[Original RPG] Back to the Lab

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God Jinrai
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Back to the Lab

Post by God Jinrai »

OOC: continues the section of breakout for those with alpha convoy

BIC: Alpha roared across the ground as fast he coud withoug causing turbulance for his riders...

"That, minverva is where we're going..."

On the horicon, a small, seemingly undefended building came into view...

"Mentor... Alpha Convoy returning to the Lab, pass code sequence Alpha Omega Gamma.. Request deactivation of the barrier field..."
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Redstreak
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Post by Redstreak »

Alpha Trion looked at his monitor. Alpha Convoy not only functioned, but was returning to him. It seemed most irregular; when he had retreated to this place, he had not anticipated disruption, living almost hermit-like.

"Request granted," the ancient Transformer said, pushing the buttons to bring down the shield. The moment Alpha Convoy passed through, they were reactivated.

Alpha Trion walked from his control room so he could meet Convoy as it arrived. As he rode the elevator up to the entry level, he felt a sense of foreboding he'd not had since Optimus had last visited him...
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Quick Switch
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Post by Quick Switch »

Swindle shuddered.

"Oh...well...I'll go through whatever is necessary to be rid of this accursed thing."

The Combaticons waited pensively.

"Who is this mentor, preytell?" Blast Off quiried.

"We shall know soon enough, Blast Off," Onslaught answered.
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Heinrad
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Post by Heinrad »

Nightbeat: -over commlink- "I copy. Sending datafile now. It's my A/V recording of what happened." -taps a few buttons on commlink panel, sends zipsqueal of the events witnessed in Metrotitan's auditorium- "Make sure Prime sees this. We nearly got killed getting it......." -chuckles- "And made a few new friends in the process."

Brainstorm: "What if it's built into his cerebral circuitry?"

Minerva: -sighs- "I wish you hadn't said that. I was thinking it, too, but I can't picture anybody being so cruel."

Roadbuster: -broadcast over the airwaves- "Iacon, do you read?"

Hardhead: "What's up?"

Roadbuster: "Thought I'd check in, see if I really am the last one...."
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Post by Quick Switch »

Onslaught muttered-

"That sounds like Quick Switch receiving your transmission," the Combaticon leader mused.

"Yeah. Wouldn't want to tangle with that sucker!" Brawl nodded.

"We won't have to, if our defection remains secure," Blast Off laughed.

"What a relief," Vortex said. "That guy is bad business."

Swindle shook his head.

"Brainstorm, Minerva, never underestimate what you've heard about Megatron's cruelty. It could be hardwired to my cerebral circuits..."
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Post by Heinrad »

Minerva: "Hmmm......" -has a sudden flash of inspiration- "It makes sense that Megatron may well have made sure that if you have the chip removed, it would wind up lobotomizing you. So the trick is to get around the problem. All we need to do is bypass it." -smiles- "Although if this lab has all the stuff in it that our saviour here says it has, we should be able to get around this easily."

Nightbeat: "I just hope this guy's got a parts bay. At this rate, I'm just going to get a couple of crutches, a parrott, an eyepatch...." -affects a pirate accent- "An' a pie-rat gallern, Arrrrrr, me hearty."

Siren: "You've been hit in the head recently, haven't you."

Nightbeat: "By you. At high speeds."

Siren: "That explains that dent...."

Chromedome: -looks at Hardhead- "What do you think the Chaos matrix is?"

Hardhead: "Nothing good, with a name like that."
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Post by Quick Switch »

Swindle leaned against the bulkhead, smiling also.

"Yes...perhaps you're right."

Brawl and Vortex laughed easily at Nightbeat's affectation. Blast Off managed a chuckle, though Onslaught was not amused.
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Post by Heinrad »

Roadbuster: -lapses back into his usual pensive silence-

Hosehead: -looks over at Chromedome- "Maybe it won't be something planet threatening for once."

Chromedome: "Wishfull thinking, Hosehead."

Hardhead: "Besides, if it wasn't something truly horrific, things would get dull."

Nightbeat: -looks over at Onslaught- "What's wrong, Onslaught? Don't like unwinding with humor?"

Minerva: -still scanning Swindle's head-
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Post by Quick Switch »

Swindle leaned towards Minerva to help with the scanning process.

Onslaught's optics flahsed.

"Some humor, Nightbeat. Yours is not what I would consider 'top flight.' "
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Post by Heinrad »

Nightbeat: -shrugs- "I know it's not top flight. I'm not even sure it could get me on the Vegas club circuit."

Siren: "I'm not even sure it could get you on the high school talent show circuit."

Nightbeat: "See? I even bring my own critics with me. But that's the thing. If we can't at least look at all of this with some kind of humor, we're gonna go nuts."

Minerva: -sighs- "Nothing. Not a blip."

Brainstorm: "A completely dormant program."

Minerva: "Maybe that's it." -looks at Swindle- "When did it kick in? The exact moment."
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Post by Quick Switch »

"How true," Onslaught nodded. "Perhaps it was your humor that drove away your clients when you prowled the backstreets for clues as a detective."

Swindle shuddered.

"Right after I let you all out...and then...oh the pain was just intense...and then I was back in Darkmount, in our Command Center...and Megatron came down from his throne and berated me, calling me weak...a traitor...he said...he said even Reflector showed more promise than I ever did."

Swindle began sweating again.

"I mean, why should I care, you know? I never wanted to fight in the first place. But geez, calling Reflector better than me...that was a blow. I don't regret my decision to leave...but seeing him there again was such a shock...and to hear his voice..."

"Yeah, that was pretty low, even for Megatron," Brawl piped up.

Vortex nodded, but stopped after Blat Off whacked him on the head.
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Post by Heinrad »

Nightbeat: "Cybertron never had a crime rate that would support a detective. That whole lack of marriage thing even meant that there weren't any of those sleazy divorce cases that can keep your standard shamus in rent money." -chuckles- "Now, Nebulos was a whole different story. Murder, kidnapping, general mayhem.... those were the days. Don't let that 'Planet of Peace' thing fool you. It was great......" -taps side of head- "Until Muzzle here got himself tangled up in something serious. We're talking government officials, and some serious slag hit the air distribution system. The Headmasters program saved his life. Government officials aren't nuts enough to go after an Autobot. Their problem was solved either way, because they knew we were leaving." -sighs- "Not that that stopped them from trying later. They binary bonded to Fangry, Horri-bull, and Squeezeplay and tried to kill me."

Siren: "I remember that. I was wondering what they were going after you for."

Nightbeat: "And we don't have to worry about them anymore. Saved by Brainstorm's curiousity."

Siren: "And we don't have to worry about that business with Thunderwing anymore, either."

Nightbeat: "We didn't have to back home, either. He finally cashed it in during the battle with Unicron."

Minerva: "If it didn't kick in when you were thinking about it, that means there is something discriminatory about it." -sighs- "I hope we get to this lab soon."
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Post by Quick Switch »

Onslaught nodded, knowingly.

"I've heard tales of Nebulos' dark history, Nightbeat. Perhaps your erratic sensibilties will be enjoyable after all."

Swindle nodded at Minerva, still sweating.

"Yeah...you're rig--ah!!" Swindle convulsed again and, grabbed his head, writhing as his mind was transported back to Darkmount...

****

Swindle appeared back in Megatron's throne room.

"Why have you done this to me!" Swindle cried out in anguish. Megatron once again stepped down from his throne, though remained on a few higher steps, peering down at the arms merchant.

"Ah, Swindle. No words of welcome for your glorious Leader?"

"M-Megatron, I renounced your evil in Metrotitan! Astrotrain's attempts at capturing me failed! You've lost!" Swindle through out his hands in emphasis.

Megatron thought, reflective.

"Ah, how trite. Even though you think I am merely a security program, I have something to reveal." Megatron sneered.

"What? How much worse could this get?" Swindle harrumphed.

"I know your thoughts. Your entire braincase, CPU, operating systems are available to me, for my persual. I know, for instance, that a crazed lunatic named Galvatron became my alter ego, after a giant planet named Unicron attempted to ravage Cybertron. Would you like me to continue?" Megatron smiled.

Swindle, stunned beyond words, could do nothing. Megatron stepped down, and walked around Swindle slowly, measured, gravelly voice a taunting rasp.

"Yes...since we last spoke, I've looked through your databanks. I know that Starscream is dead. New Decepticons have come into the fold- many of them inferior...alternate universe Transformers- this Teratron being one of them- are vying for leadership...I've heard Teratron's plan to destroy the Autobots...I hope it succeeds." Megatron stopped in front of Swindle, after making a few revolutions around him.

"So? It won't do you any good!" Swindle began shaking again.

"But do you know the best part of all? I've found a way to access your optic interface and audio receptors. Everything you see...I see," Megatron laughed, "everything you say or receive, I hear."

Swindle shrank back from him in horror.

"You have feelings for one of the human alternate universe Headmasters. A human female, named Minerva. Feelings of affection for her? Notions of love? How utterly peverse! You are no better than those dimwitted Autobots Powerglide and Seaspray, with their affectations of bonding with lesser species!" Megatron jeered, then chuckled.

"She saved my life, Megatron! She showed me compassion! She is a healer, not a killer such as you! She treated me with respect, more than you ever gave me!" Swindle jabbed a finger at Megatron, who merely smirked. "I...do have feelings for her. Of affection, yes! I do not deny it!"

"Ah, Swindle...such a multi-faceted unit...well, don't worry. I won't try to kill you...indeed, to do so would end my existence, however shallow it might be! Instead, I'll periodically summon you here, to my court, for some chats, if you will, about the state of your fractured mind. And tell your friends to do their worst to excise me! I'll simply hack into another one of your systems! Maybe the next time...in your CPU? Vital systems? Your carburator? The possibilties are endless!"

Swindle fell to his knees, gripped in despair, and as Megatron peered down at him, laughing, everything went white.

****

Swindle lurched, and collapsed.

"Minerva...Brainstorm...it's worse than I thought," he groaned.
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Post by Heinrad »

Minerva and Brainstorm: -watch in shock as the meters spike suddenly and Swindle hunches over in pain-

Minerva: "He's not doing anything..."

Brainstorm: "This is bad.... The whole of his braincase is reacting. I'm not picking up on a specific reaction. Whatever this is, it's causing enough havoc in there to block its point of origin."
"Minerva...Brainstorm...it's worse than I thought," he groaned


Minerva: "What is it? What happened?"
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Post by Quick Switch »

Swindle moaned, sitting up.

"I don't know if I told you this...but the security program...is a representation of Megatron. And, it's a progressive program. It learns. And now it's decided to listen in on everything I say and do. I can't help it. It knows my thoughts...but I don't know yet what the program wants to do yet."

Swindle shook his head, coolant flowing freely.

"Megatron said he didn't want to destroy me...but if you all tried to excise him...he'd just infect somewhere else..."

Onslaught recoiled.

"Insidious."

The other Combaticons nodded knowingly.
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Post by Heinrad »

Minerva: -horrified- "How could somebody do something like that?"

Brainstorm: "Well, it is one way to ensure a form of immortality."

Nightbeat: "But what kind of a life would it be?"

Siren: "Certainly a contained one."

Nightbeat: -sighs- "And they complain about my sense of humor...." -looks over at Minerva- "Got any ideas?"

Minerva: "Actually, I do. We can try-"

Nightbeat: "No! Don't tell us! If Megatron doesn't know about it, he can't try to defend against it!"

Brainstorm: "He's got a point. And I've got an idea, myself."
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Post by Quick Switch »

Swindle clamped his hands over his audio receptors, located where human ears would normally be.

"Please, discuss! You've got to do something...Megatron's trying to drive me insane..." another convulsion shook him, and Onslaught and the other Combaticons restrained Swindle.
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Post by Heinrad »

Nightbeat: -waves Minerva and Brainstorm over- "All right, tell me, and be quiet when you do."

Minerva: -quietly- "Megatron seems to be manifesting as a smart virus. We try to get him out, he moves. If we could run soft, non-damaging viruses that force Megatron to go to a spot of our choosing and pen him in there, we could remove that component, and Megatron along with it."

Nightbeat: -quietly- "Might work. Brainstorm, what do you have?"

Brainstorm: -quietly- "We might be able to excise Megatron using the rest of the Combaticons. All of their minds, united with Swindle's, might wipe out Megatron.... or infect all of them."

Nightbeat: -quietly- "Uh.... let's save that one for last, then." -looks at Swindle's convulsions, then looks at Minerva and Brainstorm, quietly- "Odd, sin't it."

Minerva: "Hmm?"

Nightbeat: -quietly- "Why didn't Megatron take over at the first sign of Swindle's defection?" -smiles- "I think I know why. From what Swindle said, we can deduce that Megatron will, eventually, take him over completely. Accessing audio and video feeds are the first sign. The convulsions may well be the second. Swindle's entrenched in his own mind, but if we can't stop Megatron, he may well push Swindle out completely."

Minerva: "But that's...... inhuman!"

Nightbeat: "Anybody who would put a part of their personality as a means of securing loyalty IS inhuman. Or at least insane."

Brainstorm: "Do you have any ideas?"

Nightbeat: "All I do is observe. You two are the medics."
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Post by Quick Switch »

Swindle continued to convulse.

"Decide on a method, and quickly!" Onslaught snapped. "It's taking all our power to hold him!"

The other Combaticons grappled with Swindle, who was begining to rave incoherently, coolant streaming down his face.
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Post by Heinrad »

Nightbeat: "Damn. Chromedome, Hardhead, give the Combaticons a hand holding Swindle down. Onslaught, come over here. We've got some ideas, but I want to run them by you first." -looks over at Minerva- "Do we have what you'd need on hand?"

Minerva: "Some of it. Monitoring would be the hard part."

Brainstorm: "I've got somethng that might work. We'd have to lock onto Megatron's energy signal first."

Chromedome and Hardhead: -go over to the Combaticons and help hold Swindle down-
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