| abstract
| - The Price of Peace is the Academy campaign in Heroes of Might and Magic IV, and consists of eight scenarios. Emilia Nighthaven is a refugee, first from the Reckoning, then from the warlords that try to grab power in the chaos that followed. Emilia wants to bring order back into her life, and ends up the queen of the nation of Great Arcan. The campaign is narrated by the genie Solmyr. The eight scenarios in order are: 1.
* At the Crossroads 2.
* An Enemy's Trust 3.
* The Servant 4.
* The Rainbow Crystal 5.
* An Unusual Betrayal 6.
* Slave to Fear 7.
* To Slay an Immortal 8.
* The Price of Peace
- Nocturous III This strange world has a rotation on its axle that syncs with its revolution around the tiny star it orbits in such a way that areas only see sunlight for a few days a month. Everywhere else is nearly pitch black. Because of this it is a world that is mostly barren and rocky, with gigantic mushrooms that need not sunlight to grow taking the place of trees. It's inhabitants evolved from mole-like creatures, relying on hearing and tremorsense rather than sight, and massive claws suitable for digging as well as defending themselves against the giant insects that compose most of Noctorous' wildlife. The only real thing of use here is the strange mineral the Nocturians mine that is not known to be found anywhere else in the local galaxy. The Autobot vessel the Sarikus hums serenely through deep space, on its way toward a dark star system with a single planet orbiting a single, tiny sun. Several decacycles ago a group of field operatives had been sent to this world, Nocturous III, to run some recon and search for any potentially useful resources. Then, just a few megacycles ago, Intelligence had lost communication with the team. No S.O.S., no warning. No evidence that something had gone wrong. They had simply disappeared off the radar. So Blurr and Elita One have set out in search of them, because Autobots don't leave their teammates behind. At least, not usually. Not much is known about this planet...well, that was kind of why the recon had been deployed there in the first place. Blurr maneuvers the ship into orbit, examining the readouts on the various displays. It's awfully dark everywhere, except for a very small area that happens to be facing the diminuitive star at this very moment. The rest is bathed in blackness. Well, there's light, but the low energy waves are difficult to detect without extremely sensitive equipment. "Maybe the lamps we gave them malfunctioned and they got lost underground or something..." Blurr postulates as they approach the surface. Elita One looks a bit distressed as well. The Military CO taps a few pads on her console, trying to analyze the situation. "Perhaps. I'm more inclined to believe a jamming field. Ever since standard scout teams were given the XR-20 radios, they've had good long-range capability just to stop situations like this." She looks down at her screen, then the planet in the viewscreen itself, "This is quite the odd place. I can manage to register some basic scans, but most of my readings are mixed. Even after calibrating to the magnetic field." She gestures to the planet, "And one source of light on the whole planet. Well, that's where we start, undoubtably, thats where the team went to investigate first." Blast Off has received information that the signals of some missing Decepticon operatives may have been located on a distant planet, Nocturous III, possibly as they pursued some Autobot operatives. Well, distant to *most*... not to a sentient space shuttle. So the CO of Aerospace finds himself on course to the planet now. With him is Arachnae, who has some skills as a medic if such skills will be needed. The flight has been uneventful and rather quiet. Soemtimes the Combaticon plays soft opera music in the background, but he doesn't talk much otherwise. However, Arachnae will now hear his speakers come on, finally. <> That's when his sensors pick up... an Autobot ship? He runs scans, informing Nae, <> Vents huff throughout the shuttle. <> With a disdainful shrug, Blast Off transforms into a space shuttle. Arachnae was peacefully running through a treatise on neurolinguistical pathways, me's and some big raven when Blast off kindly reminds her to strap in. She reaches down, locks herself in and changes the page. "Thank you, Blast Off." A brow lifts as he lists who he picks up on sensors, "Well, we're not here to pick a fight, are we? Just research and retrieval, correct?" The data pad is tucked away, her visor pulled down over her optics, glinting gold. "Yeah, guess it's our best bet." Blurr nods. "Though the spot with the light on it has got to have changed since then--who knows, can't find any information in the database on the orbital periods." he grumbles. Which probably means the information just doesn't exist. "Well, here goes nothing." he remarks as the ship touches down in the middle of the only 'sunny spot' on the planet. He hits the door controls and they hiss as they slide open. On the way out he grabs a lamp that attaches to the side of his head. It's the size of a pin light, yet is extremely bright, like an LED! Elita One raises her hand, "Easy, Blurr. We still need to take this by the numbers." She exits the ship with her weapon drawn, checking positions as she assesses the initial area. "Until we know better, we have to consider that this planet could be hostile. Being that we've not been shot out of the sky, I'd say not, but safety first." She makes a note that while she and Blurr have been a pretty good team so far, that having both COs together on a mission has GOT to violate some protocol somewhere. Elsewhere, In Autobot City, Ultra Magnus snaps a petropencil at his desk for no reason. Elita One activates her headlights, no jokes please, after the initial lookover, "Places of safety, of supplies. We may have to return to the ship, but at least knowing what the planet is like will help us anticipate where they'd be." Space Shuttle replies to Arachnae, <> The Combaticon sounds in a right sulk, as if still feeling sore about something that happened recently. << If I think I can take a shot, I *will*. However, I am still gathering information and running other scans. The Autofools are heading into a small area with slightly odd readings. The rest of the planet seems rather dull and lifeless, but there are some indications of light sources and possible other signs of activity in one spot. No obvious sign of our operatives yet. Ah- looks like they have landed.>> The shuttle enters the atmosphere, and the ride gets a bit bumpy, but the Combaticon makes it through and lands not too far from the other ship. His cargo bay door opens. <> Arachnae holds on for the ride down, "Mission is to get the operatives, might I suggest we hold off on shooting? If you get damaged, how are you going to get home?" Faint smile while she waits for the landing. Unstrapping herself, she flexes wings while standing. "I'll step up the sensory kit then." Optics shift hues slightly, a golden-green shade now as she walks down the ramp. The land on the surface is barren and rocky, with giant mushroom-looking things instead of trees or bushes. They're all different sizes, with some the height of Bumblebee and others as big as Superion. "Yeah..." Blurr draws a weapon, taking a defensive stance as well just in case. "Just because we weren't shot out of the sky doesn't mean they're not hostile. Hostile things that don't have the technology to shoot guns aren't always harmless to us. As far as cover," he gestures toward a cluster of larger mushrooms. "Looks like it'll be fungus this time around...." The courier starts off in a direction, searching for any evidence of trampled undergrowth, footprints, or anything indicating Cybertronian presence besides them. He makes his way toward the mushroom grove, then stops, frowning. There's something...off about this place, but he can't quite put a finger on it. In fact, anyone who sets foot outside will start to feel strange. Is it something in the air? There are certainly some strange readouts on the comm frequencies, but without an expert like Hubcap or Blaster, either party would be hard-pressed to figure out what it all meant. Elita One investigates one of the larger mushrooms, putting her hand upon it. "No give...." She gives it an experimental hard tap with her fist, with little result, "I did trade with an organic planet once, they actually built their ships out of things reminiscent to earth trees, entire ships. Wouldn't be surprised if this planet could do the same, that fungus must be about as tough as me." That's not saying mulch. She squints as she adjusts a bit more for the darkness, cycling on her best nightoptics, like she'd do for the Cybertronian underground, then judges another mushroom's height, and leaps up to stand atop it. "No signs of anything. I could send up a few flares, but not until we know the area better. I wouldn't want to offend any locals by...shedding light in their area." Arcee has remained back in the shuttle, trying to monitor and record the extremely unusual readings. She can't figure them out, but she's keeping a record for someone who will be able to decipher them, hopefully. As she finishes up, she gives Blurr a call. "<< Everything all right out there? I've taken some sample readings for Science, now I think I'm coming out to have a look. >>" Space Shuttle doesn't really care.... he is furious with Blurr, and revenge is on his mind. But he wouldn't want to seem ruled by his passions. <> Of course, whether that's true or not- Elita certainly can, but... <> And he will be *sure* to find a way to make that happen.... The Combaticon transforms, then brings out a light that he'll hold for Arachnae and himself. It is a special light, basically a Cybertronian version of an infrared light. It's something he carries as a sniper, when he wants to move around in the darkness without making himself totally obvious. The Bots might possibly pick it up, but they'd have to be scanning for it behind them. It casts the already odd scene in an eerie red glow. "I will caution you again..." he comments, looking around him at the mushrooms with some concern, "This planet... is odd. I have been to countless planets, from one end of the galaxy to the next and..." He pauses, "I am picking up readings even *I* do not understand. That is... /not/ a good thing." Indeed, he is starting to feel a little strange. And yet, his desire for revenge on Blurr keeps him going... Blast Off shifts into his battle-ready robot mode. Arachnae shakes her head, optics dimming as she adjusts their sensitivity among other adjustments. "Rather retrieve and depart, Blast Off." She reiterates, shifting wings around before locking them into place. "It is odd, yes." peering about only to step closer to Blast Off after he transforms and pulling out a medical scanner, flipping it to passive scan. "New readings are a wonderful thing honestly. Means something to research, discover and see if there is a use for it." The planet is indeed odd. The longer one stays outside, the the stronger that strange feeling gets...it's actually rather disorienting. There's a slight pause before Blurr responds to Arcee. << Uhm...yeah, I guess everything's fine. No hostiles yet. Just a bunch of fungus.>> He sounds oddly apprehensive, though he continues into the mushroom-forest thing, and stops near a cluster of taller fungii. There's an area underneath them where it looks like someone cleared the underbrush away, and some of the smaller growths had been knocked over or cut away. <> It turns out that, for the Monsterbot Repugnus, forests, even of the mushroom variety, are one of his favorite things. The why of it should be obvious--restricted visibility helps compensate for his lack of stealth capabilities and allows him to creep up on Decepticons. He really loves dark forests like this one, since not only can he see just fine, his imminent victims can't. Blast Off and Arachnae are, in fact, being stalked by Repugnus even now. Silently, he is creeping through the forest, using his X-Ray vision and olfactory sensors to track their every move. His claws twitch as they pick up something weird, but he dismisses it as probably just being some kinda harmless spore, and he continues his silent pursuit, pondering what one-liner he'll use before he guts one of them... Arcee secures the ship, then takes more readings as she heads out to catch up with the rest of the party. "<< Negative, just all kinds of readings that don't make much sense. >>" She heads in toward the towering mushrooms, and feels a bit like that girl from the Lewis Carroll book, young Alice. (Curiouser and curiouser...) Blast Off nods to Arachnae, "That is true. However... /new/ readings on a planet where field operatives have already likely disappeared sound like either a trap, a containment field, a time-space anomaly, or some other such trouble. I've seen it *all*. Except... not this. Thus, like I said, exercise caution." The shuttleformer is supremely confident in his knowledge and experience as a well-traveled space shuttle... and NOT having a clue about something is unsettling. In fact, that unsettled feeling seems to be permeating everything, even his processor. He shakes his head, trying to clear it. He almost wonders if they should turn around and fly up again for some more scans.... but his desire to sneak up on Blurr- nor allow him to be the first to reach the operatives- still manages to keep him going. He continues to shine the infrared light for Arcahnae and himself, unaware of Repugnus... for now. He does pick up Arcee, however, and this just reenforces his desire to use caution. How many more Bots are there, anyway? Combat: Blast Off sets his defense level to Protected. Arachnae is, at core, a lab researcher. At least at this point in her recovery. So it is with the unfettered wonder of the universe that she gazes about, content to find something that Blast Off has not encountered. "It sounds like fun to me." She taps her scanner, then her visor, sensory systems on high, infrared. ultraviolet, molecular sensitivity, sound. "Probably should take some samples back too." she murmurs absently. <> Blurr starts to answer Arcee, but finds himself trailing off. << Isn't Repugnus supposed be around here somewhere? I know he volunteered for this...I remember letting recruit himself for-->> Now what the slag is wrong with the comms? There's some kind of strange signal humming in the background. It's not preventing communications...but...he's not exactly sure what it's doing. The same is happening to the Decepticons. There's definitely a very strange signal on the comms, unlike anything anyone has seen before, and it's getting stronger and stronger the farther they venture into the fungii forest. Oh, and it's getting darker and darker as well, since the area lighted by the small star is quite limited. Arcee frowns at her radio, as Blurr's voice cuts out and is replaced by some weird sound. "...Great," she grumbles, feeling slightly less safe the deeper she wanders into this fungal forest. She continues on in the hopes of catching up eventually, because remaining in one place is definitely OUT at this point. She draws her pistol and keeps it ready. Repugnus, if he could hear Blast Off's thoughts, would say, "You only need to worry about ONE Autobot!" but, fortunately, he's not a mind reader, else EVERYONE'S lives would be much much worse. He has no plans of contacting the other Autobots--they might try to spoil his kill, after all, but he listens to their common frequency all the same. Still... he is worried at the fact there's nothing but this weird... static? Or whatever it is. Well, they'd just yammer and distract him anyway. Repugnus twists and flips around into his horrific creature mode! Blast Off blinks and looks at Arachnae. "Fun?" The Combaticon gazes at her a moment. There was a time, /very/ long ago when he was just an enthusiastic space explorer, when he would probably have thought this was more "fun" too.... well, at least more fun than he is finding this now. But he's learned through /multiple/ degrees in the School of Hard Knocks to be far more cautious. And this weird signal on the comms is not helping him feel any more optimistic. "I... fun isn't the word I'd use. But- well, yes, obtaining samples would be good. First... we need to keep up with those Autofools." He continues after them, feeling more odd all the time. Arachnae smiles at Blast Off, the expression slightly lopsided. "Yes, fun." She pans the scanner around, following Blast Off closely. The smile fades as she picks up on the realization that she's feeling odd. More odd than her usual level of not sure when I am, or who some cycles, but a general malaise. "Hey... You feeling ok?" Panning the scanner over herself. Speaking of finding those 'Autofools', a few moments later Blast Off will be able to catch a glimpse of bright blue on his infared. Yep...it's Blurr, all right. Yet the courier looks...panicked? Running in circles around a strangely-shaped rock. Additionally, he isn't responding to his comm at all, either... Bug Creature continues to silently pursue his quarry. He also is beginning to somewhat odd, and considers breaking off the chase, the anticipation of the kill is too much and he ignores the feeling. Taking a moment to halt as Arachnae sweeps a scanner over herself--hopefully she didn't spot him--he resumes the pursuit. Hm, what's that up ahead, he wonders? Is that Blurr running around a rock of some kind? Nuts, he was hoping he could keep the other bots out of this--he took his sweet time and it cost him. It occurs to Arcee that perhaps she'll be able to find the others better if she climbs to the top of the mushroom 'canopy', and gets a birds-eye view of the area. So she begins climbing a suitably sturdy-looking stalk, and begins ascending. When she's a little over halfway up, she begins hearing a voice she hasn't heard in a very, very long time, calling her from above. "Well, come on, I've been waiting for you..." Arcee can hardly believe it. She would know that voice anywhere -- it's her mentor from Tyger Pax, from when she was very young! It CAN'T be, but she KNOWS it's him. Excitedly, she climbs up the rest of the way to join him. Blast Off glances at Arachnae. Hmmm, so it's not just him? In that case... "I... have felt better. You are feeling oddly, too, then?" He stops and reconsiders their options. Engaging Blurr and the others if they are both already compromised and in a very unfamiliar setting would not be the wisest choice. Blast Off wants revenge... but he's not stupid, either. Still... there's their mission to consider... Then, just as he is almost ready to tell Arachnae to turn back... Blurr comes running into view! The Combaticon blinks, then brings out his ionic blaster. He waves to her, "You stay here... I have a score to settle." The Combaticon stalks his prey, coming closer and closer, weapon drawn and ready to fire. Ha, looks like that fool is panicked about something, too. Well, Blast Off will soon give him a REAL reason for panic, alright... He aims his weapon, still feeling odd.... but not enough to interfere with his aim, surely. But the feeling of unease keeps gnawing at him, and Blurr's odd behavior is...unsettling? Pfft, it's probably just a trick anyway. He steps out to take his shot, his weapon following Blurr- or trying to. But he's just uneasy/weird/odd-feeling enough not to fire- not yet. Finally, he just looks annoyed. "What the *slag* is your /problem/?" Blurr suddenly stops his pacing when he hears someone addressing him. Apparently he has a problem? Wait, does he have a gun pointed at him? His optics widen and he raises his hands defensively. Not that whoever this is could shoot him anyway--he's way too fast. "What's MY problem? You're the one pointing a gun at me, pal!" he exclaims. "I-I swear whatever it was I didn't mean it!" Meanwhile, when Arcee reaches the top of the giant fungus, it isn't her mentor from Tyger Pax waiting for her but a giant alien that looks like a mole-bat hybrid. A creature of the dark. Screeching at her, it opens its jaws wide to reveal rows of pointed canines before diving at her with its claws outstretched! Arcee gasps -- what a terrible discovery! But she's only momentarily fazed -- she always has been a brave one. "If that was you trying to cherry-pick through my memory banks, that was *very* *rude*," she says sternly to the monstrous thing, as she levels her pistol at it and begins shooting. But it isn't so easy. She's trying to dodge those jaws. AND she's trying to target the thing...AND she's trying to balance on a giant mushroom cap. Something's gonna give. Bug Creature decides that the time for stealth is over, and so he just runs right up to Blast Off, talons extended. He has the perfect one-liner too, and Grotusque would love it--only when it comes time to strike, he halts in his tracks, just an arm's length away from Blast Off, his claws raised up. He looks around uncertainly. Was he... going to say something? Blast Off frowns under his faceplate at Blurr's response. "Oh, /please/, Blurr. Do you really think I'm *that* stupid? This is a trick... one of your never-ending tricks. Thing is, even tricksters eventually get caught. And I *owe* you, Blurr. I owe you BIG. And I intend to pay it...." The sound of Arcee's gunfire distracts him momentarily, and he glances away. That's when he sees Repugnus come out of nowhere- only to freeze close by. He whips his blaster around to the bug creature in alarm. "Speaking of which, what the slag is *your* problem?" Blurr jumps back, startled upon Repugnus' appearance. "Ahhhh!" he exclaims. "Ugh, this place doesn't know when to stop with the monstrosities!" He backs away, cowering behind the rocky formation. Please just let this be some horrible stasis dream..." he mutters, completely ignoring Blast Off for the time being. Meanwhile, the big mole-bat thing swipes its claws at Arcee, and if she isn't on her toes she's likely to get knocked off of the mushroom and sent tumbling back to the ground. Arcee is able to target really well, and she's able to evade well. But that comes at the cost of watching her step. As she dodges the swipe, she plummets toward the ground. Her only chance is if Blurr happens to be nearby...and with the ground approaching at the rate of terminal velocity, she decides to make a lot of noise in the hopes he is. Because otherwise, this isn't going to be a good time. "Aaaahhhh!!! Help!!!" Bug Creature sputters at Blast Off, "Problem? I don't have a problem! I was just... I was just walking by... I think!" For such an ugly creature, he looks really bewildered. "Just don't shoot me, okay? I don't even know how I got here and--" Blurr yells something about monstrosities, and Repugnus spins around, looking behind himself. "Monstrosities!? Where!?" Blast Off blinks in growing confusion. "What the /slag/?..." He shakes his head, still trying to clear it, but.... there's a growing "fog". His weapon is slowly lowered as the Combaticon finally steps back, muttering, "M...My goodness. Such...language. Pardon me, I don't know what came over me. I... am not usually so... coarse." He glances over as Arcee suddenly yells for help, but he is still mired to the spot by confusion. Then he seems to notice something, and begins staring at his hands, then arms, in a look of complete bewilderment. And stands there in silence, looking horrifed about what he sees. So the monstrous-looking thing talked. And it sounded...not scary. Blurr vents a sigh of relief. "Phew, sorry about that, mech! I thought...I thought you were a monster or something. Looked like it for an astrosecond there. Maybe you ought to consider getting your alt mode a makeover or something?" Suddenly, there's a feminine-sounding scream coming from nearby. The courier is immediately on it, and he hurries over to Arcee, though he doesn't seem to remember who she is. "Oh, are you all right, miss?" he asks urgently. The creature that had attacked her is nowhere in sight--at least for now. "You...." he frowns. "You wouldn't happen to know where we are, would you?" he inquires of anyone else present, glancing quickly at each of the others in turn. ELSEWHERE A dark figure observes our heroes' behavior from a lab, watching the four little figures on a holodisplay with a nod of satisfaction. "Excllent. Once again we add more to our numbers..." Bug Creature , seeing nothing, assumes that the blue bot flipped out over nothing, which the bot himself seems to confirm. "Huh? Makeover? I've always looked like this." He then returns his attention to Blast Off. "Heh, well, uh, it's alright, it's okay if we say something bad every now and then, right? Uh, do you know where this is, by the way? Oh, and, sorry, I didn't get your name. Me, I'm..." He pauses, bulbous optics squinting. "I'm... huh. I'm not sure!" He sees Arcee falling, and (finally) begins to run to her help, claws upraised as if to catch her with them. "I'll help you! Wait--" He stares at his claws. "What happened to my hands!?" Arcee gets caught by Blurr at the last possible microsecond, and she feels relief -- until she gets the strange impression that he doesn't know who she is. Amnesia? Maybe that buzzing sound over the comms was related. "Thanks! -- Hey, are you okay?? You don't seem okay to me." Blast Off doesn't even seem to hear anyone for awhile. He's too busy still staring at his hands in horror, then arms... then any part of his body he can see. Everything he sees just adds to the bewilderment and horror. "What...what IS this? What happened to my BODY? Everything is... is different. EVERYTHING!" The Combaticon stumbles backwards in abject horror, too wrapped up in his own terror to really respond to anything said to him. Then he does remember the others, and looks up at them in a panic. "DO you know what happened? What happened to my BODY?!?! What is this... this... crude carcass I'm in!?!?" The shuttle looks like he might hyperventilate for a minute, before finally taking a deep huff, in an attempt to calm down. "I.... sorry...I... what were you saying? But seriously.... what happened to me? Please... I /must/ know." By the time Arcee's made a safe landing and has time to assess who's around her...she's completely forgotten who these mechs are. They LOOK familiar to her -- especially the one who caught her, didn't she just remember who he was?? -- But now, she's just confused. Repugnus is quite the sight, and she's pretty sure she's never seen anything like THAT before -- but he seems as confused as the rest of them. Even Blast Off isn't familiar to her. "Now...I think...something's unusual here, and we really need to cooperate to get out of this place," she says, trying to maintain some sense of calm when nothing looks remotely familiar. Elita One says, "Orion!?" A rather frantic looking Ariel appears from the darkness, hunched over slightly. She startles at the combined group of Cybertronians, "Oh! Thank the makers, other people! I...I don't know where I am." She absently runs a hand back over where her ponytail would be, then looks at her hand in confusion, "I don't know what's going on. I was working on the docks and then...then it got dark, and I can't find Dion or Orion anywhere." Totally antsy and unlike her current self, Ariel fidgets as she looks around." Blurr watches poor Blast Off as he falls into a kind of panic. Well more of a panic than he himself is in, anyway. He even kind of feels sorry for the mech. "I..." he rubs the back of his neck, trying to hide how rattled he is right now, not knowing where in the galaxy he is or who any of these other people are. "Uh, look pal. I'm sorry but I think the rest of us are just as lost as you are. I've never seen you before in my life so I'm afraid I can't help you when it comes to what happened to your uh, body..." Bug Creature yells at Blast Off, waving around his stubby scythe arms, "Well, you think you look weird? Look at me! My arms are all wrong! There's... there's these *blades* and I'm supposed to have HANDS! Hands! Where are my hands!?" He hunches over, shuddering. "Nngh... can't... can't transform... why can't I change to my vehicle mode? What the hell happened to me?" He stares at Arcee, perplexed. "Get out of here? Okay, but where is 'here'? And--AHHH!" He jumps as a strange and possibly dangerous female approaches! Blast Off continues staring at everyone, then looking back at this strange and unfamiliar body he's on, then staring at everyone. But they *seem* as confused as he is. And the monster-bot said something about his... hands? And seems quite agitiated as well... "You- your hands and arms are strange to you as well, then? Then... I'm not the only one finding things..." He looks around at himself again, "...strange and unfamiliar?" Arcee speaks, and "Ariel" comes walking up, and the Combaticon blinks. "Yes... there is something... odd going on. So- *none* of us knows how we got here, or why some of us are... different than we should be?" He looks at Blurr, not a trace of hostility showing, just confusion. "Yes... yes, my aplogies for my... unseemly outburst. I was just... confused. Wait!" His violet optics light up in a new panic, and he steps back to give himself some room. "I need to check something first." With that, he transforms into a shuttle, right there- growing much larger than he was. "What...what IS this? Does anyone recognize this type of ship?" he runs some scans, then there is a sigh of great relief. "Oh, /thank Primus!!!/... I'm still a /space craft/, at least. Just a very.... primitive one?" He then transforms back into his much smaller form, now looking back up at most of the others. "So... how do we find out what happened, then?" Ariel puts a hand to her face , "I don't feel that different..." She steps forwards into the group. "My name is Ariel...and..." Blast Off surprises her with his transformation, causing her to take a step back in shock. "Wait...you look like..." The OTHER pink Femme, in a dainty step or two no less, approaches Blast Off, and points at him. "Look! You can fly...and this symbol. That means you must be a Decepticon! We're saved!" She turns to the others to explain, her palms out, "Orion and Dion were talking about new flying robots, so that's what we have here. Maybe...maybe we flew here with you." She puts a finger to her lips in thought. Arcee has some sort of inexplicable feeling triggered when she spots Elita/Ariel. It isn't a feeling of recognition, but perhaps kinship...? She isn't quite sure what it means. She glances down at herself, only recognizing minor differences, if any, to her own form. Then, she looks over toward the other femme. Perhaps they're sisters! But if they *were*, then wouldn't they *know* that?? Such confusion! "Well...I'm not even sure how we got here. But here's my idea," Arcee says pensively, glancing over toward Repugnus. "We should travel in one direction until we're out of this place. Something about this...strange forest...is making things MORE confusing. We need landmarks. We need to get oriented to something outside of here." And then a very lost and confused looking minibot wanders into the discombobulated group of mechs, looking perhaps the most bewildered out of all of them. "Oh dear," Tailgate announces, "this doesn't look like the scrapyard." His wide optics survey the others curiously. "I think I've wandered off my turf," he squeaks in a frightened voice, more to himself than to anyone else. Bug Creature stares at Blast Off. "Decepticon? They can fly? Like THAT? I don't know, no offense, but I don't know how you could reach escape velocity designed that way! Anyway, you're right, uh, lady, let's get out of this forest at least..." Blurr nods at the others' suggestions, looking pensive, and trying his best to look much calmer than he actually is. "Okay...okay...so, something weird must have happened." he watches with a degree of relief as Blast Off reveals that he is a space-worthy vessel. "Alright, so, at least we have a way off of this planet once we figure out where to go. But I have a feeling in my circuits that we came here for a reason. Maybe we time traveled or something, but something affected our memory banks? Or...yeah, we should...we should get out of this wilderness and find someone who has a better idea of what's going on..." He transforms then, and starts off through the strange fungal growths, choosing a random direction. He hasn't gone far though, before he stops. "Huh, it looks like someone else was here before us..." Blast Off listens to "Ariel", then glances at the Decepticon symbol on his chest in root mode. "A what? Oh! This?" He blinks, still confused. Then he looks up at the others- they all seem to have a different symbol than he does. "Yours are different. I wonder why?" He ponders that, then nods to the rest of Ariel's comments. "Ah! that could be! I am a *space craft*, after all, and... do any of YOU fly? You don't look like you can... so *I* have a special designation, /naturally/!" Some of Blast Off's snobbery comes through as he nods to himself, though it's not quite as haughty as usual. "Though *I* have been flying as long as I can remember. I'm a space explorer. I chart galaxies and resources for Cybertron. So... perhaps you are all scientists who came with me to study this new place? And then something happened to affect our short-term memories here?" He glances at Repugnus, but can't really argue with him. "I... I'm not sure, either. It is QUITE crude, I have to say. I can't *wait* to get back to my usual form! But my scans indicate I CAN travel through space- and in fact have quite recently." He nods to Blurr, then follows him- might as well. They're not going to learn much more just standing there. "Oh? What did you find?" Ariel looks towards Arcee, "Hey, you look familiar! I think I remember you at least. Didn't you work down on the energon refining plant over in sector 7-G?" She nods at Arcee's thoughts, "I think that's a good idea, we need to stay together and....get to high ground to look around?" Her optics blink at Blurr, "Time travel, that's not possible...wait, you're that rookie that won the Ibex Grand Prix..." She points towards Blurr, "Dion was talking about how he met you...sorta. Says you gave him the wrong contact frequency." She looks on as Blast Off and Blurr start to mosey on, and joins them. Bug Creature , purely by accident, discovers that he has X-Ray vision in this mode, and, thinking he sees something with it, proceeds to wander off, unused to the vision mode and thus blindly wandering off into the forest! "You seem to remember a lot more," Arcee says, tilting her head toward Ariel. "Are we sisters?? Because I feel like I know you, moreso than the others here. I don't think I've ever worked in a plant...umm...but I *could* be wrong." Blast Off gets a curious look. "I know for a fact that I can't fly. I mean, I definitely can't fly at all," she comments. She gives something of an exasperated sigh as Blurr's already headed through the woods. "Will you wait up??" she calls after him. Not entirely sure what exactly is happening, Tailgate simply watches quietly while the others discuss a plan of action. If they were here for something, what is it, he doesn't know any of these strange bots or how he even happened upon this place. But the minibot has decided silently that whatever they do, he's going to do it with them, because being with strangers is better than being alone. Or is it? He makes optic contact with that guy apparently named Blast Off and stares for a moment. "You look weirdly familiar. Even though I'm pretty sure I've never met or seen you before." "I--there are tracks, here." Blurr notes. "They're Cybertronian but I don't think they're ours. At least, I don't think. Well maybe they are." The racer isn't a detective or anything. He pauses. "But if they are, maybe if we follow them they'll get us some answers." He notices the Monsterbot suddenly wandering off, and shrugs. As if this solar cycle weren't already weird enough. He glances at Ariel. "Dion? Nope, can't say I remember meeting him, but you know how it is, all these people wanting to talk to me every cycle--too hard to keep track of 'em all. Tell him I'm sorry about the wrong hailing frequency, though. Again--lots to keep track of!" Blurr smirks, because of course he gave him the wrong hailing frequency. Can't go around handing his contact information out to just anyone who asks for it. He keeps following the tracks through the forest, which eventually lead them right back to where they had been before... Blast Off looks back at Ariel, then looks closely at Blurr. "Oh... yes, I think you're right. I seem to remember some of my friends in the Elite District are saying that he's the one to bet on from now on. I don't watch many races, just haven't had the time- too busy with space exploration. But it is quite enjoyable to go mingle with the refined mechs on racing day when I can. And then go to the Opera House afterwards, of course. Amazing place..." His reminiscing is interrupted by Tailgate. Blast Off looks down, and ...he doesn't know where Tailgate came from but he's GLAD he's NOT the shortest one here anymore! He straightens up, even more than usual, and replies, "No, I don't think you have. But I am an important mech, being a space explorer. If you're a scientist, that could be why I look familiar. or perhaps you've seen me mingling with the elite of Kaon?" He then continues following after Blurr, because Blurr is 1) actually doing something that might be productive and 2) apparently one of the "important people", so it can't be bad to be seen with such a mech! "Ah, I see! Yes, I think following the tracks are the best bet we have right now." And then... nothing. He sighs. "Well, now what? Does anyone have some sophisticated scanning equipment? Find... some sign of life, or light, here that we can go to, perhaps?" He starts running scans himself, too. His new form may be primitive, but he's still a space craft, with long-range scanners. "Or I could try going up into space and seeing what I can see there?" Ariel looks at the new old place. "I think....we might've just been here?" She snaps her fingers, "I know, I'll use my plasmawelder to scorch a mark in the strange things here to denote our way!" She gestures with her hand, bringing out a PLASMA CANNON instead of her trusty subspace welder. "Whoa, Vector Sigma!" She recoils away from the weapon, actually dropping it. "Look at this...This was supposed to be my welding torch." Like an idiot she looks into the cannon, "What do you think it could be?" "Careful!" Arcee cringes and tries to stop Ariel from making a really bad mistake. "...You know what?" She looks over at Blast Off. "I don't like the idea of all of us splitting up, but this may yield some important answers. Why don't you go see what's above this place?? And..." She glances back over to Ariel, "You and I can try marking a trail through here, I seem to have...this little marker right here," she says, pulling her pistol from subspace with a shrug. "Not sure why. Ariel raises her head to Arcee, then nods after a moment. "I can give it a try. It might be better to get a bit up higher though." She regards one of the large mushroom fungus, then climbs onto one of the smaller ones, in an attempt to scale it She disappears from ground view after a bit, "I'll mark this one." WAH-THUMP!!!" The sound of plasma fire echoes into the night, followed closely by a collapsing fungus top and Ariel falling aft over chassis, an alarmed look on her face. "That's....." She gestures to the cannon at her feet, her optics overcharged, "That.....that is...not...a spot welder." With great caution, she reaches out to touch the cannon, then subspaces it, her body relaxing as she does. "But...well, while I was up there I think I saw something...lights, over that way." She gestures in a direction that means nothing to nobody. Blast Off watches Ariel bring out a... weapon? He tilts his head, then... looks at the ionic blaster he's still holding in his own hand. "Oh... yes. I had THIS drawn out and pointing at something when I came to. I do not know where it came from, either. I carry a few standard-issue side laser cannons for defense while exploring, but have never had need for such a thing as... this. It does look /expensive/, though..." He says approvingly, then hmmms. "I wonder..." He lifts the weapon up and aims at an object quite a distance away. Or at least, to most it would seem far away. To someone used to the distances of space, it doesn't seem that far. He squeezes off a shot, and hits his target dead on. It's actually /quite/ an impressive shot, but... he doesn't seem to know it. He merely nods. "Well, my weapon appears to be working, so if we have need of defense we are not unarmed." He watches Ariel do her thing- and is too polite to comment. To Arcee, he considers... and then nods. "Very well. I shall return shortly." He gives her his radio frequency, the walks a distance away and transforms again. "Be careful- I don't know what will happen....." Engines roar and thrusters engage, and icy white smoke billows out, creating a flood of "fog" through the mushroom forest. With a massive ROAR, Blast Off- blasts off- into the sky. Soon, Arcee will recieve a radio tranmission, <> Tailgate nods, studying Blast Off. "I frequent Kaon often, maybe I've seen you there." Then he frowns. "But I'm pretty sure I've never met or seen you. Not sure why, but somehow, I feel like you're familiar." Then the sound of the plasma cannon startles the minibot and he jumps. Then he looks relieved. "Oh, well, at least a couple of us are armed in case anything decides to take advantage of us." He pauses. "So... I'm guessing we all don't know where we are." Then he deadpans at Blurr, amazed. "Whoa, aren't you really famous or something? How'd you end up in this weird forest??" "Ughughugh...ughwe'regoingincirclesaren'twe?!" Blurr mutters. Yeah, he had to train himself to talk normally. He didn't used to be as good at it as he is now. But he always has to, whenever he's in front of people, which is a lot, so he had to get the hang of it quickly. Still, this is a rather disconcerting situation. The racer peers down at a very small mech who is kind of fanboying over him. Well THAT, at least he's accustomed to. "I am, yeah, and just like the rest of us I have -no- idea how I got here." Okay, okay...have to remain CALM. Can't lose his bolts in front of these people, even if it's on some isolated planet with no media mechs around. He stares at the plasma cannon, just as bewildered as Ariel is. "Well that sure is no phosphex welder...is it...is it a gun? Some of the vids from Kaon have those in 'em." his optics widen. "Wait, have you been down in those pits?" She certainly didn't look like the type. Well this has been a very weird day, obviously. He brushes the thought away and nods. "Yeah, that sounds like a plan. Get up there, see what you can see..." he frowns. Wait, there was something on the ground near that cluster of tall fungii. He walks over and picks up a datapad he'd actually dropped earlier, dusting some of the dirt off of it. "A city, huh? Well...apparently this is mine. And according to what I wrote here, we were looking for some people. 'Field operatives'? Anyone know what that means?" Arcee chuckles, looking amused as Ariel gets kicked to the ground from her own weapon's kickback. "Not a spot welder, no. But there must be a good reason why we're all packing such weaponry. I suppose it's for our own safety." She listens to the radio report she receives from Blast Off, then glances over towards the others. "The shuttle mech says he *can* see a city outside of this forest! Maybe we should go there and get some answers -- how about it??" Ariel shakes her head, "No... no I just work at the docks, offloading Energon from upstream in Vos. I don't know what's going on." She puts her hands on her head, visibly shaken, "I need to get out of here!" The Femme wails before emotionally taking a moment to recover, "Yes...let's go to a city. Maybe Orion's there." She starts the long trudge.... Blast Off returns, flying towards the others, then heading towards where he saw the city lights. He transforms and lands near the city. <> While he waits for the others, he scans the city as best he can, trying to ascertain the situation. "Primus, a good reason! I guess that means that whatever we came here for, we were all prepared to run into serious trouble," Tailgate comments, as he draws his own blaster from his subspace compartment with wide optics. The minibot tilts his helm at Blurr. "You mean, you haven't been?" He frowns. "Well, I guess it isn't as popular as I thought. I work at a scrapyard--and the pits are kinda where all of our scraps come from.." Then he shrugs. "Beats me. Sounds like something some person in the military might know about." The minibot trails after the others with a sigh. "Yes.. A city sounds good. Oh! Maybe some people there can tell us more about.. well.. us." Arcee very carefully makes her way through the fungal undergrowth, trying to follow Blast Off's signal as best she can. She remains close to Ariel. "...So I guess we're not sisters, huh," she guesses. "Because I think we might remember something like that. If nothing else." Ariel says quietly in response, "I remember a lot, just...not what I am doing here. But we do share a similar make and model." Her words seem tinged with disappointment perhaps, "I wouldn't be surprised if we do have the same parts." She knows better, that's one thing she knows for sure, that while she feels there is something between her and Arcee. A friendship? Perhaps. Something. For some reason Ariel just couldn't bring herself to say anything other than 'possibly.' Ariel says quietly in response, "I remember a lot, just...not what I am doing here. But we do share a similar make and model." Her words seem tinged with disappointment perhaps, "I wouldn't be surprised if we do have the same parts." She knows better, that's one thing she knows for sure, that while she feels there is something between her and Arcee. A friendship? Perhaps. Something. For some reason Ariel just couldn't bring herself to say anything other than 'possibly.' Well Blast Off's scans would reveal that it is a fairly small city--there aren't too many mechs around, but it actually seems rather utopian. Everyone looks happy, frequenting the streets and going about their daily lives as if nothing were amiss at all, and the city wasn't the only populated area on an extremely dark and hostile planet. It isn't long before the fungal forest finally thins out and the rest of them also arrive on the outskirts of the settlement. Strange, there are no guards or any defenses at all, it seems, just shields to keep the wildlife out. There are, however, greeters standing at the doors nearest them. One of them immediately spots them and hurries over, all smiles. "Oh, look! Newcomers! Welcome to New Crystal City, friends." The mech is actually rather large and bulky, like one of the bruisers from the pits of Kaon, yet doesn't have any weaponry. Though it looks like he probably did at one point in time. He starts to usher them towards the entrance. "So, what brings you all here?" Blurr shakes his head at Tailgate as they approach. "Nope, and I wouldn't want to, either. It sounds terrible." Wait, he was a scrapyard mech? Then why was he wearing an Autobot badge like the security mechs? Huh. At any rate, when the larger mech approaches them, he shrugs at his question. "We honestly don't know. We just...suddenly found ourselves on this weird planet. We thought we might've come here for a reason. And we were hoping that maybe someone here could give us the answers we're looking for?" Once they reach the gates to New Crystal City, Arcee finally notices the new addition to the party. She hadn't noticed Tailgate, maybe because he was so small in that huge forest, and she was up front 'marking' fungal stalks with her pistol and talking to Ariel. She smiles at the unfamiliar minibot, patting him on the shoulder. In response to Blurr, the minibot replies, "Yeah, you probably don't want to..." his optics dim a little bit. ".... New Crystal City, huh," Tailgate muses. "Wow, this seems my kind of place, how come everyone is so happy?" Although to whom he is directing this question at remains a mystery. When Arcee pats him on the shoulder, he jumps a little. "Oh," he says in a small voice. "...hello..." Blast Off flies down to the others as they arrive. Well, flies- and hovers for a moment. It just seems so *natural* to him to be looking down on others, for some reason..... Perhaps he's even showing off just a bit. But eventually he lands on the ground, where he's back to be shorter than most- which is really annoying... he's usually fairly tall, being a spacecraft. But at least Tailgate's shorter than he is. Heh. As the unfamiliar (well- isn't everyone?) guards come up, Blast Off listens, and nods to Blurr's question, waiting for their response. "Were you expecting a science delegation or something? Or... did we just land here by accident?" "We could use some medical assistance, as our memories have been...affected in some ways, we can't quite remember how we got here," Arcee admits, glancing down to Tailgate and giving him a kind smile. Such a cute little mech, and she can't even remember who HE is, either. The greeter shakes his head. "No, we weren't expecting anyone, but we never are. People just show up and join us." he smiles again. "I've been here for as long as I can remember..." He has a sort of empty look on his face for a moment. "I guess it's kind of a safe haven for 'Bots who have lost their way. Or who are looking for a new start in life. At any rate, the 'lost their way' part sounds a lot like you guys, so why don't you come on in? We'll get you to some medics then, and see if they can't help ya." He starts into the city itself, gesturing for them to follow. Blurr watches him tentatively for a moment, but then follows. Not really much else in the way of options, are there? Besides, you know, the dark and confusing forest of fungus. The minibot's optics widen and he stares at the greeter, looking unnerved. He hurries after Blurr, but he seems even more wary than the speedster. "Blurr..." he says quietly, "whatever you do, don't trust him. There's something very wrong with him--well, not just him, this whole place..." He glances over at Arcee, his expression worried. Arcee follows along somewhat hesitantly. She feels like she's being herded into some sort of trap. For the time being, she's glad that she has a weapon in case this DOES turn out to be a trap. Blast Off listens to the guard, but doesn't like the empty look he has on his face for a moment there. Maybe he's affected by whatever affected them, too? But the Combaticon has no alternatives in mind , so he simply nods and accepts this at face value- for now. But he's never been one to blindly accept someone else's authority, so he remains alert- and he still holds his blaster. He notices Tailgate's unease, though he doesn't overhear the whispered concern. He radios the others again, << I can fly out of here in a moment's notice if I need to, and try to get help, or find other options. I suggest we remain alert. The propensity for mechs to simply "show up and join us"... and no one remembers why... is odd." And look who it is! It's that guy who's a monster robot of some kind, running in from a side street. "Hey, guys! Ah, hahaha, sorry, had my... X-Ray vision?... Yeah, X-Ray vision on and I got completely confused. Being able to see through everything isn't as great as it sounds." He looks around. "Uh. What's going on?" Blurr shrugs at Tailgate's unease. "Maybe, but we don't exactly have a choice...unless you want to go back to wandering around in that fungii forest. I mean, maybe their medics can get us our memories back--it's really the only chance we've got right now." The bulky mech leads them to a medical facility that is not unlike your typical Iaconian clinic. The doors slide open to reveal a crowded waiting room, filled with Bots who all look just as lost and confused as our heroes do. Their 'guide' smiles. "Here we are, busy day it seems! But that's fairly typical--it's a pretty tough terrain out there!" "Yeah, you've got that part right. Definitely dark out there." Blurr comments, then turns to the Monsterbot as he suddenly returns to the group. "Oh, there you are. The medics at this facility might be able to restore our memories, though it looks like we've got a quite a few people ahead of us." Ugh...waiting. One of those things Blurr hates. He sighs. "I guess we don't have much of a choice in this, anyway..." he mutters, and starts toward the door. Arcee gasps. "What in the name of...!" Arcee follows the group inside, and grows immediately suspicious when she sees the long wait they have ahead of them. "Okay. This makes *zero* sense. If they've been here this whole time, then how could they have *this many* mechs affected...and with no real answers. We're geting led," she says in hushed tones to the others. "This is all some kind of big set-up. Why else would it be like this??" Blast Off radios the others again at Arcee's comment, <> Sigh. Why does no one listen to him? He looks to Repugnus. "We are trying to find out what is going on." There's a pause. "So... you were saying some of your body parts have been changed as well? I wonder why that would happen to us, but not the others? An accident, perhaps? Perhaps I was flying you all through something and experienced massive damage- and this old husk was the best you could do? Perhaps you were damaged trying to help me?" He radios again, <> Bug Creature looks anxious for a moment, which looks pretty damn weird on his hideous bug face. "Memories? They could be restored?... Well... what if we don't like the memories we don't get back?..." He shuffles pensively, then says, "Yeah, I'm with uh--" His gaze sweeps to Arcee. "--you. We shouldn't seek help from these people." After considering what Blast Off said for a moment, he says, "Okay, so I was damaged. But why, then, rebuild me as... this? I mean, was it a joke? Seriously, I've never killed anybody in my life. What am I going to do with these little stabby hands?" Blurr shrugs and sighs as he makes his way inside and stands in the line of mechs. "Well...anyone have a better plan?" he glances at Blast Off. "I guess you could go back into orbit and have another look, but did you see anything else besides this place from up there?" The group files inside, but as little Tailgate follows, -someone- sneaks up behind him and grabs him, snatching him away from the group and pulling him into an alley on the west side of the facility. Why Tailgate? Well, he's so small that surely no one will notice... "No, no listen. It's time to shake up the status quo. We're not going to harm anyone, but we've GOT to be serious and mean business about getting answers, or we're going to be waiting in this hallway for breems," Arcee says. "...Let's cut the line." Blast Off also looks at Blurr. "I didn't see much else, no. Though I didn't spend a lot of time up there, obviously. It *might* be helpful to conduct a little further scanning." Plus he is, for some reason, just itching to fly... get out of cramped quarters. He does ask, "I did mean to ask, if we came here as a scientific expedition, then why are YOU here?" He ponders a moment. "You are a celebrity... perhaps it's one of those deals where a celebrity comes on a trip to either showcase how "exciting science can be" for the masses... perhaps you were sponsored by someone?.../or/... we were going to meet a population of... racing fans?" He blinks at Repugnus. "I....I have no idea. Perhaps it was all that was available at the time, much like the crude carcass I seem to have found myself placed in? This would indicate something happened recently, however." Blast Off doesn't notice Tailgate going missing... at least not yet. Arcee's suggestion gets a smirk- well, under his faceplate, at least. "Heh, why not? Why should we have to wait, anyway?" "I know..." Tailgate mutters, glancing around the medbay at all the confused mechs. "You're right," he says to Arcee, "none of this seems right. Why are there so many other mechs in the exact same predicament?" He sighs. "But we really don't have much of a choice..." "<>" When Repugnus displays uncertainty about his bug like appearance, the minibot consoles him. "Oh come on...! I'm sure.. you'll get nominated for the most handsome Cybertroninan someday! And your, uh, appendages.. they're good for something great, I bet." Tailgate yelps as he's whisked away, but it all happens so fast that by the time any kind of sound comes out of his vocalizers, it's too late... "Recently?" Repugnus says to Blast Off. "Well, this doesn't really look like a quick patch job to be honest..." He stares at his little stabby arms. As Tailgate tries to console him, he continues with, "I don't know... Something really bothers me about this mode. Like... I dunno... who would WANT to be like this?..." And just as he looks up to where Tailgate was speaking, the minibot's gone! Immediately he tries using his X-Ray vision, but only succeeds in getting confused as hell again as the world becomes a mess of overlapping images. "Ugh! Damn, that guy was just standing here!..." "What?!" Arcee looks over at Repugnus in alarm, and then quickly looks around. "There's nowhere to go. Little guy?? -- Does anyone remember what his name was? Dammit..." Cut in line? Oh, why hadn't Blurr thought of that before? "Let's do it." He smirks and dashes ahead, his lithe form easily budging in front of the people at the receptionist's station. "Excuse us, but we have some urgent business, here. It seems some of our people have gone missing, and we intend to find them before anything terrible happens to them." he holds up the datapad from earlier, that is now displaying images of the missing operatives. "Any of you happen to see any of these guys?" The fembot clerk at the desk gives them a fake smile. "I know all of you are confused and worried, but never fear, we will get to you soon!" Her voice sounds almost programmed... Meanwhile, Tailgate finds himself face to face with his captor, another minibot with that Autobot badge. He pushes his fellow 'Bot down behind some crates with a "Shhh...shhhh..." before he continues in hushed tones. "Sorry about that, but I had to be as discreet as possible..." he glances around to make sure no one is following them. "Look, -don't- trust those mechs. Something they're doing is causing everyone to lose their memories. That facility isn't a clinic--it's a lab of some sort..." Blast Off doesn't really want to hear that from Repugnus, because if it's NOT a quick patch job then... why the slag is he still IN this form? Why hasn't he gone back to the way he should be? Surely his old body can be repaired, right? He then says, perhaps not very helpfully, "I am not sure." Come to think of it, no matter how bad this new body is, at least he doesn't look like Repugnus.... He says nothing more, though, besides, "Well- perhaps they will have some answers- and new hands for you?" Then he blinks, and noitces- why yes, he's the shortest one here again. Slag it all. "Hmmm.... no, I didn't catch his name. But I shall go look for him." Blurr races off without answering his questions, and Blast Off sniffs disdainfully. Hmph, snob. Good thing BLAST OFF's NOT a snob. With that, the Combaticon starts to walk off, looking for the minibot. He might be a fellow space traveler- or Kaon resident, from what he said earlier. Blast Off should find him and bring him home with the others. Tailgate can't help but be quite relieved his kidnapper is another minibot. And it appears that his intentions are good. He nods quickly, lowering his tone of voice. "I figured," he says quietly, "A lab? Oh no! What.. what do they do there? And why do they want to erase everyone's memories?" he says urgently. "We have to save my.. friends? I mean, I don't really know them actually, but...well, we should probably just save everyone!" "It's kind of difficult to find someone when you don't even know what his name is...I guess we should've introduced ourselves earlier, but this whole situation is so bizarre," Arcee remarks to Blast Off, while walking alongside him. "He *couldn't* have gone far." Bug Creature mutters, "Yeah, new hands would be great. Maybe new feet, too..." He fidgets as he considers chasing after Tailgate, but, well, he doesn't want to get in trouble with the authorities, you know! "Well... ehm... he's probably fine, I mean, he was only out of sight for a few seconds?" Sheepishly, he walks up behind Blurr, but kinda to his side, because he's not really cutting, he's hanging out with his pal or... something? Blast Off listens to Arcee, then suddenly whaps his forehead in some slight frustration. "Oh! You are *totally* correct! Where ARE my manners? I have been so rattled by all these odd occurances I have *completely* forgotten how to be a gentlemech." He extends a hand to Arcee. "My name is Blast Off. It is a pleasure to meet you. For the first time, or again, or..." He chuckles slightly, "...or however many times we may have met! I'm sure it's been a pleasure each time! And you are?...." As he talks, he continues looking for the minibot, and, with no luck, heads towards the door. Perhaps they can find him outside? The other minibot shrugs. "I don't know exactly, but they've been erasing people's memory banks and implanting new information...all these people are delusional. That is, except the workers in that facility. They're all using some kind of filter to block out the frequency that's causing the regressions. As for why--beats me. Maybe some crazy scientist who's desperate for test subjects..." he shakes his head. "Anyway, my team and I...managed to get a hold of them, but we were caught. I alone escaped from the holding cells. But they won't let anyone out of the city...they took our weapons away when we went in to see if the medics could 'help' us. But thank Primus you showed up, since you all still have yours. I know where they're keeping the filters...so you'll need to break in, and get enough of them for yourself and the rest of your team." He pauses, and glances back toward the door. Meanwhile, inside, Blurr nods at Repugnus. "Yeah, he'll probably turn up again." After all they've already seen one mech mysteriously run off and then come back again. It seems the receptionist is of no help, though. She refuses to pay attention to them first. Is she even a person? The racer sighs. "I don't know, this isn't doing us any good. Maybe the little guy was onto something..." he wanders back outside. As they're searching for Tailgate, they come across a puddle of some kind of silvery water-like substance, with a ...is that a toaster? Sitting in the middle of it. Anyone peering down might -just- catch a glimpse of their own faces... TO BE CONTINUED! Arcee tries to 'listen to her gut' as Blast Off introduces himself, but there's really no recognition there at all. "Well, pleased to meet you, I'm Arcee," she greets. He SEEMS nice enough. Although with that little minibot missing, things have just taken a turn for the ominous. "I don't like this place," she admits. Blast Off nods to Arcee. "Arcee? A fine name." He nods courteously to her, then agrees. "Yes... there is something strange going on. Too many blank faces, unanswered questions, and of course... our own amnesia. To have so many mechs with amnesia at the same time is quite odd... and I've seen a LOT out there in the great, marvelous universe." He glances up at the shield above them as they step outside. "But...I should be able to fly up and away, right?" He's tempted to do that right now, just to make sure he CAN. But he is interrupted momentarily by.... toaster?!? The Combaticon stops and stares. Blast Off has an odd sense of...unease? But why would that be? He steps back, uncertain. It's like... he expects REALLY BAD THINGS to happen to him now. Glancing around.... there's no sign of bad things, though. Hmmm. Finally, he tentatively steps forward... staring at his reflection. "Wait...is THAT what I look like?" He starts touching his faceplate, concerned, then glances at Arcee. "I do hope my friends don't see me looking like this.... I'm NEVER going to live this down. " Bug Creature says nothing while the others ramble on and on and introduce each other. No, he's just staring directly into the toaster's shiny chrome surface... at his own reflection. Then, he abruptly screams. Arcee smiles slightly. "Well, thank you, it's a nickname, really...short for --" She pauses as Blast Off seems astonished by his own reflection -- and Repugnus, poor thing, she wasn't about to tell him he looked like a Lovecraftian horror. That would've been impolite. "...The heck IS that thing?" Arcee wonders, then notes her own reflection inside. "..." She hasn't changed very much from her earliest days, although she's updated her design slightly. "Huh. Wow, that's kind of strange." She eyes Blast Off again. "Why are you so upset? Maybe you don't look how you expected, but it's not THAT bad a design." She can't say as much for poor, poor Pug. Blast Off stares at his reflection, worried... then Arcee's comment makes him glance up. "I.... uh, really?" He looks down at his reflection again. Then jumps slightly as repugnus screams right behind him. There's a hufff of surprise, then he straightens up again, looking from Arcee to Pug to his reflection. Yes... it could always be worse... he glances at Pug again, but tries not to make that obvious... hastily looking away again. "I.. well, thank you." He glances down again. "I suppose... yes, I still have the right shade of optics, and the face mask isn't bad, though, hmmm... quite heavy duty, don't you think? It looks like it's seen some... fighting lately? Whatever /have/ I been up to?" To Repugnus, he comments, "Let us just... find out what happened, shall we? Perhaps our old bodies lie in wait for us when we get home..." They had certainly BETTER...... "It seems to me that too many pieces of this situation are missing to accept it at face value," Arcee admits. "I feel like...like I SHOULD know you, Blast Off. But I couldn't tell you why. Maybe you brought us here. But *nothing* adds up. Nothing at all. That nervous guy, he's some kind of athelete, isn't he? I think he's pretty suspicious, to be honest. Now he mentioned something about *operatives* earlier. Something about...being sent here to locate operatives. Did you have that in any sort of mission roster? All I can tell you about myself is that I'm from Tyger Pax, and I have *no* idea how I got here. None at all." Blast Off nods. "Yes, I know the feeling. I keep encountering people..." he nods to Arcee, "...or even... objects.." He nods towards the toaster, "...that it seems like I should know, but nothing is clear. As for.... oh what was his name? I heard it once..." he shrugs, "I don't know. He seems a fairly exemplary fellow... at least within his limited capacities. He's an athlete, and they can be... flighty, after all. But he has gained status, and so must have earned it, right?" He puts some fingers up to his faceplate in thought. "Yes, he did mention operatives. I keep thinking I must have brought you all here for a reason... and perhaps his celebrity status played a part in it? I would like to see that datapad, yes. For that matter... I'm not sure, I will check my records." He starts running scans for any information within his memory banks that is still accessible. In the meantime, he replies, "Ah, Tyger Pax. Lovely place. Much like Kaon. Well... if you stay in the *right* part of town, at least. There are some rather... unsavory places beginning to pop up there... but on the rough side of town, far from me, thank Primus." "I wonder, too, why we're armed. And these weapons are really powerful, too, did you see it when...when the one I thought was my sister, she fired her weapon? It had a remarkable kickback. The weapons, all of it, must mean something significant, but I just can't put it together. I'm thinking we might be in some sort of military squad together. That wouldn't really explain the mech who looks like a giant bug, but...the rest of us, sure. Look here, at the armor plating...this is all very specialized," Arcee says. "Form follows function." She smiles at Blast Off's mention of Tyger Pax. "My mentor told me never to go to Kaon, but he bases that on *his* visit there, which was probably not very good." Blast Off glances at his own weapon and again decides he's too polite to comment on her "sister's" little... gun escapade. "I fired mine, as well... it seems to be an expensive and well-crafted thing. I... like it, but... I don't remember getting it. There's something else, too..." He leans in and whispers, "When I was in my alt mode? I had FAR more sophisticated weaponry than normal. Why? I'm not sure. Perhaps we have encountered some hostile- and powerful- aliens? And yes..." He nods, "Military ops could explain this. I certainly seem more...suited for soemthing military than I was before." Speaking of his alt mode reminds him of something else, as well. "There... was something even beyond all THAT. I feel it now, but even more so when I was in my alt mode. Like.... there is something more there. Something... else I can change into?" He shakes his head. "Like I'm... missing something. A... third mode? But... that REALLY makes no sense to me." At the rest, he nods. "Heh, yes... he must have gone to the wrong side of town. Some ruffians starting up some fights or something... I've been too busy with space exploration to take much notice. But I assure you, come to the Elite District and you will see some grand sights, including the Opera House in all its glory!" "Wow, seriously...? A third mode of some sort? Maybe it's some special function that's integral to the base. Wherever the base is." Arcee shakes her head. Why couldn't she remember ANYTHING other than her hometown? Who WERE these mechs, and what was their connection? "Those hostile aliens...you know, the athelete mentioned locating operatives. I'll bet we were here to rescue one of our teams from the aliens who had captured them and wiped their memory banks," she muses. "And then they turned that technology on US, to wipe our memories so we couldn't interfere in their plans!" Blast Off nods, "Yes... perhaps. There is something missing... something I need to complete my transformation." He then taps his fingers on his faceplate, considering her suggestion. "That.... does make sense. Unfortunately. But then why is the athlete here? Perhaps it required someone very fast to run in and grab something- or someone- and then leave?" He checks his internal scans, still trying to call up any logs or information.... slag it, why is it being so slow here? "Yes... I appear to be running into some interference when I attempt internal scans. My access to personal records is... quite slow. Can you reach yours?" Arcee hmms, and attempts it, with similar results. "The aliens are probably blocking our access. ...Wow, this is really bad. We're definitely outmatched right now, but we should find everyone and have some sort of meeting in order to figure out how best to proceed. Because at this point, there isn't even any clear answer as to...who exactly is in charge of our group." She suspected it was probably Blast Off, but it could just as easily be her sister. Or even the bug-looking mech. The epic saga left off with Blast Off and Arcee searching the streets for a missing Tailgate, with Blurr and Repugnus not far behind. Meanwhile, Tailgate faces his kidnapper, who seems to have good intentions after all. But should the minibot trust this stranger, even though he seems to also be an Autobot? It's not exactly an easy undertaking he appears to have been assigned. At the same time, Blast Off and Repugnus are unfortunate enough to stumble across a puddle of some reflective material and catch a glimpse of their actual faces...will the two of them manage to adjust? Will our heroes ever get out of this utopian -trap-? Who exactly is behind all of this? FIND OUT TONIGHT! Blurr walks back out of the clinic and onto the street just in time to hear a scream from the monster-looking mech. If he had been inside of a building, he would have hit his head on the ceiling. "Whoaheywhatwhat'sthematter??" he exclaims, glancing about wildly in search of danger or whatever it was that caused such distress. "Did you find the...little guy?" "Oh..." Tailgate nods, listening intently to the other minibot as he speaks about how he alone escaped. He doesn't know if he should trust this other minibot--his intentions seem good, but who knows, this place is foreign and Tailgate doesn't want to jump out of the frying pan and into the fire. However, there doesn't seem to be any other better option right now. "....o-okay. I'm not among the top members in the intel division but.. let's do this." His optics narrow slightly. "Where are we going?" "Space... the final frontier... for humans, perhaps. Where they can only dream, Sky Lynx has gone before and seen what it is truly like." Yes...that is Sky Lynx. Yes, he is talking to himself. Yes, he has arrived just in the planet's orbit to check in on both the MIA recon team, and the search-and-rescue team that failed to check in. Hmm...now then, what have we here? <> Dropping towards the planet, heat shields turned towards the atmosphere, he starts his descent to begin looking for the crew in question, opening up local frequencies. <> Blast Off nods to Arcee. "No, I suppose not. But... I would hazard a guess that it could be... me. That just... feels right, at least." He shrugs. "But perhaps one of you is the leader of the scientific expedition, and you hired me to bring you here and back." Whatever the case, Blast Off has this feeling he doesn't kowtow to authority readily, anyway.... the mere idea of it seems to make him itchy. "Also- I still want to fly up just to make sure I still can..." He glances up at the "shield" above. As Blurr catches up, he looks back at him. "I'd still like to know why you're here... did we need someone fast to do something for us? Or are we counting on your celebrity to win favor with racing fans somewhere?" He looks around, but no... doesn't seem to be a big racing community here. Not obviously, at least. "Not yet, no. Say- are you able to access your internal records? What was that datapad you were carrying before?" It is very likely that Sky Lynx comes across the empty Autobot shuttle, parked off to one side of an immense fungal forest. Yes, giant mushrooms. Even to Sky Lynx, these are some huge fungii. "Yeah, that's another mystery...who are you?" Arcee smiles at Blurr. "I'm Arcee. Not to be unkind, but I really have no idea who you are. And do *you* have weapons like Blast Off and I have? It would make sense that we've been sent here together for some purpose. But...maybe a dangerous purpose." Exquisite Space Shuttle - Sky Lynx lands with a solid 'thump' beside the shuttle, transforming and looking it over for signs of damage. The mushrooms are regarded, but as they do not pose any immediate threat, they are dismissed outright. << I've located the shuttle, empty...>> He pauses in thought, optics scanning the area as though looking for something... <> He stops abruptly in his train of thought, looking back at the shuttle critically. Confused? No... pensive, absolutely. Sky Lynx transforms into the wondrously phenomenal form of a Sky Lynx! Indeed, Sky Lynx is likely to find the empty ship. Strangely enough, there are no signs of a crash, or of combat or any kind of struggle. It's just sitting there...Something about this area is extremely unsettling, though. It just gives one a general sense of unease... Meanwhile, Tailgate's new friend nods and motions for him to follow him toward the rear of the facility. There are a couple of loading docks back there, and it's fenced in with bristling lasers but they're small enough to squeeze under them. "Okay..." the other minibot whispers, pointing toward one of the doors, which appears to be just a crack open. "You can squeeze in through there. I'll stay out here and make sure no one comes after you. The filters are in a vault in one of the storage rooms. It'll be locked, but one of them is bound to come in to fetch one at some point. If they see you, then...just...pretend you stumbled on it by accident. Well anyway you're Intel, so you..you know. Now hurry--we don't have much time!" Blurr finally manages to calm down after Repungus screamed. "Oh...uh...yeah, I guess. But they're not telling me anything useful. Anyway, any sign of the little guy? As I was saying." He frowns at Arcee. "Seriously? You don't know who I -am-?" Then he shrugs. "Well, we all seem to be having memory issues, so I guess I'll--" And then he stops, having heard a broken transmission from ...someone. << I...hello? Who is this?>> Sky Lynx? He doesn't remember giving his hailing frequency to anyone by that name. Bug Creature finally mutters, "I'm... I'm some kinda... some kinda monster! Why would I look like this? What happened to me!" Panicking, he raves, "I have to get out of this mode! Have to--" He meanders around, arms thrashing, body shuddering, like he was wrestling against some invisible foe. "Have to remember... how to transform... Wait... something..." Then, abruptly, his body spins about into his robot mode and he immediately loses his balance, falling onto his face. "Hwmgh!" Tailgate nods quickly, following the other minibot. He sure hopes the other little guy isn't lying to him. He squeezes under the lasers after his new companion, slightly unnerved. "Right," he responds, after being given instructions on how to get into the vault. He slips unnoticed (like he always does) through the cracked open door, not sure what sensations he will be overwhelmed with... The creature spins and twists about into Repugnus's robot mode! Arcee smirks at Blurr. She can already tell she isn't going to get along with him, not one bit. Poor Pug just has her complete pity. She wonders how *he* fits into this strange circumstance. As she's going over to help him back up, she notices that she, too, received a message from this 'Sky Lynx'. She had her radio turned down, so she didn't realize it until moments later. "...Blast Off, did you get that call?" she asks with a frown. Blast Off begins to bristle a little at Blurr. This blue racer guy just seems to keep ignoring him. He gives Blurr a slightly cold look. "Are you ignoring me? You haven't answered ANY of my questions, and I've asked you several. Repeatedly. You're not hiding something, hmmm? And I already told you, no, we haven't found anything yet." He glances over at Repugnus again, who he tried to console earlier (well... as much as HE is going to console anyone, at least). "Yes... the two of us seem to have something to get used to, indeed." He mentioned that third, strange "transformation" he sensed to Arcee, but as long as Blurr keeps raising suspicions, he won't mention it near him. But he blinks to Arcee's comments. "A transmission? No..." He doublechecks himself, but..."No, I have received no calls whatsoever. What did you hear?" Sky Lynx continues to regard the shuttle, circling it slowly as he studies the markings. Autobot... he glances at the insignia he wears as well, partnering them up before his attention turns back to the area around him. Sky Lynx says, "I don't recall this one being on the list..." He looks back at the shuttle. "Or this design..." He leaves the shuttle as-is. <> Turning away from the shuttle, he begins traversing through the area. "Activate exploration log, amend last entry..." There's a pause as his systems alert him of something. "Then form a new entry, use current celestial coordinates and approximate time according to Cybertronian geosynchronous date-time group conventions... Start log." He studies one of the giant fungal growths. "Native foliage indicates high humidity and a more organically sustained sentience may exist, and indeed be better suited for existing, on this particular planet. The discovery of a friendly shuttle bearing markings of Cybertronian origin that match my own is disturbing, a possible hostile presence may exist that lured or surprised the crew, resulting in the ship's apparent abandoned state. Survey will continue, but possible use as a home-world away from Cybertron is unlikely at this point..."" "Someone named 'Sky Lynx' is hailing Blurr and myself..." Arcee glances over at Pug, not sure if he's in any mental shape to be noticing radio transmissions. "He wants to know our coordinates. Sounds very much like someone in authority -- I think the mission hypothesis is turning out to be right! But...but why isn't he calling *you*? He's only calling a few of us." She gets on her radio, and returns the call. "<< Testing? One, two, this is Arcee, and you are...what did you say again, Sky Lynx? >>" Repugnus is helped to his feet by Arcee, and when he looks down at himself he realizes that he has hands! Beautiful, blessed hands! He holds them up in front of his face. "Oh--I do have hands! Wait... I was in... my alternate mode? What happened to my vehicle mode! I used to turn into a--huh?" Turning back to Arcee with a raised brow, he says, "Sky Lynx? Uh, oh! I think I got a transmission, but I was, uh, distracted..." "Hey, it's okay, this is a pretty stressful situation," Arcee tells Pug reassuringly. "So *you* got the radio...and I did...and...Mr. Terrific over there did..." Then she looks back at Blast Off. "-- But you didn't. Is your radio functional?" Blast Off tilts his head, a little confused by what Arcee and then Repugnus are saying about this "Sky Lynx". "I.... I think so? Though I'm having such difficulty accessing my internal records I'm not even entirely sure..." Then it dawns on him. "Ah!!! You must be a team of scientists, then! I have done some shuttling work from time to time, flying scientists to various planets for exploration. THAT may be why your markings differ from mine, and why I'm not on your native frequency. You hired me for this mission." Blurr gives the shuttleformer an exasperated look. Seriously? "It seems -you're- the one who isn't paying attention, -pal-. I -said-, I can, but the data there isn't giving me any answers." He nods at Repugnus. It seems everyone else received the tranmission, too. That is, everyone but this shuttle guy. Hm... "Heh...sure. We hired you. Okay." Though he doesn't sound all that convinced. "Look, we need to find out what happened to that minibot. Maybe he was onto something. He disappeared right before we walked in the door, right? So let's search the perimeter of this building." Meanwhile, Sky Lynx will find that the location beacon on his communicator has activated upon his request for coordinates. It seems the others are gathered at a location not too far from there. If he follows the signal, he'll come across the shielded city and the 'welcome wagon' at the door. No guards or apparent defenses, just a shield and unarmed greeters. Inside, Tailgate manages to slip under the door, and finds himself in a barren corridor, with bright bars of light glaring harshly down from the ceiling. At the far end of it he can see a vault, just as the other minibot had said. It's...almost eerily quiet and isolated. Repugnus frowns. "Yeah... stress..." He wonders if that's all it is. "Well, me, I'm not really a scientist. I'm still studying in the academy, but really, everyone says I'm doing well and I'm going places some day. Uh, maybe someone was mentoring me?..." He stares really widely at Arcee, like maybe she's the mentor in question. "I'm not sure though..." Something is really wrong about the whole setup. Something REALLY bothers him about Blast Off, and he finds himself staring at his neck, quietly wondering how much force it would take to separate his head from his shoulders... and then he stops himself, horrified at the thoughts going through his head. "Uh, right, find the.. find the guy, right." Sky Lynx pauses at the gates, regarding the 'welcome wagon' in question from a distance before approaching. <> Looking at the welcoming party, he sizes them up for any signs of an apparent threat. "Greetings. I come on behalf of the Cybertronian Exploration Council. Have any others like myself, bearing these or similar markings," he points with his tail at the emblazoned Autobot insignia on his wings, "arrived? If so, where might I find them?" Tailgate takes a moment to survey his surroundings. Looks pretty abandoned--perhaps frighteningly so. Glancing around, he advances carefully down the corridor towards the vault. Fear is starting to penetrate his servos, and his movements become a little shaky. I don't really even know these people I'm trying to help.. but that shouldn't be an excuse. I HAVE to do this, even if it means risking my life... Blast Off huffs at Blurr. "Well, you weren't being very clear. Try explaining yourself better next time." He sniffs disdainfully. He should know better than to expect much from a dumb jock, right? Ah well. But he's still not inclined to attempt alienating the athlete just yet... he's obviously one of the "important people", and it's always good to be seen with those, after all. He doesn't like Blurr's intonation about being hired, either. What's THAT supposed to mean? Though.... that does make him wonder. He glances at his Decepticon badge- then everyone else- which is different. He catches Repugnus looking at him, and blinks- there's an odd look in the other mech's optics for the briefest of moments, then it's gone. Blast Off feels his first sense of unease (besides the obvious, at least.) What if... he doesn't belong with these others? That... wouldn't be good. But then.... he'd be all alone here, wouldn't he? And... he doesn't want to be alone, either. He pauses, then decides to continue traveling with the others for now- it beats the alternative. He nods to the others. "I can fly up and see what is visible up above. Any further response from this Sky Lynx fellow?" "This is pretty stressful, guys, but let's try to...focus, okay? Let's focus on working together." Arcee smiles a bit at Pug. "Maybe I was your mentor, and maybe Blast Off here is our hired transport. Anything is possible!" She pauses in surprise, then turns her radio to an external speaker so the others can hear Sky Lynx talking. "Ooooh, Cybertronian Exploration Council! Now THAT sounds important," she says quietly, then answers Sky Lynx back, "<< I don't know what team I'm with! >>" she admits cheerfully. "<< As a matter of fact, none of us even remember why we came here in the first place! Isn't that something? It's like mass amnesia! >>" Repugnus's unease is not alleviated as he overhears Sky Lynx's transmission. "Team?" he says, baffled. "I'm not even in a fraternity!" He sweeps his gaze about the odd city, trying to pinpoint Tailgate's position. Briefly he considers transforming, but the thought of becoming that THING again makes him shudder, and besides, that X-Ray vision is confusing as hell! Blast Off immediately perks up. "Cybertronian Exploration Council? I work with them! They send me on my missions to chart galaxies and find resources. I must know this "Sky Lynx" fellow, then!" He leans in, trying to communicate through Arcee's radio. "Sky lynx? This is Blast Off. Are you a shuttle, too? Come to think of it.... your name does sound familiar. I, too, work for the Cybertronian Exploration Council." "Pff, mech I don't -need- to explain myself." Blurr smirks. "Now let's get searching for our little friend, 'kay? You cover the west sides with um...monster-bot, and me and her will scout the east sides." Is he ordering Blast Off around? Yep. Well, he is used to getting his way all the time. So without wasting another moment, he sets off for the area he had assigned himself and Arcee to, expecting Repugnus and Blast Off to do as he'd directed. On the outskirts of the city, Sky Lynx is welcomed by a similar group of 'greeters'. They smile and hurry up to him, the leader speaking up. "Hello there, welcome to New Crystal City! Well we're not too sure about that, but people are always coming in every solar cycle, so there's a chance they're here. Why don't you come on in and we'll ask about?" Inside, the silence in the corridor is suddenly broken when a pair of doors down a side hallway open and a group of mechs come down toward him, dragging one of the 'patients' from the waiting room earlier. "Wh-where are you taking me...don't want to stay here..." "Oh but I'm afraid we -insist!- Heheh..." "C'mon--we don't have all cycle..." Wait, isn't the one talking the 'greeter' from earlier? As soon as he hears commotion, the little minibot eeks inaudibly and dives behind some dusty metal bins thrown off to the right side of the corridor. Peering out carefully from in between a crack between the metal bins, Tailgate watches with concern and sympathy as the group of mechs drag an unwilling patient down the hall. His first instinct is to try to rescue the unfortunate victim, but he realizes now isn't the time to take his opportunity. He waits, looking to see what will happen next... Sky Lynx pauses at mention of mass amnesia, his mind already stirring with possibilities. <> He pauses as there's another voice over the radio. <> He goes no further, though, as the greeters begin to talk and state their nature. He might not understand, fully, what is transpiring, but he's heard enough to be guarded about it. "New Crystal City? What happened to the Old Crystal City?" He finds himself scanning the area a little more frequently than he normally would. "Why not take me for a tour? We can ask around and see if anyone' seen anything. Sounds good..." His radio clicks again. <> Arcee sighs in exasperation -- however, simply because Blurr might actually be the 'one in charge' here and she might not even know it, she decides to go follow him to avoid an argument. "Blast Off, I've got to go. You have his signal now, right? -- Wait, you KNOW this Sky Lynx guy??" She pauses in surprise, looking like she wants to ask a million questions. But instead, she turns and runs after Blurr. "Alright fine, hold on!" Blast Off hufffs again at Blurr's presumptuousness. "Why should I take orders from *him*?" He waves the speedster off, then turns to Repugnus. "You may do that if you like- *I* am flying up to see what I can see, as I suggested earlier anyway!" Then Sky Lynx radios in again- and KNOWS who he IS! Finally, something is making sense here. He leans in again to respond via Arcee's radio. "YES! That is me! I don't know..... We are standing outside a building where they bring new visitors- they tried to get us inside, we left when one of our own disappeared. I...I guess my radio is not working correctly. However- yes, I can fly. They cannot. I could get them back to that shuttle. Or..." He looks up. "I *think* I can. I have not yet tested that... "shield" up there. I don't like it." Then Arcee runs off. "Wait! Hold on!" Oh slag. The Combaticon tries desperately to find Sky Lynx's radio... but that frequency isn't working for him. OH SLAG IT ALL. That's it. The shuttleformer flies up into the sky- he's going to look for Sky Lynx with his own optics, while up in the air- AND test that shield. Which gets closer and closer.... Meanwhile, he goes through radio frequencies, <> Repugnus throws his hands out to the sides as Blast Off flies off without him. "HEY! Dude, I can't fly! Come on!" He hustles after Blast Off, yelling, "Hey, we're supposed to be looking for the uh, the little guy, right? I mean, he might be in danger. Whoever Sky Lynx is, he can probably take care of himself!" Geeze, he's so mad at Blast Off right now, he could rip his arms off and beat him to death with th--wait, what? The patient begins to struggle against his captors, but they use their greater size to their advantage and knock him out. "Feh...take him to the implant factory. I need a fresh filter." The others nod and drag the unfortunate mech away down the corridor while the one in question continues toward the vault, opening it and obtaining a small circular device that he attaches to the side of his head. Just as he's activated it though, there's a shout from further down the hall. He listens to an urgent communique, supposedly from his comrades. "Ugh, fine--I'm on it." He rushes off, conveniently leaving the door to the vault open... When Blast Off takes to the air, however, he finds that the shield is quite impenetrable, at least from there. He can only fly a short distance above the tallest skyscrapers. Blurr looks impatient when Arcee lingers, and he grabs her arm to pull her away from Blast Off. Once the shuttleformer is out of audio receptor range, he lowers his voice. "That guy doesn't make any sense. I don't think he was with us...If he knows this 'Sky Lynx' person, and worked for the same organization, then why wasn't he on the same frequency? It just doesn't add up." he shakes his head. "Anyway, let's just keep an optic out for that minibot. What color was he? Blue and white? Square-ish head, right?" He scans the alleyways and behind any obstacles, but doesn't find any trace of Tailgate yet. Meanwhile, the greeters nod emphatically and start to usher Sky Lynx into the city. "Yes, of course! Most of the mechs who come here have been injured by the hostile natives, so we usually take them to the repair bay." One of them says, pointing toward the facility the others are near. Lynx may be able to spot them now, searching the perimeter of the building for Tailgate. "Maybe the medics have seen them?" Sky Lynx would normally be listening to stories. As it is, he is looking for signs of movement that don't belong. "Natives? They are hostile?" He makes a note of it... well, okay, maybe he is listening. Always on duty, after all. <> His optics turn skyward... <> He pauses as there's no answer. <> he checks his own, frowning inwardly... his radio's not even set to anything near that. <> Lynx's optics turn skyward at Blast Off's sudden show in the air, watching the other mech for a moment. << ... Why is he wearing that brand?>> That mech seems to have run off leaving Tailgate with a too perfect opportunity to slip into the vault. He watches with glazed over optics as it seems the stars are aligning for him to perhaps become the savior of every mech trapped in this supposed utopia. He hesitates for a nanoklik, looking both ways before slipping into the vault, his optics scanning the area for one of those circular contraptions that other mech had attached to his helm. Arcee listens to Blurr's concerns with a slight frown...then she realizes that he, too, is making sense. There's any large number of plausible scenarios here. And it struck her as undeniably off when Blast Off seemed to be the only one in their party who didn't get the initial message from the mysterious 'Sky Lynx', but Blast Off seemed to know who that was. "You're right, though, that is kind of strange. Maybe something we should pay attention to." She tries to remember the cheerful minibot. "Yes, he's definitely white with blue detailing, pretty easy to spot, I would think." She remains with Blurr, and gets another call from Sky Lynx. "<< Checking now...negative, >>" she answers back. Blast Off hits.. a wall. Ok, this confirms the seriousness of their situation. Someone is trying to keep them from leaving- from.... escaping. Suddenly he feels... trapped, and there's a surge of... panic? Why on Cybertron would he feel that way? He's been trapped by things before, but it's like being enclosed and unable to escape brings back horrific memories.... memories he can't... remember. He sighs- nothing makes sense here. Except.... he looks down- and spots what appears to be a Cybertronian space shuttle. AH! That MUST be him. Yes... sluggish memories stir, and he's certain that is Sky Lynx. A fellow space shuttle! A beacon of civility among heathens!!! The shuttleformer races down. He considers radioing Arcee, but if she's going to choose to run after that snobby racer, he'll confide in the one mech he KNOWS he can trust. Space shuttles stick together- always! Right? But... why's Sky Lynx wearing the same brand everyone else is? It makes him pause a moment, and he hovers in midair uncertainly. But... he is a SPACE SHUTTLE, and his faith in the natural civility and overall amazingness of shuttles brings him down to land near Sky Lynx. He nods. "Sky Lynx? Blast Off, reporting for duty." And Blast Off isn't alone--he has a yellow and red friend running after him! A yellow and red friend with a long combat knife in his hand a Kubrick Stare on his face! Yes, there he is, just running up behind Blast Off, knife aimed at his back. Then, something reasserts itself, the Stare fades, his pace slackens, and he comes to a stop just a step away from Blast Off, staring at the knife he's holding. The filters aren't hard to spot, since the vault is basically full of crates containing them. No one else is around...for the time being, anyway. Tailgate had better seize this opportunity--assuming he can trust the other minibot...but what choice does he have? He's come this far... Now if Repugnus were to follow Blurr's orders and start searching the westerly side of the building and make his way behind it, he'd spot the fenced-in loading docks where the other minibot is waiting for Tailgate behind some crates. There's definitely someone small there--if the Monsterbot has the struts to use his X-Ray vision again, he might be able to tell whether it's Tailgate or someone else. "Yeah, he just doesn't add up...don't trust him. At any rate," Blurr sighs at Arcee. "Yeah, that's what I thought, but no sign of him yet. I take it you don't see him either?" And seize his opportunity he does. Before anyone can tell the minibot that he's trespassing and breaking rules, Tailgate carpe diems and snatches up one of the filters and affixes it to the side of his helm, just like the other mech had done. A hop and a skip later, he's out of the vault, heading to exit the corridor he'd entered previously. And seize his opportunity he does. Before anyone can tell the minibot that he's trespassing and breaking rules, Tailgate carpe diems and snatches up one of the filters and affixes it to the side of his helm, just like the other mech had done. A hop and a skip later, he's out of the vault, his subspace compartment crammed as full as mechly possible with those little filters. He heads to exit the corridor he'd entered previously. "Not a sign of him at all," Arcee says, shaking her head. "The way he disappeared was so sudden, it makes me think he didn't just take a wrong turn, but he might have come to some harm. I even hate saying that, but honestly, one moment he was there and the next, no sign of him," Arcee tells Blurr as she continues to seek the Minibot. (Maybe he has stealth and he decided to watch *us* looking for *him*,) she thinks to herself, (To see if any of us has enhanced senses. Okay, NOW I'm beginning to succumb to paranoid thoughts.) Sky Lynx looks up at Blast Off. "Ah! Fantastic. Well met, finally. It seems our paths have not crossed since-" There's a pause as he spies someone charging Blast Off from behind, interposing himself and lowering his head to chuff out a plume of flame in warning. "Think better of that knife..." He looks Repugnus over for a moment, spying the insignia, then turns to the entourage of greeters. "I want to see the repair bay." He doesn't wait for a response, invitation, or otherwise... he saw possible allies there, and that is where he is going. "Blast Off, bring your friend with the knife." With his entourage of greeters, CEC, and Knife-Guy in tow (or not, if they decide to do otherwise), Lynx starts to close the gap between himself and the bay, any signs of subtlety about his intent to barge in on the repair bay thrown out the window. <> Arcee gets another call from Sky Lynx, asking about the encryption level of the signal. "<< Checking now...negative, >>" she answers back. Blast Off senses someone behind him, turns to see Repugnus- with another one of those very odd stares- and a KNIFE?!? The shuttleformer jumps back at that, trying to gain a little distance as Lynx steps in to halt any further progress by the monster-bot. Ok, this bug guy is *definitely* starting to weird him out. "Uh.... why are you holding that?" Stepping closer to Sky Lynx, Blast Off looks up at his fellow shuttle- while making sure to keep Pug in the corner of his optics at all times now. He wants to tell Sky Lynx what he knows, especially about the shield... but not among mixed company- including Lynx's "escorts" there. "Yes! I apologize for all the confusion, and any dereliction of duty I may be guilty of... I assure you and I am usually MOST professional. I pride myself on it, naturally." And he does! As Lynx strides off, the Combaticon follows- glancing back at his "knife-weilding friend" as he does. If he gets a chance, he's going to try to get Sky Lynx alone to inform him of what he knows. But meanwhile, "Sky Lynx! As I mentioned before, my radio is not working. Is there another frequency I might get you at?" Arcee is taking a bit of a chance, here...this Sky Lynx seems to be someone of authority, but whose authority?? After a moment's thought, she raises her hand, giving the requested signal and hoping for the best. At this point, they're in enough of a conundrum without taking sides. Blurr mutters to Arcee, "... he's... isn't... he was using... with..." Repugnus immediately tosses the knife as Sky Lynx puffs a bit of flame at him. "N-no! I... don't even... no! Hahaha, it's gone okay? Right--" A compartment on his leg opens, and another knife slips out. "Ah--" He almost reaches for it, then just kicks it away--just as another compartment on his shoulder opens, letting another knife fall to the ground. "Ah! What--how many of these do I have on me!?" Eventually there's like, eight knives on the floor around him, and he just... backs away from them. "What the hell am I, really? A serial killer!?" Yes. "No! I'm not like that--ngh! I'm... I'm sorry, I'll just... I'll just... aggh!" He splits away from the shuttleformers, embarrassed and a little afraid he might try to hurt them, and decides to instead try to find that little guy instead. Well, maybe he could try his X-Ray vision again? Maybe he can get used to it. And so, he transforms back into Monster mode, scanning for the minibot, and learns (or remembers?) how to make sense of his vision mode. And, eventually he comes upon the docks and... well, he sees several little guys running about, so he approaches for closer examination. As Tailgate hurries out of the corridor, all his memories begin to flood back. Why they were here because they had been searching for a recon team that had been recently deployed here but Intel had lost communication with them. They'd gone to investigate...and that minibot he'd just talked to, he was actually one of the people on that team! Yes, his name was Doubletap and his picture had been on the roster when they'd been going through the mission briefing. However, shortly after this realization, his fears about this being far too easy are suddenly realized when a firm hand is suddenly clamped onto his shoulder. "Ah-ah-ah...where do you think you're going so quickly?" Says a voice from behind him... The greeters have no problem with letting Sky Lynx go to the repair bay. "Sure thing! Have at it, friend!" Inside, there is a waiting room filled with mechs who look just as confused Lynx himself is, with a blank-faced receptionist sitting at a desk where she's checking them in, or whatever it is she's doing... Meanwhile, Blurr catches sight of Sky Lynx heading inside. He frowns. "That this Sky Lynx mech? I don't recognize him...how was he on my...maybe we were working for him...?" Heh, so that shuttle is saying his comms weren't working? Well they know that isn't the case, since he had been using it with them earlier. As Repugnus is able to get accustomed to his X-Ray vision, he manages to make out another minibot--not Tailgate, but a minibot nonetheless hiding behind a stack of medical supply crates and looking terrified of being found by this...monstrous-looking mech. Arcee gasps in surprise at something Blurr tells her. Well! This certainly puts the shuttleformer in a suspicious new light. "Wow, you're right about that. And...that might very well be Sky Lynx. Only one way to find out for sure, yes?" Ah, there's the wave. <> Lynx steps into the repair bay to have a critical look around, giving the others present a curt nod, but all the while scanning for insignias, emblems, or other such signs of affiliation. He turns towards one of the waiting mechs. "So, the hostile natives outside the city landed you here? What were they like?" He turns to look around the area again, noting Repugnus has...ventured off to stare intently at walls? Who knows. But Blast Off is there. He cycles radio frequencies on his auxiliary radio to find one that has not been, according to internal logs, accessed in a long while... how strange. <> Tailgate freezes, and for a moment, he just doesn't move. Then he slowly turns around, his optics wide and innocent, looking for all the world like he's just a little lost minibot who's wandered past the no trespassing sign on accident. Then, without warning, he transforms and his hood magnet leaps out, attempting to strike his assaulter and disorient him! Tailgate transforms into a Sports Car! Blast Off raises an optic ridge in alarm as Repugnus reveals one knife after another... Primus, who IS this guy, anyway? And that racer mech was suspicious of HIM?!? He finds himself a bit relieved as Repugnus runs off... it's just Sky Lynx and himself, then- *civilized* company, in other words. He follows Lynx back inside the building, despite his misgivings about that. Then he receives a radio frequency. FINALLY! He also notes it hasn't been one he's used in quite a LOOONG time. In fact.... he's not sure he has records of ever using it. Well, not in THIS body, at least. But it seems to be something he programed himself to receive anyway. He shoves all those doubts and oddities aside and responds. <> He sends a quick record of some of the goings-ons he's experienced since he arrived. Repugnus, happening upon the minibot, stops and puts his razor-sharp talons to the sides as he says, "Hey, it's alright! I'm, uh... hold on..." Recalling how to transform back to robot mode, he says, "I actually look like this! See? That other mode is, uh, a costume. Say, have you seen a little guy, white and blue, has this constant look of naive hopefulness to him?.." One of the mechs in the waiting area looks wearily up at Sky Lynx. "I...yes. I believe so. They were large and hostile--that's all that really matters. This is the only safe place to run." He would also observe that they, like our heroes for today, are of mixed factions. Some Autobot, some Decepticon, though most don't have any badge at all. Inside, standing behind Tailgate is a wily-looking mech. Contrary to most of everyone else here, he doesn't look lost or confusted at all, though he is a bit startled when the minibot tries to ram him. He stumbles backward, but it doesn't help much, since the larger mechs he'd seen earlier have returned and are all staring him down. "Heh...an admirable attempt." The mech smirks as he gets up and dusts himself off. "Albeit futile. Take him to the brig." he commands his people, and they do so, seizing the little blue minibot and dragging him off to a nondescript hover transport out back. Out back where Doubletap and Repgunus are... Doubletap doesn't appear relieved that Repugnus isn't as ugly as he thought. He seems friendly, but isn't that how everyone here is? But then again he isn't trying to convince him to leave, either. Doubletap nervously checks his chronometer...if the other minibot from the rescue team had succeeded in his task, he'd have come out by now...and sure enough, he spots Tailgate being dragged onto a transport that has just pulled up to one of the loading docks. "Smelt..." he mutters, then turns back to Repugnus. "Wait...you--you were with him when you came here, weren't you?" he peers at the Monsterbot's chassis, finding his badge. Yep. "Oh good, you were. To answer your question, yes I have seen him, and he's in trouble...Look, you need to gather up the others and get him out of there before they reach the main complex. Otherwise getting him AND your memories back is going get a LOT harder." Blurr looks satisfied when Arcee is convinced that Blast Off is indeed quite suspicious. "Of course I'm right. We'd better warn this Lynx guy about him." Because Lynx -must- be on their team. "C'mon." he heads back toward the waiting room. Arcee isn't yet completely convinced that Sky Lynx is 'one of them'. After all, Blast Off seemed perfectly nice and had some measure of credibility and authority...until the whole issue with the radio frequencies came up. Now that made him somewhat suspect. She heads toward the waiting room with Blurr (although she doesn't even know that's his name; she just knows him by is less-than-stellar introduction of 'don't you know who I am??'). Sky Lynx looks at the gathered mechs, then towards Blast Off... or, more specifically, the badge. He grunts and looks back at the others. "Anyone wearing a crest similar to mine, or similar to his, please accompany us as we tour the facilities. That is not a request, it is an order given politely. We require your assistance, and I would like those who have been here for a little while to point out a few things." With that said, he carries on his way to continue his self-guided tour, stepping towards the door leading out of the repair bay and cycling through various radio frequencies that are logged in his radio's stored channels. <> Yes, that would go to the other current Autobots as well. He's not discriminating. Lynx swaps channels to the CEC comms. <> Well, if Arcee wanted to meet the phenomenon that is Sky Lynx, their paths are about to cross very directly, and very soon. Repugnus manages to follow Doubletap's gaze in time to see Tailgate get botnapped! And... why does he feel such a powerful predatory urge towards the botnappers? It's truly unsettling to him, and yet... it feels good. "It's okay. Yeah, I was with him, I guess--I think? I'll call up the others, though..." Recalling that frequency Sky Lynx contacted everyone on, Repugnus transmits, <> He tries to follow the thugs at a somewhat respectable distance, taking cover behind whatever boxes and drums and other waist-high obstructions may be conveniently placed along the way. Tailgate, helpless as a tiny minibot is against several larger mechs twice his size, does not struggle in the slightest as he's being dragged away to Primus knows where. He just gives his kidnappers confused and desperate looks, his optics dimmed to nearly black. Blast Off radios Sky Lynx in return, << Understood.>> He pauses, wondering again why he wears the purple badge... Arcee called it a Decepticon badge? Why do the others he seems to have come here with wear the red badge? Most odd of all- why does his fellow CEC space shuttle wear that badge? He still can't believe they'd ever be on opposite sides or anything. No, perhaps they are different scientific teams? Yes, that must be it. He is not one to blindly follow orders, of course, but... he remembers Sky Lynx, and they work together in the CEC so... he does as told this time. <> Sky Lynx and Blast Off get somewhat of a mixed response. Some people are suspicious of this whole scheme, like he is, and obey his orders, questioning whether he has the answers they're looking for. Others, however, are convinced that the medics here are the only ones who can help them, and ignore his call. Still others are too emotionally traumatized to respond at all. Blurr and Arcee come in again, easily finding the large shuttle mech. "Sky Lynx, I take it?" the racer asks. "So um...what are you trying to accomplish, exactly?" But then he hears Repugnus' transmission on that frequency that Sky Lynx had been using earlier. <> The racer pauses, then looks back up at Lynx. "Well I don't know if you heard that, but I'm going to go help the little guy." He darts back outside to find Repugnus as he's following the transport down the street. "I take it he's in there." Blurr asks in a hushed tone. Meanwhile, inside the transport, Tailgate is tossed into the cargo area. "Alright...quit playing dumb and 'fess up. Tell us who you came here with, and hand over the stolen items." His kidnappers demand. Unlike the others, they are armed... Arcee smiles at Sky Lynx, and decides that if her processors were working the way thry should, she would most definitely recognize THIS distinctive-looking fellow...but unfortunately, he's about as familiar to her as any of the others. She follows directions, and syncs to the proper frequency. It's a tense moment, because she feels like answers ARE forthcoming, very soon, but are they going to be correct with her assumptions? At this point, she has no idea. But she is glad that Mr. Athlete's gone off to help the wayward minibot they'd been seeking for a while. Sky Lynx looks at Blurr pointedly, responding firstly to Repugnus' transmission. << I copy that, I will handle it.>> He shakes his head and looks at the turnout for the call to assemble. "My name is Sky Lynx, Chief Explorer of the Delta Quadrant, Cybertronian Exploration Council. Beside me is Blast Off, a fellow explorer in the Sigma sector of Beta Quadrant. What I am hoping to accomplish is to get answers and, whether that is successful or not, leave this place. I have explored enough worlds to know when something is not right, even if I cannot fully grasp what it is." He looks over the assemblage again. "From what I can gather, something in suppressing thoughts and memories, which has led to confusion and, amongst the older residents here, the chance for others to manipulate your concept of what is true or not. "I've just received a distress call from one who wears the same markings as you and I, and I intend to extract him." He looks at Blurr. "I hope I am not alone. But if so, I will gladly transmit the coordinates to a shuttle and you can depart immediately." ...yes, it seems that, even way back when, Lynx carried his clout around like it was cool. Blast Off watches as Blurr and Arcee return, and nods to them courteously. That racer may be a snob, but *he* is not... even though he is /obviously/ superior to the ground-pounder athlete. But shuttles should always be polite. He listens as Sky Lynx pontificates, and nods. Blast Off is in actuality just as pompous as Blurr or Sky Lynx, but he used to be a little bit... quieter about it. Nor is the rather introverted shuttle one to step in front of crowds and speak. Sky Lynx being magnificent is not much of a surprise- he's a space shuttle, so of course he is. Blast Off would probably be really impressed if he ever met a mere *planet-bound mech* who displayed brilliant tactical and speaking skills... but really, what are the odds THAT would ever happen? Blurr races off again- of course, Blast Off heard nothing, so he takes no action. Not that he would necessarily anyway- who knows. Combat: Sky Lynx inspires Blast Off, Blurr, and Arcee with heroic and lofty words! Moments before Tailgate is thrown onto the cargo area, he sends a private transmission to Blurr. "<>" Just before Tailgate is tossed into the cargo area, he rips off the circular device on his helm and crushes it in his hand. Perhaps his captors will notice, perhaps not, but if they have any sense about them, they'll realize questioning him will be useless--since he no longer has the circular device on his helm, the only memories he has predate the war. "...playing dumb?! " he cries, utterly confused. "What do you mean, 'fess up? I-I didn't do anything, I swear, I'm just looking for the scrapyard!" Well, Sky Lynx's word might not have gotten to everyone, but it does get to Doubletap. The minibot's optics light up--he hadn't been able to send and receive encrypted transmissions since he'd had his comms sabotaged, but he was able to receive the broadband signals. He quickly urges Blurr and Repugnus to help rally the others....though the racer is already off after the transport, easily catching up to it. <> he transmits once he's received the message from Tailgate. Yeah...as he'd suspected, the minibot is -definitely- onto something. << I've located the transport with the minibot...gather as many as you can and get after it!>> Meanwhile, strangely enough even with all that's happening, whoever is behind all of this hasn't stepped up to repel what Lynx and his friends are trying to do. Yet, anyway... Meanwhile, Sky Lynx has managed to garner some loyalty from those who had responded to his call. They look to him for leadership, naturally! "...what do we do, Sky Lynx?" They ask, awaiting further instructions. They don't know him, but they -do- know they can't trust the people who are running the clinic. Arcee remains with the group in the clinic, as Blurr heads off to assist Tailgate. She gives Blast Off a smile of encouragement, but isn't sure what to say to him, if anything; what Blurr pointed out to her earlier has raised her suspicions about him. But she does know they'll all need to cooperate, even under their respective groups, in order to gain some insight. She remains in the group who have assembled near Sky Lynx. Ah, clever Tailgate...his captors do notice that he has detached the filter. "Damn..." they mutter. But they know that he must still have memories of who he came here with. Instead of questioning him further though, the just look resigned, sighing. "Look...we're really sorry about all of this, but once the boss explains everything...I think you'll understand." You paged Sky Lynx with 'Feel free to pose the group attacking the transport, it doesn't have any defenses other than its armor.' Blast Off nods back to Arcee. He isn't really the smiling sort, and... even if he was, it's not like she could tell through the faceplate anyway. With her here now, he finally decides to let her know about the sky shield. Using the radio frequency she gave him earlier, he responds, <> In the meantime, he gathers the others who share his purple badge, asking them questions... but they don't know much more than he does. He then looks back to Arcee. <> Sky Lynx listens to the various signals coming and going. "Here..." He looks towards a group. "Blast Off, take those with your particular insignia and find us a way out of this city. I want you," he points with his tail at few with the familiar Autobot insignias, "to accompany. Your goal is to get to the shuttle that was left in the wilds. Blast Off's crew can provide support and security-" wait, how does he know that? Never you mind... it's HISTORY. "Blast Off, once the team is able to leave the city, I want a place held as a secure rally point. We need it large enough to house three shuttles. From the rest of you, I want five volunteers. Resourcefulness will win here. Find something to use as a weapon, be it a club, bar, stone... anything. There are also about eight knives over there," he motions at Repugnus' pile-o-knives. "Use those as well. Debilitate that transport and meet with Blurr." With that done, he looks around for the most important looking building he can find. "I am going to find out what is going on here. << I copy,>> he responds back to Blurr, <> He takes a few steps before pausing to look back at the others gathered. "Roll out." As she's preparing to head out, Arcee answers Blast Off. << Sounds like someone is going through *considerable* measures to keep us here, like exhibits in a zoo, >> she transmits. << And yes, I believe we've located the little guy. He's getting checked out as we speak. >> "Sorry for what?" Tailgate just utterly confused. Unfortunately for his captors, his past with Vector Sigma is actually working his advantage (and of course his past self knew this) and he can't, for the life of him, remember anything about how he got here or who he came with. Yes, if anyone is wondering, the poor minibot's memory banks are kinda fried. His memory wasn't very good before, and being exposed to this environment is doing a number on his cerebral circuitry. "I'm just looking for the scrapyard," he repeats like a broken tape recorder. Hopefully Blurr and the others arrive soon--because Tailgate is about to become a severely affected Alzheimer's patient. Blast Off nods to Sky Lynx, saying, "Understood." And he starts to gather whoever will follow. But he radios the other shuttle, << I will attempt to do as you request, but.... I am not sure we are going to be allowed out. That shield is designed to keep us IN. What should I do if they try to stop us? I am... armed. I have a blaster- again, no idea why, but.... it seems expensive and well-balanced?>> He also responds to Arcee, <> Sky Lynx is so on top of the leadership thing. Granted, Prowl would probably say that he could do it in fewer words, but it gets the job done. The Decepticons rally around Blast Off, ready to follow him to an escape route and establish a rally point outside the city. They begin to pick up whatever they can find as a weapon, some claiming Repugnus' knives that have fallen on the ground, transforming and taking off after the transport. Strangely enough, it doesn't really have any defenses besides its armor, which is easily penetrated by the group Lynx has rallied. And...in fact, there are others--bystanders who immediately lose confidence in the system upon seeing the violence. This was supposed to be a utopian city--why are people attacking things? Chaos quickly begins to erupt all around, and it isn't long before the transport's hover thrusters fail from all the knives and other sharp objects that have been thrown into its turbines. It collapses to the ground, its hull cracking. Wasting no time, Blurr rushes into the cargo hold, where he finds Tailgate, though the others have escaped the scene, not wanting to sully their reputation. Quickly, he does as the minibot had asked, opening the subspace compartment and attaching a filter. And then, it all comes flooding back, just as Tailgate had experienced. <<...Lynx...get everyone in here. I think I know what's going on. There's some kind of frequency being broadcasted from a structure at the center of this settlement that's causing the memory loss. Whoever's behind this was using these audio filters to block it.>> And indeed, if the others were to equip the filters, all their memories come flooding back, and now that they are so close to the source, the readings on their sensors would indicate what Blurr is saying is true. A transmission from Doubletap comes through. <> Once Arcee gets word of these 'audio filter' devices, she realizes that this is the key to resolving these memory issues, and as Sky Lynx ushers the Autobots into the cargo hold, she puts on the audio filter. Once she puts it on, she covers her mouth in surprise. Oh, dear, did she EVER have a few assumptions completely wrong! Sky Lynx nods and calls out. <> How...rare are those words from Lynx? He sets his gaze on the building indicated that the broadcast is coming from. <> Transforming, he kicks his engines on and turns himself into one heck of a missile. Hey, it worked on Predaking (not that he remembers), so why not this? Engines flare to life and the shuttle goes rocketing towards the building, gaining speed as he accelerates. << I'll have the rest of this handled soon.>> Tailgate’s optics flicker, and he nods at Blurr. "Sky Lynx is right. We should go back to the vault and gather more of those filters. Maybe some of the captives here, once they regain their memory, can tell us more about the source of the frequency and where it is. Is everyone else alright, too?" he asks, looking concerned, although he's probably the one affected most by the frequency. Blast Off watches as these other... Decepticons?... pick up knives and other weapons. They, and a few of the Autobots, follow him... but then many seem to attack a transport nearby? To Sky Lynx, he again says, << Understood. We shall see to Cybertron's future- as CEC, we can do no less.>> Unaware of the irony of his words, he goes off to try and get the errant mechs to follow him. "Let us return to the shuttle outside the city!" He eventually gets most to follow him again, though what IS going on over there? He gets to the exit, and speaks to the guards. "Let us pass. We need to.... get something from the shuttle we left out there." In the meantime, he continues glancing over- wondering what he's missing back there. << I--Doubletap!>> Blurr exclaims. The team they'd been looking for in the first place. <> He nods to Tailgate. "Arcee, take the rest of these filters and distribute them to whoever needs them most." "Blurr...I thought I saw you. The others are in the brig at the main complex. The one Sky Lynx is headed toward right now. And they're not the only ones. They locked up anyone who showed any kind of doubt or dissent." Doubletap replies, suddenly popping up amongst the wreckage of the transport. Blurr clenches a fist while helping Tailgate up with the other hand. "Arcee will take care of the filter distribution. We need to find out who's responsible for all of this...and make sure he -doesn't- get away." And with that, he heads off toward the building Doubletap had indicated. Meanwhile, Blast Off will encounter some resistance at the outskirts of the city. The 'guards' just give him incredulous looks. "But why would you want to venture back out there? It's dangerous--you'll get lost!" Sky Lynx checks his approach. There's something about this...something that just feels 'right' about it all. He chuckles softly to himself and literally plows nose-cone first into the building's side like the missile he's turned himself into. No time to really think about the impact, though, he's transformed once again. This time, though, not just into one form... but two. Both of which are ready to deal with anything problematic that might arise. The Lynx, naturally, begins prowling, scouting out the source of the signal (or any potential source that might show itself), while the bird-half keeps overwatch and security. <> he again radios Blurr, << I am in. Gather up any who may be ready and join. Look for the gaping hole in the side of the building.>> Frequency swap! <> "W-We?" Tailgate looks incredulous. Blurr was implying that he needed his help. Incredible. That had to be a first in a long time. "Okay." He follows Blurr, doing his best to keep up. "<< I've taken a few extra filters with us--whoever we free, they're probably going to need their memories in order to not be a burden to us. Doubletap, you know this place better than we do, lead the way>>!" Blast Off narrows his optics as the guards and mutters, "I am getting rather tired of being ordered around...." He then pinches the bridge of his nose, shaking his head, and says, "....You DO realize you're speaking to a space shuttle, right? I have traveled from one end of the galaxy to another- I will NOT get lost on one little planet. So if by some strange happenstance I DID get lost, all I need do is take to the air and find the city again. Now..." He takes a step towards the guards. "Get out of our way." He glances back to the others still carrying knives and other weapons, down at the ionic blaster in his hand, and then back up to the guard. "We shall take care of ourselves. Do NOT stand in our way." Receiving a transmission from Sky Lynx, he responds, <> Doubletap does indeed lead the way--right through the hole Sky Lynx has just created. "I'm heading down to the brig to free the rest of the team--you guys think you can catch him? Synapse, that is. That's his name." And with that, he's off to take advantage of the structural breach Lynx has created to free his teammates. Blurr nods at Tailgate's incredulity. "Yes, we." he confirms. As Sky Lynx's cat part prowls about, it would soon come upon a mech that Tailgate would recognize from earlier. The one who seemed to be in charge, here. He is currently in a frantic hurry to copy all of his research data onto external microchips. But when the door is destroyed, he freezes, and turns around to face Sky Lynx's lower section, quickly followed by Blurr and Tailgate. Meanwhile, the 'guards' talking to Blast Off's group refuse to budge. "As protectors of this city and its citizens, we are obligated to do everything in our power to keep you safe." they protest. The Lynx adopts a notably aggressive stance, growling at the mech downloading things. It's instinctive, especially at the overtly defensive reaction to his arrival. The Dinobird half is not too far behind to join, the mech transforming into his mainstay form once more. "Hello there. I've come for answers and a cessation of activities. You are detaining Cybertronian natives against their knowledge and will, a violation of the CEC Charter, Section 42, Prisoners and Forced Labor." Now, it could be asked...does he know this mech in particular is responsible for all of that? Well, no. It's a hunch. An instinctive hunch. So, let's see how this guy responds in kind, shall we? <> Blast Off looks at the guards. Wrong answer. "Then you'll just have to stop us." With that, he charges, aiming to fly right over the guard's heads. He still doesn't try his hand at combat shooting... mainly because Sky Lynx ordered him to use non-lethal means, and he does respect the CEC -and fellow space shuttles. But he'll be slagged if these mechs prevent him from obtaining freedom. He calls back as he charges, "Make your way through. Just remember, they may be our fellows and teammates... but do not let them stop us." The mob follows- and it's possible some of the others aren't quite as "hands off" as he is. To Lynx he answers, <> "Wait, Sky Lynx!" Tailgate cries, waving his arms at the larger mech. "Don't hurt anyone. There's no need to. All you have to do is knock off the filter he's wearing and he'll probably be too disoriented to resist arrest." The minibot glances anxiously over at Blurr, his expression inquisitive and perhaps reading, 'Right?' rather uncertainly. Synapse is a wily-looking mech; his form is tall and lanky. He definitely looks like a scientist, as his shoulders are equipped with lenses not unlike Perceptor's. As he stands there, caught red-handed, the comms tower attached to the lab starts to crumble, finally collapsing and falling to the ground below. The scientist's optics widen. "I---no! That's impossible!" And then he glares at all of them. "-You-. You think -I'm- the criminal, don't you? You were the ones who -created- this mess! -Your- war has driven me to this...because without it, the death and destruction caused by our kind will -never- cease! You...-you- were the ones who attacked my transport, and destroyed my comms array! I never lifted a single servo against you! Violent brutes, the lot of you! All these Cybertronians were living in peace together, and you just had to destroy it. You destroy -everything- beautiful and replace it with chaos!" "Tch." Blurr makes a noise akin to snorting at this. "You called this 'beautiful'? Imprisoning people here against their will and brainwashing them into thinking they need some kind of refuge from danger?" He shakes his head. "Just because it isn't violent doesn't make it okay." The courier glances down at Tailgate. "Well, that might have worked, if Sky Lynx hadn't destroyed the broadcast tower." Speaking of which, now with the broadcasting equipment destroyed, everyone in the city is nearly immediately returned to themselves. Thus, they do not resist when Blast Off charges past, having realized that they had been brainwashed and trapped there against their will. Sky Lynx keeps a level gaze. "No one will die here without reason. That is not our way. I do not know the circumstances behind your ship being assaulted. Though, if the Autobots were at fault, you've my sincerest apologies." He shakes his head slowly. "Those who wish to remain here in peace can do so freely, without coercion. I will never begrudge a mech that, but to force and impose your will is to do precisely what the tyrants who enslaved us would do. That is unforgivable." Blast Off completes his charge, encountering little resistance. He sends the rest of the group to set up space for the escape party as ordered, then heads back to assist his fellow CEC space shuttle however he might need. <> Suddenly, in midair, he feels a bit ...odd. Faltering, he flies in close enough to hear the tail end of Synapse's and Blurr's speeches. He blinks, holding his fingers to his face again as a flood of memories come rushing back. He continues hovering... but now he just stares mournfully at his hands, suddenly realizing that no, the "new" body is not temporary. In fact, the old, better one was destroyed.... a very long, long time ago. Oh so long ago. And it's not coming back. Ever. The Combaticon pauses, too caught up in his own sorrow to really care about much else. Tailgate sighs. "...well, what now?" The minibot is starting to look a little faint. Synapse scoffs. "Hmph! Your self-righteousness is even more disgusting in person than it is from a distance. And your crimes against the galaxy go well beyond that which may be atoned for by 'sincere' apologies...." he pauses, gripping a small case in his hand, the one containing all that data he had accumulated from the experiments he'd run here. "We do agree on one point. Whoever wishes to stay here, may stay here--however, I will not be one of them." And before anyone can do anything more, there's a flash of blue light along with a *VOP* and he's gone. After all, what kind of villain doesn't have some kind of foolproof escape plan...? "Slag it!" Blurr exclaims after Synapse is gone. He tries to scan the the surrounding area, but alas there is no sign of the mech. "He's gone." The courier shakes his head, sighing and looking down at Tailgate. "Well, I guess we'll go round up Doubletap and the others, and be done here." Sky Lynx hmphs. "I will see about alerting our allies..." He looks at Blast Off, then the others gathered. "Gather up your fellow Decepticons, Blast Off. Blurr, gather the Autobots. Any Decepticons you cannot fit, I shall carry personally, the same with the Autobots. Any who wish to leave here may do so, and any who wish to stay may have this place." He turns and starts for the clearing. "I will do what I can to check in frequently with supplies." With that, the massive mech is stepping out of the ruined building and towards the clearing designated as the rally point to await the other shuttle, and the inevitable onload of passengers. Blast Off stares at his hands, until Sky Lynx interupts. He blinks and looks up, and for the briefest of moments there is a hint at the sense of sorrow he also carries regarding the fact that all space explorers... are no longer neccessarily brothers. Then his usual aloof looks returns, and he nods courteously to Sky Lynx. "How... civilized of you. If there is need, I shall let them know." And he doesn't doubt Lynx's good intentions- his faith in the code of the shuttle remains intact, even after all this time. He gives one cold, quick glance to Blurr... but there will be other days for his revenge. With that, the Combaticon turns around and heads off to retrieve the field operatives (back at the clearing, as it turns out) and Arcahnae, who must still be wandering the forest. And get ready to leave this place. However.... he doesn't leave all the memories behind. It's... been an odd experience here, this day. And... he can't entirely forget it, even if he would like to. Or would he?
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