| abstract
| - August 13, 2011, 7:31 PM Nova Black Skywarp Knifepoint Echo Starscream Thundercracker Coldsnap (NPC'd by Chromia) Bladewing (NPC'd by Nova) (Above Polyhex) The seekers are gathered in one of the flight bays in Stormfront's alt mode, the aerial battlestation occupied with keeping them aloft in the gusting winds of the storm. Drones scuttle over his surface with hoses to dilute the acid before it can damage his heavier plating as he stays in the center of the storm while the seekers prepare to launch the patterns Starscream designed which will disperse the storm. Medics have set up shop in a corner of the flight bay with portable shower setups to hose down damaged plating and emergency equipment for more extensive damage, should it be needed. Nova Black sits in the flight bay, staring out of the windows at the storm. It looks bad -- bright red bolts of corrosives streaking from angry black clouds. She comms the other two Seekers in her trine. "Remember... we want to fly straight for that big cloud and then weave back out. Quickly. We're trying to dissipate *it*, not let *it* corrode *us.* And no fancy flying. Just stay close to me." She doesn't allow herself any time to think of how strange it is to be ordering the others around -- especially not someone who was flying before she was ever built. "Ready," she calls. The bay doors slide open. She calls "Let's go!" to her trine and rockets toward the enormous cloud. Echo is with the rest of his Trine, fidgeting nervously. Then he looks at Coldsnap next to him, and relaxes, moving to sit back just as she was. He taps his knee nervously and watches as Skywarp and the others launch "... This is insanity. I hope it works!" Skywarp transforms, the black and purple tetrajet following just off the wing of Nova's grey and black jet mode. "But Nova, fancy flying's what I doooo." Skywarp says. He can't grin in jet form, but if he could, he would be. Coldsnap has to agree with Echo on this one. "I don't like the rain. Not good for my paint." Wings twitching in agitation, the joints clattering against one another. Nudging Echo in the side before huddling next to their trinemate, he laments, "Echo, I don't like this. Not only is Starscream known for scrappy plans, what if we crash and burn?" Knifepoint launches after his trinemates, muttering some rather unpleasant things to himself. "I can't believe we actually have to fly in this!" His whole body shudders in a mixture of disgust and pain as the acid rain hits. "So this is actually supposed to work?" Bladewing watches the others take off directly into the storm and vents air noisily. She'd shake her head if she had one in this mode. And she doesn't really know what to *say*, not with Starscream on her team. Who outranks everyone here, and has a temper straight from the core of the Pit. "Doesn't look good out there, does it?" she mutters. "But we all want to get flying again." Especially Starscream, she thinks. If he hasn't been disobeying Megatron and sneaking out *anyway.* Starscream sits in his designated spot inside Stormfront. He listens to everyone heading out and orders and status reports flying back and forth. He should be the one calling this mission not some arena trainer. But no, now hes been reassigned again and is sitting with his two 'trinemates' for the order to head out. He doesn't say a word right now, hes too busy being annoyed. If anyone bothers to look his way one will see his tail rutters twitching back and forth irritably. Nova Black picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Nova Black rolls a 6! Nova Black speeds into the center of the enormous cloud, headed for a particularly thick patch of black, the sleek shape of her wings slicing through it. Her engines roar out her pain as the corrosive rain eats easily through her paint job. She inwardly thanks Primus -- and the Decepticons' medics -- for the coating of Corrostop they gave everyone before flying out here. If not for that, she'd have no armor left. "I'm diving through a lighter cloud," she calls to the others. "This stuff eats armor like Unicron snacks on moons. You two follow through one of the heavy ones. The more we can do now, the quicker this slagging stuff *stops*." Echo blinks as he was nudged, and shifts uncomfortably. "We'd uh, better get ready to launch once the first team is out." he decides finally, nodding as he stood, moving into launch position as he stared out into the rain "Coldsnap, are you ready? " he also looks to the other tinemate expectantly. Skywarp picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Skywarp rolls a 19! There's a horrible shriek before Skywarp manages to cut his comm. SLAG that hurts. He keeps up with Nova, though- pride won't let him do anything less, wings cutting through the cloud and steam billowing off his armor. His turbines rev up to an extremely high pitch and level out there, working hard. Coldsnap jumps as Skywarp's high-pitches shriek sounds over the comm, providing everyone with a good amount of feedback. That...did not sound promising. "Echo, I can't /do/ this!" he whines, teeth chattering against each other. "I'm gonna' die! I'm gonna' die!" Clinging to their trinemate, a rust-colored Seeker, he looks absolutely terrified. The other Seeker doesn't seem phased, however, as he pushes Coldsnap off in irritation. "I'm ready when you are, Echo." Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20 . Knifepoint rolls a 7! Knifepoint snarls as he rips through one of the lighter clouds near him, pulling a quick roll to try and shake off any excess acid he can. "What the slag happened?" He snaps at Skywarp's shriek, pulling up over Nova to get a better shot at their trinemate with his sensors. Bladewing's wings twitch with worry as she recalls Skywarp's horrendous shriek. "Megatron really wants us to fly out in that?" she mutters. But that's what they've been assigned to do, so that's what they'll do. "All right, you two. We've got something to do, so let's do it." She signals to Stormfront that she's ready -- as ready as she'll ever be, anyway -- and the bay doors slide open. She roars into the storm, praying that Nova's team has managed to do enough so none of *them* will be screaming like that... Echo acks! As he's suddenly clung onto. He flails a little bit and grabs onto Coldsnaps' shoulders. A pause for thought. Then he backhands the mech across the facesharply "SNAP OUT OF IT! We GOTTA! its either this or the cannon! It hurts, but it wont kill you THAT FAST!" he hoped. Then as the alarm beeps for the next group to launch and he shakes the mech again. Starscream hears Skywarp's shriek and though he would never admit it, it concerns him just a bit. But there's not a lot anyone can do about it now. He watches his 'trine leader' take off into the storm and as soon as the other member departs he pulls up the rear. How humiliating. But none the less he blasts out of there and falls into formation to begin the manuvers his Trines been assigned. Nova Black picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Nova Black rolls a 11! Nova Black's engines stall as she hears the shriek from Skywarp. "Slaggit. 'Warp, you head straight back to the medics when you get in. No backtalk." She knows he hates them, but she's sure that no matter what happens he'll be needing one. She races into a thicker cloud, hoping she'll clear it up for his way back. She's not usually kind, but she can't shake the feeling she's the reason why he's so badly injured now. She ordered the trine into the heavy clouds, after all. Still, that *was* the plan. And not what Knifepoint did. She can't exactly blame him, but she's still annoyed. "As for you, Knifepoint, come in through one of those bigger ones. We're headin' back, after all, and --" she chuckles, not entirely nicely -- "you've still got some armor left." She races back to Stormfront, eager for her own repairs. Flying through that last cloud *hurt*. Echo acks! As he's suddenly clung onto. He flails a little bit and grabs onto Coldsnaps' shoulders. A pause for thought. Then he backhands the mech across the facesharply "SNAP OUT OF IT! We GOTTA! its either this or the cannon! It hurts, but it wont kill you THAT FAST!" he hoped. Then as the alarm beeps for the next group to launch and he shakes the mech again. (re) "Wasn't planning on it. Slag, this hurts," Skywarp grates over the comm. He wheels through another bank of clouds, mist trailing off his wings as the cloud disperses slightly, following Nova back into Stormfront's open flight bay. The medics promptly swarm him, spraying him down with solvent to dilute the acid still on his plating. Skywarp picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Skywarp rolls a 9! Coldsnap's head snaps back as he's hit, hand reaching up to touch his stinging cheek, his optics wide. "But...but..." he blubbers before deciding it is futile and looks down at the ground, grumbling forelornely, "Yes, Sir." Then, after a pause, "Can we go through the thin clouds, at least?" Knifepoint picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Knifepoint rolls a 3! "I don't exactly have a lot of it!" Knifepoint fires back, but pulls away obligingly. He rolls as he enters the cloud, managing to keep the worst of the acid off, before diving for Stormfront's hangar. He mutters more unpleasant things to himself (including doing things that may or may not be anatomically possible to the next person who mentions the words 'acid rain') though he doesn't call the medics away from Skywarp. Bladewing picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Bladewing rolls a 9! Bladewing zooms through the nearest cloud. It's not thin by any means, but it's not the thickest, either. And the Corrostop is doing a decent job of protecting her armor, compared to what just happened to Skywarp and even to Nova. "Come on, you two. Let's see some of that hard flying we all know and love, Starscream," she calls, hoping it will inspire the Air Commander to be braver than she just was, but not willing to directly admit that she's holding back. Or to say aloud that he's the better flier, even though everyone knows it. Starscream hears his 'leader's' comment and suddenly speeds up ahead of his two slower wingmates. He's heading straight for one of the thicker clouds. He knows the move well that his trio got assigned to but he knows he can embellish it a bit and it will be ok. The Tetrajet goes full afterburner toward a large wall of near black and right before he plows into it, Starscream lifts up on his tail and continues his forward motion, basically slamming into the cloud at the thickest part of his body -- and at full speed. Starscream picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Starscream rolls a 12! Nova Black slides into one of Stormfront's bays and transforms, wincing through it. Then she walks toward the medical station, limping slightly as each step sends a new thrill of pain through her half-corroded plating. It's not any sort of emergency, though, as much as it hurts -- just like she told Stormfront, she's lived through worse. She walks over to one of the berths there, fighting to hide her unsteadiness, her faceplates frozen in a stoic frown as she waits for them to finish repairing Skywarp first. Skywarp is cursing up a storm, and doesn't even transform until the medics have been hosing him off for several minutes. When he does, it's obvious his armor is a /mess/, with swathes of grey, pitted metal visible where the paint has burned away. "I thought that fragging corrostop was supposed to PREVENT this!" He says. He glances at the other trine still in the hanger bay. "What are YOU slagging cowards waiting on?" Echo inhales a little, and looks at Skywarp, blinking a few times, then the other trinemate. Then he puts a reassuring hand on Coldsnaps' shoulder. And then he shoves his trinemate out the door, quickly following with a loud battlecrying hoot as he transforms. He hits an air pocket and drops, wincing as the acid bit into his white and silver armor. He twirls and zigs as the instructions told him too, engines blasting out into the thicker clouds "Aim for the thicker parts!" he instructs. Echo picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Echo rolls a 8! A voice comes over the PA system. "Radar shows storm activity has decreased by 21 percent." Coldsnap tumbles around in the air a bit, screaming and cursing before transforming and heading out to the far right of the cloud's thickest part. "I don't wanna'!" he whines, though does anyways. Perhaps he just likes complaining over the comm to make himself feel better about it. /Aw, maybe I should hold your hand, Coldsnap?/ the rust-colored Seeker mocks over the comm, heading to the right of the cloud, forming a triangular formation. /Quiet you! I am not scared! Just cautious!/ he snaps back. Thundercracker just shakes his head and follows the two mechs he's been saddled with, taking his place in the trine formation. /Shut up, both of you. Let's just get this over with./ Knifepoint shudders as he transforms, chunks of his paint missing where the acid had managed to cling to him. "It slagging /was./" He answers Skywarp, turning a furious glare onto the medics as they approached him. He snatches the container of solvent away from them, smearing it over the worst areas with a few more angry mutters. Bladewing picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Bladewing rolls a 9! Bladewing lets out a low whistle as she watches Starscream showing off. It's probably not the best thing in the world for him to be showing her up, but hey, whatever works. "Nice, Starscream," she comms, not saying much more for fear of sounding too imperious and risking his wrath. "Now to turn around and head back again." She hastily chooses another cloud, turning toward another medium-sized one. It's about as bad as the last one -- but this time her Corrostop's already half-eaten away. She roars a curse and speeds back into the safety of Stormfront's bay. The voice on the PA announces "Storm activity is down by 31 percent." Starscream doesn't pay attention to Bladewing's comment as he jackknifes through the cloud. It stings a fair bit but he knows he can't go back in right now. Instead he levels out and goes vertical and starts spinning. Going straight up through the same cloud to disorganize it even more. Starscream picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Starscream rolls a 12! Thundercracker picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Thundercracker rolls a 3! Thundercracker picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Thundercracker rolls a 19! Nova Black's stoic expression shifts into a smile as the medics make their way over to her and begin hosing the corrosive acids off of her plating. It stings, as it's being poured over open wounds, however superficial, but it also feels so slagging *good* to not have that stuff eating away at her plating any more. She twitches her wings experimentally and winces, and then turns to her makeshift trine, still giving that small smile. "We did good, you two," she says. "Now let's watch these other slagge --" she stops, realizing that's probably not the best thing to call Starscream in front of his trine "-- how the others are doin' out there." Echo picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Echo rolls a 5! Cutting through the air quickly, Echo streaks through the clouds with his Trine, watching both carefully "Come on! Get as much done as you can!" he grit his mechateeth against the hiss as it continued. He sped up, hoping to 'outrun' the rain as they whipped through the clouds. He accelerated, and started to break the sound barrier - the sudden change of air pressure causing long tunnels of clear air to cut through the clouds. Skywarp is still busy whining. "I think someone swapped the corroplast for solvent or something. No way did that just eat my paint otherwise!" He flares his wings uncomfortably, flaking paint dropping to the floor. "This better fragging /work/." The voice over the PA says "All of you, do what Echo just did - the storm's starting to break up- cohesion level is dropping fast!" Coldsnap picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Coldsnap rolls a 2! Thundercracker considers the cloud formations, then pings Echo and Coldsnap. /There's gotta be a faster wa.... You two keep going. I have an idea./ He pulls away from his trinemates and banks around to head for the thickest remaining section of clouds, accelerating and preparing to use his trademark sonic boom, 'cause he's sick of this. Echo says, "What did I just do?" Thundercracker picks up the dicebag and rolls against his power. Thundercracker's roll succeeds! Thundercracker picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Thundercracker rolls a 2! "Ouch, that stings!" But that wasn't...terrible. Maybe dunking himself in the vat of corrostop actually proved a useful prevention measure. Whipping through the right part of the cloud, Coldsnap spins and around Echo before being buffeted past his trineleader by Thundercracker's sonic boom. /What the frag was that for?/ he snarls over the comm. "Corro/stop/, and it shouldn't have eaten through /that/ fast." Knifepoint says, wiping the rest of the solvent and neutralized acid off before grabbing Skywarp's arm. He looks the appendage over, examining the bare spots closely. "Some of this might need to be replaced. I could probably do it." He pauses before dropping the arm, huffing out his vents as he realizes this comes across as dangerously close to /caring/. "Since you're so slagging stupid about the rest of the medics." Bladewing mutters angrily as she stomps into the medical station, not liking waiting her turn much at all. This stuff stings like the Pit! She'd say something to her trine, but it seems to have dissipated by now. Not like she didn't expect that, though. Starscream is Starscream. And knowing Megatron, if he bothers to care that he ignored her, he'll be too busy taking it out on him anyway to remember she exists. "Thank Primus for small miracles," she mutters, wondering just what the slag Starscream is even *doing* right now, anyway. Starscream feels the acid rain eating through his armor and stops his vertical spinning climb to bank back around and fall belly first through whats left of the clouds he just tore through. Its not like he can stop the rain from hitting him. He falls flat like a rock down through the cloud angling his way back toward the carrier. Shortly the carrier comes into view and Starscream transforms just before he hits the entrance and stumbles inside. Ok he meant that, honest. His paint is destroyed, his armor is pockmarked everywhere. His optics are flared and he stiffly walks toward the medic area, his mouth a thin line of determinatino against the overload from his neurnet right now. Thundercracker blasts through the thickest cloud with an annoyed roar echoing the sonic boom. Banking as sharply as he can to rejoin his trine, he plows through a thick patch of rain to reestablish formation. Thundercracker picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Thundercracker rolls a 15! The voice over the PA says "That's done it - the storm looks like it's dispersing. The last of the rain should be gone by next cycle." Echo picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Echo rolls a 7! Echo snaprolls again as he continues following directinos, checking on Coldsnap and his other Trinemate carefully as they cruised through "Keep at it! We're almost done!" a pause "We're done! Come in Trine Echo!" he declares, relieved as his white form dove through the clouds, giving one last blast before he noses up, transforming into a running landing. Coldsnap picks up the dicebag and takes out a D20. Coldsnap rolls a 10! Coldsnap lets off a snarl--that round hurt a whole lot more!--before letting off a distinct sigh of relief over the comm. "Thank, Primus. Hate the rain," he grumbled before turning down into a nosedive towards the airstrip before transforming and skidding to a stop, wincing at the faint layer of smoke rising from his plating. "Hot! It's hot!" Skywarp 's engines give a little growl as he pulls his arm away from Knifepoint. "Maybe. Once it stops slagging hurting. You don't /look/ like a medic." Thundercracker waits for both Echo and Coldsnap to touch down before approaching himself, despite probably having done so against common sense. "Frag that hurts," he mutters to himself. /Go on, you two. Get yourselves washed off so I don't have to listen to your whining anymore./ He transforms and walks into the hangar out of the residual rain, trying his best to NOT look like his wings are just this side of melting off. Echo transforms, and turns to wait for his two teammates to land. He frowns at Thundercracker. He was certainly not whining! He winces though as he sees the state of the mechs' wings. Knifepoint gives Skywarp a sharp look, his own engines rumbling quietly. "Just because I don't slagging /look/ the part doesn't mean I can't fix some damaged plating." He snaps, pride reeling. "I don't offer to help often. You should be thankful." Coldsnap bypasses everyone and heads straight for the solvent near the medics, totally not waiting for a debrief from Thundercracker. Nova Black looks over at Knifepoint and Skywarp, optics flaring. "Cool your thrusters, you two. We're supposed to get along." She snorts. "Or at least to fake it until Megatron's done tryin' to prove a point Starscream will never admit to getting, anyway." Thundercracker stands around waiting his turn to get the residual acid rinsed off because others are being taken care of. Maybe he can just rinse it off himself again with water like he did last time... Skywarp glances over at TC. "You gonna let that stuff eat your plating totally or what? Echo moves to rinse after the other two have gotten to it, sighing as it was finally flushed away by a mild base solution. Thundercracker watches as Echo is finished rinsing off, THEN steps over with a glare tossed at Skywarp. Skywarp looks at Knifepoint and huffs air through his vents, loudly, glancing back at the medics. "So.. um... you think you can fix it before they notice and make me go tot he repair bay?" Echo looks over at Skywarp, and winces a little sympathetically "I dont know if that's a good idea sir." he notes Knifepoint gives Echo a dark look before turning his attention back to Skywarp, examining him critically. "Probably. I have some tools with me, though I'll need more than just what I have to fix all of this. Plus you need a repaint." He grimaces, swiping some of the ruined paint off onto his fingers. "/Really/ need a repaint." Skywarp looks at Echo with a grumpy look on his face. "Well, he's not a real medic, but it does kinda hurt. ANd if he can fix it, I'm all for it. Speaking of which- TC, get your aft in that solvent before the rest of your paint falls off!" (The last part is yelled.) Echo lifts his hands placatingly and sighs. He really wasn't cut out for Trine leader, was he?" Thundercracker finally steps over to the acid rinse-off station, the last one there. And by the looks of what's left of his armor, he's almost waited too long. He grits his denta and tolerates the far beyond uncomfortable sensation of the acid being cleaned off. If he heard Skywarp's yell, he doesn't acknowledge it. Beginning to pull out the tools he has safely tucked in subspace, Knifepoint bristles slightly at Skywarp's comment. "Just because I didn't finish my training doesn't mean I'm not a medic." He snaps, though he sounds distracted, looking around for a good spot to shove Skywarp down. "Well, can you fix it or not?" Skywarp says. "Maybe some of that tape Robustus uses on stuff and I can go get painted." Thundercracker nearly snaps at a mech helping with the acid removal, but manages to not do more than glare and twitch his wings. He's finally clean, but looks... well, like his armor plating is nearly eaten clean through by the acid. And his paint is little more than discolored smears. "Of course I can." Knifepoint says, though there's less venom in his tone as he pushes Skywarp to sit. He pulls a small packet of nanite gel out of subspace and starts smearing it over the damaged parts, wings twitching slightly as he focuses. He glances over quickly at Thundercracker, frowning at what he sees before turning a glare on a startled medic he didn't really recognise but looked fresh enough. "You! Get me more nanite gel, some structural surface metal, and nanite tape!" The medic hesistates, obviously unsure. "Do it before I use /yours/ instead!" At that, he obeys, skittering off nervously. Huffing out his vents, Knifepoint turns back to his work. "Slagging moron." Skywarp raises his optic ridges and twitches his wings nervously. Knifepoint sure /sounds/ like a medic.... Starscream is standing there in some obvious discomfort but he hasnt said anything .. yet. Instead he just watches Knifepoints every move critically. Knifepoint pauses suddenly, realization hitting him out of nowhere. He shifts to glower at Skywarp slightly, his own wings twitching. "Don't go telling everyone I did this, okay? I'm not /supposed/ to, seeing as how I'm not technically a medic. ...Or even qualified." Another pause. "I can do pretty much everything but rebuild you from scratch, though. Don't think I can't." Thundercracker notices Knifepoint's look and glares back at the quasi-medic. "What?" As is usual for him, he's even more surly when he's in pain. He turns to stalk off somewhere to sulk by himself, but has to pause at all of the error message scrolling past his optics. "I don't /have/ to tell anybody, slagger, they're all gonna see if you don't hurry up and get it fixed so I can leave." Skywarp says. Echo just listens quietly, amused by this "Don't slagging backtalk me! I bought this slag with my own credits- you're lucky I'm using it on you at all!" Knifepoint snaps, but returns to work either way, slathering the rest of the nanogel over the worst areas. "Look, I can't do everything here without people getting suspicious, but since we're trinemates right now and I'll have everything with me after this since the little grunt is getting it for me..." He trails off, giving Skywarp a pointed look. "This should deal with the worst of it until then." He looks over at Echo, glaring again. "You better not say slag either." Starscream looks at Skywarp suddenly, "Shut up so he can fix you, Skywarp." he says tensely, "The more you run your mouth and interfere the longer its going to take to fix ME." Skywarp shuts up! Thundercracker shakes his head slightly to try and clear the errors, but they're fragging persists errors. Smegit. The medic scurries back then, arms full of the materials Knifepoint demanded. "Drop them there." The seeker snaps, turning to focus on Starscream for a moment. "You want my help? Land it." He motions to the spot next to Skywarp, looking back at the medic. "What are you still doing here? Leave before I drop-kick you out into the storm!" With a worried look at the four seekers, the medic (obviously a new recruit if he's letting /Knifepoint/ of all mechs boss him around) leaves. Pushing himself up, Knifepoint looks around, noticing Thundercracker wavering on his feet. "What the /slag/ are you doing, standing like that? Sit your slagging dumb aft down now!" He demands, wings twitching in annoyance as he takes in all he apparently needs to work on. "Slagging useless pieces of..." He mumbles, looking down at Skywarp. "If you'll show up later, you can go." "Alright. 'Slong as it's not in the repair bay." Skywarp agrees, taking a few steps out of the way to make room for TC to sit. "C'mon TC, your turn." Thundercracker says in more of a grumbly mumble than anything, "Go 'way, 'Warp. Leave me alone." Starscream stares at Knifepoint and starts to snap back a choice comment then decides to walk over where he was pointed and watches the continuing scene before him. Then he looks at Thundercracker and a wing twitches, "You must be damaged if you are telling Skywarp to go away -- I thought you two were best buds..." his voice started off neutal enough but by the end of his statement you know its back to its sarcastic slightly humorous jabbing tone. "My quarters sure as slag aren't a medbay." Knifepoint answers, before spinning on Thundercracker, snarling. "Sit the slag down! You're going to hit the floor and with your armor compromised you'll break some of it into little tiny pieces and I am /not/ going to deal with putting that back together!" Thundercracker flinches at Knifepoint's angry tone, which actually causes him to stumble briefly. Smegging error messages still won't clear. Skywarp walks over to grab TC by the arm. "C'mon. You're always the one dragging me to get repaired, my turn for once." He cackles. Knifepoint snickers a little himself, fetching some of the structural metal and nanite tape. "Besides, this isn't even going to be that bad. I don't even have to weld anything! ...I don't think." Thundercracker doesn't look too good, but he's pretty sure he can avoid that so far. "Don't act like a sparkling." Starscream loathes being ignored and thats exactly what just happened. "Don't forget to check their Audios, Knifepoint." he says acidly, "And by all means take your time..." he adds as he watches a sheet of red paint slide off his left chest fan housing. Thundercracker curses as Skywarp's hand on his arm sends a jolt of pain to his shoulder and clutters his optics with even more error messages. "All right, all right. Smegit, 'Warp, leggo. That hurts." Knifepoint gives Starscream a dark look that dissolves into an almost diturbingly bright smile. "I'll make sure to check your vocalizer for you, at least- maybe /I/ can find what makes that horrible screeching noise. Worst first, afthead." He turns his attention back to Thundercracker, examining him closely. Skywarp lets go as soon as he's sure TC is within range of Knifepoint and not leaving. Starscream knows it's worst first, "I know the rules, fool." he snaps as he slowly folds his arms and then gingerly leans against the bulkhead, "And you even look toward my vocalizer I will make sure it's the last thing you ever see..." his optics glow crimsom and he just sneers. Starscream likes his voice and can't understand why everyone slags him about it.. pfft. "Oh, so the 'unbearable screeching' is a personal choice? Sorry for the assumption. Usually it's caused by some sort of malfunction." Knifepoint fires back, settling in to tape the small chunks of metal to the worst of Thundercracker's injuries. The nanite tape should help it fuse to weakened sections... "You reading any internal damage?" He asks almost distractedly, bending one sheet to help it fit an odd curve. Starscream narrows his optics and just stares at Knifepoint. "What you hear is what I was built with." he says sourly. "Perhaps it's as unexplained as the incredible slowness you seem to be well gifted with..." Skywarp watches. Thundercracker flinches at the first few times Knifepoint applies tape to his armor, then settles down. "Uh...no internal errors...I think." "I'm going to be working on you in a bit, you /really/ want to insult me?" Knifepoint asks, obviously distracted by his repairs. "So it's coming back as just armor plating errors? Not surprising, you took a lot of damage out there." He frowns slightly in both frustration and concentration. "Whoever mixed this batch of corrostop should be shot." Thundercracker grunts faintly, "Corrostop? What's that?" Starscream would roll his optics if he could at Knifepoint's vague threat. Then he frowns. Corrostop? No one told him about that. What the slag... Knifepoint stills completely at that, slowly looking up at Thundercracker. "You didn't get coated before you went out?" The words are slowly ground out as he just /stares/ at the other blue seeker, wings twitching slightly. "Corrostop is the chemical that you were SUPPOSED to get covered in before going out in the storm to keep your slagging plating from /melting off!/" Skywarp snickers. "You didn't get corroplasted before you went out, TC? I thought /I/ was the stupid one?" Thundercracker flinches again at Knifepoint's harsh words. "Smeg... sorry... geez." Not his fault he had to scramble to catch up with the morons that made up the rest of his temporary trine. "When was the order given for that?" Starscream asks suddenly. "And by who? When were we suppose to get coated in this? Evidently Thundercracker was never informed of this -- neither was I." he smirks, "My speed obviously worked to its advantage this time..." he looks at Skywarp. "You were coated? This is a fine example of how wrong this 'experiment' was concerning the Seekers and the Trines..." hes mad and hes also scheming now at how best to use this obvious communication breakdown to his advantage when he faces Megatron next concerning this debacle. "It's called 'meetings with the Air Commander', Starscream." Knifepoint snaps, most of his attention turning back to the repairs. "I get you're so used to /being/ it you don't remember, but those of us who aren't in such a prestigious position, which includes you now, have to do them." He wraps up one last segment before standing. "It's not perfect, but I can do a better job later. Or you can do to one of the 'certified' medics, so long as my name stays the slag out of it." Starscream smiles sweetly, too sweetly, "If I was still the Air Commander, I would have made sure all the Seekers were made aware of the coating requierment." He gives a smug sniff, "What a pity the new one seems to be failing in even the most basic of duties..." "I'm pretty sure you were standing there when he said we had to do it." Knifepoint deadpans, looking at Starscream with a cocked optic ridge. "Thundercracker wasn't there so he has that excuse. What's yours?" Thundercracker huffs air out through his vents. "Haven't even seen the new air commander yet." He's gradually finding it easier to follow what's going on around him as the error messages start to disappear one or two at a time. Starscream snorts, "Well you're pretty wrong, Knifepoint." Knifepoint shrugs, picking up a packet of the nanite gel and a new roll of nanite tape as he makes his way over to Starscream. "I remember you asking him what the plan was, even. Not my fault you weren't paying attention." He shifts his attention to the scorched metal, smearing some of the gel over it. "You're lucky you didn't get really slagged up." Starscream winces the other Seeker starts smearing the gel over some of his damage. "Easy there." he whines and then huffs, "I've got a lot on my mind -- and it's not luck, it's speed and skill that kept me from getting even more damaged." he glances around then. "I don't even know what happened to the other two I was .. assigned to..." he says that with a bit of bite to it. "Really... Putting me as third spot in a trine had to be someone's idea of a joke..." "They made it back I think." Knifepoint says offhandedly, starting to layer the tape over surfaces the gel couldn't quite cling to. "And stop whining. This isn't that bad." Thundercracker just keeps on sitting where ever his aft landed, the pain starting to ease off but still very present. He /thought/ he'd been with the other mechs assigned as his 'new' trine, but now he's not so sure. Starscream doesnt like pain. But he's an engima with it. Sometimes he handles it well and other times the slightest ding makes him act like a sparkling. It all depends on everything else in the situation. And so far he's been ignored, made to wait till everyone else was done, ignored, insulted, reminded he's no longer /the/ Air Commander. And did the narrative mentioned ignored? "Easy for you to say." he snaps, "I've had to stand here forever it seems with the acid just sinking through my armor.. and you /think/ they made it back?" For a split second he wonders about them then shrugs slightly. "Not my job to think about them..." Hey if they didn't make sure he knew about the coating, turnabout's fair play. slightly=slightest Knifepoint gives him a dirty look, slapping another piece of tape on with a little more force than necessary. "In case you haven't noticed, I just took a quick solvent dump. I have to fix all of this myself." He responds, wings twitching slightly. "And yes, I /think./ I don't have a trine once this is over, so I only cared about not being left behind. But nine seekers left and nine came back, so they probably went to the medics." He pushes himself to his feet, making his way over to the pile of supplies to subspace anything he could use. "There, done. If you don't want to deal with the actual medics, I can probably finish up anything else. May even help you paint, if you play nice." Thundercracker reaches up and snags Skywarp's arm to pull himself to his feet again. "Come on, 'Warp. Let's get away from that solvent stink." Starscream doesn't appreciate the last piece slapped on like it was. "Being in no Trine is better then being in a missmatched one." he snaps as he refrains from retaliating at the way the last patch was put on. "So be glad you dont have one over being stuck in one you had no say in." he turns for the door and heads out without another word. Knifepoint scoffs at Starscream's words, shaking his head. "Just because I don't horrifically mind one member doesn't mean I picked it, afthead." He mutters more to himself to anything.
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