Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 6, 2007 20:22:26 GMT -5
Pain.
The raw, grinding, ripping pain of a body that had been tested far beyond its limits and failed spectacularly tore Midnight from the black comfort of offline oblivion. Oddly, for all the pain, only a handful of warning lights blinked in his diagnostics queue. What had happened?
Unicron.
Iceraker disintegrating beside him into a cloud of metal vapor at one touch of that hellish green beam. Stark panic seizing him and driving him down and away, trying to hide from that baleful gaze, that promise of instant oblivion--
Searing pain as the eyebolt skimmed him, burning him like his one-time fall into the Smelting Pools. Midnight could feel his armor boil at its touch, armor nearly as strong as Shockwave's. Boil and drip away, as the more vulnerable mechanisms it shielded crumbled to ash. One wing puffed away in a flash of metal vapor and he fell.
Then the building hit him.
Midnight tried to bring his optics back online; only one activated. All he could see was some kind of black sludge close to his face; he seemed to be laying on his side, with his face half pressed into the sludge--only that's not what the kinesthetic feedback he was getting from his body was telling him. Midnight felt like he was laying on his back, and should be staring up at the sky.
Then he paid a bit more attention the diagnostics readout. "No Response from Primary Diagnostic Processor" it told him. "Cerebro-processor/lasercore connectivity: wireless mode ONLY". "Power distribution: wireless mode ONLY". "Motor control router: OFFLINE", "Motor control connectivity: wireless mode ONLY"....
"Aww, slag! Not again!" Well, that's what Midnight tried to say. It came out more like "Abbb, blaggg! Nobbbb babaibbb." Rather like his vocalizer was full of sludge. It probably was.
It had only been a partial chunk of a building, falling up into Unicron's vortex, but it had hit him at a very bad angle. If he'd still had two wings, he might have dodged it. As it was, only one dangling beam hit his neck--at a good fraction of the speed of sound--
That's when the lights went out.
He'd been decapitated again. If it weren't for that fitful handful of warning messages, Midnight would be certain of his own death. He had a strong suspicion, however, that permanent deactivation did not include flashing lights in the warning queue.
Okay. His body was close enough for him to feel the pain of it, and for him to not be dead. Midnight didn't want to think about why he hadn't downloaded to one of the back-up cerebro-processors under his cockpit--
Green bolt burning away his left side, vaporizing his cockpit, opening him up like some monstrous cutting laser--
--but he did anyway. Slag! Most of my backups are gone along with my diagnostic processor... Mebbe I can reroute motor control manually... Seriously. This is bad.
Manual rerouting worked; after a few minutes, Midnight was rewarded with one warning disappearing. A motor control router was back online.
Did anything else actually work?
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 6, 2007 21:42:02 GMT -5
Midnight felt his right hand curl into a fist; pain from a torn gun mount stabbed through the arm. Legs, did he have legs? Pain said he did, but were they functional? Hesitantly he sent the commands to his right leg, then his left leg, routing around the vast gulf that had been his left side.
The agony of a crushed thruster shot through him as his right leg stirred; the left one moved only haltingly, and Midnight felt a horrid grinding as the ends of a sheared strut clanked together. Still, they moved. He pushed feebly with one leg, rolling over onto his side with surprising ease--where were his wings? They should have blocked the roll!
It didn't matter right now. From his side he rolled again, gathering the one good arm and knees under him. Without cockpit, without his head, he was blind--so Midnight crawled. He dragged his broken body through the muck to his head, homing in on the wireless signal binding him together. Groping about, he found himself, and lifted his head out of the sludge.
His vision tilted and spun; all around stood strange broken-topped towers, rising from a black, oily ooze and covered with verdigris and encrustations1. Cables ran from tower to tower, and draped the towers in loose coils. In the midst of all this a black metal causeway ran; Midnight had fallen on a low point where a ramp rose out of the black ooze to the causeway. The same black ooze dripped out of his mouth.
Only one optic worked; Midnight had no sense of depth or proportion. He turned his head toward his body--
And nearly lost his grip on his head. He could not have lived through that!
His intakes and neck mount had been sheared away by the girder that decapitated him; his armor had been blasted away by Unicron's bolt, leaving only the plating over one arm, a few spots on his right side--holed and half-melted, and his legs. His left side had been sliced away below the arm, his cockpit torn away--and the arm melted, leaving only the innermost strut. Electronic entrails dangled and sparked from his gutted body. One thruster was crushed and crumpled; the other leg's thruster was scorched but intact--only the leg was nearly severed just above the knee. Only numb stubs of his wings remained, twisted, melted scraps of dark blue metal hinting that he'd once been a flier. Oddly enough, his tail fins were almost intact, dark blue shining against the black of the few unmelted parts of his body.
Maybe he was dead. Maybe this was where you ended up after being melted down--in the sump pits with the sludge and dross and slag.
Maybe he wasn't. Midnight carefully lifted his melted left arm strut and wedged his head under it, tucked close against his nearly-exposed core on the left side. His right arm cannon swayed and banged against his arm as he worked.
// Midnight calling any Decepticons, please reply. // What do you know? His radio worked. Seriously.
--- 1 Midnight has never seen a tree, let alone a moss-covered weeping swamp tree.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 7, 2007 16:39:25 GMT -5
Not only is his radio working, he gets a prompt reply.
[Spinister]: //Spinister here, Midnight. The situation is strange. Transmit your timestamp and describe your location.//
No slag the situation is strange! Midnight is irritated; tell him the obvious, why don't you? Spinister, Spinister... he knew that name. But wh--oh yeah. Mayhem. One of the survivors of Bludgeon's earth-side debacle.
// Spinster? The Mayhem Spinister? Seriously? //
// I'm in.. some kind of oil pit-looking region. All black sludge and decayed... towers. Loose cables draped over everything. Some kind of verdigris or crystal growth--Ah never seen anything like this, not nowhere on Cybertron! // Midnight's accent is strong, and reminiscent of the Autobots Ironhide and Inferno. // Seriously, this is weird. //
He gives a timestamp that falls sometime in 2006. It's actually right in the middle of Unicron's attack from the Marvel-movie timeline, but Spinister wouldn't know about that yet.
// Need retrieval and repair pretty bad. Fuel's down to fumes, too. // Best not tell him just how badly damaged he was; they might consider him not worth the effort of retrieving, and this time, he was in no condition to walk back to base. Wherever the base was.
[Spinister]: //The same. An unknown force is pulling Transformers from different universes and timelines and dumping us on this organic planet. We are currently led by a Starscream that you won't know. To judge from your description,// and Spinister has to do some lateral thinking there, //Hook and Skyfire are in the area. Skyfire resembles Jetfire, but he's Starscream's ally, so don't shoot him. Hook is currently second in command. He's also older than you'd expect.//
The Constructicon Hook? Midnight just might have a chance after all. If he'd made it in the first place. After all, 'pulled from all different times and places' was a good description of what death did to you, in a way.
// You weren't pulled from the middle of a battle or ambush were you? Right after taking a big hit? //
[Spinister]: //Middle of a battle? Yes. After taking a big hit? No. Right before.//
Well that was right interesting. How'd he know it was before if he'd been taken away already? Then the Mayhem gets to chattering with someone Midnight's radio can't quite pick up.
[Spinister]: //Needlenose, Midnight's shown up. Flyboy designed by Shockwave. Think he's in the swamp. He's pretty injured, so his signal's patchy. Comes from 2006.//
Needlenose? Another Mayhem. Did they have loyalty problems here? Anger flared briefly through his CPU, giving him the strength to crawl all the way out of the black ooze to the causeway level. Was Midnight going to have to rip someone's wings off after he got fixed back up?
[Spinister]: //Lord Shockwave, if not you at a future point in time, it might have been a different Lord Shockwave that built the heavy attack unit Midnight. Multiple universes have collided here, sir. What is your last timestamp?//
Shockwave? Shockwave is here?? But not his Shockwave? Midnight snatches at an elusive hope, that it is his creator, and that he will be rescued and repaired and the madness of Unicron just... a delusion of a battle damage.
[Spinister]: //Knows me as a Mayhem, Needlenose.//
He's still jabbering at the other Mayhem. Seriously, is anyone going to clue him in about a pick-up?
[Hook]: //Midnight, can you provide solar coordinates? And can someone else put out the SOS from Midnight on the line Skyfire can hear? It will be difficult to take my starship off on a repair run if I'm hearing information Skyfire is not.//
Oh, great. They don't know where he is, and he can't tell them.
// Solar coordinates? // Long silence. // That would be the bright primary star that's above the horizon? Well, it's above the horizon. My navigation instruments are, uh, not here. Seriously. Home in on my radio? //
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 8, 2007 19:44:24 GMT -5
Skyfire flies along the black metal causeway several hundred feet above the ground. They are looking for a grounded flier somewhere in the noisome mire and verdant growths of the swamp. There's too much metal here; radar reflects off the black road and occasional overgrown structures of the same black metal. A downed mech would be hidden in all that, if he were near.
"Hook, my sensors aren't picking up anything useful in this. Too much metal, too many structures, and our subject isn't putting out enough power for me to detect. Perhaps after dark I might find his power-plant on IR, but not with all this sun-warmed metal around. Even then, my IR sensors are more for spotting volcanoes from orbit, not small objects on the ground," Skyfire says, his voice echoing around his hold from the interior speakers. Perhaps the slightest bit of frustration shades his voice.
"I'm landing here; we're at the nearest point on the causeway to Spinister's coordinates. It's up to you, now," he finally says. The note of the jets changes as Skyfire settles again, just as carefully as before.
It's not really Skyfire's fault that the headless, wingless, muck-covered wreckage just under his right wing doesn't look anything like the "heavy attack jet" he's been sent to find...
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 8, 2007 22:09:42 GMT -5
Midnight wondered idly just what he was using for fuel right now. His wing tanks were gone, and the reserve tank in his torso had to be severely compromised. Sure, it was compartmentalized and self-sealing, but you could only lose so much of a fuel tank before being, well, out of fuel. He had to be running on one of the secondary converters in his lower torso, since the primary one under his cockpit just wasn't there any more. Ditto for his fuel pumps.
So the question was, would he die of fuel starvation before they found him? Or would one of the few working systems short out from moisture getting into exposed wiring? Slag, this was no way to go. If he was going to die, why couldn't it have been a square-on shot from Unicron? Better one sudden blast then this ebbing away--
The thunder of jet engines--big, powerful jet engines, bigger than Midnight's own from the sound of them--broke into Midnight's gloomy reverie. A shadow fell on him, and the sound of jets roared so loudly that Midnight could not think or call out; he could only endure the long moments while the ground shook and the universe howled around him.
Finally, there was silence, and a long white wing stretched over Midnight's head. He activated his radio.
// Slag. Don'tcha think you cut that landing a leetle close there? Seriously. //
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Post by Hook on Oct 11, 2007 21:51:08 GMT -5
//Midnight. Describe the area in as complete a manner as possible, noting how close you are to Skyfire first.// Hook broadcasts on a very short-range band. Short enough to only hit on anyone within half a mile, really.
Hook waits impatiently at Skyfire's rear-access hatches, toolbox already out and held in one hand. Time is being wasted, time that could cost someone their life, and he would be very, very cross if all his skill was for nought because the doors did not open fast enough!
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 11, 2007 22:02:23 GMT -5
Skyfire began lowering his rear ramp as soon as the jet blast faded away. "Watch the ground when you land, it's still smouldering."
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 11, 2007 22:05:24 GMT -5
// I'm looking up at his right-slagging-wingtip, if that jumbo-grade shuttle is Skyfire. Any closer, and I'd have landing gear on what's left of my face! // growled Midnight.
Hopefully these guys could now find him. Midnight was not impressed by their search and rescue abilities so far.
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Post by Hook on Oct 11, 2007 22:31:49 GMT -5
Hook is not a search-and-rescue specialist. He is, in fact, a construction worker. All things considered, Midnight should be grateful the crane is hauling out here at all rather than demanding that the jet come to him.
//I find that difficult to believe,// Hook notes archly as he trots down the ramp and over the rapidly cooling ground. //I think Skyfire might have noticed you if you were that close.//
However, working under the assumption that Midnight actually is telling the truth and is remotely accurate in his ability to tell said truth, Hook checks under Skyfire's right wing.
Except for a muddy pile of junk on the black causeway there is nothing there. However, thoroughness demands that Hook check the junk to see if it might be useful to scavenge for parts.
There is a red-opticked Seeker-like head staring up at him from the- Yes, that was an elbow reduced to its skeletal components.
"-Ah," Hook said simply as he knelt down. Should he tell the jet that he ought to be dead? No, then Midnight might go ahead and die on him.
First impressions of damage: No wings. No intakes. Decapitated. Virtually no armor. Lower left side all but vaporized. Left arm all but destroyed. One thruster damaged. Opposite leg severed below the knee.
"You don't need repairs," Hook said quietly. "You need an entirely new body."
He doesn't have any bodies left! Thundercracker is down to a fraction of an intake that he's been saving to make a flask out of.
Hook takes a handful of the electronics hanging out of Midnight to try to determine just how much he actually has to work with here. He frowns as he stares at the pieces- is this armored? Why is this armored?
He drops it, shifts forward to examine the ruin of Midnight's chest more closely. His optics pick out parts he recognizes, but the configurations are odd, and there are quite a few more of them than there ought to be, properly speaking. And- is that a wireless hub?
The crane settles back on his feet for a moment, examining the problem. Then he reaches over and picks up Midnight's head, turning it over to peer up his neck.
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 11, 2007 22:40:16 GMT -5
Skyfire notes Hook's path out the side of his cockpit window. (Transformers can see through their windows, apparently.) // Hook? He really is just under my right wing? //
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 11, 2007 22:47:58 GMT -5
// Yeah, I think I violated the warranty on this one big-time. Seriously. This is worse than the time I fell in the Smelting Pools. It was just Wreckers that time, though. This was-- // Words fail Midnight. How do you describe something like Unicron?
There's an incoherent sqawk of static from Midnight's vocalizer as Hook picks up his head, followed an indignant radio transmission. // HEY! Don't do that! I ain't got enough sensors left for you to go spinning 'em about! //
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Post by Hook on Oct 11, 2007 22:58:01 GMT -5
//Yes, he is under your right wing, Skyfire. I am not surprised you missed him.//
"As for you, do be quiet. Or, rather, only sing out if you are in pain or getting warnings from damage-control. I need to determine how much of you is actually worth moving and how much it is safe to move."
The bit about the Smelting Pools and Wreckers is... not precisely ignored. Set aside as largely irrelevent at the moment.
Hook actually reaches in and shifts around a few of the parts in Midnight's head in order to examine the systems there further. Another wireless hub, he notes. Something about that is gnawing at him...
However, a slightly more important matter rears its ugly head. "How much fuel do you have?"
Hook sets Midnight's head back down in the crook of the jet's own skeletonized elbow and digs his fingers into the remaining covering over Midnight's internals, pulling it back slowly to get a look at the jet's fuel tank.
He's already given this body up for junk, oh yes.
---
OOC: All of Hook's manhandling of Midnight in the last few posts done with Midnight's player's permission.
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Skyfire
Major
I'm a scientist, not a....
Posts: 891
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 11, 2007 23:07:50 GMT -5
// That's... a mech? // Skyfire is plainly appalled. He thinks for an instant--though the next thing he says is obvious. // Let me know what I can do ASAP. //
While Hook continues to work, Skyfire considers the words he's heard over the radio. This Sell-Sword person gives away more than he knows with his crude braggadacio, and Skyfire sends an advisory message to Starscream.
--- Until someone needs to address Skyfire directly, skip him while Hook is working with Midnight
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Oct 11, 2007 23:16:04 GMT -5
// My primary diagnostic processor is gone, and I don't think I got any working pain sensors. Backup's mostly whining at me about switchin' to wireless mode 'cause of lost connections, and this big dumb jet is just bright enough to figure out that my head comin' off had somethin' to do with that. Shockwave built me well, but that giant tranforming planet thing was a bit beyond his specs, you know? // Midnight's voice is a broad drawl, not unlike the voices of the Autobots Ironhide and Inferno.
The one optic flickers dimly, and Midnight replies, // Wing tanks gone, so nothin' but the reserve tank, and that's gotta be two-thirds gone. Compartments, so there's still some left... but we ain't talkin' much, and I gotta be runnin' on one of the secondary pumps, too. //
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Post by Hook on Oct 11, 2007 23:20:52 GMT -5
Ah, so Midnight is dying. That rather limits Hook's options for the foreseeable future.
"If this kills you, I will be very cross with your designer doing such shoddy work," Hook informs the black jet just before he subspaces his toolbox and gathers up the black jet in his arms. He does not worry about making a neat pile of the parts; all he is concerned about is that he has Midnight's head and chest.
Rising, he carries the jet into Skyfire's hold.
---
Still with player's permission. In fact, will have permission for the rest of the thread.
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