A Favor

Log Title: A Favor

Characters: Spike, Typhoon

Location: Wheeljack's Workshop, Autobot City

Date: March 07, 2016

Summary: Typhoon asks for Spike's help in dealing with Freeque.

As logged by Typhoon - Monday, March 07, 2016, 4:37 PM

Wheeljack's Workshop

 * This lab is Wheeljack's home in Autobot City. Multiple tables are stacked with weird gadgets and in-progress experiments.

A few of the tables and part of the floor is partially melted from one or two (or ten) experiments gone wrong. Advanced scientific equipment and numerous parts bins add to the chaos of the cluttered room. Amongst all the bizarre gadgetry, it's difficult to determine if the room is currently occupied.

It's about 7:30 a.m. Spike has a mop, filled with specialty-treated soap. He scrubs some of the consoles with minimal water, ensuring no water gets into the circuit boards. Spike mumbles underneath his breath "Pipes, I told you 'IN the incinerator' - why did you think that is code for 'set this stuff on fire in his damn lab?!'


 * Typhoon pokes her head into the lab, looking left, right, and then down. "Oh, hey, Spike. If I, uh, help you out, can we

talk? I'm havin' a problem with one of th' new guys, and I'm not sure how to handle it. You're th' master of Autobot/human relations - I was hopin' you could help." She steps into the lab, continuing to look around, being careful not to step on anything important, or track soot where Spike has already cleaned.

Spike gives a tired smile and gestures Typhoon "Just stand behind the blue masking tape line, that's the 'clean' portion of the floor." He adds "Ask away - but don't worry about helping me. This was my bad. I need to pay the penalty." Plus, if his dad came in and saw him divvying out work to other Autobots - he'd never hear the end of it. He rings some more sooty material into the bucket. "So...who are you having problems with?"

Spike says, "Freeque or Metalhawk?""


 * "Freeque," Typhoon admits. "He seems nice enough, but he's weird, and he's not getting' along very well with humans. He

splits into these two smaller tapebots - Musique and Freestyle - an' they found a puppy belongin' to one of the Joes here.

"Well, when Law came to pick up the puppy, they flipped out and decided humans were 'sparkless' because they made Musique cry. I took 'em into town to get them their own puppy, and Freestyle threatened to rip another human's arm off!"

Spike stops for a breather and just lets that entire thing absorb. Freeque - but Freeque has 2 other forms. And Law, he's a Joe, right? He rubs his eyes. "So... let's start with the most alarming part - the bodily harm thing - do you know the Joe what Freestyle threatened to 'rip their arm off'?" Spike adds "Maybe not the name, but could you describe how they look like? If you have the name...awesome."


 * "It wasn't a Joe," Typhoon admits with a frown. "It was a guy from the animal rescue place that I took Musique and

Freestyle to get their own puppy. He wanted to charge us for the puppy - to cover shots or whatever - and Freestyle took offense and lifted him up and threatened to harm him. I got him to stop, but he doesn't seem to reckon that humans can't just reattach their arms. They take everythin' so personal, and are way overprotective of each other." She stays behind the blue line as she talks.

Spike looks like he just turned a few shades paler. Oh...shit. "And I'm assuming the guy from the animal rescue place...they saw your Autobot insignia?"


 * Typhoon frowns. "Yeah. I mean, I paid the guy out of my personal account, and we got away without Freestyle doin' any

physical damage, but it was downright embarrassin'. I'm trained to deal with humans, but I don't really know how to train other Autobots how to deal with humans, you know? I was hopin' you could help before Freeque gets himself in trouble - or somebody gets hurt." Worry contorts her flat tan face.

Spike nods and breathes out. "You have a name or maybe a location of that place you went to?" He looks at Typhoon, "It doesn't matter if you don't know the name, I'm sure if I describe the situation, I could get the right person to help." He says evenly, "I'll see if I can talk with them today or tomorrow." He smirks at Typhoon "By the way, you handled that like a boss - that means...'perfectly'"


 * Typhoon brightens. "Oh! Thanks, Spike!" She gives Spike the name of the animal shelter, which is in the nearest town to

Autobot City to have a shelter that's open late to receive giant robot visitors. She doesn't have the name of the person Freestyle threatened, but she does have the best directions to get to the place - she is a navigator, after all. "He seemed OK when we left, but he could have just been bein' polite - or scared of what we might do." She frowns again.

Spike nods. He looks at the data, then looks back up at Typhoon. "I'm guessing the sooner we resolve this, the better. Although, I'm sure this guy has talked to at least a dozen people about this situation. And THOSE people probably talked to a few more people and..." He gives a sympathetic smirk to Typhoon, "You can do the math after that."

Spike nods, "You're right though, after I talk to that guy, I need to have a serious sitdown with Freeque." He adds "Though I can't really be a total hard aft, since I don't want his first meeting with me to be a reprimand. I don't want him thinking I'm Red Alert."


 * Typhoon sighs. "I'm sorry, Spike. I should have brought this to you sooner. I'd been followin' him around tryin' to keep

him in line, but then Dusty got hurt and I kinda lost track of him. I hope he's not getting into any trouble on his own. I ain't sure why I was sent ta meet him is the first place - this is Cyclone's job if it's anyone's." Ty frowns petulantly, and crosses her arms across her downfacing Land Rover hood chest.

Spike signs and stops working. He makes sure to wipe his hands from any crud that has accumulated and then walks over to Typhoon, patting her leg and looking up. "Thanks for bringing it to me, and you don't have to worry about Freeque anymore. Leave him to Crosscut an' me." (he'll tell Crosscut about this later).

Spike adds "TECHNICALLY... it's EVERY Autobot's job to meet the new arrivals and make them feel welcome." He shrugs, "Who knows, maybe with Freeque, this was all a huge like...misunderstanding?" his tone has a slight, desperately hopeful tone about it, as if he's trying to convince himself.


 * Ty looks cautiously relieved. She narrows her optics down on Spike. "Are you sure? I hear you have a lot on your

plate right now. I don't mean to add to your problems." She sighs. "I think with Freeque it might be a misunderstanding, really. Apparently he was pretty sheltered, and then he watched his mentor die. He's pretty fucked up. We might want to see if we can get Cheshire to talk to him, cat to cat."

Spike gives a brief "did you just say 'fucked up?' look at Typhoon, but recovers.


 * Ty doesn't notice the look, but has obviously been hanging around humans too much.

Spike says, "Yeah, I would agree. Cheshire is probably the best 'bot suited to deal with this." He breathes out, "I can't imagine what he's going through, but still... he's new - he needs to learn the rules sooner than later.""


 * Ty nods quickly. "Yeah. That was what I was thinkin'. I tried ta explain that humans aren't little weak robots,

but I'm not sure he's really got it. I know the Joes can take care of themselves, but I worry what will happen if he wanders into town again. Luckily he doesn't seem to like the desert, so he might not go wanderin' off. Then again he doesn't seem to like Autobot City much either, though, so who knows?"

Spike sighs, "Lovely...I hope we're not looking at another Twin Twist." He looks at Typhoon, "He was here before you, but he was brief - Optimus Prime even banned him from coming back to Earth if you can believe it."


 * "Oh, the Wrecker? I hearda him. Yeah. That would be sad. Earth is so beautiful - it'd be a shame if he was banned

from it and sent back ta Cybertron." Ty frowns, imagining how she'd feel if banned from Earth.

Spike nods and hods his hands up. "Let's... let's just be optimistic - and let's go under the assumption that a.)this was a huge-aft misunderstanding, and b.) all of this can be quickly alleviated." He adds "Who knows, maybe I could invite those people here for a tour of Autobot City." Spike goes back to work, dumping the soot-saturated water into a drain, and refilling said bucket with fresh water. He then pours a small content of cleaning agents into the bucket and beings to resume mopping.


 * Ty grins at the suggestion. "That might be cool. Show them that we're all not Freeques. Just keep a few Autobots

away from them, and maybe a few of the scarier Joes, and it could be a hit!" She grins in glowing optimism. "I'll see if I can get Cyclone to help - this IS supposed to be her specialty, after all." Ty watches Spike work a moment, until the silence gets awkward. "Oh, well. I'll letcha get back to work, then. Thanks, Spike! I owe ya!" She turns to leave.

Spike grins and shakes his head. "No you don't, thanks!" He breathes out and goes back to work. Still cursing Pipes for his serious lapse in judgment.