Ashes to Ashes [Carolina]

[Allison Texas]

<Moonlight>

Moonlight glanced over at Church after she finished up the last inspections on her handiwork. "Yes, but activity must be kept to a minimum...for at least close to a month -- if that's even possible. Given that her body isn't human anymore...it's hard to say. It may adapt faster than I can predict. But yes, she'll be fine. Especially if she doesn't suffer any new damage for a while. Please try to make sure of that -- well, if that too is even possible." the holoform chuckled briefly, knowing that by the way Tex and Carolina were, they thrived on action.

"She awakes soon." Moonlight muttered. The sedatives were wearing off, at least, they were for Tex.

<Tex>

She fidgeted noticeably in her stretcher, growling softly. "Carolina..." She muttered. Church was right in the fact that she was actually a little worried of Carolina's safety. Why this was the case, she wasn't sure. They were rivals and Carolina hated Tex, and even more when Tex tried to show she cared - or, once did. "Great," she snorted, letting her gaze turn about to those around her, first to Moonlight and her holoform which stood close to her left away from the rest on the opposite side of her (away from Carolina). She then gazed at Church, completely focused on him. "This is not MECH. WHERE did you take me?" she demanded, struggling to free herself of the straps bearing her down.

Tex forced herself to relax when she realized she couldn't test the transformation sequence of her bio weapon. Juuuust great. And Carolina would be awake any minute for sure, likely to immediately start 'snarling' at her.

((sorry if i jumbled things up a bit, but I wanted to get her woken up. Skipping Airwolf this round.))

[Agent South Carolina]

((I have no idea whether or not they restrained Carolina, so... I'll try to post in a way so that it could be either..))

She woke up, but she didn't immediately open her eyes. However, her face did scrunch up slightly as she started to remember what had happened, a firm scowl forming before she ever woke up. As was to be expected, she was in a fowl mood. However, when she finally did open her eyes - after hearing Tex speak, they snapped open as she sent a long, hard glare in her direction. Carolina wasn't sure where she was, or what was going on, but whatever - whoever - had gotten them here, clearly wasn't willing to resolve the fight where it was... And they weren't willing to let her die.

She was supposed to be dead. Why was she still alive? Had Tex refused to kill her? What had happened? The idea that she might have been spared almost angered her more than that she had failed. Failure meant death. That's how it worked. Why did the universe taunt her like this, force her to carry on with all of this failure on her shoulders? She curled her fists, acting as though about to force herself up, but getting dizzy from the sudden effort, making it nowhere, even if she would technically be able to.

She was stuck. Looking around, she saw York, and, with no more pause, went to demand an explanation. That was before she saw the look on his face, though. Now, confused, angry, bewildered, and now silenced through the power of the boss face, Carolina huffed slightly, giving York a halfhearted glare. At least he was here. Clearly he had something to say about this, and she wasn't sure that she wanted to hear it.

Of course, then she realized that she was supposed to be missing an arm, and that just sent her into a whole different world of confusion. She clearly had one now... But it wasn't hers, was it? It wasn't her arm. She'd lost a limb. How the hell could she be completely functional if she was losing limbs? Her fists clenched tighter again, as anger at herself and at Texas once again spiked. She shouldn't be alive. One of them should have died.

[/blockquote]

[Agent New York]

"Sure man, what is-" York began, but he was interrupted by the sudden sound of Tex waking up. He immediately bit his lip, knowing that this was definitely not going to be fun. Hopefully Church could convince her to not rip straight out of those straps and strangle everyone in the room, probably going for him first since he'd been the one to take them both here. And if Tex didn't kill him, then Carolina probably would. Right before she killed both her rival and Church.

But apparently his Boss Face - or his best imitation of it - kept Carolina at bay. Whether it would work on Tex was yet to be seen. He didn't particularly want to risk it either. So his expression became a little nervous and he stayed quiet, half hoping that someone would sedate them both again. Then once they'd both recovered a little more, they could transport Church and his black armored companion away and no more damage would end up being done. Everything would be okay.

But that was unlikely.

[Private Leonard L. Church]

Church looked over at Tex as said something and flinched. 'Uh oh! She's awake, she's pissed. That's nothing new. Now to explain what happened.' Church thought as he walked up to Tex cautiously. He hoped Tex would understand this. He didnt want to get punched. When he stood at the side of the stretcher, he made sure to be between Carolina and Tex, even though it was the major danger zone. "All I ask is that you dont punch me. If you do, I believe I deserve it. Anyway. I have no idea what the hell happen before I found you, but when i got your message, I followed your beacon signal and went to come and get you. However when I got to you, I saw this York guy about to grab you. He said he was there to help and that you were really hurt. So he let me come along and now your here and Moonlight fixed you up." Church explained with the short version without major detail. However he glanced to Carolina and wondered what she was going to do. He didnt like the air she was giving off and it sent shivers down his spine. He didnt like this, but he needed to get over it.

[Allison Texas]

She glared at the male Freelancer briefly, but held her glare at Church much longer. Finally, feeling defeated and once again feeling some of that buried regret return to her conscience, she grunted and stared up at the wall momentarily. Of course, she wouldn't forget that she was in 'enemy hands' for the moment, and only hoped that they sent back up. Regardless, she felt guilty - now that she was learning more about the aliens that had saved her and Carolina. Maybe she was following the wrong path and a had a chance to pursue a better one.

"I don't have many options anyway." Tex tilted her head to gaze a little more softly at Moonlight, with an almost appreciative look, but she still seemed a little uncooperative. "I guess I screwed up too. Somehow. Not this, this wasn't my intention, but...I'm still trying to figure things out. Maybe it's good I ended up here. I woke up wishing I wasn't, but now I'm thinking differently about this." for a good portion of the time, she was seemingly fixated on Church, but gradually she turned her attention to Moonlight.

"I think...I had it wrong about you guys, you as in the Autobots. Maybe this will give me a chance to think things through. Should someone else arrive to claim me, which will undoubtedly happen sooner or later, I have to say that...I need the time to think things through. And Moonlight, Ratchet, thank you, for healing us. We didn't deserve it." she shook her head, knowing they had been reckless trying to one up each other. They could have killed themselves in the process, how dumb would that have been?! "Maybe, while we have a bit of time, we can settle matters, work something else. But I have to hear from a certain someone - Carolina that is, that she won't tear this place up trying to kill me despite having a grand chance to set things right. I can give you, the Autobots, lots of information about MECH and their current projects, all you have to do is ask." Tex was playing a new hand of cards here, and she hoped they would at least be considerate enough to consider the opportunity, even if they didn't fully trust her because of the past.

[Ratchet]

Ratchet snorted. "Of course you got something to offer. I'll make the final call here, and if necessary, don't make me call the head honcho." Ratchet said to Tex with a brief squinted glare. "In this case, luckily, we need more information about MECH and their activities. We've been strategizing ways to bring them down of late, and i mean in a more...strategically direct fashion than just interjecting their objectives and catching them red handed."

Ratchet made no physical move, however, he just stood still, as stoic as ever, and watched Carolina and Tex closely. Moonlight nodding in acknowledgement at Tex with a smile, but said nothing, knowing it wasn't her place to speak.

[Agent South Carolina]

Was Tex asking her... Permission? To be here? What game was she playing at? Was Carolina supposed to accept because, for once, she'd been asked and not just told to suffer? Or was she supposed to weigh in her personal opinion and reject her offer? Certainly, it would be better for the Autobots, but having Tex around would just tear Carolina to pieces - literally and metaphorically. Carolina sent a long, intense glare at Tex as she thought about it.

She just couldn't get away, could she? Just couldn't get away from that false image of her mother, couldn't get away from the fact that her mother was dead, forever, no matter what, and this poser had stolen her name, her personality, had been built off of her father's romanticized memory of her skill... But if her mother had died, this thing could too, couldn't it?

But this thing... It had a personality. And a life. And a sense of right and wrong, if slightly skewed...

Why was Carolina granting her even that much, though? She never granted that to her enemy before. They were just targets, in the way of the goal, working for an opposite direction.

But... Tex was worth saving to somebody, at least. And... Worth being betrayed for by certain others. Was she worth the project, though? Was she worth everything her father had gone through to get a false image? Was she worth the death and betrayal and... Everything, was she worth it? Carolina doubted it.

And... She had to let go, didn't she? Easier said than done. She had to try, though. Try to be better. Because better... Better would maybe be enough. Some day.

"I will stand down, Texas. I will stand down, if you are sure that you will help the Autobots as much as you can. Don't make me regret this."

[/color] Carolina wasn't sure she really had it in her to let Tex be - she might have to leave for a while, to get her head straight. This was hard for her... But, there was no... Logical reason to say no. Not really.[/size][/blockquote]

[Agent New York]

And York knew perfectly well how hard this was for Carolina. Accepting the person that was basically her sworn enemy, and allowing her to stay in the same base as herself? That wasn't something he ever thought the Freelancer in aqua blue would ever be able to do. Too much had happened for that. He'd told himself that a long time ago, and eventually he'd come to accept it. So this... this was nice. This was good. She was going down the path to acceptance, albeit probably unwillingly.

Hoping to catch her gaze, the brunette's expression settled into a soft smile, even a bit of pride evident in his eyes. He admired her for that decision - more than she even realized. But as Carolina said, hopefully she wouldn't regret it. Now all that was left was the cooperation of Texas. It looked like both her and Church would be staying a while longer. Well, if the cobalt armored soldier wanted to, at least. York had a feeling those two were pretty attached, but his attention was more on Church. Delta was humming softly in the back of his mind.

This person... this man... was familiar somehow. Neither human nor AI could place it, but the voice rang a bell. It would probably bother them for some time, yet they wouldn't ask about it. Better to save it for a later time.

[Private Leonard L. Church]

Church had been prepared for a punch in the face. However that wasn't the case. He didn't feel it coming. He just...listened. Listened to what Alison had to say. It was surprising for Leonard to hear Tex admit anything. It was quite rare in his case. But it wasn't bad, he could assure. It felt....well, good. Good to know Tex was seeing something new, feeling she could correct something and see that these guys weren't so bad. For the time he met them, Leonard didn't think they were so bad. That they were quite nice. Including Agent York. The Cobalt soldier was abit iffy about Carolina but would find out later.

After listening to the small conversation or what it seemed to be for Church. Guess they had to just settle in with caution. Ya know Making sure they didn't piss anyone off. Though something was bound to go wrong. Like what Tex said about someone most likely coming to get them. Leonard felt, what felt like a comfortable silence. He turned his attention from Tex to Carolina and Ratchet. "Thanks. I mean...You know. Letting us stay a little longer. For whatever time we have here." Looking back at Tex who was still bound to the stretcher.


The Cobalt soldier looked from Moonlight to Ratchet. "Umm...Can we uh...unstrap Tex from the stretcher?" Asking one of the autobots without making it sound weird. Man, if Tucker was in the room....Church could just hear the Teal soldier in the back mind saying Bow Chika Bow Wow. He was just waiting for it to happen, but Tucker wasn't here with them. He hated to admit it, but he missed Tucker and Caboose. Only his imagination was the one that tried to make it feel like the days he remembered.

[Allison Texas]

Ratchet glanced at the others then at Tex. Ratchet expectantly waited for a firm reply from Tex. "Now that I have seen MECH's true colors, I am more than willing to help." she replied, eying Carolina directly. She clenched her fists slightly in tension, but for no reason other than that. "I won't fight back now." the blonde assured them.

She had to figure out a plan of action if someone took their time to locate them. If she had to fight them off, oh she would, with every bit of energy she had in her. Tex was motivated to start anew, and there was no take backs now, that was for sure.

With that noted, Ratchet unsecured Tex from the stretcher, who sat up and cracked her neck before resting her palms on her knees. Despite all the work done on her, she felt exhausted, though she tried to hide it. If another fight had to be done though, she would find a way to survive it, she almost always did - that was one thing she was good at. "Thanks for the repairs," she grunted softly, then tilted her head away slightly.

((We can continue or not, due to inactivity. I dont really care. I just wanna clean up my threads.))

[Jetta Windstar]

I'm closing this because I'm frustrated and don't see a way to continue unless the others return.