Crystal Glittering in the Sun

[Hook-3]

In one world, called the Mirror Deadzone by some, a world yet to come, a world long past, a wind rose along the river. It followed the glimmering trail of silver and blue, then swirled off through the jungle trees that lined each side. There, it rustled great leaves and disturbed tiny flowers in the first bloom of spring.

The wind traveled on, through a place where the great trees had been ripped from the earth and tossed aside. The clearing is a place of ruin for organic life, all scarred earth and uprooted rotten logs of once great jungle behemoths lying at the edge.

In the center of the clearing, there is a cage. A crystal cage with great pillars of crystal rising up as thick as young trees. A web of crystal runs between each pillar, the gaps too small for clever little fingers to work there way through. They are almost even too small for clever little scalpel blades.

Some of the strands of crystal show heat-damage, discoloring them in sooty bruises. But no strands have broken.

From a distance, the flash of sunlight in the cage material renders it impossible to see what is inside. Come closer, though, close enough to touch, and there one can make out the green-and-purple Constructicon huddled miserably in the center.

[Spinister]

Spinister has been a thief in the night, a stalker in the dark, but these days, it has not been lives he has stole from the clutches of their loved ones but information. He'll need a tank flush when he returns home, but the sludge running through his systems is a price he'll gladly pay for what he has learned.

Information leads to more information, and Spinister has a lead he'd like to follow up. Omega Supreme is not exactly subtle, not even this strange mirror Omega Supreme who seems capable of forming complete sentences.

This Omega Supreme has a caged crane pining away, which is of great interest to Spinister for many reasons. He has been a ghost trespassing on the land of the living, a figment filed away under plausible denial. Such suits him fine, but silent as he is, even Spinister cannot pass up this chance.

The alternate Hook is alone, with his radio disabled. When Omega Supreme comes, Spinister will have enough notice to get away in time. It's nearly perfect, but he remains wary and vigilant. As he approaches the cage, he mentally bids Singe and Hairsplitter, Silence.

Spinister has some idea of his alternate from observation, and so with voice bright and at a normal speaking tone, tinged with concern, he exclaims, "Hook! You're alive. Thank Primus! We've been so worried about you. What have they done to you?"

Spinister has a faint accent not usually found among Decepticons when he actually speaks with a normal speaking voice, but it would take someone from his home reality to really place it. Immediately, he starts to appraise the cage, as if looking for a lock or latch.

[Hook-3]

"Spinister!" Hook bolts to his feed, visor bright. But he does not rush forward, and the edge of wariness restraining him is visible in his posture.

He doesn't trust that this Spinister is real. But, oh, how he hopes.

"They- Nothing, they've done nothing. He keeps them away from me." Except for Long Haul. "Even Perceptor and the Prime."

Especially those two.

[Spinister]

So this Omega Supreme that the new Autobots have apparently doesn't want to kill Hook, kill him again, and then kill him some more. That's useful information. In fact, he would seem to be a bit protective of Hook.

Spinister considers the cage, pacing around with a studious expression around his optics. What looks like the lock is not in fact the actual lock, he surmises. It's a beacon to alert someone, probably Omega Supreme, of tampering.

Spinister prods gently, "Nothing? Hook, if you don't want to talk about it, I totally understand, I really do, but you've been kidnapped, and it's entirely possible that you're suffering from Stockholm syndrome, especially considering your... situation."

[Hook-3]

"My situation remains unchanged," Hook bites off. He does so hate it when people know enough to question his loyalty because of the method of his enlightenment. Oh, wait, Spinister shouldn't know about that all. Quick, recovery! "My brother is still an Autobot, and I am still a loyal Decepticon."

He tilts his head up slightly, the black metal ring designed simply for metal claws to grasp. "In fact, things are looking up-"

Take the hint, Spinister. The lock you're looking for is above.

[Spinister]

Spinister does indeed take the hint and removes a small toolbox, the one he keeps his lock picking kit in. Given that they use electronic locks, his lock-picking kit more resembles an electronics kit than anything else.

He is working carefully, partially because he always does but also because he is stalling.

Spinister comments, still sounding concerned. "We need to get you back home, Hook." Spinister is clever enough to not use 'Lord Hook'. "I don't suppose you've heard anything interesting in your time," with the Autobots? Not so much, "out here."

[Hook-3]

Hook flies up to watch Spinister work, now and then gesturing slightly with his hand at something the helicopter has missed. He seems to understand the locking mechanism to a certain extent, but is unable to reach it from inside his prison.

The web of crystal here is particularly full of those smokey-grey bruises of heat damage.

"A few things. Emirate Xaaron- the gold one you said worked to curb the destructive impulses of your Autobots- he has had to run, Omega says. Run with Swerve- a red car, I don't know his universe. Perhaps they are running towards Starscream?" Hook knows enough of Autobots to sound hopeful about that. He knows Autobots can believe in more than conquest.

"And Perceptor has been working on a portal." Hope flashes to something far darker, and one black hand curls into a fist. Perceptor has been working on a portal, and Hook has been trapped here, unable to help his comrades, unable to do anything but beg Omega for his freedom. "It's almost ready, last I heard. The Prime looks forward to a new universe to conquer."

His fist unclenches, and he spreads his hand imploringly against the crystal mesh. "Could you get the plans, do you think? Or one of the others, Frenzy perhaps? If I had them, I could fine-tune them, find us a way to go back."

It's much to ask of the chief Mayhem, but Spinister making it all that out here was a miracle. However, the Decepticon spies are frighteningly skilled in some ways.

Besides, he so desperately wants to return home, to his brothers, to avert the future Omega Supreme informed him would happen no matter their great efforts.

[Spinister]

"Of course I'll try for the plans and inform the rest of our team," Spinister assures with genuine sincerity. Actually? He already did. "But first, I'm getting you out of here. You've suffered enough."

He inquires here and there of Hook for advice on the lock, as if he doesn't quite understand it himself. It's simply not true - Spinister could have had Hook out of here minutes ago.

[Hook-3]

Freedom is so very, very close, and Hook is getting antsy about that fact. He's tried, Megatron knows he's tried to free himself, but nothing ever seemed to get this far.

He's worried that if Spinister doesn't open that lock soon, he's going to be trapped here for all time. He tries very hard to keep his answers from getting curt or letting his worry show, but the edges creep in.

[Omega Supreme-3]

There is a faint sound off in the distance, rapidly getting louder. The roar of a rocket rolls like thunder, and the dot of its form is quickly resolving into something much more massive.

Omega Supreme is not pleased. Rodimus Prime is going to want him over in the new dimension they've found as the engine of destruction that he is. It's just a matter of time.

He wishes he could just give up. Of course, he supports the Empire. They keep the ruffians and the rubbish in line, but surely they could do it without him. Do they have any idea how tiresome carnage gets?

Sometimes, he's tempted to just take Hook and Long Haul and leave for good.

[Spinister]

Spinister is an alert fellow, and he picks up on the sound and looks over his shoulder. Immediately, he knows what that dot must be. His expression is graver than Hook might expect of the Spinister that he knows, but surely he can be excused? Omega Supreme is always one for Decepticons to fear.

He presses up against the cage, and looking regretful or at least annoyed with himself, he apologises, "I'll come back for you, I promise."

Spinister a lying liar who liars. If he comes back for this Hook, it'll be his laser beam that greets Hook first. he had thought perhaps to make a gift of this Hook to his own. His Hook is imaginative. He would have many uses for a duplicate in everything but mind. However, the situation has gotten much too hot for Spinister.

With a, "I'm sorry," Spinister vanishes off into the jungle.

[Hook-3]

As Spinister turns his head at the faint sound, so does Hook. He has become terribly familiar with that growing roar, and for an instant, he knows the death of hope and the just as terribly familiar bitterness of despair.

"Go-" He urges Spinister, but the Mayhem knows how to do his job better than Hook does. The helicopter already makes to vanish, a soft promise and an apology all the respite he can give the Constructicon.

That promise is worth more than electrum, though. Hook clutches it close to his mind, something warm and fluttering, wonderful as sunlight after the storm. Spinister will come back for him when he is able to.

Spinister will come back.

With that thought, Hook sinks to the floor of his cage and settles there, watching for Omega Supreme. Despondency and misery are gone from as if they never were.

He always was cursed with hope.

[Omega Supreme-3]

This Omega Supreme does not properly land but instead transforms, right there in the air, and he lands hard, leaving footprints in the jungle that will fill in as pools in a matter of days, teeming with parasitic insects.

Omega Supreme hefts up the cage and looks at his captured prize, not noticing the damage to locking mechanism, and he growls, "We need to talk."

End scene?

[Hook-3]

That's rarely a good opener to a conversation. Hook stands, however, and approaches the bars of his cage. "About what, Omega?"

Please save him from another long diatribe about how Omega just wants to take his Constructis and retire.

---

Sure, whenever you want.