The Energon Pub

Bridge – Command Conference Room

“The Fallen's spark is secured. Perhaps not to the extent that Red Alert would prefer, but I have him working on that. We all agreed to launch the Fallen's spark into the sun of this solar system. I have the Guardian en route to do precisely that. I think it's unlikely that it's responsible....but we obviously can't rule anything out until that has happened. The sooner the better. As to Ratchet's findings, I'll let him speak to those. Doctor?”

Prowl nodded in understanding to Ultra Magnus’ words. The black and white was very happy to hear that the fiery demigod’s spark was as secured as it could be and would be disposed of very soon. He then sat back in his chair with his actuators laced together in front of him as he listened to everything being said in the room.

The City Commander filled everyone in on everything that had happened in the past several cycles, some of which Prowl already knew, some he did not due to his recent mission down to Oahu, Hawaii. Ratchet gave his preliminary diagnosis via a holographic transmission from the Brig. It was enlightening to be sure, but still no definitive answers as to what caused Prime and Megatron to react in such a way or what could be done to prevent it from happening again. To be fair, it was a lot to take in and everyone had an opinion on what to do next. Magnus said he wanted options and there was no shortage of them currently being thrown at the acting Autobot leader.

Once everybody had said their peace, Prowl leaned forward in his seat, unlacing his actuators as he placed both forearms onto the table top. “Clearly, a lot has happened and we need answers ASAP. I have to concur with what both Hot Spot and Blaster have already suggested. We should divide our efforts in order to cover more ground. Teams should be sent to Africa where Megatron and Optimus were found as well as to the volcano site where they both initially vanished. Tests need to be run and scans need to be performed to see if more of that strange black energy can be detected at either site. Maybe we’ll be able to find the source and if it has any connection to the Ore-13 Perceptor has been studying. It might be a long shot but it’s worth looking into at least. In the meantime, Prime can be kept secured in the Brig while Ratchet runs whatever further tests he needs to including tests on that black energy. I believe we have a sample if I’m not mistaken?”

Prowl paused for a moment as Jetfire voiced his concerns of other projects being put on the back burner. “I wouldn’t worry about that, Jetfire. With the emergence of Devastator, the gestalt project will not be forgotten. It’s imperative that we meet this new threat with a combiner of our own and one that functions better than Devastator has shown to operate.”

“Devastator not a problem. Me and Dinobots handled him,” Grimlock interjected from his seat directly across from where Prowl sat. The military strategist regarded the Dinobot Commander with a frown, but that did not faze the rex-former in the slightest. Grimlock had listened to everything spoken in the room just like Prowl and was just as surprised as anyone that the great Optimus Prime had gone crazy. However, what surprised him even more was the revelation that not only had Prime been found but Megatron, as well. Not only that but the slagmaker had been kept prisoner onboard the Guardian and then the Ark-22.

“Why me not informed of Megatron’s capture?” Grimlock demanded, fixating his optics on Prowl before turning them to Ultra Magnus. “Me next highest ranking mech after Prowl. Me should have been told!”

“Don’t feel bad, Grim, I wasn’t told right away, either,” Prowl spoke up to hopefully calm a clearly agitated Dinobot Commander. “I only found out after I, myself, discovered Megatron down in the med bay in a secured room before my mission. It was a need-to-know basis in order to keep panic from spreading amongst the Autobot ranks. You can understand that can’t you, Grim?”

“So much good that did. Megatron escaped and caused panic anyway. Autobots unprepared because they not know! You only lucky slagmaker only wanted off ship. Otherwise, you all be dead or in stasis right now,” Grimlock stated in a firm voice.

“Don’t be so dramatic, Grimlock,” Prowl replied, rolling his optics.

“Dramatic or not, Megatron should have been destroyed as soon as him found, not kept as prisoner,” Grimlock shot back, turning his attention from Prowl to Ultra Magnus. “You had chance to end Megatron forever when him weak and at Autobot mercy and you didn’t! Now, him gone to who know where!”

“We wanted to interrogate him, Grimlock!” Prowl interjected, drawing the Dinobot Commander’s glare back to him. “We wanted to get information that only Megatron would know, vital information!”

“And how that work out for you, Prowl? Mmmmm?” Grimlock scoffed as he then looked around at everyone sitting at the table. “Autobot leadership a joke! You let opportunity slip by to kill the one who started this war! Megatron too dangerous to keep alive, even without black stuff coming out of him. After all slagmaker has done, the millions he’s killed, he should’ve been terminated, not saved. That weakness, not strength, and that not happen if me had been in charge!”

“Well, you’re not in charge,” Prowl stated plainly. “So, I suggest you start showing some respect for your superiors.” Honestly, the cop-former understood and even agreed to a certain extent with what Grimlock was saying. Megatron was too dangerous to keep alive, but he also possessed pertinent intel that the Autobots needed to help fight the ‘Cons. Once that data had been extracted from the slagmaker, Prowl had every intention of terminating his spark. Unfortunately, neither of those things ended up transpiring before Megatron made his escape.

Grimlock glared intensely at the military strategist as the rex-former stood up from his chair, placing both fists firmly onto the table. “I respect strength, Prowl, not weakness. Optimus Prime strong. Me, Grimlock, strong. What me see here - pathetic!”

Silence fell over the room as Grimlock stared a moment longer at the black and white before sitting back down into his chair. Once the situation had cooled a bit, Prowl looked back to Ultra Magnus. “Regardless of what some here may think, keeping Megatron prisoner for interrogation was the right thing, sir. No one could’ve foreseen the events that transpired. Besides, maybe the Decepticons are dealing with a homicidal Megatron right now just like we did with Prime. Perhaps the slagmaker will end up killing some of his own men. I wouldn't mind that at all.”

The Brig

“Smokescreen, help me with this. Hold it still, and monitor this screen. Let me know if you see any sudden spikes. I’ll be a bit distracted. There’s an officer’s meeting that I’ll be participating in remotely,” Ratchet said as he pointed directly at his new assistants before shoving a medical device into the rallybot’s hand.

“Um, yeah, sure thing, Ratchet,” Smokescreen responded with an understanding nod as he moved towards the med berth. Holding the device near Optimus Prime’s inert form, the diversion expert kept his optics fixated on the designated screen as Ratchet barked more orders at Rosanna and Clocker. The CMO then partook in the officers’ meeting via a holographic interface. Smokey remained mostly focused on Optimus’ readouts, but he did at one point overhear something about an anomaly in Prime’s processor and that this was done to him by something or someone.

Then a spike appeared on the screen. Then another. Finally, a whole series of spikes shot across the display as Optimus Prime began to stir. “Um, Ratchet! He’s waking up!” Smokescreen exclaimed as he placed the medical device down and instinctively went for his weapon before noticing that Optimus’ optics were their normal blue and not black like they were previously when he was acting crazy. Ratchet rushed to Prime’s side. “O-Optimus, hold on,” the CMO called out as he reached for the Autobot leader’s arm. The rallybot then took hold of Prime’s other arm as the large red mech swung both legs down from the medical slab, his optics widening suddenly.

“What have I done…?”

“It wasn’t your fault, Optimus,” Smokescreen spoke in a calming voice, keeping one hand on Prime’s arm while placing the other onto his leader’s shoulder in an effort to comfort him. “You weren’t in control. This was done to you by someone. Please don’t blame yourself. It wasn’t you.”

Medical Bay

“Hey buddy! Any louder and you've alerted the 'Cons to our position,” Pinpoint yelled across the room.

Snarl turned to look at the sniper femme. “Good! Let ‘em come! Me and Dinobots bash Decepticon head plates in when they get here! End war real quick!” The Desert Warrior then moved his big bulk out of the way as Hoist and Rook prepared Getaway for an operation. With the escape artist being taken care of, the plated Dinobot made his way towards the exit.

“Hey, got any room for one more? Heh.”

Snarl stopped and peered around to see his aerial comrade hobbling across the room, looking for an empty med berth. “Frag, Swoop, you've seen better days,” the Desert Warrior chuckled as he approached his fellow Dinobot and patted him on the shoulder. “Don't worry. Me find you a slab. Just wait here.” Snarl then began walking around searching for an available medical berth, but there didn’t seem to be any. Becoming frustrated, the Desert Warrior noticed that some berths were occupied by those who didn’t appear to be gravely injured and could just as easily be fixed in a CR chamber.

“You, Autobot!” Snarl suddenly shouted at one such mech. “You not look too bad. Swoop need this berth more than you.” Not waiting for an objection, the plated Dinobot grabbed a hold of the much smaller mech and lifted him up with both hands before placing him into a nearby CR chamber. “There, this do you just fine. Have nice rest!” The Desert Warrior then closed the chamber and initiated the repair cycle.

Turning back to look at his one-legged compatriot with a broad smile across his faceplate, Snarl motioned towards the newly emptied med berth. “Here you go, Swoop! Take a load off!”

Medbay - Private Room

The cop bot didn't seem to be expecting others, judging by the expression on his face. Luckily, he wasn't too distracted and noticed the green scientist.

"Why yes. I'm Streetwise; acting detective on this case. And you are..?"

"Anomaly. Pleasure to, uh, make acquaintance with you."

Looking around at the mess in the room, it was clear that whatever happened here was most definitely a nasty sight. The scientist quickly scanned the room with his optics before returning his attention to Streetwise.

"I, uh, came to investigate as soon as I heard something was up. Looks like you reached here first, but, uh, sir, if it would be alright with you, could I possibly assist you with this investigation? I may have, uh, "skills" that may be useful to you." Anomaly nervously spoke. His voice had started to shy away a bit at the end, but it was clear that he was willing to help in any way he could.

[Mess Hall]

Slag wrote:"Not long, one way or another. If they don't give us new orders, I'll find something."

"Eh, I don't feel good about another order," mumbled the jungle warrior. Slag probably didn't hear that, much less care about it. Sludge followed his fellow Dinobot into the mess hall, which luckily enough wasn't crowded.

Sludge's large mass was promptly dropped onto a seat at the counter. There was a bit of a noticeable thump when that happened. He told the bartender of his choice of drink, "Just extra hard Energon. Shaked."

Slag wrote:"Why you ask? You not normally type to want to rush back into battle."

"I miss Trion ship. Feels better than regular Autobot ship. Trion ship best Dino ship."

[Corridors]

Groundbomber wrote:"You're not the only one, Bravo. I haven been out the CR Chamber for too long, either. Just remember, you're not alone. Go ahead and catch up with your wingbot. I'll wait for Kup, Skids, and the others and see you in a bit."

Alpha sighed with relief. He looked back up at Groundbomber with a somewhat reassured smile, but deep down inside, he was still shaken. But he couldn't allow himself to show this kind of weakness ever again, because at this rate, he'd turn into the resident laughing stock of the Autobots. And the thought of that didn't exactly seem the most inviting.

"I suppose. Sorry, again, for all of that. I guess I just need some time to think. I'll go to 'Glide at the observation deck, so you know where to find me when Kup and Skids are about."

He started making his way down the corridor, but took one last look back at the femme behind him. "Take care, 'Bomber."

[Observation Deck]
Powerglide was waiting for his fellow flyer, holding two drinks in hand. "Took you long enough."

Alpha Bravo took the drink meant for him. "I needed to. And hey, thanks. At least it wasn't Adhoc, he'd make things insane."

The two bumped their drinks. "Here's to another vorn of great adventures, featuring yours truly, Powerglide."

"More like crazy adventures. At least it isn't another 'con trick!" The two flyers laughed. Good times, yet to get better. It would be pretty rare anyhow, with a raging war in the background.

[Medbay]

Pinpoint wrote:"Thanks. I've no intention of giving up any time soon. Not 'til I give those three Seekers whatfor. And Red and I need to chat."

"That's the spirit!" Rook laughed, "Don't worry, we'll go smashing 'cons later. Take it easy. I'm sure Prowl is going to let Ultra Magnus know of the incident, but if you ever need another 'bot to help you beat him up, you know who to call." The strategist grinned at the white sniper.

Pinpoint wrote:"Seems like there isn't any use for us here. C'mon, I need a drink. Bet you do, too."

Rook helped Pinpoint up and out of the medbay towards the mess hall. "Easy there, neither of us wants to hear Hoist rant if you reopen that wound!"

Leading his colleague down the corridors, Rook inquired, "Hey, I don't believe we met before the mission down at the planet surface." He paused for a moment, then continued, "It'd be nice to know each other better. A closely knit army is a stronger one." Rook smiled at her.

[Medbay]

While Hoist was working away at trying to keep Scoop and Getaway alive, Swoop stumbled in. Great. Another one. But before the green engineer-medic could say anything, his fellow Dinobot Snarl managed to clear up some room for him. "Huh, that was... actually helpful. Thank you, Snarl."

Turning to the injured Dinobot, he called out, "I'll be there in a little while, Swoop. I've got too much to deal with at once already."

Hoist carried on operating on the two unconscious 'bots, trying his best to maintain two systems at once. At least Rook had done some of the initial setup, so it was all good. He just needed a lot of time.

Eventually, he would finish what he could to save them from dying. As for reactivating their systems, well, someone more qualified would have to take care of it. He switched on the life support machines and moved onto Swoop.

Carefully examining his leg's structure, Hoist tapped something into a nearby interface, and the gizmo started producing a replacement leg for the Dinobot. "Give it some time. You'll live." Hoist proceeded to work on the other, minor injuries in the meanwhile.

Streetwise looked over the new recruit known as 'Anomoly', who seemed fairly ignorant of the happenings. It wasn't a shock though to Streetwise. Obviously the higher-ups would want to keep the happenings under wraps. No need to make the entire faction fling into panic. Hell, even Streetwise didn't know of the happenings regarding Optimus until someone else had mentioned it voluntarily.

"I, uh, came to investigate as soon as I heard something was up. Looks like you reached here first. But, uh, sir, if it would be alright with you, could I possibly assist you with this investigation? I may have, uh, "skills" that may be useful to you.."

The cop 'Bot saw the expression of nervousness on young Anomaly's face, but quickly understood that it wasn't a suspicious expression. Of course, Streetwise knew he needed to consider all possibilities, but ones seemingly ridiculous definitely failed to require the front burner.

"You are a scientist, correct? Well, if you don't have any other important duties waiting, then I can't see why not. Welcome aboard, kid. Kup and I have been on this case for only a short while, so updating you on things shouldn't take very long if you need it. In fact, this investigation seems to be one which requires... a fair amount of scientists. We'll most likely be bumping into Swerve here and there as well."

Streetwise stepped over a fallen and shattered monitor on the floor before asking, "So, what all do you know as of current, Anomoly?" The detective then carefully squatted down to look at some strange debris on the floor, mixed with some of the same seemingly charred or... rather, black metal alloy bits as seen on Ark-22.

Medbay - Private Room

Streetwise wrote:"You are a scientist, correct? Well, if you don't have any other important duties waiting, then I can't see why not. Welcome aboard, kid. Kup and I have been on this case for only a short while, so updating you on things shouldn't take very long if you need it. In fact, this investigation seems to be one which requires... a fair amount of scientists. We'll most likely be bumping into Swerve here and there as well."

"Well, I don't exactly have much to attend to other than my usual studies of minor experiments, but those can wait. This, uh, seems like a situation of a major scale," Anomaly paused. He thought for a second and then looked back at Streetwise."I think I'll be able to help with this investigation. I'm not as experienced as some other scientists but I've seen enough to try."

Streetwise wrote:"So, what all do you know as of current, Anomaly"

The young scientist put a hand to his chin, churning his mental drives to bring out all the information he had. "Well, I know that... I believe it was Optimus Prime? It's a bit hard to believe, but that's what I heard. He was going... on a rampage, or some other sort of violence. I saw a lot of injured 'bots in the main medbay, but I doubt it was all because of... that. As far as I'm aware, that's all I know of..."

Streetwise bent down towards the strange black substance on the floor. Anomaly, too, tried to get a closer look, trying to examine what exactly it was. He touched it, trying to make sure that it wasn't dangerous, but it felt quite... unknown to the touch. "What... is this thing?" He tried to see if there was any way he could take it safely. "This doesn't look like anything I've seen before. I can try take it to the lab for analysis, but I'd have to carry it in my containment cylinders, which I luckily happen to have right now. If this substance turns out to be toxic or radioactive by any means... it wouldn't be a good idea to have it near others."

Bridge-–Command Conference Room

As the conference continued, a transmission that Ultra Magnus had been expecting came through. It was an update from Springer's crew. He transferred it to the main audio line in the room so that everyone present could hear.

>>”Ultra Magnus, it’s Springer. We’re back in Earth’s orbit and tried to link up with the Guardian, but she was nowhere to be found. We’re changing course and going to stop off at the Peruvian base down on the mud ball. We uh- we managed to pick up some valuable cargo during our venture...”<<

>>"Copy that, Springer. I'm going to patch you in on this as well. Get your soldiers settled and advise us all as to the nature of this cargo."<<

"Divide and assess sounds right to me," Magnus said, after he had listened to enough of the discussion amongst his officers to decide how best to proceed. The City Commander steepled his fingers underneath his chin structure. He had asked for options and a number of them were being provided. He wanted to address them, but not before an even more pressing matter was addressed.

"But Grimlock has made a fair point, one that I myself have been considering in these last few breems since we managed to get Optimus under control. Decisions were made and they were critical decisions that might save or cost many lives. That is the burden of command, but as I sit here, I am left wondering if I chose correctly."

"So, before I proceed with making command level decisions, I feel it is my duty to submit myself before this command assembly for review. You are all command-level officers. Some of you would no doubt succeed in areas where I have failed. If I have the confidence of majority in this room, I will continue to do as best as I can to be a steward of of the mantle of leadership until such time as Optimus Prime is ready to resume command or a new Prime is chosen.

"If I do not, I will faithfully execute the strategy of whomever does."

Ultra Magnus' attention was then drawn to the holofeed of the brig as Blaster called out Prime's name in excitement.

"Ratchet? What's going on in there?"

Normally he would leave the chief medical officer to his work, but when it came to Optimus Prime, he couldn't help himself.
___

Mess Hall

When the service drone put Slag's drink in front of him, it was bubbling, green and held inside a reinforced container--all the hallmarks of good Nightmare Fuel. As he took his first drink, he could feel it burn all the way down. His energy levels ticked up two notched almost automatically. So did a couple of his warning sensors.

"I miss Trion ship. Feels better than regular Autobot ship. Trion ship best Dino ship."

Slag huffed. He actually had to agree with that. The Autobots had finally done something right by commissioning that battleship. And commissioning them as its primary officers.

"Hyuh. Yeh. You'n me both. The sooner the better we back on there. Then we can really take war to 'Cons. Need to let that battleship do what it does best."

It was the same substance Streetwise saw on Ark-22, for sure. What confused Streetwise was why it would be present near Optimus Prime, or even from him. The possibilities of linkage between Megatron and Optimus Prime puzzled the cop 'Bot, but it was certainly a puzzle Streetwise intended to solve, with or without help.

Anomaly voiced his view of it after... well, touching it. Which seemed slightly weird to Streetwise. Not a bad kind of weird necessarily, though. Streetwise respected those willing to take risks for a greater cause.

"It's most likely the same substance as what appeared during Megatron's escape, which Swerve has a sample of," said Streetwise, "it puzzles me though. I didn't exactly expect the same strange and... almost eerie substance coming from Optimus Prime as well. They did disappear at the same time however, so there's most certainly a large link between the two in some way."

Bridge-–Command Conference Room

Hot Spot listened to what everyone had to say. Looked like Grimlock and Prowl were still at each other's throats but with the difference in tactics it was no big surprise. The only good thing is they didn't go at each other's throats which would have required a major clean up of the conference room. Then Ultra Magnus, to Hot Spot's surprise, agreed with the idea of poor communication and maybe leadership.

"I've got no problems as long as you try to keep us in the loop if time allows. I know I got my hands full with my team and this ship at times."

Jetfire looked at the acting supreme commander. Ultra Magnus was willing to step down from leadership if a majority asked him to. Usually Jetfire was left out in such decisions which was almost preferred since he enjoyed either being in the skies or his lab. It was a rarity for him to have a team to work with like he had with the gestalt project.

"To be honest, Ultra Magnus, I don't have too much command experience since I work alone for a lot of my work or even in combat. I know what it is like to have several projects on one's mind but again I'm usually the only one involved so rarely do I need to communicate with too many mechs. From what little I can see, you are doing the best you can do. If I knew Prime and Megatron were alive, it may have distracted my team and myself from our project. Time is the best judge of decisions unless you are Wheeljack then exploding contraptions is a lot quicker."

Bounce Chamber

In a flash of white, Kup bounced over. Wasting no time, he headed in the direction of med-bay, no wait. That was part of all the controversy that all the 'Bots over on the Ark-22 were talking about. Magnus had made the call to have Ratchet work on Optimus Prime in the brig.

There were lots of things about that that just weren't right, but there was nothin' he could do about it except hopefully help the others keep prime from goin' on another rampage.

So, to the brig it was.

Medbay - Private Room

"It's most likely the same substance as what appeared during Megatron's escape, which Swerve has a sample of... it puzzles me though. I didn't exactly expect the same strange and... almost eerie substance coming from Optimus Prime as well. They did disappear at the same time however, so there's most certainly a large link between the two in some way."

"Megatron's escape?!" Anomaly looked up in surprise. But piecing together the information wasn't that hard for Anomaly. He had known about Megatron being kept aboard one of the ships as prisoner. He also knew that they were both recovered together, and Streetwise certainly reinforced this point with their disappearance.

"I think I sort of understand the situation better now. At least, I think I do. I, uh, should probably get in touch with Swerve so that we could have a look at it together." Anomaly picked up a small fragment of the strange black alloy and quickly threw it into one of the containment cylinders on his back. "Gah, I should've brought more gear," The scientist quietly mumbled.

Corridors to Mess Hall

Pinpoint laughed off Rook's comment to take it easy on her injuries. She also laughed to cover up the fact that moving hurt a bit from said injuries.

Rook wrote:"Hey, I don't believe we met before the mission down at the planet surface. It'd be nice to know each other better. A closely knit army is a stronger one."

Pinpoint grinned. "The name's Pinpoint. And yes, my name does stem from my excellent shot."

She laughed again. "All modestly aside, I doubt you'd find many others with a better draw and aim than I. I'm good, and I don't mind admitting to it. And no, I'm not arrogant in the least."

The pearl white sniper chuckled at her joke, then her expression grew more serious as she gave her colleague a second look. She paused for a moment. "I think we've served together before. A small planetoid. Scrap, I can't remember the name now, but we were holding the moon to evacuate the indigenous people. You and the other command people decided to use me, two other snipers and a grenadiar to trick the 'Cons into thinking we had more firepower than we actually had. You're Rook, right? We never met, but I remember you."

Pinpoint continued walking. "Why don't you tell me about yourself? We coul-"

She stopped as she opened the door and saw Sludge and Slag. Pinpoint lowered her voice. "Careful. Dinobots."

Outside Bounce Chamber

Kup walked out of the Bounce Chamber. Groundbomber assumed Skids wasn't far behind. She wordlessly took a guard's position behind the old-timer, optics alert and followed him first to the med bay, then the brig.

[Mess Hall]

Pinpoint wrote:"The name's Pinpoint. And yes, my name does stem from my excellent shot. All modesty aside, I doubt you'd find many others with a better draw and aim than I. I'm good, and I don't mind admitting to it. And no, I'm not arrogant in the least."

"And my name is Rook. An old name, reminiscent of a legendary fortress." Rook grinned at her introduction, "I'm sure your aim is excellent," Rook chuckled, "But the arrogance does bleed through!" The strategist laughed. Before Pinpoint could murder him for it, he corrected himself, "Hehe, I kid, I kid."

Pinpoint went on to explain an evacuation from somewhere. Admittedly, he too had trouble remembering it well, but her description gave him back some brief remnants of the situation. "I think I remember that one. Yeah, it definitely was one of those missions where I was in charge of the strategy. I think..." The defender paused. His optics shot wide open and he put a finger up, with a wide smile on his face. "Ah yes! I remember now, you and this one other blueish 'bot were the snipers. Huh, you have surprisingly good memory to remember something that far back."

As the sniper inquired Rook about himself, she was cut off when they entered the mess hall. Seeing the two large Dinobots she'd mentioned, Rook responded quietly, "Don't worry about them. They're not going to say anything to us if we don't say anything to them."

Rook ordered some high-quality Energon for both himself and Pinpoint. After taking a seat with her at a table, he began to speak about himself, "Well, about myself... Back on Cybertron, before the war started, I was a cadet at the Cybertronian Military Academy. I ended up graduating with honours for some reason, but my mentor always used to say that I was different in comparison to the others in my batch. It felt pretty nice. I used to be part of a rescue team that ventured out and saved mechs and femmes that were lost in the Rust Spot, but that experience was rather short-lived, because of the war and all."

"And here I am," Rook said as he sipped his Energon, "Sitting here conversing with you."

[Mess Hall]

Sludge took a good sip out of his darker blue Energon. While not as intense as Slag's choice of drink, it was a good relief to the jungle warrior, having had several rocks toppled on top of him.

Slag wrote:"Hyuh. Yeh. You'n me both. The sooner the better we back on there. Then we can really take war to 'Cons. Need to let that battleship do what it does best."

"Yea, sooner Grimlock comes sooner we go. Swoop too, he needs leg fix."

Corridors--En Route to Brig

As Kup walked on, he noticed that another Autobot had fallen in step. Ah, this was the one from over on the Ark....Groundblaster, no, bomber. Groundbomber. That was it.

"Everything ok? You looked ready to pound some face back there on the Ark, heh."
___

Mess Hall

"Yea, sooner Grimlock comes sooner we go. Swoop too, he needs leg fix."

"Pfeh. Swoop need something fixed after every battle. Dunno why. He hit and run most of time," Slag said, taking a swig from his oversized cylinder of Nightmare Fuel.

[Mess Hall]

Slag wrote:"Pfeh. Swoop need something fixed after every battle. Dunno why. He hit and run most of time,"

"Swoop small. He get hurt easier. Him need to be stronger than he is now." Sludge took another sip. Yet another bit of that refreshing Energon.

Two smaller Autobots entered the mess hall. A mech and a femme. "Haha, smol Autobots. They so puny." Sludge giggled at Slag.

Training Room

The skirmisher walked in through the doors of the training room. It seemed to be fairly quiet for the moment, which was nice, as Arbalest could focus more on practicing instead. He had to keep himself occupied with something, and with everything going on, it was best to stay in tip-top condition. He brought himself over to the shooting range, but before he could take another step forward, his optics opened up slightly.

He had walked in on two mechs engaging in what seemed to be a friendly rivalry contest. One was a bit larger than the other, donning a very noticeable red paintjob, while the other was slightly shorter than the skirmisher, with shades of blue, and a lot sleeker in frame than his bulkier fellow.

"Aww yeah, bullseye!"

The loudness of the red Autobot's cannon almost threw Arbalest off balance. That red one was certainly quite feisty. The blue mech responded to the red bot with a marksman's shot of his own. I should give these gentlemechs here a surprise. After all, it would be beneficial for a skirmisher to adjust himself to a cannon as loud as the one the tankformer seemed to possess.

Drawing back his bow, holding it sideways, Arbalest positioned himself in a manner that would allow him to catch a good shot. He aimed at the same target that the blue mech had fired at, and nimbly let go of the arrow. It pierced straight through, right in the center. "I hope I am not interrupting you, gentlemechs," Arbalest smirked.

[Training Room]

An arrow whistled past Overclock, striking the same target he had shot only moments prior. Turning around to see a silver 'bot with a bow in hand, he could only assume it was him who shot that. Overclock's face grew slightly more grim. Who was this mysterious 'bot? His grip tightened around his rifle. Even though the newcomer donned the Autobrand, he was still alert and cautious.

Arbalest wrote:"I hope I am not interrupting you, gentlemechs."

Before Overclock could get a word in, Warpath responded. "Definitely not! Nice shot there, ya got some pretty good skills going on!" The tank warrior went over to greet him in a more proper fashion. "I don't believe we've met before! The name is Warpath, nice to meet ya. And you are...?"

Warpath gestured towards Overclock. "That's mah bud Overclock there. Say, should we all start some shooter club or somethin'? It'd sure be fun to slag things and maybe eventually some 'Cons too!"

Overclock froze and forced a smile when his more rambunctious friend introduced him. It felt odd with the company of others, but Overclock was silently, mentally running through his records on Autobots. The little bit of information he could find on him was that his name was Arbalest, and that he was an ambusher of some kind. The rest was unknown to him. He shielded his optics from direct view of the ambusher and turned back to the targets, shouldering his rifle yet again.

Training Room

"I don't believe we've met before! The name is Warpath, nice to meet ya. And you are...?"

"Arbalest. Nice to meet you too, Warpath." As Warpath introduced his friend in blue, Overclock, the skirmisher smiled and waved. "And you, Overclock." The tank warrior definitely seemed to be the friendlier of the duo, the other seemed rather closed off for whatever reason. He didn't pay much heed to it, however, and Warpath seemed to have something in mind.

"Say, should we all start some shooter club or somethin'? It'd sure be fun to slag things and maybe eventually some 'Cons too!"

"I don't object to that, I'd say that's quite fun actually! Although, the weapons that I carry may not be up to your kind of caliber, but we could actually try something out. Who knows, maybe we'd find some really nice synergy amongst ourselves?" Arbalest responded. He was digging Warpath's style - straight into the action, both in words and in fighting. Overclock hadn't opened himself up much, so the skirmisher walked up right beside him, bow in hand. He whispered closely so that Warpath wouldn't be able to hear. "I hope I haven't done anything to offend you. I apologise if I have."

Taking a step backward, drawing his bow up again, Arbalest took a shot at one of the further targets. The satisfying sound of the arrow hitting the target reverberated back to his audio receptors.

[Training Room]

Arbalest was indeed his name. Thank Primus. At least that was confirmed, but he still didn't know how he felt about him. But when he said his name, Overclock froze in his tracks. The anxiety started to creep into his systems. He offlined his optics for a brief moment. He needed solace. This was the opposite of solace.

Arbalest wrote:"I don't object to that, I'd say that's quite fun actually! Although, the weapons that I carry may not be up to your kind of caliber, but we could actually try something out. Who knows, maybe we'd find some really nice synergy amongst ourselves?"

"Frag yeah! We'll be trashing things in no time! You look like you've got some serious skills, who knows, it'll be pretty handy with that stringthing of yours." Warpath cheered. As he turned away to check something, Arbalest walked over to Overclock. He onlined his optics again.

Oh Primus, why. Arbalest leaned in towards him. Stay focus, stay cool, stay oh Primus why is he coming he-

Arbalest wrote:"I hope I haven't done anything to offend you. I apologise if I have."

"Oh." Only a single word could escape his vocaliser. Why had he gotten so paranoid all of a sudden? What had gotten to him? He'd never felt this anxious... well, frankly, ever. Even out there in the corridor when he first met Warpath. And yet, here he was, mental processors going haywire, signals blaring and meters going off the charts. Even in some of his most crucial missions, he'd never...

Wait.

Did he just apologise?

Now he had to break out of his shell. If he messed this up, he'd mess up a lot more eventually. He took a brief moment again, and then spoke. "It's... it's okay. You've done nothing wrong. I'm just... It's not been a great cycle, really. Forget about it. Forget this conversation happened." Frag. That was horrible. The operator watched as Arbalest took another shot, landing it excellently on the target.

A blueish glow appeared on Overclock's tires on his back, as they started to rotate. Many panel lines and creases located throughout his body lit up similarly. Overclock's optics were no longer the same, familiar blue, but instead white. A readout appeared on his interface. System Surge activated. Estimated time before deactivation: 4 breems.

Within a single klik, Overclock shouldered his rifle, aimed, and fired at the same target Arbalest had just shot at. His movements were mechanical, stoic and unnatural.

Warpath turned to see what the source of the sound was. He saw his friend in a combat stance, still as a statue, and looking a bit different than before. "Hey, Over, ya alright there?"

No response.

Warpath walked over to see what was going on. Despite his heavy footsteps, Overclock would not move. He was completely still. Not a single actuator moved. When the tank warrior brought himself to Overclock's side, he saw the reality of the situation. Overclock's face was completely blank. No emotion at all. It was almost as if he had left his body.

"I would not leave to talk to our jovial chemist just yet," said Streetwise in response to Anomaly's last statement, "It is possible we will find something else here, or somewhere else. I may need an on-hand scientist while I traverse this place for clues a bit. If you want to, of course."

Streetwise looked over to a ways away and saw one of the medics working on another mech, urgently. From his view, Streetwise could guess it was Jazz being operated on. The cop 'Bot was courteous enough to avoid interrupting things, and asking someone so injured about what happened was certainly... distasteful to say the least. But he needed witnesses. Time to go to phase B, and that is looking for mechs who were there.

"We may revisit here, Anomaly, but now I believe is time to look for witnesses. Any idea of who to ask? Or... I assume you are just as clueless as I am, heh."

Communication from Springer to Command Conference Room

>>”Turns out our weapons test escalated into a brief confrontation with Decepticon presence around the outer edges of the Sol system. Scourge seemed to be following something, or rather someone into the system. Omega Supreme. We did what we could to assist and the ‘Cons turned tail probably to go lick their wounds, but Omega is in rough shape and looking for Prime. Oh, and Sky Lynx too, forgot to mention. Seeing as you’re all heading towards Sol, we’ve decided to go and set Omega Supreme down in Peru for the time being so he can get some much needed repairs and so we could possibly find out why he was being chased.”<<