"What the rabbit kid who seemed to just be pulled out of a hat said" Grimlock stated, pointing at Stampy. --- The mechanical bat flew after Jumpforce, maintaining it's distance.
Elita One follows closely, trying to listen attentively to what Swerve has to say. However, her mind's eye is focused on something - or rather, someone else. Namely, the now-lost crew of the Prima Victor.
"Where should I start?" Windy wondered "Well... Axiom Nexus is this big planet-wide city in which we all live in harmony. Sort of. The Cybertronians of this universe never went to war and instead dedicated their life to science and technology, hence why their bodies look so advanced compared to us and why they refer to themselves as Trancendent Technomorphs, shortened to simply TransTechs." The femme explained, leading them down the main street of the Offworld zone. "The Offworld section of the city is the place where we live and trive. It is seperated into 8 zones with 40 levels. The lower you go, the worse it gets, until you get to the Heap. Which is the most lawless and dangerous place in Axiom Nexus, where no one can save you. Neither the Freelancers nor the Military Police." --- "So listen," Swerve began "the Offworlder zone is where we are and where we'll stay, since those TransTech bozos, perceive us as inferior. There are 8 levels with 40 zones. Below it is the Heap, which you should never go to because you probably won't survive there and no law enforcers ever get there."
"Where can we stay? Are there any hotels, apartments and such?" Windbreaker asked. "And what's the currency here? Shanix, energon, plain ol' trading?" Siren added.
Swerve speaking brings Elita's train of thought to a halt. "Why hasn't the Heap been cleared out, then?" She asks.
"Wow, wow... first things first." Swerve didn't expect to be bombarded with questions so soon "There are a few places where you can go but it depends on how much money you have." He lead them around, finally finding themselves in front of the Tripodeca Gardens. Centered around a square area, they were formed by different alien plants that had tangled into something resembling an entangled forest. "We have the most popular, that being Hotel Shuta Go and the Royal Palace. But these two are probably out of everyone's range, so I'd suggest either Crystal Widow's Widow Cafe Cybertronian or Scourge's Sweeping Tavern. The former being in zone 8, level 40 (on the fringes of normalcy), while the latter is in zone 6, level 31." Swerve lead them deeper into the park, which was filled with people, hiding away from the heat. "The currency here is shanix, of course. So if you have any with you, you may be good. As for the Heap... it's way too big and too dangerous for people to try and get rid of it. It's an unnecessary danger, since not many things come out of it, the problem is for you to not get in it, got it?" --- "To be completely honest, I actually don't know. Probably it's because of its sheer size and the unaccounted creatures it may have." Windy explained, walking them through Axiom Nexus' Offworlder market. It was the main street of the offworld zone and cybertronians from all over the different universes had set up different shops, bars and such to help them make some hard earned cash. ((This here may be an easy way for you to introduce your hard working 'bots.)) --- Gen. Optimus Prime and Sgt. Hound went through everyone at the Processing Center and nothing. The only thing they were able to find was that the culprit had landed inside the building, following his jump through the portal and then he had ran out. "The trail ends here, Optimus." the white mech stated. "Don't give up yet, old friend, we will see what's up with this Cybertronian and their abilities."
"Ain't that lovely" said Grimlock, following Windy. "Any fighting rings?" He looked around the various shops and particular the bars, hoping to spot anyone resembling his former teammates. His gaze stopped on a bar with a name he recalled from the time of Rodimus Prime. "Blurr…" he said quietly to himself. He made a mental note to come back when the tour was over. --- Clampdown, having finally be relieved from processing, was about to return to his regular beat when he spotted General Optimus and Sergeant Hound. He saluted as he approached them. "Sir! What brings you here?" he asked. "Anything I can help with?"
Cali thought to herself and merely shrugged, looking at many of the places around here greedily. She desired as much as she could get her hands on.
Drop-Kick looked around. "I got sent to an inter-dimensional hub, huh?" He shrugged. "Neat, I could totally dig something like this..." He checked his pockets, and noted how much Shanix was in his wallet and how much he had earned as a pro, before turning and following behind the group. He glanced up and snapped his fingers, and grinned as a drink fell into his hands. "Thaaaank you person above me." He sipped at the drink as people looked at the bot who just caught a falling drink like it was nothing. It wasn't every day that something like that happened. --- Jumpforce transformed eventually at a smaller district and let out a breath. "Alright, I think that's enough racing for today... hoo, already pissed off like 10 cops today, hopefully they don't track me down..." He looked towards a bar over near the street corner. "Oh perfect, some energon would really do wonders right now."
Stampy followed along as best he could. Every now and then his optic peered back down into this so called... Heap.
Elita One scratched her head in confusion. "What on Cybertron is a shanix?" She says quietly to herself. However, she finds the information about places to stay quite useful and files it away for later usage. Meanwhile, Speeder is still waiting with Goldbug. "So, the other guy. I guess he's off...doing something." He says, referring to Jumpforce.
"Gladiatorial Pits? Those are illegal and one got raided last month but there may be more if you're look hard enough. Though I'm not allowed to say anything about that during the tour." Windy explained, trying tbecause keep it vague regarding pit fighting "There's also legal fights called boxing, you could try your luck there if you want." She then saw that everyone was looking at the shops and bars around them. "If anyone want to make a stop at any of the shops, you're free to do so. There's a nice bar nearby owned by a Blurr, we could stop for a break." --- "There are shops of all kinds, bars of all kinds (including one owned by me) and whatever else your processor desires. Pit fights, gun trafficking, bounty hunting..." Swerve said, though maybe louder than he needed to. --- "Yeah, you're probably right. I hate when this happens. Some people can be really... anyway, let head off." Goldbug stated "What have they told you in Processing?" --- "Ah, officer Clampdown. At ease." the General motioned with his hand "We were after a somewhat special individual for Aciom Nexus." "Didn't you get the message?" Sgt. Hound asked "Any Freelance Prolice Legion officer should be on the lookout for a teleporting white rabbit transformer." "Yes and we fear he may be have come from the newly discovered Galdex cluster."
"Not much," Speeder says in response. "The guy I got was kind of detached from the whole thing. Hardly treatment befitting a Prince of Combatron!"
"Course it is" sighed Grimlock. "I don't care what you do, I need something strong." Grimlock walked straight into the bar, and sat down on one of the stools. "Afternoon, what can I do you for" said Blurr, cleaning a glass. "Oh hey! A Grimlock! You look like the last one... well that guy was a triple changer car and helicopter, but same colours and head. How can I help?" "Two things" Grimlock said. "Your strongest drink, and when you're done, I need to know if you've seen some people I'm looking for." "Lemme get that drink, then tell me about your buddies" Blurr said, rushing out back. In the corner of the room, Red Wing and Thundercracker were having drinks, looking at the sword Grimlock had on his lap "How much you think the Swindles'll pay for that?" Red Wing asked Thundercracker. "I keep telling you, there are better buyers that'll meet us in far better places" Thundercracker. "Me and Swindle have a arrangement" says Red Wing. "He gives me the best price, and I don't punch my fist through his face!" --- "Sorry, sir, I must have been putting away processing equipment when the message came through" Clampdown explained. "The lockers have poor comms reception, sirs, but I'll keep my eye out and make sure the rest of my fellow officers in my precinct know." --- The mechanical bat swooped past Jumpforce, landing on a table and staring intently at him, making sure Jumpforce knew he was the recipient of the gaze.
A second call came in as Walkie Talkie squawk came from the comm equipment from Clamp Down. "Be on high alert, not only do we have a White Rabbit on the loose, we got another one of those speeders. 15 Violations of traffic laws, clogging three stoplights, and going down the roads at a clear violation of speed, White and Blue car mech, look out for him." General Optimus and Hound would probably make the connection that the bot in mention was Jumpforce from earlier. --- Jumpforce sighed as he sat down at a barstool. "Yo, Barkeep, get me some Energon would ya?" He then looked over to the bat staring intently at him. He noted it looked much more mechanical then anything he'd seen on Cybertron. "Oh what do you want, stop staring at me like I'm gonna give ya a heart attack or somethin'." --- Drop-Kick shook his head as he drank from the free drink. "Wait, so first off, why do these so called "Trans-Techs" allow for freelance selling of weapons and the participation of Pit-fighting?" He was about to head off when he noticed someone in an alley robbing another innocent. His brow furrowed, before he held his hand up. "Sorry, can you pause the tour for a bit? Thanks..." Drop-Kick held his hand up and next to him, formed a giant white bovine blaster pointed straight at the attempted robber. "Sir, in the name of law and justice I am required to ask you to stop harassing that citizen... now leave your weapon on the floor and go in peace, before I fire this thing off... I don't like to cause particularly large messes in areas like this..." The robber held their middle finger at Drop-Kick as the citizen ran off. Drop-Kick sighed. "Oh well, I tried..." Drop-Kick snapped, and the blaster fired off a huge beam of light. The robber was sent into the wall, as smoke rose from his body. Drop-Kick sighed, and the blaster dissipated as he came back to the little tour. "Hoo, I need some energon... that took too much mana..."
"Finally this black mech asking the important questions!" Siren exclaimed "If the TransTechs want peace, then why are we allowed to bring weapons with us?" "And how do law enforcement even work here?" Windbreaker added.
"Prince of Combatron? That's something you don't hear everyday." Goldbug commented "Now let me explain. This is Axiom Nexus, something like a big hub for travelers from all around the multiverse. You either arrive here on purpose or completely accidentally. This is a universe in which the Cybertronians never fell into conflict, there was no Great War, and thus they dedicated theirlife to science and studying the other universal streams." The golden mechanoid showed the newcomer the offworld zone. "There are 8 zones with 40 levels. The lower you go, the more dangerous it becomes. Then there's the Heap, a massive underground junkyard, which is a lawless wasteland. The currency on Axiom Nexus is shanix, so if you have none, you need to find yourself some work. Any questions? You can ask whatever's on your mind." --- "In Blurr's bar it is then." Windy shrugged and with a smile on her face lead the rest of the group forward. --- "Well, would you look at that? We have two newly released criminals on the loose. Lovely." the General exclaimed. "I'll notify Commander Cheetor then." Hound replied. --- Swerve shrugged. "How should I know?! The Offworld zone is full with all kinds of Cybertronians from all kinds of universes. Of course some would be worse than others and won't live in peace with anyone and anything else. These are normally tracked down and locked up in prison but some always manage to get away. And there are some that may look bad but are really popular here, prime example Tarn." Swerve explained, purposefully dropping that name.
Speeder listens calmly, taking in the information offered. "So I'll have to find work. I can't just rest on my laurels." He says. "Any work for a super-fast outlier with combat training?" Elita One is unphased by the mention. "Who's Tarn? Is he a Mini-Con?" She asks.
