Drift wasn't really sure what he was expecting to find or even accomplish by going back to Theophany. It was eons ago now that he'd met Wing here, that his entire life had changed. Crystal City has long since relocated and emptied again, but...for some reason it had felt important to come back here, in the wake of his exile. It seemed right somehow, to visit the place where his life had been irrevocably changed, where he'd sworn to do good with the second chance he'd been granted.
Except it hasn't felt like he's been doing much good lately. He'd let Prowl put Overlord on the ship -- he'd gone along the plan, even if he hadn't liked it, because Rodimus wanted to do it, and somehow, Drift is sure, that makes it even more his responsibility. He could have stopped Rodimus, maybe. He could have prevented the loss of life, the terror of Overlord's rampage. He could have saved everyone a lot of suffering. He knows he's changed his ways, joined the Autobots, tried his best to embrace Spectralism, but standing here alone, his chest bare, he wonders how much he's really changed. How much that change matters when the end result is still death.
The Circle of Light is gone, but there's still more activity on Theophany than Drift was expecting -- or hoping for. He grimaces when he recognizes the slavers from a distance, their operation apparently rebuilt to be just as robust as ever. Well, if he's going to try and make anything right, he might as well start here. It feels oddly like starting from square one all over again. Drift embraces that feeling and privately hopes that it means something.
Once he gets near enough to see that a fight's already broken up, he's shocked to recognize the instigators as Cybertronians -- he doesn't recognize them, not at this distance, but it'd be hard to mistake them for any other race. Drift shifts into his alt mode immediately, tires squealing as he races over the terrain to join the fight. But he's too far, and not fast enough -- he sees one Cybertronian run the length of his luck and wind up a captive of the slavers. The sudden sense memory of those last few moments before he'd blacked out and nearly been crushed to death his first time around on Theophany rises in his mind, and it distracts him long enough that he doesn't see what happened to the other Cybertronian. Doesn't matter. The slavers have at least one of them, and Drift can't let them just cart him off.
Drift's a lot better at stealth than he used to be, and he manages to get into the slavers' base undetected, tracking the crate they'd loaded the Cybertronian into to the loading docks. He's on his own, and even with his swords and his improved skills since he was here last, he's badly outnumbered. Maybe he can convince the other mech to help him free the rest of these slaves.
He leaps from the shadows and neatly flips over the dock workers to land on the hull of the small craft they're loading the Cybertronian onto. "I'll be taking this delivery, thanks," he says brightly, jumping into the open cockpit as the slavers start to sputter and fire on him. The craft is unfamiliar, but pitch, yaw and roll are universal, and Drift manages to fire up the engines and blast away from the dock at terrifying speed. If he can just lose the slavers and land this thing out of sight, he can free the captive Cybertronian and maybe get back to Drift's ship to regroup, make some kind of a plan. He just has to get that far first.
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Except it hasn't felt like he's been doing much good lately. He'd let Prowl put Overlord on the ship -- he'd gone along the plan, even if he hadn't liked it, because Rodimus wanted to do it, and somehow, Drift is sure, that makes it even more his responsibility. He could have stopped Rodimus, maybe. He could have prevented the loss of life, the terror of Overlord's rampage. He could have saved everyone a lot of suffering. He knows he's changed his ways, joined the Autobots, tried his best to embrace Spectralism, but standing here alone, his chest bare, he wonders how much he's really changed. How much that change matters when the end result is still death.
The Circle of Light is gone, but there's still more activity on Theophany than Drift was expecting -- or hoping for. He grimaces when he recognizes the slavers from a distance, their operation apparently rebuilt to be just as robust as ever. Well, if he's going to try and make anything right, he might as well start here. It feels oddly like starting from square one all over again. Drift embraces that feeling and privately hopes that it means something.
Once he gets near enough to see that a fight's already broken up, he's shocked to recognize the instigators as Cybertronians -- he doesn't recognize them, not at this distance, but it'd be hard to mistake them for any other race. Drift shifts into his alt mode immediately, tires squealing as he races over the terrain to join the fight. But he's too far, and not fast enough -- he sees one Cybertronian run the length of his luck and wind up a captive of the slavers. The sudden sense memory of those last few moments before he'd blacked out and nearly been crushed to death his first time around on Theophany rises in his mind, and it distracts him long enough that he doesn't see what happened to the other Cybertronian. Doesn't matter. The slavers have at least one of them, and Drift can't let them just cart him off.
Drift's a lot better at stealth than he used to be, and he manages to get into the slavers' base undetected, tracking the crate they'd loaded the Cybertronian into to the loading docks. He's on his own, and even with his swords and his improved skills since he was here last, he's badly outnumbered. Maybe he can convince the other mech to help him free the rest of these slaves.
He leaps from the shadows and neatly flips over the dock workers to land on the hull of the small craft they're loading the Cybertronian onto. "I'll be taking this delivery, thanks," he says brightly, jumping into the open cockpit as the slavers start to sputter and fire on him. The craft is unfamiliar, but pitch, yaw and roll are universal, and Drift manages to fire up the engines and blast away from the dock at terrifying speed. If he can just lose the slavers and land this thing out of sight, he can free the captive Cybertronian and maybe get back to Drift's ship to regroup, make some kind of a plan. He just has to get that far first.