Tailgate's Misgivings Again

Savanna

The Sahara desert gives way to a vast transitional zone of grassy plains, plateaus, and mountains as the equator is approached and rainfall increases substantially, enough to gradually transform a desert into a rainforest. Far, far to the south, sprawling majestically along the horizon are the silhouettes of what can only be described as a jungle. Coming closer to the outskirts of this region, you can clearly define the lush vegetation and trademark canopy of a large, fertile rainforest. This mysterious, yet marvelously beautiful sight before you is strangely attractive.

The past few cycles have been weighing heavily on Tailgate's conscience. That little rendevoud he'd had with Outbound has left the minibot feeling restless and morally imbalanced. See, he'd never actually gotten the chance to find out the truth about Outbound's intentions. Blurr had subjected him to interrogation, but it was needless to say that he wasn't really the mech for the job--at least for discovering what Tailgate wanted to know. So what's a mech to do? Eventually he'd become so bothered by it that he finally realizes what he has to do. He /has/ to find out. Even though it's probably against protocol and most definitely dangerous-since he's attempting this on his own. The blue and white mech doesn't really even know where to start--he has no idea where Outbound might be at the moment. But the most logical place to begin would most likely be where he's seen the Decepticon last. So Tailgate travels out to the Sahara, without knowing even really knowing what he's doing--other than searching for a way to relieve his burdened conscience...

Well, well, welll... If it isn't the little minibot Tailgate! Bwahahah! Oh wait, no that's how other Decepticons would think. Outbound isn't other Decepticons. The shuttle Despoiler flies overhead, and the energy signature that pops up on the HUD correctly identifies the minibot as none other than the Autobot that he'd seen once before during his rendezvous with the Autobots. Odd that he'd be here alone... Possibly attempting to gather more intelligence on him, and what it is that he is really doing out here in Africa.

It didn't take long at all for the infantrymech to plot his next course of action. He was going to talk to this fellow... Yes, direct confrontation while not always was often the best choice. Despoiler begins it's landing sequences and before long the vessel has touched down in front of the minibot, and if Tailgate hasn't fled by the time the antigrav engines begin to wane in their growl the boarding ramp lowers to the savannah to produce Outbound right on schedule. "...Hello."

Following behind Triggerhappy, Misfire keeps his engines relatively quiet, as Aimless appears to be napping in his cockpit. Misfire comms over towards his comrade, <> Misfire drifts off course before correcting, <>

Blowpipe had been lurking behind some crates within the Despoiler as the ship touched down, and once Outbound has exited, he quietly makes his way out of a maintenance shaft, ending up on the ground below the vessel. It's easy for him to hide in the presence of beings so much larger than he is, and he does so by making himself at home within the trunk of a rotting tree that is covered in vines and fungus. Not exactly very pleasant-smelling, but it would serve its purpose.



Meanwhile, Triggerhappy is with Misfire high up in the sky above the trees, his sensor arrays focused on Tailgate and Outbound below. Hmm...meeting with an Autobot again, was he?

<> he answers Misfire. No doubt he'll have to like, read some manual on being an officer and it meaning he has to take responsibility for those of lower rank by making sure they do as they're ordered, seeing to their needs if possible and blah blah. <>

Tailgate tries not too look initimidated, but the reality is, his servos are quaking! He hadn't expected Outbound to just show up like so and come out to meet him. And dear Primus, he is all by himself. /Maybe I shouldn't have come out here alone. But then again, I'd probably be in huge trouble if anyone found out I'd even thought of going looking for him!/ He glances down at the ground momentarily before addressing Outbound. "Um, hi." He's not sure of what else to say.

<<Of course we are still Pals and nothin' changed. Still, I like to set an example to the grunts and ground pounders, teach them that there is still some pride left in Aerospace...>> Misfire continues to fly wing with Triggerhappy. <<At the end of the Cycle, we are going to serve the Empire, and slag, Trigger my 'Mech...you have some good ideas on blowing up stuff..." His sensors ping as he detects the other Cybertronians, but he doesn't move to engage. "Sooooo...we are going to drunk after this mission, right?"

<p class="MsoNormal">Outbound watches Tailgate shake. The poor little Bot... He has no idea of what he's doing. Too bad, as he'd thought that there might be an opportunity to actually get something done today. A sigh escapes the infantrymech, and his forearm computer is open and he's typing upon it like clockwork. "Right... Well, apparently you're here for a reason, so I'm just going to busy myself over here with some work while you take a moment to remember what it is." If OB was a betting mech, which he was, he'd certainly put enercubes behind the idea that Tailgate's reasonf or being on the savannah had at least something to do with him.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blowpipe watches Tailgate with amusement at his obvious show of fear. Heh, he muses to himself. Pathetic Autobot. If only he knew there were two additional Decepticons watching his every move...

<p class="MsoNormal"><<Hah, I know...but I'll let you in on a little secret. All those good ideas were originally Blowpipe's. Er, well, most anyway.>> The Area 51 suicide bomber idea certainly hadn't been, though the Nebulon would probably be happy to take credit for it now.

<p class="MsoNormal"><<And yeah, sure. We can hit up the Steel Balloon or someplace later.>>

<p class="MsoNormal">His gaze shifts, and Tailgate pauses for a moment, pensive. Well, he might as well scrap his whole 'discreetly spying until he discovers the truth' plan, since Outbound has already uncovered him. He might as well just get to the point, it is why he's here. "First of all, I want to say that as of this moment, I'm still suspicious of you. However, that doesn't mean I'm ready to believe everything you say is a lie. Unless, you'd like to prove the contrary." He arches his brow ridges at him, angling his helm upward so he can properly look at the Decepticon in the optics.

<p class="MsoNormal"><<Ugh, I know what you mean...the organics are always plotting and scheming, even in their rest cycles...>> Misfire sensors scan over Triggerhappy, <<Uhhh...Boss...I don't want to alarm you, but you seem to be, uh, missing Blowpipe...Look, they are just like Shuttle Keys...He is probably where you last put him down...Unless he walked off...I saw on the Human TV that that have a long strap you can attach to small organics, so you can keep them tethered to you, but they still have a sense of freedom. >> Misfire continues to hold his flight plan. <<I was reading this book on raising organics...it appears, we need to give the space to be creative...helps them grow mentally. Did you know what you feed them affects their mood...Sooo, interesting...I had a lot of time to read, while sleeping on the job...err..cleaning up Trypticon.>> Misfire seems largely clueless about what is going on. <<Did you see a figure over those trees...The Necro...err...it was nothing..."

<p class="MsoNormal">Outbound continues typing upon his datacomputer screen for a few moments more and then lowers his are to peer over it and down at the minibot. A smirk forms upon his face, likely an unsettling gesture coming from a Decepticon. "Yes, naturally you would be..." he comments regarding Tailgate's continuing suspicions. "But you also have some sense about you, I can tell. How are the Autobots suppose to hold true to the actual ideal of true justice if they decide to never trust anyone, or simply condemn and label as 'evil' any who wear the Decepticon badge?" he offers, canting his head slightly. "Did you know that the hyoomans of this world have done that several times in their history? So much death... So many genocides of entire civilizations, all of whom could not have possibly been 'evil', but never did that matter to the bloodthirsty zealots of the victorious side." Tsk! A shrug is given, and Outbound looks back to his datascreen and resumes typing. "I cannot prove the contrary. Nothing I do will -prove- anything... The best that we can hope for is that your interrogator is as good as I hope that he will be."

<p class="MsoNormal">Blowpipe continues watching Tailgate and Outbound, shaking his head disapprovingly. If Outbound really thought he was soooo good at this...why is he outwardly requesting the Autobots to interrogate him? That in itself should make them supsicious if they had even a single iota of common sense in their brain modules.

<p class="MsoNormal">Triggerhappy just laughs at Misfire's ramblings, while most others probably would have told him to shut up. <<That doesn't surprise me, organics are pretty picky when it comes to their sustenance sometimes! But, don't worry about Blowpipe, he's down there spying on Outbound and uh...that minibot. I think it's Tailgate. That's why we're here. He wanted backup in case he gets discovered.>>

<p class="MsoNormal"><<Yeah, very picky. For stuff that is all squishy and vile, I can't see how /they/ make a determination>> Misfire's sensors spread out as the battlefield becomes more clear. <<Oh that is good...You know where Blowpipe is, he is watching Outbound talk to a Minibot>> Misfire seems to pause as the picture becomes clear to him. <<Wait, are we spying on Blowpipe who is spying on Outbound who is spying on the Minibot, who is spying on the organics? Wait...are we like triple agents. Wow, this is some high level Black Ops slag.>> Misfire's engines grow even quieter, <<Primus, your promotion sure gets us some better missions...>>

<p class="MsoNormal">Tailgate gets to thinking, if Outbound was really lying, then why was he agreeing to subject himself to interrogation? Did he really think he was /that/ good at keeping whatever secret he had? Maybe he hadn't been lying after all. "You /hope/?" he arches a brow ridge. "What do you mean? You hope he'll squeeze every ounce of information out of you?" he says, sounding puzzled. But he's rather taken aback that Outbound has complimented him. It's been a long time since anyone has ever said anything nice about him. "Wait! You didn't mean that, did you?! I have some sense...ha! If I had any sense I wouldn't be out here!" He suddenly realizes he's made a fool of himself, and his servos sag in embarrassment. "Oh.. /Primus/.." he rubs his helm.

<p class="MsoNormal">Well, it was quite obvious really. If someone is not going to trust you by your word alone, certainly they will be moreso inclined after a round of oilboarding! Not that Outbound wants to be oilboarded. Gee, he really hopes they don't go THAT far...

<p class="MsoNormal">"Oh, I hope that it does not go that far. Lose any good information on future movements from the Decepticons because you decided to interroate him to the point at which he's of no use to you any longer? To turn an informant into an enemy to get only a very small amount of information rather than a large amount?" Outbound laughs, "Would it be prudent for Autobots to exercise actual cruelty when none is called for? Woul-" Outbound is cutoff from his little rant (pity too, cuz he was really getting into it) by Tailgate's gushing over a compliment. "...Right," he offers after a moment of staring. "In any case, yes I believe you are at least wise enough, and Autobot enough not to have a lasercore completely void of the virtues that your side has claimed to champion for millions of years." OB's certainly going to need a drink after this.

<p class="MsoNormal">Well...maybe he was right. But he doesn't say anything about it, instead, he just stands there, thinking and peering at Outbound, trying to read his body language and pick up any king of indicator of his intentions. Then he's utterly shocked that he actually meant the compliment. He just stands there, optics wide, bewildered. "S-so you meant that." He doesn't know what to say. After a moment of contemplation, he says, "Y'know, I was the one who built the bomb that was implanted in your ship. And because I wasn't sure about whether you were lying or not, I rigged to so that I was the only one who could detonate it. Like, just in case we found out you weren't lying after all. I didn't think it would be fair to blow up your research if you really were telling the truth.."

<p class="MsoNormal"><<Uuuhh..>> Triggerhappy is not quite sure what to say to Misfire. <<Well, yeah I guess you could say that? I don't know if the minibot is spying on organics, though.>>

<p class="MsoNormal">Blowpipe suppresses a laugh at this. He hopes the Autobots wouldn't go that far? He's certainly placing a lot of confidence in the Autobot's 'ideals'. He thinks they wouldn't resort to cruelty if they didn't have to? The Nebulan is convince that he is seriously is mistaken. Most of them aren't as innocent as little Tailgate. Some of them don't even care about 'virtues'. This plan of his was doomed to fail from the start.

<p class="MsoNormal"><<What do you think they are talking about down there...>> Misfire muses over the comm. <<During the Olympics I actually talked to an Autobot. The Red Car one, Sidestreaker....No...Sunswipe....No wait, Streakerswipes. The Red one. Primus, he was not half bad. He drank, he swore, slag he even gave me some points on shooting.>> Misfire seems to pause. <<Enough of that...where were we ohhh, yeah...So, what do we do know? Do we have a drop? In the holovids, they always have a drop...I saw a Canyon back 100 miles, I think I can set us up a drop there...give me a little bit to set it up...This is so awesome! Ohhh, and we need a code name-BE BACK!>> Misfire flies out, forgetting to confirmation that setting up a drop would actually be prudent.

<p class="MsoNormal">Hah! So this little minibot was to blame for that little double-cross? No kidding, and Outbound wasn't even going to bring it up. "Interesting... So, I take it that you did not detonate the bomb? I had removed it...and discarded the device, but it is good to know that you thought better of destroying me, and my ship, AND my research," the infantrymech notes. "Who knows, if it was another Autobot I may have been blown sky high before I'd managed to get to it." Stroking his chin the Decepticon ponders a moment. "You know what... Since you were honest with me I will be honest with you as well. I could have slain your friend Hubcap on Cybertron in Crystal City. Had him right in my sights, double-barreled plasma shotgun to his chest. I allowed him to live, let him go unscathed... I want this little alliance between us to work, Minibot. I have no intention of betraying you, and I would rather not have to die to prove it. Please...assist me in any way that you can, and you and your Bot allies will not be sorry. Until next we meet..." Outbound turns and begins to disappear into Despoiler. Good thing that Tailgate wasn't the expert interrogator, eh?

<p class="MsoNormal"><<I don't know, I guess we'll find out whenever I get Blowpipe back.>> Triggerhappy answers, then chuckles at Misfire's failure to remeber the Autobot's name. <<I think you're talking about Sideswipe....uh, sure yeah. You go do that.>> He says as Misfire is suddenly taking off on his own.

<p class="MsoNormal">Blowpipe meanwhile has made note of everything said, even recorded everything using a device within his exosuit. It seemed that this little exchange was over, however, it might be best to wait until the others had left before attempting to move out.

<p class="MsoNormal">"I..." he paused. "I did. But there was lag time between ignition and the powering down of the shield around it. And I engineered it like that so that just in case I decided I didn't want to detonate it and Blurr somehow managed to penetrate the null field around it, you'd haev some time to get away." He sighs, shaking his helm and staring at the ground. "I can't make any promises. You know I just don't want see any of my friends or an innocent mech get hurt." He watches as Outbound heads back to his ship, wondering if he's made the right choice in coming out here and telling Outbound the secret about his bomb. But it is all over now, and if he doesn't head back to the base now the other Autobots might get suspicious. Consequently, he transforms and drives off, heading back towards HQ.