Transformers: Ashes of Victory

[Charon]

"Escaping without means of self-defense will be even more difficult, not to mention dangerous. Burning through is an option, but not optimal. Captors will likely hear and burning through will take time."

Medicon took another look around the room, looking for potential sources of Hydrogen for Flamebringer in the room, even if some breaking of things was needed. As he looked, he spoke. "Anyone have skills in hacking into systems besides Lifeline?"

[LadyTevar]

"I know a thing or two about subverting systems," Shimmer said looking over her shoulder at Medicon with a grin. He knew what her function had been the last few hundred Vorn, although Medicon never wanted to know more.

While she had been waiting for Breakout to process the sheer length of his status, Shimmer had been listening to all the other conversations nearby. It was a skill that Cybertronian multitasking tech made easier, but Shimmer had found even fellow 'Bots often forgot that conversations could be overhead if not on private comms. Thus, she know knew that Hornet was emphatically not a Cassetticon, despite his size, and he was the 'brother' to Flamebringer, who used fusionables like the insane Sunstorm. No name yet for the black-painted 'Bot, but he was getting some good information out of Lifeline. They would not have to worry about Gamma Secondus, who was at best offline and at worst recycled parts. Shimmer would press Lifeline on that point more later.

"Sooner or later, we're going to have to make a move, Medicon, weapons or not. Other than trying to find a 'vent large enough for me to squeeze though, we're going to have to get out and try for the bridge."

[Hotfoot]

To the back of the room, there was a large container, nearly fifteen meters in length. It was made of reinforced starship armor and was locked at several points. It almost looked like it was built into the room itself, and the security systems that had been attached to the others seem to feed into the container as well.

Code: Select all

Power being restored
Critical systems online
Stasis Lock...Disengaged
ERROR: Memory Corruption Detected
Isolating Corrupted Sections
Corrupted Sections Isolated
Restoring Core Functions...Successful
Diagnostic Mode
TOWLINE: ERROR
ERS: ERROR
MES: ERROR
Multiple Systems Offline

For a moment, Overhaul was concerned that his optics were offline, but after a few quick checks, it was clear that it was simply dark. It was cold as well, but comfort was not something he worried about at the moment. He began to move around, feeling out the limits of the darkness, and he was quickly met with an answer, he was unable to move more than a minute amount in any direction. Whoever had put him here did not want him moving, and they had made certain that even if he would wake up, he would have to deal with restraints on top of the restrictive area he had been placed in. The last thing he remembered was being told that Optimus Prime was dead, everything past that point was corrupted. It might be restored later, but that was unimportant. Right now escape was his first priority, but it was not going to be simple. Without his systems online, he would have to rely on brute force, and with low power and the restraints he had, that would be difficult at best.

Then, almost as by providence alone, the restraints holding him down released him from their grasp. Moving quickly, Overhaul moved away from where the restraints had been, seeing how much room he had to move in case they reactivated. Again, his efforts were cut short. The amount of room to maneuver was itself limited, and he ended up banging into the sides of the tightly spaced confinement he found himself in. Narrowing his optics, he braced himself and began to push up against the lid of the container. Slowly, the lid began to rise as the large bot put more and more of his might into the effort. His strained against it, both due to his low power reserves and his poor leverage, but with a loud, deep grunt, he lifted the top of his container enough that his large blue hands showed from the crack. He let the lid tip, sliding it off of the container to slide to the floor, the heavy lid making an impressive sound when it hit the floor. As cold air slipped from the container, it turned the air around the container into a fog, obscuring the insides.

Overhaul took a moment to collect himself as his optics flooded with light. From outside the container, first there came a pair of blue hands gripping the sides of the opened coffin through the cold-induced fog, then the bot’s knees lifted above the edge as he prepared to pull himself out, the blue and silver colors of the truck being seen first. He pulled himself out slowly, the fog swirling about him as he did, slowly revealing the blue, gold, and silver markings on his body. He was a large bot, standing in at eleven meters, and he was built wide. Immediately, he noticed that he was not alone, and he dropped into a defensive stance, not sure of their identification. As his optics cleared, the scene was properly revealed. Several other bots, mostly Autobots, had been captured, himself included. Some he recognized from Earth, from Autobot City, but others, either it had been too long, or they were young Sparks. Relaxing his stance, he stood above the group and narrowed his optics. “I owe someone a debt of gratitude, and someone a trip to the scrapyard. What do we have so far?â€

[rhoenix]

After the larger Autobot had been freed from his prison and announced his presence, his profile had been found and examined. After scanning through some of the information, the larger dark-colored Autobot gave a reply to Overhaul.

"We are without our weapons or special systems," the larger dark Autobot said in a calm voice. "The group who kidnapped us all and stripped us of our systems are the ones running this ship. This drone Lifeline has restored us and refueled us to functional, though our weapons and parts are stored in another part of the ship."

He was silent for a moment before continuing, pointing out each individual Autobot in turn. "Shimmer, Medicon and I were all taken from the same facility, though I was in stasis lock at the time. Breakout is over there, and the siblings Hornet and Flamebringer are on the other side."

He inclined his head slightly. "I am Novawing."

[LadyTevar]

Shimmer almost had to applaud the highly dramatic entrance. She had met Overhaul a couple of times, but with her paint still stuck in "Grey-out Empty" she was sure he didn't recall her as the bright blue Fembot who'd flirted with him. "You always knew how to make an entrance, Overhaul," Shimmer quipped. "As ... Novawing said, we were at Medicon's clinic, and that's the last of my memories until coming out of statis. I can't even recall getting attacked. From what the drone Lifeline has said, the crew sells the chassis and keeps the special systems to modify themselves."

She turned to look at the little AI. "You tried to help Gamma Secondus get free as well?"

[frigidmagi]

I had remained silent out of shock... The length of time being the least of it. Prime had returned, had needed me and fallen... And I had been mouldering away in the ground, rusting! Shame and horror at failing Prime so utterly and completely tore through me.

But I didn't have time for that... Later, it would have to be later. I stood up.

"The doors are locked then? Keycode or physical lock?" I asked working out my limbs, it had been so long that the gears were slower and needed to be exercised. Primus, somebot was gonna catch it. 120 Vorns!

[Cynical Cat]

"Gamma Secondus was delivered," answered Lifeline. The bot's antenna's drooped. "I took too long to sneak aboard and gain system access," the 'bot almost wailed. "I failed him."

[Dark Silver]

There was darkness.

The emptiness of non-existence, the void of Limbo that all Transformers experience in their own way, clung around Shackle. He floated in the void, where nanoseconds seemed like eternity, in wait and impotent rage.

He didn't notice as the AI run droid skittered over his inert chassis, scrambling to reconnect severed components, and reroute power into his systems.

The sudden trickle of energon didn't bring him online immediately, but ever so slowly, a single system, then subsystem at a time, first his primary cortical nodes, then his memory databanks, then ancillary systems - audio receptors first.

He heard what was happening around him, slowly absorbing the information as his base repair systems worked on routing the power to where it would do the most good.

He listened as the femme-bot, Shimmer, told the story about Prime and Megatron to...Breakout. Well, there was going to be a interesting meeting. Especially since his own diagnostic routines reported he had no weapons - he'd been stripped of them during his downtime.

Then he heard the name Medicon, and recent memories flooded to his fore - the fight, the damage....and the repairs. He owed Medicon - and Shackle gave a internal groan at the thought.

Only the groan wasn't internal, as his vox-actuators came online then, and the flex-metal lips of his "mouth" moved, issuing the sound forth. He attempted to move then, no point in hiding the fact he was active now that he made a sound, to find himself still held to whatever slab he was on.

"Anyone catch the name of that Shuttle that ran into me?" he managed to say, though his eyes remained dimmed - his optics had yet to come online.

[LadyTevar]

"Anyone catch the name of that Shuttle that ran into me?" he managed to say, though his eyes remained dimmed - his optics had yet to come online.

Vocoders are distinctive, but in some cases there are voices you never forget, even if Shimmer wished she could. Stiff with shock, she turned from Breakout and started over into the last slab hidden in the corner. Yes. Yes, it was. Unicron take his spark, it was.

That he was a prisoner was only just desserts, Shimmer supposed, as it was clear Shackle had been as thoroughly deweaponized as the rest of them. It had been many Vorn since she'd seen him, although some of the rumors of what he'd done were damning. Then again, Shimmer knew rumors never held more than a micron of truth. By rumor, she'd stolen information right out of Starscream's internal ROM. Truth was just his personal diary out of his computer system, with unknowing help from Thundercracker.

Still....

"Of all the ships in the Multiverse, why'd you have to be on this one, Shackle."

[Dark Silver]

The voice was like a slap to the groin plate for Shackle. He recognized it, back from before the war even started. And more so from during it's early days...

His head turned to the source of the voice, but the dead optics still didn't shine, he held no vision of who spoke, but when he spoke, the pattern of his vocoder didn't waver slightly.

"Shimmer? Where in the Pit am I?"

[LadyTevar]

Shimmer took a few stiff steps over to the slab where Shackle lay. So many good memories, before the war. Before there were sides, and a need to make the choice.

"We're on a slaver ship, Shackle," Shimmer said bluntly, almost glad that his optics weren't functional yet. She was almost embarrassed that he'd be seeing her in EmptyGray paintscheme. Then she mentally kicked herself for falling into the same old feelings again. It's been over a hundred Vorn!

"We have Medicon, Overhaul, and Breakout here, as well as the newer models Novawing, Flamebringer, and Hornet. Lifeline is the drone who woke us up, out of loyalty to his old master. If you're functional, that gives us eight 'Bots so far, all weaponless. Any other questions?"

[General Havoc]

The others fell to discussing the best way out of this place, a conversation Hornet felt, perhaps rightly, that he was unqualified to speak to. One by one, the remaining bots in the room came online, none of whom he recognized, though many of them appeared to know one another. Still rubbing self-consciously at his torn-open wrists, he didn't say anything for the moment, unsure of his surroundings or who the rest of these bots even were.

Then Shimmer asked Lifeline what happened to Gamma Secondus.

The little AI drone's reply was short, and nobody else seemed to take any notice of it, but Hornet did. Indeed, Hornet instantly forgot about everyone else in the room. It wasn't that he knew who Gamma Secondus was, nor that there was some other vital piece of information in the reply. It was the way in which Lifeline answered, the plaintive wail, the dropping antennae, the warble in his voice that was no mere speaker feedback. Hornet felt his metaphorical breath catch, felt something twist within his spark and lasercore, and instantly found himself transported back to the precise, exact moment when they had told him that Wheeljack was missing from the attack on Autobot City, and presumed dead.

Without hesitation, without even fully realizing what he was doing, Hornet hopped down from Flamebringer's diagnostic table, moved over to Lifeline, picked the little AI drone up with both of his slashed open wings, and squeezed him to his chest.

To anyone unfamiliar with human behavior, (to say nothing of being unfamiliar with Hornet) this was beyond odd. There was no telling what Lifeline himself thought of it, for Hornet certainly did not explain himself. Yet though he squeezed the little bot tightly, it was not tight enough to risk damage to himself or to Lifeline, for Hornet had learned this behavior from humans, who were considerably more fragile than even Lifeline was. And as he held the little drone, he squeezed his optics shut, tears of windshield wiper fluid leaking out from them and running down his face.

"It's okay," he said to Lifeline in a shaky, barely-together voice, pointedly ignoring what anyone else might be saying right now. "It'll be okay. We'll find them."

Who Hornet meant by 'them' was left up in the air.

[SirNitram]

Flamebringer remained sitting up, watching Hornet embrace Lifeline. Being a big brother in a sense didn't mean understanding everything. But this was understandable: Two bots, all alone in the mean universe, and missing their most important people. And Hornet had leapt into action. Flamebringer nodded to himself quietly. Wheeljack, you'd be proud of the little guy.

[Hotfoot]

Overhaul looked at the collected bots, his gaze moving from each. Shimmer he recognized, along with Hornet and Flamebringer. Medicon was a sight he did not expect to see, but moreso was Breakout. He had remembered him from long ago, but it had been some time since then, a lifetime, in fact.

And then there was Shackle. Overhaul’s optics grew narrow and bright as he clenched his fists. Shackle epitomized everything wrong with the Decepticons, their delight in causing pain, their avarice, their willingness to enslave and profit on the suffering in others, and their total disregard for any sort of morality. The fact that he had been fighting against the Decepticons had less to do with any sort of redemption, but the hope that through showing the Autobots good faith, he would be granted continued existence. The fact that the Decepticons themselves found him so distasteful as to hunt him down themselves was itself proof that there were in fact times that the enemy of your enemy is your enemy’s enemy, nothing more. “What’s the matter, Shackle? Don’t recognize it from this side of the bars, or do you need to hear the sound of frying circuits from your victims?â€

[rhoenix]

Having already settled himself into the mindset of priorities, Novawing was going over the profiles of each Autobot in the room that he had dossiers on, and creating a new one for Lifeline when the small drone replied.

In that moment, Novawing understood how the drone felt. In his past, loyalty was held in the highest regard - above reason, above any set of ethics one might adhere to. Even so, it always hurt to lose a comrade, even though revealing that wasn't always prudent.

However, he certainly wasn't prepared for the sight of the small Autobot Hornet nearly running over to Lifeline, and embracing the drone in what humans termed a "hug."

From the sound in Hornet's voice and his actions (not to mention the... wiper fluid leaking from his eyes), he too had lost someone dear to him, one whose absence left a still-open wound in his very spark.

Novawing looked quizzically at Hornet, suddenly realizing one of the reasons the Autobots always fought like mechanical demons for their comrades. For as much of a weakness as it was viewed by Decepticons, the loyalty and friendship most Autobots had made them more than the sum of their parts. Even the thrice-damned Aerialbots, a shoddy and haphazard group of flyers if he'd ever seen them, performed consistently better than what their profiles would suggest, simply because of that level of friendship and trust of one another.

Nodding to himself slightly, Novawing felt that he was getting closer to understanding Autobots - what surprised him more was that he not only didn't mind, he looked forward to becoming a part of it.

"Take your time, Hornet," he spoke at last in a quiet tone, his newfound understanding lending weight to his words. "It'll only be together that we all get through this."

[Dark Silver]

Shackle took the information in Shimmer gave him, and then he heard the barb coming from somewhere in the back. He didn't know immediately who the voice belonged to, so he the comments slide, there was only so much one could do blind and tied to a slab.

Medicon was here, that means they must have hit while they were at Medicon's place. That was the last time Shackle had been in for repairs - and why he didn't remember putting up a fight.

"My optics aren't functional yet Shimmer...can you get me out of these restraints?"

[Cynical Cat]

Lifelines crawled up Hornet and slid over the small bot's shoulders. "I have a map of the compartments," said Lifeline. A holo image of orange wires and lines appeared floating in the air.

"Fusion torch drive and reactor in the rear, along with deuterium tanks. We are in a converted cargo hold in the belly. Secured rooms are forward and above, around the bridge. I have the codes to this room, but not the others. All systems are monitored by the ship's computer. He's very nasty."

[LadyTevar]

Shimmer closed her optics and shook her head at Shackle's request. "After all the things you've done, I should leave you there," she said bitterly. However, she moved to and freed him from the last of the restraints and helped the blinded bot sit up. "I, however, don't leave a 'Bot behind."

Then Lifeline displayed the map of the ship, and Shimmer gave a low chuckle. "You say the computer is a nasty one? Don't worry, Lifeline, I know how to deal with nasty tempered computers," There was a touch of irony there, considering who she was standing beside. "If you can get me to a console, I can start making him have a very bad day. Display all vents and maintenance access points, please. Let's see if we can cause some havoc."

[Charon]

Medicon was quiet as Shackle sat up. Whatever was going on in the bot's brain, he was being very careful to keep it to himself as he saw all these faces.

"Hold still Shackle." Medicon walked over to the other bot and placed both his hands on each side of the other bots head and carefully scanned his faceplate. "Hmmm, could be a jogged circuit. Try to move your optics." Shackle did so and the machinery behind the glass eyes moved left and right. "Yeah, jogged circuit. Gimme a second, and open your cranial plating."

The medical transformer tapped Shackles forehead a few moments before it slid open and he immediately got to work, conspicuously placing himself between Shackle and Overhaul for the moment. It only took the bot half a minute before he'd found the offending circuit and moved it back into position.

"There we go."

Medicon took a step back, holding up one hand with an extended finger. "Follow my finger... Good." Medicon spent a little while longer double checking Shackle's optics before he stepped back with a nod to himself.

"Receptors weren't on. Must have gotten a good blow to the head to get that knocked out of commission. You should be fine now."

With that Medicon turned back to the group. "We don't need havoc yet Shimmer, we need a quick and easy route to our equipment."

[rhoenix]

Silently watching the exchange, and also watching Shackle regain functionality, Novawing's faceplate revealed nothing of his thoughts. Shackle had a checkered past, to put it politely - but on the other hand, they were all now in the same dangerous situation. Such things had made Novawing begin to question his own function, long ago - perhaps it would do the same for the one-time bounty hunter.

When he spoke though, Novawing kept himself on topic, as he spoke up in reply to Medicon. "Now that we have a map of the ship, we will need to keep the element of surprise if we are to escape. Shimmer, can you see whether or not the computer can be convinced to ignore certain areas for a time, or locate a side-route?"

(edit: fixed last paragraph)

[Cynical Cat]

Lifeline's schematic lit up with bright green marks to indicate vents and access points. There weren't many and they all were functional. Only a very small mechanical could get between floors or through the crawl ways. Anything much larger than Lifeline was simply to big.

The drone slipped off Hornet's shoulders and skittered over to the security monitor. "This room has been bypassed with repeater footage displayed and security system power rerouted for your system recharge." Which explained why there was so very little in the way of power in their systems. Not much was required to run a few subroutines and keep a few shock charges ready.

[General Havoc]

The little protoform didn't say anything as Hornet squeezed him, but after a few moments, he crawled up Hornet until his centipede-like form was perched on Hornet's shoulders. Only then did Hornet seem to take notice of his surroundings once again. Nobody was laughing at him, at least, or worse yet, thought he was trying to damage Lifeline, but frankly those things had not informed his actions. Very little informed Hornet's actions except his own spark and lasercore. It was by turns a weakness and a strength.

The others were helping one of the other bots, someone called "Shackle", whose optics seemed to have been broken. Not exactly a master of subtext, even Hornet could tell that Overhaul and Shimmer didn't seem to like Shackle much. Overhaul, at least, he recognized from Earth, having required his services on several occasions when he had contrived to wind up stranded in some Primus-forsaken place, and needed to be towed back to the Ark. It happened more times than he cared to admit. Shimmer he didn't know, nor had he ever heard her name, but then that was no surprise. There were many famous, storied Autobots that Hornet had simply never heard of, for he was not millions of years old, and did not know the History of the Autobots as well as some.

Speaking of bots he did not know, Novawing said something re-assuring, and he gave the larger flier a hesitant smile, wiping the wiper fluid tears from his optics with the backs of his hands. When Lifeline dropped off and scurried over to the monitor, Hornet followed, trying to make sense of the schematics that he called up. It was a lost cause, but as he was puzzling it out, a thought occurred to him.

"Is..." he asked, somewhat tentatively, "is there... anyone else on this ship who's being kept prisoner?"

[frigidmagi]

Shackle distracted me from the door. I hadn't worked with him in a long time and it had been something I had been grateful for. Shackle was not an Autobot. He fought Decepticons, but did so due to them being unable to accept him as a free agent. Or he had over a 120 vorns ago... Did that still hold true?

Probability of Shackle being a double agent 32.41%

On the other hand why bother? We were all suppose to be inert, in stasis lock or worse. Do you need a double agent in case the spare parts in your storage bin decide to rebel?

I gesture to Overload, indicating Shackle. I can depend on him to back me up here. I ensure Shackle's compliance, then I deal with the door.

I move over to Shackle staying out of Medicon's way. There's a bot who I simply don't understand. I suppose I should be grateful for that, if Medicon were to much like me, he would have been a faithful follower of Megatron. As it is I have more in common with Deathstrike. I wonder what happened to him?

I crouch down staying balanced and ready to react if Shackle should attempt to strike or tackle me.

"Hello Shackle, remember me?" I ask quietly.

[Dark Silver]

Shackle did as Medicon ordered him, submitting to the procedure, which eventually restored his optics to function once more. "Thanks again Medicon...guess you'll have to add it to my tab..." he said as his optics came online and into focus on the Medical Mech.

Shackle looked over the assembled Autobots in this storage hold, all stripped of weapons, all keeping themselves busy in various things, when his optics fell on the cassetticon playing with the centipede like AI-droid.

He was about to say something, when the heavy footsteps approached him, and Breakout addressed him.

Shackle's red optics shifted, and the navy blue and green mech turned to the Autobot Warrior who currently stood over him, and his flexmetal faceplate remained even and calm, no trace of anything in his voice, "Breakout....it's been awhile...Sigma Draconis Twleve, in the Chimera Cluster....if I recall correctly, was the last time I worked with you. What was it...130 Vorns ago? At least."

"How'd they capture you?" he asked, a moment after he looked back, his optics falling on Shimmer for a bear second.

[frigidmagi]

"They didn't. They dug me up. It's good you remember the last time we had worked together. Do you remember my rules?" I asked. Shackle has a host of bad habits, to put it mildly. He's a bully, a sneak and a sadist. He isn't however a coward or an idiot. As long as everything is plainly and bluntly put and you watch him, he is vaguely useful. Frankly I've always considered him to be more trouble then he's worth, but this isn't a hand picked unit I'm dealing with here.