robothell | [ INTRO LOG ]

You don't know how you got here. One minute you were walking, sleeping, maybe dead -- then you're here, your feet suddenly carrying you down an empty street. Where's here?

Any Cybertronian would recognize this as their home planet, Cybertron, but it's not a Cybertron they've ever known. It has all the familiar hallmarks, but none of the specifics -- the city isn't one anyone here could identify, and even at a glance it's obvious that no one's set foot on the planet's surface in hundreds of years. The city and its surrounding areas all bear the marks of devastating war, of dust and rust collected over centuries. With no one in sight -- right at first, anyway -- there's plenty to explore. In fact, if you start walking, you'll find that your feet may just carry you in one particular direction.

A) The crater.
On one edge of the city is a massive crater left by some wartime weapon that seems to have taken out a large chunk of the surrounding metropolitan area. At the center of the crater it's broken through the surface of the terrain to reveal what looks like it might be a promising energon deposit. There is some strange but native vegetation growing around the edges, too, that no Cybertronian would be able to identify -- small, metallic, brittle-looking sprouts that bear a curiously organic-looking fruit of some kind that doesn't look like it's intended for consumption by any natives of the planet. In one rocky nook of the crater, light catches on the surface of a pool of water, which seems strangely out of place on Cybertron. On closer inspection, it seems that somehow an underground water source has formed a spring in the crater.

B) The center of the city.
If you follow where your feet seem to want to carry you, you'll find yourself in the middle of the ruined city. It seems that the center of the city was once home to a massive forum, and some of the pillars and structures still stand. At the very center of the forum is a massive, elaborately constructed fountain, although it has now long since run dry of whatever used to fill it. One of the low, inner walls of the forum has a terminal embedded in its surface, although it looks curiously ancient, out of place with the rest of the city, and unlike the rest of the technology still left around, there doesn't seem to be any way to power it on or operate it. There are a few scattered pools of water and a few of the strange metallic plants in the city, too, but they're not quite as plentiful as in the crater.

The planet was obviously once home to a massive network of communication relays, but those have all been long since destroyed. However, with the bits and pieces left behind and a few determined minds, it wouldn't be too hard to build a working, if rudimentary, one...

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

One moment, Airachnid panics as she enters involuntary stasis by her own careless mistake, and the next, she finds herself awaking in a strange, ruined building. The first few moments of consciousness are devoted to returning her sensors and vital functions to full capacity after the lull of stasis, but as soon as she's alert, she shifts into a ready and wary stance.

What's happening? Did someone release her from the Insecticon's stasis pod? She looks around and sees nobody. There's no stasis pod, either. Where is she? Careful, she steps toward a shattered window and peeks outside. Familiar-looking streets and buildings, marked with the signs of war and abandonment, place her in a clearly Cybertronian city, but how is she suddenly on Cybertron with no trace of how she got there? Moreover, which city is this? It doesn't look quite familiar enough for her to know where she is.

She doesn't like this. Not one bit. It's better than being in stasis, sure, but not having control over a situation doesn't really fly by her. There are too many questions for her to feel comfortable.

With a final visual sweep of her surroundings, Airachnid heads out of the building and into the city. She remains vigilant as she stalks through the debris-filled alleys and empty, destroyed buildings. As much as she wants to find answers, she can't be sure of what might be out here.

Starscream is also still picking his way through the city, and is actually doing a pretty good job of being quiet and stealthy... though being overall larger and heavier than Airachnid, he's bound to face a few difficulties that she might not.

He's poking around the interior of what appears to be an old hab suite along the exterior wall, when he takes a step and hears an ominous groan... which is then promptly followed by the snapping of old metal as the floor gives out from underneath him.

Outside, at ground level in an alley way, there's a sudden cascade of rubble and debris as the corner of an entire building suddenly gives up trying to be whole and sloughs off, right in front of Airachnid. Fortunately for Starscream, it's mostly crumbling rust: after a few beats the seeker suddenly bursts free from the rubble, one clawed hand punching its way out, followed by his snarling livid face, then his shoulders, wings and chest. His eyes clenched shut, he shakes his head and rapidly flits his wings, trying to get some of the dust of.

Airachnid draws back to avoid being hit by rubble from the collapse, but she relaxes once the dust begins to settle. Simply another building further falling into ruin. Nothing to see here, she thinks, just as the hand bursts from the debris.

She's certainly not expecting that, but she wipes the look of surprise from her face and puts her guard back up as soon as the event registers. Just in time, too, because it's none other than Starscream who emerges from the rubble pile. Things are suddenly making a lot less sense, but maybe he has answers.

"Starscream," she says, a mixture of amusement and displeasure in her voice. "What a nice surprise it is to see you here."

The jet whips his gaze to the source of the voice. Though his scowl remains on the same level there's a hint of displeasure in his optics. Slag it. On the list of 'Decepticons he'd rather not run into,' Airachnid is pretty far up on the list, probably outdone only by Dreadwing.

"Airachnid," he says slowly, starting to wriggle the rest of his way out of the rubble, even more eager to remove himself from a position of vulnerability. "The feeling is... mutual," he says flatly, straightening up and reaching up to flick some dust off of his shoulder. He doesn't take his eyes off of her as he does so, visibly on the defensive already.

Starscream's unease draws a little smile to Airachnid's face, but she knows not to be careless around him. No matter the strange place in which they find themselves, Starscream is still backstabbing and self-serving. That's pretty much a universal constant.

"I'm glad to hear it," she says, narrowing her optics slightly. "Now, what would you be doing in a place like this? Let me guess: ineffectual scheming."

Well you're one to talk, Airachnid.

Starscream growls, not entirely unlike a displeased little yappy dog, flattening his wings back with displeasure. "If you must know, I am searching for Lord Megatron so that we might reunite and plumb the depths of the mysteries around just where the hell we are and how we got here." He raises a hand and makes a big show of inspecting his claws. "What about you. I assumed you would have still been stranded on the moon, along with your bug-brained armada."

Airachnid crosses her arms and looks at him for a moment. "The moon," she repeats skeptically. "I'm truly sorry to break the news, Starscream, but either your memory's failing, or you're delusional. I was never stranded on any moon, armada or no." She frowns. "And what's this about searching for Megatron? I suppose I may have...missed some events, given the situation in which I found myself, but surely not enough time has passed for Megatron to forgive you and allow you back into the fold?"

Speaking of forgiveness and lack thereof, Airachnid still has some scores to settle: with Megatron, first of all, with Arcee, and, now that she thinks about it, with Starscream as well. His actions did lead her to her Insecticon army, though, brief as her time with it was. (Thanks, Arcee.) Maybe she'll reconsider getting revenge on him...or maybe not. She'll keep it in mind. For now, it's on the back-burner.

Oh. Oh she’s not as far ahead in time as he is either. Oops. His shock at this revelation is visible on his face for a moment, but he regains his composure and straightens up in an attempt to look more regal and/or imposing, like a bird flattening down its ruffled feathers. “Oh that’s right... you were in stasis. Yes it has been quite a while, actually. I have the privilege of being Megatron’s top officer, once again, since you and Dreadwing both were so kind as to vacate the spot. So I suggest showing a little bit more respect when speaking to an officer of such rank.”

He ends that last sentence with a finger jabbing rudely in her direction. He’s not going to touch upon or try to explain that moon shit, either. Nope. Not important she definitely misheard him entirely.

"Are you an NBE?" The monotone voice echos through the empty alleyway, making its owner difficult to pinpoint. Not that he's easy to pinpoint at the best of times, being only about five inches tall.

Spy Shot sits in a crack part-way up a crumbling wall, peering out curiously at Airachnid with round red optics.

Airachnid looks around, searching for the source of the voice. It takes a little bit of effort, but eventually she spots the little red glow from Spy Shot's optics. Pretty lucky that the rest of their surroundings are faded ruins. She walks over to where he's sitting so that she can inspect him more closely – there's likely no need to be too on-guard with someone this small.

She leans in closer to really emphasize their difference in size. "Who's asking?"

The tiny bot seems unperturbed by Airachnid's size and proximity, simply continuing to stare. He's not being brave or anything, fear just isn't an emotion he's ever been prone to feeling.

"I'm asking," he answers, matter-of-factually. Very helpful. 100% true, though.

[ INTRO LOG ]

THE CITY

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