves to be taken seriously.

[And oh yeah, that. For a moment, he'd forgotten.] Yes. It's a plague.

...it's not contagious.

Tak Mashido did not direct me poorly. No one could have seen that right hook coming.

[And he'd tried to get up. He had. He just. Couldn't.]

I will. Thank you.

[Wait. Did he hear that right? A plague? A plague on robots?] Your kind have plagues?

[He frowns. He thought your handler's name was 'Charlie'.]

So you blame yourself for your loss?

[Yep, that's about right.] We do. Most likely this was a weapon from the DJD. Or the 3M.

[He shakes his head with a rueful smile.] Your way of fighting is a lot cleaner. In a lot of ways.

[He's. Gone through a lot of handlers. It's complicated.]

I cannot blame Tak for his performance. He did what he could. As did I. It was simply not enough.

[The whosiwhatsits? He's lost again, but he's pretty sure this is horrible.]

I am beginning to get that feeling. Can someone help you?

[In a way, Drift's been lucky. There's just been the Really Wrong Side and the Slightly Less Wrong Side for him to choose from. Pretty simple. In a morally grey squooshy way.]

There's no shame in that. You can only do so much. Your frame has its limits.

[You get used to the lingo. You'll see, Noisy Boy.]

One of the problems with freedom: it's messier than they tell you.

Someone's working on a cure. But it's not contagious, so...[he shrugs. Looking gross and being in pain, not really a problem for him.]

It does. I could have won the match if not for that.

[But it happened. At least for him, things were clear-cut. It was just him and the opponent and their handlers. Good and bad never really entered into it.]

Then I am glad you told me.

Even if it is not contagious, I hope a cure is found quickly. I do not like to see harm come to bots outside the ring. It is not right. [And this is definitely outside the ring and no one deserves rusting like that.]

It's often that way. That one moment you wish you could change, you wish you'd had a little bit more or had made a different choice.

[Drift's life seems filled with these moments--Gasket's death, in the gutters, his hands finding the gun, ending that past more finally than the stray shot that had taken Gasket from him.]

No one told me. I figured I could save you a few million years of struggle.

But it's worth it. That, you may have to trust me on blind faith.

[Drift shrugs.] It's no big deal. Believe me, I've been through worse. But thank you.

But we cannot. We simply have to accept what has occurred and continue on. Otherwise we end with nothing but 'what if'.

[Sometimes he still wishes that he could have won that match, true. But... he has enjoyed travelling since Tak sold him. His fights in so many other countries and seeing how they do things. He doubts he would have lasted quite this long if not for that loss, too. However far he's fallen since then or not.]

Thank you. The million years I doubt I could manage.
The faith, however, I believe I can.

Even if your circumstances have been worse before, your current situation is not diminished. [He can't even imagine worse, himself.]

It's still hard to avoid that, sometimes. But it's easier if the choices aren't your own.

[Drift does appreciate the bright side.]

Why not? You have parts. They can be replaced. Megatron's been rebuilt...dozens of time. I've been at least three. Why not you?

[He shrugs, more uncomfortable with the concern than the whole 'your insides are on the outside' thing.] Someone's working on a cure, and I didn't infect---[uh....] someone very close to me. That's what matters. Hope and trust.

They can be easier that way. It can also be easier, knowing where you are now and knowing you might have missed it, if things had been different.

[Optimism is the easier route for him, really.]

I have parts, but they are all specific to me. All of my kind may share similar hydraulics, but our construction and materials are unique to each bot. And the parts are not always easy to come by. Sometimes production is stopped on parts for older models entirely, because they are no longer in demand.

[He's always concerned when other bots are injured outside the ring. In the ring it's normal, but outside of it... not so much.] I am glad of both of those things. I hope you are able to find a cure soon. I do not know a single bot that would deserve what has happened to you.

...you're right. [Drift thinks about where he'd be if he hadn't met Wing. Probably dead. Violently so.] Things would have been different. Worse.

[Drift cants his helm.] So do most of us. But parts can be machined. Our leader, Rodimus, just lost his arms. Ratchet made him a new pair. [Shrug. See? No big deal!]

One of the medics can easily keep you going, if that's your only worry. Trust me, I think they'd be glad to replace parts from age as opposed to, well, what I normally do to them.

[Says the mech who stabbed himself in the chassis. Yeah, no wonder Ratchet thought he was a bit...off.]

Don't worry about me. [Seriously. Stop. It feels weird.] But believe me, many would argue that I did deserve this. [Start with the DJD, add a few thousand Autobots with grudges, etc, etc.]

For me as well, I am certain. [He hasn't even heard of Rubicon since he lost his title in 2017. It would have been him in that spot.]

My worry is whether or not they could machine my parts - or find replacements in the Junk Pile. I doubt that Ratchet has ever made Skypanther Leg Springs before. I do not know most of my own parts, either.

Though I would be more worried about injuries here. I think I am the only one present that keeps fights to a ring. [And to strict guidelines... that still often lead to appendages being ripped off.]

[B-but worrying about other bots is A Thing for him. He even gets concerned for opponents he did massive damage to himself.] You have not given me any reason so far to believe their arguments. You seem a decent bot.

[Drift laughs.] You don't know Ratchet, then. If he needs it, he'll get it.

...and then bolt you to a table to make sure you get treatment. [Yeah, Ratchet is a little scary.]

You might have to change that, here. Not all fights have nice pretty rules. There's no one to enforce them here.

[Drift does not spend a lot of time worrying about injuring his enemies. Just his friends.] I try to be.

He bolts you to a table? [That's slightly horrifying.]

It is not something I can simply change. Even if I wished to; my programming enforces the rules of boxing. All of them. [They only needed someone in protective body armor to count the knockout down, and the ring girl to announce rounds.]

[He only worries about the opponent after the fight, really. Noisy Boy never really wanted to be responsible for ending another bot's career.] You are doing well from from where I am standing.

I wouldn't put it past him. [Especially not with Drift as the patient.] But it's because he, uh, he takes his job really seriously.

[Really seriously. ]

Hmmm. [That's that 'that could be a problem' tone. But he will solve this. Aha!] You know what you'd need then, is a partner. [Confident nod.]

I want to. I have a lot to make up for.

I can understand taking a job seriously. [It's what he does all the time, after all.] But that seems somewhat excessive.

[Unless he's the only one that's powered down for most repairs.]

A partner? [Partner is a new one on him. While he knows that his handlers sometimes have them... There is no such thing as tag-team boxing.] How do I get one of those and what are they for?

Do you want to, or do you have to make up for something? [These things seem like they wouldn't entirely go together, for him.]

You haven't dealt with us for a few million years. Warriors go, get shot up, get patched together to go get shot up again. It is probably hard to deal with.

[Which is why Drift likes to stay in that side of the line, preferably on the 'doing the shooting' side of the equation.]

Partner? [Wow, where do you come from, again?] You work with them. They're strong where you're weak. Like, I partnered with a sniper once. He was better at distance. I was better close in.

In your case, someone to watch your back. [Do all those illegal moves you can't do.]

Both. But mostly for myself, to try to put right what I did wrong.

And this does not stop at all? [No pausing? Ever?] I believe your people have a problem. No offense.

[Constant fighting and constant fixing would be taxing even to Noisy Boy.]

So sort of like handlers. [Or like the mechanics that worked with some of his handlers, maybe.]

[He isn't entirely sure that that sort of thing is legal for him... but there's nothing in his coding strictly prohibiting it...] You have given me much to think on, sir.

Will you be able to?

We have lulls. But they're fragile and break all the time.

But yes. We have a problem. And we're trying to fix it. Or I am, at least. [No offense: how could he be offended at the truth?]

Sort of. Someone to fight alongside you. Not just watch. [The 'sir' startles him.] Drift. Just...Drift. And I hope so. Some day. Or [a sort of false bravado grin ] die trying, right?

It is something that ought to be fixed, so I am glad you are working on it. [Even he has downtime, after all.

Our handlers do not just watch. But I understand what you mean. [Mostly.] Drift, then. I will remember. Though I hope you do not die trying.

[It kind of defeats the purpose of living.]

The war's over. We're trying to start...something else.

It's hard, when all you know is fighting to figure out what 'not fighting' looks like.

[Maybe you can relate.]

I'd like to live to see things through, but...as long as I give my life to make that happen, what more could I ask for?

[Maybe that would be redemption enough.]

It can be. Sometimes it is easier, when you can separate the fighting from everything else, by keeping it to certain times or places.

[It was one of the first things he had learned, when he was young.]

Would redemption truly be worth death, though? Was what happened before that terrible?

Yes. It must be. [This is something Drift doesn't have a lot of experience with himself.]

It would because it's final. You can't undo it, and you can't ask someone to pay more than their life.

[For all the lives he'd taken, it would still hardly be fair: one life for all of those?]

We've lived in very different worlds. I have taken lives. How do you make up for that?

It might be something to try, if you can. [Since Drift has given him so much advice already, he can at least give this much back.]

It is not something that can be taken back. Sometimes destruction is done, and it is terrible. [He may not end things like Underground bots do, but he's certain he's ended careers - practically a death sentence in some cases.]

However, I do not think adding another death to that toll would make up for anything.

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