Magnitude Four (Open)

[Landmine]

((28 August 2027, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington, 2330 HLT))

A large object streaked across the night sky, catching the attention of those who were still up and about around the base. Its trajectory took it towards the impact area of the firing ranges, a spot that really wasn't traveled to or seen, but gave the ranges more room for flying ammunition. The impact thundered with a loud crack, shaking the ground for several miles. Some service members woke up in a panic, thinking it was an earthquake.

In the landing zone, a large, four-armed shape crawled out of the large crater he'd made in reentry. ~"That went a bit better than expected."~ A deep voice rumbled. ~"Gotta find an alt mode, and get a hold of base..."~ =~"This is Autobot Landmine calling in. Any Autobots receiving?"~= He began making his way to where he figured vehicles would be, though the going was quite slow.

[Jazz]

Jazz had been recuperating since his unexpected resurrection with considerable help from the medics and Red Alert especially. Jazz was still having difficulties with the fact that he had been off line for twenty years, yet he was getting acclimated gradually. What he suffered from most was the nightmares, something he tried desperately to hide from everyone, including Red Alert, and had begun sneaking into Ratchet's medical supplies and snatching mech stims just to keep himself going so he wouldn't have to face the nightmares and the pain. He managed to keep himself awake for nearly a week now and was starting to feel the effects of prolonged activity draining his already taxed systems. He was just starting to doze at the console when Landmine's signal came through, snatching Jazz from the claws of his nightmare. ~"Huh?"~ he blinked, then looked at the screen. =~"Landmine? Hey man, glad ya made it, though ya kinda missed the mark by a whole land mass. We're in DC, but I can get ya a ground bridge if ya want."~= he responded, standing up and tilting his head at the screen, awaiting Landmine's reply.

[Landmine]

Landmine blinked in surprise at the voice that came through over the comms. =~"Jazz? Holy slag, man! I'd heard you were dead!"~= He'd made it a distance away from the impact area, and spotted a vehicle driving down one of the many dirt roads around the area, used for patrols. It was a heavy vehicle, and Landmine was pleased to see that it had the proper mass. He scanned it as he continued. =~"And a ground bridge would be great! I don't think I'd even be able to get myself out of this area in a timely enough manner. But, man, it's really good to know you're back with us."~=

[Jazz]

=~"Hey, man, ya just can't keep a good bot down, you know that. The guys found me bout eleven and a half Cycles ago, so I'm still tryin ta catch up to the last six and a quarter Ano-Cycles or so."~= he offered with a shrug, then switched to his internal coms as he headed for the Ground Bridge room. =~"I'm on my way to the Ground Bridge now, got your coordinates so you should see the vortex shortly and I'll see you a few nano-Klicks after that."~= he offered cheerfully and stepped into the Ground Bridge room and over to the controls. It took him a moment to shake off the fatigue and input the coordinates to open the Bridge, but he got it open and looked to the threshold in anticipation of seeing another Autobot coming home, or at least as near to home as the base on Earth had become.



((Cycle = around 27.7 Earth Hours, 11 Cycles = 12.70 Earth days | Ano-Cycle = about 3.2 Earth Years, 6.25 Ano-Cycles = 20 Earth Years | Nano-Klik = 1 Second))

[Landmine]

Once Landmine saw the bridge open, he lumbered through, dropping onto his arms to move a bit faster, then standing back up once he was through. ~"Thanks, man. That thing's a time-saver."~ He grinned broadly at the smaller mech. ~"So, what's the basic low-down? We still got 'Cons coming out of our audial receptors?"~

[Jazz]

Jazz shrugged and crossed his arms in response, tilting his head to look up at the huge mech. ~"Eh, same ole same ole. The guys have seen some fightin', but I haven't seen much of anything since I got back. Ratchet won't let me off the slaggin' base."~ he remarked with a sigh. ~"I got told Ironhide about slagged Barricade for sneakin' on base trying to steal Energon a couple days before they found me, n one of the Decepticons was the one who actually found me. Young bot named Wavelength, one of Soundwave's inner circle apparently. Which is odd when ya think about it, I've been trying to figure out why the slag he's with them instead of us. He doesn't act like a Con at all, he sacrificed his own chassis resources just to keep me stable long enough for Prime n the others to get there, then came to base with us n helped get Percy's daughter away from the Con base."~ He thought about that for a moment, then figured he should let him in on what that actually meant. ~"Perceptor found a way to combine our nano-cell structure with the humans. Apparently we can spawn with them, but the Sparklings aren't Cybertronian or Human, they're Techno Organic, kind of a mix of both. His daughter is one of them, but she got caught by the Cons n experimented on for a while. According to what I heard from Wavelength, one of the medics had been trying to help her, but wouldn't say who."~ He shook his head.

[Landmine]

Landmine chuckled, the sound rumbling in his large chest. ~"Well, at least that's one more less 'Con out there trying to scrap us."~ He squatted down a bit, his lower pair of arms extending down so his hands could brace against the ground to help keep him balanced. Squatting down meant that Jazz didn't need to look up as much, and that he didn't need to look down so much. ~"Can't say I've heard much about Wavelength, though, which I guess just adds to the curiosity as to why he is a 'Con."~ He scratched his head a bit. ~"And Techno-Organics, eh? Would never have guessed that. There a plan to get her out of there and safely here?"~

[Jazz]

"Oh, Barricade's in the brig, n I think Wavelength's hangin' with Wheeljack mostly. Mech saved my life, I owe him. As for Percy's daughter, she's here now. Wavelength brought her here himself from what I gather. He n Ratchet n Jolt've been takin' care of her, makin' sure she's okay n that the Decepticreeps haven't done too much damage to the poor girl." He smiled then, looking at Landmine. "Oh, and just so you know, Red's here. He's got security detail, has for a while. You know how he is, n he about went off the deep end when he found out about Barricade sneakin' onto base." he chuckled and shook his head at that. "Same ole Red. Gotta love the paranoid glitch though, he looks out for us, n honestly, I wouldn't want him any other way." he added with a warm smile, thinking about his long time friend, his brother. "I knew him back on Cybertron at the Iacon base. The most uptight paranoid mech I had ever met in my life, but ya know what? I got to know him n I learned that it's because he cares about what happens to us." He didn't go into detail about their relationship, or that he had managed to not only earn Red Alert's trust from day one, but that he had been the one to get the security chief to actually laugh for the first time in his life. No, such things were very personal between them, and Jazz was not about to betray that trust, that brotherhood between them.

[Landmine]

Landmine chuckled again. "And I should assume that Ironhide has already had a go at interrogating Barricade? 'Hide's quite the legend in the Autobot ranks. Never met him personally, but it almost feels like I have, I've heard so much about him. Might have to get some time to talk to Wavelength, though. Haven't heard much of anything, but he's got me curious." A grin appeared on his face at the mention of Red Alert. "Heard stuff about him too. I'll be sure to watch myself. Quite honestly, though, any 'Bot who's got the bearings to take up the mantle of security does not deserve the bad rep. "

[Jazz]

Jazz chuckled at that and nodded. "Yeah, Ironhide had a little... talk... with Barricade. And none too gently I might add." he laughed. "Ironhide's one of the best of us, trained most of us to fight honestly. Even Optimus." Jazz added. He was sincerely glad Ironhide was on their side, as powerful and experienced of a fighter as he was. "Wavelength, I owe him, big time. No idea how I'll ever repay him, honestly. He's a good mech from what I've been able to see from talking to him a bit." He looked over at the cameras installed in the bridge control room, his smirk softening to a smile. "Red's a good guy, if you can get past his paranoia glitch. He's the closest I got to family, closest I ever had really." He lowered his gaze then, his usual smirk returning. "Cm'on, I'll take ya to meet Red so he at least can be less twitchy with you." he offered and motioned for Landmine to follow. For Jazz, even though Red Alert had been doing most of the work taking care of Jazz during his recovery, Jazz couldn't help but jump at any excuse to go see his brother.

[Landmine]

"Huh. Might have to talk to him a bit, then. I know how to fight, but there's always something new to learn." Landmine replied. "And I know how family is. Came from a big one. We all quickly learned to take care of each other and look out for each other, but to also leave some room. We all split and went our separate ways when the war broke out. Wouldn't be surprised to see some of 'em in the Decepticons. Their choice, though. Nothing to be held against them." He stood up when Jazz motioned for him to follow, his large frame moving slowly, though he was also careful, looking around on the ground to make sure he wasn't about to step on something, or someone.

[Jazz]

Jazz nodded as he walked, listening to what Landmine said. "Yeah, it's good to have family." he replied, though he could hardly imagine actually having any sort of familial bonds with anyone, and part of him wished he could share a sibling bond with Red Alert, though he was in some ways glad that Red never felt the pain he went through the day he had been killed, and Red couldn't feel the continuing pain and nightmares Jazz still suffered after his unexpected resurrection. He fell silent for a while, not sure what else to say as he led Landmine towards Red Alert's office. He figured with all the security of the place, Red already knew they were coming, so he didn't worry about sending a com. If Red was in his office, it was nearly impossible to sneak up on him, unless you were Mirage, of course.

[Landmine]

Landmine fell silent as well, unsure of what else to ask Jazz about, or just simply talk about. He looked around a bit, examining the structure of the base. "Humans are pretty good at building large structures despite being so small, aren't they?" He was surprised that he could stand comfortably in the hall and not feel crowded. "I might have to talk to some of them. I'm curious as to how they do it..."

[Red Alert]

Red Alert was indeed aware of Jazz and the newcomer, Landmine, approaching. He watched them through the screens that displayed what the cameras around the base were viewing, changing some screens to watch their progress as they walked through the halls of the base. When they were nearly at the door to his office, he removed himself from his chair to open the door and step outside. "Hello, Jazz. Landmine, I don't think we've met before." He had to look up a bit when talking to Landmine, but it didn't faze him much. He was used to it. <"Jazz, aren't you supposed to be recharging right now?"> He opened a private comm so as not to embarrass Jazz with his inquiry.

[Jazz]

Jazz chuckled at Landmine's remark about how humans could build such large structures. "You should see the skyscrapers they build, taller than the biggest of us several times over, even the gestalts." he replied with a smirk. He then looked over as Red Alert stepped out and greeted them. "Hey Red, Landmine here just made planet-fall. Had to bridge him in from Washington state though, he kinda missed the mark by a whole continent." he said with a chuckle, though gave Landmine a good natured nudge. "He's curious about how humans build such big buildings." he added and looked more directly at Red. <"Oh, I'm alright Red. I'll get some recharge a bit later on. No worries."> he replied trying to hide the deep fatigue he was feeling after being active for close to a week straight. He didn't want Red worrying about him, and was desperate to prove he was okay and could handle things just fine like he used to. He had to prove it to himself whether the others believed him or not, and he was determined to do so by any means he felt necessary.