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| - November 26, 2011 (The Tina, Polyhex) --- Vortex lurks on an isolated seat, staring into his energon and kicking the legs of his chair in a desultory fashion. Every so often, he huffs, and slumps further down. Nova Black walks into the Tina and immediately notices the sulking copter. Curious, she walks over to where he's sitting. "Hey, Vortex." She twitches her wings in a manner that might be sympathetic. "Something wrong?" "No," Vortex lies. "Hey." He prods his cube, and the liquid sloshes. Nova Black grins. *This* is more like it. "I don't know. Who was that?"
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| abstract
| - November 26, 2011 (The Tina, Polyhex) --- Vortex lurks on an isolated seat, staring into his energon and kicking the legs of his chair in a desultory fashion. Every so often, he huffs, and slumps further down. Nova Black walks into the Tina and immediately notices the sulking copter. Curious, she walks over to where he's sitting. "Hey, Vortex." She twitches her wings in a manner that might be sympathetic. "Something wrong?" "No," Vortex lies. "Hey." He prods his cube, and the liquid sloshes. "All right," Nova answers, taking a seat beside him. "Just thought I'd ask. You missed some action recently. I think you might have liked it. There were explosions." Not waiting for an answer in case he'll take it as pity and get even more annoyed, she turns away and orders a cube for herself, letting him decide if he wants to hear about it or not. Vortex 's head snaps up. "What exploded?" he says. Hopefully not a black and purple seeker, because that really won't go well for him. Nova Black's optics narrow as she regards him thoughtfully. Normally he'd be a bit more excited about it. What *is* going on here? "A Dinobot. Hookshot landed on his back and fitted him with an explosive." Her turbines rev in amusement at the memory. "Big brute was so dumb he had no idea what hit him until his undercarriage went boom." Vortex perks up, and then instantly develops a case of extreme jealousy; he'd love to have done something that awesome. "That the same one whose flamethrower I shot out a while back?" he says. Nova Black grins. *This* is more like it. "I don't know. Who was that?" "Big slagger," Vortex says. "Bulky body, long neck, long tail, truly fraggin' immense." He neglects to mention the bit about how the Dinobot chewed him up and got him grounded, although Nova will probably know about that from Quickrazor. Nova Black nods. "Probably the same big, dumb piece of Autoslag then. Glider did a damn good job of keepin' him occupied while Starscream and I shot the rest of 'em up." Her engine revs. "Well, mostly I did. Starscream got toasted early on." Vortex snickers. "Who was with the Dinobot?" he asks. A grin spreads slowly over the Seeker's black face, her optics flaring in cruel satisfaction. "One of their scientists. Big gun, but couldn't aim worth a damn. But the other --" her optics gleam brighter yet -- "was that Shark mech, with the teeth. He took a few bites outta me a while back. This time I got him good. *Real* good. Shot him almost to scrap until Commander Crispy knocked him offline." Her wings flick again. "Woulda finished him too, if Exploded Dino hadn't been just functional enough after the big kaboom to drag 'em into a tunnel." Vortex listens, a grin finally appearing on his face, but it fades when it becomes clear that the Dinobot survived. "What the frag is it with Dinobots?" he says. "It's like they're indestructible." Then the grin comes back. "Righteous vengeance tastes good, doesn't it?" "I don't know," Nova admits, reaching for the energon a bored bartender has finally seen fit to deposit in front of her and taking a long swig. "But yes, yes it does taste good. That tune-up Quickrazor gave me did a hell of a lot, it seems. None of the vermin even hit me." Vortex kicks the chair leg again and manages to suppress a growl of his engine. "Nice to see someone gets appropriate treatment," he says. Nova Black winces and then fights carefully to hide it. "Somethin' happen?" "Glitch tied me up, then grounded me and hid my new rotors in his locked office so no-one could fit them." Vortex prods the cube again, so self-absorbed that he doesn't notice Nova's response to his previous statement. Nova Black vents a long draft of air. She hadn't heard that. "What? Why?" She hopes it sounds curious rather than short -- she has no issue with Vortex and, in fact, has always enjoyed talking to him. But she also isn't about to assume Quickrazor didn't do that for a reason. "I dunno!" Vortex huffs. "There's this mech I got put on a mission under. Onslaught. All cannons and stuff. I was out cold, and Onslaught tells Quickrazor I need tying up for everyone else's own good. I never met the slagger before." Vortex refuses to acknowledge that Onslaught might have had access to certain older copies of his official records; he can't have, those were dealt with. "And the rotor thing, he said he was 'busy'. Yeah right. Knifey could'a fitted them. Fraggin' hate medics." Apart from his new friend and fellow collector of isolated body parts obviously. Nova Black lowers her head, carefully hiding a tiny smile. She doesn't know this Onslaught mech and has no idea what might have happened between him and Vortex, but even *she* could have guessed that Vortex should probably be restrained now and again. "Well," she says finally, "I'm sorry to hear that. But -- things were a little -- tense in the beginning between Quickrazor and Knifepoint, I know that." She flicks her wings and takes another drink. "I don't blame you for bein' torqued about it, though." All that strikes him as a little too diplomatic, but he doesn't really care. He isn't out to undermine Nova, though, so he doesn't bother to scratch at it. "Tense? Ha. That's one way to put it. Any fatalities in that group of 'bots you slagged?" Nova Black's optics flicker and her lip plates twitch faintly. She hasn't heard anything recently about that feud, and she'd really rather it die, thank you. But the other half of his reply gives her something she can speak to. "Not that I know of, unless they offlined before Hulking and On Fire got 'em back to Iacon or wherever." She snarls, clearly unhappy to be cheated of that prize. "You sure he had enough left in him to get 'em back?" Vortex asks hopefully. Nova Black glares down at her cube as though it's the Dinobot in question. "Hope not. Suspect so. It wasn't that big an explosive. And like you said, whatever those beasts are built out of, it doesn't scrap easy." "You'll get 'em," Vortex says. "You just need a bigger bomb." Nova Black grins. "I like the way you think, copter." Vortex just laughs quietly and stares into his drink. Perhaps he can take out Hookshot /and/ Quickrazor at the same time. Maybe all he needs is more explosives too. Nova Black notices Vortex laughing quietly and says nothing. She's not stupid. He's being entirely too nice about all this. Just like she is.
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