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- This is an L-shaped room, stocked with plenty of repair supplies. Several repair tables line the front portion of the room, shining antiseptically clean. Every shining tool and piece of equipment is stored neatly in place...including several unusual and complex monitor machines which seem to have been built by hand. The medic in charge here must be a meticulous neat-freak who is very serious about his job. A dark, charred spot marks the floor in the rear of the room. Rodimus Prime Dirge Frenzy Galvatron Polarity Shadow Stalker Southwest Galvatron is whistling as the walks down the hallways towards the medical bay. The gumbies flatten themselves against the wall as he makes his way through, giving him plenty of room, their faces full of terror, and the reason is quite simple--Galvatron is intimidating enough when he's *mad,* but when he's *happy?* That's just so wrong that it gets them to thinking that something really bad is going to happen, and they want nothing to do with it Rodimus Prime, Chosen One, leader of the Autobots, is in pretty pathetic condition. He lays unconscious on one of the medical berths, wrapped up with barbed wire, bound with the heaviest medical shackles Catechism could find, a barb wire bow tucked beneath his chin. He's missing one leg below his knee, large sections of his armor are ripped, blasted, or cracked off, a deep wound in his back shows where he was blasted by a powerful x-ray, one optic completely unlit, the other one shattered. Rodimus Prime is also still completely unconscious. Scrapper is carrying a locked briefcase that is handcuffed to his wrist, an odd look for him. He looks distinctly nervous, following in the footsteps of one fo the most terrifying of creatures, a happy Galvatron. However, Scrapper's marching orders are clear enough, and while he has other construction projects he badly needs to work on, these kinds of orders take precedence. Besides, this is going to be a scream. His optical band glows with a sick red light when he beholds his patient. "Huh. Lower leg's gone. Autobots are pretty simply designed, though. Should be a snap fabricating a new one." Oh yes, it pleases him to see the Autobot leader brought so low, it does. Shadow really isn't comfortable being in the presence of Rodimus Prime, unconscious or not, but he's wise enough not to complain. At the moment he is already in medical, arms folded while he leans back against the wall, watching the Autobot leader closely. The sight of Prime's condition is enough to make him internally wince--he's just glad *he's* not the one in that state. Polarity cocks his head to one side, then the other, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he looked over how the wreckage of the Autobot leader had been all bundled up for the occasion. Catechism had done a good job, but... "This present is still missing something... ah!" He snaps his fingers, then pulls out one of his magnetic tags, scribbles 'Happy Galvatronmas In July!' on it, and sticks it to Rodimus' forehead. "There, perfecto! Fweeehehehehe." The magneto-seeker continues to giggle to himself as he backs out of the way, his handiwork done for the occassion. Frenzy is happy to see the leader of the Autobots in this terrible condition. Finally, after some time they finally captured the leader and wrecked him up. Frenzy is also currently present in the medical bay, on top of the big Autobot dancing all over him, of course, making sure that he does not step on the barbed wire, showing him who's boss and who's currently small. But does he realize that the bot is currently unconcious? Probably not, but it's not like he cares rather Rod is concious or not as long as he can walk all over him. Galvatron gasps in mock surprise when he enters the medical bay and spots Rodimus. "Oh, my! Is this for ME? Why, it's what I always wanted! Decepticons, how did you know?" He grins for a moment, relishing this, then says, "Scrapper, as much as I like standing here and gloating over Rodimus's unconscious body, it's just not as much *fun* if Rodimus isn't awake to see me do it. Wake him up for me, why don't you?" Soundwave has arrived. Soundwave walks into the area. Dirge steps into the medical bay shortly after Galvatron enters, but not so soon as to appear that he's following. As he slowly moves off to one side to get a better look, his optics remain fixed on the Autobot leader. "Shall we see him die this day?" the Seeker asks impassively of the empty air around him. "Or will his suffering be longer still?" Shadow is quite afraid since Galvatron's so *happy* right now, but his expression remains neutral, and he stays silent. Scrapper strides over to Rodimus Prime and sets up a medical tray next to the unconscious Autobot. He sets his toolkit on the tray and opens it up, humming cheerily to himself. The briefcase that is cuffed to his wrist makes this just a little bit awkward, but Scrapper gets the hang of things quickly enough. "Now then, I'm thinking cold reboot, safeties off, auto-shutdown system suppressed, pain attenuation systems suppressed?" That said, he pries open Rodimus Prime's helmet with a small tool and gets to work. Basically, Rodimus Prime will wake up, and all his injuries will feel just as fresh as they did when they were first inflicted, and he won't be able to shut back down out of shock. He just has to deal with it. Tough. "C'mon, wakey wakey, Princess Flaming...." Holy smeg, Galvatron -was- happy. It was a disturbing sight... granted the cooky Polarity tended to find disturbing things amusing, and has to keep from cackling loudly. That and Frenzy's little dance, which he gets a kick out of. "Oooh, suffering. I'm betting on pleeeeenteeeee of sufferring," he sniggers in reply to the conehead. Soundwave walks into the room slowly, stopping halfway between the vitals monitors and the slab that Rodimus is laid upon. He casually glances over at one, then the other. "His vital readings are satisfactory. You can take your time." he continues, with a glow of his optics that would be accompanied by a sadistic sneer, were he capable. Rodimus Prime's onee intact optic flares brightly to life as Rodimus automatically spasms, pulling against the barbs and shackles with a scream. But the damage during the battle has left him much, much weaker than usual, and his bonds hold as his optic dims to something just barely brighter than unconsciousness and he slumps once more against the berth with a groan. Galvatron grins sadistically as he watches Rodimus Prime struggle against the barbed wire. "Heheheh, oh, bit of a rude awakening, eh, Rodimus Prime? Well, don't worry! You're in good hands! OUR hands! We have a qualified medic to attend to your injuries, and in case you're bored, we have Frenzy to perform a dance for your entertainment!" At Dirge's remark, Galvatron gives him a side-long smirk. "Suffering, Dirge? You've seen nothing *yet.*" Frenzy falls over as the bot spasms. "Man, didn't expect the dumby to be able to knock me over..." He gets up, walks on Rodimus' chest towards his head, and says to the bonded bot, "Hey dude, looks like you are in trouble.. a lot of trouble. Maybe if you weren't so stupid, then you wouldn't be in this mess." The small con turns his head and nods to Galvatron, "Of course Galvatron, we wouldn't want our special guest to get bored." Frenzy starts to do some sort of dance, jumping all around the bot's chest, swinging his arms, and lastly he starts kicking the bot's head, left leg, then right leg, then left leg, etc. Polarity cackles. "And if getting jabbed by spikes every time he moves isn't enough," he rubs his hands together, causing a few electromagnetic sparks to crackle between them. "We can always electrify the wires! Then there will be little shocks every time he moves too. It'd be like wearing underwear made out of tinfoil and a taser!" ... Where does he come up with these things? Since Soundwave has pointed out Scrapper doesn't exactly need to hurry with the repairs, he instead grabs some rather specialized equipment and pops open a panel in one of Rodimus Prime's hands, rummaging around, looking for something... He explains aloud, because evil exposition is in his contract, "You may have noticed that we've lifted some weapons from your fallen fellows, Rodimus Prime. Of course, you know we won't stop there. We're Decepticons, but you might as well call us insatiable. We're always striving, and you are going to be the key, in a very real sense, to the defeat of the Autobots." Rodimus Prime lifts his head and looks up at Galvatron weakly. "Galv... atron," he gets back, voice dripping with hate and loathing. He turns his head just enough to see who it is that's dancing around on his chest. He grimaces as the dance starts but manages to keep from doing more... until Frenzy starts kicking him in the face, delivering more dents and cracks into his already damaged features. Before long, his one good optic shatters, and he... smiles ghoulishly. "Heh. Thanks," he grates out, voice damaged so that it has a more of an electronic tang than usual. "Was trying to shut that down so I didn't have to look at your ugly faces, anyway." He lays his head back down and keeps his face sightlessly on the ceiling. "They'll figure out how to stop you," he says calmly, quietly, but with certainty. "You're calling *us* ugly?" Shadow speaks up. "You're the one with that hideous paint job." Dirge hisses softly, "Struggle, Prime. Fight, and hope." The Seeker circles slowly around the perimeter of the room, watching Rodimus. "Do not resign yourself to death. You have fallen far, yet there are still such greater depths you can reach." Soundwave slowly saunters over to the table, almost with a swagger, and looms ominously over Rodimus' head, giving Rodimus the proverbial 'upside down' view. "Consideration: If subject deactivates, several parts in servicable condition. Suggestion: upgrades. Ha ha ha." Galvatron claps a little bit for Rodimus Prime, smiling. "Ah, yes, even when all hope is lost you keep your chin up, Rodimus Prime. That makes it more fun." His smile vanishes as he raises his cannon to the Prime's head. "You know... it would be so easy... I could rid myself of you once and for all... and then *Ultra Magnus* would have to pick up the pieces. Haha, Ultra Magnus, leading the Autobots. I'd love to see that, for as long as *that* lasted. But no, Rodimus, death would be too easy. Oh, and your friends, I am sure, have no idea how we've pulled off this little heist. *I* don't even understand all the details! All I care about is that it works." It was getting a little crowded around Rodimus himself, so Polarity went to get a better view... by walking partway up the bulkhead wall so he was standing 'out' from it and able to look down at the gathering. Funky fun with magnetics, wheee! "So you're saying Soundwave, after he goes off-line for good... That salvage is the 'prime' option?" Then starts cackling again at his own bad joke. Frenzy laughs, kicking the bot's face again. "Don't worry, we are going to fix those optics of yours A.S.A.P. and no way those stupid bots are going to stop us! We have you and without you they are helpless and scared. So just give up now Rodimus and accept the torture we are going to give you!" The litte cassette starts dancing again, this time doing the electric slide. Scrapper raises one hand and rasps, "Frenzy, stop breaking the patient, or I'll take the spare parts out of you. Now, get me a webcam out of that drawer over there." He points. Yeah, Scrapper just threatened a cassette with Soundwave standing right there. He is a bit too absorbed in his work realize what he just did. As it is, he finds what he was looking for - the subspace actuators. The little mechanisms in Rodimus Prime's hands that send out a signal to subspace to call out his photon eliminator and other such items. Scrapper plugs in a cable into one of the outlets and then applies a small electric shock to test if this bank of actuators is still functional. A frog leg would be twitching right about now, but the actuators... summon a fishing pole? Scrapper glares at Rodimus Prime and demands, "What's with the junk in the trunk?" Rodimus Prime doesn't respond to /most/ of the taunting, just laying impassively on the berth. Well, as impassively as one can lay when they have a cassetteformer dancing on their chest and kicking their face. However, he does declare, quite calmly and clearly through the extra electronic twang, "The Autobots are far from helpless without me. Of course, I'm used to you underestimating them by now." When Scrapper involuntarily triggers his subspace actuators, he spasms, but doesn't answer the Constructicon's question. Frenzy mumbles, thinking to himself, "Frenzy, stop breaking the patient, Frenzy, stop being stupid, Frenzy, stop this, stop that. I'm stronger than you!" He jumps off the table and slowly walks to the drawer, opening it up, and grabbing the webcam. He then /slowly/ walks towards Scrapper, with a frown on his face. "Here the stupid webcam that you ordered... now can I go back on top of him and dance?" Shadow has never actually underestimated the Autobots. He just tries to run them through. Scrapper snatches up the webcam from Frenzy, checks it out, and then quickly shunts it into Rodimus Prime's visual feed, so that he'll at least be able to see what torment he's being put through in crummy low resolution that will probably give him a head-ache. Then, Scrapper directs, "Frenzy, go see if Soundwave has something /useful/ for you to do." Scrapper shakes his head. Oi, these people. "Anyway, we've figured out how to involuntarily remove items from the subspace pockets of live Decepticons, but the way Autobots code their frequencies is a bit differently than the way we do things." A more arrogant Decepticon would say that the Autobot way is not as good as the Decepticon way, but Scrapper's not that arrogant, so he simply says 'different'. "Your subspace frequency cycling coding is going to be most complex out of any Autobot, Rodimus Prime, as their leader, and also considering that you subspace a whole trailer and... fishing rods and... I don't even want to know. Once we crack you," Scrapper leers at his patient, "back-engineering the way the rest of the Autobots cycle their subspace frequencies will be a snap." Polarity thinks mocking and humiliating them is more fun, himself. Scrapper's toying with the subspace recall system gets his attention though, and the Seeker 'walks' farther along the wall with his magnetized feet to peer over the Constructicon's shoulder as he makes a fishing pole appear. "Watcha doooooing?" And then Scrapper explains it. "More free stuff! Excellent!" Galvatron answers Scrapper's question for Rodimus, "It's simple, Scrapper--one of Rodimus's hobbies is making feeble attempts at acting human. And perhaps he thinks that "fishing" brings him closer to nature, or some other notion that's equally ridiculous." He turns his attention back down to the Prime. "Oh, I'm not too sure about that, Rodimus. You see, once we figure out how to crack the Autobots' encryption codes on their subspace pockets looting their special weapons will be EASY. We might even steal their *mass*..." He looks between Soundwave and Scrapper. "That's *possible,* isn't it?" "Getting closer with those meatbags? Hahaha! You make me laugh, Rodimus," Frenzy says, laughing once again. "Oh Scrapper," he looks up at the scientist con, "It is something useful... it's entertainment for all of us and for our helpless guest!" Rodimus Prime mutters, "Didn't you do that just a couple of weeks ago?" Then, louder, he says, "We already figured out you were planning to do that. We've already got a way to stop you." Well, all right, the Prime is lying there. He shakes his head as the web-cam is plugged in and makes a face, trying, and failing, to shut it down. Shadow peers around Scrapper to get a better look at what he's doing... Frenzy has disconnected. Scrapper eyes Shadow, who is peering at what he's doing and concludes that this really means that Shadow wants to be drafted to be a nurse. He directs, "Hey, Blackhawk Down. Kinda busy here." He waves his cuffed hand. "Be an action figure and get me some of the armour-grade titanium plate out of the armour closet, yeah?" Scrapper then replies to Rodimus Prime, eerily sure, "Oh, whatever countermeasures you've developed, we'll get around. Magnet Lad! You can fetch me my logic probe. Need to figure out what circuit cluster controls his subspace actuators." Dirge slowly walks toward Rodimus, looking down at him with dim yellow optics, expressionless. "One success or failure is pale compared to your death, Prime. We have robbed them of something much greater than a mere weapon. We have taken their head. Who shall replace you that will not die in turn? With each successive loss your paltry rulers grow weaker. Will the reign of the next be measured in days? Hours? Will history even record his name?" Galvatron grins down at Rodimus Prime. "I don't think so, Prime. Subspace is a quantity that is still poorly understood--at least, until Mr. Clark made his recent breakthrough. Now OUR subpsace technology is vastly ahead of the Autobots'. Think about it, Prime. How can you defend something that's in another dimension, when you don't even understand how we're taking it from you? I mean, what, is that drunk, Mr. Clark, going to help you figure it out? He can barely leave his house without passing out in his own filth!" "I'm not dead yet, Dirge," Rodimus answers coolly, the 'human' aspect of his voice fading in and out now. Automatically, he turns his head towards Galvatron's voice when the Decepticon leader talks, then winces at the disorienting, low-resolution web-camera feed. "You know, it's pretty funnny that you're assuming the same guy that let you gain your advantage can't help us counter it, Galvatron." Shadow must be rather annoying. He's just curious, that's all! "As you wish, Commander Scrapper." He moves away from the Constructicon leader and walks toward the armor closet. He quickly spots the requested item, and brings it to Scrapper. Polarity turns his head towards the table of medical hardware, and flicks a hand in its direction... And then remembers most of said equipment is shielded against EMs to prevent it getting screwed up during sensative operations. Which cues a facepalm, then walking across the wall to pick the probe up manually, then walks back to hand it 'down' from his point of view to Scrapper. "Here ya go, Big Green." Dirge's mouth quirks upwards on one side, into a very slight smirk. "Your remaining time is not granted you by your own hand, Prime," he rasps. Scrapper doesn't really look at the titanium plate and just replies absently, "Uh, huh, that's great. Now I'll need some military grade hydraulic actuators. Cabinet 3, drawer 7." He does, however, take the probe from Polarity and works on teasing out just what circuit cluster it is holds the key. Not this or that one, but maybe this one over here... Shadow's rotors twitch slightly. He bows his head respectfully and heads off to fetch the newly requested items. He has a theory that Scrapper is merely giving him these tasks so that he won't get in the way, but as usual he keeps his thoughts to himself. He approaches the given cabinet, opens the right drawer, and retrieves the actuators, which he promptly brings to Scrapper. Galvatron adds to what Dirge said, "It's granted by MY hand, Prime. I'd be a little bit more worried, were I you! But then, you always were a slow learner, Prime. That's okay. You'll figure it out eventually. And as for Mr. Clark... why not? I saw the article in the Terran journal "Science Weekly." Clark came up with his little invention purely by accident while he was drunk. I doubt he even remembers how he came up with it." Scrapper supposes that the Autobots could just get Clark drunk again and hope he comes up with something. But ah, here it is! What he's been looking for, oh yes... He jacks a rather unpleasant-looking dataspike clean into the circuit cluster, which is doubtless rather like having a railroad spike driven into one's hand, and then shunts the output to a datapad. 30% progress... Once it's done, he taps a few bottons, downloads the codes himself, and... pulls out Rodimus Prime's photon eliminator, looking rather pleased with himself. But back to work. Scrapper tosses the eliminator over his shoulder and directs to Polarity and Shadow, "Watch out." Rodimus Prime remains calm and looks back up at the ceiling. Once more, he tries and fails to shut down the visual feed. That /does/ hurt! Though of course other things hurt more. He gives a faint smirk and points out, "But he didn't build the /whole thing/ while drunk." Then he stops smirking. "But I'd stop using it if I were you. You all /know/ there are... things in subspace. You keep this up, and something's going to come through that you don't wan- nnngh!" the last noise is made as the dataspike is pushed into his circuit cluster. Polarity has fine tuned a very specific reation over the millinium of warefare to hearing the words 'Watch out' from -anyone-. Especially (mad) scientists. That being that he immeadiatley jumps off the wall to the floor as he redirects his magnetic powers into a protective field instead, in case that gun goes off or something! Why else would Scrapper say to watch out, after all. Galvatron frowns, recalling the subspace monsters that were reported appearing during the subspace tests on Decepticons. "Hmph. What of them? They're hostile, but fragile. We can dispatch them with ease. And besides, do you really think we're scared of those silly little things? Why, most of them probably can't even survive for very long in our dimension anyway! So I'm hardly concerned about a few little creatures getting out. Maybe they'll eat some Terran children, but that will be the worst of it." Rodimus Prime's blind optics widen at what Galvatron says. "Wait- things have already gotten through?" He starts to struggle against his bonds. "Galvatron, you idiot! You /know/ there's worse in subspace! What happens when one of those star-things comes through?" Scrapper is creeped out by Dirge, he has to say. And he's not the guy strapped to a table and wreathed in barbed wire! Then, he grabs the items that he had Shadow fetch and starts trimming the piece of titanium plate into sections that will assemble into a leg module housing. Scrapper comments, "I'm going to need internal support struts, wiring..." ...and he lists off a bunch of other random stuff as he cuts that will doubtless keep Polarity and Shadow busy fetching for a while. Galvatron lets out another mock-gasp. "Oh, my, now that isn't very nice, Rodimus! *Name-calling,* really now. Polarity, give him a little jolt, why don't you? We can't have Rodimus calling people names and being rude, after all. Now, about those star-things. You mean the Azraelians? I've been looking for a chance to teach them a little lesson anyway. Maybe trapping a few of them in OUR dimension will show them the consequences of meddling in the affairs of the Decepticons!" ... Shoot, he was half hoping it would go off and shoot someone at random, that'd be randomly funny, actually. "I guess his eliminator has been eliminated from the equation, HAH!" Polarity shifty-eyes to one side, then the other side, and then turns his head in the opposite direction with a fake 'innocent' whistle as he uses the heel of his foot to kick the gun under a table to make it 'lost'. Har har! And then he gets an 'order' that makes his optics light up mirthfully, and he snaps a quick faux salute to Galvatron. "You got it boss!" With a delightfully mad giggling he walks over, and picks up to the two ends of the barbed wire after making each hand the opposite charge. Resulting in a current going through the wire with just enough pep to make it a minature electromagnetic coil, enough to give Rodimus a good little jolt for his troubles! Though he keeps it low, not wanting to mess up Scrapper's work in the process. Though he'll have to wait for fetching, Galvatron's orders take priority after all! "NnnnGGGGHH!" Rodimus grunts out, his back arching against his shackles as the shock is delivered, which, of course, only digs the electrified barbs deeper. Once the jolts are finished, he collapses against the table again and snarls out, "Once again, you're playing with something you don't even understand because you just can't /comprehend/ that there are things out there more powerful than you, and once again it'll bee left to the Autobots to clean up your mess." Galvatron slams the palm of his hand down on Rodimus's table and screams, "THERE WON'T BE ANY AUTOBOTS LEFT TO CLEAN UP ANYTHING WHEN WE'RE THROUGH, PRIME! But then again, there will be lots of DEAD AUTOBOT parts lying around at the end, I'm sure. So we'll need someone to clean THAT up, certainly! How about the humans, Prime? Why don't we 'volunteer' them? They weren't doing much of anything anyway!" He gives Polarity a little smirk after his tirade. "Oh, and good work, soldier. You know, I'm starting to like your style. Creative and sadistic. Two qualities I like in my troops." Dirge's head tilts back slightly, causing him to turn his eyes farther down to keep looking at Rodimus. "The universe is slow decay, Rodimus. Entropy and creeping silence. As we rend open the thin veils of space and time, what are we doing but hastening eventuality? You fear what may come, but you dare not look into the greater looming abyss. Or do you wish to be there at the edge of time, when all is dust, looking back at all the myriad choices that might have destroyed everything, afraid to turn toward the hollow future you have wrought from trepidation and inaction? That is why we have warred for millennia, Prime. You lack the ability to take such bold action for the victory of your kind. We cast out that flaw as we shall cast out you and all of your followers, and we will send your dust scattered to the end of the universe." Scrapper finishes the leg module. He attends to Rodimus Prime's numerous other injuries, as well, leaving the optics for very last. Then, he strides over to a cabinet and pulls out a pair of Ruby Reds D-62. Shuddering as Dirge delivers his speech, Scrapper leans over Rodimus Prime and pries out his old, broken optics with something very much like an ice cream scoop. Then, as he slots in the Ruby Reds, Scrapper asks casually, "So, why do you think I'm repairing you?" Polarity lets the charge fade after the discharge, but continues to hold the ends of the wiring in case Galvatron commands more shock therapy for Rodimus' suffering. Or their own amusement. Probably both considering the Decepticons present. His lop-sided smirk grows a bit in response to the praise. "For lord and Empire, sir, I assure you! Hehehehe.. that I -like- making scrap like this suffer is just a bonus to it." The he peers at the other Seeker. He peers at Dirge for long and hard as he delivers his creepy monologuing... And then he starts cackling all over again. It's hard to tell if he found the morbidity amusing, or if he's just trying to cover up that it even gave him the creeps. Rodimus Prime doesn't answer Galvatron, nor does he look away from the ceiling, avoiding the disorientation that moving the webcam does. His scowl, however, deepends. "Don't think that just because I haven't ended you yet, Dirge, that I'm too 'soft' to. Killing never makes me happy, but I've long ago accepted that most of you Decepticons are past saving." As Scrapper replaces his optics, they light up - Decepticon red, and his visual feeds automatically switches to them. And so Rodimus Prime now sees the world through Decepticon eyes. He turns them towards Scrapper and narrows those new, out of place optics in a glare. "To have more time to torture me, no doubt." Soundwave adjusts the welding tool to a lower heat setting in preparation for Scrapper's attachment of the leg. "Scrapper, adujested instrument temperature for optimum welding control." he says, full well knowing that lowering the temperature will only make attachment slower and more agonizing, though it wasn't a lie that it will give Scrapper an easier time with attaching the new limb. Windshear has arrived. Scrapper looks over at Galvatron, gestures to the briefcase, and inquires, "My lord Galvatron, if you could be so good as to key in the codes to open the case?" Then he nods to Soundwave, sees what Soundwave has done, and his optical band glows wickedly. "Oh, /thank you/, Soundwave. Really appreciate it. Let's just get that leg attached..." ...it does take a while, and it /is/ excruciating, but he absently answers Rodimus Prime, "Torture's not really useful, though. I guess a better question is, 'Why am I not turning you into a throne for my emperor?'" Galvatron gives Dirge a long stare. Of course, he knew that the universe wouldn't last forever, but he always told himself that he could just evacuate most of the Decepticons to someone else's universe and plunder that. On the other hand, the last time he tried that, it didn't work out so well. "Hm, well, yes. And Rodimus, I think you're being a bit optimistic. There are many kinds of torture, after all." Windshear has no idea whats going on. Hes been on Earth pretty much since he rejoined the Empire and now suddenly hes been assigned back to Cybertron and now not a week later hes been told to report to Charr. He lands and is now looking for his leader, Galvatron. And that takes him to here. The Seeker walks in quietly and looks around. He notices Galvatron and Soundwave and wiht a nod to his fellow Seekers he starts toward Galvatron when he notices an Autobot on the table. And not just any Autobot but their infamous brat Prime; Rodimus. he catches the conversation and asks quietly, "Whats up with all of this? And great that we have Rodimus Prime right now might I add." Soundwave leans over the table, with a cruel glow in his optics, and quietly presses the play button on his abdomen. A recording plays of Optimus Prime speaking to Spike, in which Optimus says, "Remember, good things are worth waiting for." Galvatron turns his head towards Scrapper, and nods. "Very well, Scrapper." Taking the case in his hands, he punches in the code on the number pad by the handle, and a red LED on the case switches from red to green, indicating that it can now be opened by anyone. Scrapper murmurs, "Thank you, my lord." Very carefully, with a delicacy unlike him, he withdraws the contents of the case, a small disc. Scrapper flashes it over Rodimus Prime's new ruby reds, and he rasps, "Do you know what this is, Rodimus Prime? It's something so despicable that even /I/ hate it, but it was made by an Autobot. Dear old dead Wheeljack, may he rust in pieces. It's a Dominator Disc, and it's going in you." With Constructicon strength, Scrapper wrenches open Rodimus Prime's chest, drops in the disc next to the desiccated, empty Matrix, and slams Rodimus Prime shut. You call into base to find the location of your comrades... ========================[ Decepticon Activity Report ]======================== Name Rank Location Radio Alias ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Shadow 2/Special Agent - Intelligence DHQ Repair Bay On Shad Scrapper 5/Commander - Engineering DHQ Repair Bay On RARELY Soundwave 6/Lord - Intelligence DHQ Repair Bay On sw Rodimus Prime / - None DHQ Repair Bay On rp Galvatron 8/Emperor - Command DHQ Repair Bay On galv Dirge 2/Wingman - Aerospace DHQ Repair Bay On NotRam Windshear 1/Pilot - Aerospace DHQ Repair Bay Off Windy Polarity 2/Pilot - Aerospace DHQ Repair Bay On pol ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Polarity gives the other seeker a slap on the back as Windshear arrives. "Some 'cons kicked the scrap outta Rodimook Prime here and now we're making his remaining life miserable!", he explains, smirking more. Especially when Scrapper produces something even -more- wicked than just torturing him. "Ohohohoho! That's brilliant! Evil and brillia--" And stops in mid-ramble to look confused, considering this is all from a time he was away from the main war fronts. Squints a bit. "-- .. What's a Dominator Disc?" Thus setting up the exposition to explain to anyone that never saw that episode. Rodimus Prime has gone back to struggling against his bonds as Scrapper and Galvatron chatter to each other, and the other Decepticons chatter in general. At times he can't help but writhing in pain as his leg is re-attached as slowly and agonizingly as possible. As Soundwave taunts him with a recording of Optimus Prime he tries to lunge towards the tape-deck, but again, the shackles hold him in place. He stills, however, as Scrapper talks, and his red, Decepticon optics widen in horror as the Constructicon reveals what it is in Scrapper's hand. He attempts to squirm away, one final attempt to break free from his bonds, but cannot avoid the disc as it's inserted into his chest. He arches his back against, the barbs digging deeper still before he collapses and stares at the ceiling, a disoriented expression on his face, mouth faintly open. Soundwave chimes in, an eerie near-melodic, yet deharmonized tone to his voice. "A device that will allow us to control Rodimus Prime - and overriding any free will he posesses. However, he will still witness every action he makes against his comrades, and will be powerless to stop himself." Windshear feels the slap on his back and his wings instinctively flex back but he stops them in time from hitting Polarity. He tilts his head toward Polarity and listens to him and when his attention is diverted, Windy looks back at Prime. "Woah, red optics? An improvement on you, Prime..." he rasps and smirks as he watches the suffering exhibited by the Autobot leader. His attention focuses on Soundwave then but he says nothing. Just enjoys this present scenario as only a Decepticon could. Galvatron grins at Rodimus's expression, just as he realizes what's really going on. "Correct, for the most part, Soundwave. Some of you may remember the Autobots used some of these "Dominator Discs" to take over the Constructicons' minds and make them into feeble-minded Autobots. However, in that case they needed to be merged into Devastator before the discs could take effect, as his mind was weaker than the Constructicons' minds were individually. Not so in this case, Prime. We've improved Wheeljack's design immensely, and amplified its power such that even you will not be able to resist its effects! You will still have all of your memories and your personality... but your allegiance will be to ME." He spreads his arms wide. "Welcome to the Decepticons, COMRADE! HMHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHA!" "OoooOOOOOOooooo." Pauses a beat after the explaination. Then laughs in twisted merriment at the proposition. "How delightully devious! Maliciously manevolent! How evilly ironic... wait. No, wait." Cups his chin thoughtfully in the thumb and finger of his hand. "The autobot leader destroying other autobots would count as ironic, but does it still count as ironic when we're making him do something ironic without his consent, since it's not really all that ironic for us at all..." He muses, trying to figure out if this is actual irony or Megatron irony. Polarity is so busy trying to figure it out, he doesn't even get his name into that pose. Oops. Shadow has been watching in silence. He casts a glance toward Galvatron, then slowly moves his gaze back to Rodimus, and keeps it on the flame-patterned mech. Galvatron thinks it's pretty ironic, so it could be Megatron irony. Dirge's optics flicker as the Dominator Disc is deviously deployed. "How terrible," he rasps, voice flat, deadpan. "How many of your own will die at your hand? How many before your mind fractures?" Scrapper shuffles his feet and looks a bit embarrassed. Yeah, getting his brain taken over by Wheeljack was definitely not his best day, but this is pay back, right? Scrapper watches Rodimus Prime carefully, hesitantly, wondering if he should let him out of the shackles now. Well, Galvatron's here, so if anything disastrous happens, Galvatron can just cannon the solder out of Rodimus Prime, so Scrapper hits the release on the shackles. He looks to Galvatron and asks, "Are you going to brand him? The Autobot symbol's not really, uh, accurate right now." Soundwave fiddles with the controls on the consoles, then turns to the group. "Disc has neural network control of body, and is ready for initial testing at any time.", Soundwave says, then stands upright. "His destiny belongs to us, now!" Rodimus Prime continues to stare vacantly at the ceiling as his mind tries to comprehend the sudden shift in allegiance, as his personality shifts around to accommodate it while maintaining its overall integrity. Finally, the red optics flicker in a blink, his hands clench and then relax, and he smirks faintly. "More than will die by yours, loser," he answers Dirge. As his shackles fall away he sits up, easily breaking through the barbed wired bindings. His right palm slams towards Scrapper's chest, though with not nearly the force he's capable of exerting. He glares at the Constructicon. "Next time, no cold-boots." Shadow steps back, pressing himself against the wall and hoping to avoid Rodimus's notice. He's rather intimidated, but as per the usual his expression shows no sign of such. Dirge's optics flicker briefly. "I will concede the number if only to witness your will bent against the Autobots." Despite being confused at the whole irony or not thing, Polarity is quick to catch back up to the conversation at hand, considering all the delightfully devious potential it offers to the trickster in him. "Oh, no no nooooo. It's perfect. Just perfect." He may not be the most brilliant of Decepticons, but when it comes to dirty tricker, Polarity is in his element. "You just -know- the Autobots are gonna want to try and rescue him, after all. Just -think- of the sneaky underhanded trick it would be to let them do so, thinking they've rescued their beloved comrade. Muwhahahah, they're so predictable!" It's the -perfect- way to get him back into their midst without them suspecting a thing, don't you think?" Windshear just stands there staring at Rodimus. Hes not making any attempt to hide or present himself as intimidating or anything else. Hes just studying this new 'Decepticon.' His thoughts on the matter are his alone and his expression is neutral giving no indication of what he personally may be thinking about all of this. Scrapper is slammed back by Rodimus Prime's blow, and he cringes a bit. Oh dear, just what have the Decepticons unleashed, right now? He whimpers, "I, uhm, think I need to go work on my casino now. Think I left a soldering iron on, and it might have melted some... rebar. Yeah." Galvatron scratches his chin, appraising Rodimus Prime. "Hm. Something's missing... oh! We forgot something!" He lifts up a metal rod with a broad metal plate on one end, and flicks a switch on it. The plate begins to glow white hot, then he thrusts the hot end into Rodimus's chest. He lets it linger there for a second before pulling it away, and once he does--ta-da! A Decepticon sigil has replaced the Autobot one! "There we go!" Polarity then remembers from earlier, his previous ramble forgotten as he glances over his shoulder at the table he kicked the eliminator under earlier. Well, he thought sneaking Rodimus into the bots again would be funny, but apparently Galvatron just wants to terrorize him directly. Which is probably more amusing anyways. "... Do we want to give him back his gun now?" "GRAAAAH!" Rodimus throws back his head in pain as he's branded. He looks down at the purple symbol now on his chest, the one that doesn't go /nearly/ as well with his lovely red paint job as his new optics. His right hand lifts to lightly touch the new symbol, his expression thoughtful. Then he smirks faintly. "Well, this'll make it a bit harder to pull off that Seeker's suggestion." Names? Why bother. Then he lowers his hand, looks up at Galvatron, and shrugs. "Though I suppose it'll work just fine to put them off-balance in the middle of battle." Then he turns to glare at Polarity. "Yes. You do." Galvatron nods to give Polarity the go-ahead. "Oh, it's fine, soldier! After all, that gun isn't going to be turned on US, after all! At least..." His optics narrow. "It had better not be! Wouldn't want to go the way of Starscream, now, would we?" Soundwave steps to the forefront of the group. "Galvatron, light duty is suggested until disc effects are certain. Risk factor of the subject nullifying the effects is still unknown at this time." Scrapper asks innocently, "Light duty? Like helping build a giant roulette table of doom?" He's moved over closer to the door by now. There's a dull clunk as Polarity holds his hand behind his back and magnetically yank the gun into his hand, then holds it out. "It was just in safe keeping, that's all." Rodimus.. is actually kinda creepy when he's being all nasty like that. "Oh, of /course/ not, Galvatron," Rodimus answers, turning a /perfectly angelic/ expression towards Galvatron that looks completely at odds with his red optics and flaming paint job. He narrows his optics at Soundwave, thn shrugs. "He... does make sense, actually. As long as you give it back to me before you expect me to do any fighting." Then his optics flicker as he stares at Scrapper. "... Roulette table of doom?" He actually /doesn't/ accept the gun from Polarity yet. He's being a good little Decepticon! Windshear folds his arms and just listens and watches. Rodimus Prime needs to get used to the fact that Decepticon schemes often involve giant, doom-ified versions of normal, innocent objects, and fast! That's how the Decepticons roll. Scrapper bobs his head in a nod and replies hesitantly, "Yeah. Roulette table of doom. You can use an Autobot instead of the ball, and he rolls around, and when it stops spinning, if he rolls right, he escapes, but if he rolls wrong, either he's stuck for another roll, or a pit trap opens, and he dies a horrible death in a spike pit." Galvatron frowns. Those are all very reasonable suggestions from his troops, but this being Galvatron... "Rodimus has built-in weapons systems. It isn't possible to completely disarm him, so you may as well give him the damn rifle anyway. And besides..." Galvatron smirks. "I want to see how well my new soldier performs. Go on, explore your new life as one of us! Soundwave, grant him level 1 security clearance." That would be the lowest security clearance a Decepticon can have, at least in this episode. In another episode it could be the highest. Depends on the writer. Rodimus Prime shrugs exageratedly, hands lifting with his shoulders, and he turns to take his rifle from Polarity before returning it to subspace. Then he leans over to pick his fishing pole up off the floor and puts that in subspace, too. He glances at Scrapper and considers this. "Hmmm." Then he shrugs and grins. "Sounds like fun, actually." Soundwave moves to another console, and punches a few buttons. A small camera like device drops from the ceiling, then a red beam fans out, scanning Rodimus slowly from top to bottom. "Rodimus, do not move until scan is complete. Failure to do so will result in immediate attack by security systems outside this area." Polarity steps back out of the way of the scanning device after handing over the weapon.... Actually, the idea of seeing some of the other Decepticons react to seeing Rodimus walking around te base will be just as amusing as when the Autobots see it, when he thinks about it. "Got it," Rodimus says, holding perfectly still as the scanners inspect him, though it's hard to resist the temptation to look around. "This gonna take long?" Frenzy , who somehow stepped out of the room without anyone noticing an hour ago, steps back in. "Sorry guys, I needed to step out because /someone/ was making me mad. It's... advice to control my anger." He eyes Scrapper who wouldn't allow him to dance on Rodimus after he stuck the webcam inside him a while ago. Rodimus Prime now /really/ wants to move. Darn it, Soundwave! As the scanners stop at the bottom of Rodimus' chassis, Soundwave turns to Galvatron. "Scan is complete. Security access is granted at level 1." He taps a few more buttons. "Record of Rodimus' systems also on file with main databanks. You may move now, Rodimus." Scrapper looks just a bit worried as Rodimus Prime says that helping build a roulette wheel of death might be 'fun'. But Scrapper could really, really use the help, and the evil roulette wheel isn't a particularly important secret project or anything, not like the Fritos-powered ion engine. He's standing near the door, and when Frenzy glares at him, Scrapper makes a snapping gesture with his hands. "*Frenzy,*" Galvatron coos as the tape steps in. "Greet our latest recruit, why don't you? He had a rough experience in his previous job, so he needs a warm welcome." He gives Soundwave a nod. "Very good. Well, now, Rodimus, have a look around at your new home! I'm sure you're *excited* to be a Decepticon, now!" Polarity looks to Frenzy. Looks to Rodimus. And makes an exaggerated motion of comically stepped to the side and around Rodimus so he's not between him and the tape. He just shocked him a bit, after all, Frenzy was the one dancing on him! Polarity does not want to be in the line of that fire. "What? Our new recruit?" Frenzy looks at Rodimus, a look of confusion on that handsome face of his. "But Galvatron, that's the stupid Autobot Leader Rodimus! The very same Bot that I was dancing on top of.... How... I can't believe this! You mean? But how? This is making my head spin around and around!" Rodimus Prime is, it should be noted, now free. He has Decepticon optics and a Decepticon sigil on his chest. He stands up and turns to look at Frenzy. Then a slow smirk spreads over his face. "Why, he-lloooooooo, Frenzy," he practically purrs out, bright red optics narrowed. Then he looks up at Galvatron and schools his expression into something less obviously viscious. "Actually... I am. Suddenly, so much that seemed important just... isn't anymore. It's almost... freeing." Then he looks around and snorts. "I'm not spending all my time on Charr, though, am I? This place is a /dump/." Then he turns a glare on Frenzy and crouches to make a lunge for him, attempting to grab the tape's throat. "Do /not/ call me 'Bot again!" he snarls. Combat: Rodimus Prime strikes Frenzy with his Grab attack! "His logic circuits are dedicated to our cause now, Frenzy. You have nothing to fear." Soundwave says, spinning around in the chair to face the little tape now with a slightly relaxed posture. "...unless you decide to dance on him again." Windshear continues watching and listening though adds nothing to the situation. Hes got nothing to add but he is getting bored with all of this and with a shrug turns for the door. He doubts this will last and is prepared for the enevitable outcome of this. In the meantime he will run patrols until he gets assigned some place else again. Windshear moves southwest to the DHQ Central Hallway. Windshear has left. Galvatron shrugs in a non-chalant manner. "Oh, *very well,*" he says in the tone of an overly permissive parent. "Go ahead and visit Earth and Cybertron. Have *fun.* Really!" "Y'know, normally its the new guy getting hazed, not doing the hazing." Polarity starts to snicker a little. "But this time we can make an exception." Galvatron also does not react at all when Rodimus moves to grab Frenzy, except to smirk at his plight. Frenzy holds Rodimus' hand, the one that is gripping his throat. "Let go of me, you Bot-Con! Don't you know, newbie, that I'm the strongest Con out there! Besides.. Soundwave and Galvatron.. but still! I'm stronger than you!" Rodimus Prime turns a beautific smile up towards Galvatron. "Why /thank/ you, Galvatron. You're not half-bad as bosses go." Though he's certainly not so good as Rodimus, oh no. He looks down at Frenzy and smirks. "You are, are you? Really? Then you should have no problem getting out of my grip on your own!" "Y'knooooooow, I think I'm gonna go back to patrol myself." Polarity decides now would be a good time to leave himself, in case Rodimus decides to get vindictive for those shock therapy moments earlier. He'd rather be in one piece so he can watch how much it messes with the Autobots later! Frenzy tries to get out of Rod's grip, but fails. "Ugh.. I should stay away from the Energon Junk food... it's making me out of shape it seems. But still. Still! I'm stronger than you! I just need... to work out more." Polarity has disconnected. Rodimus Prime stands up straight as he continues to hold Frenzy in his grip. He holds Frenzy's face close to his and growls out, "Keep dreaming, short stuff." He then smiles. "Now, believe it or not, I'm /not/ going to hold that little... stunt of yours earlier against you. After all, I was still wearing the Autobot symbol then, and I've gotta admit, right now I know /I'd/ enjoy hurting something with that symbol. But..." and he tightens his grip slightly, enough to make it uncomfortable, if not enough to do damage. "I'm a Decepticon now, and I /will/ hold anything you do from this point on against you. And don't expect Soundwave to protect you from your own idoicy." He opens his hand and drops Frenzy. "He's far too smart for that." Hinder has arrived. Galvatron doesn't do much at this point but watch his evil new minion and smirk in satisfaction. Frenzy shrugs the pain off as if it was nothing and eyes the former Bot. "Yeah? Well.. Soundwave makes a better tape keeper than you will ever be, Bot-Con!" He steps back from the new Con, still eyeing him and shocked that Rodimus is part of their ranks now. "Just don't go rocking my boat, bro, or else you'll see a beating!" Rodimus Prime snorts, then shakes his head. "Hell of an imagination you've got, Frenzy." Then he looks at Galvatron. He narrows his optics suspiciously. "So this offer to let me look around... is that just to see how many people are going to attack me before bothering to check the symbol I'm wearing?" He pauses, then cracks his knuckles with a smirk. "Sounds like a good time." He gives his new leader a casual, lazy salute and says, "Don't worry, Boss, I'll make sure not to damage them /too/ badly." And with that, he turns and strides towards the exit. Hinder is standing in the doorway that Rodimus is heading for. The moment she sees him 'barreling' toward her she skitters sideways out of his way. She's now thoroughly confused, and the question foremost in her mind is: That flame design REALLY clashes with purple. Galvatron chuckles jovially. "I always believed that it's best to learn new things the hard way! Hmhahahahahaha! Have fun, Rodimus!" Rodimus, the Boy Prime. But after decades in his position, he is no child. He stands with every bit the confidence and self assurance that his predecessor once had, though that same predecessor would be saddened and horrified to behold the Matrix bearer as he is now. The first thing that catches the attention are the Decepticon-red optics, hellish lights that go disturbingly well with his normal paint job. The purple Decepticon sigil /burned/ slightly crookedly into his chest, meanwhile, clashes quite a bit, but that only serves to make it stand out that much more. Otherwise, his colors are as showy as ever as the youth, Hot Rod's, being dressed up as he is in shades of brilliant red, bright orange, and clear, pure yellow. A flame design adorns his chest, fires to frame the Decepticon sigil. The lines of his face show a maturity that Hot Rod lacked, and his expression is most often stern and thoughtful. The doubts that once haunted the Autobot Prime seem absent in the Decepticon, as he is freed from the burden of constant protection, concern, and compassion. His tone is usually that of certainty, of someone who completely believes everything he says, but despite this, he can move from the formal to the casual with without even a second thought. Of late, however, it has a somewhat cruel edge more often than not, as does his still boyish smile. The more carefree demeanor increases his resemblance to the impetuous boy he once was, but the marked cruelty puts him farther from that youth than he's ever been. The flaming Winnebago, oversized minivan of doom. Just what is Rodimus Prime's alternate mode, anyway? The world may never know. The solution to such mysteries is beyond mortal comprehension. There are a few things that one can be certain of, however. It's big. It's bright red and orange with a sporty yellow flame design and a clashing purple Decepticon symbol displayed proudly on the hood. Wait, Decepticon? Yes, that's right. Look out, world! Rodimus Prime's gone over to the other side! ================================= Decepticon ================================= Message: 2/99 Posted Author Guess Who Signed Up? Thu Jun 03 Galvatron ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Galvatron appears on-screen, looking way too pleased. And behind him, just over his shoulder? Rodimus Prime. With red optics and a Decepticon symbol. And Rodimus is smirking, looking just like your stereotypical Decepticon flunky. "Hello, Decepticons," Galvatron begins. "As some of you may have heard, we've had a recent addition to our ranks! Meet Rodimus Prime! You may remember as the former leader of the Autobots! Well, he's had a change of heart--or rather, had his heart changed for him. But that's ok, he's having a swell time in the Decepticons. So be nice to the new guy--after all, if you don't, he just might rip your head off! Hahahaha!" *blip* ==============================================================================
- Japanese title: "Convoy's Shadow"
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