To Serve And Protect

Landing Pad The smell of heated tarmac hits you first as you survey the landing and liftoff point for all flights to Cybertron. The wreckage of previous battles here are off to the back in a jumbled heap. To the southeast is the massive form of Autobot City itself, a bit battle-scarred, but still operational. Surrounding you on all other sides are forests of large conifer trees. The spaceport absolutely sparkles with a new shine - in fact, it's almost blinding in direct sunlight. Spots are a thing of the past, and each building has a brand new coat of paint. Even the *scrap* piles look like they've been cleaned off and straightened up.

"Good job, Bee," Quickswitch exits the shuttle, covered in bits of glaze but looking quite pleased, "Great aim." "Thanks." Bumblebee says, looking to Quickswitch. "I do try. I am thinking of going in for some combat upgrades. I want to be able to be strong enough to rely on in battle." He says, looking to Quickswitch. Quickswitch smiles, says quietly, "..We talked a little about that. I promised to talk to you again. Being a warrior isn't just about firing blasters..It's more than that. More than you might have guessed or realized." Quickswitch walks a little further across the tarmac. "I know it is about the heart, that no matter how big a gun I have, I must have the will and smarts to know when and how to use it. I am aware of that. But heart alone sometimes isnt enough to go against people like Galvatron or Megatron." Bumblebee says. "I want to avenge Optimus...I cant do it without being stronger." Blaster disembarks from the shuttle having completed the pre and post flight check lists that he didn't bother with to get the shuttle where it needed to be in record time. He overhears Bumblebee and walks over, dropping all bombastic pretense for just a few moments he pauses to say, "If you want truly avenge Optimus, my little yellow friend, don't go after his attackers. No matter what external armor he's got, that head Decepticat isn't one to trifle with. Others who made that mistake aren't with us anymore. You want to avenge Optimus? Live like he did. Be courageous, be valiant in battle, but be smart. Care for those around you. Care about those you protect." as he finishes speaking, the strains of John Lennon's "Imagine" begin to waft from the communications officer. He clears his throat, singing along, "Imagine there's no Soundwave...it's easy if you try...no rumble to pummel us..no laserbeak in the sky.." as he moves towards the city proper. Blaster leaves to the Entrance to Autobot City to the south. Blaster has left. Quickswitch nods toward Bumblebee, such a look of compassion that would deny his assault function completely. His optics glow, "..To be like Sky Lynx, myself, any of the dedicated heavy hitters.." the massive mech's demeanor, his entire persona shifts, "I'll tell it to ya straight, no oil coating, all of it," the big mech taps one of his blasters against his side, "Listen to Blaster." he sounds, faintly, wistful. Bumblebee nods. "I want to be valiant. I want to be able to protect others, but how can I protect others when I can barely protect myself?" He asks, looking to Quickswitch. The smile returns, the demeanor of the monstrousity growing kinder, "That's what Omega Supreme, Sky Lynx, and Jetfire are for. Guardians, those who 'protect.'" Quickswitch pauses, his vocalizer slightly uncertain, face growing tensely puzzled. "I know, but if I cannot protect myself, I cannot hope to protect others." Bumblebee says, sighing a bit. "What do you think, Quickswitch, what do you think I should do?" "Bumblebee," Quickswitch sighs quietly, "One of the aspects of being an assault unit such as I am," he fixes Bumblebee with a very direct gaze, "Now, for what I am about to tell you, you will not compare me to a Decepticon menace, understood, nor a freakish monster--" he sighs again, peers at Bee with softly glowing optics, "..To protect, something you understand, something the Guardians understand, something most of you understand..it's an abstract concept to me.. Something everyone else grasps and holds close to their fuel pumps and central processor." "I would never think of you as such, quickswitch." Bumblebee says, patting the mech softly. "Nothing will make me think differently of you." A surprised, fluid and small smile. The soft voice doesn't waver, break, or change, "..I'm just a little different from the others," he moves further across the tarmac, "Bein a warrior, Bee, like I was sayin," the large unit issues gruffly, "You saw medbay that day. You said you wanted to be there after doin somethin meaningful--we don't /wanna/ be there. It's unnatural there. We don't belong there--you saw that." he grits his dental plates together in frustration, tryin to bring that notion across, "--powerful IFF protocols, heavy weapons--and y'know, Bee, could you do it if you had to?" he stops, looking right at the short, innocent mech. "Could I do stand being there, if I had to, despite being powerful? If I was injured trying to protect others, then I would gladly spend my time. I understand that the medics are the best, and I will trust them with my own lasercore." Bumblebee says, trying to understand what quickswitch was saying. "That time don't come gladly, Bee. It's slow, crawling, killing time, unnatural. There AIN'T A CHOICE!" frustration looses a bellow from the enormous mech, ricochetting down the landing pad, but he quiets immediately, in case it frightens Bee.. "Yeah, I can stand up to the Decepticon High Command, even Galvatron, but that comes at a price. You have something in your core I don't, Bee. I dunno what it is, man, but it's a precious thing," a huge hand pats the much smaller mech, "What I was asking, Bee, was this," and he fixes another direct stare, feeling a chaos of emotion flickering in his chest panel. The voice that issues from the assault unit next, is hard iron, not a trace of softness or mercy to be found, "...Could you enjoy firing off rounds into Decepticon troops? ...Could you kill another Cybertronian?" he searches the optics of the small, innocent mech for some sign of martial strength he would recognize. "I dont like having to kill." Bumblebee says. "In truth I would like this war to end, so the causalities can end, so no living thing can die. However, I know some beings dont feel the same. I know that some cybertronians, even humans, will want to hurt others, so they can benefit from it. And I will protect those unable to protect themselves. I will fight any cybertronian, if it means to protect them from treachery. You ask me if I could kill another cybertronian, I say I could if it meant no other alternative." He says, not seeming frightened at all by Quickswitch, if anything, he grips a bit more on the mech's shoulder. "I would even lay my own life, if it means to prevent someone from suffering, even you Quickswitch." "Not everybody can or is willing to take another's existance for the greater good," he murmurs now, half-hearing Bee, "You wanna be a hard hitting warrior? Not only do ya need to take the neccesary measures, you will be called a Decepticon for it, you will stomach their baseless insults to your valor and your core, and you will /keep on doing it./" he stops, his jittery cog reacting to the flood of affront and frustration and rage and compassion and regret and inward pain flooding his processor, his form shifting automatically under the barrage into an assault beast, "FRAG IT!" he swears at the sudden change. He paces in a circle in front of Bee, then stops, peering back at him, "..Bee, the way I try to look at it, as best I can..as an Autobot and an assault unit, is that an assault warrior ends suffering, permanently. Even..even prevents it from happening at all.." the large green optics are soft and searching for meaning in his own uncertain words, words and meanings and opinions that could change at any moment as he fought to hold onto them. Then, "...But you couldn't do it as a first resort as neccesary force...Your enemy could kill you in the time it took to have a pang of conscience...Out there, in the field, where it counts, you can't, because the enemy won't spare you..." Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into an assault beast. "I understand." Bumblebee says with a nod. "I will think it over some, you really have cleared my optics, Quickswitch, thank you." He says with a smile. "How about some energon?" The hard look settles into friendly, "Man, you're the bravest, most valiant mech I know. Except maybe Impactor," he follows up quickly with a toothy grin, "Hold on a nano-second--" Quickswitch shifts forms, and the toothy grin is replaced by a robot one, "--changing forms. There. Bee, you're noble, right down to your core. By that, I mean you exemplify everything that Rodimus Prime and the Primes before him stand for. Don't warp your own metal or corrupt your own core trying to do or be anything else," he finishes, smiling at last cautiously happy toward the little mech, "I'd like that, Bee." Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode.