Series: The Ghost Unit
Title: Integration (#26)
Setting: IDW Transformers, inspired by the "What's Wrong with a Little Destruction" 'verse by ajremix
Note: Many thanks to rexlapinii for beta-ing! (This also fulfills the drabble request made by elanya in this month's drabble request post.)
Summary: In which Shortfall begins to get an inkling of what it's like to be a Ghost.

Integration
"If someone says 'can't', that shows you what to do."
~ John Cage

"No! Ain't happenin', not doing it, an' you can't make me!"

"Er... you do realize that's why we brought you in to start with, right? The whole identity change and frame refit?" Flagship wasn't quite ready to mention the triplechanger cog. Yet. Salvo - wherever he was - would find a way to hear and be reminded that he should be sulking. And then the rest of the team would glare at him or something.

"I don't care! I am NOT working with that stuck-up, know it all-" Shortfall spluttered for a moment, at a clear loss of which insult so select which suited his partner best. It has been the first training simulation he'd been put through since Deadline had released him from that little shop of horrors he claimed was a medlab. And then they'd shoved him into some insane test sim involving a maze from the Pit, Decepticons shooting at them and lightning based traps. LIGHTNING! And his partner, as it turned out, was a speed-junkie with a death wish when she wasn't busting his aft with a plethora of rules Shortfall hadn't even known existed up until she brought them up. Finally, unable to settle on picking just one insult, Shortfall settled on waving his arms wildly to make his point clear. "NO! She's insane! And you'd think someone shoved a stick the size of freakin' Unicron up her exhaust when she's not being insane! It ain't normal! And this ain't gonna work!"

And with that, the mini-bot stormed out of the room, leaving a mildly appalled Flagship to stare at the door whooshing gently shut behind him.

"Huh."

Perhaps this required a visit to the medlab in order to clarify matters.

~*~

"Hold on a nanoklik! You did what?"

"Blew up the grate."

"Wait. The grate covered with charged with Primus knows I can't even remember because that's how big the number is amounts of voltage?" He lifted a hand hastily before Fallout could tell him exactly what the number was. "The one we've been used to simulate the grate on that Decepticon base that's charged by using the planet's natural lightning storms? That grate?"

"Yes." Fallout beamed at him through a cracked combat visor, thoroughly pleased with herself. "I used one of my normal charges and changed its protective field with two oppositely charged stun grenades then tweaked them to radiate on a different frequency to create a disruption in the natural flow of the lightning based energy used in the grate. It worked quite well!"

"Oh. Interesting!" Flagship straightened up, no longer quite looming over his SIC. And then frowned. "Wait. What were you thinking?!"

"I suppose this would be an appropriate time for me to point out that they did get out with minimal damage and completed the simulation successfully." Deadline peered critically at some of the scratches and dents on Fallout's right side and then dismissed them all as minor before returning his attention to her cracked and slightly distorted combat visor. "In fact, Shortfall had nary a scratch though one would think he'd been fatally wounded from the way he was complaining once they were done..."

"And Fallout never managed to beat that training sim on her own, before!" Salvo chimed in from the corner he was occupying with a wide, approving grin. "She always got toasted at the grate each time!"

Fallout waited until they were done playing peanut gallery to give Flagship a rare, thoroughly smug smile. Even Salvo's relish at the mention of her always failing at the grate in every previous iteration of the sim was gracefully ignored.

"It wasn't my idea. It was Shortfall's."

"..."

"Flagship, brace her neck would you? I don't want to use anything that might set off residual explosives and the visor's construction requires either use of a laser to section it off or knowing how to slide it out of..." Deadline hummed and placed a still staring Flagship's hand on one side of Fallout's head then tapped his arm until the mech braced her solidly.

"Technically," Salvo added helpfully, not quite cackling, "it wasn't his idea, Fallout. He dared you to do it." He snickered cheerfully. "Okay, he should have known better than to give you the numbers to do it with on top of it all, but yeah. That was definitely a dare."

Fallout gave Salvo a reproachful look, which lasted all of two seconds until Deadline took firm hold of the edge of her combat visor and pried it out with a final sounding snap.

"Ow."

"Next time land better," the medic admonished her, turning the visor over in his hands to study the damage done to it and the amount of deformation it had incurred in the blast. "Also, I'll need to remove the first layer of your visor's housing slot," he traced the side of her helm, "here and here. You damaged the gears and relays in the explosion."

"Okay! So, when can we run the sim again, Salvo?"

"I'll have it ready by tomorrow."

"Perfect. Deadline, I'll need some of your time later to customize some of my grenades to compensate for the requirements needed to disrupt the energy flow protecting the grate long enough to deliver the charge through. It'll make for a smaller explosion as a result, which would be a better result considering the speed we're coming in at."

"Of course."

Flagship cycled his vents and revved his engine to a mildly annoyed growl for a moment, just to get their attention.

" I just came down here because Shortfall just stormed out of my office in a huff swearing to never set foot in another simulation run with Fallout again. What are you going to do to get him back in there, dare him to do it? And while I'm at it, how about- huh. You know..."

Flagship stared ahead a moment and then grinned in harmony with Fallout and Salvo.

"That's not a bad idea at all," Fallout murmured with a considering look on her faceplates. "I think I'll try that."

"He'll be in that sim faster'n I can shoot him in there myself," Salvo opined. Flagship smiled faintly and tried not to look as though the mental image might be appealing.

"When will the sim be ready?" Flagship did not look eager. He was making a point not to. "I think I'd like to watch this time."

"Tell you what, I'll comm you when we're ready to go." Salvo grinned and pulled out a datapad, opening the sim's configuration file to peer at it critically. "Hey, actually... wanna help me add a few variations while I'm resetting it? Shortfall kept heckling Fallout while they were going through the maze to get to the base. I think he thought it was too easy for her."

Flagship stepped over to the other mech and clapped him on the shoulder with a wide smile.

"I thought you'd never ask."

Current Mood: creative