ANH. Bespin Station. It just might be getting worse; we'll get back to you

[astrotechmech]

The room where Jetfire and Arcee find themselves after Nemesis Prime finishes torturing Jetfire maybe be small, dark, and bare, but it is not completely soundproof.

Muffled voices can be heard in the hall outside of the "dungeon" sometime after the 'Troopers throw them in. Jetfire might be able to recognize that one voice is a very irritated Smokescreen.

"I'm going in."

"But sir! You can't!--I mean, shouldn't! You've seen what happened. That mech might--

"You're not changing my mind on this, mech."

"I mean, look at what happened this morning! There's no telling--"

"Out of my way, mech."

"But, sir! Sir!"

It is at this moment that the door opens, and the voices become clear and attached to faces, starting with Smokescreen as he turns to give a parting shot to the concerned security mech behind him before crossing the dungeon's threshold.

"If Jetfire wants to harm me, so be it! I deserve every blow I get after what I've done to him!"

Even in the dim lighting, it will be quite apparent that Smokescreen is not exactly "running on all four pistons." As he storms in, the two in the room will be able to see that--along with being the embodiment of annoyance right now--he is showing the signs of exhaustion. . . . Something that implies that he didn't get a lot of recharge in last night, and also that he's been employing a "poker face" to conceal that fact for most of the day. As it is, Smokescreen has to restrain himself from leaning on something within the room once he is inside.

The security guard bursts into the room soon after. "Sir, I--"

The security mech stops when he takes in the others in the room, instantly clamming up and falling into Smokescreen's 'shadow'. "Greenie" is figuratively written all over his face.

Comments

[astrotechmech]

Smokescreen makes sure that Jetfire is laying down and that Arcee has him well in hand before he walks back over to where Sideswipe has been standing awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

"Uh, sorry it took me so long to get back sir," Sideswipe begins his report, "but I think Drosak needs to get his audios checked again. He didn't think I was asking for 'low grade' and kept trying to kick me out of the storage area to get what he thought I wanted.

Smokescreen glosses over Sideswipe's delay in order to ask a different question as he holds out one of his hands to receive one of the cubes. "Are these from the same batch?"

"Yes, sir," Sideswipe affirms, handing one over. "Drosak was sure of it and made sure I knew it too." Sideswipe seems a bit annoyed at the last, but he doesn't stop there, even as Smokescreen takes a sip of the cube he was given and takes on a contemplative look as if trying to figure something out. "He even said he had someone watching it, but there wasn't anyone . . ."--Sideswipe trails off as he realizes what Smokescreen is doing--"there."

Smokescreen finally looks satisfied enough with whatever conclusion he came up with turns back to Sideswipe with a somewhat quizzical look at Sideswipe's trailing off. "You don't need to be physically in the room to keep an eye on things."

"Why didn't I think of that, sir?" Sideswipe asks, referring to what he realized Smokescreen was doing.

"You haven't been around the rougher crowds Jetfire and I have," Smokescreen reassures, giving Sideswipe a pat on the shoulder before offering him the cube he took a drink from. "Hold this. . . . And it's more to stifle habitual paranoia more than anything. Don't worry about it."

Smokescreen takes the other two cubes and turns back to Arcee.

[random_xtras]

Arcee gives Sideswipe an absent frown, and then turns back to Smokescreen, an unspoken question on her drawn face.

[astrotechmech]

"Here," Smokescreen says, offering one of the cubes to her. "I can do this much without getting any ire, at least." Yeah, he's not really sure either.

Smokescreen then frowns down at Jetfire and pokes him cautiously for signs of life.

[random_xtras]

"What now?" asks Arcee, as Jetfire flails slightly and mumbles more. "Is there any way to warn Hot Shot?"

Jetfire snorts. "Kid'll know, Princess." Then he blinks as Arcee lifts his head and sets the cube to his face plate. "...Last meal of the condemned mech?"

[astrotechmech]

Smokescreen is beaten to the respective punches as Jetfire answers the question about Hot Shot and Arcee starts to help Jetfire take in fuel.

Instead, he nods in agreement with Jetfire about Hot Shot and answers Arcee's original question. "There's not much more I can do now without putting my people in danger. I don't really know what Nemesis Prime's plans are until he changes the deal on me, and Jerkface Nemesis Prime is too obsessed with the young Jedi to for me to be able to help him out. I'm afraid he's on his own. And I don't have the resources to help you, Jetfire, when both Imperials and Hutts are involved. . . . When the Imps leave, maybe I can come up with rescue plan. Maybe. I can't make any definite promises." Smokescreen looks somewhat frustrated but resigned at that. Maybe he knew if Nemesis Prime could actually read his mind . . . ". . . All I know is that this deal isn't gonna blow up on me completely. I think I can at least keep you and the astrotechs safely out of Nemesis Prime's hands, Arcee."

Smokescreen chuckles dryly at Jetfire's last comment. "I was thinking that it'd at least give ya a fighting chance at whatever they throw at you next, but you can go that route if you want to. . . . And if Cyclonus wants to collect his reward, he needs ya alive so it shouldn't be your last."

[random_xtras]

"You realize that if he decides he does want me for something, that you'd be jeopardizing your people and this city?" says Arcee absently, her brows drawn together in a frown as she watches Jetfire's weary drinking.

And the look that Jetfire is directing toward Smokescreen, which says clearly that he doesn't believe that needing to be alive guarantees him any fuel at all.

[astrotechmech]

Smokescreen briefly doubletakes at that. He frowns, thinking for a few moments, but then he shrugs in defeat and raises his hands. "All I know is is that it's gonna work out--but I don't know the details as to how."

"All right, you got me," Smokescreen admits, replying to Jetfire's look. "It does depend on what Jabba wants you for, and if Cyclonus wants to stay on his good side."

[random_xtras]

Jetfire finishes the cube and turns his head away. "Know what 'e wants me for, Smokie. Scrap, or the scraplet pit."

Then he glances at Arcee. "It'll work out, Princess. Kia said it, 'n now this old backfire did too."

Arcee doesn't reply, except with a Look.

[astrotechmech]

"He still wouldn't want someone else taking his shot at ya," Smokescreen says before he finally backs down from the argument, offering to exchange cubes with Arcee, his look a gentle suggestion that she keep this one for herself.

[random_xtras]

"Get outta here," says Jetfire quietly once Arcee has the new cube, his optics switching off as he reaches for recharge. "Get lost."

[astrotechmech]

"I heard ya the first time." Smokescreen chuckles dryly, shrugging off the harshness the words would normally bring and whacking Jetfire lightly in farewell. "Gotta make sure that nothing's blown up in my absence anyway." Smokescreen's face then falls into a frown. ". . . And make sure Nemesis Prime isn't eying anything else."

Smokescreen pushes off of the bench, where he had inadvertently started leaning, and turns to give Arcee a nod in farewell. "Arcee."

He then walks across the room to collect the security mech, who has engaged in a starting contest with the grate after hearing a noise that the others had not been close enough to hear. "Come on, Sideswipe."

Sideswipe gives the offending grate one last look before following his boss out of the room and handing Smokescreen the last low grade cube when he reaches for it.

"I'm starting to think I'm the one going crazy," Sideswipe says conversationally, before turning his attention to Smokescreen's downing of the cube almost in one go. ". . . Do you want me to get you some mid-grade with energy boosters?" Should I have gotten you coffee instead, sir?

Smokescreen sighs contently once the cube is empty and hands it to Sideswipe. "No. That stuff always makes me crash and burn at the worst moments, and I don't need that right now." He looks thoughtful for a moment before giving Sideswipe a pat on the shoulder in farewell. "And it's back to the tyrant."