(If It Had To Be One Thing)

AU IDW Ravage from the Functionist universe attached to operationinterference

[keenepiphany]

Strange Encounters of the Small Kind

[keenepiphany]

While Epiphany would have much preferred running, he knew his chances were next to none against someone like Ravage, and all his other options are even less favorable. He also resisted the urge to correct the waste shoot to an atmospheric filter system dump, even if it was the same thing.

While the paw is wiggled, Epiphany raises a single supra optic ridge. After it’s put down though, he’ll lift his own hand and wiggle his own fingers in response, haltingly at first, but then with more confidence, careful not to fling the substance on the other. Maybe this is a greeting that evolved on this particular version of Cybertron. In any event, he may as well try to learn as much as he can so as to form a more informational report.

“I likely will not need you to get me off world, my own faction is capable of providing transportation. Furthermore, I am not leaving yet; that ‘council’ has what’s left of my party, and I am not leaving without them,” one of them, more specifically, but he’s not going to divulge everything, “I have not been authorized to disclose any information, but I may be able to yet, or enable our respective commanding officers to communicate.” 

Did the Cybercat have a command structure or commanding officer? He had no idea, but he mentioned other people, and he can hope they are organized in some semblance of a chain of command. That would be a relief, if anything; order and structure and rank and rules, that is where he thrives. 

[moretomytaste-blog]

Are they an organized group or is it just a smattering of random connections--”I know a guy who knows a guy who knows the coworker of a guy who does that thing you need” kind of deal, the sort you’d find on any street anywhere? You decide, Epiphany. 

Ravage huffs a laugh. “Do I look like the kind of guy who has a commanding officer to you?” And it’s true. Soundwave might have decided to answer to Ring, but Ravage is with Soundwave and no one else. That’s about as far as he’s willing to go with his whole rebellion schtick. “Do what you want, but I’m going to introduce you to one of my friends, and they’re going to take you to the guy I was talking about and make sure you don’t get yourself in trouble on the way. You can work out a fair trade with him--he’s a bit of a bleeding spark, so you shouldn’t have trouble. I wouldn’t try and twist out of it, though. If he can’t get you that call, no one can.” 

He glances at the building. His job is to keep an eye on the place, and he can’t abandon it. Buzzsaw will take a little while to get here from Ring’s outpost, but until then he can keep this guy out of the mess and occupied. Out of the way paths for someone as small as him to an underground pipe leak he can wash off at, and somewhere to wait out Buzzsaw in relative safety that doesn’t compromise anything, and a tagalong shadow from a rat that owes Ravage a favor. But first--“So this isn’t really payment, I’m not going to play takeback or anything, but I think it’s fair to ask your name, right? And maybe if I have anything to worry about in the near future. You want to share anything about what’s going on in there beside the usual horrors?” 

[keenepiphany]

Strange Encounters of the Small Kind

[keenepiphany]

Well, so much for charisma. The constant drip of fluids must have been more detrimental than he realized, no sign of yielding from Ravage at all. Desperation was an understatement, but he still needs to evaluate this option before he accepts it. 

“There is only one way that you might help me at this point. I need access to a communications relay that can reach orbit. And if you are so interested in helping, you might enlighten me as to why.”

Because the idea of a rebellion isn’t something that would occur to him. 

[moretomytaste-blog]

Looks like the chase was definitely over for now, which was kind of disappointing, but that was life. Ravage had a job to do. Time to sell it. 

“Says the guy who came out of a refuse shoot. Look at me--” he waggled a paw, meaning creature, meaning beast, meaning obsolete, meaning dead-- “I think it’s kind of obvious we might want the same things. You want to send your message, I want to know what’s going on before not knowing gets me killed. You look like someone who could help with that.

“Look, you clearly aren’t exactly in the Council’s good books right now; neither are a whole lot of people, and you running around drawing attention and stirring up trouble is something no one wants. Which is why I’m standing here, talking to a complete stranger covered in extremely obvious treasonous waste in an alley right outside the Council’s current stomping grounds instead of minding my own business like anyone with an actual functioning processor would. I can get you in contact with someone who can do more than get you your relay--they can get you off planet, you and anyone else who might need it. They know you weren’t alone. All you’d have to do is tell them what they need to know to make it happen and maybe not get dead in the process. Sound fair? Or should I let you loose to get yourself fried trying to get to the city’s own comm towers?” 

He’s thinking fast, but they have some sort of procedure for this sort of thing already, for potential friends or foes who need to be coaxed in and caught, and Ring gave Soundwave free reign. This might be the best chance they get. Disfavored Council agent or genuine victim, Ravage really can’t let this opportunity pass him by. 

He might not be able to get a good scent under all that filth, but his nose doesn’t usually lead him wrong, and right now it’s telling him there’s something important here. 

[keenepiphany]

Strange Encounters of the Small Kind

[keenepiphany]

To his credit, it’s not entirely a lie; he has been ordered to regroup with The Lost Light, and for his purposes yesterday would be too late. He’s not stopping still, gradually increasing his speed as his legs allow and taking in what he can of his pursuer and surroundings. Even if Ravage decided to chase him, he’s had more than enough practice avoiding the sneaks alternate. Another variable in that; if there is one thing he has learned, it is that mechs are not their alternates.

The sword didn’t get a fraction of the way through planning adaptations to variances when the confrontation happened. Ravage was still larger, he barely came up to the chest. Still faster, if those similar finely wrought leg pistons were anything to go by. And considering the irony that the weapon really had no weapons of his own, he would have only one chance to strike a severe blow or anything combat would undoubtedly go in Ravages favor, leaving his only potential advantage in charisma. 

“Yes, it is a lie.” Epiphany looked up at the dark plated cybertronian and stood tall as he could, squared his shoulders, and narrowed his optics behind the visor up at Ravage, “I was not trained in suberfuge or the like. Most all of the issues I have encountered could be solved with the liberal and or precise application of force, failing that, planet wide genocide. But I digress; I am late, and I am presently needed elsewhere. I must suggest you do not hinder me.”. 

[moretomytaste-blog]

The posturing makes Ravage cock his head, though he doesn’t relax in any other way, in case he tries to bolt again. “Yeah, okay.” Sure, be commanding and vaguely threatening. That totally wasn’t a coagulated bunch of fluid flopping to the ground with a sickening shift in air currents or anything. Ravage will let you have your dignity. “Clearly you’re pretty desperate. You’re not listening though. Going this way, you’re gonna get caught. Like to see you make your meeting then.” 

Going any way, this guy is going to get caught if he keeps making a spectacle of himself like this. Planet wide genocide. What a charmer. 

“But considering where you’re coming from, I think I can help.” 

[keenepiphany]

Strange Encounters of the Small Kind

[keenepiphany]

Considering that the only mechs he would be worried about tailing him thing he is a non-sentient weapon, Epiphany isn’t much worried about being followed, so much as about being discovered, hence his getting clean is not a priority. If he’s small and unclean, that might actually help him blend in, as the smaller frames were used frequently for more dirty work on Costellatio, and no one paid attention to to them; himself being an exception.

So long as he was not some thing that one would want to look at, no one would look close enough to see the finer details that would discredit that, right? All he had to do was find a communications tower that could reach a relay, tap in, and comm The Lost Light. He could easily claim maintenance, and if questioned he knew enough to pass due to disciples of Adaptus commonly communicating with those of Epistemus. He just has to get there, and not-

Hey! Hold up!

Well, so much for that, he obviously does not ‘hold up’, “I can not,” How do lower casts talk again? He never interacted with them, “I have a meeting to get to and I am late.”

That works, right? He speeds up as he can. Is there a high vantage point that he can see where a tower may be? One that is also accessable to a smaller frame? He really doesn’t think it would be a good idea at this point to mass shift larger.

[moretomytaste-blog]

He didn’t expect it to work, but the awful lying was a bit unexpected. And offensive, honestly. He’d have thought the guy sneaking away from the Council would maybe have been a little less obvious. It’s when he speeds up though, that Ravage decides a full-on chase, while exciting and probably a better use of his time if only for the practice, would probably just lead to both of them getting it, and Soundwave has enough to worry about without Ravage brushing paws with the authorities--which is why Ravage has no fun in his life.  

And a two-legged mech barely bigger than Frenzy or Rumble and not a hint of a racer’s modifications in his scent thinking he’s going to outrun Ravage is just too much to let go. That cannot stand. 

One leap, then another, and Ravage tries to cut the stranger off with a jump and a twist, all black plating bristling defensively outward in the dank alley atmosphere, but with claws sheathed, fangs hidden, and weapons offline. He could just try to pounce on him right now, but that’s inadvisable with an unknown and also a little gross, the guy is still glittering with metal scrap and he just doesn’t want that smell lingering on his paws. It also doesn’t make for the best first impression. 

People don’t believe it, but Ravage is actually the diplomat of his little cohort.

Which is why he says, as he jumps: “For the love of--You’re going to get caught going this way, y’know!” in an attempt to defuse the situation and gauge random unknown’s intentions instead of something more immediately on point and helpful, like, “I don’t even have to smell you’re lying.” 

[keenepiphany]

Strange Encounters of the Small Kind

The refuse shoot spews out chunks of metal, thin sheets of broken glass, and a solution of any number of liquids that might include oil and post-processed energon. It also spits out a tiny mech, who deftly grips the upper edge of the discharge tunnel and swings up, landing on this feet atop it with a grace practiced millions of times over on his mount. Even crouched, his back is strait and his optics rest level after an efficient examination of the area. Deeming it clear, he stands with a posture that eminates pride and discipline, completely at odds with the dripping dark mess that leaves not a spot of his usually immaculate finish showing. To his left is one of the bright ribbons of road he saw while descending, to the right is a dark, narrow, and ominous alleyway. 

Epiphany leaps off the shoot and hits the ground running. He’s headed right.

[moretomytaste-blog]

See. Ravage had noticed the refuse shoot. He had noticed the refuse shoot, noticed it diligently with the mark of a true professional, including notes, because Soundwave liked that sort of thing, and then made to pass it on by because it was still early, he wouldn’t be able to enter the building for a long while yet, and also as a professional (if not exactly, strictly speaking, a trained professional) he knew that there were undoubtedly more dignified means of entrance and exit to a building than the shitway express.

Which is of course when something that distinctly doesn’t belong comes rattling out of the tunnel, causing Ravage to instinctively press himself belly-down to the ground and conscientiously away from the stream, still like a living shadow. It’s a mech, because of course it is, and the way they move is--interesting. 

The fact they’re apparently desperate enough to run away from a building with telling, foul-smelling (and Soundwave thinks he has the monopoly on sensory overload, ugh) evidence dripping behind them like a thousand little neon signs is even more interesting. 

The chances of that mech being part of the reason Ravage is here? Pretty high. Which means he might have to put his mouth on that. 

Ravage sighs, because of course this happens on his mission and never the birds’, of course it does, but at least this is more entertaining than sneaking around, and propels himself from his crouched position with a powerful leap to set himself on the mech’s tail as soon as the guy bolts. “Hey! Hold up!”