Bringing Home Baby

The quiet is what bothers her, and it is what Slipstream notices first. The fact that there are so many standing around,s eemingly unsure of what to do with themselves means that they are without a master, someone to guide them. Megatron is busy making prparations, Soundwave is... well, Soundwave and thus the taskmaster that keeps the lot of Cons on their toes must still be out. Slipstream doesn't bother looking for Barricade as she gets back to the Forge as that silence is telling to her. She checks for Starscream though, but he too is ... occupied? Perhaps he is still meddling with that pink intelligence officer.

So Slipstream checks on her brethren, the Seekers, only to find them as disappointing as ever. She walks the Forge thinking about maybe engaging on Barricade's behalf, to bark orders to make others snap to alertness... but that would only weaken his position. Out of boredom she considers taking a turn in the ring, just to \*really\* cut loose. To let them all see how powerful she is... but she thinks better on it. She settles on taking target practice for hours on end as she waits.

Barricade has been missing for several days, leaving things to the command of others, but word is quickly getting around that he's back - and he's with a new fembot. As Slipstream practices, the information is mentioned in passing. It looks like Barricade picked up a police flier.... has Slipstream been replaced?

... and that is something that is considered. Barricade is back but he hasn't radioed or said anything in advance of that. sSo, what else is Slipstream to think? With a sigh she lowers her arm though the hum of her weapons system doesn't diminish. She should find him, rip his spark out. She should, better yet, go to this new flier and rip \*her\* spark out. But... Slipstream does what she always has, though. She lifts her arm and resumes her practice.

Barricade -is- nervous, but not because of what the rumor mill suggests. He's brought home someone new - not a new endura, but rather, new -family-. He's not sure how Slipstream will take this, how she will react to having a newspark involved in his life, and by extension, hers. He's hoping for neutrality and peace at the best. He's prepared for the worst.

He hears that she's practicing in the arena, so, screwing his courage to the sticking place, he takes Pursuit by the hand and makes his way out onto the sand.

He's never been more afraid in his life.

Slipstream doesn't look back as she's approached. If she's going to be stabbed, with \*this\* in particular, she would rather not see it coming even if she knows that it is. "It would semem that your travels proved to be fruitful, Wheels." It hurts to say that, but well, she does have some dignity to try to maintain. "Good to know that whatever errand you ran off on meant you did not need to return empty-handed. A new recruit for the cause, and all of that. More fodder for Lord Megatron." Maybe with a careful word Slips can suggest what battlefield this new flier is sent to.

Barricade coughs into his fist, and glances over at Pursuit with a nod. They'd talked about this beforehand, and Pursuit is a good, obedient girl. She waits with arms behind her back, keeping quiet.

"I'm glad t' see ya, sweetspark. Missed ya, too. Got somethin' I need t' tell you, but yeah, guess you noticed Pursuit." He can feel the waves of icy unease crackling off his beloved, and he nervously scratches the back of his neck with his claws. How to put this. He's no genius.

"... You ever considered bein'... y'know... a parent?"

Well, that gets her to turn around. All of the stuff that comes after might be cause enough to, but it is 'sweetspark' that does it so immediately. How dare he still call her that after...

The anger, the pain, it melts though as she sees how he is with her. Whoever this is. Maybe he can forgive her because before Barricade, rejection and loss is all Slipstream has ever known. Slips should know better than to have doubted Barricade but... with eons of pain that's shaped her, well. She'll have to try to make it up to him. so, her optics go from him to this Pursuit and back again. She's still taking it all in when, well, he asks that.

"...What?"

Barricade can't read minds, he doesn't know what emotions are knotting themselves in Slipstream as he speaks. He's just trying to figure out how to disseminate the information he has to give, and it dawns on him belatedly that Pursuit shouldn't hear all of what he has to say.

His hands go up immediately. "Y' don't have to if you don't wanna!" he quickly interjects. "Just... well..." He frowns, thinking. Optics rove over to Pursuit. "Sweets, can you go wait for me in th' hall? Like we talked about."

Pursuit smiles cheerfully and nods. "Sure thing, Dad," she agrees, giving him a salute, turning on her heels and quickly trotting out of the arena.

Alone for the time being, Barricade can finally relax enough to explain in earnest. "Soundwave did me a solid like you wouldn't believe -- how much d' you know about a fembot named Shiftlock?" He needs to know where to start.

Maybe it is best for Barricade to begin with what Slipstream has felt rather than what she knows, since the latter seems more incomplete at the moment. "That I wanted to hunt her down at one point. Rip her spark out... no, not really. But tell her of what she had turned her back on. It was after we first..." Well, you know. "Became involved. It hurt \*me\* to know that she had \*hurt you\*, simply by failing to realize what she had been given. What she had given up. I wanted to make her aware of it. I thought if I did then she might apologize, something. Come back? I don't know," she handwaves as her brow knits. Slips is a bit muddled on exactly what outcome she wanted, which is why she likely never followed through on it. "I wasn't sure how that would affect you though so I didn't. Then she died, right? With Ratbat. I saw what that did to you..." Yet it wasn't really something she could help with, now was it? This 'carrier thing' is so very foreign to her. Hell, this relationship thing is. She's only ever had herself.

Slipstream wants to ask about what it is Soundwave did because that is one mech she plans to NEVER be in debt to. That can never be good, so whatever Barricade is going to owe will cost him dearly, she's sure of it. "What did she mean by 'dad'?"

"I made her kin. My descendant. Until she's ready t' face the world on her own, I'll be lookin' after her, teachin' her, trainin' her," Barricade explains. "I know that not every mech and femme is keen on havin' another depend on them so closely, which is why I wanted t' bring this up carefully t' you. Not sure how you'd feel about it."

He reaches out to try to take one of Slipstream's hands. "What I'm gonna tell you, I ain't tellin' other people, but I trust ya. I trust ya with more o' me than anyone else in this universe."

"When Shiftlock came t' the Cons, she was a newspark. No one had taught her anythin', no one helped her, everyone used her. She was abused and lost. I... I felt bad for her. I wanted t' try to do right by her, so I took her in, made her kin." He vents and frowns heavily. "She was a handful - headstrong, impulsive, flighty, but it was because she was confused and hurtin'. She wouldn't obey, and I didn't protect 'er like I should have. Didn't have time, what with everythin' happenin' here. She was so innocent and soft-sparked. I was afraid that if she stayed with us here, she'd become a monster. Lose her soul. Ain't worth fightin' th' government if, in th' fight, you turn every innocent spark into a hollow, black-sparked killer."

Slipstream has to touch her head. It feels like her processor is running hot. In her defense, this is a lot to take in.

Her hand is taken and she looks at Barricade. She softens. She knows how much he needs to tell her, but for Slipstream... she's not sure she \*can\* understand. But she'll try.

"So you sent her away. She didn't leave you. She made mistakes without you there to look after her. She died and..." she stops and looks to where Pursuit went and her optics narrow. She takes a moment, collects herself and asks carefully. "What are you asking me to do, Wheels?"

"I tried tough love, tried to make her face the consequences of her actions, send her away from the Cons. Left her in the care of -Hot Rod- --" Barricade grimaces at that. He feels like such a schmuck for that decision. "I hoped that it would help her, and I thought I had t' scare her away to do it, but in the end, I was an idiot. I didn't protect her like I should have. That's... that's where Pursuit comes in t' this. Where you do."

He takes another deep breath. "Soundwave didn't kill Ratbat an' Shiftlock. He took their sparks. He brought my little girl back t' me. That's why I had to go to a frame engineer." He glances over his shoulder to the doorway. "... Shiftlock's gettin' a second chance at a better life, without pain and abuse and sufferin', as Pursuit. This time I'm doin' things right."

Oh snap. He really -does- owe Soundwave.

"I wanted t' tell you this so you understand. First off - Pursuit's gonna take wing and fly on her own one day. I'm just here t' help her get there. -You- are th' femme I want t' have close to me for the rest of my life." His expression softens and he breaks into a grin. "An' I though, well, if you're not totally against it, maybe you might try seein' what it's like to be a part of a family. She's a triplechanger - grounder /and/ jet. She's probably gonna look up to you as a mentor too."

Slipstream is trying. She hopes that Cade can see that in her. His talk about wanting her in his life has her moving closer. She gets it that he is trying to do things right this time, respects that she'll support it.... even if she doesn't know how. "I am not sure I \*can\* understand it, Wheels. Not all of it. The connection that you have to her is not something I will ever experience. I wasn't built that way," she smirks. She doesn't 'get it' but she still is understanding of it happening. Slips assumes that such a connection between carrier and carryee is not necessarily one of choice - and the fact that he chooses to have a connection to Slipstream means a lot. if not everything.

"I've never had someone look up to me before," she has to chuckle. "Not like that, anyway. Someone to teach? I can do that. The rest..." This 'family thing'?

Slipstream looks to Barricade. She feels softer. Does she look it?

"I can try."

Barricade moves to pull Slipstream into an embrace. We'll find out how much softer she feels. "I ain't gonna push you into anything you don't want. But I can't think of a better flier for Pursuit t' look up to or learn from."

There is a lot that could be said but maybe... maybe it is better to leave some things unsaid. It's okay to be uncertain, right? That's an uneasy realization that Slipstream comes to because she's never allowed that to be before. Even if she didn't like it, she sought out the answers. This... she doesn't really 'get' but for Cade, she will stick around and try to figure it out. Besides, getting to know Pursuit might help her to better understand this mech she has found herself unable to escape. So, her answer?

Her hand comes up to run a fingertip along his jaw. She smiles coyly. "Oh, nothing? There's nothing you won't push me in." She looks down o his chest. "What about against?"

Welp, the woman knows how to get a man's engine to shift gears. There's a deep, throaty, muscle car rumble from inside Barricade's chest. "Let's find out how well the Constructicons built a few of these walls."