Darkshift

he/him, stealth jet
scout (& unwitting close-range-frenzy combatant)
Wings appear overly-spindly in robot form. Overall slim build, with chunky, squared pedes. Both servos are more claw than hand, with four articulated digits each. Shimmery, pseudo-holographic, black paint job. Empurata-style cylindrical head model, with one silver, semi-reflective optic.

• An odd little mech who was taken in by the Rings Crew post-Exodus. They found him in the remains of some Autobot base that seemed to have been attacked. Everyone there was dead; slaughtered and torn asunder. Darkshift was the only one who was alive and unscathed.
• He was at first just a seemingly terrified husk of a bot, who simply did as he was told and nothing else, when the Crew brought him on. It took a while for him to start functioning like a person, communicating, or to even share his name.
• Darkshift has long since come out of his shell, but he still refuses to share what exactly happened to him.
  • Little to anyone’s knowledge, Darkshift is an unwitting sleeper agent for an Autobot inquisitor gone rogue.
  • His key-phrase causes him to sort of “black out,” but remain functional. While in this state, he waits for instructions from the one who initially said his key-phrase, and then proceeds to carry out those orders to the letter. After the task is complete, Dark slowly comes back to awareness, but with no memory of what he’d done.
• Often acts tough, cold, unsocial, and serious, when any of his crewmates are present. He feels like he has to act overly-tough in order for them to take him seriously and not baby him excessively.
• In reality, he’s curious, honest, and hyper empathetic.
  • Sometimes gets twitchy and certain parts of him physically spasm — primarily his arms, servos, neck, and head. This also happens when he’s heavily stressed or anxious.
  • Effectively non-verbal / mute. Communicates via written messages over com-links, or on a projected holo-screen. He's also developed a personal sign language that most all of the crew is familiar with at this point.
    • Heavily relies on body language for tonal communication.
    • Also uses his engines to express excitement, anger, or as a threat-display.
    • His wings usually betray his innermost emotions, and tend to lock up when he's really scared.
      • Dark can "speak," but it's so garbled that it just sounds like static.
  • Trusts flyers much easier than grounded bots.
  • Has a seemingly endless stash of weapons. (That trope where a character unloads three tables' worth of knives, guns, grenades, etc. when someone says to disarm.)
  • Likes to wander off on his own. The Crew are his family, but being around them constantly can be... smothering.
  • Has a distinct fear of being (non-consensually) locked in, no matter how large or small the space. So long as there's an exit readily available, he's usually alright.