#traxxsquad

[sparkofthestorm]

((I’ve been wasting a lot of time tbh))

dutiful boy scout that actually gets stuff done Streetbolt belongs to autothotyonce

he’s better looking when they draw him. 

[sparkofthestorm]

Dust Settles

Just a a bit continuing off of what I cooked up last night, this bit in the start of the story of traxxsquad​. It’s a draft, hoping I got down autothotyonce​‘s characters okay. 

and passing the baton to them. :p

 Stormrunner was the first to speak. “Street, how does this punk know you?” She spat out the question at Street’s feet, boring a hole into his frozen expression.

Heatbreaker had enough of her weight on him, and tried shimmying out of her hold. “This is none of your business.”

“Like hell it ain’t, shut your-”

“Storm. Let him up.” Streetbolt cut her off.

“But-” “Come on.”

She shot him a glance to say Are you sure about this? But complied. Heatbreaker put a knee down to stand, as Stormrunner made a point to stand on his far side, dusting off her chassis.

“What are you doing here, Heat...” Streetbolt stepped forward, offering a servo to help Heatbreaker up, but it was left in the air.

“What, no ‘Hi babe’?” Heatbreaker stood on his own to his less than impressive height. “Autobots really know how to give a warm welcome.”

Stormrunner’s joints locked, as her optics shifted back and forth between the two mechs, watching Streetbolt’s faceplates cringe. Babe? What the pit is going on here? What has Street kept from me?

“Heat, why... how are you here?” Streetbolt sounded solemn, but he retained his questioning tone, ingrained by the academy to demand answers.

Which was never something that stuck with Heat, if that was taught in Decepticon equivalent. He gave a dry laugh, “I don’t even get the old nicknames you reserved in front of your Autobot buddies? ‘Decepticon scum’, ‘Dirty con’. Maybe it’s good you stopped, you really did suck at that.”

“Heatbreaker. Answer me.” Heatbreaker’s dry, leering smile dropped. “Ask your friend, Officer.”

Stormrunner got another urge to jab the con. Damn, I wanted to see what this revealed. “Well, looks like the con and I have a secret from you. Yet, still doesn’t feel even.”

“Storm, it wasn’t-”

“Save it, this is wasting time, I have a friend waiting for me. He radioed Traxx, he must be with them.” Stormrunner brushed past Streetbolt, making sure her shoulders knocked into his to nudge him out the way. She bent her knees on the pavement and transformed, pitching high and resuming course, outtake sending the dirt into a plume.

 Streetbolt watched her take off, leaving his back turned as Heat spoke.

“You never called.”

“...How was I supposed to know you could even get a message... it’s not like you did, either.”

Heatbreaker didn’t respond, but let the silence hang.

I couldn’t. He’ll never know how many times I tried to form a message to him, and couldn’t bring myself to send it.

 “Heat... I thought-” Streetbolt’s vocals faltered, “I thought you were dead.”

Heabreaker stared at the mech. His countenance fell, and as he opened his mouth to speak, no words came out. Street continued, finally turning to face Heat’s lowered helm. “Look, I get it, it’s not like we could have broken off. It’s... it’s not that easy.”

“...Street, I may as well had been dead.” Heat made a point of brushing past Street, giving him a bump on the shoulder Stormrunner didn’t hit. Three wheels hit the ground, and sped back towards the highway. Streetbolt’s biolights flickered, as he felt his spark sink. He trudged a meter and transformed, catching up with his ex.

  Stormrunner climbed until she almost hit the stratosphere, well beyond her range. She dropped a few thousand feet, cursing herself for letting herself get so riled up. I’m letting this get the best of me. Like Dragon Lady said, I’m soft... Still, a con? When did his judgment do a 180...

A signal on the edge of her radar made her idle, and she dropped to skim the pine treetops. Ohhhh scrap. A naval military jet roared a hundred kilometers to her left, at the altitude she was moments before. She waited a moment, anticipating a human voice in her comm, demanding her information. I forgot about the aircraft carrier. Scrap scrap scrap. Ok, I need to figure out how to get there without showing on radar...No call came. As she passed an opening in the trees, Stormrunner took the window and transformed, drawing in her wings and landing on her pedes-squish-in swampy fields. Of course. The quietly cursing Autobot marched through the mud, resisting sticking her tongue out at the alligators bathing in the sun, glaring at her. Ok. Time to suck it up. She opened her comm to Street, quickly speeding through her request. “Lieutenant, I’m going to require a tow 200 meters out from the docks. I can cloak my signal, but being in the air by the aircraft carrier is out of the question.”

“Ok, Storm, I’ll there as soon as I can... Storm, I-”

“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Yep. She’s still mad.

“Storm I wanted to tell you-”

“Bolt.” Her tone softened over the comm. Equally as impatient, but the sharp edge dulled. “You can tell me later. I want to hear. No details left out this time. Now hurry up.”

 At the docks, Sidetraxx waited for some kind of update from anyone in the mix-up, left to guess what happened after Heat’s abrupt message. It wasn’t that much of a mystery. Still, I’d appreciate being in on the loop. Ah, whatever, I’m in less cranky company. They grinned at Rowlock, who played with rotating his cranes on deck. Traxx wheeled a few empty cargo containers nearby, and sat snickering as Rowlock tried to loop his hook onto one. So far, he’s stacked two, and working on the third, but it just won’t seem to land right. “No, swing harder, silly. No not that way, hard left! Oh, you’re not even close.” One of his horns let off his frustration, as he kept trying to ring one in. “Yeah I know, after sundown you can stretch out a bit, and meet the others...” As the sun set over the harbor, Traxx wondered if they’d even show up.

[sparkofthestorm]

Signal Found

::start to TraxxSquad story-ish drabble, just tried to see what I could do with it tonight... Up for changes, probably, but it’s 3 am and I had fun.:: 

 Static. That’s all it ever was, the continuous crackling of static.

Stormunner doubted that frequency feed would ever sound like anything else to her.

Her audials replayed Traxx’s last message, almost inaudible amidst the screaming warning bells in the small autobot ship as she entered Earth’s orbit. It’s a miracle that piece of trash survived atmospheric entry.

“Stormy... found... you thought...shard of my spark... at port... and break-” Static. Screeching bells. Loss of guidance and communications. Tell me something I don’t know, ship, just get me on the surface in one piece.

Her outtakes emitted a vent as the memory faded. She had faith Traxx could handle themself, but if the incident Stormrunner formulated did happen... then Traxx was not alone. A part of their spark now lied in another vessel, another life. How that worked was beyond her.

I have several hours before the next recruit training... She had the time, and the window to leave base for a routine scan, but she wasn’t sure if the had the spark for another flight with nothing but static. Traxx had to be out there. Whether they were in range of her was a different story. ...I wonder if the spark shard had an effect on their signal...

Whatever. Beats sitting around here. Stormrunner made a quick sprint out of the hanger to the runway, transforming into a smooth takeoff.

 “When is the Dragon Lady returning?”

“She’s out for another 48 hours, Lieutenant, on her primary recon mission. Your request will have to wait.”

“Understood, Sir, but it’s been pushed back twice now and my CO needs my update-”

“Don’t forget that while you’re stationed here, I am the first CO you will report to. Dismissed.”

“... Yes, Sir.” Streetbolt saluted and gave a brisk turn on his pede. I didn’t expect anything less... Scrap, what am I going to report. It’s been months and I’ve got no more leads on the missing Autobot. I know I found her signal here.

“Street!!” Streetbolt stopped in his tracks, startled by the sudden volume on his comm link. “Stormrunner? Don’t you have a recruit flight today? When-”

Stormrunner wasn’t having much of it. “Yeah, yeah, yeah, listen! I found them Street, I found their signal! I finally got a link, they got my messages but weren’t in range to relay. They’re okay, they’ve even got their own energon supply, and Primus they have so much to tell us, they’re a the port, 70 kliks due west towards the Gulf.”

“Stormy, slow down. Do you mean-”

“YES, Bolt, YES, don’t make me repeat myself! Meet me over there, I’m already en route. You know the port I’m talking about, put your gear in drive!”

Stormrunner’s voice rang with joy, and as usual she left little room for argument. I can’t believe it, she found them. ...Maybe, just maybe Traxx will have some info on other con ships on Earth. “Okay, okay. I just got out of the officer’s meeting-which you should have attended, by the way. I’ll meet you there soon as I can, turbofans.”

“It’s not like they needed me, I handle the training, any recon I go through is under Dragon Lady. Now quit nagging me and hurry up!”

She could wait for him, but she didn’t even consider cruising speed. “Traxx, I’m on the way. Finally got hold of Streetbolt, he’s gonna catch up. Stay put.”

  Sidetraxx would have rolled their optics. “We’re not going anywhere fast, Airhead. Tell Street to burn some rubber.” They closed the comm, and gave a nod to the enormous barge docked in the water beside them. “You did pretty well, she’s really going to have to hunt to find you. I’m proud.”

Rowlock’s horns bared for a second, conveying his “I know. I’m that good.” while he remained in his alt. mode, blending in well among the normal cargo ships.

A smaller three-wheeler pulled up beside Sidetraxx. “Alright, who’s the buddy that’s about to blow our hangout?”

“Heat, she’ll keep her trap shut, she has this long. She’ll be coming in from the East, Stormy and Street are old friends, just-” “-You said who now?”

“Stormrunner. I told you, we-”

“-No, the other one.”

“Streetbolt? He was in the academy with her, -” They didn’t get to finish their annoyed explanation, screeching tires cut them off and cut down the pier lanes. Yeah, he’s gonna make a great welcoming committee.

  I’m less than 15 out, Stormrunner checked GPS, irritated. She shouldn’t have kicked her engines at high speeds coming from across the state, her endurance was still embarrassing. The cargo side of the port is usually busy this time of day, so-a blip on her radar interrupted her thoughts.

Are you kidding me? A con signal? How... Sure enough, a signal registering decepticon was showing, heading her direction from the West. Ok, where are you... The jet adjusted yaw and dropped altitude to view the highway below. Immediately, a crimson red small roadster that passed every other car stood out to her. There you are. Scrap, not now, I don’t have time for this-Suddenly, the teardrop-shaped roadster veered off the asphalt, and turned off onto a desolate stretch through open fields. He got my signal. Damn.

 On the bumpy, pothole-ridden exit, Heatbreaker accelerated, sending a spray of loose gravel into the air behind him. Finally he was out of the traffic behind slow mini vans and sedans, taking their sweet time and in his way. Above, the jet banked and straightened its course with him. Knew it. Just what I needed, something else in my way.

 Landing without a runway was more of a challenge that Stormrunner considered. Especially one on an uneven surface, full of rocks and vegetation. So she settled on dropping to about 10 ft above the con, slowing to his speed, and attempting to land on her pedes in front of him out of transforming. It’s a good thing no one else was around to see her roll over her helm a few times before her pedes caught the ground and she was able to stand and deploy her guns. “Stop right there.” The dirt between the two of them began to settle, swirling in the heat.

Heatbreaker came to a relatively more graceful stop, quick to draw his weapons. “Some highway patrol. What are you gonna do, give me a ticket, officer?”

Stormrunner glared, trying to stifle her impatience. “One you can’t afford bail for. Designation, spit it out.”

Heatbreaker returned a snarl. “I’m not going down in your records, Autobot. Out. Of. My. Way.”

 I need to gain some ground, he thinks he can brush past me. Stormrunner straightened to height and widened her stance, picking up her wings, hoping to intimidate him. “I’ll ask one more time: Designation. Where did you come from?”

 Just grand, just what I needed, another hard-aft Autobot screwing up any chance of getting to Street. “I could ask you the same, from what failed con project did they make a flying Autobot?” Distract her, get around.

 That little jerk. “None of your sick experiments. I made myself.” Stormrunner kept her guns trained on the three-wheeler, waiting for him to spring to speed around her.

 Okay, this is taking way too long. I ain’t got time for Autobot self-righteous ego. Heatbreaker fired a few shots by Stormrunner’s pedes, and rolled to her side.

Stormrunner lept back at the fire, and made a dash to catch Heatbreaker out of the roll, landing a blow to his thigh. Heatbreaker spun on one pede to catch Stormrunner in the side with a hard blow, knocking her off balance and scrambling to the road.

 And she’s still in my way. “Move.”

 He’s not getting to our base. “No.”

 The two rushed at one another, and finally one bot spotted their window. The other’s arm was high and back, poised to punch but leaving their weight off-centered. With a step to the side, and grip on the other’s arm, one bot had the other pinned to the ground, arms locked behind their back.

 “Bolt do me a favor and bring some stasis cuffs if you’re still on the way.” Stormrunner spoke into her comm link, letting out a vent and shifting her weight on top of the cursing con below her.

 “You slaggin hot-aired bi-wait, WHO?” Heatbreaker tried rolling and shaking her off him, but she kept her stance.

 “None of your business, short-stack.”

 “To pit it ain’t.” Heatbreaker opened his comm link to Sidetraxx, spitting curses in between. “Traxx, you may have to pull some strings with that friend-”

Now Stormrunner lost her balance, and fell to the side. “WHO?”

 Heatbreaker sneered back at her, about to mock her “None of your biz-”

 Tires braked on the gravel behind them, and Streetbolt transformed. “Stormy I left a long time-” He stopped mid-sentence, breaking off at the sight of them. The two bots on the ground waited for words to leave his mouth, but all they could see was Street’s expression that resembled a deer in the headlights.

  autothotyonce

this shit happened. It needed a lot more Traxx tbh.