Eye of the Storm: The Whips and Scorns of Time (Kaon)

Silvercircuitmaster Station

Stratus stumbled over to the wall of the corridor and wrenched open an acess panel. His pursuers were hampered by being at the bottom of the escalator system.

He hacked into the PA system

"MOONS OF XENDOR "

boomed through the station.

Communications Hub #2

When the robot attacking Relay fell, Reverb looked around until he saw Vindicator, a little embarrassed that he hadn't been able to take out the offender himself.

"We should hurry it up," he shouted to the other two Transformers.
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Veterans' Hospital

When Widget and Blackjack arrived, Megatron looked down at the pair of smaller Transformers.

"This does not," he said, "look like a very well-maintained facility. Are you sure it's the best we could do for a base?"

Silver Circuitmaster Station

Detour grunted as he transformed into robot mode beside (under, whatever) Jaggor. He did this just before Stratus' transmission played over the intercom. "Damn!" Turning to his larger comrades, Detour began to explain frantically, "This guy controls a huge chunk of tri-vee broadcasting, and have inserted sublimal messages. If you're a tri-vee junkie, those three words will be enough to make you submit to his will."

Misfire shrugged at Detour's explanation. "I hate tri-vee. Radio's so much better... no pictures to distract you when you're flying..." he shrugs, "My systems are still haphazard, so hypnotism won't do much good."

Aimless, on the other hand, have gone completely mute after the broadcast.
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Veteran's Hospital

Blackjack stiffened when Megatron addressed him, and shrugged. "All the other choices are hardly defensible, my lord. Cost-cutting and cheap materials, as well as un-strategic locations have made most of the buildings in the immediate vicinity unsuitable for a center of operations."

Blackjack waved his hand to show the numerous injured Decepticons on the area. "Besides, many of your men require medical assistance, and this hospital is built like a fortress." Blackjack scowled, "Although in terms of smell and tidiness, it could've been much better..."

The Micromaster noted that Detour was not with the Decepticon leader, and that gave him a sinking feeling in his gut. Detour could possibly with the other Decepticons- the trio of brightly painted Seekers or the pink Targetmastrer, but then...

Communications Hub #2

"Agreed." Vindicator replied to Reverb.

Vindicator waited for a moment to make sure that no one was coming after them and to make sure Reverb and Relay were safely able to leave the area.

Veterans' Hospital

Widget stood next to Blackjack without the slightest sign of terror at Megatron's presence; his red optics were as dull as ever above the blank faceplate. He waited until the talking had stopped and then said, "Reporting for duty as instructed, Lord."

Not very inventive, perhaps, but pithy and, in his own way, Widget meant the words to a shade.

~~~

"'Exo-form-transport," Retro explained for Zephyr's benefit, and there was a trace of sarcasm in his vocals. He indicated that the Seeker should draw the floating trolley alongside the waiting table. "To move bodies. The other equipment is simply listing available dis-assembly projections; useful during lectures."

Yes, thought Solder. But why list drones?

"... mechform Alpha-type IV - mechform Beta-type I - mechform..."

"Stop!" Retro ordered and the machine fell silent. He fidgeted, then said, "Solder, you're going to need tools. There are several compacs in the racks beyond the door there, if you want to get one?"

He was pointing at the second door.

Stormfire, catching up with Zephyr, asked, "You're blocking the emergency exit? Isn't that against standard building regulations?"

Retro snorted. "The racks are set into the walls - if there is an emergency, there are kits to hand. It's standard in hospitals."

Solder, who knew that anyway, nodded and started to walk away from the small gathering.

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Silver Circuitmaster Station

Jaggor, hearing Dark Walk's protest, pulled his shot, which went wide of Stratus and gouged a massive hole in the upper level wall, removing a poster extolling the virtues of Grabbit's High Grade and letting in light from the street beyond. "Why?" he demanded of his friend.

Dark Walk was not, however, listening to Jaggor; he was listening for Stratus' commands as were many commuters who, rather than fleeing, had stopped in their tracks.

At his side, Detour was gabbling something about subliminal messages embedded in tri-vee broadcasts. Jaggor groaned inwardly; Dark Walk, with not much to do except scare the troops into line, was a science programme junkie...

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Communications Hub #2

Shaking the one fist ruefully, Relay gave Reverb the thumb-up sign with the other. Being an Autobot, he bent to check on the condition of the attacker he had felled and found him in light stasis, out for at least a breem, but otherwise in reasonable shape. He bent closer, brushed some of the grime from the fallen 'bot's chestplate and grunted; three links of grey chain were stencilled where there would ordinarily be a faction symbol.

Looking up again, Relay noted that Reverb was moving away and Vindicator was covering them. No time to linger or ask questions. He started after Reverb.

Veteran's Hospital

Zephyr hated this. He hated how Solder was behaving. He hated the secrets Retro seems to be hiding in this hospital. He hated Blackjack leaving them just like that. He hated the smell in the room. But most of all, he hated being ordered around like a drone.

"Whatever." he growled with thinly veiled annoyance, as he pushed the 'formport rather rudely next to the table.

As Stormfire moved closer to him, Zephyr gave his brother Seeker a weary shrug.
_________________________

Silver Circuitmaster Station

"Aw, crap." Detour said when Dark Walk remained silent to Jaggor's query. "Of course the ghost is a couch potato." the Micromaster muttered with sarcasm.

Misfire scowled as Aimless refused to respond. "Guys, I think this flesh idiot watches much of our tri-vee as well." The Targetmaster growled. "Good thing he isn't much of a threat to anyone..."

Misfire magno-clamped Aimless (stuck in gun mode) onto his waist. The Targetmaster considered slamming the Nebulan to a wall in order to break the trance, but he didn't know what the impact would do to a Nebulan's frail psychology.

Detour looked from Jaggor to Dark Walk to Misfire. "Well, what th' frag are we waiting for? Kill the sucker already!" before turning around and sending two blasts of pinprick laser at Stratus.

Misfire took aim with his laser ion blaster and fired.

Communications Hub #2

Reverb waited until Relay had caught up to him, then asked, "Do you want a lift? It's a long walk back from here."

By now, they'd gotten far enough away that the chances of being shot down by one of the raiders' sidearms was minimal.
_________________________________________

Veterans' Hospital

"Obviously we'll have to construct a new garrison to replace Kolkular," Megatron told Blackjack as they walked. He ran a finger along the wall as if testing for dust, then made a disgusted noise. "How many of our men have you recovered so far?"

He looked down at Widget (literally and figuratively) and said, "Who are you?"

Silvercircuitmaster Station

Stratus ducked as incoming fire ricocheted up from the bottom of the escalator.

He spoke into the tannoy system.

"They have come to assasinate Megatron you must do whatever it takes to stop them."

He winced as a stray shot severed 2 of his fingers and another obe gouged a furrow in his skull.

Deciding discretion was the better part of valour.

He started to run.

Silver Circuitmaster Station

Stratus's orders came over Aimless' hypnotised mind. "I obey." The Nebulan mumbled as he swivelled up and opened fire on Misfire from his clamped position on the Targetmaster's waist. Thankfully his aim hadn't changed at all.

Misfire sighed as he reached his hand down, instinctively trying to subspace the Nebulan, then thought better of it. "Great. Hey, shorty... how do you reverse the effects of hypnotism?"

Detour snapped back at his larger companion, "Do I look like a scientist to you?"

Misfire sighed, pulled the ammo pack on Aimless' side and subspaced that instead. "We must kill it." Misfire said as he continued opening fire on Stratus. He tried to transform, but his damaged circuits prevented him to do so. Scowling, he resumed the chase on foot.

Detour transformed and rolled out slowly, lagging behind Misfire due to the injuries sustained during the earlier scuffle with Stratus.
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Veteran's Hospital

"Obviously." Blackjack nodded as Megatron spoke. "It's a pity that our best engineers, the Constructicons and the Constructor Squad are offline." The Micromaster remarked, himself unaware of the recent developments which had happened in Polyhex due to the communicons blackout.

Blackjack paused for a while when Megatron asked the second question. "Oh, about a dozen or so who could fight, plus about twenty other techies, engineers and other civilians, all of them formerly Kolkular's inhabitants. But we failed to locate Roadbock, Hatemonger or the rest of your original force." The Micromaster looked down and sighed.

Veterans' Hospital

Widget, taller though he was than Blackjack, appeared a midget before Megatron - not that he really bothered. He was one of those individuals who plodded through a routine existence, even on Cybertron, even during the mayhem of the War. Again, he waited until the others all seemed to have finished talking before replying to Megatron's question:

"Widget, Lord. Hospital porter."

~~~

Stormfire smiled ruefully and echoed Zephyr's shrug. "Let's get this over with," he suggested. "The sooner Solder finds out what drug killed this lost Spark, the better. If it was a drug...?"

"No viruses here," Retro broke in, fussing over the defunct Seeker. His hands were actually shaking, so he busied them. "We have a sweeper programme, you see. He might just have been so low on fuel; a lot of the druggies come here... looking for fuel. But we never have quite enough."

"There will be fuel now," Stormfire promised, but he knew he was lying, for it was doubtful Megatron would bother providing for any patients beyond fighting status.

Solder, across the room, was still disconcerted by the scent of dead metal, which had grown as he approached the emergency exit. He shook his head, twitched.

Oil. There was oil on his fingers, dripping viscously to puddle at his feet.

Old memories, was all.

He shook his head again, turned the inset handle, pushed the door open onto a darkness that suddenly welled up and devoured his hardily maintained sanity.

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Communications Hub #2

"A lift would be welcome," Relay assured Reverb. "And please allow me to thank you for the save back there. You're a good 'bot and I am proud to have made your acquaintance."

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Silver Circuitmaster Station

"I obey," chanted Dark Walk through his Overbite. He drew his gun and aimed it at Jaggor, who took a heavy step back.

"Snap out of it!" the Commander snarled at his old comrade, loathe to turn his own guns on him just in case it turned out to be a bad idea, considering their inter-dependency. "You're above subliminal reprogramming."

Dark Walk squeezed the trigger, firing on Jaggor even as Misfire restrained Aimless and charged after Stratus with Detour behind him.

Interestingly, not all of the controlled commuters in his vicinty responded to Stratus' cry by attacking Jaggor. They milled in some confusion. Here was Megatron, this powerful, towering silver giant... They dragged out their own weaponry and attacked the Overbite.

Communications Hub #2

Reverb smiled a little bit. "Thanks, Relay. Now promise me I'm never going to have to do it again, OK?"

The Decepticon transformed to helicopter mode and popped open one of his cockpit doors. "Hop in!"
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Veterans' Hospital

"If Soundwave's plans are proceeding on-schedule," Megatron told Blackjack, "that won't be a problem for much longer."

After listening to the casualty reports he nodded solemnly. "Their sacrifice will not be in vain. Once Kaon is secured we will move forward and begin rooting out Gigatron's traitorous followers wherever they may be. And then, finally, the Decepticons will be one again."

He didn't even look to Widget at all this time -- after all, the smaller Transformer was no warrior, so he was barely worthy of attention from one such as Megatron. But it was with some measure of confusion that he asked, "Why are you here?"

Veteran's Hospital

Zephyr watched as Solder seemingly got disoriented for a moment. Leaning to Stormfire, he whispered, "Something seems to be wrong with that one..."
________________

Blackjack nodded at Megatron's revelations of other plans going on. So, our leader is being cautious as well... Good to know that he has some backup plan in store for us. Blackjack smiled slightly, happy to know that his allegiance in Megatron had not been a bad choice. His loyalty has not been wasted on a mindless warlord.

"Yes. I hope that day will arrive soon..." Blackjack mumbled as Megatron said his eulogy for the lost Decepticons. "Where do we move on to now, Lord? In Kaon, I mean."
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Silver Circuitmaster Station

Detour and Misfire kept strafing Stratus.

Veterans' Hospital

And again Widget waited until he was sure neither Megatron nor Blackjack were going to say any more before picking up his cue, repeating, "Hospital porter." After a short pause for recollection, he added, "Doctor Retro says I am to obey you."

~~~

There were the expected medical compacs in their racks, but where there should have been at least sixty-four (to meet regulations) Solder unconsciously counted only nine. Not that the rest of the tall racking was empty - oh, no...

Parts. Hundreds of parts. Jumbled and tumbled. The valuable among the unusable. Meticulously cleaned cogs and joints; burnt-out printed circuit boards coated in dried fluids. Plastis panels, carbon-fibre tendons, pseudo-vertebrae, rotors, pumps.

Solder stared, shaking. With such treasures he could have kept Corvus functional for megavorns! With such treasures, he had.

The semi-dismantled body struts of a standard cleaning drone clattered to the stained floor as he lurched forwards, sobbing, pulling pieces off at random, discarding them for other items in an absolute frenzy.

"MINE!" he shouted maniacally.

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Silver Circuitmaster Station

Dark Walk's Overbite body, already damaged, took hit after hit from the mechs attacking him, but he paid them no attention, focussing on Jaggor.

"Don't make me shoot!" Jaggor warned as his comrade pushed through the crowd. The big 'bot's accidental chrome plating helped dissipate some of the strikes from energy-based weapons employed by other commuters, although hard ammo was biting into him like stings.

Inexorably, Dark Walk approached, still firing and Jaggor could only respond by using one of his own rifles at stupidly close range...

A whole swathe of the area cleared; an awful lot of commuters were vapourised. So was the Overbite.

When the smoke cleared, a shadow began to coalesce around two red glows as Dark Walk re-integrated. Jaggor seemed to bow, his left hand clutching at his damaged chestplate.

'Misfire', Jaggor commed, more from shock than in hope the other could help him.

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Communications Hub #2

Relay wasted no time. After checking his subspace pocket was safe, he jumped into Reverb's bay, transforming.

Getting back to and repairing Hub #1 was priority, for Megatron would be expecting extra-Kaon access very soon now.

Silver Circuitmaster Station

"Wha-? Oh, bloody hell." Misfire cursed when he saw Dark Walk emerging, in all his spectral glory, from the remains of the Overbite. And he's headed towards Jaggor...

The Targetmaster, unsure of what to do, turned around and peppered the wraith-like figure with ion bolts. Detour followed suit.
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Veteran's Hospital

Solder's cry, and his sudden surge of mad exhiliration, caused Zephyr to tense up. The Seeker instinctively fired a low-powered, warning shot at the ground some distance away from Solder. "Calm down!" the Seeker shouted, glancing at Retro and Stormfire, silently asking them what to do.

Leaving Communications Hub #2

Reverb started to fly away, aiming himself on a course that pointed everywhere but Communications Hub #1. Until he was far away from the remaining gangsters, he didn't want to betray their course.

"Make yourself comfortable, buddy," he told Relay. "I'll let you know when we get where we're going."
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Veterans' Hospital

"Nowhere," Megatron told Blackjack. "Our business here is done. Once we've restored communications we'll be able to track down the last of our troops. After that, we can set up a local garrison, while the important members of our team return to Polyhex."

"And who or what is Retro?" Megatron asked Widget. "The only one I'm familiar with who goes by that name is an Autobot Micromaster. For the sake of everyone who works here let us hope that your hospital isn't harbouring him."

Veteran's Hospital

Blackjack nodded. Megatron's strategies made sense -- most of the competitors, those high-and-mighty business minded idiots who had tried to enslave Kaon, had died in the Kolkular incident. And then, perhaps, I might be one of the few who get to return to Polyhex? Blackjack considered, but didn't voice it out loud.

He did, however, sent a coded text transmission to Stormfire and Zephyr: 'Question the medics about the location of Ransack and the neutral news reporters, please. Megatron will be annoyed if we didn't do anything about them.'

Blackjack watched as Megatron questioned Widget, and allowed himself to smile slightly. He never liked medics, considering the few odd ones he had encountered recently, and it's refreshing to see a medic (or at least a unit affiliated with medics) being interrogated. Not that the porter was bright enough to show fear, though...

"It's not the Autobot." Blackjack answered Megatron's question, for the sake of his reputation and the relatively innocent hospital workers, if not for the sake of the porter. "Retro's the chief medic of the hospital. Very old, but definitely Decepticon. Opened the door for us."

Veterans' Hospital

The warning shot did not even register on Solder's sensors. He plunged further into the semi-darkness, clawing at objects which rattled and clanged as they fell around him. He was whimpering.

Stormfire grabbed Zephyr's arm. "Don't shoot!" he exclaimed. "Can you smell the fuel? There might even be Energon stored in there..."

Rather sadly, Reto said, "There isn't." Seeing Stormfire turn towards him, he went on: "What I could save has already been used. There's oil, some petrochemicals - that's all."

"What the Pit have you done?" Stormfire demanded.

"Recycled." Retro shrugged, slumped.

As he started forwards, guaging whether his wings would fit down the narrow evacuation corridor, Stormfire received Blackjack's transmission. "Slag," he spat. "Duty calls. Zephyr, can you handle Solder alone?"

~~~

Widget scratched the back of his neck. Retro was an Autobot Micromaster?. But then Blackjack put him straight and he remembered the medic's full name...

"Retroblast," he offered, hopefully, gazing up at Megatron. "Decepticon Medic, First Class."

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Silver Circuitmaster Station

The ion blasts sliced through Dark Walk's substance harmlessly, but the wraith paused. He felt an odd sensation of dislocation.

"Uh, Jaggor?" he asked. Noticing his attackers, he mumbled in confusion, "Misfire? Detour?"

Jaggor, on his knees, dropped his second rifle, and his whole form shimmered.

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Leaving Communications Hub #2

Relay clamped down and settled in as Reverb suggested.

Veterans' Hospital

Zephyr flinched when Stormfire grabbed his arm, and nodded when Retro said that there was some oil. It won't do to burn down the supplies -- Galestorm and those on top would be annoyed with him.

As he pondered what Retro might've meant by 'recycled', Stormfire posed the question of whether he could handle Solder alone. "Of course." the grey Seeker answered nonchalantly. He pulled out a short metallic blade from subspace and advanced towards Solder. "Drop what you're doing. Now." he said, trying to be as treathening as possible.
___________________________

Silver Circuitmaster Station

The hypnotised rioters had blocked Detour from strafing Stratus further. When he transformed and tried to pursue the Brainmaster, a random mech stepped inside him and punted him aside. Detour transformed into robot mode and sent two blasts of pinprick lasers onto the rioter's head. The rioter dropped dead, but the Micromaster lost sight of where Stratus had escaped.

"Slag it all to the bleedin' Pit." Detour cursed, and turned around when his name was called, and his blue optics widened at the sight of Jaggor shimmering, and of Dark Walk's ghost form. "What the frag?"

Misfire raised his hands in a placating gesture. "Easy there, Dark Walk. We're friendlies. You've been hypnotised just now, and you're attacking Jaggor, and... and..." Misfire struggled for words to say, and shrugged. "And then I fired. And... well, what's happening?"

Detour, meanwhile, limped to where Misfire was talking to Jaggor and Dark Walk, open-mouthed at the scene.

Communications Hub #1

After a few minutes of travel, the duo of communications officers were drawing close to the hub that they had originally come from.

"How long do you figure it'll take to get this all set up?" Reverb asked Relay.
_________________________________________

Veterans' Hospital

"Good," Megatron said. "Has he been able to repair our wounded troops satisfactorily, or should I provide him with some...encouragement?"

He glanced from Blackjack across to Widget, then back again.

Veteran's Hospital

Blackjack shrugged at Megatron's question, and shook his head. "Satisfactory? Hardly. Adequate, yes. The lesser medics had repaired most of the Kolkular remmants, but I've yet to hear from the status of Ransack or Overkill." Blackjack shrugged as his analytical mind computed the factors. "Since he was showing me around just now, though, I didn't think it's all his fault. He's working at 63 per cent of possible efficiency, maybe higher due to his old age."

Turning to Widget, he asked, "Perhaps you know of them? Two news-mechs, one large and another shorter one, plus a young Decepticon a little taller than you, with a pinkish shade..."