Series: The Ghost Unit
Title: Schooled (#20)
Setting: IDW Transformers, inspired by the "What's Wrong with a Little Destruction" 'verse by ajremix
Note: Many thanks to rexlapinii and ajremix for beta-ing!
Summary: In which a mission is derailed and the team is introduced to the concept of "bad winner" by a new opponent.

Schooled
Mrs. Murphy: What did you learn in school today?
Dade Murphy: Revenge.
~ Hackers

The sounds of battle were still omnipresent in the distance, though thankfully they'd left the worse of the battle zone some time ago. A usually fairly peaceful quarter, the industrial area in which they'd been operating had been turned into a war zone not long ago when Fallout's mission had been completely and thoroughly foiled by one of the slum lords' operatives. This had sparked a series of nasty encounters followed by no less than three declarations of war amongst the criminal elements of the sector - not exactly what they'd set out to do, to say the least. The ensuing extraction had been an interesting sequence of spark-stopping events and the team had been able to pause to re-assess the situation only after reaching their third safe point. As they waited in the shadows, under cover of scramblers and dampeners alike, Salvo cycled his vents once more, overheated coils and circuits still frantically trying to settle back into some semblance of normalcy. He and Wildside had pulled off their part of the job perfectly at least, both prepared for such an event but neither having had to do so on an actual mission up until this one. Next to him Wildside did the same, though his expression was considerably calmer than Salvo's, quiet satisfaction radiating from him instead of frustrated annoyance.

The femme he was holding tucked against himself like so much spare luggage did not speak nor move, letting the much larger brawler's systems cool down while she reviewed the details of the mission, trying to pinpoint the exact moment things had gone wrong. Considering the scene they'd just barely escaped from, they were lucky they hadn't given themselves away, had been her first conclusion. The mission had failed, but the back-up plan which had been in place just in case things didn't work out hadn't. Amidst the stream of data and ongoing analysis, Fallout had to admit she was grateful that they'd all made it out relatively unscathed, considering how badly things could have turned out. Possibilities, alternate scenario outcomes and percentages floated through her processors, each more dire than the other, until Salvo made a slight gesture at Wildside who - after checking to make sure he still had a solid grip on his very un-protesting second in command - followed him as they left, keeping out of sight as they moved out of the district.

~*~

".. when the alarm was triggered I received a data packet from an unknown source. I didn't have time to look into it so I stored it away in a compartmentalized and secure memory module of my data net and called for extraction."

The reports from all active team members had already been scanned through several times, but Flagship still preferred to get verbal reports as well. It was considered old fashioned and unnecessary by many, he knew, but he'd still impressed this preference on his team as a whole and they'd adapted to this by integrating the habit into several facets of their own work as well.

"I spoke with Salvo and Wildside while Deadline went over you and extracted the information you were sent." Though the mission had failed the extraction had been smooth and picture perfect - he had nothing else to add there. "Deadline said he'd have whatever it contained decrypted in a while. The encoding was fairly esoteric," he added pensively. Fallout shifted slightly, a clear sign of her discomfiture at how the mission had turned out. Finally she gave in, cocking her head to the side in a silent query. "He had to ask for some help."

"Really?" The expression of surprise escaped her unwittingly and Flagship had to smile at her reaction. "...we have access to rather specialized programs and technical resources," she continued a touch defensively, and Flagship was yet again reminded of how - regardless of her current expertise and knowledge - she was still so very new to this assignment and her rank compared to many of the long time participants in the seemingly endless war they were engaged in.

"Apparently, the encryption didn't follow anything like baseline encoding protocols one might expect-"

"-and if I ever get my hands on the slagger who wrote this, I will make him a desperately unhappy mech," Deadline finished the sentence as he stalked into the office, biting out each word with peeved precision, the door shushing shut behind him as soundlessly as it had opened seconds before. He flipped the disc he'd been using to isolate the data on Flagship's desk with disdain, features cold and haughty. At Flagship's look of inquiry he shook his head. "I didn't review the contents. After dealing with that code, I thought I'd just come down here and share the joy with you all." The black and blue settled into a nearby chair, not quite flopping yet somehow still giving the impression he was indulging in some sort of massive sulking fit. If one could sulk in a dignified way.

After a moment Flagship picked up the disc and slipped it into a console separate from the main systems in his office. There was no sense in risking a security breach when it was so easy to set up isolated units. The holo display it was linked to flickered to life and a blocky, generic and suitably anonymous mech model sprang into miniature life as a pre-recorded message began.

"Hahaha! You lose, ya sorry aft-sucking slaggers!" The miniature mech turned to lean over, slapping his aft merrily to make his message clearer - or so Flagship supposed. "Mess with the best," the taunting voice went on, "die like the rest!" After a final flourish ending in a stunningly offensive gesture, the mech bowed grandly and disappeared, the message kept from looping on itself when Flagship leaned forward a touch desperately to stab at the console in order to shut it down as quickly as possible.

"Oh my." Deadline was staring at the now quiet holo projection unit with a vaguely astonished air about him. Feeling slightly stunned himself, Flagship managed to look towards Fallout while hoping she wasn't too piqued by their thorough defeat.

After a moment, he managed not to smile, feeling entirely reassured as to his second in command's disposition. The grinding sound emanating from her stilled but, judging from the murderous gleam in her optics, Flagship had a feeling a war had just been declared.

Current Mood: sick