The Energon Pub

Cryhavok wrote:Med Bay
"Everyone is off to the hangar Ramplate." The triplechanger spoke up as he caught up with Ramplate, while trying to ignore the irritating sound caused by Darkride. "Motormaster called everyone there for a briefing to be given by Starscream."

Ramplate turned back to the triple changer as he was approached. "Really? So Starscream did pull rank on them, hmm? I mean, I've heard that he was always trying to become Megatron's successor but..." the tank-former shrugged then, lost for words to describe his thoughts.

Bridge

The weight of Laserbeak on his shoulder was not something that was reassuring the Starscream, it was unfamiliar and uncomfortable. It was also a reminder that Soundwave was watching, and listening. He did not trust the information master of the Decepticons, he always had his own motivations and schemes working in the background, and Starscream was certain that Soundwave did not trust nor have faith in him. It was unfortunate that Soundwave had made himself practically indispensable, he could go without an individual such as he. Regardless, this was the situation he faced and now he had to address the others.

Starscream walked forward towards the door of the bridge, it slid open as he passed through it and he walked the short distance to the area where the others were assembled. His foot steps echoed through the hall, even though he could hear the murmur of conversation from the assembled Decepticons in the main hall of this ship. He was already processing what to say, always the question on his mind will they trust me? It had only become painfully obvious to him just how irresponsible and short sighted he had been, making his ambitions so clear in the past, showing such arrogance, that the others were right not to fully trust him.

He approached the assembled Decepticons and climbed onto the makeshift platform so he could stand over them, so they could see him and he them. His face was stoic as he surveyed the crowd, Laserbeak shifting on his shoulder, reminding him of the weight he now carried.

"My fellow Deceptcions! I stand before you to present myself as your Commander. I am sure most of you harbour doubts about my capabilities in this role, and I must admit you are not incorrect in your doubts. In the past I have I have been foolish, careless and irresponsible, I have sought power only for myself and for shortsighted reasons. I will not stand here and preach to you about why you should trust me, or why I make a superiour leader then the other officers among us. I know better then to prattle on to try and convince you that I am worthy, instead I intend to prove it to you."

"Before the battle that saw our previous base destroyed, Lord Megatron had set a plan in motion that would see us secure a large supply of a valuable resource that would not only give us an advantage here on this planet but for the war as a whole. In the northern region of what the humans refer to as the Korean Peninsula a significant deposit of this resource rests. I intend to proceed with Megatron's plan to secure this resource for the Decepticons. However, in order to proceed we will all have to mobilize to see this operation succeed."

"The first stage of this operation will require us to establish a new base on the surface of the planet. Scrapper, the services of you and your Constructicons will be required for this base to be build this new base. I want you to select a location near the land mass where the resource deposit is located, make sure our new base is in a secure location, perhaps at the bottom of one this worlds oceans. Supplies and materials are also necessary for this new base, to ensure that we can secure what we need I am forming a team around Astrontrain. Baneblade, Darkride, Ramplate, and Blitzwing will join him. The five of you will be charged with collecting what Scrapper needs to see his task to completion. Thundercracker, you will take Ramjet, Snowcap, Space Case, Hooligan, and Skyjack as security as well as additional labour for Scrapper's operation."

"Of course it is possible for the Autobots to uncover what we are doing and to seek to stop us. To that end Motormaster, I want you to take your Stunticons and to begin carrying out attacks on random targets all over this planet. I want you to cause maximum chaos and destruction to draw the Autobots out and to ensure they are distracted from our true objectives. Skywarp, Hellion, Nightraven, Dirge, Slipstream and Thrust will form a second team to conduct similar operations. I want the two teams to coordinate, but to hit different targets on different continents. I want the Autobots spread thin trying to counter your attacks so they will have no time to try and uncover what we are truly up to."

"Once the first stage of the operation is complete we will relocate our headquarters to the new base and I will then lead us to take control of the resource. Now all of you break into your teams and prepare to mobilize, we have no time to waste."

With his orders given Starscream turned from the assembled Decepticons and headed back to the bridge. Once there he looked to Soundwave.

"I assume you heard all of that? I want you to tap into every level of communications and data transmission this world has. I want you to disrupt any and all means by which the humans have to track us, keep our presence here a secret, but also manipulate this data to be used to undermine the Autobots position on this planet and to show them as the source behind the destruction we are about to bring to this planet."

Starscream moved towards the commanders station of the bridge when a new thought struck him and he turned back to Soundwave.

"It occurs to me that the Autobots may be able to track us due to the multiple bounces we initiated when evacuating our previous battlefield. I want the ship relocated to a new position and all weapons on stand by. I do not want to be caught unawares if or when the Autobots locate this vessel."

Hangar

How infinitely fascinating. I get a role of a transport again. Astrotrain thought as he listened to Starscream speak. The Seeker commander's plan actually sounded pretty decent as far as Astrotrain was concerned, it was just that demeaning feeling transport duty always brought with it. Then again, perhaps he would see some action despite this. In the end, he was a fearsome warrior after all.

Heck, even the team that was assigned around him was all professional even if Darkride's presence wasn't exactly comforting. Astrotrain had to admit he did not know many Transformers that could compete with creepiness when it came to the interrogator - one of the Terrorcons perhaps, or that cannibal Skullcruncher. Uuuh, I better not think of that. Those mechs are just sick. Oh well, better to go to see what Scrapper has in mind before I go to wake up Blitzwing.

Using his considerable bulk to plough his way through the Decepticons between himself and the Constructicons, Astrotrain quickly reached the green and purple group of construction specialist.

"Looks like our fates are shared commander Scrapper."
______________________________________________

If Astrotrain was hopeful when it came to mission assigned to him, Thundercracker could feel an energon noose tightening around his neck. Palming his left hand over his face, the blue seeker shook his head. He had been effectively put to babysit a bunch of dimwits and crazier than thou type of mechs while Skywarp actually got to let off some steam. Though Thundercracker had to admit he did not care for 'Warp's job all that much either. Attacking innocents, be the innocents pathetic flesh creatures or not - was not work cut out for a warrior either. Thundercracker could only hope these five would not cause him too big of a headache.

Giving Skywarp an apathetic look, Thundercracker began moving towards Scrapper while calling out the Decepticons Starscream had just assigned to him. "Alright people! You heard the commander! Gather around me!"
______________________________________________

Motormaster had strolled into the hangar alongside Starscream, larger than life and twice as malevolent. He stood by the seeker's side as Starscream explained his plans to the Decepticons gathered into the hangar - making sure that his imposing presence emphasized every word that came out of Starscream's vocal processor. Before now, even the Stunticon leader had been in the dark when it came to the plans Starscream had shared with them just now but in all truth, he could not point a fault in them. Heck, they weren't even Starscream's originally as far as he could tell. But that hardly mattered. What they had to do was to get the ball rolling. And Motormaster could not fault Starscream for giving him exactly what he wanted - a freedom to cause as much destruction as his sinister spark desired.

As Starscream turned to leave, a sinister smile crept on Motormaster's face. His blazing optics focused on the rest of his team, the large Stunticon left Starscream's makeshift podium behind and headed straight towards the other Stunticons.

"A word boys."

Before any of the four could reply to him, Motormaster had grabbed Wildrider by throat and thrown the terrorist hard against the floor plating. "You slaggin' idiots!"

"You disobeyed me!" The Stunticon leader boomed, swatting Breakdown out of his way while approaching Drag Strip. "Had you slag for brains been able for once to quench your appetite for competition, Hot Spot would never have caught up to us as fast as he did!"

"And not only it is your fault that the Autobots destroyed our base and took Megatron away from us, you slaggin' weakling went to lose some scraplet of an Autobot!" Motormaster continued his raging towards the yellow racer, having slowly but surely backed Drag Strip down against a wall. "Yeah! You lost to some young punk barely out of his proto chamber! A damned winner we have here!"

Lowering his face only a feet or so above Drag Strip's shoulder, Motormaster placed his index finger against Drag Strip's chest armor and spoke up in a hushed tone while starting to push his finger through Drag's chest plating and towards his spark chamber. "Never forget." He hissed. "It is this easy to me."

Pulling his finger out of the hole he had made to Drag Strip's armor, Motormaster straightened up and punched the yellow racer's mid section with enough force to make Drag Strip buckle against the wall but not hard enough to cause too much damage - before turning to look at the other members of his team.

"Get your slaggin' carcasses back to the CR chambers and reformat your alt. modes into something more modern and less eye catching by the meatbag standards! If I see another race car again I am going to reformat you myself! Now beat it!" He roared. "Oh and Dead End... there's an ugly looking paint chip on the back of your head."

Hanger

When Hellion caught sight of Nightraven the berserker quickly made her way over to her, a frown etched on her face. Nighty let out a soft sigh knowing her sister would now commence her complaining, and true to form Hellion did just that. With the problem of their room expressed Hellion made note of Nighty being with Thundercracker and Skywarp. Not wanting her sister to get any ideas about either Seeker, Nightraven began to weave an excuse.

“Helly, knock it off…”

Before she could continue on the door to the hanger opened and in walked Starscream; upon his shoulder sat Soundwave’s little pet, Laserbeak. The Seeker Commander seemed a little worse for wear, but he still managed to strike an impressive figure. Nightraven turned her attention to the Commander as he began to address the masses. His speech was eloquent and inspiring. He truly seemed to want to continue where Megatron left off.

Nightraven looked to Thundercracker when it was announced that he would be leading one of the groups. The blue Seeker face palmed with his left hand and shook his head in abject defeat. She understood exactly how he felt; not only was he saddled with a group of ‘Cons whose combined intelligence probably didn’t even equal that of Space Case himself, but he was expected to kill any humans that got in his way. Killing a species that was no match for the likes of the Decepticons was not something Thundercracker considered to be honorable; this was a belief she shared with him.

Moments later she heard her own name called out; her attention moved from the blue Seeker to Starscream standing on his makeshift podium. Nightraven looked back at Hellion and then to Skywarp. She let out a low sigh while she then eyed the floor. The femme Seeker gazed back up and smiled slightly at Skywarp and then Hellion.

“Well, we should get the others and then head out.”

****

After Starscream had concluded his speech and handed out his orders, Breakdown made his way over to the rest of the gathered Stunticons. He was about to voice his opinion on what he thought of what their new Commander had said when the towering form of Motormaster stalked over to the lot of his team. Breakdown stiffened in fear as his team Commander grabbed a hold of Wildrider and slammed him to the floor.

Motormaster then swatted Breakdown away causing the scout to fly against the wall hard enough to elicit a yelp of surprised followed by a groan of pain. Breakdown shakily picked himself up in time to see Drag Strip receive the worst of Motormaster’s ire. He cringed at the sight in front him, but then cowered away once the Stunticon Commander boomed his final orders. Not wanting to waste any time, and becoming a punching bag for Motormaster, Breakdown quickly headed out of the hanger and on toward the Repair Bay.

****

From Darkride’s position just beside the podium the interrogator could see the entire gathered Decepticon force and the new self-proclaimed Commander. The lithe cycleformer cared little for kind of grandiose speeches provided by the officers, and this one was just like any of the other ones he had heard. What he cared about was getting to eviscerate anyone he could get his hands on be they human or otherwise.

The interrogator perked up when his designation was added to Astrotrain’s group. A wicked smile was soon etched on his face as he pushed himself off the crate he had been leaning against. He then made his way to the military transport and the Constructicons. The interrogator attempted to get the attention of both Scrapper and Astrotrain by performing the unnecessary act of clearing his throat.

“If I may. Since our prior settlement was seemingly eradicated might I recommend we make use of the Sea of Japan? It would provide us with adequate concealment from the humans and it would also make any attempt the Autobots made to attack us impossible due to their lack of flight capabilities.”

Hangar

Baneblade had been standing in the back when Starscream had appeared and delivered his speech to the others. The strategist was not surprised at all that the Seeker commander had taken command, in his mind it only made sense as the other three senior Decepticon officers lacked the capabilities to properly command the assembled warriors. Though Baneblade didn't necessarily support Starscream, for the moment he made the most sense and that was good enough for the hulking Decepticon. After the new commander had divided up the others into various teams Baneblade nodded and made his way over to where Astrotain had gathered.

It only made sense that the majority of those assigned to Astrotrain were primarily ground based, thus forcing them to rely heavily on the triple changer. Not only did this mean it was in their best interest to keep him alive, it also meant the fact that their transport could not only fight with them, but he could also move with them meaning no long, drawn out fighting withdrawals to evacuate. It was an interesting assignment to say the least and the strategist was curious to see how it would all work out.

When he finally arrived at the group Astrotrain and Darkride were already speaking with Scrapper. Baneblade's emotionless visor fell on to the much smaller interrogator. He had never had much contact with Darkride, but from what he knew he did not like. This mech was a vile, disrupted creature and the sort that Baneblade had hoped would find an untimely end on the wrong side of an Autobots weapon, or perhaps from a more unexpected quarter. Regardless he was now a team mate, and one that Baneblade had to tolerate for the time being, seeing as he was likely unphased by the strategists large size and brute strength. The other aggravating thing about Darkride in Baneblade's eyes was that he wasn't some simpleton thug, he was actually rather cunning and intelligent, which only heightened the large Decepticons desire to rip him in two and obliterate his Spark.

"I have to agree with the assessment of this... individuals suggestion for the location of our new base of operations." Baneblade said as he crossed his giant arms over his chest. "The area does not see a high degree or merchant or military activity and it is located near several highly industrialized and advanced nation-states on this planet, or at least what passed for them. However, I recommend that we do not limit our raids to the immediate vicinity or else the Autobots will likely track us back to our main operation. We should also consider hitting locations away from this region and are unrelated targets to also lower our chances of being tracked by unwanted optics."

Hangar

Scavenger's opinion of the new Commander had not changed much from the speech that had been given. He did, however, like the plan Starscream had laid out- in particular the part about a deposit of some important resource. If it was one thing, and probably the only thing that Scavenger was good at, it was finding and digging out deposits of whatever mineral or ore or whatever substance was needed. From the sounds of it, Scavenger would have plenty to do to prove his worth in the coming cycles. And if Starscream gave him the credit and respect that Scavenger always so desperately craved, then the Constructicon excavator would certainly think highly of the seeker.

However, there was on thing that troubled Scavenger, the same thing that had been on his mind ever since he saw the plans in the repair bay. He went close to Long Haul, since he was sitting next to Scavenger, and since he was the only Decepticon who didn't make him feel inferior.

"It seems like a good plan, but it might be vorns until we can get started on De-"

The Constructicon excavator stopped himself. Many of the cons were coming up to Scrapper with questions and suggestions about the yet-to-be-built HQ. He couldn't say too much with so many audio sensors crowded near him.

"De, duh, duh...... the special project."

Hangar

Once the Seeker Commander had finally entered the hangar and began speaking, Drag Strip reluctantly listened to what their new leader had to say. The yellow mech wasn’t overly impressed, but still rather surprised at how seriously Starscream was taking the situation they all found themselves in. ‘Screamer didn’t sound like the backstabbing, power hungry ‘Con of old, but that could just be a cover for his true feelings and intentions. Deep down he could very well be thrilled at Megatron’s demise and happy to be in the position that he is currently in. At the end of the cycle, he had still crowned himself the new Decepticon leader, which is what he had always wanted.

Drag Strip paid closer attention once Starscream laid out his strategy for the upcoming cycles. It seemed as though he had meticulously thought things out as the multi-pronged plan was both ambitious and intelligent in design. Drag was very happy to be a part of one of the groups whose job it would be to create as much havoc and destruction on Earth as possible. He didn’t mind serving as a distraction to lure the Autobots away from the true mission just as long as he could tear up the highway in the process. It was certainly better than serving as manual labor for the Constructicons. Hopefully, this time he wouldn’t get in trouble for creating too much mayhem.

After the meeting was over and Starscream had returned to the bridge, Drag Strip was actually feeling pretty good about the Seeker Commander being in charge as he seemed to have a decent handle on things. That good feeling quickly disappeared, however, when Motormaster demanded to have a word with him and the other Stunticons. The large mech’s ire was swift and painfully as he lifted Wildrider up and slammed him into the ground before then swatting Breakdown away like a common cyber-fly.

Unfortunately for Drag, Motormaster’s anger was directed mostly towards himself as his commander laid the blame for the loss of their base and of Megatron squarely on his yellow shoulders. The former racer gulped as Motormaster approached him, forcing Drag to back away until he found himself up against a wall with his leader standing directly over him. The Stunticon Commander then berated Drag for allowing himself to be beaten into stasis by the Autobot Hex, who should have been easy to eliminate. Drag couldn’t argue with him there as he felt ashamed for letting a small young ‘Bot to literally get the drop on him. The yellow ‘Con hoped he would have a chance at retribution by facing off against Hex once again and giving the crazy mech what he deserved.

However, that was the least of Drag Strip’s worries right now as his leader pressed an actuator directly through his chest plating towards his spark chamber. The memories of what Hex had done to him came flooding back as fear filled his circuits from top to bottom, fear from both Motormaster and from what he had already been through. Drag’s limbs tensed up as the Stunticon Commander reminded him of how easy this would be for him before removing his finger and following that up with a well placed punch to the yellow mech’s midsection. Drag’s entire body buckled against the wall, causing him to double over in pain momentarily as Motormaster then turned towards the others and ordered them all to reformat their alt modes into something more modern. His comment regarding no more race cars was clearly aimed at the former racer and his unwise choice of vehicular form.

Relieved that the violent scolding was finally over, Drag Strip straightened himself up, the pain in his gut now subsided, and collected what dignity he had left before quickly leaving the hangar and heading for the med bay.

******

Skywarp was pleasantly surprised and impressed by Starscream’s speech. He had kept it short and to the point as the Seeker Commander attempted to win over the masses by acknowledging his past mistakes and promising to prove himself worthy of leadership not just by mere words but mainly by his actions. And the first order of business was to continue the plans Megatron had set in motion before his untimely destruction. It all sounded well thought out to ‘Warp and he was pleased with his part in the overall mission. While slaughtering innocent flesh bags would be fun, it would only keep boredom at bay for so long. Hopefully, the plan would work the way it was supposed to and draw out the Autobots, giving the teleporter and his seeker comrades something more substantial to shoot at.

Skywarp looked over at Thundercracker and returned his apathetic expression with a simple shrug of the shoulders. ‘Warp felt bad for his blue friend that he had to essentially babysit the Constructicons and deal with the likes of Darkride, as well. At least the teleporter didn’t have to even look at the interrogator for the foreseeable cycles and instead had the company of Nightraven on the upcoming mission. Working with her would be a real treat for him now that she was giving him a chance at something more than friendship. Of course, ‘Warp also knew that he needed to stay focused on the task at hand and not become too distracted by the seeker femme. That would do no one any good and could get a mech killed if he wasn’t paying close attention to what he was doing or who was attacking him.

“Good luck, ‘Cracker,” Skywarp shouted after his friend before turning to look at both Nightraven and Hellion. “Nighty’s right, let’s find the others and get out of here.” The prankster then turned and made his way through the crowd as he looked around for the other three seekers that were assigned to their team. ‘Warp soon spotted them a short distance away and motioned for the trio to approach. “Slipstream, Dirge, Thrust! Gather over here with myself, Nightraven and Hellion. We’re moving out!”

******

Long Haul tried not to look overly bored by Starscream’s speech. At least it wasn’t too long and grandiose as he was known for. The implication that he was now different and more concerned with the betterment of the empire instead of himself was a bit hard to swallow. Considering the Seeker Commander’s past history, which was vast and full of back stabbings and attempted power grabs, it would be difficult to simply accept that ‘Screamer was somehow a changed mech now. It would be interesting to see by his actions if that were in fact true or not.

However, the plan Starscream had set forth was a good one, but it would unfortunately take the Constructicons’ attention away from making Devastator a reality. Building an entire base from scratch, especially if it was going to be underwater as he overheard Darkride suggest, would be a monumental task in and of itself. Long Haul couldn’t help but agree with Scavenger’s assessment regarding how long it would now take to get started on the gestalt design.

“Yes, Scavenger, it seems the special project is hold for the time being until the base is finished,” Long Haul replied in a hushed tone so that only his comrade could hear him. “Unless, of course, Scrapper can come up with a way for us to work on both at the same time. Although, I’m not sure how we will do that with Thundercracker and his security team close by. I guess we’re just going to have to be patient.”

Repair Bay

Drag Strip entered the repair facility and found a CR chamber at the far end of the room. Once he was at the control panel, he accessed the system’s alternative mode database that was filled with all kinds of Earth vehicles. He narrowed his search down to cars only and began to sort through his options. He had originally picked a Formula 1 racer because it most suited his body design and would allow him the dexterity to beat any other mech or human on the roadways. He had never considered the fact that F1 cars were not used on the highway and only could be seen on a race track. He never had any issues back before the war with his original Cybertronian dragster mode, but then again he was a famous racer and didn’t have to hide from anyone at the time. Things had certainly changed since then.

So, now Motormaster was forcing him to pick a different Earth mode that would not attract any unwanted attention from the meat sacks. Who even cares? Drag Strip thought, a bit irritated that he had to give up his initial choice. It’s not like the fleshlings can catch me anyway. I can just run them off the road if they give me any problems. But, whatever makes the boss happy and keep him off my chest plate, I guess.

Finally an acceptable option caught the yellow racer’s optics, an image of a Dodge Viper SRT-10 filling his view screen. “Actually, that’s not too bad,” he muttered to himself, a smile forming on his face plate. “That’s pretty good, in fact.” Happy with his new choice, Drag Strip programmed it into the CR chamber’s reformat cycle and then stepped inside the unit. Once the door slid shut with a hiss, Drag sat back and allowed the process to begin.

Hangar

Scrapper let Ramjet's set of wierdly passive-aggressive compliments wash over him. He certainly listened to them, they were hardly something he didn't want to hear, but he knew that giving in to that kind of ego boosting would lead to ruin. Not yet...Once this little project is done, then maybe I can listen to that sort of thing.

Finally Starscream emerged, and Scrapper leaned back to listen to the new commander. The speech went much as expected, but the idea that Scrapper and his team might have some independence was much appreciated. Scrapper allowed himself to smile for the first time in what felt like vorns, fortunately hidden by what was left of his faceplate.

"Worry not commander, our new base will be unassailable and undetectable. The Autobots will never find it, and even if they did it wouldn't do them any good." And it might not be simple for you to find every part of it either. We only need one chamber invisible to you and that telepathic goon, and the future of Megatrons empire will be restored.

Saluting Starscream as he would any other commander, Scrapper beckoned to his team, and to Thundercracker and Astrotrain. "Lets get ready to move as soon as possible. The sooner we strike ground on this project, the better. Darkride, you seem to know the area so you can handle our intelligence data. We'll rely on you and Scavenger to find us a good spot, and to get the supply team their targets. It means getting and sorting through intelligence from Soundwave, and as Baneblade says you have to pick well, but I trust you two can handle it." A glance at Scavenger would hopefully remind him to mute his vocaliser for the time being.

We won't fail now. We'll make Megatron proud, whether he returns or no, we'll make sure his vision is completed.

Hangar

"Manual labor, again?" Ramplate said with a sigh, shaking his head. "Or is it 'collections'? Well at least we'll be doing something..." Looking about the room as the others all started dividing into their teams, he wondered. Starscream had only been in command for less than a planet cycle now, and it seemed like there was still an adhesiveness there. From what others had told him, he wouldn't have expected this. From some of the other teams, yes. From those who were as high ranked as the other 'cons were, not quite. Maybe it was still the shock of having only just come through such a blow to their forces...

...Either way, Ramplate's head was hurting again, which meant it was time to stop thinking. Turning to Astrotrain again, he noticed the other two non-triple-changers. Baneblade looked like he had a similar alt-mode to himself, which left Darkride as the smallest of the group. "So... Anyone else get the feeling that this is a little too much armor for just picking up supplies? I'm getting the feeling that these materials will be in someone else's hands already if we're packing this much firepower..."

OoC: Lucky for me I managed to get this post out.

Hanger

Ramjet snorted at what Starscream had to say, and spared the time to groan at some of the remarks that the former Air Commander had to say.

Just keep talking 'Screamer. Let it soak in... Ramjet thought.

He occaisionally looked over to Scrapper to see if what he had to say made any affect at all, but it was impossible to tell for the faceplate of the green construction worker kept any emotion covered.

But he couldn'y stay for long, even after Scavenger walked up and stumbled on his words. Resisting the temptation to make fun of the Constructicon, he walked over to Thundercracker and said, "Hey! Looks like we are working together this time around!"

Too bad its security work. Ramjet thouhgt to himself with much distaste.

Like he suspected the other Constructicons were, to their own varying degrees of ability, Mixmaster listened to the words of the Seeker Leader—or, for all intents and purposes the Decepticon leader now—as he outlined his strategy for where they would go from here after suffering such a critical loss to their forces and their morale. Megatron had filled both gaps ably.

The challenge before the Constructicons now would be to balance the Seeker’s plans with their own and hope that the two did not come in to conflict. As soon as any powerful Decepticon learned of the plans for Devastator, they would inevitably want to control the behemoth themselves, especially without Megatron present to reign in their ambitions.

Which was why when Scavenger almost started to let it slip, Mixmaster's optics had widened considerably. Their house of cards could come crumbling down just that easy.

Fortunately for all of them, the glitch managed to cover up his stumble pretty well. Mixmaster took it as an opportunity to continue to steer their collective conversations in to more mundane matters until the group had some privacy again.

“Heheh heh….well…at least everything sounds like it makes sense. Bases of operations. Planetary chaos. Pretty par for the course. At least he’s not having us do aerial drills or something.”

With that, Mixmaster went off to get his own extra equipment ready so that he could disembark the ship with the others when the word was given. With any luck, he'd be able to forge Scrapper's new faceplate before they even got to the surface.

Hangar

It had taken Slipstream a considerable amount of time to locate a suitable alternate form to use on this world. Their aircraft were so rigid and flimsy, not like her adjustable former alternate mode. Finally she had settled on the SU-47 fighter. It appeared to be a bit unorthodox and unusual design on this planet, but it was the only one that meshed well with her capabilities and aesthetic. She was still getting used to the new form as she stood and listened to Starscream’s speech.

The speech was good enough for the masses, Slipstream could see that. She saw through the façade Starscream was pushing though. Where one Decepticon would see him proudly continuing the mission Megatron had left off with she saw him going through with that plan because he had none of his own. This was just to keep everyone busy and moving while he tried to come up with some real plans for leadership. Why else would he have some assignment, no matter how menial, for practically everyone? It was a classic case of stalling.

It was unfortunate too as she was curious to pit her powers of manipulation against that of Starscream. She had rarely ever dared to try and manipulate those in high command as they tended to mostly be a paranoid and brutal lot. One mistake there and they would be picking up the pieces of what was left of her. Starscream was not of that general disposition though and she would be more then willing to try and manipulate him. Alas, it would have to wait for another time.

The seeker plastered her best smile on her face as Skywarp gestured for her to join him. “Well look here, I get to work with the second best teleporter in the Decepticon ranks.” She playfully punched Skywarp in the chest. “How are you doing Warp?” She glanced over at Hellion and Nightraven standing with him. “And I get to work with two of my fellow femme seekers! I couldn’t imagine a better group to go out and cause some chaos with.” If she couldn’t mess with Starscream then she would just build some relationships with the peons. It was always good to have some of the regular fighters on your side.

*

Hellion shot an annoyed look at Nightraven as she tried to quiet her down, but her attention was quickly drawn over to Starscream as he made his big speech. She wasn’t much for speeches, but she perked up at the mention of her assignment. Go cause some random mayhem and destruction to draw out the Autobots? She was practically built for such a mission. A smile spread over her face as her early annoyance faded away at the thought of the violence to come.

The seeker twitched a bit at Skywarp’s use of her sister’s nickname. It didn’t quite seem right coming from him. She was surprised that Nightraven didn’t seem to mind it very much either. The frown returned to her face. Something was going on, and all she knew was the she didn’t like it.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Slipstream walked up to them. Hellion didn’t know what to think of this one. She seemed friendly and excited about the mission to come. That was good enough for her. “Come on, lets get going. The sooner we blow stuff up, the sooner we can blow up some Autobots!”

*

Hook could do nothing but sigh at Starscream’s speech and assignment for them. It seemed that his vast technical talents were doomed to be wasted on such fantastic projects as making walls and welding support beams. It was times like these that he almost missed the days before the war. At least then he was fully appreciated and well respected, even if his talent for making machines of mayhem was fairly curbed.

He glared at Scavenger as he almost let the name ‘Devastator’ slip from his vocalizer. The Constructicon would have tripped his head from his worthless body if he didn’t need him intact for the project. Someone was going to have to watch the more mentally impaired members of their team until Devastator was ready to be unveiled.

There was a chance that this mission could give them an opportunity. Depending on how closely Starscream was watching them, along with Soundwave, they might be able to get some work done on the project. It would have to be carefully done, perhaps in shifts. It would be slow work, but Hook could practically feel how close they were to actually beginning to make the adjustments to bring Devastator to life. They would play Starscream’s good little builderbots while they carefully plotted their own rise to power.

*

Bridge

Soundwave was mildly annoyed to have to both monitor communications and steer the ship, yet he silently did both. The Ultrax carefully adjusted its orbit to a different pattern as he monitored all communications. “Our movements from vessel to Earth: easy to conceal from the humans. To fully hide from Autobots: multiple course corrections after each bounce required. Programming autopilot to conduct maneuvers after each bounce registered.”

The communication’s specialist punched in the commands into the ship computer while monitoring all of the data traffic coming from the planet below. “Human media: nearly exclusively reporting on eruption of volcano containing former base. Currently no mention of our presence, but speculation on suddenness and violence of eruption. Nation-state known as ‘United States’ may hide the details from the general populace but our presence will be known to some degree on some level.”

Soundwave turned in his chair to look at Starscream as Laserbeak flew back to his master and perched on his shoulder. “Infiltration cover likely to have been revealed due to recent events. Do you plan to proceed with infiltration protocols or move to a more open warfare system? Confirmation needed so as to correctly manipulate information flow across the planet.”

Hangar

Scavenger could not feel more ashamed for almost blowing the Constructicons secret project. Though glad he had stopped talking before it was too late, he still wished he had stopped himself astroseconds earlier.

It seemed like Long Haul hadn't noticed, so Scavenger looked around to see if anyone else did, ignoring what the transport was saying.

Hook and Mixmaster heard me.... Slag, Scrapper will probably have Hook remove my shovel, give it to another 'Con to replace me, and put what's left of me in Mixmaster's mixing drum. Probably use what's left of me for an exhaust pipe or a waste removal port or something...... Wait, Ramjet looked, did he notice? He was talking to Scrapper earlier, maybe he did.... No, he's talking to the other seeker's, probably not..... Slaggit I'd better watch what I say more carefully .....

After a moment the excavator looked over to Scrapper. Though most 'Cons had a hard time figuring out the Constructicon leader's body language because of his faceplate, Scavenger had worked with the engineer long enough to have a good idea, and it was the same look of disappointment, annoyance and anger that Scavenger had seen all too often. Which made Scavenger feel even worse when Scrapper assigned the mining and salvage specialist to work with Darkride.

No no no..... I have to keep my vocalizer shut and he's having me work with HIM!? Okay Scavenger, relax.... He only tortures Autobots for info, he's not being assigned to get me to talk about anything..... Just have to think before I talk..... DON'T BLOW IT!!!

Scavenger walked over to the interrogator.

"So..... Darkride", Scavenger said in a somewhat stilted manner as he deliberately thought out his words to keep from saying too much, "Just tell me... where to go... and I'll find whatever we need... that's what I do, after all... I find things."

I hope that wasn't too obvious......

((OOC-Taking the nut for an npc spin, at Cry's request.))

Med Bay

Wildrider's vision glitched and a steady stream of curses began shooting through his mind the instant he crashed to the floor, having been once again thrown there by Motormaster's typical thuggishness.

Slag fraggin', two-glitched, sprayjobbin' hackmaster, Wildrider thought, watching as Motormaster systematically manhandled the rest of the team. Compared to some of them, he hadn't been treated all that bad. He'd endured worse, that's for sure.

Pushing himself back to his feet, Wildrider staggered over to a workstation where he began sifting through a litany of alt modes. Changing modes wasn't exactly the first thing that was on his mind right now, but he wasn't going to do anything to incur any more of Motormaster's wrath. At least not right now. The planet had some nice designs, he had to give 'em that much.

"C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon.....yeah. Yeah, that'll do," Wildrider said, as an image of a Ferrari 458 Italia rotated on one of the screens.

Hangar

"I'll let you three deal with the details." Astrotrain spoke up after listening to Baneblade, Darkride and Scrapper talk for a while. "Someone's going to have to wake up Blitzwing anyhow."

"Sure Ramplate, there's no chance we get what we need peacefully. Humans have what we need and damn them fleshsacks if they stand in our way." The hulking triplechanger added before heading back towards the Med Bay.
__________________________________

Oh just great, how in the name of Megatron he can act this way despite all the crap he has pulled off lately? Thundercracker thought as Ramjet decided to address him.

"Don't get too excited. It is not like it is the first time." Thundercracker said, his gaze searching for the Cyberjets who were yet to make their way to him. "The nature of our task does not allow us to do anything to endanger our position to the Autobots or the fleshlings. We simply can't deal with both of them with our current resources if our operation is compromised."

"So we keep watch and react if we need to. Hammer it to your cranium that it is critical for our survival - not because it is something I want to do." The blue seeker added sternly, locking his optics with Ramjet's. "I will need your help to make sure that Hooligan and Space Case don't screw everything up, we've got an understanding?"
__________________________________

Med Bay

As Astrotrain arrived back to the med bay, he could already see few Stunticons busy searching the computer terminals for new alt. modes to avoid the wrath of their devilish unit commander. At least Breakdown, Drag Strip and Wildrider were busy with it. Dead End however, was nowhere to be found. After the trashing Motormaster had given to them, it was somewhat surprising.

Ignoring the Stunticons, Astrotrain walked up to the cr chamber holding Blitzwing. The instrument panel was clearly indicating that the commando was good to be released from the chamber. Activating the activation process of the chamber, Astrotrain stepped back to watch as the chamber was drained empty of the green liquid filled with nanites. It was only matter of time until Blitzwing's systems would reboot.

Hanger

Ramjet returned the exact look of direness when Thundercracker looked at him directly and asked for his help in keeping the Cyberjets in line. Peace of cake. If they mess up slightly, "detain" them, and make sure they don't mess up again.

"You can count on me 'Cracker," Ramjet said with a smile, holding his hand out for a handshake in a gesture of agreement he said, "Just saying, because we are working with a bunch of moronic scrapheaps, lets just stick together on this one, eh?"

He needed someone to back him up, especially now since they literally were working with some dim-witted Scrapheaps, and he knew that if worse came to worse, they would both need someone to catch the other if they fell.

Hangar

“Second best?” Skywarp scoffed at Slipstream’s assertion that she was a better teleporter than he was. Unfortunately, she was correct as her transwarp drive allowed her to teleport over much greater distances than the prankster, including from one star system to another. Of course, she also suffered from the same kinds of limitations that ‘Warp did. For instance, she needed to know the layout of her destination or be able to see where she was going. Otherwise, she’d end up stuck inside of a rock or a wall somewhere. “Well, perhaps. But I don’t have an experimental transwarp drive like you. Maybe you’ll lend it to me sometime. I’d love to take it for a spin.”

Skywarp smiled back at Slipstream, knowing full well she would never part with such a unique device. And while ‘Warp would love to have a greater teleportation range, he also didn’t like the fact that her special drive used up so much energy. The black and purple seeker would rather teleport short distances than risk expending all of his power too soon and thus be left helpless in the heat of battle.

As his team assembled around him, Skywarp looked for the one seeker who had not yet joined them. “Where’s Thrust at? I thought I saw him over there.” The prankster peered through the crowd of ‘Cons still loitering around and quickly realized that it wasn’t the red conehead he had seen earlier, but some other mech. 'Warp then remembered that Thrust was still in a CR chamber down in the repair bay. “Slaggit! Now I remember where he is. Sorry, Hellion, I gotta go wake up Thrust first. Then we can depart. Don’t worry, I’ll be quick about it.”

And with that, Skywarp disappeared from sight.

Repair Bay

Skywarp reappeared down in the ship’s medical facility where the Stunticons were already getting themselves reformatted like Motormaster had ordered. He also saw Astrotrain retrieving Blitzwing from one of the CR chambers across the room. Now, it was the teleporter’s turn to do the same thing as he peered through the windows of several chambers before finally coming to the one that contained Thrust. He studied the controls for a moment and found that the red conehead’s repair cycle was complete.

“Time to rise and shine,” Skywarp muttered as he pulled the release lever on the side of the unit, which drained the greenish fluid inside. The door then opened with the usual hiss as ‘Warp waited patiently with his arms crossed over his chest plate. “Okay, Thrust, wake up! We’ve got new orders. A lot’s happened since you went offline. Follow me down to the hangar, and I’ll fill you in on the way.”

Hanger

The interrogator had listened to Baneblade’s suggestions of spreading their raids to acquire the needed energy they would need to build their new base of operations. With Scrapper’s orders given, Darkride offered a slight nod before looking to Scavenger. He wanted to get a feel for the Constructicon’s characteristics and personality after all he would be working closely with the excavator and getting to know who he would be in close proximity with was a very important rule he lived by.

Darkride regarded Ramplate with narrowed optics before making his way to Scavenger. The interrogator drew his dark crimson optics up and down the Constructicon’s form as he listened to him bumble around his introduction. Darkride flashed Scavenger a predatory smile as he drew closer to the 'Con.

“Have you suddenly developed a glitch, or is there something you would like to share?”

Darkride placed his hands behind back before he began to circle his coworker. If he was going to work with this mech he wanted him to be at ease, and that meant unburdening himself with whatever he had on his mind.

Med Bay

Breakdown had left the Hanger as quickly as he could after Motormaster’s reprimand of the whole of the Stunticon team. Once he was in the corridor the paranoid mech took off at top speed for the med bay. Once there he took up a position at a terminal where he began to scroll through a list of available alt modes that were compatible with his frame.

With his optics glued on the screen before him he proceeded to mumble and shake. After a few moments he began to worry that Motormaster would show up soon and beat the one who hadn’t chosen their new mode. Finally, Breakdown stopped when he came across a white Lamborghini Gallardo with blue racing stripes. Breakdown suddenly stopped shaking and a broad smile spread across his face.

“That’s the one.” he whispered as he set the CR chamber and entered.

Hanger

Nightraven watched as Thundercracker left to assemble his team on the other side of the Hanger leaving her with Helly and Skywarp. Optics still focused on the blue Seeker’s location, Nightraven let out a low sigh. After a few moments her attention was drawn back to Skywarp and her sister. The femme let a slight smile grow as Skywarp called to the remaining team members.
Slipstream arrived seconds after she was called and quickly reacquainted herself with the teleporter. Nightraven didn’t really know much about the other femme Seeker, just that she is capable of teleporting, but unlike Skywarp she uses a transwarp drive.

With Slipstream’s mentioning that she would be working alongside her fellow femme Seekers, Nightraven relaxed, but only slightly. When it came to being deceitful ‘Con femmes were the worst. She was going to have to keep an optic on this one.

Nightraven’s attention was drawn back to Skywarp as he announced that he would have to go to the Med Bay and retrieve Thrust. Nighty placed her hand gently on Hellion’s shoulder. With the delay her sister would obviously be upset. Keeping her calm now would be for the best as it would control her berserker side and leave everyone present online. Nightraven looked around the Hanger as she addressed both other femmes.

“I haven’t seen Dirge around, have either of you?”

Repair Bay

Slowly, each of Blitzwing's main systems began to reboot. With a low groan, Blitzwing began to reclaim control of his giros and targeting systems. Finally able to move, Blitzwing took a step outside his individual CR chamber clumsily as his optics came online. Seeing Astrotrain and the others in front of him and recognising his surroundings, he quickly ascertained that they were no longer on Earth.

"Rarrrgh.. what the slag happened?" He asked, thinking back to his last moments before stasis lock yet finding nothing but jumbled memories. Hardhead was lay helpless before him, he had won. So why was he the one who had woken up with a bad head and damaged systems? The Triple Changer's movements were beginning to come more naturally as his frame loosened up after a period of none activity. His optics narrowed on Astrotrain. "Who was responsible for my being here?" Blitzwing asked, motioning towards the CR chamber he had just stepped out of, his memory had started to return. "Some jumped up Autoweasle blasted me from behind, I want to know who! Next time we meet, I will feed them their own processing circuits!" He snarled, angrily.

Bridge

After giving his orders to Soundwave Starscream moved over and sat in the ships command chair and began to look over the information on the command panel. Although he had ordered Soundwave to take control of the ship, but the Commander decided to do it himself. He set the ship for a course that would be best for a single bounce for the first team to leave, and also began to do a check on the ships weapons, making sure they were armed and prepared in case they were needed. After doing his checks on the ships systems he glanced over at Soundwave.

"Hmm, for now I would like to maintain infiltration protocols, though I do understand my current orders will likely heighten our chances of our discovery, or lead to it. For that eventuality I want to be prepared to move against the humans and cripple them before they can strike against us. Locating major concentrations of military assets will be necessary if we are to launch dedicated strikes against their abilities to resist. We will also have to locate important facilities for command and control, weapon storage, industrial bases and other targets directly linked to supporting a war effort. Additionally key political targets will be also need to be prioritized so we can decapitate both civilian and military leadership in the opening rounds of a conflict with the humans. Lastly computer viruses that can be unleashed against their computer systems and infrastructure will also need to be readied to be unleashed so we can cripple their reliance on computerized systems."

Starscream once again looked back to the command panel as he set himself up for command and control of the coming operation.

Hangar

When Ramplate spoke Baneblade cast a look down at the other ground based Decepticon and gave an obvious sigh. Cretin. He thought to himself when he made his obviously ill-thought statement about the make up of their team. The strategist turned to face the him.

"The composition of our team makes perfect sense of you applied some processing power to it." He rumbled. "Observe the other teams. The Stunticons have their own methods for operating, also their speed profiles line up. Again, the Seekers are all air based and have high degrees of speed and maneuverability. By contrast most of us either lack the capability to keep up with the others on speed alone, also considering our alternate forms if we joined them our presence would likely arouse to much suspicion. Also consider the critical need we have for the supplies we are going to be gathering. It is likely Commander Starscream does not want to risk failure for our mission, most of us are capable of withstanding sustained firefights as well as being able to deliver a high amount of fire power. Also, given the sheer importance and reliance we all need to place on Astrotrain effectively transporting us to and from our mission locations we will also need to be able to protect him and avoid serious injuries to ourselves."

Hangar

"Suddenly?", Scavenger replied nervously to Darkride as the interrogator circled him, "Slag, the other Constructicons have been calling me a glitch ever since I joined the team, heh heh. Of course, they've also called me Scrounge, scrap-for-brains.... heh heh....."

Scavenger stopped talking as he started to trail off. He wasn't fooling Darkride, who clearly knew something was on his mind. But Scavenger was determined not to mess up anymore than he already had- and if Darkride tried anything, Scavenger would get back at him once Devastator was finished. He looked Darkride right in the eye, in an almost pleading manner.

"Look, I need to show Scrapper and the other guys I can do this without their keeping an eye on me. If I mess this up, they'll probably use my armor for the walls of the new base, and my circuits for the computers. Let's just get this done, okay?"

Hangar

Scrapper frowned at his fellow mechs as they moved around chaotically in their preperations. The Constructicons worked well as a unit, but with all these others around things were more haphazard than usual. This would cause delays, and make thigns more difficult. Still, they certainly needed the help this time. Time to help things along.

"Bonecrusher, help Mixmaster get his equipment. Hook, you can help Darkride and Scavenger, I'm sure they'll find dozens of locations working together, you can be more critical of what we need." And with the second-in-command there, the secrets of the project would be safer.

"We all meet at the Bounce Chamber in 5 Breems. That includes Thundercracker and Astrotrainsgroups. Long Haul, with me." The Constructicon leader headed towards the storage bays in the rear of the ship. "You still have the supplies you collected from the old base, to get us started, correct? We can find some extra on the ship, but I doubt it'd be much." Cannabilising their ship didn't seem like a smart move, assuming the cargo bays weren't just full of the Stunticons junk.

Hangar

Krunix strode through and behind the intermingling conversations and chaos that was the Decepticon Army. Plans were being made, wounds were being tended...but the Cons always lost something in translation, always overlooked minutia that inevitably damned them later.

Krunix wasn't going to allow lack of forethought if he could help it. Since his bounce and assessment of the situation, he'd been scouring the hall of the Ultrax, trying to coordinate with Scrapper and Hook and the Stunticons about rearming and refitting the fit, ostensibly undamaged Cons that had made it to the scrapheap of a vessel.

Weaponry damaged in the battle? There were some replacements in the Ultrax that would do for now. Minor system failures? The Medbay was swamped, and recalibrations and small repairs could be logged and prioritized. While Krunix would have much preferred coordinating on the Infiltration, and already had several ideas that could serve well, organization had to come before reassignment or even debriefing, and he was certain no other Con willing.

Approaching Hellion, Slipstream, and Nightraven, Krunix logged a cursory evaluation of their conditions, noted the most current assignments for them on record, and offered small energy cells to the three of them from the cannister of supplies he'd salvaged from Storage, "Before we all scatter about this tricursed planet, are their any system failures to report? Weapon malfunctions? Noteworthy logs from the attack?" He looked up from his handheld terminal long enough to note that Hellion was among those he was addressing, and wondered why it was his luck never seemed to speak up...

Hangar

Long Haul kept a low profile as Scrapper ushered their team together and began issuing orders. He also watched as Scavenger fumbled over his own words when speaking with Darkride. The green transport couldn’t really blame his comrade for being uneasy around the interrogator, whose nasty reputation preceded him. But the Constructicons all had to be very careful when talking about Devastator from now on, especially when around a mech like Darkride whose specialty was extracting information out of mechs in the most gruesome ways imaginable. The torturer always seemed to get what he was after, but this time had to be different if the gestalt was to become a reality.

Long Haul perked up when Scrapper ordered him to follow and quickly moved in behind his commander. As they walked towards the storage bays at the rear of the Ultrax, Scrapper inquired about the original supplies that had been previously gathered down on Earth. Long Haul paused a moment, not wanting to disappoint the Constructicon leader but still had no choice but to deliver the bad news. “Um, I don’t think we have those supplies anymore, boss. I left them in the hangar down in the old base when we returned to help repel the Autobot incursion. I don’t know what happened to them after that. I eventually fell into stasis lock and woke up here on the Ultrax. I’m sorry, boss, but unless Motormaster had those supplies bounced here with the rest of the surviving ‘Cons, we’ll have to start from scratch.”

Long Haul hoped that Scrapper wouldn’t be too upset by the news, and who knows, perhaps some of the equipment and materials were salvaged before the base detonated. Although, somehow the green transport didn’t think they’d be that lucky.

Repair Bay

The CR door slid open once the nanite-filled liquid had vacated through the bottom of the unit. The reformat cycle was finished and Drag Strip stepped out of the chamber feeling like a new mech. In many ways he was, at least physically. On the inside, the yellow Stunticon was still the same egotistical character that everyone hated or made fun of. However, on the outside, his new upgraded body was clearly different, and yet it managed to hark back to his original Cybertronian form more so than the first Earth mode he had chosen. Drag still sported a sleek, race-like design that pleased his own self-image but was now road legal and thus would hopefully make Motormaster happy if that was even possible.

Wanting to test out his new alt mode, Drag Strip stepped away from the CR chambers where he had more room and transformed. His feet and legs now formed the front and hood of the car while his torso shaped the roof and windshield as his arms created the doors. The rear of the vehicle folded up from his back to conceal his head thus completing the overall transformation. Now sitting in the repair bay was a yellow Dodge Viper SRT-10 with red racing stripes running down the center and a high rear spoiler that helped to complete the race-style theme that Drag still wanted to convey without incurring the wrath of his commander in the process.

Pleased with the new Earth vehicle he had chosen, Drag Strip returned to robot mode and looked around to see Astrotrain awaken Blitzwing from a CR chamber as Skywarp did the same with Thrust. In addition, some of Drag’s own comrades were still in the process of reformatting themselves, as ordered. Having no desire to wait around and waste any more cycles, the yellow mech made his way out of the repair bay and headed back towards the hangar before Motormaster decided to come looking to see what was taking him and the other Stunticons so long.

Repair Bay

"Thankful as ever." Astrotrain chuckled in response to his fellow triplechanger as Blitzwing stepped out of his CR chamber and began to question his savior.

"Don't fry your circuits Blitz." The larger triplechanger spoke out and motioned Blitzwing to follow him. "You were lying on the ground doing your best to make a pretty wreck when I found you. I don't know who distracted you but the damage that took you out clearly came from Hardhead's shatterblasters judging from the damages in your body."

"I am afraid you have to look for answer elsewhere." Astrotrain added as he walked through the corridors leading towards the hangar. "Our base was destroyed. Megatron is missing and Starscream has declared himself the leader or this particular cell of Decepticons with support from Motormaster, Scrapper and Soundwave. Though how deep their support goes is a good question."
____________________________________________

"Huh? Skywarp?" Was all Thrust managed to say before tripping over and falling into the floor as he staggered out of his CR chamber.

"Did I get run over by Prime?" He finally managed to ask after his sensor matrix finished recalibrating. His boisterous side rising its head again. "Had to be. I am too tough for those amateurs Prime surrounds himself with. The coward must have blasted me from behind. Yeah. No good cyberweasel, didn't dare to face me face to face."