Seibertron.com Energon Pub Forums

Med Bay

Contemptor watched Mal Practice amble out of the Med Bay towards Engineering, mubling about something under his breath. Something about some event that was quickly dismissed by the newly awoken Knockout. Yeah something didn't add up there, and Contemptor wasn't one for wanting to find out what the red and gold mechanoid's motives were at this point, but what was interesting was the newly activated con coming out of stasis.

Contemptor looked in her direction and forced himself to close his mouth shut as he caught himself staring.

There was an audible clang as Contemptor felt a stinging slap on the back of his head.

Spinning on his assailant, the truck-former almost met another clenched fist from Vindicator, who's amber optics were ablaze with borderline irritation.

"yeah yeah ok...you walking heap of lugnuts!" Contemptor grumbled as Vindicator silently pointed towards the still open door of the med bay.

Hallways

The truck-former turned and jogged out of the med bay into the hallway as he hurried to catch up to Mal Practice.

"Hey Mal...wait up!" he sped up slightly as he chased after the medic.

Med Lab

Vindicator heard Darkfire speak and kept silent until he formulated an adequate response.

"My dear..." he began, trying to be polite "...you are onboard the Thanatos, and we are currently in close orbit over planet designation Sol-3. Megatron has, regretably, fallen in combat." He let the last words hang in the air before speaking again.

"Several of us are awaiting new orders from Shockwave, and some others have recently been thawed out!" he accented the last part by jabbing a thumb in the direction of Knockout and Clutch.

"I'm Vindicator, and that..." he pointed lazily at the doors to Contemptor's departing form "...is Contemptor...ha slaggit..."

Vindicator lifted a finger to his forearm and pressed a few buttons on a retractable panel as an antennae slipped up from his audio receptor before he began sending a message to Psychout.

">Hey short arse...what in the nine slagging hells is taking you so long? My aft is about ready to rust just waiting on you!"<

Medical Bay

The femme glanced at Contemptor gauging his initial reaction to her sudden appearance. She noted, with some degree of amusement, when the large Decepticon behind him struck him on the back of his cranium. What was of more interest to her was when the younger Decepticon backed off and followed Mal Practice out of the room. Interesting relationship those two had.

Darkfire's attention fell on Vindicator again as he began to explain the situation to her. She felt the pause after the notification of Megatron's demise to be unnecessary. The assassin might have pointed this out if she had not realized that this con was making an attempt to be polite and, judging from the way he treated his comrade, he had another way of making his point.

However, the rest of the information was of great interest to her. Shockwave appeared to be the commanding officer as of this moment. It seemed the only course of action was to await orders. Darkfire looked over to Knockout and Clutch when Vindicator indicated them.

Darkfire's violet optics darted back to Vindicator as he introduced himself and his comrade, Contemptor. In return for his attempt at politeness, Darkfire decided that she should make an attempt at it.

"I am Darkfire," she stated simply.

The reply was short, yes, but Darkfire did not believe in mincing words for an orn and a half. Darkfire generally preferred not to waste anything whether it be time, energy, or words.

The jet-former moved over to one of the benches that was not filled with the mangled bodies of medical drones and sat down. She performed a quick check of her weapon systems. Her hidden blades jutted out of her arms. She drew them and sheathed them easily. No issues there. She retracted the blades into their hidden compartments. She drew out her claws next. They were one of the more subtle weapons in her repertoire. She retracted them.

Darkfire held out her arm as it transformed into the Null Ray. Seemed to be operational. She would not know for sure until she tested it out in a training area. The assassin's arm returned to its normal state, and she drew out one of her many throwing knives. The femme tossed it up in the air and caught it by the handle deftly.

The assassin continued to toss up the knife in a habitual way. It calmed her to have a weapon in her hands even in the middle of a Decepticon battlecruiser. The habit also helped to clear her mind.

With Megatron gone, there would no doubt be much debate over who would become the next leader of the Decepticons. Shockwave was probably heading one of the factions vying for the position. Darkfire wondered how many different factions were on this vessel alone. She could expect to be recruited into one of their causes. The assassin decided to keep an open processor. After all, who she sided with may very well determine her fate in the coming orns.

Hallways

A sudden scream of pain disturbed the relative serenity of the Thanatos' hallways. Only few astroseconds later the scream was accompanied by Haywire being flung out from a corridor leading into the storage area where Shockwave's valuable cargo was stored in - before colliding into the opposing wall with a loud clang.

A moment later, the gold and silver form of Weirdwolf walked up to the mangled and limp body of the combat engineer. The tracker however was clearly not the culprit of what had happened for he had his left hand rised as a stop sign to someone else back in the corridor. Kneeling down next to Haywire's unconscious form, Weirdwolf shook his head. The combat engineer would survive but he was due to considerable time in a CR chamber. Longer than it would actually take to get him operational that was - for it would be for the best interests of Haywire being kept out from the sight of the Decepticon who had just turned him into a wreck.

Having decided how to proceed, Weirdwolf took hold of the smaller Decepticon and placed Haywire's prone form on his shoulder. And just in time to see Mal Practice and Contemptor approaching. He immediately gestured the duo to avoid the storage area and headed their way.

"I was it not." He said, nodding his head towards Haywire's body on his shoulder. "Approach Shockwave's storage you should not. Cruncher of Skulls foul mood has. Off limits the area is by Commander's orders and 'Cruncher for breems guarding the same spot has been. Same fate avoid you should."

Bridge

Psychout turned on his heel, nodding in acknowledgement to Shadowing and with a last glance at Soundwave, his faceplate hiding his contempt, left the bridge. Use what's available to me? Heh. If you say so... He got himself into the corridor and chuckled to himself now lets see what this mudball has to offer...

Corridors

He patched a call through to his Partner
>>Mal, slight change of Plan. I'm going to unpack The Bodyguard. Between he and Vindicator we'll be able to talk our way past any fleshling security at the old base and once I'm smuggled in I can add us all to the security roster there and will clear you and Contemptor access as civilian contractors. Get Contemptor armed up, Vin and I will be heading straight out as soon as chuckles is woken up. I'll call you when it's time to join us.<<
Then he remembered what happened as he entered the Bridge
>>Oh, and you might want to get pest-control in, Med-Lab probably has a rodent infestation by now, so be sure to keep an eye out for prying beaks and whiskers.<<

Some more corridors

Psychout paused by a panel on the wall, flew up to be able to access it and tapped a few buttons. Good, still have Med-Lab accesses at least... and he got straight to work waking up his old colleague. CR Chamber Sigma 11-b, de-pressurise and re-activate incumberent, initial instructions: locate Vindicator who will take him to Psychout for mission briefing.

He may have been only tiny against some of the great monsters on the ship, but he was fast and nimble and he continued to fly as he made his way as quickly as he could without a vehicle-based altmode towards Med-Lab, but decided it was probably best to give the impatient Vindicator a warning before he got there.
>>Vin, Psych here, anything interesting happening in the Med-Lab? I am on my way, but I need you to collect someone for me if he gets out of stasis before I get there. He's an old friend who will be waking up shortly, but until he gets his first cup of coffee he can be a bit grouchy. There should be plenty of the triple-distilled left, offer him a glass and tell him you are working with me on clearance level 5 but DON'T GIVE HIM ALL OF IT! We'll need the rest of that later.<<

------------------------------------------

Some totally different corridors

Due to his age and heavy blast armour, Mal Practice wasn't capable of more than a slow shuffle in robot mode so Contemptor was easily able to catch up, but Haywire's dramatic exit a few doors down had brought him to an abrupt halt anyway. He pulled back his hood to get a proper view. "So that's why he wasn't answering his comms?! Mystery solved..." He watched and listened as Weirdwolf hoisted the half-dead engineer onto his shoulder and told him what had happened, he had no interest in crossing either him or Skullcruuncher. "As you say Weirdwolf, Ill leave this one to you then." He couldn't care less about the the state of Haywire as he wasn't contracted to deal with any random injury - he figured that was why the likes of Knockout was here. He indicated a nearer door and asked the oddly-spoken mech "I assume his previous station in Engineering here is secure though? I require the plasma converter relay for a quick upgrade. I have no interest in storage bays, I can assure you that."

He received his counterparts message, chuckled evilly and turned to Contemptor and indicated the door tot he Engineering lab "After you... Sounds like we timed our exit perfectly, Med-Lab's about to get a bit crowded. The boss is about to wake up CruelJaw..."

Med Bay

The window of the CR chamber was frosted over anyone looking in would only be dimly aware of a long lone red optic starting to burn to life. Within the chamber the optics of Crueljaw had lines of systems that where initialising all where giving the ok but until they were finished his Cr chamber wouldn’t be released.

As he watched the initialising systems flash past he noted his initial instructions as his systems finally finished initialising. Only then did the Medical bay fill with the sound of the CR chamber decompressing the door swinging open slowly. A black leg stepped from the chamber followed by the rest of the Decepticon parts of a humvee jeep on him most obviously was the hood that made up his chest he shook his head displacing built up ice from his enforced stasis.

His optics took a few astro-seconds to adjust to the medical bay’s lighting as he gripped a hold of the edge of the pod until his internal gyro’s decided to co-operate. Once both these internal systems had finally decided to co-operate he looked around recalling his initial instructions.

Standing upright the Crueljaw loosened his shoulder joints and clenched his hands into fists cracking all the finger joints as he cocked his head over to the side then the other working the stiffness out. Upon attempting to vocalise he found his vocal processor was taking its time to revive his initial few words where horse as it started to warm up “Which one of you Seeker Cheerleaders is Vindicator”

Med Bay

From his position rummaging through the shelves that lined the back wall of the medical bay, Knockout listened to Contemptor as the truck-former filled he and Clutch in on just who they were. It didn’t even matter to the mechanic who these aft-ants were; all he cared about was finding everything he needed to polish his already dulling finish. As far as he was concerned he’d get to work once he and his assistant got word on just what their assignment would be. So for the time being their time was their own.

Knockout waved a dismissive hand over his shoulder at the two mechs who had seen fit to actually believe he cared who the slag they were.

“Yeah, yeah. Just go about your business. I have better things to do, and sensitive parts to polish.”

The sound of one of the CR chambers stored in the storage room opening caught the mechanic’s attention. Knockout looked over his shoulder but he never moved from his location. Instead he turned back to his search.

“Ah Ha! There we are! This is it, Clutch. This little container is filled with the most sought after concoction by most every Cybertronian.”

He glanced up at his larger companion and smiled.

“But truth be told, the concoction is only of any use to me. No one else is worth the effort really.”

After examining the small container his attention was brought back to the storage room. Standing in the threshold was a femme Seeker. Darkfire wasted no time in attempting to get caught up on just what was current and what was simply old news by addressing everyone present in the immediate area.

Knockout let out an annoyed sigh before he turned back around and resumed his work.

“Pft. Figures. And the award for the most ostentatious, cookie cutter sub group goes to…the Seekers. No surprise there. They’re the only ones to fashion themselves after a mech who has contributed nothing to the Decepticon cause. I wonder…if Screamer were to jump head long into the Pit would his little minions follow suit?”

The grounder’s musings were directed specifically toward Clutch, but in all honesty he cared little for an actual answer.
____

The trek from the cargo bay was a long arduous one, especially for the femme making it. It had been less than two breems since leaving Thunderwing to his work, and she already felt a though he was gone. Blackwind shook her head, the thought of the scientist intentionally being forced from the ship in order to fulfill Shockwave’s own plans made her hate for the cyclops grow tenfold. The thought brought about a deep sneer to her otherwise delicate visage.

The encased femme Seeker stopped just outside the med bay, and took in a deep intake of air. It was necessary in order to cool her quickly heating systems. Just the thought of Shockwave achieving his ultimate goal was grating on her.

A moment of quiet reflection and the door finally slid open to reveal a nearly empty facility. No micro-mini slagger known as Pychout, no hulking truck-former known as Contemptor, or was it Vindicator? At this point did it even matter? No annoying spitfire tempered Mal Practice. The only mech left was the other hulking mech. Perfect. Now I need to figure out which one he is.

The Aerial Coordinator stepped fully in to the facility and took a cursory scan of her surroundings. The med bay wasn’t completely empty; in fact there were a few mechs, and one femme who were not present when she was last there.

How unfortunate. The group present didn’t even seem worth her while, but she promised that she would at least attempt to convert who ever she came across to Thunderwing’s side. This was going to be a pursuit in futility, especially if they are the only available ‘Cons to work on.

She did recognize one mech who was sticking close to a much smaller ‘Con sifting through most of the shelves that were pressed against the far wall. A small smile made its way to her face as she crossed the room passing both Vindicator and Darkfire. Once she had spoken to Clutch and his companion she would focus her attention on those two.

“You know, I’m wondering just who had the ball bearings to actually bring you back out of stasis, Clutch. If you ask me I would have left you there, permanently.”

She had crossed paths with the large mech on the battle field some time ago. Of course she was the field commander and he was the non-compliant soldier. After their meeting on the field of battle, Blackwind had him thrown in the brig for single handedly causing the deaths of several warriors. Case in point, Clutch was fully engaged when he failed to heed her order to cease fire. The result, dead mechs due to friendly fire.

Blackwind couldn’t really blame him. After all it had occurred during a very heated assault; there were bound to be casualties; both she and Megatron knew that. But to show any kind of leniency would be in line with showing weakness, therefore Clutch had to be punished.

“I am surprised to see you had been released by someone other than me, Clutch. Especially after what happened long ago.”

The femme cast her gaze to Knockout who simply shook his head and went back to his ransacking of the medical bay shelves.

“So, Clutch, who’s your girlfriend?”

Bridge

"As you command sir." Shadowing responded to Shockwave. He nodded politely to Soundwave then Psychout and turned to follow his commander out the door.

Cargo Bay

Thunderwing watched with some sadness as Blackwind left the room, her delicate but powerful form gracefully walking across the bay and towards the doors. He had grown quite fond of her and she was extremely capable. Under nearly any circumstances he would have no fear for her safety, but these were extraordinary ones. They would simply have to trust in each other to get their jobs done and remain safe.

The Decepticon took one last glance at his lab equipment to make sure it was locked down. He then turned and made his way out of the room. For now he would travel down to Earth alone. At this stage he shouldn’t need a native mode and, honestly, he had little desire for one. The humans were primitive and taking on the appearance of one of their vehicles would only hamper his abilities. On top of that he wasn’t sure how well his carapace could be reformatted. It was likely that would be a problem he would have to solve before it could be used more widely in the ranks.

*

Med Bay

Clutch was able to catch the bit about where they were and what was going on. Somehow Megatron was dead and everyone was scrambling for leadership. That set his world a bit off kilter. He always respected command and Megatron was the highest commander. It was pretty shocking to hear he got taken out. Then again who knows how long he’d been in stasis. Things had obviously changed a decent amount. After he got that info he mostly tuned out the other Cons as they went back to yelling and squabbling with each other. It certainly was a disagreeable bunch.

The large Decepticon followed Knockout as he began to rummage about the room, finally producing a vial of something. Clutch had a pretty good idea what it was and wasn’t nearly as impressed as Knockout was. He knew how the other Decepticon thought and had grown used to it. That didn’t mean he always agreed with him however.

His optics were drawn to a new femme who entered the room. He’d certainly never seen anyone like her before. He had missed out on a lot if this was how they were building femmes now. The warrior could only hope there were more that looked like her on board. While he liked fighting most of all it was always good to have some curvy, leggy femmes around for optic candy between fights.

Clutch frowned however when she spoke as if she knew him. He would certainly remember seeing a Con like her before. “Who the slag are you?” he asked Blackwind.

*

Bridge

Soundwave nodded as Shockwave turned the bridge over to him. He was pleased to see his status maintained once again. Under Megatron he was often used as a second in command and allowed to run things while Megatron attended to more important matters. It was perhaps a small thing but it should send a strong signal to the other Decepticons about where he stood now.

“Darkwing: man the helm. Dreadwind: operate sensors. Maintain current orbit and status until further orders.”

“Uhhh, yessir Soundwave,” Darwking replied before quietly taking the helm. It was kind of nice to get an important spot like this. It was rare for anyone to recognize his flying skill. Of course it also meant if anything went wrong he’d be the first to be blamed. There was always a storm cloud to his silver lining.

Dreadwind silently took up the sensor station. It was a lowly job that Soundwave could probably do with his other duties. He was probably just allowed to do it to keep him busy and out of trouble. It was all so typical.

Soundwave turned back to his console as he received a reply from Thundercracker. He wasn’t sure what the seeker was up to. He doubted whether he truly had any information or ability to end the conflict so quickly, but he would endeavor to find out more.

Med Bay

The Aerial Coordinator was not surprised in the least that the warrior did not recognize her. After all she was now clad in a carapace designed to protect her fragile frame from severe damage not mention it had been several thousand vorns since they last met. A slightly annoyed expression crossed her features before it was slowly replaced by a complacent one.

Blackwind cast her gaze on Knockout who seemed to be more interested in rummaging through the supply shelves, but his curt question to Clutch concerning her relationship to the warrior was one she would not disregard.

“Hardly.”

After sending the crimson and gold mech a disgusted sneer Blackwind turned her full attention back toward Clutch.

“I’m in no way shocked that you do not recognize me. After all, I’ve gone through some changes since we last met.”

She let what she had alleged stew for a moment before she finally removed the mask that covered her face. She had little doubt that the warrior would still not be able to recognize her, so instead of waiting for him to ask again just who she was, Blackwind revealed herself in a low stirring tone.

“My name is Blackwind. I’m quite sure you recall that brief stint under my command? You wound up killing some of my more capable soldiers in on of your manic attacks on that Autobot bunker.”

She sent the large mech a sweet smile before raising a sharpened digit and resting it just under his chin. The femme Seeker ran the sharp tip up until it was resting at the very end of his jaw. It lingered there for a moment as she leaned down to stare at him optic to optic.

“I haven’t actually forgiven you for that. But I believe you can make up for it now.”

The femme slid the tip of her digit off of Clutch’s chin before rising to her full height. Encased in her shell she stood a full two feet taller than the lumbering warrior. With a delicate smile this time, Blackwind looked to Knockout who was now staring at the display with giddy delight. The femme then gestured to the door of the med bay and nodded to both mechs.

“I would like to speak with both of you. If you will?”

The mechanic flashed Blackwind a charming smile before looking back to his assistant. Knockout twisted his lower lip upwards and gave a slight shrug.

“Age before beauty, mein Freund. And your lady friend and I outrank you in that depatment.”

Knockout bowed graciously at the waist while indicating that Clutch take the lead before he and Blackwind.

Corridors... somewhere

Contemptor looked stunned at Mal Practice when the name was dropped. He knew of Crueljaw, not from a personal standpoint, but more through a first hand encounter and the rest of the rumours about the rather foul tempered 'con. Now this would have made other mechanoids think twice, or look for a place to hide - especially if that place had edges on it. It was good to have edges, even when they were poined outwards to stop others getting in.
Contemptor ran his hand down over his face, stopping to intake some air into his systems as he had a thought of the overly cranky, some said twisted, and ....well you get the idea what the rest of them said.

"Mal...you do realise that with Vin being back to his old self, and that there is captain chrome-ass back there..." Contemptor looked at Mal, knowing that somewhere behind that visor, the grouchy medic raised the proverbial eyebrow at what Contemptor was getting at "...yeah you know chrome-ass...Knockout...little gold 'n' red pretty boy!" He saw the smirk on Mal Practice's face as he knew what Contemptor was getting at. "Yeah if Crueljaw still has that distain that he usually carries around with him, then I'll bet you a pack of energon goodies that he'll smack Knockout that hard he'll turn his colours inside out!"

Contemptor snikkered like an amused protoform at the thought of the newly activated mechanic getting smacked around like a ballbearing inside a pinball machine, and the thought didn't appear to be lost on Mal Practice either, but to the truck-former's dismay there was no laughter. At least, not on the surface anyway. Yeah he would be laughing below the surface...ok make that inside...ok make that deep inside! Contemptor hadn't missed the unfortunate events of Haywire's ejection into the hallways either, and especially the greasy mess that he had left on the floor. It reminded Contemptor of a scared bot's discharged lubrication fluids...or was it the discharge from a faulty CR chamber? Ah what ever it was, it left behind its greasy reminder that it was there, and once you had seen it, you couldn't really forget it was there! It was one of those things that never went away, no matter how many times you told it to go!

Contemptor shook his head and blinked his optics a few times as Mal then indicated to the entrance to the Engineering bay.

"After me? What is there something else in here that's gonna jump out on me and smack me around a few times before I know whats hit me? Or is this one of those things that happens when you ask too many questions and realise its like beating a hunk of bio-matter that had stopped fighting, even though you have it's head caved in?"

Contemptor paused and then shrugged as he walked into the engineering bay, looking for a decent berth for the pair of them to work at.

Engineering

There was a loud clang as something bounced along the floor of engineering. It was one of thise bouncing sounds that told you that, whatever it was, was trying to get away from you and stay away from you, regardless of how often that you wanted to catch it. It could be that, whatever the bouncing thing was, it tried to keep itself alive, hoping that the distance between it and you was enough for it to arm itself with some more edges. Preferrably the ones that screamed 'i'm deadly', especially as the screaming was done as high pitched as a cybertronian vocal artist.

"Mal..that berth there looks like the best place to start working, as it's big enough to hold me!"

Med Lab - Have a drink on me

>>Vin, Psych here, anything interesting happening in the Med-Lab? I am on my way, but I need you to collect someone for me if he gets out of stasis before I get there. He's an old friend who will be waking up shortly, but until he gets his first cup of coffee he can be a bit grouchy. There should be plenty of the triple-distilled left, offer him a glass and tell him you are working with me on clearance level 5 but DON'T GIVE HIM ALL OF IT! We'll need the rest of that later.<<

Vindicator held a finger to his tranceiver as the message from Psychout came filtering through. It took the larger mech by surprise at the urgency in the voice of the diminutive decepticon. Infact it was so urgent it had exclamation marks and extra punctuation all of its own. Vindicator noted the emphasis on the bottle of triple distilled and smiled to himself as he did so. He responded in kind to the diminutive mechanoid.

>>"Grouchy huh? Sounds like myself after an energon hangover. I'll access his bio remotely..It'll help in trying to deal with him.."<< Vindicator paused as he looked over past the newly thawed out Darkfire at the opening doors of the Med Bay. Vindicator felt his face twist a little before replying to Psychout >>"...Well if things could get any frakkin interesting in this place...Blackwind's shown back up and is schmoozing with captain pretty boy and his pet lump-hammer...slag..if her earlier flirt with me wasn't bad enough...frakking fragging...oh..he's awake"<<

Vindicator glowered over at Crueljaw as he pulled himself out of the cryo-chamber, the particles of ice still falling off the mech as he emerged from the deep sleep. The tank-former strode over to Crueljaw after hearing the remark about seeker cheerleaders. His distain was obviously the same as Vin's for the over arrogant caste of 'cons. Not that it took much! Infact nothing took much these days, because it was all about politics, and politics was a mess. Infact politics was almost as bad as a question - or a thought - that had edges on it. Especially when it came from someone or some-mech that couldn;t figure out his right from his left or, ultimately, not know how to tie his shoelaces together!

Vindicator stood over Crueljaw and gave him a glare before getting in his grill about the remark about being a cheerleader.

"Ok frosty..." Vindicator growled "...I'm not a leader, and I sure as frag aint full of cheer!" He thrust the bottle of triple distilled into Crueljaw's chest as his amber optics glowed with frustration. "I can't stand seekers, and I was two parsec's away from smashing starscream with this!" He materialised his thunder hammer and the monstrous weapon automatically moved to its full length as Vindicator firmly thrust the pommel to the floor with an audible clang.

"Before you even ask Crueljaw, I'm working with Psychout on Clearance Level 5, Mal Practice is away to engineering with Contemptor to hook up some form of weaponry..." He turned and looked at Crueljaw and then snatched the bottle of triple distilled away from the slugging 'con. "...for slag's sake! not the whole frakkin' bottle! Primus!"

He inspected the bottle and gave a smile to see that there was still a measureable gallon left. Mind you, a thirst never quenched was the same as, well being in charge without having any rules.

>>"Psychout...get here asap.. Cruel's up and about...but Blackwind is almost ready to make go with chrome-aft and the lug-monkey"<<

This was now going to get interesting....maybe...

Med Lab

If Crueljaw possessed a mouth rather than a battle plate he would of smiled at the retort from Vindicator. He peered down at the energon that was being thrust into his chest plate “Thanks” a small refuelling tendril extended from his thumb as he mimicked chugging on the bottle. You’d be surprised how many people this fooled using this trick he felt his circuits start to come out of their famished energon starvation mode. He felt his strength return as he continued to chug he was mildly surprised by Vindicator’s reaction as he slammed his thunder hammer into the ground.

It was then that con with the various components of a tank explained where his colleagues where before he snatched the bottle from his grasp. The lone optic narrowed and a deep growl emanated from his vocal processors “Only once, only once can I or shall I let you get away with that” from a compartment within his wrist launched a hilt with a rain guard projector. The strange object landed firmly within Crueljaw’s hand with it connecting to his internal power systems the blade ignited with a tremendous whoosh as the flaming blade extended to around to the length of his arm. “Or I shall be carving my name into your spark chamber. Now we understand each other How long is it going to take for the runt to get here”

Crueljaw looked past Vindicator and saw the trio of mechs leaving and Darkfire “Plus What’s up with the ugly femme and her two even uglier sisters also who is that playing with knives. Most importantly who is in charge of this tub Megatron, that Femme Vocalist Seeker, Old One Eye or Scorpy”

The recently awoken con was confused as to how long he’d been asleep for his internal chronometer told him it was several vorns but a lot can happen within that space of time.

Med Bay

Darkfire noted with great interest when Blackwind strutted into the room. One of the recruiters? As she pulled Knockout and Clutch away for a private chat, the assassin felt her suspicions confirmed. Being recruited would be interesting. A small smirk touched Darkfire's faceplate. Certainly, she would try a different method than feminine wiles.

Darkfire had heard the femme's name. Black...Blackwing? Blackmist? Blackwind? Blackwind sounded correct. She would be interesting to speak to. The assassin glanced over to Vindicator. Her optics snapped to the doors when she heard the sound of a very grouchy and recently awakened Decepticon.

Seeker cheerleaders?

Darkfire almost let out an irritated harrumph, but she checked her temper. He was one of those types of Decepticon. The assassin listened to the exchange keeping tabs on the other doors in the room. She usually liked to know who was in the room at all times. There were less surprises that way.

The assassin cast Crueljaw a sidelong glance when he mentioned the con playing with knives. She supposed she ought to answer. Vindicator would probably do it anyway. "My designation is Darkfire; Megatron has fallen, and the con in charge of this 'tub', as you so eloquently call it, is Shockwave."

There was an edge to her words, but that was the norm for the assassin. At least, it was the norm now. Darkfire remembered the days when she was a very different con. Immediately, she shoved those memories away to the dark corner from which they came. The dead weight of the past would not fetter her.

Darkfire kept a violet optic on Crueljaw awaiting his response. She showed no outer signs of battle readiness, but the assassin was always coiled and ready to strike if necessary. An assassin must always be ready to strike.

Med Bay

Vindicator leaned on his hammer as he watched Crueljaw's reaction to him swiping back the triple distilled. It made the siege master grin like a child in a toy store as the surly mechanoid waved his weapon under his nose. Mind you, it made for an interesting light display as the blade cast a ruddy glow over everything nearby. There must have been some octarine in there somewhere as the blade left an interesting trail behind it, yes deffinately something there because it was leaving pretty vapour trails as it cut the air. And if air had a concience, or even a way of feeling - it would have squeaked, squealed...even cried in pain somehow. Ah well it was a trivial matter, but now it would be causing something on the astral plane to scratch it's head.

Vindicator laughed and then gave Crueljaw a hefty, yet welcoming slap on the shoulder - the type of slap on the shoulder that was reserved for gangsters or kingpins who have just struck a deal, and men who knew what was going to happen before it did, which was a rare thing to even the man who would tap the side of his nose when he mentioned it in casual passing - it was his wordless way of saying that he actually liked you, which, when you looked at the massive crackling hammer of doom in his hands, was an easy thing to overlook...it was that nose tapping moment again.

"Yeah well I don't really care for that Crueljaw..." Vindicator said flatly as he stood upright and placed the triple distilled into a storage compartment on his waist "...but since access to the rest of the stockpile has been limited, then we have to watch what we have!" he leaned in and whispered in Crueljaw's audio receptor "...between you and me, I reckon that it wouldn't be too hard to go and smash down the walls to get to it..." he straightened again "...I think Ol' One Eye would take great exception to us wrecking his ship. But I'm sure short-arse will have a way of getting us more of the good stuff!"

There was the soft, yet sharp melody of femme vocals filling the Med Bay as Darkfire had spoke. For a jet-former, she did a good job of distancing herself from the rest of the air-borne lunatics in the legion, well in terms of personality. And she appeared to have an....interesting personality. She still looked like a seeker, and seekers were looked upon with the same arrogance that someone would look at a stain on a suit, or something they stepped on in the street.

"Darkfire...sweetest..." Vindicator tried using his more austere voice, like a man trying to be a politician and not quite managing it. "...I'm sure that we can try to get along..." he winked at Crueljaw "...over some triple distilled energon perhaps?"

He materialised the bottle that housed the remaining gallon of Cybertron's finest beverage and offered it to the femme.

Med Bay

Crueljaw didn’t take a step back as Vindicator slapped him on the shoulder his plasma sword dripped burning plasma onto the deck plating. There it sizzled for a few seconds before extinguishing much like his temper but the blade was leaving a bunch of burn marks across the floor. His usual instant reaction to being shunted like that would have been to run the offending mech through with his incandescent blade but he had a feeling he’d be needing to play nice with the Tank former as the power to the blade stopped the blade vanished within the hilt as he placed it reverently back within its storage compartment.

“So stocks or the triple distilled are limited seems kind of short sighted of ole one eye wonder if Malpractice can sort him out some corrective lenses I take it he’s about somewhere. The Runt doesn’t usually run around without him very often” Crueljaw’s stasis lag was beginning to wear off two vents along the side of his battle mask opened and vented gasses a by product of his stasis as the gases vented through the openings ice melted creating a mist like he was properly steamed as Vindicator explained some more about Psychout getting them more of the rare energon. It was then that the femme playing with the knives’ voice cut through the air doing some rapid explaining regarding the current situation and designating herself Darkfire.

The mixture of emotions at being told Megatron was dead Shockwave was in charge here where ever here was. As he looked at the femme he saw a distinctive seeker form albeit modified from the standard seekers. “So old bucket head has kicked the bucket so to speak didn’t think I’d live to see the day” Crueljaw announced loudly as he took a sidelong glare at Vindicator as he attempted to sweet talk Darkfire. “I’m sorry the battle mask must make it hard for you to determine when a mech has stopped talking” growled Crueljaw he had noted the tone of Darkfire’s voice and her stance he’d been around enough special operatives to know the signs of a battle ready mech even ones trying not to show they where battle ready.

“I think she’s just pinpointed about 6 different ways to pull your fuel pump out through your nose rather than take that drink” the black and gold mech turned slightly and looked at the trio that where near the door he looked back to Darkfire as he spoke “so what’s the deal with the femme seeker and her companions who are they? The ship's gladiatorial mixed pit fighter crew?”

Med Bay

Darkfire was amused. That was the only word for it. Crueljaw and Vindicator both had distinctively different methods of trying to approach her. The only problem was that they were doing it at the same time. The jet-former let out a chuckle when Crueljaw guessed that she had already calulcated six different ways to injure Vindicator. Darkfire stood and put her throwing blade away, approaching the two warriors with the ghost of a smile playing across her faceplate.

"Ah, close," the assassin said in smooth tones, "But the actual number was closer to thirteen. I had a few ideas about you too," Darkfire said to Crueljaw.

The jet-former snatched the bottle of triple distilled energon and took a small sip of it before handing it back to Vindicator. The assassin clapped Vindicator on the shoulder-the same sort of clap that he had just given Crueljaw letting him know that she appreciated his efforts and liked him well enough. "Not to worry, boys," she said, "I think we'll get along fine."

Darkfire nodded to the bottle of triple distilled energon. "It's been a while since I had any of that. And that femme," continued Darkfire gesturing disdainfully toward the retreating trio, "Is Blackwind, I think. I overheard her introducing herself to the other two."

Befriending these two served a purpose. It paid to have more friends than enemies in the Decepticon ranks. She preferred the gruff warrior types over the pompous attitudes of other Seekers. Her own appearance deviated from the stereotypical Seeker look partially out of disdain for Starscream and his worshippers. It had its other purposes as well. Everything the assassin did served one purpose or another, but that did not mean her actions and words did not have meaning.

Med Bay

Clutch continued to frown as the other Decepticon continued talking to him. From what she had said she must have gone through some major upgrades. Who knows what tech was floating around since he’d been put in stasis. Tech stuff was more Knockout’s thing then his anyway, and since she hadn’t paid much attention to him he continued rooting around through shelves. While they were pretty good partners there were times when Knockout wasn’t of much help to the bigger warrior.

The Decepticon tilted his head a bit as she revealed her face under a protective armor plate. It looked vaguely familiar, but he still couldn’t quite place it. Whoever she was there contact before must have been pretty brief. Admittedly he didn’t have the greatest of memories though.

Finally when Blackwind told him her name a look of recognition passed over his face. A scowl quickly returned as she reminded him of the nature of their previous association. “It was an action I deeply regretted and was duly punished for, uh, ma’am, as you’ll find in my personnel files.” Clutch stood motionless as she put a finger on his chin. He had enough respect for command to not do anything, but she was distinctively making him uncomfortable with her words and actions.

He relaxed shortly when she turned her attention over to Knockout. He shot his partner a frown though as he urged him to lead the way out of the room. “I ain’t that much older then you Knockout,” he muttered to him as he walked out of the room.

Med Bay

Crueljaw chuckled as he heard the reply of Darkfire though coming out of his mask it sounded like a snorting bull. The bodyguard was growing uneasy he’d been awoken and Psychout was nowhere in sight. He was assuming that was the reasoning for bringing him back online to resume his protection detail. While Darkfire explained who the femme was Crueljaw turned and looked across the medical bay and watched as Blackwind put her talon on the larger mechs chin.

“I think she’ll be introducing herself to their Cr Chambers shortly” he was a fairly astute judge of character his long red optic flicked from Blackwind back to Darkfire his assessment of Blackwind was that she was not trustworthy and to be kept at arm’s length. Mind you that assessment was also applicable to Darkfire but he wasn’t overly concerned despite the femme probably being trained in all kinds of mystic slag like Metallikato. He recalled his days in the pit fighting practitioners of that style of fighting and raised his right hand recalling damage that they did to him with but a touch with another more sadistic chuckle he lowered the appendage. The damage that particular practitioner had caused to his body was nothing compared to the grizzly trophy he had in his old quarters on Cybertron. The still beating spark chamber attached to his wall as a reminder of what it was to fail in his duties plus he liked the rumours that spread afterwards about his temper and cruelty.

Snapping out of his reverence of days gone bye his optics grew brighter as he looked at the pair stood beside him the reminiscing had brightened his mood slightly. “So did the runt say how long he was going to be? Or are we going to catch a case of scraplet’s before he gets here?”

Corridors

The Decepticon warship was quiet. Order had been established. The gears in the machine were functioning in concert with one another just as they were supposed to. Shockwave preferred it this way. He had done it to this ship. Soon enough he would do it to this sector, and soon enough after that he would do it to the empire at large until ultimately their entire race was functioning as the well-oiled machine that it was originally designed to be.

"Declarative: if Thunderwing has intentions on taking command he will be recruiting followers, just as Starscream did. You will counteract these efforts while serving aboard this vessel. All operatives serving aboard this vessel will undergo a value determination sequence. Those that do not meet minimum standards of acceptability will be suitably reassigned," Shockwave said to Shadowing as the Decepticon agent kept pace with him.

Ahead, Shockwave could see the storage area that he had declared off-limits and set Skullcruncher to guard indefinitely. He, like certain others, would soon receive a modicum of reward for their loyalty.

Slowing his gait, Shockwave looked down at the prone form of Haywire before casting his sole optic in Weirdwolf's direction.

"Interrogative: what was the nature of Decepticon Haywire's transgression?"

Shockwave was not one to idly waste Decepticon resources, but if Haywire's actions were deemed to have compromised the security of Shockwave's resource and technology stockpiles, then he would act accordingly.

Med-bay

From the doorway Med bay seemed crowded, even without Mal's ego filling the room. Vindicator's message made Psychout snarl though, but working under the assumption Ravage and Laserbeak had been sent there to watch over what had recently become the busiest section of the ship, if Shockwave was not aware of Blackwind's activities by now then he could assume that Soundwave either agreed with her actions or was withholding for personal gain. He filed this information away for later use and paused at the door for a few seconds, there were as many voices he did not recognise as those he did, probably the two Vin referred to, but the presence of more than one female voice surprised him.

He walked in through the doorway and saw the crowded room. Laserbeak was nowhere to be seen, but he thought could make out Ravage skulking in a dark corner "Here kitty kitty... I hope you are listening to Blackwind over there?" he quietly taunted the feline. Being imprisoned in subspace as a cassette of Soundwave had left him with bitter memories of most of his former bosses servants, but that over-enthusiastic and treacherous guard-cat of his was the worst.

He took a quick look at Blackwind and her new friends. He suspected what she was up to, but figured he'd leave them to make their own mistakes, Mal had already passed all the information Psych needed about the two new arrivals and they were redundant to his plans, so he ignored them and moved on to more pressing matters.

Continuing into the Med-bay he was surprised to see Vindicator, Crueljaw and an as-yet unnamed modified... Seeker!? ...no. A flight model, but she had clearly tried to avoid looking too much like the rest of the armada in the same way Shadowing did. Psych called up the log-files on the new arrival and decided to join the threesome before it got too cosy, kicking in his flight circuits and approaching at head hight to the trio.

"Apologies for the delay Vin, you know how Shockwave can drag on, been having fun in here?" Med-Bay was a bit tidier than when he left, although it reeked of polish. He glanced over in Knockout's direction again and shook his head. "Nice to see you back too 'Jaws, I trust everything is still in order and you are ready to go? Orders are in, we have to head down to Sol-3 on a grey-op to check out anything the natives know about us and wipe it, and ensure infiltration protocols are still intact, so set your avatar up to a military format - I'll feed you the details now - mid level colonel should cover it, but you may have to add a stripe at the last minute.
"As the dents in Vin's head here will tell you, there used to be a base on that rock until Megatron dropped it on himself which is where we are starting. We move out immediately, Mal will be joining us with the follow up party once we have gained access and secured the site. Oh, and Mal also says you still owe him 200 credits, but will write it off it as long as you save him any optic circuits you rip off the next thing you kill."

He turned in mid-air to address Darkfire. "And you, I believe, are Darkfire. I am Psychout, intelligence agent. I extend to you a formal invitation to join the three of us on that hideous ball of mud the fleshlings imaginatively call 'Earth', to seek out and eliminate any who contravene the infiltration protocols in place, and any hapless Autobots we may stumble upon. You'll have to forgive me if I know all about your main function and designation as that is, after all, my job and I look forward to experiencing any other talents you may have in the field. Shall we move on?"

"Vindicator, if you could lead us towards the bounce chamber, we can get away from the smell of polish and ...whatever it is Ravage leaves behind. Probably more polish. En-route I need to check in with Shadowing and Soundwave and I think Crueljaw will want a brief detour to the armoury to re-stock, but all else is ready..."

He hovered and waited for Vindicator to lead the way.

Corridors

Shadowing nodded as he heard Shockwave speak.

"Your will shall be done Commander."

That was his external response however, at the same time he said that, he opened a private communication channel to Shockwave. There has been time in the past Shadowing has voiced disagreement with Shockwave's directives but he has always done so discretely. He would rather any audio sensors that happened to be around believe Shockwave changed his mind than he had corrected his Commander.

"Analysis: Commander, I believe your command is an inefficient use of time. At this moment a general review of our troops will not achieve information that is adequately reliable. We are too early into this situation, solid opinions have yet to be achieved among many thus their fluid nature makes it difficult to develop firm conclusions. Also, should another candidate enter the field we will need to do this exercise all over again. Ultimately, however, the reason that I most believe this is not an efficient use of time is that Decepticons, in general, have been taught to respect strength. I could identify all of those loyal to you, Commander, but if one of the others achieves a great victory then some if not most of those will switch their allegiances. If you still wish for me to do this I will, of course, do so. However, I believe that there are more fruitful activities that could be undertaken."

Shadowing knew that Shockwave liked to carefully consider the possibilities so he paused before continuing. Questioning his Commander's order was a relatively rare event for Shadowing. Most of the time it had to do with situations like this one where less logical matters such as social realities had to be considered. He had his thoughts as to what could be done now instead but he knew better than to waste his words, and his Commander's time, if he was not interested in alternatives.

Corridors

Weirdwolf had to swallow a sigh when he ran into Shockwave and his lackey Shadowing on his route towards the section of the battlecruiser where various Decepticons were stored in cryonic-regeneration chambers due to either battle injuries or for the sole fact of lacking energon to keep them all operational. He had hoped to be able to reach the CR chamber row without running into Shockwave or his cronies but once again his luck had failed him. Partially face-palming his visage with his free clawed hand out of frustration, Weirdwolf began to think of how he'd explain Haywire's state.

Feeling defeated, Weirdwolf decided to go with the truth, "This one did not answer 'no' take. Ask for access repeatedly he did."

Shaking his head, Weirdwolf fixed Haywire's position on his shoulder and tapped the unconcious Decepticon's back before continuing, "Punched him once for a warning Skullcruncher did."

Med Bay

Crueljaw heard the jabbering voice before he saw the diminutive form of Psychout floating towards him asking him if everything was in order. Before he could get a word in edgeways Psyke was already saying about going down to a mud ball of a planet that he assumed the ship he was on was orbiting.“Grey ops” the very mention of it made him grind his gears little to no fighting it was going to be subtle rather than his usual smash mouth style.

As he listened to Psychout he made up a mental note of weaponry to take with them suddenly he grabbed Psychout out of mid air and turned “let’s go runt it’ll be easier on your tiny little legs if I carry you to the bounce chamber. By the way what is it you transform into a blender, a light fitting?” Just before leaving the medical bay Crueljaw jacked into the ships general database and grabbed a layout of the ship. “Remarkable planning the bounce chamber is near to the Armoury” Crueljaw commented as he headed out of the doors.

He looked back at Vindicator and Darkfire “are you pair of seeker love bots coming with us or what?”

Exiting Med-Bay

Had anyone else acted in this manner towards Psychout, he would have torn out their optics, however Crueljaw had earned the right to take liberties – saving each others lives countless times over the millennia did that to even the most cynical of mechanoids. There were few he knew he could trust in the Decepticons and, after Mal Practice, 'Jaws was top of the list. He chuckled at the dig at his altmode, he had never felt the need to become a vehicle or weapon, they were common enough already.
"It’s a monument to your tact and civility..."

He nodded towards Vindicator and motioned for Darkfire to follow at her own pace if she was interested in joining, he figured that in her line of work, speed and dexterity were vital so she would not have a problem catching up.

Outside the Med-Bay chamber and clear of its other occupants, Psychout hopped off his bipedal chariot bodyguard when he paused to check the ship schematics. "Keep going, I’ve got to make a minor detour. Vindicator has the coordinates we need on Sol-3, so have the teleporter set up by the time I arrive, and we can get this over with." And with that, Psychout flew off and around a corner.


Corridors

It didn’t take long for the diminutive deception to find who he was looking for, as he was standing alongside Shockwave, seemingly interrogating Weirdwolf regarding a 'package' he had slung over his shoulder. He figured this was no business of his and so only approached Shadowing, and without saying a word placed a datapad in his hand, nodding a greeting as he did so. With a brief "Commander" towards Shockwave he saluted his leader, and removed himself from whatever incident was being discussed and headed at full speed back towards the bounce chambers to rendezvous with his team. They had a big job ahead but at least he had solved one problem, although he was curious about how the fallout from that would affect his long term orders...

Med Bay

Vindicator turned at the squalking tones of Psychout filled the receptors of everyone in the Med Bay. It was good to see the diminutive rabble rouser again, but the news he was bearing was something more a-kin to scraplets running around under his skin. It was also the same thing that left annoying scratching at the back of the mind - that little annoying action that kept on saying 'am i bugging you yet?'. Vindicator replaced the bottle of triple distilled back in the secure compartment on his waist, and warily turned away from Darkfire. Yes he had to admit that coming up with thirteen ways to cause him some serious harm within a short timeframe was an admirable, yet chilling, trait. It made his spark shivver. Especially when she had reciprocated the hefty slap on the arm.

Given that he was back to his old sardonic, yet brisk self, Vindicator couldn't help but feel that he had to keep on the right side of the female asassin, lest he find a vibro knife between his shoulders, or even in one of his optics. There went that cosmic laughter again. It was commonly misconstrued that if something bad was about to happen to you, then the universal...whatever they were...collectively started to snigger, which made way to a chuckle, then a chortle, and then into a laugh. Sometimes, and this was only if you were extremely unfortunate, it was full, unabashed, all out hysterics, that usually had a big finger pointed in your direction.

The lucky few got themselves a big neon sign instead!

Vindicator looked at the diminutive decepticon and listened to his rambling about what they had to do. Terriffic. it was one of THOSE missions.

Vindicator's face contorted at the mention of 'Grey-Op's', and his face measured the displeasure that was equally shared by Crueljaw, and whilst Vindicator would rather go wading through enemies, swinging his hammer left and right - cleaving a bloody swathe through the auto-bots - not skulking around under the radar and being on watch-dog duty. What was worse, was that he was going back to that damned mudball.

Vindicator watched absently as Crueljaw plucked him out of the air, and then turned to leave the med bay, grumbling about what Psychout turns himself into.

"He turns into a portable memory unit of fleshling design Crueljaw. They call it a Universal Serial Bus - USB for short..." he shrugged and began to follow after the gruff decepticon. "...beats being a cassette, and being stuck in the chest of some overbearing, monotone soundboard...enough to drive anyone bolt-nut crazy"

Then came the comment about seekers - again.

Vindicator responded in kind by falling instep beside Crueljaw, and then there was an audible clang and Vindicator brought his hand back down to his side.

"Lay off with the damned seeker comments grill-mouth!" Vindicator paused as he looked over his shoulder at Darkfire, then also made a mental note of having to stock up on the cybertronium ammunition for his cannons and to check that his plasma loaded was fully charged and loaded to go. Yeah he wasn't the fastest con, but he was deffinately packing the most powerful punch. Then there was the comment about the location of the bounce chamber being next to the armoury.

"Huh... you'd expect all the cruisers in the armada to keep to the same Standard Template Construct for the basic shells, then to kit out as seen fit. I'm surprised that they built the armoury so close to the bounce chamber."

Vindicator gave a grumble of discomfort at the thought of going back to Mount St. Helens again.

"I just hope that the damned mountain doesn't come down on my head again...see you on the bounce pads short-arse!"

The mention of the co-ordinates, and there were going to be an ulterior motive. Vindicator liked that idea. He liked it very much!

Medical Bay/Corridors

Sometimes the assassin wondered why she even bothered at social interaction. This was definitely one of those times. She had long ago ceased to care about the opinions of others. The thirteen methods to inflict damage piece had been meant as a joke. A joke, but completely true. Darkfire had obviously forgotten to use some tone or inflection. It didn't matter much. In the Decepticons, being feared or respected often worked better than being liked.

When Psychout arrived, she took in the diminutive cybertronian. An intelligence agent? Curious. Perhaps this one would be easier to get along with than these warrior types. How she loathed working in conjunction with a team. However, the mission Psychout described piqued her interest. No doubt the two warriors would be groaning about this, but this kind of mission suited the assassin.

The femme listened to the chatter between the two warriors and the intelligence agent. She was content to listen while she created her holomatter avatar. A woman in her late twenties adorned in a flight suit. She gave the human avatar the suggested rank.

The seeker comment came again from Crueljaw. Darkfire let a malevolent smile spread over her faceplate as she gazed at the two warriors exiting the Medical Bay. This warrior was pushing it. Tolerance was not one of her virtues.

Darkfire's expression quickly faded into indifference. The mission would begin soon. When on a mission, the assassin was all business. The next mission was what she lived for. There was nothing else. Darkfire fell into step behind Vindicator and Crueljaw treading quietly as was her norm.