ZippyWharrgarbl

IC: Gyro - Not Quite There Yet

"Uh, sure," he said, jostled from his thoughts and the preparations of his email. "Gimme a minute."

He climbed on board, to see another being playing on their phone. Well, it wasn't XPlode. He tried to look unbothered as he turned for the pilot's seat, which was noticeably large, even compared to Tim's larger than average size. He took note of some scratches on either side of the roof- where, perhaps, a large double-ended blade had scraped the metal during the jostling motions of more rough flights- and the impossibility he had been thinking about crept closer to the realm of the possible.

He couldn't ask, not without looking suspicious. If he was right, there was a good chance he wasn't getting out of this unscathed. If he was wrong, well, there was no need to ask and he could joke about it later.

"Hey," he said casually to the other being. It was best to sound neutral for now.

~

IC: XPlode - I Nearly Wrote 'With XPlode' Which Is Technically True

"It seems Blink has proven herself very useful," XPlode remarked as he re-locked the door and joined Whipcrack on the trek back. "Hopefully, we will be on our way to the runaway ship shortly."

IC: Armani - Unshakeable Pillar Of Justice

Armani had not really been affected by the impact, but it certainly drew her concerned attention. She bent immediately to pick up the book and extend a huge hand for them to grab.

"My apologies, citizen! I did not see your approach. I do hope you are unhurt... Oh!" Recognition flooded her features behind her helmet. "It is you, Bai Bai! It's very good to see you again."

OOC: I want it noted that due to the vagueness of Scorp's original post I humbly requested to him that I decide exactly where Thak is and what he's doing, hoping to have him outside the ship working on his jazz ballet routine, but Scorp has cruelly denied my request >:u

~

IC: XPlode - Leaving Office

"Very good," he smiled. "Have Rotor start the ship, will you? We shan't be long."

~

IC: Gyro - Suspicions Rise

Gyro had stopped in his tracks to stare up at the ship, which was expensive looking yet generic and not really identifiable. The windows were tinted to prevent anyone seeing the interior, the ship was well looked after, but those were the only real noticeable things about it. If this was his companion's ship, then she'd gone out of her way to make the ship as unnoticeable as possible.

He was just considering that maybe that was a security thing or something when he heard Blink talking to someone on her communicator. He hadn't been paying much attention earlier, but the voice on the other end had sounded eerily familiar. He was starting to realise why.

As part of his own training, he'd taken to studying video records the Hero Factory had of Rotor. He'd gone up against the guy in simulations, too. It was kind of hard to figure out training regimes and fighting moves based around a back-mounted propeller in standard training sources, for one. For another, he... kind of... half-hoped he'd meet Rotor one day. That part, he'd jokingly told people was because he wanted to battle for the title of Best Rotor. To Scarlet, his most trusted friend, he'd told something much closer to the truth; he wasn't really sure why. He guessed some part of him thought Rotor would 'get it', whatever 'it' was. Answer some questions he had, understand how it felt to get irritable from walking on the ground too long or even just something as simple as empathising with getting the hang of doors and seating arrangements with a propeller attached to his back.

He remembered this now, because he remembered Rotor was often found committing felonies with XPlode. This meant a lot of the videos and simulations included XPlode in the scene. This also meant that the voice he could hear- not the words, but the sound and tone- was sounding very, oddly familiar.

As casually as he could muster, he started putting together an email in his CPU, containing the information he'd just found on the device. Either the guy on the other end of the call did one heck of an XPlode impression and he needed to get this information to the others anyway, or he was in a heck of a lot of trouble and needed someone to know vaguely where his scrapped parts had been left.

This didn't make sense, he fretted internally. If his new friend was in cahoots with XPlode, why would she take him here? His Hero Core was right there on his chest, and besides that, she'd been acting like she knew him. A possibility slowly bobbed to the surface of his mind, but it was so ridiculously impossible that it just couldn't be true... could it?

~

IC: Rotor - Meanwhile

"Whaddaya mean, ya ran out?!" Rotor demanded of the cashier. "I already had to walk halfway 'cross the city lookin' for this charger, and finally I get to the one dinky shed that's got it, and you ran out?!"

The cashier, who had worked in retail long enough to be numb to anything a disgruntled customer could throw at them, said in a voice that had been drained of all warmth and cheer long ago, "We get new stock next week. I cannot make the shipment come faster. I am sorry for any inconvenience. Will that be all today?"

"Can't you check in back?" Rotor snapped.

"We have our stock here in the computer. We do not have the charger." From this, they launched into a memorised yet still monotone corporate-mandated speech. "We have an amazing variety of all sorts of goods and wares here, from homeware to sportswear. Pause for laugh. Even if you did not find what you were looking for today, we would love to order it in for you, or make a recommendation on some other great deals we have today."

Rotor stared hard at the cashier. They returned with a thousand-yard stare right through him. He said, "Ain't there anywhere else you can check? Maybe you missed one?"

This triggered the same practiced speech he received before. He groaned. If he caused a scene, that could screw up XPlode's entire mission, but it was getting so hard. He elected to instead find something that was worth the effort of arguing with an employee at the door about whether he could bring his "planks" (his wrapped up blades) into the store, just so he'd have something to do if XPlode hadn't returned yet.

Yeah, sorry about that. I promise, you're going to be on the move very, very soon, don't worry. Gyro will send the info to the Heroes once he has a revelation on what is actually happening in his situation. It'll take maybe one or two posts after this one.

Again, sorry for the wait, everyone! I can't really speak for Nato, who did a lot of the grunt work for this mission, but from what I understand (I may be wrong), the mission was an experiment in having a more open, free exploration mission, and something got mixed up on the way. Hopefully once we get on our way to the Skywhale Starwhale, everything will pick up pace and there'll be less waiting around for one person. Thank you to everyone for your patience!

IC: Armani - New Atero

She walked with Ezezko towards the tower. She said, "I am sorry I didn't call you down from the air at the time, citizen. I had to bring the other pilot to His Spikiness, and report the status of the crafts and the experimental craft's pilot. And, naturally, it is not wise to fly distracted, as you may have become from sadness and sullen consideration of the grim series of events."

IC: Armani - Parking District

"A kind gesture, citizen," she nodded. "Though I will advise that, perhaps, next time you do such offerings on a more absorbent floor. If you are ready, we should head to the tower. Or, if you prefer, I am sure we can wait a few minutes more."

IC: Armani - New Atero Parking District

"Hello again, citizen," she greeted Ezezko. "I am sorry to inform you that, due to the incident that occurred during the test, the experimental vehicle was destroyed and the pilot has sadly lost their life. Our companion and fellow assistant to testing the vehicle's capabilities has survived the crash, but has lost his employment and his citizenship in New Atero. We are required to return to the tower we departed from for a formal debriefing."

She regarded him sadly. "I understand you may have been close to our companion, and that such horrible news as a death may come as a jarring shock to you. If you require a hug, pat on the back or a similar act of emotional support to help with the initial shock, let me know and I will be happy to provide to the extent of my ability."

~

IC: Rorohiko - With NERD CREW

He saw Xaril wading through the crowd and was immediately grateful. Why did the outside world have to be so terrible? If it's not sunlight that's far too bright, it's always something else up here. His only regret was, if they had to leave immediately, he wouldn't get to check the markets for useful items.

IC: Armani - New Atero Parking District, Zippyesque Location Name Commemorative Parking Lot

It was a long and quiet ride back. She vaguely wondered if someone would be sent to the wrecked craft, or if it was considered beyond salvage. Since it was a secret prototype, probably the former. She hoped the pilot would be treated with respect; they had earned that much with their service to New Atero.

She touched her craft down in the parking district of New Atero. It felt good to be home again. She locked up THESE Guns, dismounted, and waited for the other pilot to arrive so she could offer an explanation and inform him of the debriefing.

IC: Timothy Gyro - Very Concerned

He followed Blink, the bad feeling returning with a vengeance.

~

IC: XPlode - Leaving

"We should take our leave, friend. It seems we have found all that we could here."" He led the way to the door, gesturing for Whipcrack to leave first.

IC: XPlode - With Whipcrack

"That will have to do, I suppose. Head back to the ship. We will meet you there." He turned to Whipcrack. "It appears we have something."

IC: Rorohiko - With Nerd Crew

He froze, staring wide-eyed at the near entirety of Capstone staring at them.

"No yeah they haven't changed the rules at all you better put that away these people are looking super mad right now."

What should have been a short and simple few sentences came out in one babbled heap. For some reason, some part of his mind was stuck on deciding if the Turaga was nice or not. He reasoned to himself, well, he warned us, but it sounded kind of like a threat?

Despite the slight Onu-Matoran strength he had, he was not made for fighting at all. Not now, anyway. Most of his body now contained fragile components for use in his work. He was going to have to struggle not to cry if someone so much as pushed him over, probably less for pain and more for damage done to his life's work. Maybe both. He glanced over to see how large and menacing some of the nearby patrons were, and decided it was definitely both. He did his best to wedge himself between his two companions that did know how to fight. If everything went sour, he could lie on the floor under a table and pretend to be knocked out or something. Yeah. That'd work.

Or maybe everyone would be happy if Fifteen put the weapon away. Maybe. He still mentally mapped out a path to the nearest table.

IC: Timothy Gyro - With Blink

"Sorta," he said. "It's got a general area on it. We might be able to figure it out from there. Smaller place to search, at least."

IC: Rorohiko - Heading For Market

He saw Fifteen pull out her weapon and gave a start. "Hey, careful with that! You're not allowed to use that stuff in Capstone, I don't think. At least, that's what I've been told. Maybe they changed the rules."

IC: Timothy Gyro - With Blink

He had a weird feeling about this. Why would an investigator be worried about whatever was on the ship being good? He... supposed that his companion could have just not known and was excited about going after something more interesting than scrap metal or whatever. He was kind of pumped about that himself. He relaxed a little.

~

IC: XPlode - With Whipcrack

"Very good work," he said with a smile. "Whipcrack and I have uncovered some information of our own. It seems the cargo of the ship includes some interesting weaponry. Do you have any specific coordinates for us to follow?"

IC: Rorohiko - With Friends

Glancing back to make sure the guards were following him, he headed deeper into Capstone, towards the markets. It seemed a bit more crowded than he thought was comfortable, so he kept close to his companions and kept an eye on his bag.

IC: Armani - The Rest, After The Test

She saluted. "Yes, sir! We will see you there shortly. Take care."

She left the ship and climbed aboard her magnificent vessel once more, signalling the other pilot to follow as she took off and headed home. She hoped His Spikiness would not take what Maldrakk said to heart. Guilt and shock could make people say hurtful things they don't mean, which she was sure he knew.

IC: Timothy Gyro - Slightly Confused But Only Slightly

He glanced over his shoulder as he followed this stranger. "Uh, shouldn't we get the others first?"

IC: Timothy Gyro - With Blink

He snorted a laugh. "Well, we ain't walkin' there, are we?"

IC: Rorohiko - Capstone

"Sure," he said. He glanced around. There were all sorts of characters in Capstone. Two Skakdi were sitting together counting their money nearby, appearing very focused on their work. A Steltian in a fancy coat was looking morose, swaying a little. Not many of the patrons of Capstone looked exceedingly friendly.

To his surprise, he saw a Turaga. Being made after the second devastation of the planet, he had not experienced living under the guidance of one and only really knew what he did about them from what he had heard. Apparently, they used to lead Matoran villages. They were beings who were once Matoran, to become Toa, and fulfil their destiny and lose much of their elemental powers. That meant this Turaga had been a hero, once. What were they doing here? Did they get an escort here, too?

He realised he was staring. He shifted his gaze away quickly, hoping the Turaga didn't notice, or would think he was just staring into space.

"Uh, we should head off. Don't want to keep Xaril waiting when he's done..." Rorohiko recalled Xaril marching by angrily, but was checking that his bag was properly fastened and had not seen the cause. "Doing the thing."

IC: Nathaniel Zib - Hero Factory

"It's already been sent through for processing. Good work remembering standard Hero Factory procedure, though. You must be doing well under your new team leader."

~

IC: Mona Silphi - Hero Factory, Forensics Department

The search was not entirely fruitful. In the shortened report she sent to Zib, who in turn forwarded it to Flames, there wasn't much that could help. The parts were a very generic brand, easily found and easily acquired. It seemed whoever mangled this robot corpse had some vague idea of how to do so, though it was not an incredibly masterful operation. It seemed like it was fairly limited, and would only work for so long, with so many questions.

~

IC: Ken Render and Mara Quiver - Guarding the Police Station

It was awkwardly quiet. Maybe this really wasn't a ruse. Render chewed a piece of wire thoughtfully as Quiver tried to disappear into the ground by sheer force of will.

"Welp. No sirens, no alerts, no nothin'. Guess ol' Stormer might've been right after all." He plucked the wire from his mouth to briefly gesture towards where the others had run off to. "How's it goin'? Over yet?"

"N-N-Nuh-No."

"Huh." He replaced the wire. The silence settled once more.

~

IC: Dorothy Quark, Eloise Thumper, and Wilbur Flood - Quark Qruiser

"I told you both to settle down back there," Quark snapped.

They had been flying for a while now. The trip would have been a lot shorter, of course, were it not for a particular incident regarding Thumper getting too hands-on with describing her match, which ultimately resulted in her accidentally breaking the navigation system and a good third of the control panel of the ship. Thankfully, Quark was used to making those kinds of repairs and the damaged parts weren't remarkably important anyway, but it did mean that she had to reduce their speed to allow her to plot a course based on the stars and planets around them. This was not a task for the inexperienced, but, again thankfully, Quark was anything but inexperienced. She figured she could rig up a simple fix when they arrived; Thumper had made a sizeable dent, but it could be banged out and fiddled with, especially if Render was around to help. That Hero could rig up an interstellar transmission radio from a broom and a Hero Factory action figure if he had enough duct tape.

However, she had to concentrate. This was not assisted by her two teammates in the back. At first they were apologetic and quiet- it hadn't been entirely Thumper's fault, she'd slipped on some of Flood's slime mid-demonstration, so both Heroes were feeling responsible- but after Quark had begrudgingly told them she knew it was an accident to stop them looking so darn mopey, they had started to perk up. And chat very animatedly; apparently Thumper had gotten Flood started on a new species of eel they had brought into the aquarium this morning. The fact it could shoot lasers from its eyes (Thumper had asked, and the lasers were of the laser pointer variety rather than laser guns) was a point of shared absolute excitement for the two.

"Sorry, Quark," both Heroes replied, and lowered their voices. This didn't help much in Thumper's case, but it meant their conversation would simmer down to a murmur for at least five or ten minutes.

Quark let out a long, disgruntled sigh, and kept scanning the way ahead for the Penne Nebula.

IC: Nathaniel Zib - Hero Factory

"We have a mailing address from past arrests, but those can be less than helpful. Why?"

~

IC: Timothy Gyro - With Blink

He pointed to the region near Mekron. "Looks like we got somewhere to start looking outta this, at least. I don't like the look of it, though. Do you think we've got enough backup?"

The last part was more to himself- this was just some investigator, after all. She probably wouldn't even be going off-planet to investigate, most likely. It occurred to him that he hadn't even thought to ask who she worked for, but it was pretty apparent she wasn't working for whoever stole the ship. He doubted anyone that was working for the thieves would need to find the ship first, for one thing.

IC: Rorohiko - Capstone

"Hm?" He turned to Karanta, having been squinting at his surroundings. It was better in Capstone, not as bright. "Oh. Thanks. It's actually kind of hard to explain in detail, just anything that looks like old tech. Buttons, glass, wires coming off... there's a lot of different kinds. Just anything that looks like it might be a gizmo or doodad."

He thought for a moment. "And I think I need some more solder. Yeah, come to think of it, I used the last of it reconnecting some parts in an old screen. Turns out one of the glass chips in it needed repairing anyway. Go figure."

~

IC: Armani - Main Man Hakkzan's Party Bus of Anger and Disappointment

"Fret not, citizen!" Armani said, in her most supportive and admirable tone. "The situation may seem dire, but the world is full of possibilities! And not all of them are dying in a terrible way! Though it must be terrible to leave such a great and admirable city as New Atero, I am sure you will be able to settle somewhere else. Perhaps your second favourite city, whichever it may be. Just not this one, in case it was not clear and you consider New Atero both your first and second favourite city."

She knew how it felt to have to leave one's homeland. She had done it several times. Sometimes, she wondered to herself if this home was permanent, or if New Atero would be taken from her, too. But, dwelling on such things would not erase them, or change them.

IC: Armani - Main Man Hakkzan's Party Bus of Anger and Disappointment

"Please excuse my interjection," Armani said. "But I would like to point out that it was stated, not that the Strider could withstand a ram, but that they had preparations in place for the driver's safety in the case of a ram; that is, in the case of a ram performed by a pilot trained for the task, in a ship suited for ramming. As Stronius and Captain Branar have said, your ship was not designed for a ram, and the situation made a ramming extremely inadvisable, as one trained for that sort of thing would know. It is extremely dangerous to attempt a ram in a vehicle not designed for the task, with no training beforehand. You are very lucky to be alive, citizen."

She placed her hands on her hips to improve her authoritative stance. "Despite all this, there is no reason to blame His Spikiness for the terrible incident that occurred. I understand you may be in emotional turmoil over your role in the incident, but lashing out at authoritive figures will not help the guilt that has no doubt been tearing at you inside. There is no changing the past. What is done is done, and hopefully, you now know the risks of performing such dangerous manoeuvres without training and careful consideration. If it was an accident, I am sure that His Spikiness will show leniency."

She bent to his height and raised a hand to the side of her face to murmur in his ear, soft enough to not deafen him with her booming voice but not quite soft enough to be inaudible to the others, "And, a sincere apology may be in order."

She straightened back into attention, and despite the very sombre incident that had occurred, she felt very happy to have helped assist a troubled citizen.

Var approved (3/3), but please remember to keep to the restrictions outlined in the profile.

Her ship is also approved (3/3), but that 'somewhat durable', for clarity, won't be meaning "super durable". I'm reading it to be slightly below average to average, which is implied by the insistence in the profile that the ship is built for speed.

IC: Timothy Gyro - With Blink

"Uh, I don't think so. Lemme just..." He flicked it on, and fiddled with it to try and find some useful information.

EDIT: Aw jeez I forgot to do a Zib post D:

IC: Zib - Hero Factory

"We certainly did, Scarlet. That was Sapphire, a speedy Villain known for petty crimes like vandalism and traffic disruption."