| abstract
| - 'Ruins' of Retoris don't quite fit the area anymore, though the Autobots have a long way to go: Most of the wreckage and unusable scrap have been cleared out to be recycled for the upcoming reconstruction. What remains is a clear roadway grid between the massive defense wall and the entrance to the Retorus Tunnel leading to Iacon, with construction crews working to put up structures. Beyond, closer to the Iacon plains, power stations are being constructed on either side of the Tunnel. One small hiccup, of course: Perceptor blowing up the research bunker buried deep under the city. Theres now a small crater in the middle of the construction project. Its at between the crater and Tunnel entrance, at the ledge of the new hole, that Magnus and his engineering staff are gathered, studying plans. Plans which look LIKE THIS: Ultra Magnus sighs, staring at the crater. "At least he took the old foundations out for us." Elita One stands not too far from Ultra Magnus. She's never been quite the construction Bot, but she's did more than her share earlier when several charges were set to help demolish the ruined structures for removal. E1 approaches Ultra Magnus, looking at the impact crater. She says in a low tone, "Makes me glad he at least did it outside of Iacon." Elita One looks over the area, "Does me good to see some rebuilding going on, power's starting to flow again, even if its only occasional." She looks out over the horizon, "It reminds me of the human adage I heard, 'reap what you sow'. If we're going to get Cybertron back to its golden age, we are going to have to do it ourselves, we can't expect the planet to hand us what we need." She looks over at one of the large haulers. "Speaking of which, looks like I have some unloading to do." Horsepower looks up from a copy of the blueprints to stare down at the crater. Seeing as he was -here- for that little incident last night, the least he can do is help clean up the mess it caused. Because the scientist that actually caused it is probably locked away in his lab trying to fix the problem already. "Well, look at the bright side y'all. At least we can lay in a better foundation." First Aid is back in action, and feeling a lot better now that he's able to concentrate on building rather than destroying. The Protectobot is currently perched up at the top of one of the more further along towers. The tower, eventually going to be for communications, just has the bare-bones skeleton so far. It's situationed just north of Perceptor's Crater, giving him a good view of it while he idly welds in circuitboards for the new building. Although he's too high for anyone on the ground to hear, Aid is humming to himself. It just might be the Bob The Builder tune. Of course, he never fails to make his entrance known. "Wow," the brazen Protectobot Streetwise says loudly as he drives up to the tower First Aid is perched under, "Did Perceptor do this?" He protoformed, shaking his helm. "Primus," he mutters, "maybe Blades was sorta right." However, while musing quietly to himself, he leans on the tower First Aid is sitting on, looking pensive. "Huh.. just when I thought he was getting better.." He's leaning too much weigh onto the skeletal structure though, and it starts to wobble a little! Fireflight looks simply enamoured with the buzz of activity that bustles in and out of the construction sites, bright optics wide with wonderment as he looks this way and that while strolling through the tunnel entrace. And while he may not be in the air, this doesn't prevent him from still colliding into things, every few minutes knocking into another mech, or bumping into machinery. "This is so cool! I can't wait 'til it's done!" The Aerialbot is beaming now, but this drops when he bumps into a nearly stacked pile of metal tubing, the pyramid clattering noisily as it falls apart and scatters everywhere, garnering several abrupt, unhappy looks from those working. Looking a deer in the headlights, Fireflight is stock still, shock on his face while optics dart around. "Ah... oops, sorry about that. I'll just uh.. be over here." He tries his best to scoot past, but stumbles now and then on a fallen pipe, eventually getting through the fiasco and weaving his way toward Ultra Magnus, straightening up and saluting with yet another smile. "Fireflight reporting for duty, Ultra Magnus sir! What can I help with?" Elita One removes several crates of electronic components. Items for conduits and...erm...transformers that will help keep the area supplied with power. She pauses, looking back at the tunnel. She wonders aloud, "If we got a drill to dig into the tunnel...we could set up a series of bunkered power stations." Elita sets down her last crate, putting a hand to her face as she continues, "The area itself discourages ariel attack, and is near bomb-proof. We could hardwire Retoris' defenses into those, leaving the auxilary power to man everything else. Like a..." She pauses for the right word, "architectual bluff, I suppose." She shrugs to herself, "I should ask Grapple his thoughts about it." then retrieves her box of cables, heading over to First Aid's tower, "I've got a Sweet Primus, get off of that thing, Streetwise!" The crate tumbles to the ground as she looks alarmed at the situation. First Aid suddenly grabs the tower's upper support strut once it starts to lean, hugging it tightly. He glances down to see Streetwise leaning against it. World's. Worst. Builder. Before Aid can mention it, though, Elita One comes to his rescue, and the doctor is able to relax his grip. "Looks that way," he calls out. "I always thought Perceptor was more careful than that. Kinda worrying, really." Despite his comment, though, Aid looks ready to chalk it up to a one-off miscalculation on the science-bot's part. "Why, what did Blades say about it?" Ultra Magnus gives Horsepower a nod. "At the end of the day, expanding the bunker may serve our purposes better. Rodimus wants us looking into building an emergency Metroplex platform on top, in case we have to double down of Tunnel defense. He glances down at Fireflight. "Fireflight, there's a large number of regugees being signed in at the Wall. THey'll be the city's first citizens and will be helping with construction. Start rounding them up so they can check in here. Red Alert is being a little overbearing on the Wall." "Yes, Ma'am!" Streetwise shouts, releasing his weight just a little too suddenly from the shaky tower as he saluted smartly at the fem. "Oh, believe me, he isn't!" He then deadpans, making sure Perceptor was nowhere within audio range. "Heh, the usual. If you know what I mean.." He glances over to notice that the tower, suddenly having been released from his weight, was swaying very slightly. "Don't worry, Aid, I'll help you out!" he said, grabbing the struts of the structure quite violently in an attempt to steady it. It is a bit of a failed one, however... A loud S-64 Aircrane soars overhead from across the Iacon plain: The Healthabot Highmark slows to a hover over one of the towers in the 'downtown region.' Emblem, Humana, and Blue Cross hop off, carrying large crates of construction gear. Humana glares across from their tower to First Aid and Streetwise. "Ugh. Protectobots. They get all the glory because they're combiners. HEY FIRST AID!" She makes a very unfriendly gesture and yells some pretty terrible things, though she may be far away enough that he thinks she's just saying hi. "Def'nately gonna want stronger foundation and infrastructah then, boss." Horsepower opens the blueprints again. "Buildin' beats fillin' it in again to do nuttin', that's for shure." He tucks the plans away and steps over the edge to climb down into the crater to check on the end of the cleanup before they can start restructuring. Fortunately one of the workers already paved out an incline to make it easier to get up and down. It can be turned into a passageway into the bunker later or some such. Silverbolt flies in just after Fireflight, anxious to make sure he didn't...well...uh...throw /too/ big of a wrench into the operation. He desperaterly tries to keep the other Aerialbot from stumbling into everything, and ends up trying to catch the metal tubing, crates, circuits, and Primus knows what else Fireflight knocks over on his way over to Ultra Magnus. "Fireflight watch--" CRASH. Facepalm. "Wait--no--look out--! "...be careful..." Too late. TUMBLE TUMBLE CLATTER By the end of it, Silverbolt is still trying to fix up the mess... First Aid glances down as Streetwise continues to 'help'. "Whoa, wait, that's, hold on, I think, just a sec..." He grips the side of the tower tightly with one hand, "I think maybe they need help at the Wall, Streetwise. We don't want any Decepticons pretending to be new recruits in order to sneak in, after all." That's the sort of jerkish thing only Decepticons would do. Upon hearing someone call him, though, he squints off in the distance. He can barrrrely make out Highmark, but not what she's doing. First Aid waves back. "Or you could go see what the Healthabots want." Ultra Magnus watches Silverbolt wrestle with a stack of crates grimly. That means he's amused, probably. He gives Silverbolt a salute. "Like I told Fireflight- let Red Alert know you're relieving him at the Wall so we can actually get some refugees in before the planet core implodes." Fireflight knocks his heels together at the order, beaming bright and soluting once more at the big Bot. "Sir, yes sir!" While construction, and even being charged to move things from point A to B aren't his strong suit, social interaction is the perfect job! Silverbolt, his numero uno commander, gets a glance and an overly delighted smirk. "I'm off to round up some citizens, Silverbolt! Seeya in a bit!" With a bend at the knees the Aerialbot jumps, launching himself a good distance off the ground before shifting into his altmode, jet engines popping with flame a few times before whirring to life, sending him rocketing forward through Retoris. This is problematic in its own right, the mech wobbling and weaving, veering off to dangerously skim over various Bots and their equipment, almost clipping the Healthabots heads as he zooms past! "Comin' though, watch out everyone!" At least he has the decencey to warn everyone while blasting through to meet Red Alert. Streetwise is about to comply to First Aid's suggestion. But unfortunately, he's alerted his attention to the Healthabots, who aren't being terribly friendly. And although First Aid can't hear what she is saying, Streetwise can, and he can also see her crude finger gestures. His fists clench, denting the strut he's holding. Thank Primus he didn't actually rip it out. He looks like he's about to. He turned around, optics narrowed. "Now look here, you strutless little fem, I shouldn't have to tell your your place!" Ultra Magnus follows Horsepower into the crater. "The lower level will need to be reinforced because of the holding cells...They'll be basic, as I don't foresee a lot of criminal issue beyond the usual civic day to day." He pauses, taking a moment to look around. "I'm just proud this is happening. With Crystal City, Cybertronians could almost make the argument that they're better off under the care of the Decepticons. They aren't free, but at least they have a roof over their heads. It's time we offered a better future." "Did he just? Oh hell no." Humana puts her hands on her hips, looking around at her fellow Healthas. "Let it go, Humana." Blue Cross sighs. "Let it go? Hell naw." Humana points at her crotch. "I'VE GOT YER PLACE RIGHT HERE STREETWISE!" She snorts, returning to work. "mmhrm." Elita One scowls at Streetwise, it was as if he was intentionally making things worse. "Hold it steady. First Aid, try not to move." She digs out a plasma welder of the tools nearby then starts to crudely keep the structure upright. That said, she doesn't have any real construction skills. After the weld is completed, she inverts the welding tool to release a quick puff of lowtemp crystalization, to speed up the solidification. "This entire support is faulty, I think we're going to have to replace this part and t..." She pauses as she looks up. The Healthabots, and one was waving...at her, perhaps using shorthand to signify 'One'. She puts her hand on Streetwise' shoulder, "Knock if off, both of you, or I'll take all of you out behind the machinery shop, and teach you to mind." The flat look on her face doesn't really show if she's joking or not. Either way, Ultra Magnus was right here and she did NOT need a bad impression in front of him. Elita One then questions, "Why does everyone point to their hip connectors like that?" Horsepower wasn't really a construction sort by trade, but that's why he was here. He was approaching the matter as a chance to expand the base of his skills set, as well as do something good for the less fortunates of the war. "Well," he starts, "Ah reckon we can work that to our advantage then. As they'll make a grid in 'emselves, the reinforced cell walls would also provide structural support to the floors above." "I think it's something they picked up from the humans," a tech-worker comments towards Elita. "They tend to do impractical locomotion gyrations like that." Silverbolt sighs, looking exhausted as he finally finishes returning that which Fireflight had knocked over to its former order. He nods at Ultra Magnus' orders, giving a tired salute. Mech you have no idea what it's like having to deal with Bots like Air Raid and Fireflight -all- the time. "Right away, Magnus." He transforms then and flies off toward the wall after Fireflight, looking for Red Alert. "Fireflight!" he calls after his fellow Aerialbot. "Don't fly so low, pull up a little, you're clipping the tops of the the framework!" "Say that to my faceplates again , I dare you!" He yells back, clenching his fists. "I'm--" He glares vehemently at the Healthabot. When Elita One puts a servo on his shoulder, he elbows it off, but turns away, waving a servo dismissively. "Psh. She's not worth my time." Ultra Magnus nods thoughtfully to Horsepower. "The trick of the design for this and the rest of the city, of course, will be making sure it's accessible for all sizes." The architects in charge all currently hated him. First Aid starts to return to work, but then after a moment's thought (Streetwise has already gone out to confront the Healthabots by this point), he shouts, "And don't forget to be kind and understanding! Honestly, Streetwise, you've got our reputation to uphold!" Looking down, Aid gives Elita One a thumbs up for her help. Hmm, faulty part? He's about to offer a suggestion, but now Elita One is tangled up in the machismo contest with the Healthabots. MEANWHILE AT THE WALL: Red Alert snaps to his feet: "Jet engines! Decepticon attack from INSIDE THE CITY!" He points a finger at Wolfwings. "Battle stations! Empties, run for your damn lives!" Red Alert loads a rifle and hops on a lift, running towards one of the autocannons. "Hit the alarms! Battle stations! No women no children!" Wolfwings transforms and tackles into him. "Sir. SIR! It's the Aerialbots!" Red Alert stares back at him. "How do we *know?*" Back to work, Humana is still muttering. "Protectobots. Who's gonna protect them from my foot up dey pipes? Knaw what I'm sayin? Hell." Blue Cross facepalms. "Humana. Get over it." Humana doesn't back down, however: "Pfft. Just cuz' that stupid fire truck named himself Hot Spot instead of Blue Shield like ya'll had talked about and got himself a whole new team and you pretend it don't make you mad aas hell don't mean I'm gonna pretend." Emblem gives her a look. "How does your neck bob that much? Have Torque look at it." Anthem pipes up: "I think Blades is sort of cute." "SHUT UP." Says all of them. Elita One gives a mere glance up to First Aid, her arms crossed. This was her turf, at least dealing with what Femmes were left, and it shows as she takes the matter quite seriously. After all, she didn't survive 3 eons, watching her entire team die off, by being a goof-off. She seems to relax after a moment, though still keeping an eye on things. "Horsepower, did I tell you? I managed to reconstruct that E-Harvester finally. Probably won't be mass producing them or anything but I think I'm about ready to do some design work." She recites off a bit of advice given after deciding on her new chosen skillset, "Consider Purpose, Analyze necessary components, and consider transit method... I've got a few ideas to work with." She looks over to the Heathabots <> Somehow Silverbolt's suggestion to pull up eventually register's in Fireflight's mind, the jet mentally smacking his forehead before doing so, clearing a particularly high skeletal structure with ease instead of smashing into it. "Right, sorry about that, boss!" Fly low, fly high, it's all the same to him, really. Flying is flying! Red Alert's concern for it be Con jets, while crazy as always, is a decent enough wonder. How /would/ they know it's truly the Aerialbots? Well, for starters Fireflight makes a sudden, steep decent while nearing the Wall, nearly pitching into a nosedive before making his signature crash landing a few yards from Red Alert, skidding heavily along the ground and sitting there smoking a little. Yep. It's the Aerialbots alright. After sitting there for a long while, Fireflight eventually shifts back to his base mode, laying sprawled out upon his back. "Ergh..." He mutters softly, head swimming before optics finally focus on the upsidedown looking Red Alert. "I'm okay!" The mech smiles yet again, looking simply dented up for now while rolling onto his feet. "Ultra Magnus told me n' Silverbolt to come take over for you and get the civilians in." Maybe not his exact words, but eh. The Healthabots all freeze up when E1 crackles over their coms. Even Humana. But then she snorts. "Pink robogirl. Just cuz Optimus Prime thought she was all that...." Blue Cross hits her with a big pipe to shut her up, and then waves to the other building. <> Humana hits the ground and her bombay opens, dousing the entire rooftop with flame retardant foam. Streetwise mutters to himself, if Humana spares a backward glance, he's glaring icy daggers at her, clenching his fists still. "Heh. Ignorant feminists, that's exactly what we need around here to get work done," he mumbles derisively as he passes them on his way to the Wall, like First Aid had suggested. Horsepower looks up from studying the blueprints when Elita mentions the E-Harvester. "Good ta hear 'Lita!.. yeah, that's not the sorta tech we wanna spread out too far, but it'll have it's uses if it can get workin' properly." "One thing I wanted to get your thoughts on..." He gestures to a group of Autobots working in the crater already. "Pipes! Bring me the extremely delicate model of the power station. Just pick it up and carry it on over." Pipes just stares at him, and then looks at the intricate, easily breakable model, and then at his pipe hands. He sighs. Silverbolt sighs inwardly as Fireflight crashes into the wall. Typical. He transforms as he makes his descent, landing near Red Alert. "Calm your afterburners, Red Alert. It's just us." he says, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "Sometimes we have be careful when /he's/ around, though." he says, lowering his voice and pointing at Fireflight with a thumb over his shoulder. He lets go of Red Alert then, straightening up. "Anyway, as Fireflight said, Magnus has sent us to take over the civilian check-ins for you." Ultra Magnus transforms into his inspiring and optimal ROBOT MODE! "Did. He." Red Alert scowls at Silverbolt. "That sounds exactly like something Galvatron would try to do...get me off the Wall? Keep us undefended? It's a straight walk to Iacon from here, sonny. I bet you'd love it if Red Alert walked away from his post. I bet you'd love to just let a whole barrel of Insecticons come here and just shake their naughty bits all over our FREEDOM! WELL I WON'T LET IT HAPPEN, MAYBE SILVERBOLT!" Meanwhile, the crowd of refugees kind of sighs. They've been here a while. One was admitted earlier, but then recalled when Red Alert decided he started walking differently once through the gate. Elita One gives Streetwise the big eye for a moment. Sure the Healthabots weren't technically part of her team, meaning they weren't terrorists here for quite a few megacycles, but...well they were hers, as far as she was concerned. She turns her back, putting herself back in the work, resigned to put it all aside. The only thing that really stuck with her was the mention of Optimus...and even that anger faded after a minute. In all the hullabaloo she missed Fireflight's antics and chaos, a faint smirk crossed her face, saying aside to herself, "Mechs will be Mechs..." Elita hefts a large coil of nanofiber transit cable, then drags it towards tower one, "Okay, we've got temp power over here for the heavier construction gear. I'll go." And for the second time today, her train of thought altmodes into a trainwreck as she looks over at Ultra Magnus. Out of his power armor, she had forgotten how strong a resemblance.... The pink one shakes her head, those thoughts were long, long gone... Ultra Magnus Magnus without his power armor: A purely white robot built from the same design of Optimus Prime. Carrying: Starchart First Aid meanwhile is continuing his hard work of getting all the equipment installed in this new comm tower. Unlike some people here, he's actually being productive. For a moment he thinks he can hear someone shouting like a crazed lunatic from over at the wall, but he immediately dismisses it as his imagination. Silverbolt sighs. Audibly, this time, and air can be heard rushing over his vents. Okay, really? Is he underestimating Silverbolt's ability to handle this menial task? He is really trying to patient. Really. "Red Alert." he says slowly. "You know what I think you need? You need a bit R & R. Just look at you, your optics are hazy. Magnus knows that everyone needs a break every now and then, he's just looking out for the needs of his troops. Additionally, you /know/ it's harder to focus when you need a recharge." "We'll have to look over what ya got so far later," Horsepower drawls after Elita as she gets back to work, then turns his own attention to Magnus once more. "Watcha got, boss?" ... Tries not to snicker or anything at poor Pipes' plight. "M'be it should of included hooks or somethin' for carryin'." Fireflight remains blissfully unaware as Silverbolt speaks of him in a hushed tone, simply standing there and smiling like the freespirited fool he is. Red Alert's accusations have him quirk a brow however, head tilting just a hair. "Don't be silly Red Alert, you know it's us!" He tries to convince the mech otherwise with those words, grinning before firing up his jet backpack, hovering up above the crowd and waving his arms, shouting to them, "C'mon in, everyone! Ultra Magnus says to join us, and feel free to pitch in to help us build!" Good job, Fireflight. You just invited everyone to storm in. Good. Job. "R&R? Are you...insane?!" Red Alert just stares at Silverbolt, optics widening more than they should be able to. And then Fireflight announces everyone gets to come in. A huge cheer goes up as the gates open, a crowd of refugees pouring in. "I...!" Red Alert stares at them. "They..." He looks up at Fireflight. And then energon leaks out of the side of his head and he collapses. Wolfwings shrugs. "He does this sometimes. Just let him lie here for a bit. I'm going to head these folks to their temporary housing." He salutes Silverbolt. "The Wall is yours, sir." Wolfwings transforms into a wolf with wings and soars towards the crowd. Pipes gingerly tries to get his pipes under the model to lift it and it slides off to one side, shattering against the ground. He starts crying. Magnus sighs. "I'll have to get your opinion later, then. In the meantime, Horsepower, let's make sure the foundation and outer walls of the bunker are completed." He pats Horsepower on the shoulder. "Keep up the good work, Autobot." When an already grumpy Streetwise arrives at the wall, he sees Red Alert blowing off smoke while Silverbolt struggles to not bust a piston. "Hey, what the hell..?" But suddenly, Red Alert is going into temporary stasis lock and he just happens to be standing behind him. "What?! Where are you all going?" he asks irritatedly, watching as Wolfwings and Fireflight fly off. He turns to Silverbolt. "Guess it's just us and the psychotic firetruck," he grumbles. He lifts Red Alert up a little from underneath the arms, scowling. "Slag, he's heavy," He complained. Silverbolt was about to answer Red Alert, but then the stampede happens. "Fireflight, we're supposed to--" Too late. And now Red has stasis locked on the ground. Wolfwings' dismissiveness doesn't seem to put him any more at ease. "Ugh. Streetwise, help me get him to medical." Even though that should be First Aid's job, really. "Who do I look like, First Aid?!" Streetwise growls. "Humph..." "Well then get First Aid over here. Or better yet, one of those Health-whatevers." Silverbolt mutters. "Did someone say 'get him to medical?" Healthabot Emblem walks down path on top of the Wall torwards Streetwise and Silverbolt. "I'll handle this. Let First Aid go do arts and crafts with human babies. I'll handle the rescue stuff." She transforms into an ARC Amphibious Rescue Craft. "Load him n!" Horsepower buries his face in a palm for a moment as Pipes has an emotional breakdown over the broken model. He should teach the guy to junk-sculpt with all that collecting he does so it's not so frail. Okay he's probably partially missing just -why- Pipes is crying. "Of course, boss." Horsepower turns and trudges towards one of the work groups. Who also happened to be some of the techs that nearly got swallowed into nowhere yesterday, and look quite relieved that Perceptor isn't around. "A'right guys, lets get those reinforcements up and structure layout positioned." Long pause. ".. Again." Elita One watches the group of refugees enter, some of them boisterous and enthusiastic to help, a few even wanting to build their own little homes right away. Elita restrains a smirk, holding up a hand towards the ones that approach her truck. "Easy. Easy." A few of them start to calm their circuits, but it doesn't stop most of them from climbing aboard the loader. "I'm going to build the best power converter ever!" One gumby exclaims, holding on to a spiralling pipe. A larger, but timid looking 'bald' gumby intones, "But we don't know nothin about no power converters!" The first one rakes the delicate cooling coil over his compatriot's head, "Shaddup, what's to know? Grab a hose and get cracklin!" Using her 'mombot' voice, Elita points to the ground, "You two, off the loader. You, stop laughing, its not funny....Just stand here, we'll get you some work to do." "Yeah, right, those no-good fem bimbos don't know how to do anything right." Streetwise grumbles at Silverbolt. But Emblem had already arrived, along with her bag of trashy insults. "Don't you dare diss us, you piece of slagged strut! And don't worry your delicate little aft, I can take Red Alert to the medical facility myself!" he snaps. Silverbolt nods, dismissing the insult against First Aid. "Thanks, Emblem." He shoves Red Alert's aft into the rescue vehicle, since Streetwise won't. "Streetwise, please." Why doesn't Hot Spot do his job? "Just lay off." He then makes his back over to the crater everyone else is working on, since Fireflight pretty much just finished the job he'd been assigned to with one sentence. He nods at Horsepower and First Aid. "Anything I can do to help?" Fireflight cheers as well while the refugees start pouring into the half built city, mimicing a traffic director while hovering above the moving crowds. He looks quite comical, but clearly enjoying himself. "Yeah, everyone in! We can't just turn you poor mechs and femmes away!" Attention soon wanders yet again when Wolfwings takes the lead however, mech lowering and landing softly to see Red Alert currently unconcious and bleeding from the head, a sight that makes him frown deeply with worry. "Is.. he gonna be alright?" Oh dear, did he cause this? Thankfully a medic arrives in time to help, but Streetwise actually insults her! "Streetwise!" Fireflight actually snaps, looking a little annoyed at the Protectobot. "That's no way to talk to a femme!" He raises a finger knowingly, wagging a little in the mech's direction. "You need to treat them nice, with respect." And Fireflight should know, the casanova of poetry always eager to write sonnets for the ladies. Though unfortunately it has yet to get him anywhere. Poor guy. Silverbolt was just about to help some gumbies haul materials when he hears Fireflight beginning to exacerbate an already-agitated situation with Streetwise. He groans and makes his way back over to him. He is definitely none too happy with Fireflight right now. "Fireflight. First. Just stay out of this. Second, Magnus gave us specific instructions to keep record of who's entering the city. If they all come pouring in at the same time, that gets to be kind of /difficult/. Granted, not /impossible/. Thus, it is now your job to go track down everyone who you just let in and record them in /this/ file." he says, thrusting a holopad at the other Aerialbot. The pad instructs its user to ask a series of questions to each mech entering the city, and record their answers. Magnus or someone will have to go through them later and decide who needed to be kicked out. "Think you can handle that?" Horsepower turns his head for a moment to shout over his shoulder "Send some of 'em over here 'Lita, we can use all the mechpower we can get with this foundation settin'." Then turns back to work, grabbing his tow boom and pulling it from his back to over his shoulder to use it like a minature crane. He grapples one of the reinforced plates and lifts it into place so the workers can fasten it down without having to support it at the same time." First Aid looks down at the tower towards the Aerialbot Leader. "Heya Bolts," he says, waving a socket wrench. "The primary node for this tower is basically complete. If you could try pinging its location and see if it responds? I'd do it myself, but at this range it'd hardly be a test." The Protectobot shoots a quick glance towards his wayward comrade. "Say, Streetwise isn't causing any trouble, is he?" Streetwise already wasn't in a good mood, Fireflight isn't helping the situation. "Now look here," he growls at the Aerialbot, "I don't want to hear any of your lip. You're the reason for all of this trouble here so don't be leaking lubricants all over me." He places his hands on his hips. "Heh, respect. If she wants my respect, she'll have to work REAL hard to earn it." Having neatly whipped the seventeen stooges in line, or some approximation of it, Elita points over to Horsepower, "You heard the mech, we're getting a foundation set up. The sooner the basic lines are in place, the sooner we can get shelter and homes built, right?" A murmur of agreement ruffles through the motley crew, "Alright then, let's build us a base." She marches the troop over to Horsepower, "Alright, if anyone's actually a skilled hand at this, you speak up, otherwise, you're all following Horsepower's lead for now." Some of them start getting the idea, stabilizing your crane load as it is brought into place, Elita nods her head back to the tunnel, "The rest of you, we've got conduits and cables to connect, nothing live but we don't want them damaged. Let's move on it." Fireflight opens his mouth to respond to Streetwise when he continues to be rude about the Healthabot femme, and even to him, but Silverbolt's voice halts him, the Aerialbot looking to his leader, frowning a little in a defeated look. "But I--" Silverbolt cuts him off again, fireflight just pressing his mouth into a thin line to form a mild, unhappy pout, grumbling softly and accepting the datapad shoved into his hands. "Yes, sir.." He mutters, staring at the pad a few long moments before venting something between a huff and a sigh, moving off to try and locate any of the refugees he foolishly let run wild. He really needed to start thinking more before doing something. Magnus watches the scuffle on the Wall through a security monitor. Beside him, Seaspray tries to be helpful. "Muhbee oo shul g'calm errybuddown!" He suggests. Magnus glances at him, not understanding. "What?" Seaspray tries again, slowers. "Maybe you should go calm everybody down!" Just then, there's a small explosion in the industrail district. A monitor flickers on and Bumblebee waves. "Bumblebee and Slag here! Nothing to worry about!" Magnus shakes his head at Seaspray. "It's not something I'm currently able to deal with right now, Seaspray. They'll work it out." Silverbolt nods curtly as he watches Fireflight trudge off unhappily. He knows the Bot doesn't like it, but he also knows it's for his own good. Mistakes have got to have consequences, otherwise one would never learn. Especially one like Fireflight. Maybe next time he'd actually /think/ about what he's doing for once. "Thank you, Fireflight." He then turns back to First Aid. "Sure thing, First Aid." He activates his internal comm and pings the tower. "As for Streetwise...well...let's just say he was a little too enthusiastic about sticking up for you when Emblem made a rude comment about you." A low, powerful rumble starts to echo across the ruins. Slowly approaching, a very painfully- colorful CF-130 Super Hercules starts to make its' way into view. Announced several minutes before he actually arrives, Fanfare, with the last load of parts and empty bins for the bits being hauled away, was making his final approach. Five kilometers from the Ruins itself, he turns down the Helloween and clicks on his radio to call ahead <> In his scotlike drawl <> he remembers at that point to turn his landing lights on, his engines pitching slightly as he begins to lose altitude in preparation for the landing. "Ugh," First Aid sighs, "I'll go talk to him," he tells Silverbolt. The doctor performs a series of jumps, hops, and skips as he descends down from the tower's skeletal structure. Within a few seconds, he lands neatly before the Aerialbot Commander. "Come on, lets put a stop to this before Streetwise and Blades get to swap prison stories." Aid steps towards the trouble, hands raised slightly, "Hey guys. How about we all go out for drinks together so we can bury the hatchet? You Healthabots do some great work, and I know I'd rather have you with us instead of against us." Magnus steps out of the crater and back to the tunnel entrance, turning to watch the sky when Fanfare crackles in. <> Elita One looks up, < Elita transforms into her altmode, zipping across the site to ride herd on the lost. Her lights flash, "No, no it is NOT a good time to 'crack one open', we've got a transport coming in. Clear the area." She mutters, "Where'd these guys manage to loot enershine from around here?" Fanfare starts to pass visually overhead at this stage, and his radioed response comes down to Magnus <> He hadnt seen them in a while and slowly, the giant plane started to bank around. It was almost as though watching a video in slow motion, the perception of his size plus the time it took to turn was. Almost lazily he begins to swing about for final approach, the pitch from his rotors changing once more to adjust. < He boasted. Emblem makes a face at First Aid. Well, she would, but she's still a rescue craft. "You sound so dumb, all of the time, First Aid." She transforms, and Red Alert falls off of the ramp he was halfway on, rolling limply to one side. "You aren't even a good rescue vehicle. I mean, come on. Wheels? Am I right?" She looks around at everyone, clearly having made a huge point. Wheels. Right? First Aid smiles with his optics at Emblem, chuckling in a good natured way, "Well, I consider wheels to be a stylistic choice in keeping with our Earthen friends, but everyone can choose for themselves what to go for." The doctor steps over to Red Alert in order to help him out, drawing out his medical tools even as he kneels down. "Over my dead chassis!" Streetwise hisses. "Great work, ha, my AFT! They're just a bunch of lazy aft femmes who run their mouths and not their servos." When she begins insulting First Aid, he's had enough. He grabs her by the wrist roughly, twisting downward. "Watch your lip components, you bolt helmed, ninny afted feminist. No one talks about Protectobots like that." And he gives her a rude shake. Even just the small amount of help makes a difference. More hands to do the work means less time and burden on each individual. And while construction may still be a learning process for Horsepower, his familiarity in keeping pit crews organized and on task is at least paying off here. Get a few mechs that actually know what they're doing and the team is making good headway now. He's also mostly ignoring the conflicts going on, being focused on the work at hand. Thank goodness for that to keep his attention. pose touched down 'gracefully' on the landing strip, and Fanfare's wheels rumbled, adding to the sheer wall of noise he produced simply by BEING. And he loved every minute of it. UP ahead of him, the group of bots seemed on a collision course with the mech, but the pitch dropped to near nothing, as he forgoes standard wheel-brakes and simply reverses the angle of his turboprop's blades. There is no squeel of tires as he lurched to a halt, but it was almost wince-worthy to observe his short-runway landing. Then he starts to move once more, taxiiing closer to the Aerialbots and others, dust flying everywhere and some debris as well as he slows, preparing to be guided into 'park' position. Fanfare touched down 'gracefully' on the landing strip, and Fanfare's wheels rumbled, adding to the sheer wall of noise he produced simply by BEING. And he loved every minute of it. UP ahead of him, the group of bots seemed on a collision course with the mech, but the pitch dropped to near nothing, as he forgoes standard wheel-brakes and simply reverses the angle of his turboprop's blades. There is no squeel of tires as he lurched to a halt, but it was almost wince-worthy to observe his short-runway landing. Then he starts to move once more, taxiiing closer to the Aerialbots and others, dust flying everywhere and some debris as well as he slows, preparing to be guided into 'park' position. Folding down and around, Fanfare turns into a Lime Green and Neon Orange Plaid CF-130 Super Hercules. Magnus watches the rest of the Healthabots heading for the Wall in a hurry. Seaspray shrugs up at the commander. "Shreetarse parbably purt a hernd ern Ermblerm." Ultra Magnus nods, and transforms, the diesel cab heading for the Wall. Time to settle things on his own.<> She directs a few of the gumbies to help unload Fanfare, then starts moving crates out as well, "We'll have you unpacked in no time, Fanfare...you're taking back the empties too, right?" He flails the other arm trying to fend off Silverbolt. "I'll teach them a lesson about respect, right now!" Streetwise tries elbowing Silverbolt an attempt to knock him off. Green Orange and Red plaid CF-130 Super Hercules smartly comes to a stop, and locks his wheels down. As the others approached he dropped the large cargo bay, allowing the pallets to be rolled out as needed. "Aye! Just load e'm up!" he notes, his blades still blowing dust all over. The sound is enough that one has to shout within 500 feet to be heard. inside, strains of 'Hells' Bells' was playing in his cabin. "If it werent fer that, ah woulda tried a new trick ah read about tae unload in record time." he admits. Elita One laughs, "Going for a medal in airdrop accuracy, Fanfare?" She tucks a hover lift against several of the pallets, then draws them back in a rehearsed motion. "You four, round up those empty crates, the rest of you, unload what we have here, we've got a schedule to keep." Green Orange and Red plaid CF-130 Super Hercules pffts "Ah STARTED the medal." he states to Elita One vainfully "But ets' mostly a speed and challenge thing. This drop? Milk run. Boring. Nothin' exiting. landin, turning about, and takin' off at full speed while yer cargo slides out of yer aft and lands perfectly aligned? THAT is the work of a master!" Semi Cab transforms as he reaches the top of the Wall, crossing his arms across his chest. It's the ghost of Prime, come to scold you all! "Autobots, what exactly is going on up here?" He glances down at Red Alert, who Streetwise and Emblem are standing on. "Healthabots, head to the residential section and help move residents into their temporary housing. The rest of you, wrap things up here. I'd like the Aerialsbots and Protectobots on the Wall tonight- Omega Supreme is currently running maintenance scans and won't be available for the next cycle."
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