| abstract
| - Zurich, Switzerland Often referred to as the "Garden City on the Lake", Zurich is also the most important commercial and economic center in Switzerland, the capital of high finance. Divided by the scenic River Limmat and nestled on the edge of Lake Zurich, it is a bustling metropolis with many new universities, institutions, and other modern construction, but also with a wealth of restored historic buildings such as the centuries-old St. Peter's Church, elegant guildhouses, and turn-of-the-century patrician mansions with their perfectly manicured gardens. Distant, snowy mountains overlook the lake, clearly reflected in its still blue depths. Obvious exits: Northeast leads to Black Forest, Germany. Northwest leads to Paris, France. Southeast leads to Rome, Italy. East leads to Budapest, Hungary. Fly Red Alert has arrived. THEN Nightbeat wanders around Metroplex. At regular intervals, he pauses and stares over at the nearest security camera, sometimes for a long time, sometimes for a short time. There seems to be something of a pattern to his staring. In fact, it corresponds to Morse code for the coordinates of the Reichenbach Falls. NOW Nightbeat sits near the top of the Reichenbach Falls, on a rocky crag. It's quite the beautiful view, he thinks, as he counts each and every water droplet that goes over the falls. Fire Chief's Car doesn't bother to hide his approach. It's pointless, just as it /should/ be pointless to try to approach silently when /he's/ around. Primus, but he feels naked and vulnerable without his senses. But even without them, it was hard to miss Nightbeat's strange behavior when reviewing the camera logs, and it didn't take long to figure out the pattern. Now, he's out here, and sure enough, there's the detective. The fire chief's car draws as near as he can in vehicle mode, then transforms. Nightbeat knew Red Alert would come, and that advance warning his audios gives him confirms it for him. So he does not look in the least surprised when the fire chief's car arrives. Nightbeat explains, "I couldn't radio you - Soundwave could be listening, and I couldn't e-mail you, because everyone knows that the Teletraan-2 interface has been suborned by DepthCharge. I considered smoke signals, but the Girl Scouts can intercept those too easily." He waves a hand dismissively at the last. Red Alert crouches down at the ledge that the waterfall runs over. One hand touches the ledge for balance, while the other rests casually on Red Alert's knee. "So those were intended for me?" he asks, and he even seems faintly surprised. Frankly, he thought Nightbeat had been signalling Kup, who has as much access to the monitoring stations as Red Alert does. Nightbeat looks up at Red Alert and exclaims, "Of course it was for you! Who else cares as much about security cameras and obscure codes as you do?" He looks a little startled that Red Alert is surprised. Was it not an obvious summons for Red Alert? Red Alert narrows his optics. "So you weren't arranging a meeting with Kup?" Well, okay, granted, in that context the summons /does/ seem pretty tailor made for Red Alert. But... "Just because Kup doesn't have the interest in security cameras and odd codes that I do doesn't mean he's entirely ignorant of them. I mean, you spelled it out in plain English!" But then, even if the message had been for Kup, Nightbeat must have known that Red Alert would intercept... the Security Director lifts the hand that had been resting on his knee to his forehead as his processors work overtime to untangle a conspiracy that is, for the most part, all in his mind. Nightbeat stares at Red Alert, an expression somewhere between disgust and horror slipping over his face. He demands, "Kup? /Kup?/ Why would I try to summon Kup? He's one of /them/." Those. You know. Nightbeat dismisses, "Kup would clearly confuse it with one of the old codes from back during the Golden Age and end up in Bavaria." Red Alert's optics widen and he just stares at Nightbeat silently for a moment. Yes... yes... he did know that Kup was one of /them/. Punch, too, had been able to figure it out. But Nightbeat... wasn't Nightbeat... "Wait a minute..." he says softly, confused. "But I thought... you admit... but..." Nightbeat has a world class sound system. It's not that he likes music. This Porsche is no Jazz. He's largely indifferent to music. It's that anything less than a top notch sound system would hurt his audios with its slightly off pitch and out of balance notes. In the subaudial range, something Red Alert would have been able to hear but can't right now, Nightbeat starts to play the harsh march drums and soft, dreamy, almost lullaby-like strains of "Pet" by A Perfect Circle. /Don't fret, precious, I'm here. Step away from the window./ He points out, "Don't you see? Kup had both Raindance and I on fool's missions, and I have no doubt that he's trying to keep your hands tied, too." Red Alert's optics widened. "How did you kno-!" He shakes his head. "I've been ordered... ordered not to look for traitors. Or to further investigate what happened in the Black Forest. After he put me /on/ it, now I've been ordered off it. I have to concentrate on theft instead. Just petty theft." Nightbeat raises a finger to his nose, rubbing along the side of it, and he assures, voice soothing, "It's so obvious." /Safe from pain and truth and choice and other poison devils./ "See? Petty theft will keep you busy forever, and you'll never find anything useful, between DepthCharge and Mishap. And what did Kup do in the Black Forest? He attacked me, first thing!" Red Alert considers this. Why, that's the truth, actually. "He... he /did/..." Red Alert murmurs, realization dawning. Then he shakes his head. "But... wait a minute! You were conspiring with Dee-Kal! Undermining my authority in my own division!" Nightbeat stares at Red Alert, and proceeds to say something that is horribly biased and racially inappropriate, "That ditzy scrapheap of a dame?" He makes a face. "I ain't the conspiring type, but if I was, she'd be the last person in the galaxy I'd conspire with, right after Bumblebee and Wheelie. For the longest time, I just couldn't see why the Big Boss let her into the Autobots, but then I got it - Rodimus Prime's one of /them/, too. That's why he called me off investigating his pirate clone. So he clearly let her into the Autobots to hobble us." Red Alert's optics widen and his mouth pulls down miserably. "What?! No... no, not Rodimus!" He shakes his head. "He... he can't be one of them!" One begins to wonder if this many people are /them/, than just who are /they/ conspiring against? Besides Red Alert, of course. And who's left to be kept safe? Nightbeat looks slightly pitying as he replies, "Of course, the corruption has to go all the way to the top! I confront him with evidence about his pirate clone, and he tells me he'll take care of it and hands me a promotion," actually all true, "clearly intended to keep me busy with nonsense," more like gibbering conspiracy nonsense. /I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and all your demons./ "But... but... there has to be /someone/ left! Someone besides..." Red Alert shifts his position, but it's so that he can bring both hands up to the sides of his head. His processors are working overtime, trying to access senses that no longer work... and trying to process the unusable gibberish that said sensors report as feedback isntead. Nightbeat tilts his head up and regards Red Alert sadly. In low voice, barely audible over the roar of the falls, he murmurs, "I think the truth is that there's no one else left." /I'll be the one to protect you from a will to survive and a voice of reason. I'll be the one to protect you from your enemies and your choices, son. They're one in the same. I must isolate you. Isolate and save you from yourself./ No, not Nightbeat's usual taste in music at all, but quite fitting, all the same, he feels. Red Alert lifts his head and stares hard at Nightbeat, his expression broken. He says, voice low, just a whisper, "But if there's no one left... who do I protect?" /The boogeymen are coming./ Nightbeat snaps his fingers. His voice is soft but encouraging, "That's just it! We're Autobots. We can't just give up. If we have to protect them from themselves, we will - root out the corruption and expose this for what it is. For the safety of everyone." Red Alert considers this. He grasps for something... one shining spark of hope... he reaches for it, like a drowning man straining for the surface. "You think... you think this was something done /to/ them, maybe? We could... we could find out... make them safe..." Nightbeat thinks about that briefly, and he muses, "Maybe. I don't know. It's been difficult to get under the surface - I had Raindance dogging me for weeks. After all, DepthCharge had a cerebro shell in his head, and so did Ultra Magnus, a while back. Could be." /Stay with me, safe and ignorant, just stay with me./ Red Alert mutters, "Cerebro shells! Yes... maybe that's how... or... or... something." He once more rests his hand on the ledge and looks down at Nightbeat. "Oh, Primus," he murmurs. "It's all so much to take in..." Nightbeat perhaps flinches, ever so slightly, at the mention of Primus. He scoots over to the side of the ledge, slightly scraping his fresh coat of paint on the rocks and unsubtle making room for Red Alert, if the security director would like to make the conversation a bit easier. "Though, everyone was scanned for cerebro shells after that debacle, so if it's something like that, it's sneakier than previous attempts." /Go back to sleep./ "The enemies are getting smarter all the time," Red Alert points out, sliding down to the ledge next to Nightbeat. "Their technology always improving, their scientists always up to so-" he cuts himself off dead. Before, he'd have seen it from above. Now, it takes moving onto the ledge next to Nightbeat in order to spot it - but now that he's here, Red Alert can see quite clearly the paint beneath the fresh paint - and it's not Nightbeat's color. He narrows his optics and stares at that spot, trying to remember where he saw that color... Nightbeat frowns and tries to figure out what made Red Alert cut off so suddenly. He looks at what Red Alert's staring at - oh, his scraped paint! After a bit of... recreational painting, Nightbeat didn't have time to properly strip the splashes, and he'd just painted over them. His CPU races, as he tries to think of an excuse - this conversation had been going so very well! He asks, concerned, "Red Alert, you okay there?" "The paintings..." Red Alert croaks, just above a whisper. Nightbeat waves a hand in front of Red Alert's optics, quietly drawing his photon pistol behind his back. Slaggit, he knew he should have stripped his paint entirely! His music shifts - "I Can't Decide" by Scissor Sisters - cheery, perky, and completely mental. Nightbeat urges, "Red Alert? Don't tell me that they've got you, too!" "That color paint was on the cave paintings..." Red Alert says softly, voice fast and manic. "The cave paintings... the cave paintings that /you/ lead them to... the ones that show Rodimus Prime removing his Matrix in a temple... a temple... Ultra Magnus mentioned a temple in his report..." He lifts his head, optics wide with horror as things come together in his mind. "Rescuing Cliffjumper... while you were in the radio dead zone... On that mission... with Steeltread... who's missing... who was the one that Kup was going to meet when he was attacked... and Raptor... Raptor... a jet... unidentified jet at the Eiffle tower..." Red Alert gets louder still, voice ever more frantic as he starts to back away from Nightbeat. "And /you/ lead them to find it... and the spider... the spider... it was a spider at the space station... you didn't take any damage, but the others, consistant with the transorganic... how come your report doesn't mention that it's a transorganic, Nightbeat?" The connections that Red Alert are making right now might seem insane to some, but hardly more so than what Red Alert was willing to believe just moments ago. "And what /did/ happen in that gap in the security recordings, Nightbeat?" [Steeltread:] A Strange voice chuckles. "Cuz Punch likes causing Paranoia for no reason. I thought that was Red Alert's job." For once, Red Alert's mad paranoid ramblings are actually making sense, unfortunately. A dour frown slips about Nightbeat's face, and his grip on the pistol tightens. /I'm not a gangster tonight. Don't want to be a bad guy. I'm just a loner, baby, and now you're gotten in my way./ He snaps out the weapon, but he doesn't fire. That would leave ballistics evidence. Instead, he attempts to crack the weapon over Red Alert's head and send the poor security director tumbling over the falls. Red Alert's mind works desperately. He needs help! Here's he alone, he's got a weapon on him, and he needs help... but who to trust? Kup wouldn't let him look for traitors. Maybe it's not /everyone/ like Nightbeat said, but Red Alert is now fully certain that it's still worse than he thought before he drove here. And then, through the radio, a voice reminds him. PUNCH! Punch was already on to Nightbet! Punch was sympathetic concerning Kup! Red Alert activates his radio, calls desperately to give warning... And that's when he's cracked on the head and sent tumbling. Reichenbach Falls. Where Sherlock Holmes killed Professor Moriarty, some say. Others say that Moriary lived, the same as the detective. Nightbeat stands and watches Red Alert fall, his face hard. /My heart feels dead inside. It's cold and hard and petrified./ But... Red Alert's already died once, hasn't he? /If lives were cats you'd be a litter./ He supposes that he really ought to go secure the body, singing along as he climbs down, "Oh, I could throw you in the lake, or feed you poisoned birthday cake. I won't deny I'm gonna miss you when you're gone. Oh, I could bury you alive, but you might crawl out with a knife and kill me when I'm sleeping." [Steeltread:] A strange voice says. "Swoop seems to say that a lot. perhaps it's wishful thinking?" Red Alert tumbles down, bounces off ledges as he does, taking damage each time... and Red Alert is not the sturdiest of mechanoids to begin with. His radio is ripped off his head half way down. Other bits before and after that. He comes to a pained stop at the end. He should be unconscious. Oh, if /only/ he were unconscious, it would be a mercy. He groans pitiably... Nightbeat eventually climbs to the bottom, singing, voice oddly cheerful, "I've got to hand it to you. You've played by all the same rules. It takes the truth to fool me, and now you've made me angry." He withdraws a pair of rubber gloves and snaps them over his hands as he moves to fish Red Alert out of the river. The wonderful thing about waterfalls is that they're wet and tend to completely ruin evidence. Red Alert is pulled ashore. He's completely unable to do anything about it, after all. That is, besides groan helplessly. Eventually, however, he does get his vocalizer working. "Stop you... they'll stop you..." There's a trailer, barely big enough to stuff an Autobot inside, parked nearby. Nightbeat was afraid he'd have to do something like this. Pulling out the glowing inner-tube-style shackles sometimes seen, he attempts to bind Red Alert and float him over to and into the trailer. He chuckles darkly. "You can't stop entropy." Then, he continues singing, "I can't decide whether you should live or die. Oh, you'll probably go to heaven. Please don't hang your head and cry." Red Alert is bound easily enough. Again, he's too damaged to resist. "You can sure as hell delay it," he hisses, though it's all bravado. There's nothing he, personally, will be doing at this point. Some did they take, and from the light turned them far. And none would suspect the heinous crimes they would commit, Each of them serving evil by doing their bit. What could stop them, did no one know? To despatch the darkness, once more the light must flow." Some did they take, and from the light turned them far. And none would suspect the heinous crimes they would commit, Each of them serving evil by doing their bit. What could stop them, did no one know? To despatch the darkness, once more the light must flow." For the truth to his ears would send him beyond berserk. The messenger could not be allowed to speak, There could be only one option - they must silence this leak." For the truth to his ears would send him beyond berserk. The messenger could not be allowed to speak, There could be only one option - they must silence this leak." ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/69 Posted Author Red Alert Sat Nov 15 Punch ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Punch appears on the screen, looking stony faced. A voice clip of Red Alert plays: "Punch! Punch! It's /worse/ than you thought!" "That was the last message I got from Red Alert!" Punch leans into the camera. "The transmission was then cut off. He has not reported back in to base and should be considered missing, perhaps dead. The last transponder reading has been narrowed down to a 1000 km radius of Metroplex. I want everyone searching. No-one is above suspicion, /No-one/" He leans back in his chair. "Additionally a broad-range radio transmission was received from a Cybertronian I am told is known only as 'Hobo'. I want this mech located and the message decoded. Message is as follows:" "The Beast and his apprentice, for but always two there are, Some did they take, and from the light turned them far. And none would suspect the heinous crimes they would commit, Each of them serving evil by doing their bit. What could stop them, did no one know? To despatch the darkness, once more the light must flow." ============================================================================== ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/70 Posted Author Re: The poem Sat Nov 15 Fireflight ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This isn't a very good poem, I just have to say. Whoever wrote it chose it mostly to try and look good and mysterious, but it just is so horrid. There's no rhythm or meter to the syllables - good poems will typically have a pattern (Usually, the most famous for doing this is Haikus). The syllable count per line is: 14,11,13,12,8,12. While there is no real 'rule' to poetry, having a proper pattern very much helps the mind read it, and the words flow better. Also, switching words around at random to make them line up to 'rhyme' isn't very appealing to the optic or ear - such as in line one. May as well string a bunch of random words together to make them rhyme! And the sudden change from stronger words to 'doing their bit' is rather shaking as well. 'Doing their bit' is rather slangy, and the rest of the poem isn't very slangy. And the tense of the poem is 'past tense', making it sound like it already happened and was over with - but if this is some sort of warning or prophecy, why past tense? Why not present or future tense? It would fit more if it was something to warn us about traitors or some new enemy approaching. After rereading it, it doesn't even sound threatening at all. Not even a Vogon could write this bad. Even with Iambic Pentameter, it doesn't work! Even couplet, tercet and ballad-style does not apply to this. Free verse is the closest it gets, but even then it can't really be excused. The imagery is not very helpful at all if it is supposed to be a riddle. Riddle poems need to drop specific clues to what they are hinting at to really be worthwhile solving. The writers in this case were too vague if they WERE trying to drop hints as to something. Anything could be 'the beast', and crimes depends on who you are, right? There's also the last line - SO cliche. Fireflight out. ============================================================================== "Just outside of Waldorf, Kent. Between Pax River Naval Air base and Andrews Air Force base. My pilot has ADD." Nightbeat laughs again and asks, "Why would I want to? It's only natural." He has a bound Red Alert stuffed in a trailer. There's just one thing left to do right now with Red Alert - gag him. He can't have his trailer full of 'monitoring sensors' screaming, can he? Red Alert is stuffed into a trailer and gagged! D: Nightbeat snaps a pair of rubber boots over his feet, to go with the rubber gloves. He sings the final lines, "Lock the doors and close the blinds, we're going for a ride!" and tromps off to destroy every scrap of evidence in the area the way that only a master detective gone wrong can. Once he's done, he puts the gloves and boots away, hitches the trailer, and drives off. Nightbeat slouches down into Porsche 959 form. Time to roll. Red Alert has left. You take Red Alert. You move northwest to Brussels, Belgium. [travel spam] You move south to the Nameless Town. Nameless Town Far enough south to guarantee short days thanks to the extreme axial tilt and far enough north to have a short growing season is a bleak and nameless town whose origins stretch back beyond the beginnings of recorded time. The stone-cut buildings are few, and fewer still are actually intact, as geological instability has cracked and shattered the construction material of choice many times over the centuries. Though the buildings are made of simple stone, they are all richly carved in a very ornate manner. Representations of the sky, the many suns, of herd animals being frightened by fire and cataclysm, of the earth tearing itself asunder and pouring out blood-magma, of ice cooling wounds and freezing all, and of the mysterious locals themselves, robots in smooth, rounded designs and muted colors, literally litter every exposed stone surface. The few intact buildings show themselves to be well constructed, carefully fit with small gaps in clever places to compensate for the instability in the area. In all, the town gives the impression of something just clinging to life, something whose grandest moments are far in the past. Still, it's incredible that any people could even survive out here, much less build structures as enduring as these. That this town is dying is no shock - it was dying the moment the first stone was laid. That it ever lived at all is the marvel. Contents: Temple Of The Fifth Obvious exits: North leads to Refuge Valley. North East leads to Kingdom of Iraklia. East leads to Lake of Sorrow. South leads to Wreck of the Dark Comet S-10. Porsche 959 pulls into the area of the one particular special Nameless Town among many, towing a trailer. He doesn't trust taking the shuttle here - there are shuttle logs, though he can falsify those more easily without Red Alert looking over his shoulder. He transforms, puts the rubber gloves and boots on again, and opens up the trailer full of 'monitoring sensors', trying to pull out Red Alert. His music system plays "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney & Wings. /But if this ever-changing world in which we live in makes you give in and cry, say live and let die!/ The puzzle pieces of Porsche 959 rearrange into the hard-boiled Autobot detective, Nightbeat! Red Alert has arrived. You drop Red Alert. Red Alert is pulled out. He spent part of the trip struggling and part of the trip sleeping. Hey! He took a lot of damage! Now that he's being pulled out of his box, however, he starts to wake up again. By now, the gag has been worked loose. He looks around at where they are, and his optics widen when he spies the temple. "The... the temple!" His struggles grow fiercer. "I was right!" Temple Of The Fifth From outside, the temple is an ancient, ruined building, huge stone pillars framing the entrance to this imposing structure. Part of the stonework has crumbled, but on the apex of the roof is carved a gigantic sphere radiating light, like the sun. Inside looks dark indeed. ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/71 Posted Author Re: Red Alert Sat Nov 15 Kup ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Kup appears, and has visibly transcended his prior state of crankiness into full-blown anger. "Ok, whoever kidnapped Red, I'm guessing you did it to hide your petty thievery. Fine. Just be advised that when I find you..." Kup's optics smoulder with the kind of rage only a cranky old mech like him can muster. "It's gonna be *bad.* "Punch, you seem to wanna take charge of this situation, and that's fine. Just find our guy and bring the culprits to justice. As for that riddle crap, that's a dead end. I don't believe any of that superstitious trash. Don't waste your time on it, lad. Kup out." ============================================================================== Nightbeat sings along with his music, another sign he's a bit off his rocker, "What does it matter to ya, when you've got a job to do you gotta do it well. You gotta give the other fellow hell!" He looks down at Red Alert, an expression of dark delight on his face, and he asks, "Have you figure out who my Master is yet? Are you that clever?" Nightbeat attempts to drag Red Alert off to the temple, something the weird floaty inner tube should make easier. Red Alert squirms and wriggles against his retraints. Even as he does, he considers the recent reports. "What? Unicron?" Nightbeat uses very good restraints. These are the kind that Jetfire might use to keep Scourge restrained. He barks out a laugh. "Oh, no. No no no." At least, Nightbeat doesn't think so. "Perhaps, if you're lucky, you'll get to meet Him!" He rubs his chin, thinking. "Or maybe that's if you're unlucky. Not sure about that. So, y'remember how I couldn't decide if you should live or die?" He tries to tug Red Alert inside the temple. Temple Of The Fifth Inside, the stonework of the temple is just as ruined as the outside. Several blocks have crumbled, but the main chamber is mostly clear of rubble. Carvings of robots litter the wall, as well as a repeated sun motif. The centre of the temple is strange. Where one would have expected an altar or pews is instead a circle of sycamore-looking trees, seemingly growing from the stone itself. In the middle is a medium-sized pool of an unidentifiable black oily substance. Red Alert has arrived. Red Alert narrows his optics and snaps, "I seem to have missed that dilemma." He stops struggling, though now it's to examine his restraints. He's generally the one trying to make restraints that can't be defeated - but he's not the most practiced at actually defeating them. Nightbeat was singing along to the song earlier! He leans in close to Red Alert, as if confiding a secret, "I've decided. I lied when I said you'll probably go to heaven." His sound system cues up "Hotel California" by The Eagles. He tugs Red Alert toward the pool, evidently intend to drag the both of them down into the oily substance. /And I was thinking to myself, 'This could be Heaven or this could be Hell.'/ Red Alert probably would have been paying more attention if he hadn't been grievously injured near a noisy waterfall at the time. Also, if he had had his senses. Red Alert sees the oily substance, and tries to resist being dragged, but he is still injured, and there really isn't much he can do to avoid it. You enter the pool and are sucked down into a shimmering mass that turns from black to red... Dead Universe Everywhere is dead. Red rocky outcrops spread as far as the eye can see, and above, there is no sky, no space, only a bloody red expanse. Flames flicker on random ridges with nothing obvious burning. And yet there are signs of life. Huge, Transformer-sized footprints litter the dusty windless plains, and the still atmosphere is tense with... something. Chains lead down into what looks to be a bottomless pit, lined with cobbles with flames licking around the side, and a smaller black pool lies to the south, still and shimmering. Contents: Pool Obvious exits: Rift leads to Medusa Cascade. Red Alert travels into the pool to the Temple Of The Fifth. Red Alert has arrived. Red Alert tries to make one last appeal, however, against the rising panic. "Nightbeat... Nightbeat... stop this! This isn't you! You're an Autobot. An /Autobot/!" He continues to struggle. "Even when I believed you might have sabotaged the space bridge, I thought... I thought you were doing it /as/ an Autobot. I thought you were doing it because you knew it'd hurt the 'Cons more than it would hurt us." Nightbeat has literally Red Alert to Hell. He holds his arms up, as if beseeching, and then he drops a hand to his hip, grinning deviously. /And she said, 'We are all just prisoners here, of our own device.'/ He looks over at Red Alert, intent on soaking up every reaction that Red Alert has to this Hell. He replies, finishing the song, "Last thing I remember, I was running for the door. I had to find the passage back to the place I was before. 'Relax,' said the night man, 'We are programmed to receive. You can check-out any time you like, but you can never leave!'" Then he adds, voice dropping to a close whisper, "Welcome to the Hotel California." +ooc *literally sent Red Alert looks around him, optics wide in horror. This place... it can't be... "Nightbeat, NO!!" he screams, panic rising. "Don't DO this, Nightbeat! Please!!" He starts to work more frantically against his restraints. Nightbeat confides, "Red Alert? I didn't sabotage the space bridge. That's the honest truth. But you know what? I wish I did." He strides around the dusty, dead land, looking entirely at home here, as if he, too, was a demon of this fell land. The flames on his arms, if glanced at out of the corner of an optic, seem to flicker like balefire, but only out of the corner of the optic and never directly, maddeningly. "The Right Side of My Mind" by Queensryche cues. /Hey, are you okay? Better luck on another day. This path some weren't meant to follow. You're curious I can see, always looking behind the trees. Keeping one eye on tomorrow./ Red Alert kind of flops on the ground. Because he can't do much else. "NIGHTBEAT!!" He shouts. "Why? At least tell me that much? Why?!" Nightbeat replies, teasing in the cruellest way, "That's my name." He looks away, gazing down into the pit. "I saw it all. Everything. Ultimate knowledge. Truth revealed, down to the smallest detail. Can you imagine that, Red Alert? Have you longed for it, on the coldest of days? I think you have." /Re-engineer your head, is really what the door mouse said. Push the lies away./ Red Alert stares up intently at Nightbeat. "I have," he admits softly, "I have. But... in the end, it's for us to know. You've gained nothing if you've lost yourself, Nightbeat. Where are you? +ooc Do you mean 'not for us to know'? Nightbeat's hands clench into fists, and he kicks a rock into the pit, looking as if he would like to do the same to Red Alert. "As soon as it was gone, that rush of knowledge - I felt hollow, empty - dead! - inside. Still do. Whenever I awaken. I'll have it again. I have to. I need it." /I'd love to take you to see what I see there, on the right side of my mind./ "And then what?" asks Red Alert, voice soft, but still fearful. When Nightbeat knows everything, all of it, what will he do? There's really nothing left after that, is there? Nightbeat replies, his voice firm and unafraid, "Then I face final entropy with no regrets." /The frontier of our minds is the last place we find, but maybe the first place we should go./ Red Alert's lip curls in disgust. "Then you'll still be just as hollow are you are now." He stops, and his optics widen as a connection made. "Hollow Men..." he whispers. And then... then he starts laughing. Nightbeat grins widely, orange optic band bright as a jack-o-lantern. Almost friendly, for all the malevolence that lurks inside him, he proclaims, "So you see what I see." Then he turns to walk off, to condemn the security director to Hell. Red Alert speaks softly. But then, he knows about Nightbeat's hearing. "I see an idiot who thinks that some one... some thing... whose servants are called the /Hollow Men/ is going to fill him up. Funny thing, that. So what bit of the prophesies are the bit where it talks about the Enemy filling anyone back up afterwards?" Red Alert is more than a /liiiiiiiitle/ over the edge at this point, it should be noted. Nightbeat's optic band flashes with rage, and unrestrained by the Autobot Code of Conduct, a code that only ever held him lightly, he lashes out, trying to grab Red Alert and cast him into the Pit. He despises being called an idiot, he who seeks knowledge mostly highly, placing it above even justice. For that comment, down in the Pit! Down with Ultra Magnus! He glares and seethes, "You'll regret those comments." Red Alert is grabbed. "You're lost!" he hisses as he's carried into the pit. There is a growl to his words, like a mad dog snapping at something it can't reach. "You're lost and you'll stay that way! You think this Master of Empty Men can ever fill you? You'll /always/ be Hollow! /Always/! You've lost yourself - you seek all knowledge, and you can't even find yourself!" By this point, Nightbeat has got him to the edge, and he's thrown in. He screams, and the screams echo... and fade... and eventually there is a thud, as he lands atop what looks rather like a coffin. Red Alert is silent. Nightbeat glares down into the pit, glares at the security director who dared to meddle in matter beyond his ken. He mutters, voice hollow, "No. I know exactly what I am. Better'n I can say for most people." Then, Nightbeat turns to walk away. He has rubber gloves and boots to incinerate and reports to write. Then, Nightbeat will sleep, and he will rest without a single burden. Red Alert, still gone. ================================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/72 Posted Author Sensor Drop-Off Sat Nov 15 Nightbeat ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Text Only Dropped off a load of monitoring sensors on Alkor Zephyr to help Cliffjumper with those scouting duties, as Ultra Magnus assigned him. End of File ============================================================================== ================================== Reavers =================================== Message: 38/3 Posted Author Red Alert Sat Nov 15 Nightbeat ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nightbeat appears, looking troubled. He reports, "Red Alert was putting the pieces together too quickly. I was left with no choice but to cast him down in the Pit, where he can pose us no harm. If anyone asks, I was dropping off a load of monitoring sensors to assist Black Cliffjumper with the scouting duties Nemesis Prime assigned him to on Alkor Zephyr." Nightbeat laughs, knowing what a farce that is. "Magnificius, you'll find a load of monitoring sensors dropped off at the island. Nightbeat, out." ============================================================================== You enter the pool and are sucked down into a shimmering mass that turns from black to red... [travel spam] You move south to the Repair Bay... Autobot City - Repair Bay This is the main repair bay for the Autobots. Several operating tables lie in a row here, and a long bench lines one wall. On the bench are assorted tools used in repairing damaged Transformers. Scattered throughout the room are various repair bots, awaiting the arrival of more wounded to repair. The room gives you the perception of being immaculately clean, not a tool out of place. On the left side of the operating arena are wide sliding doors that open into the recovery ward. Less frantic than the busy repair bay, it consists of two rows of immaculate beds on opposite walls for those needing peace and quiet to rest and recover from their repairs. The sounds of quiet conversations between medic and patient, or between visitor and patient, are about all that disturb the quiet. Contents: Kup Bitbucket Medical Barracks Supply Closet Gumby Medic Obvious exits: Doors leads to Main Lobby - First Floor. Doors leads to Lounge/Observation Room. Shaft Downward leads to AC Training Chamber. Kup is drinking an energon cube. Yaaaaaaay. Kup asks the Gumby Medic for refueling. The medic complies. Gumby Medic refuels Kup. Nightbeat walks into the medical ward, looking fairly serious, as far as he goes. Red Alert is missing! He knows that the Decepticons are gunning for Autobot Intelligence personnel. Perhaps they've decided to snuff Red Alert, too. He knows his own neck is on the chopping block. He delivers a slightly sloppy salute to Kup. Kup urps, and returns an equally sloppy salute to Nightbeat. "Ehhh, Nightbeat. Good to see ya. Hope you're helping Punch locate Red Alert and figure out what the frag is happening." Nightbeat leans against a wall. He replies, "Yeah, about that, boss..." He shifts and looks a bit uncomfortable. "When Red Alert fought Arachnae, his higher level sensors were damaged. He... he didn't want me to tell anyone, because he though they'd take advantage of him if they knew. Look, I've got a similar sensor set-up to him, and I know, when my sensors were down - it was horrible. I could see it being maddening, even." Kup squints a bit, nodding. He sips on his cube. "Yeah. He told me about that. Wasn't much I could do for him, though. But lemme tell ya, I can't see or hear as well as I used to and I ain't crazy. And I don't think Red Alert was driven crazy... uh, crazier, I guess, by losing some sensitivity. He seemed to be, I dunno, more worried about sumthin' else." Nightbeat shoots a beseeching look at Kup, and he points out, "With all due respect, boss, I think it was a more gradual process in your case. Did he also tell you that he suspected you, because," and now he parrots Red Alert's voice, "'I've been ordered... ordered not to look for traitors. Or to further investigate what happened in the Black Forest. After he put me /on/ it, now I've been ordered off it. I have to concentrate on theft instead. Just petty theft.' He seemed none too happy about that." Kup nods, not really looking at Nightbeat, twirling his little energon cube around in his fingers. "Yeah... Red Alert's real paranoid, as we all know. But that's how paranoid guys work. Don't believe 'em, and they think yer in on it." He shrugs. "Wouldn't believe a word of it myself, if it weren't for all the weird crap coincidin' with everything. Me gettin' attacked in the Black Forest. Supplies disappearing. And now, the guy I put in charge of looking into that theft is missing. It's too early to connect any dots, but... I'm bothered by all this." Finally, he fixes Nightbeat with a glare. "Tell me sumthin'. What kinda nutjob would steal supplies from his own side, then KIDNAP the investigator lookin' for 'im? Who the hell would do that?" Swoop has connected. Nightbeat points out, "Boss! That crazy Seeker who framed me - he flat-out told me that the Decepticons are gunning for Autobots Intelligence agents. Maybe the Decepticons are gunning for Red Alert, too. Wouldn't put it past them." He scowls, showing sheer and utter disdain for the Decepticons. "My bet is that some 'con looking to make a name for himself got 'im." Swoop pokes his head in to the room, optics bouncing around as they scan everything in the room. Oh, snap, there's Nightbeat. "Hey! You Detective find Red 'Lert yet?" he squawks. Oh, oh, oh! Kup's here too! Swoop scoffs and steps in, trying his best to look natural. "Me just gunna stand around here for a bit, 'kay?" Kup suddenly yells, "I KNOW THEY'RE GUNNING FOR INTELLIGENCE AGENTS!" and throws his cube to the ground. It detonates with a PACHOOMF. "Maybe it's just a coincidence that Red Alert happened to get kidnapped right after looking into this crap. Maybe. But why didn't he tell us he had been captured by Decepticons instead of telling Punch it's "Worse than you think" or whatever the hell he said? Is that really the last thing he would say before getting tossed in a Decepticon gulag? And what about that guy that shot me in the Black Forest? Why... why did he screw up my memory? Why didn't he finish off the number 3 guy or so in the Autobots when he had the frickin' chance?! It makes no sense!" There's a little devil Kup sitting on his shoulder, telling him Red Alert is right and that he needs to stockpile weapons and supplies of his own and prepare for the day the Autobots all turn on him, but he ignores the vicious little imp for now. "Huh?" Kup says. "Oh, hi, Swoop." Seeing the Dinobots seems to have calmed him down a bit. And yes, the devil Kup is not real. Even if he is waving at you. Swoop is totally used to people throwing explosive crap around, so Kup's actions don't bother him in the least. C'mon, guys. He lives with freakin' Slag. "Hi Kup!" he chirrups, siddling on over to everyone's favorite grandpatron. "How you doing? You, uhm, look good today. Still 'live and stuff." Nightbeat shakes his head sadly and replies to Swoop, "I haven't even gotten a chance to look into the case yet, Swoop. I had to drop of a load of monitoring sensors to help out Cliffjumper." He claps his hands over his audios as Kup yells and bestows an instant headache upon the sensitive private eye. He murmurs, "I... I... don't know, sir. I'll get right on it. I know Red Alert was working on stalling more security cameras, and he was teaching me a bit about security systems. Would you mind teaching me the rest, boss? With him missing, someone's got to fill in." Bitbucket startles at the explosion caused by the energon and turns to look at Kup with an expression of "What was THAT for??" Kup pats Swoop on the shoulder. "Yeah, still live. I've gotten used to the idea the Decepticons will never kill me. Ever." He doesn't seem to be either dismayed or thrilled by that realization, though. "Huh, he was teaching you about security cameras, Nightbeat?" Kup continues, rubbing his chin as he regards the detective. "Well, suppose you could use the training. There's some missing footage from that security video log you sent me. Heh, if I had an energon chip for everytime I accidentally deleted security footage... damn new age computers." He shakes his head. "We rely too much on that stuff, anyway. Footage can be faked, in, uh, Photoshop or whatever they call it." As Bitbucket berates him, Kup glances at the diminutive bot, and looks apologetic. "Er... sorry, just got excited. Uh. Can I get another cube?" Oh, and he seeemed not to answer Nightbeat's question. Nightbeat removes his hands from his audios, now that the explosions and shouting seem to be over. He agrees readily, "Blasted computers. Can't trust 'em. But yeah," he points over at one corner, "I installed that camera there. Thing is, while I can slap a camera in a wall, Red Alert didn't get around to explaining how to design a system, top down." Bitbucket would sigh if he were human as he goes to get a fresh energon cube for Kup. Swoop waves his hand around in the air, "Me want cube too! Me should get one 'cause me not throw them all over the place like SOME PEOPLE." He crosses his arms and nods to himself. Oh Swoop, you are so subtle and witty! "Why cameras? Should just get some tough guy to stand around and watch everyone." Kup scowls at Swoop. "Watch it, lad. Just because you like listenin' to my stories doesn't mean you get a pass for EVERYTHING." To Nightbeat, Kup says, "Alright, yeah, I'm not a big technical wizard like Perceptor but I know how to set up a security system. Not too good with the computers, but I know all about magnetic tape storage. Harder to "hack," if you ask me. Yeah. Yeah, I could teach you what I know." Swoop just gives Kup one of those 'I totally do get a pass for everything because I'm so damn cute' looks. It's actually even more hideous than one would imagine. Nightbeat almost smiles, but he can't - there's too much going wrong right now. So he nods and replies, "Thanks, boss. I'll take you up on that when you got time. I gotta duck out now - got watch duty to stand. But I'll look into Red Alert's disappearance as soon as possible."
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