CLOSED |

[wreckers]

Who: Verity and Prowl
Where: Outside the Forum
When: After Prom
What: Verity hitched the wrong ride home.
Warnings: TBD

[ Verity heard prom and all presentiments that most of the Cybertronian population, by and large, literal giant children who avoided their problems with greater than fervor than the lifelong flight risk and career drifter. She was almost impressed. Even after she showed up and watched them all meander around supporting the wall. Middle school antics. Her little cameo was brief before she got bored and failed to notice anyone she recognized or cared to reunite with. There was time enough to find the punch bowl; artificially flavored...something spiked with something else that settled in her stomach about as smoothly as a nail bomb.

While she had her wits about her when it was time to head out, her head was doing cartwheels with the edges of her vision jagged and black. Hating whatever bathtub moonshine was brewed for the scarce human presence at this weak excuse for a social gathering let alone dance, Verity leaned against the wall outside the Forum. Sinking down on the set of stairs set high enough that her feet dangled off the edge. She just needed a minute in the fresh(ish) air to ride out this headache before she risked strapping on the suit and going to her little hole in the wall. ]

Comments

[wreckers]

So let's stand around for the next millennia or two so we both feel a little more validated. No? Deal. Not everyone gets to stagnant.

[ That burst of sudden anger subsided to its colder more venomous iteration: spite.

Verity laughed hollow with a static non-expression that was unnerving, inhuman. ]

No, with you writing the script it makes it sound like you operate on full disclosure and we both know that's bullshit. It's not much of a card game when the dealer plays out half the deck, right? You needed a suicide squad and prodded every chink in their armor. Ironfist was never going to say no to a spot on the lionized Wreckers, and after three years of nothing coming out of G-9, Springer wasn't going to leave it alone.

I don't know what Rodimus's deal was but you probably played him too and made it out like keeping everyone in the dark was the only option. Turn the Lost Light into a loaded gun and call the one who pulled the trigger a hero to the cause.

[ Armor almost completely on sans her helmet a few plated joints around her legs from the knee down, Verity detached the ion cannon from the forearm and trained it on Prowl. It was small, but deceptively so; it was still the kind of firepower that could put down a Cybertronian for good. ]

You wanted Aequitas to be my ticket out? This is yours.

[pffft]

[There's a sigh as the armor begins to crawl up her other half. All said and done, Prowl didnt actually want to kill Verity. Would he have the option to pry the data from her without damaging her at all, he would.]

[But, well, here he was, about a nanoklik away from having an ion gun fixed on him. Not a particularly unfamiliar situation. His battle computer churns, running a thousand situations in the second or two it takes for his own weapons to draw.]

[As the weapon finally fixes on him, he discharges with a cold and practiced efficiency and without the slightest hesitation. One shot - low yield - aimed at the ground between Verity's feet to obliterate the floor altogether.]

[wreckers]

[ Verity balked at the jump when push finally came to shove. In the precious few moments before their standoff went into direct conflict, Verity's thoughts were in freefall and her finger shaking over the trigger.

It boiled down to one simple fact: she knew Prowl. This was not some facsimile whose sentience was academic or an unknown. There was a name attached to face that, for good or ill, resonated with her. And at the last second they both came to the same conclusion and her aim jerked upward with the crosshairs towards the plating in his shoulders; nonlethal but enough to slow him down.

The ion blast went off and at the same time a low yield burst exploded at her feet. The armor plating around her right ankle slid into place at the worst possible moment and Verity braced as she watched her knee buckle and the direction of the joint contort in the wrong direction. Verity bit back her urge to cry out and instead pushed that rush of pain in a more productive direction. Armor on, her helmet locked into place around her head and with the HUD activated she whipped around, looked for the first way out and in a full tilt run she would not have been able to achieve without the armor let alone with the leg plates holding her ankle in place, bolted away with warning shots going in a directionless spray patter over her shoulder. ]

[pffft]

[The shot connects, sinking deep into the armor plating and sending a jolt of pain up his shoulder. Pain that was far duller than it should be, even though it's been months since his last combination. Still, he's forced a step back, and takes another moment to check if the joint still works.]

[Keeping an arm up to protect his head from the occasional shot, he sinks energy into the blasters in his opposite wrist. The second blast is far more potent, ripping up considerable amounts of ground to her right side. The third shot explodes into a weak supporting column, causing the structure to shudder violently and begin to buckle and fall apart into what he calculated to be her likely escape path.]

You're making this more difficult than it needs to be.

[wreckers]

What, like we're going to talk it out?

[ Verity is glad for the sound amplifiers in her helmet; it meant she didn't have to yell until her throat was bleeding over the gunfire and hauling at nearly 20MPH on foot.

Any more verbal swipes are cut short when the second volley upends her when the ground goes out under her feet and by the third she's forced to evade only to end up being slammed hard against an already downed structural column. Being slammed into curved surface of the column even with the shock absorbers in her suit is murder on her already beat to hell body. The wind is knocked right out of her and she swears she hears something crack.

Instead of going down, Verity reacts. Deploying the wheels on the thighs of the armor they slide into place over the feet and she throws out her arms, pushing herself away from the weakened structure. Rubber burning she skids effortlessly in a daring move under the collapsing column before it can box her in. She doubles back into the open with her rifle detached from the arm again, firing with Prowl's limbs and the segmented plates around the joints in the crosshairs. Aiming was difficult while moving, but if Prowl wanted to drag this out than so be it. ]

[pffft]

[As the shots begin to land their marks, he pushes into his vehicle mode and digs his treads into the dry ground. But rather than simply rush forward, he curves around into the remaining structure to act as some minimal cover for the irritating gunfire. Even while needing to compensate for falling debris, it was only a few moments before he passes her running speed.]

[As soon as he spots an opening, he twists his wheels and quickly slides sideways out of the jagged remains of building with a snarl of the engine. Tires screeching, the black and white bulk of an SUV doing a ridiculous maneuver out of Tokyo Drift pushes him into her path mid-transformation.]

[Don't mind if he just reaches out with a curious hand to attempt to snatch her right off her feet.]

[wreckers]

[ Verity knew she was neither shooting blind or handling something more antiquated like Earth weaponry; she can see where the metal puckers under each successful it. There is more than one moment where she stalls, training her weapon and not firing even when Prowl doesn't duck behind the debris. It occurs to her she's regulating herself. Lethal action wasn't a problem in these sorts of situation, but subconsciously or not she isn't cutting loose.

She only starts to second guess the rationale behind that when tires shriek on the broken pavement and a massive hand comes over her. Feet off the ground she fights to get her arm free enough to give her enough time to get in one more shot, aiming at the half-transformed leg where on a human the achilles tendon would be located. Pay back before she's completely immobilized without enough room to struggle and only enough energy to inhale sharply when pain shoots up her sides like glass digging into her lungs. ]

[pffft]

Hng!

[The shifting machinations whine as the shot misaligns something near the wheel's suspension attempting to shift back into place. He stumbles on the foot as pain shoots up his leg, doing his well best not to squeeze Verity too tightly as he rises to his feet more carefully.]

[Prowl's grip was far from gentle, but he no intention of hurting her any further now that he has what he wants. After a few jagged breaths, he regains his posture.]

A conversation is exactly what I need. But not with you.

[He examines the suit with a sharp eye, looking for any kind of information port that he might be able to access from the cable extending from his own wrist. Datamining the entirety of the EDC took a minute or two at most, the only barrier keeping him out of this was largely physical.]

[loyaute]

( To say that Arcee had been watching is putting it mildly - Arcee always watches. Autobot she may be but it's easier to survive here and deal with it if she falls back on what she knows. With what had occurred on Earth means this was only a matter of time; it's not something she's going to look over, however. Not with the Autobrand heavy on her chest.

Her landing kicks up even more dust and dirt than their previous activities - she's not surprised Prowl brought down a whole building in his efforts to get whatever it is. Whoever it is. He likes his extremes. That's fine. Arcee likes her's. Her swords are unsheathed the moment her feet gain purchase on the ground - the flame cutting through the dust as she saunters towards Prowl. )

Let the human go.

( The threat is obvious in her tone, and this time he doesn't have the Constructicons backing him up. But if slamming him into a wall wouldn't stop him, she's going to have to resort to more drastic measures. )

[wreckers]

[Verity, of course, resists - first, always, and relentlessly. Her HUD display goes as haywire as the heart beating rapidly in her chest as Prowl attempts find a way into the suits computer. Unbeknownst to him, Prowl would physically have to peel away the plating to find where she stashed the hard copy. Struggling wouldn't do anything when he would come to that conclusion, but that didn't stop her. ]

I can't b-

[ Breath. And no she could not. Prowl might not be actively attempting to squeeze the life out of her but it was aggravating injuries that were there before he nabbed her and it was excruciating. Verity only saw Arcee on the approach as a brightly colored blur obstructing the uniformly grey rubble surrounding them. The burning heat of the of her sword reflecting orange in the blue tint of Verity's visor as she tries to claw her way free, mutely urging Arcee to intervene since she clearly didn't come here to help Prowl. ]

[pffft]

[Although Verity struggled in his grip, he didn't release - any looser and she'd have room to slip an arm out and fire more rounds.]

[Prowl is calm as Arcee lands a few feet away, swords drawn. He knows better than to draw his own weapons when he was injured and had one hand occupied. If anyone was familiar with just how dangerous her combat prowess was, it was Prowl.]

Dropping her would only exacerbate her injuries [It was almost as if he was discussing the weather.]

And her name is Verity. She's stolen intelligence that she has no business sticking her nose in. [He looks down at Verity's helmet, spotting the data port at the base of the head, just above the spine.] After retrieving it I'll be finished with my business here.

[loyaute]

You're smart, Prowl. Figure it out.

( A way to release her without harming her, that is. When she's close enough, she doesn't hesitate to raise one towards both him and Verity. She doesn't actually use Vertiy's name because she's Bad at Being Likable. )

Then leave it to Prime. You've injured a human, Prowl. Prime won't like that.

[wreckers]

Screw Prime - I don't like it.

[ It was Verity. Her voice was reedy; thin with the air being strangled through her windpipe like forcing sound out of a dented whistle. Whether it had been Arcee showing up with that firm warning and firm grip on the hilt of those nasty looking blade, maybe even the injuries - whatever it was, Verity noticed Prowl's grip slackened by no more an inch or even two. Only noticeable because her lungs were burning but she took advantage of that only unconscious slip up immediately.

Arm loose she lunged forward and grabbed the only thing she could - the cable on Prowl's wrist and then she yanked. Deep wired - not supposed to come out, she mused briefly, at least not without hurting like hell. (Unless it was numbed because you were say, a combiner head, but details. Sparks shot up against her helmet and Verity was holding one nastily fraying cable in her hand. ]

[pffft]

[An actual streak of pain dimly races up his arm as one of the extensor cables are ripped out of place. Even the changes of the combiner frame didn't completely mask the pain something that deeply engrained being torn out of its socket. There's even a slight hint of what would have been a grimace that streaks across his face.]

[His grip twitches as he looses some feeling in one of his fingers, and lets her fall - only to hold her upside down by the leg. Humans tend to doze off it you dangle them long enough.]

You should have thought of that before blasting my cabin.

[There's some genuine irritation there, but he looks at Arcee, extending the hand towards one of the swords.]

You can hold her while I read the suit if that satisfies whatever artificial moral hangup is keeping you here, just be careful of her bite.

[loyaute]

( 'Artificial moral hangup'. Irritation flashes across her face at that, grip on her swords tightening. She's been trying,she knows he knows he hasn't liked it. But Prowl can live with it, and live with her choosing to do something he doesn't like.

Arced looks from Verity to Prowl and then back to Verity before sheathing one of her swords. Her extremely limited experience with humans leads her to believe that Prowl isn't carrying her appropriately, so she wraps her hand around Verity's waist - still holding her upside down. When she has Verity firmly in her grasp and Prowl has let her go, there a flash of light as Arcee severs the connection between the two of them with her sword. No more wires for you, Prowl. )

You're done here.

( And she raises her remaining swords to cover both her and the organic, taking a step back. )