Dysfunctional Team: Pilot

Telos, back when Cybertron was more alive and less dead, was quite a beautiful place. The neon lights were everywhere and were beautiful. The buildings were the so tall that they lorded over the other cities. They weren't just skyscrapers, they were sky-piercers.

The architecture was also some to commend. There were plenty of places to fly, sure, but it was also a freerunner's paradise. There were long pipes, jutting pieces of metal, small platforms, even the neon signs were use to help grounders move around the area with ease. You could almost say it was a living being. The cries of joy from the freerunners ran rampant around the area.

Unfortunately, the neon signs and bright lights were only there to obscure the darker side of it. It's was called a assassin's haven for a reason. The architecture was use by some of the freerunners for helping them with assassinations instead of fun. Its architecture meant lots of points for snipers to use and political assassinations were rampart due to the city corrupt officials. Most taking bribes, while other officials got rid of their enemies through assassins.

Killshot loved it.

They were nearing Telos now. Everyone was looking out through the cockpit window at the city. The legendary tall building was still standing, although it's tough to tell how stable they were from a distance. It's was still dark outside, but the stars help made the area more visible.

"So," Killshot began, "do we know how big that ship it is?"

"From what the sensors shown us, it was a small ship, probably big enough to transport 2 people," Swindle answered. "How well do you know the city?"

"Like I do my gun. I can probably move around the area easily. You, not so much. The seekers can fly around the area."

"So, I guess that means I'm staying on the ship while you guys investigate the other ship."

"Yeah... wait, what?" Killshot looked at Swindle with a questioning looked. Swindle happily provide a answer.

"It's like you said. I don't have much experience in moving around a city well with this architecture. You, on the other hand, had live here for a good portion of your life and know the area really well and can move around the area effortlessly. Thundercracker and Skywarp, on the other hand, can just fly around the area and in between the buildings."

"He raises several valuable points," Thundercracker said, supporting Swindle. He admits, it was a pretty solid plan.

"I always know what I'm doing. Sure, I may not be as good strategist as someone like Onslaught, but I know what I'm doing. Now, can one of you check on th eship's specific location and I'll drop you off there."Thunder obliged to Swindle's request and went to check on the ship's location. When he looked on the map, however he didn't see the ship, yet the signal indicated the ship was still in the area.

"I think we got a problem." Thundercracker said to Swindle.

"What?"

"I can't pinpoint the ship's specific location, but the signal indicates that they're still in the city."

"They could be using a type of jammer device, although a cheap one, considering we can still see that they're still in the city. Probably means that it's an Autobot ship considering not many neutral ships have jammer capabilities in the first place." Swindle said.

"So what do we do?" Skywarp asked for the first time in the conversation, raising a good point. What were they going to do?

Thundercracker had an answer, apparently. "I say we split up, each of us taking a different sector while Swindle stays high above the buildings, making sure no one leaves." The other three looked at each other. It was a good plan.

"Alright," Killshot spoke, "how are we going to do this?"

"I recommend that you take half of the city, considering you've lived here before and know it quite well, while Skywarp and I take the other half."

"Ugh, I got to take half of the city by myself? Hope I can remember the shortcuts."

"Alright then, You will take the south side, I'll take the northwest side, and Skywarp will take the northeast side. Swindle will watch and make sure that they don't leave without us knowing."

"Great. Just to let you guys know we're approaching the city right now from the south side. Anywhere you want to drop off, Killshot?" Swindle asked. Killshot looked up at the buildings coming. Most of the windows on them have been broken from the war and some of the buildings didn't look the best in condition.

"Take me to the top that yellow building over there. I'm pretty sure it has a ladder to help me get to the street." The yellow building, whose color was a bit hard to see but still viewable, in question was quite a bit smaller than the other buildings, barely qualifying as a skyscraper. Its location was on the edge of the city. Everything south of it was just metallic plains.

Swindle did what he wanted and headed towards the building. Killshot left the cockpit area and head for the ship door.

"One more thing." Thundercracker said. Killshot looked at him in a questioning glance. "Don't do anything stupid like Skywarp is sure to do (HEY!). Please radio in for us if you see the ship. I don't want our first mission together ending with you getting kill by stupidity."

"Don't worry, this is my city. I know what I'm doing and will always follow my orders."

"You mean like in Veldin?" Swindle asked in an amused tone.

"Hey, that was a onetime thing!"

"No, it wasn't. I got of all the time you disobey my rules. Luckily, none of those were during deals, which is a good thing I guest. It means you know when to actually follow them. Just think this as a deal, only with less profit and more action." Swindle said, sounding noticeably sadden at the part when he mention less profit. Maybe the enemy's equipment or ship will have something valuable?

"Yeah, sure, whatever. Just get me to the fragging building." Killshot said and left in a huff. He walked through the bridge, through the hallways, and reached the door. He open the door, this time with no ramp. He looked outside to see the yellow building. He quickly jumped out of the ship onto the roof of the building. He radioed in to Swindle. "Alright Swindle, you can go now. I'm on the building."

"Good. I'll take Thundescracker and Skywarp to their drop-off spots and keep floating around the city. Don't get killed, alright. It's hard to find good help these days." Swindle answered over the ship's comm. to Killshot's headphones. The ship left, leaving Killshot by himself. He played some thinking music and headed to the north side of the building. When he reached the edge, he found what he was looking for: a ladder.

Killshot was not going to take the whole ladder down to the street. That would take way too long. Instead, he would use it to get to a spot where he can hop around a lot and move above the streets.

He crouched down and reached for the ladder. It felt sturdy. He turned his body around and slowly got in position on the ladder. With that done, he walked down the ladder, step by step, not noticing that the connectors were weaken and significant weight for a while would break it.

He started thinking about the ship. It had to be a small when just to move around the city, thanks to all the obstructions. Telos was mostly land vehicles instead of air vehicles, like most cities. All the obstructions would make driving a ship very difficult and you would waste too much of your time just trying to fly around them. The pilots definitely had some bearings on them.

He went down, more and more, not hearing the creaks the ladder was making. In was too busy thinking about the ship and the electronic beat his headphones were making.

'What about Thundercracker and Skywarp' he thought to himself. Anybody related to the treacherous Starscream would have to be watch over carefully, especially Thundercracker.

The ladder creaked louder, but Killshot still didn't noticed.

'What about Swindle. When will I be done with him?' he wondered to himself. Swindle was his only source of income, energon, and shelter at the moment. He knew sooner or later, he would be done working with Swindle and get back to doing more violent jobs. The deals were starting to get more predictable as the days go by and Killshot desperately wanted a reprieve. That was his only reason for coming to this destroy city in the first place, to break the monotony of his currant life, just like he did when he wanted to work with Swindle, just like he did when he became a sniper for the Decepticon, just like when he became a political assassin.

And the list goes on.

CREAK!

That got his attention. He looked up to see that the top of the ladder had broken off from the building and was leaning away from the building.

Not good.

Killshot hold on as tight as possible as the ladder lean more and more, becoming slightly more horizontal. It was going to crash in the building across from it, Killshot knew, but that didn't stop it from making the experience less terrifying. It came closer and closer to the building…

Suddenly, it crashed. Killshot heard the shattering of glass as the ladder impacted the building. Sounded like a pane of glass just loss the 'longest standing pane of glass' award, a very prestigious one. Too bad.

Killshot relaxed a bit as the ladder was now non-moving. He was currently inbetween the two buildings. It was probably a good idea to get off before something really unexpected happen. He looked around searching for a place to jump. He noticed a large, square platform in the west direction that he could easily jumped to by using a horizontal bar to swing to it and it looked like it went to more avenues of movement.

Killshot got on the other side of the ladder. It provided him with better a batter range of mobility. He steady himself, wanting to make the jump perfect and not accidently slam into the ground and make a blue spatter. He leaped, grabbing the bar. It hold his weight. He started moving his body back and forth, gaining momentum. He released his hands from the bar and swing off to the platform.

Not too shabby.

Killshot looked around. It looked like another platform was just a swing away, only this one was a long, small one, going around the corner of a building. It was perfect.

Before he'd jump, he looked at the area around him. No ship was flying, and he was hearing nothing, but that could've been because he didn't turn off his music. The ship definitely wasn't around the area.

With that, he put his attention back to the platform and leaped to it.