| abstract | - Darkmount - Workshop White cement tile floors complete with floor drains mark this room as a maintenance space even before you see all the machine tools. Toolchests and workbenches are mounted on the walls, with the center of the room left open for access to the lifts and hoists. Air hoses for pneumatic tools hang in reels from the ceiling, easily accessable from any part of the room, and at several points along the rear wall there are connections for fuel, coolant and welding gas hoses. Mindwipe eaxamines the surgical tools, making sure that they are sharp enough to cut through Cybertronian armour. Then he places a laser scalpel onto the table. "We are ready," Mindwipe smirks, "All we need is a subject." As if responding to Mindwipe's comment, or thoughts.. where's Soundwave??, the doors of the Workshop fling open as a gurney is wheeled through. Pushing the bed on wheels into position, the two grunts nod solemnly at Scrapper.. who was following closely behind with an exetremely oversized clipboard in hand. Nodding, the two muscle-mechs stomp back out the way they came. No one really lingers here, for fear of disappearing and never being heard from again. Then again, with all the sick twisted sadistic MSE members on this faction.. can anyone blame them? "Mindwipe, is everything in order as discussed?" Contrail pushes into the workshop to be nosy and snoop on the dissection. It won't make any sense to her, but it is the principle of the thing. She hangs out near the door, out of the way. In a transformation that is harder than it looks, Contrail rises up into robot mode. A few moments after the brute labor walk out, the doors wisk open briefly once more for Carjack to walk in, hissing shut behind him once more. "I think we're lucky they even left enough pieces for us to work on, so let's make this good." Mindwipe starts abruptly, then subsides as the grunts move in and take the bodies on order to use them for... well, that's none of your business really, is it. One Seeker-form bursts out of the room, only to avoid everyone else. Mindwipe stares downwards, then glances up at Scrapper. "Send one of those back in, they seem... sturdy." "Pieces?" Overture rasps, his half a body rising.. creepily by Backfire's neck raising. "You'll stay your voice synth, lest it be separated from you!" he scowls, glaring the room over. "And you'll remain seated for the ENTIRE procedure." Scrapper delightfully denotes, delivering an almost lethal dose of supressants to put the tiny wiggling of circuits silent for their operation. "Ahem." the Constructicon leader clears his audio processor, trying to keep composure. It's just hard, with this many spare parts about.. and these hands perfect for making robotic sofas. Nodding to Carjack, "Of course, it's not often Galvatron returns with not only a whole subject and a half.. but alive no less." Looking sidelong at Mindwipe, "Later. We have much more pressing matters at hand." he glances at the bedridden Backfire and Overture combination. Mindwipe glances askance at Scrapper, but it appears that the Constructicon does not wish to begin the procedure. Delicately lifting a laserscalpel, Mindwipe begins to cut into the torso that lies upon the surgical table. "Take note," he comments, "Despite the variations found in armour, the core circuits of a humaniform Cybertronian show a distinct commonality." "Are you daft?" Scrapper scolds, attempting to swat the hand. "This isn't a disection, we're to separate them from eachother.. not themselves!" Combat: Scrapper strikes Mindwipe with his Scalpel Snatch! (Grab) attack! "Mechs with -whole bodies- have tried and failed, squirt, so keep your parasitic little trap shut," Carjack retorts, having considerably.. less tact than Scrapper does. Then giggles a bit. "Yes, more important things." Followed by a *VRRRRRR* as he hoists up his multi-tool and deploys a cutting saw. "Like giving these two a case of seperation anxiety." Contrail suggests, "You could do both at the same time as long as you put them back together in the end." This is not helpful. Scrapper is trying REAL hard not to give in and start taking these two apart piece by delicate piece, why the Seeker's head would look perfect as a fireplace's mantle piece. And Overture, he would make a delightful windchime. But he's trying to follow the letter of the law here, sides.. there are witnesses. Clamping down on Backfire's lower half, Scrapper applies a simple pulley strap around Overture and pulls it taught.. giving Carjack a nice clean open cut. All the witnesses would probably be cool with it, Scrapper. "How nice of you to stick your neck out." Followed by the sort of gleeful cackling you really don't want to hear from your doctor as Carjack applies his cutting tool to the nice exposure Scrapper has made with the bindings. "Don't mention it, Carjack." Scrapper bites out, torquing the strap to peel back another layer of Overture's lower half. Piping has already been tied off or clamped down, running diversionary tracts where needed. The piano-former was fine, well.. as fine as can be, given the need for a pelvis, legs, and arms. Mindwipe folds his arms slowly as he stares at Scrapper. "Educating our inferiors is a requirement for teaching. Your emotive response is..." He staggers slightly, as Vorath disapproves. "Insufficient." Carjack puts a foot up on the side of the gurny to stabilize himself as he continues cut back and forth at seperating the two transformers from each other. "They're both just lucky Galvatron decided they're worth keeping around, or we'd be cutting them -up- instead of apart." The animators forget to keep drawing Contrail because she is just observing. "Emotive?" Scrapper questions, turning to look at Mindwipe. "Your logic circuits must have been fried when Firestar offlined you, Headmaster." Another wrench of the pulley, and the two are stretched taught again.. Carjack getting to the last bit that keeps them together! "My response is based on Lord Galvatron's order, Mindwipe. Do not mistake obedience for emotion." *SCREEEEEECH* Fortunately that was teh sound of Carjack's saw digging into the bed beneath the two once it cuts the final piece away, before finally hissing to a stop as he pulls it away. "There, all seperated. Now that we've cut to the chase..." Snickers a bit more as the device retracts into his arm once more. Mindwipe glowers further, before he mover over to a panel. Glancing quickly over this shoulder, he stiffens, as Scrapper... mistakes him for a Pretender? Mindwipe draws in a deep breath before he turns back to Scrapper. "Of course," he comments, "I look forward to working with Construction machinery." Oh Carjack and his clever little quips. That must be why he's in charge of MSE, it's certainly not his bedside manner.. as many Decepticon would and could attest to. Plugging a wire into Overture's CPU, Scrapper runs a dozen tests quickly.. and then six more times, for accuracy's sake. "All clear, given the supressants. Have him moved to the brig for his stay and limb-reintigration process." Scrapper says, unplugging the wire and waving a couple gumbie medics forward. "I'm sure you do." he bites back, "Scalpel?" That and despite being a nasty little bugger he does get results. Just looke at Cont -- oh wait she's gone. Or they forgot to animate her for background filler. Either or. Carjack had his fun for the moment, either way. ".. don't you have the one you grabbed from him a few minutes ago?" Sighing, Scrapper makes due with the scalpel already in his possession. It's just not the same as having TWO scalpels, but Carjack is the boss.. afterall. Unless a big one eyed boss shows up, or an even bigger fusion cannon arm'd boss.. yeah. Anyways, the Constructicon leader starts severing connections stemming from Backfire's chest cavity. Energon seeps out slowly, trickling down his frame and dripping to the slab below. "Mindwipe, suction?" By now, the two gumbies have removed Overture's unconcious form and taken him to the brig.. for his nice comfy stay. Shockwave is here because the orders of Galvatron finally filtered down to him. Some nonsense about Backfire and Overture. The Decepticon Military Commander had thus far ignored the exploits of Galvatron Jr, believing his attention better served elsewhere. But now, Shockwave is here, entering the Darkmount Workshop via the sliding doors that lead to the Atrium. Immediately he spies Carjack, Scrapper, Mindwipe, and possibly Contrail if the animators feel like it. The cyclops silently heads in their direction, looking at the patients from over Scrapper's shoulder. Carjack is about to say something... but as he's standing on the opposite side of the bed he sees Shockwave walking in first. Promptly clamps his mouth shut, and diverts his attention to sealing off some of the leaks in Backfire that are dripping while Scrapper works. Considering the sort of crap that runs through Backfire's fuel lines. How did Overture even stand being connected to him for so long? Noting Carjack's rather.. unusual manner, Scrapper can only theorize that the giant shadow looming over his shoulder isn't just 'anyone'. Clamping off what lines he can, the Constructicon grabs a set of pry bars and goes to work on the chest cavity.. namely, separating it to get to the lasercore underneath. Strange, the Seeker should be responding to the energon transfusion by now.. even if it was as tainted as everyone made it out to be. Shockwave ignores the discomfort he creates with his mere presence. Watching Scrapper as he performs the delicate operation, Shockwave makes no comment. He doesn't want to distract the Constructicon, even though he personally couldn't care less what happens to Backfire and Overture. As always, though, he's impressed by Scrapper's work. The engineer's reputation is a well earned one. Once there's a moment of relative safety, however, he comments, "Status?" "Overture is stable, unconcious, and awaiting limb reintigration in the brig.. Lord Shockwave." Scrapper manages, cracking the cavity and prying it loose. "Unit Backfire is resistant to energon transfusion, so proceeding with manual laser core jump to initialize rebooting of necessary functions." he sighs, lying the two pry bars on the cart beside him. A tiny lense slips into place over Scrapper's optic, because built-in tools are 'in' now, as the pads of his fingers flip back to reveal.. tiny instruments for delicate surgery! It's like he's got a swiss army knife at his fingertipped disposal! Carjack diverts his attention from having to look at Shockwave being nosey despite the lack of nose by flipping down his visor and scanning Backfire's form. "Hmmm.... despite the weird shit in his system he -should- still be responding, and his corrupted systems corrupting the new energon." He turns for a moment to check the energon transfusion device, just to make sure it's not a hardware malfunction. Long Haul drags in a crate full of medical supplies, muttering various matters of ire, "After all the years and I'm still the errand boy? 'But Long Haul, you got such a wide load!'" He spits bitterly, "That's not even a compliment when you look at it closely!" With a wind up, Long Haul heaves the crate over his shoulder and into the hands of a nearby medic staff, albeit the toss was heavier than it ought to be. "I hope you all choke on the energon you wanted." Clearly the hate is strong in this one, isn't it? Long Haul turns his attention to the other gathered Decepticons in the room, and it's only then that his optics focuses in on the operation that's taking place, "Aw, what?! I even miss out on playing Dr. House MD here!" "Then I see my own expertise is not required," Shockwave states. Although he gives no hint of emotion in his voice, it is easy to tell that he's glad for it. He does, however, have a scientific interest in it. "How were they merged, Scrapper? How did it happen?" he asks. As Carjack seems stumped by the lack of response from the patient, Shockwave reaches for and grabs a medical scanner for himself. He's in the process of running it along Backfire when Long Haul barges in and carelessly tosses some crates at a doctor... who probably isn't as strong as Haul is. "Scrapper and Carjack are operating to save Backfire and Overture." Laserbeak returns, Megatron. Leaning in closer, Scrapper begins picking away the outer shielding of the core. Unscrewing plated sections, repositioning the energon pump (which is in fine condition), and moving other unnecessary items from the operating area. Carefully collecting the items, Scrapper drops them into a bin marked 'Unit Backfire' for later use. Upon Long Haul's entrance, the Constructicon leader looks up. "Long Haul, glad you could make it.. do you mind?" he asks, pointing to a box in the corner labeled 'Remove'. "In due course, mind you." Leaning back over Backfire's chassis, the Constructicon leader lets out a higher than normal pitched call. "What in Straxus blade is this?" "Nope." Carjack gives the machine an extra thump for good measure. "The transfusion is working fine. There's definately something messed up with him." A more concerned boss would yell at Long Haul for throwing stuff to weaker people... But Carjack just stifles a snicker as the gumbie stumbles from the load, instead. But his attention is drawn back by Scrapper's exclaimation, and curiosity over what an experience engineer could -not- recognise gets him interested enough to lean in for a closer look himself. Shockwave's attention is drawn away from Long Haul at Scrapper's vocal surprise. "You found something?" he inquires. The Commander resumes his scans, now shifting to the area where Scrapper was working in anticipation of finding the cause of their merging. Long Haul senses that the opportunity to finally climb out of mediocrity and prove once and his talents goes beyond just being the errand boy of the bunch, "Saving Backfire and Overture, huh? Bet you ain't getting anywhere fast, and you want to know why? Because you're missing my talen----" and just before he can say any further he is cut off by Scrapper with another menial task! That's probably a good thing too because Long Haul is really only as smart as the average bear. He narrows his optics, swallowing his simmering distaste at but orders are orders. Long Haul begrudgingly goes over to corner to pick up the bin before he whimpers out, "J-j-just because I form Devastator's ass, doesn't mean I'm going to be the ass monkey of this group forever!" The Constructicon dashes out angrily with the bin in hand. "Their merging was crude, Overture merely subdued Backfire's higher processor functions while amplifying his own." Scrapper notes to Shockwave, still looking perplexed. Well, as perplexed as someone can look with a face plate and visor. "That mucousy layer was merely a preventive measure, to insure the occupants some semblance of safety from exterior threats." "However, this defies all logic. Here, allow me to amplify to the main screen." Scrapper notes, projecting the image on the screen that descends from the ceiling. "See here where a normal core's stabilizer processes the trace amounts of Cybertronium and regulates energon consumption? This core and this unique energon element is.." Scrapper is actually at a loss for words, "The modifications lack all sense, logic, rhyme, or reason. The Cybertronium is replaced by this 'acidic' solution.. which looks unique in origin as well." he sighs, coming to his final analysis. "I surmise he's been heavily modified by an idiot, plasma scoring puts this well beyond a thousand cycles." Shockwave watches the screen intently, absorbing the information like a sponge. The data is committed to memory, where he allows several background processors to analyze it while he concentrates on the here and now. "This modification was intentional, then? Are there any advantages whatsoever in it? Is it possible Overture or Backfire did this to themselves, or must it have been a third party?" Shockwave knows all about using undesirables in horrific science experiments. "Insufficient knowledge on unit's posting history to give a proper conjecture, but if forced.. likely not self imposed." Scrapper answers. "This dates well before the last vorn, give or take ten stellar cycles. Overture's modifications merely taxed this.. nonsensical system to the breaking point." Turning to Carjack, "Thoughts?" "Not much to subdue there," Carjack snarks under his breath at 'higher processes'. But then listens to Scrapper's explaination of what he found, nudging his visor back up so he can see the screen clearly as well. "It's not unusual, considering their perchance to pick up unusual or specialized abilities to dinstinquish themselves from the rank and file genericness of Seeker-dom, for elaborate, experimental, and often questionable modifications to be done upon such individuals. Especially ones like Backfire too slow on the uptake to realize they're being used for unsantioned experimentation... It's hardly the -first- time someone else has taken advantage of him for their own gain. But what you're showing us shouldn't even be working properly, if at all. You may be right on that conjecture, Scrapper." Carjack leans on the bed with one hand while stroking his chin the other. "If I'm remembering right Backfire wasn't with the main part of the Empire's forces that long ago. That time period would still place on him on Accilade-6." "Accilade 6?" Scrapper turns around, whipping out a datapad. "Never heard of it." he plugs the planet's name into the search function of his new device. The last one was plugged into some Galvatron Jr tech and turned into a TABLET of DOOM! Yeah, they don't talk about it much. "Within a cycle or two's journey, Lord Shockwave?" he awaits the decree from the logic machine. "Accilade-6..." Shockwave repeats. He goes silent for a few seconds, obviously downloading every scrap of information on the planet from Darkmount's computer systems. He doesn't answer Scrapper just yet. Carjack takes a moment to just bask in the fact that he knew something they didn't. Because, yes, it's really obscure and most people wouldn't care about where Backfire came from or bother looking it up. "It would be the most likely place to look to figure out just how this," vage wave at Backfire's still form, "even works." "The Imperial databanks have no record of Accilade-6 other than its location," Shockwave reports. The Military Operations Commander goes silent again, weighing his desire to uncover this mystery against his complete lack of caring what happens to Overture and Backfire. Finally, though... "Very well, I will authorize a small team to venture to Accilade-6 to investigate." "Acknowledged, Lord Shockwave." Scrapper intones, quite happy. He could give two fraks less about Backfire's well being. Galvatron's happy little prisoner piano-former is already in his cell being given limbs and legs. Accilade-6 is a chance for SCIENCE! And understanding how some volcano rocks and acid can substitute for actual advanced mechanic design. Carjack curiosity is for pretty much the same reasons. For science. EVIL SCIENCE! He's practically giddy at the anticipating thought, but keeps it under control because of the one-eyed spoilsport present. "I shall prepare the field equipment for the expedition immeadiately!" Once Carjack makes his departure, Shockwave gives one last look at the patient before turning away himself. "Should complications arise during his recovery, Scrapper, do not feel the need to expend many resources on the matter." What counts as 'many' is up for debate. "No more than what's used in the creation of one gumbie, m'lord." Scrapper replies, stalking out after Carjack. The rest of the gumbie squad start picking up what they've left out.
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