randomplaces | Nexus. By the sign. Hormah

"Noooo!" More flailing, and then a pause to hold her head and beep some more.

"Come here," says Blackout quietly.

Hormah pauses and blinks, but then gets up and walks over unhesitatingly.

Iceberg chuckles at Hormah, then looks up at the Decepticon beside him, wondering with only slight wariness what she's going to do to the kid.

She's going to take Hormah's chin in her hand and scan her throughly, noting the similarities between the rookie and the little red bot, and the similarities between the rookie and herself. She won't say it, but she's very pleased with the steady but unchallenging way that Hormah's yellow optics look back at her and with the way she'd obeyed without question or flinching despite Blackout's intention to shoot her moments before.

//I like this one,// she tells Scorponok, then looks down at Iceberg. "You're sure you don't want her?"

Her. Not it.

Scorponok considers that. Blackout likes good things, usually. And if this one makes Blackout happy... then Scorponok is pleased.

Iceberg isn't so pleased with the obedience as she is, but for all he knows it's a trait from Blackout and not himself. It seems unlikely, but he can hope. He does like the lack of fear, though.

"It's not down to wanting," he says, watching the the two of them. "But my team's work environment isn't exactly rookie-friendly. And maintenance costs aside, she wouldn't get looked after properly tagging along with us." Youngsters need training, he reckons, and as much choice of company as possible, and inhabited places to roam around in - heck, so do his own guys, now and again. He gives Blackout a sidelong, assessing look. "Think she'd be all right with you?"

He's slightly surprised that the Decepticon sounds willing to take the kid. But Iceberg's never been one to turn down a good opportunity. This one doesn't seem too bad, and he's sure the youngster's tough.

Not that he doesn't have a couple of safeguards on the disks in his hand...

"Scorponok and I live in the Nexus now," rumbles Blackout, turning Hormah to examine her shell construction more thoroughly. "Though at the moment we're staying with another team while I'm repaired." No point in letting anyone think she's naturally this weak. "The other team has a rookie as well, so I don't think she'll get in the way too badly."

She blinks at the cheeky beep that the rookie gives in response to that, then gives her a gentle cuff upside the head and resumes her examination. "What's this?"

"Sounds pretty good." Iceberg nods, then moves over to see what Blackout's looking at. "What's what now?"

"It looks like some sort of connection port." She brushes the powerlink with a finger, frowning, then lifts a browplate as Hormah tries to squirm away from the touch.

Iceberg's expression abruptly shifts from startled to impassive as he looks away. "Yeah, that's... that's not for anything good. I'd get it disconnected pretty soon if I were you."

A thought strikes him and he looks back at the port to check if it's the kind found on a Bulk or a Minicon. With mixed tech, you never know, and it matters.

"What is it?" She frowns down at him, taking her hand away as Hormah continues to squirm.

It looks like it could be either, actually.

And that isn't a good sign. He'd rest easier if he knew it was a Bulk-type - there might be dangers with that, but not as many.

"Powerlinx tech," he says simply, staring at Hormah. "It's no use outside of worlds like mine, and no-one there's used it in years."

"What is powerlinx tech?" Her frown shifts slightly to scowl.

Hormah just sticks a hand over the port and scowls herself.

"Power-boosting technology," he says shortly. "Connects a Minicon to a B- an Autobot or Decepticon and gives the second one a temporary upgrade like you wouldn't believe. Like I said, the stuff's useless now."

She recalls his reaction to being picked up, then looks at the rookie and rumbles angrily. "Come here."

"No." Hormah sidles away, her hand still over the port.

"I said come here." Blackout's hand goes out demandingly.

"No!"

"Hold on." Iceberg raises a hand, looking at Blackout. "You might try explaining what you want her for?"

The big femme looks down at him, wondering what he's on.

Since when do you explain things to rookies?

-Maybe he means he wants to know.-

"I'm going to destroy the port."

Iceberg would be very amused if he knew what she was thinking.

"Not now," he says firmly. "Unless you're a medic, and even if you are you don't know Minicon tech well enough. Thing is, that stuff's complicated. And it seems to affect our sparks some way or another. You can't afford to mess around with it."

Her frown deepens. "You should have specified when you said it needed to be disabled."

"No, it doesn't." Hormah scrunches down with both hands over the port now.

Iceberg shrugs at Blackout and turns to Hormah. "Kid, it's not gonna do you any good and you don't want to know the damage you could get."

"It's part of me." She frowns at him, her optics shifting to Blackout as she braces herself for a possible cuff. That femme is silent, however, letting Iceberg deal with this since he knows more about it than she does.

Edited 2008-03-10 01:21 (UTC)

Iceberg sighs. "So's everything in that shell right now. But sooner or later you're gonna have to change or get rid of almost all of it. Doesn't matter if it's upgrades or repairs or because you feel like it. And none of the rest is actually gonna do you harm." He eyes her, then adds, "When you get yourself an alt-mode you're going to alter, for starters. It comes with being a Transformer."

He grins and shrugs. "Change is good."

"You still have yours." She curls up slightly, hands still on her belly.

Iceberg's expression doesn't shift, perceptibly or not. Damn. So, do I complain about her looking at my skidplate now...?

"And what makes you think it's still connected?" he asks, folding his arms.

Frowning, confused, and slightly upset rookie is go. Blackout watches the exchange with interest, absently helping herself to another cube of energon as she does.

Iceberg sighs. "Trust me on this, kid, it's not worth your while keeping functional."

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