Engineering in the Evergreens

Cascades - North America

The state's most rugged mountains, the Cascades consist of high, craggy peaks, jewel-like lakes, and lush evergreen forests. A relatively young mountain range, the Cascades are dotted with volcanos like the dormant and glacier-crowned Mount Ranier, the awe-inspiring and still active Mount St. Helens, and Mount St. Hillary, the Autobots' first home on Earth.

Contents: The Spire Autobot Base 

Hook has arrived.

The Constructicon Hook, stands under the lush green branches of an evergreen. He is on the outskirts of such a forest, and he is surrounded by what appears to be a mini laboratory. A portable work table is before him, and on this work table is a variety of mini computers and other assorted tools. Every so often, Hook can be seen adjusting a small collection dish that is attached to one of the devices on the workbench, checking some readings on the device, and then standing again with his arms crossed, waiting for some experimental result to occur.

Brainstorm transforms into his Cybertronian Jet  mode.

Cybertronian Jet  flies by in jet mode, heading to the great Historical site of The Ark. Yes, THAT Ark. Where Optimus Prime led his group of Autobots in their struggles to protect Earth from the newly-awakened Decepticons. He's got some research to do himself, plus the other Autobots need a few repairs and Brainstorm's an Engineer! He flies recklessly on, until he happens to notice... a Constructicon in the area? What's this? The jet flies in closer. He doesn't attempt to hide his presence.. subtlety not really being his thing.

Hook continues to watch his experiment progress, occasionally nodding in satisfaction. He hunches over to adjust something just at the Cybertronian Jet makes its fly by. He bends backup and puts a hand to his optics to shade the sunlight in his face, and to get a better view of the jet.

"Hmmm....Company, not unexpected, especially given where I am.", he says cooly, pulling a laser pistol out and steadying it on his forearm as he lines up his shot. But instead of feathering the trigger, a light begins to blink on his workbench, causing him to attend to his experiment. He brings the pistol back down, and quickly gets back to work. "Looks like we'll deal with out guest when the time comes."

Cybertronian Jet  comes in for a landing, not too near- and not too far. Just near enough for Hook to be able to hear his voice as he transforms into root mode and his metal feet hit the soft ground of the evergreen forest. The sheer softness takes him aback for a moment, and he glances down, "Wow... still haven't quite gotten used to that..." Then he refocuses on the Constructicon.

"Hey... what ARE you doing here, buddy? This is Autobot territory." He has his weapon in his hand, but doesn't raise it towards Hook yet. He just stands there, crossing his arms. "And... what's that? An experiment? Who said you could run an experiment here? If anyone's running experiments, it should be ME!"

Cybertronian Jet  transforms into his Brainstorm mode.

Hook doesn't even looks up as the Autobot lands, he's too focused on his work. He types at a keyboard for a few moments before finally addressing his visitor. "What I am doing here Autobot...." he picks up the laser pistol off the workbench and levels it towards Brainstorm "...is none of your concern. However I am intrigued, are you a fellow scientist?"

The evergreen trees sway back and forth gently as a cool breeze cuts across the area.

Brainstorm raises his photon gun as soon as Hook raises his weapon, so now they are both standing there with weapons raised at each other. This doesn't faze him, however. What DOES faze him is when Hook asks if he's a fellow scientist. The Headmaster stutters at that. "WHAT? What do you mean, "Am I a fellow scientist?!? I'm Brainstorm! I'm a GENIUS! I've done all kinds of things! Y'know the Headmasters, right?" He thrusts a thumbs towards himself proudly. "*I* INVENTED 'EM!!!" He stands there, looking quite pleased with himself. Then he steps forward. "And that was ME... not Scorponok, by the way. That creep stole MY idea, you know!" He looks smug. "So, yes... scientist, engineer, inventor, I've dabbled in a little of everything. Heh." Then he blinks. "So...uh, what're you doing there, anyway?"

Hook shakes his head in disbelief "You....invented the Headmaster technology?" He asks incredulously. "Yes, and I invented the Guardian Robots! Do you take me to be a fool Autobot? No one mech could of possibile engineered such a brillant piece of technology alone." He taps a few keys at his workbench "However, you said your name was Brainstorm? The name is familar to me. One moment." The mech punches a few more keys and stares at his monitor. He puts down his pistol as a look of shock crosses his face "It is you, you are Brainstorm." He puts both hands on his workbench and leans over, as if to steady himself. "My...My name is Hook and I can't in good concious point a pistol at such a brillant engineer and scientist" He steadies himself before continuing "You may of heard of my work on Cybertron, I was one of the chief engineers of New Crystal City" He says, proudly "And regarding my work at this moment.." He trails off, uncertain if he should let an Autobot know of his plans

Brainstorm huffs a little. "What do you mean? OF COURSE I DID... check your records! No...wait, I bet that creep Scorponok took all the credit himself in your recordbooks, didn't he? GAH!" He shakes his fist, looking skyward, then looks to Hook again. "I DID SO invent them. Well... Okay, Arcana and I did. He says hello, by the way." He points briefly to his head. "And okay, maybe we had a little help from other scientists, but I SWEAR to Primus I DID SO INVENT the Headmasters! Scouts honor!" He crosses his chest like a Good Scout- never mind that he isn't one.

When Hook recognises him for the brilliant mech he is, he seems to relax a bit. FINALLY. "Yes, Hook, one of the Constructions, right? Fellow... Engineers, I guess." He shrugs, conceeding a little more shared background, then pats his chin thoughtfully. "Oh yeah, New Crystal City... yeah, I remember that. It's pretty good, I guess. I liked the way you integrated the crystals as a light source..." The rest of Hook's statement gets a interested look. "...Oh? What is it?"

Hook looks around, as if he wanted to make sure that someone, like Soundwave for instance, isn't watching him. "As a fellow distinguished engineer and scientist, I belive this is something you might appreciate, this isn't something for the common mechs" He hunches over his workbench again and extracts a small metallic tray from a cube shaped device, and presents it to Brainstorm "This is a new type of building material" He takes the tray and turns it upside down, causing the liquid metal material to spill out onto his workbench. "In the absents of light...totally liquid but...." Hook takes some the material and pushes it into some sunlight, causing it harden instantaniously "when in the presence of light, it hardens and can hold ten thousand times its own weight. I invented this material myself." Hook beams proudly.

Brainstorm hehs, "Well, you got that right, pal... I ain't common." As Hook leans in and displays his invention, the Headmaster's optics gleam. "Hey, that's pretty cool, actually..." He pokes at the newly hardened material. "So, like... the photons mix with the material at the molecular level and create some sort of physical shift, then? Interesting..." He stops to look up and just has to add, "Not as interesting as .../Headmasters/, of course...but..." (Brainstorm is not the most modest individual.) He then nods his head again. "Still... nice job."

Still holding his gun, but seeming to kind of forget it's there, he starts rummaging around subspace. "Yeah... now... see, I was just working on this little doodad..." He pulls out something that looks kind of like a comb. "See, when you press this button it shoots out a spray of bolts, instantly nailing in an entire wall, door, or ship hull. Cuts time by a third." To demonstrate, he aims at a nearby tree, sending a hail of nails its way. Unfortunately, it kind of explodes in his hand, sending a few nails into his hand as it does. "OW!" He shakes his hand, "Okay, still working out a few kinks here and there..."

Hook stands politely, of all things, as he observes Brainstorm's device. "Yes, I could certainly see that speeding up construction time. I will have to mention such an idea to Scrapper" He checks the devices on his workbench again, and then casual begins the process of putting away each device, until finally all that is left is the workbench itself, which Hook stows away in his subspace pocket. Finally he just stands there, pistol in his hand "Now, my experiment has concluded, but there is still this business." He gestures to the pistol he's holding "While I'll gladly put the boot to any Autobot, I do believe I could make an exception for a mech of sophistication like myself."

Brainstorm nods, then watches as Hook packs up. Then there's the business of the pistol. The Headmaster grips his own photon weapon as well, stares at him, considering.... then nods. "Yeah... well, you seem to be leaving. As long as you don't stick around here, I could, uh... probably make an exception too." He steps back and crosses his arms, looking fairly calm and collected. "Yeah, well... it was... nice talking to you then, I guess?" Seems odd to say, but... true.

Hook puts his own pistol back into subspace and just stands there for a moment, as if in thought. Finally he pulls out a small communications device, and offers it to Brainstorm "I belive we mechs of intelligence should stick together, if you ever wish to colloborate on something, or if you just wish to talk further, then contact me using this."

Brainstorm 's optics widen in surprise a little, but he reaches out his hand and accepts the device. "Uh... yeah, sure." He blinks, then looks it over. Then looks back up, tilting his head in a little bit of perplexed amusement. "Heh, thanks. Yeah, you know what, I agree. Alright then, good luck with your experiments! Well, as long as they don't mess up me and my friends, of course, but I'm sure you understand the sentiment."

Hook laughs and remarks "I do...although I can't promise anything....but if you ever want to join the winning side...let me know." The Constructicon takes a few steps into the clearing past the evergreen forest, he looks back towards Brainstorm, and takes to the air, and into the blue sky.

Brainstorm watches him go, with a "Pfft!" at Hook's comment on the "winning side"...but overall he just seems slightly amused by this all. Something about science geeks, and Engineers, can sometimes just bring them together- regardless of anything else. He watches until the Constructicon has flown away, then transforms into a jet again and flies to the Ark for his scheduled Engineering repairs there.