There are words for days like this, but they're all profanity...

[trigger_imp]

((Set after this))

Axl, at the moment, didn't know what to do. She'd shed the disguise she'd been using to spy on Lumine, but hadn't switched back to her other, and more commonly used, male default.

Everything was a mess. Axl knows she'll have to tell, knows that means she'll have to admit she was spying on Lumine even after being ordered to stay away from him. But right now, she doesn't even want to think about that - or what Lumine seems to be planning, or what they might have to do about it. What Axl wants to do is find some nice dark corner and disappear.

Which, given shape-changing abilities, isn't so hard.

She gravitates towards the bar. It's huge, many of the patrons Transformers. Axl, at the size of a human fourteen-year-old, dodges around legs. It seems a good place to just get lost for a while. Axl also thinks she wouldn't mind getting drunk. Not if it makes you forget things for a while, like she's heard... but she has a feeling no one at home will like it much if she does that.

But they're not going to like any of this...

Comments

[trigger_imp]

Axl stores his armor so it won't look like he's trying to pick a fight. Which he isn't.. not a physical one, anyway. "I heard what you were asking about near the Sign. I've kinda been..."

Lumine interrupts. "I'm well aware of your spying on me. You're very bad at it," he says, marking his place in the book he'd had open, closing it, and placing it back in the stack.
"I meant your use of a.. human relationship term."

Axl blinks, and takes him a moment to work that out, then he frowns. "Did you really think we were that stupid? I mean, you are not an office-bot. We know from Storm Eagle that most of the Maverick Hunters don't have clearance to know about the Nexus. And you dropped too many hints..." He glances to see if they're still being watched before he adds, "And Zero remembered meeting an alt of you once, years ago. An alt that claimed to have the same copy ability I do. And you said my 'replacement' was some kind of assassin..."

"And so they've had you watching me, since I might be a threat?" asks Lumine, seeming faintly amused on top of traces of anger and suspicion.

"No! ... Actually, Zero told me to stay away from you. The others don't know.. But that's not the point," Axl says, realizing he'd been effectively sidetracked. "Lumine.. you can't do this." He indicates the books as if to specify just what 'this' he's talking about.

"Why not?" is Lumine's response.

[random_xtras]

Nemesis has a good reason, but she's going to wipe the table and wait to see what the red-haired kid says.

[darwinsparadise]

"How can you just consider killing millions of people like that," says Axl, managing to remember not to shout and end up getting them kicked out of here.

"Those 'people' are a threat to us," replies Lumine in that same calm tone. "You know this. The ones you stay with rescue a few of the Maverick Hunters' targets now and then, but they do nothing about the root of the problem. The humans keep our kind as property. And if their history is any indication, they will continue to do so until they are stopped."

"The reploids that were used to construct the orbital elevator, for example... once their work is complete, they will be considered obsolete. Unnecessary. The work they've done is too sensitive, security-wise, to allow any leaks so the workers will be destroyed or wiped."

"We can get them out of there..," Axl starts to say.

"Can you? I don't think so. You only manage to rescue a third of the Maverick Hunters' targets as it is. Besides, that's only one situation. Do you think I would have gone back after my first trip to the Nexus if it were that simple? The ones you stay with seem to think it is, but no matter how many you rescue the humans will simply replace them."

"Have you read their history? It's full of repetitions. In ancient Egypt, young slaves would be forced to paint the heiroglyphs for the tombs of the nobility. Then, when their work was done, they were put to death so they couldn't reveal any secrets. The humans claim they've come so far since then, that they are so much more 'civilized'. But they repeat the same mistakes century after century. What they do to us is nothing new."

"Something that doesn't change, that doesn't grow, becomes obsolete. Humans are obsolete. We are the future."

Axl's just been gaping like a fish during this, and shaking his head. "No... They... they're not all like that! You can't just.. just write off a whole species because some of the guys in charge are jerks."