Blast Off- the Hero?

Blast Off has a problem. Ok, he has a LOT of problems actually... but there are specifically two he has in mind right now. One: Quantum's /very/ suspicious "present" of a cloaking device. Meet me in space, he said- let's settle this once and for all, he said. At least according to Swift Blade, who delivered the message. The cloaking device has been stored off in a quiet part of town, waiting for a specialist's keen optic. Blast Off figures it's somehow booby-trapped (there MUST be a catch here- it's Quantum after all)... and he wants it examined by an expert before he even THINKS of placing the thing ON him. The shuttleformer doesn't know too many specialists who could help him... but he wonders if that femme he met a few times, Nautica, just might?
Secondly.... There's Pharma- and there's the fact that Nautica actually seemed to /know/ that name the last time he saw her. It piqued his curiosity, and while he's not looking to be nosy about it.... he does wonder just what her experiences were, and if they match his. The more you know of your enemies, the better.
And so, Blast Off has left a message with some of the rebels he works with transporting supplies here in Nyon. A message for Nauitca to meet him out in the Rust Narrows at a certain time and place. The Combaticon stands there now, looking warily about him on an abandoned, decaying street, and waits. And hopes Nautica is in a good mood this time.
When Nautica makes her way to the entrance of the Rust Narrows from the direction of Iacon and turns down the side street that Blast Off named, she at least doesn't seem to be ready to attack someone with her wrench. This could arguably be considered to be progress over the last time they really tried to talk. On the other hand, she stops a few paces away from the shuttleformer, no longer quite as blindly trusting as she was when she first arrived on Cybertron. "Blast Off," she greets, looking him over with a practiced glance. No damage? No missing parts?
Blast Off is actually in pretty good shape, for once. No missing parts- a few scratches and dings, but the shuttle's looked far worse. He does glance to see if that wrench is in her hand- or any other odd and potentially dangerous object- and it seems all is well. So she may see him relax- just ever-so-slightly. He is unarmed as well, his weapons in subspace. As she approaches, Blast Off gives her a courteous nod.
He cuts to the chase. "Nautica. Thank you for coming out to see me. I hope you are well? I realize it may seem a bit... odd, but I needed a certain expertise- and I believe you might be the one to give it."
This earns a slightly amused look. "You would be far from the first," Nautica notes in answer. "It seems like a lot of people seek me out for 'certain expertise' lately. I feel like I ought to have a card made up: 'Nautica of Caminus - Certain Expertise and a Quantum Wrench'." She taps the wrench at her side to illustrate her point, and then adds, "So, what did you need, then?"
Blast Off relaxes even further at Nautica's amused reply. Ok, the odds of her suddenly springing at him yielding a giant wrench seem to definitely be going down now. That doesn't mean he isn't still on guard, but this does at least remind him a little more of the time they first met in that bar. A time before things got... tense. He allows himself a soft, almost chuckling huff, and nods. "You appear quite knowledgable, which isn't a surprise coming from a space-capable alt, after all." (Yes, he's still inclined to think space alts are THE BEST.) "So that doesn't surprise me."
Upon her question, he glances back towards an empty lot where a large, rusty billboard lies half-propped up still. "It's... over there. A... "gift" from someone. Someone who I do not trust, and someone who likely sent me a booby-trap. It is a cloaking device- or it appears to be. I want to know if it's rigged." YES- possible bomb or booby trap- have at it Nautica!
"You know, this isn't even the first time I've been asked to check things over for bombs," Nautica remarks, as she takes her wrench from its holster at her side and makes her way over towards the billboard. "So, tell me about this? I should probably have some background before I start examining -- or taking apart -- anything."
Blast Off lifts an optic ridge briefly at Nautica, then sort of shrugs and nods. "I should be surprised, but given the times... I suppose I am really not." Shaking his head, he follows her towards the billboard, where the device sits, propped up on the board like something set on an examining room. The Combaticon pauses a moment, not being one usually to freely give out personal information. But if he's going to ask her to potentially risk her life or limbs, some honestly is probably only fair.
"The mech in question..." He hesitates- how to put this? Last time his "crimes" came up Nautica got very angry with him... "He blames me for something. Has a personal vendetta against me. But last time I saw him he insisted he had no memory of the event. And then he met with an... aquaintance of mine and gave her this device. Said she should give it to me, with the instructions to put it on and come meet him to ..."finish this for once and for all"." He sighs. "He is erratic and untrustworthly- and likely to use subterfuge and deceit to attempt to get what he wants." Of course, Blast Off leaves out a lot of information, including the name- Quantum- that Nautica might certainly recognize, though he doesn't know that she knows the other space mech. Or WHERE he might need something like a cloaking device IN. But perhaps that information will be enough? He may be "honest" here, but he's still tight-lipped by nature.
"Quantum," Nautica deduces, kneeling near the device and performing a cursory scan. "He would've been telling the truth when he claimed he didn't remember; he came out of an explosion during a microjump into the /middle of my lab/. He was leaking quantum foam everywhere; it could've done serious damage to Iacon, so I fixed him up. But he had lost all his memories."
The wrench is now brandished, put into analysis mode as she begins taking readings. "He got his memory back afterwards, and he came to find me again. Said he almost envied me my outlook -- that I just want to /fix/ things -- and that he sort of wanted to find closure and move on."
The slight tension as Nautica mentions Quantum's name may be all that she needs to know that she has indeed guessed correctly. "Yes." Blast Off listens intently, blinking in some surprise as she informs him that Quantum really DIDN'T remember that time. "He said that, but I...I didn't believe him." Ok, he's not sure if that is a good thing, or just makes things creepier. Then he huffs, "Well- he's good at showing up and... causing a commotion." Then his optic ridges furrow down. The shuttle mulls on that last bit, looking a little bit thoughtful, a little bit somber. "I wish I could believe THAT, too... but I do not. I expect a trap- one way or another. If not this device, then when we meet. He does not seem the /forgiving/ sort."
As Nautica examines the device, she will eventually find that hidden very deep inside the object is a tiny- but potent- explosive charge.
A soft sigh. "No," Nautica remarks, as she switches the wrench off. "No, he is not. I suspect he probably intended to duel you fairly so long as it looked like he might win. But if he was losing, this would detonate and win the fight for him. It would tear you apart. Oh, Quantum..."
Shaking her head, the Camien gets back to her feet. "I do sort of understand where he's coming from, I admit," she tells Blast Off. "If someone had killed Chromia or Windblade -- my amica endurae -- even accidentally, I might become obsessed with revenge too."
>> Quantum materializes out of spiraling vortex of energy.
Blast Off listens- and soon he's sighing as well. He KNEW it. An explosive charge. Lovely. The shuttleformer glares upwards at the sky, clenching his fists. It's not just learning that yes, there WAS a booby-trap. It's also that his hopes were raised- hopes he could go back to /space/ finally... if even for a moment- hopes that are now dashed. "...Figures. I'm not sure he understands what a /fair/ fight even is..."
Then she mentions... that. The Combaticon tenses and stares at the femme. So she /does/ know what happened. This is the part where he almost expects her to start waving that wrench at him again, but instead... she just looks thoughtful. His optic ridges furrow down again and he glances away. There's a long moment when he doesn't speak. And then, "...Yes. I might feel the same way if someone killed a Combatronian. There..." he pauses even longer this time, "There aren't many of us left, apparently."
Then his gaze darkens. "Still... HE came after ME. It WAS self-defense, Nautica. And I have no intention of dying for him- not then, and not now."
"You were breaking the law, Blast Off," Nautica points out, perhaps a touch exasperated. "Even if it's an incredibly stupid law, it /is/ the law. So there's enough blame to go around for everyone here." She gestures to the explosive cloaking device, and adds, "I just wish you would stop /fighting/ and find a way to work together; Cybertron has problems enough without us killing off each other, and getting rid of the space-capable bots who we're probably going to /need/ to seek out more energon sources."
Nautica attempts to bring some/logic/ into this discussion, and Blast Off isn't entirely ready to hear that. Letting out a huff, the shuttleformer crosses his arms and looks sullen. "Yes it IS a stupid law." HUFFFF. "If I wasn't confronted with such inanity and inSANity since I.... well, since I found myself here, maybe I wouldn't have to keep fighting the system. It sort of /encourages/ one to do so- if you have half a cerebro-cortex, that is." Yes, it's more everyone /else's/ fault, not his. He then mulls this all over, jaw servos grinding under his faceplate. The grinding slows, though, and he finally listens and even /considers/.
Staring down at the cloaking device, he replies, "... I would actually agree with you. Our kind is getting fewer and farther inbetween. Space alts are becoming rare. We're not /maintained/ anymore, after all. I needed replacement parts not long ago and you wouldn't believe how *difficult* it was to find those parts. But you're right... the ground-bound mechs, even the aerial 'bots.... they WILL need us again. We are the ones to reach for the stars, and if they don't figure that out soon we won't be around when they finally do realize it." He shakes his head, "I even hear of bounty hunters... "collectors"... who are collecting space alt parts and even T-cogs.... sometimes while still attached to their owners." He glances at her. "You might wish to remain a bit... careful, yourself."
"I've already been captured and 'studied' once," Nautica mutters, a little darkly. "It's not an experience I care to repeat. But... well, I can strip the explosive out of this device, but I think you ought to /try/ to hash things out. Because otherwise, one of you is going to, at best, end up a set of those spare parts. And honestly, Quantum is jump-capable." Which suggests to the engineer that he's got an advantage over Blast Off.
As the two of them are staring at the device, suddenly a small blinking red light appears. It flashes slowly at first, then faster, and faster...that -can't- be a good sign...
Blast Off shoots Nautica a look at the "captured" comment. That reminds him of his second thought earlier. About Pharma. "...Captured and studied? By whom?" Her offer of stripping the device gets a flicker of hope. "You could remove that?" If she can, then HE can go back to space. Yes, it would be risky, but the call is too great. He can't resist. Just for a little while... just enough to feel zero gravity again, to feel the ice and see the stars twinkling all around while the planets yawn below him.....
Then she talks about "hashing things out" and.... wait, what? He immediately puffs up in indignation. "I beg your pardon? So what? He's not a shuttle." Because that obviously makes Blast Off superior. And surely NO other spacecraft can outmatch Blast Off in his own terrain! Certainly not that hooligan Quantum!
Then... the device starts blinking, causing Blast off to tense even further and start taking steps back. "That's.... new."
"By a group of unethical researchers, led by a mech named Pharma. He forced me to... oh. Oh, dear." Nautica turns to look at the device, as her wrench begins beeping alarmingly a moment later; she picks it up to examine the pattern of lights and then murmurs, "That... isn't good. Never mind, I don't think I will have time to properly disarm it. I suspect we need to get this away from Nyon, and then get away from this."
"Pharma." The way Blast off says that name suggests that he knows the mech too. And is equallly unhappy about that fact. "He..." But there isn't much time to further explain, for the flashing only grows more frequent. He stares at the device. "Get it...away? How? You want me to fly it out of here? Is there even time?"
The flashing is getting faster and faster...they don't have much time left! How strong are these explosives, exactly? The way Nautica had been talking about needing to get it out of the city, it's no joke.
"Yes! Away from the city!" Nautica's backing away, nodding to Blast Off; it looks less as though she's about to run away, and more as if she's about to go try to clear out anyone in the area. "I'm not aerial capable, Blast Off; 'space capable' doesn't always mean atmospheric flight! And there's too many hollow spaces under this city, it's too unstable; if that thing goes, it could take out half the Narrows!"
Blast Off's immediate response to that is to mutter, "...And I care WHY?" She wants him to risk his neck for a bunch of strangers?! He takes another step back, looking more nervous as that thing keeps flashing. He's not exactly an altruistic mech here. He glances at her... the only thing preventing him from just taking off right now is the realization that she'd probably die in the blast should the thing go off soon. As might Hot Rod, Whirl, and other people he knows that frequent this city. He's still debating if he cares enough to risk his OWN neck though.
Faster, and faster still...Blast Off doesn't really have time to debate. Either he get his own skidplates the slag out of here now, and let the city burn, or he risk his own neck to save strangers--and perhaps regain Nautica's respect.
...and perhaps give Quantum exactly what he wanted in the process.
It's his choice, at this point. But he doesn't have a lot of time to make it...3...2...1...
"Oh, slag this," Nautica remarks, turning around and brandishing her wrench. "We don't have time to argue. If you won't take the device /you/ brought here, then you go warn the others around the area! Hopefully a stasis field will hold it long enough..." She now runs back /towards/ the device; apparently, if Blast Off isn't going to take the risk, she'll do it. It'll be slower on foot, but she can do her best; she's got a quantum wrench, and maybe that'll do the trick.
Blast Off's optics dart to that wrench Nautica waves around before returning to staring at the device once more. The shuttle isn't quite sure what to do... he doesn't particularly care for a bunch of random strangers. That doesn't compell him to help at all. But his gaze flicks to her as she reminds him that he DID bring the thing here. And now it looks like she's going to risk her OWN life instead. Which is completely foolish. Still... Nyon isn't the worst of towns, and letting Quantum blow half it up (along with people he's gotten to know) rankles him. Having Quantum blow HIM up rankles him, too, though.
Then Nautica mentions a...statis field? Ok, NOW this seems just /slightly/ less suicidal. /Sliiightly./ His optics focus on the femme with an intense burn. "Statis field? Will THAT give me some time? You're never going to make it on FOOT, you know." Now he's moving forward, watching her, and if she puts a statis field on the thing ...well, he IS the best. He told her so earlier, after all! If anyone CAN fly this out fast... well, it would be him!
Nautica slams the field around the device before answering. Just, you know, in case; buying extra time helps. Then the Camien looks over at Blast Off, offering him a short nod. "It could," she agrees, with a curt nod. "But you'll need to hurry. This field won't last long. Get it up as high as you can, and then jettison it. If it goes off up in the atmosphere, it should be comparatively harmless." And /she's/ going to have stern words with Quantum about collateral damage the next time she sees him.
The stasis field is activated just in time, right as the bomb detonates. It's a rather...odd sight, watching an explosion go off in slow motion. But She's right, it won't last long. She's managed to buy them a few precious extra seconds, but that fiery inferno inside will soon inevitably overwhelm the field's power reserves and push past it, obliterating anything in its path. Blast Off had better hurry!
Blast Off's gaze never wavers from the femme as she creates the makeshift field around the device. Then he looks at this thing and... is he REALLY going to do this? But there's no time... it's do it, or don't. So he snaps his otpics back onto the femme and brings a hand up to make a pointing gesture at her, ".....Just tell Hot Rod and Whirl they /owe/ me for this!" Never mind that he's the one who brought this device here in the first place.
One last loud HUFFFFFFF and he grabs the device (now with firey explosion goodness!) and launches into the air. "I AM the best.... just watch me!" Transforming once he's gained a safe distance from the ground, he waits until his rocket thrusters won't burn Nautica up in his wake before really gunning it. The now very LARGE shuttle makes a tremendous, rumbling sound that creates such massive vibrations that a few nearby, already rusting buildings collapse. And then Blast Off is rocketing upwards in a billowing trail of white smoke as he races out of town to jettison his cargo somewhere safe- or safe /enough/.
Left behind, Nautica watches the shuttle race off into the sky, taking away flaming death before it takes the area out. "See?" she says with a touch of satisfaction, even though Blast Off probably can't hear him. "You /can/ do the right thing." And maybe that gives her hope that the two spacegoing mechs /could/ somehow find a middle ground where they don't actually destroy each other.
You know, except for that whole 'bomb' thing. (Dirty pool, Quantum. There will be /words/ had later.)
The field in Blast Off's cargo hold is getting hotter and hotter inside of him as the stasis field is pushed to its limits! In fact, the Combaticon may start to feel burning sensations that grow more and more intense by the astrosecond. Hurry Blast Off! Go go go!
And that is indeed quite uncomfortable. If this near-heroic nonsense is always this unpleasant he'll stick to cold, distant aloofness. FOREVER. Still- letting people he knows and who have helped him get blown up is probably a tad uncouth. Blast Off's CIVILIZED, after all. The shuttle is extremely fast, too, and soon is racing across what looks like empty terrain outside the city. At least it's empty enough. He jettisons the cargo- none too soon, he's sure.
None too soon, indeed. Just as Blast Off jettisons the dangerous cargo, the field disappears and the explosion expands rapidly out of it, hot fiery gases racing in every random direction--including at the Combaticon. He had better fly away -fast-, and even then, he'll probably at the very least get his tailpipes scorched. Fortunately the city is spared damage, so whatever injuries he might take are for the sake of the people of Nyon! Well at least he can flaunt them in front of Hot Rod as proof that the flame-painted mech -owes- him.
Taking injuries for the people of Nyon. It's sexier sounding than it actually FEELS. In fact, it feels like slag- or technically HE feels like slag. The shuttleformer does NOT have heavy armor- at ALL- and in fact his armor is thin enough to be weak against explosives. Thus the explosion nearly knocks Blast Off out of the sky. His thrusters whine and groan now, and the trail of white smoke turns into a trail of black smoke as he just manages to catch himself and NOT crash. That dark trail follows the injured craft as he tries to fly back home.... with yet ANOTHER item added to his ever-expanding list of problems. And he'll be having a "word" with Quantum as well.... if he can make it back home in one piece, that is.