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Post by smokedtoast on Oct 23, 2015 12:21:03 GMT -5
The trio of greeters looked on as the 'Slingpod' landed carefully on the building only known as Deva Corp. Each had their reasons for being there. But all were surprisingly unified despite their varying faction symbols.
Chokehold looked on as the craft landed, a plasma multi-repeater resting on the shoulder where her Autobot symbol blazed bright. The last time she had seen those she knew on this crew was megacycles ago, during the Biological Monstrosity conflict. She had been male... and quickly on the way to death, overwhelmed by the creatures and detonator in hand. A lot had changed, both physically and mentally. But the one who helped her change for the better was on that ship... and the sooner she knew Strike was safe the better.
Dead End tried not to pull at his armor, feeling an unbearable itch he could not identify. A part of himself told him it was tension at meeting his conjunx's coder, a well known autobot soldier from the old days. The rest worried said coder would blame him for the changes his conjunx had gone through. He would do the same after all.
The third, Slingshot sat carefully in a hoverchair as he was still recovering from his atrempted assassination. Scars layered his chest plate, reminds of the drilling attack that had almost breached his spark chamber. Hed thought he had been done for, but here he was... awaiting to greet an old friend and fully expecting a chewing out by the "ethics expert". Never in a thousand years did he expect to see this day.
Kami landed carefully on the roof, shutting down the engines and unlocking the loading ramp. It calmly dropped to the floor of the rooftop as he commented over the comm system. "We're here folks, Deva Corp Central. Best stop for all your medical and energy needs, or if you just want a brief change in your life. The Predacon Council, whats left of it anyways is waiting inside to debrief on the situation."
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Post by striker on Nov 8, 2015 16:07:42 GMT -5
"Oh goodie" Trailcutter sighed, being on the Ethics Committee was always a chore, both with having to deal with the makers of the items that crossed his attention and the council in charge. Now, with the Preadcon Council... he wasn't sure if they were better than the Decepticons he used to fight. He frowned, Honestly he hadn't heard good things about Deva Corps from the news feeds, but Strike wasn't at fault for that, having taken over for Deva. That much he knew.
Speaking of Strike, the large dino-femme stood as they landed, going out first as a way to make their guests feel comfortable, safe. She shot Kami a look, "spare them the sales-pitch Kami and just drop the hatch" she teased
Gears just grunted at Kami's 'sale-pitch' but said nothing, only crossing his arms in a huff.
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Post by artemisprime on Nov 8, 2015 17:42:01 GMT -5
Bedlam had slept soundly during the short trip, but upon landing, their head bounced up, optics bleary, expression confused, and drool dribbling from their corner of their mouth. they said something in what could have either been protocybex, or was simply the babbling of waking sparklings.
"My, I wonder where they get that from," Hoist jested as he released his harness.
"Not from me, that's for certain," Artemis chuckled, doing the same. "Well, let's get this damn coup over and done, shall we?"
"Art," Hound whispered, putting his head between hers and Trailcutter from behind, "I'm not liking this. What happened with the Maximal Council?"
"I don't know," she shook her head, "but Strike? She's Wrecker, loyal to Springer. We can trust her. If the intel checks, then it's likely Starscream compromised the Maximal council. Mirage," she looked over to the blue and white vulpine Maximal, "We're going to need you to do some recon. Don't stray too far from the rest of us. Just intel, nothing physical, nothing you can get caught with." In a normal tone, she added, "We're on a diplomatic mission, folks, so keep that in mind. And -- scrap, how do they do that?"
Bedlam, shaking away the sleep, had taken advantage of the adults discussing matters and reverted to beast mode, that of a large, stocky cub, slipping from the harness. Picking Bob up in their mouth, they had trotted off, following a strange, oddly familiar scent.
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Post by striker on Nov 8, 2015 17:46:38 GMT -5
Mirage nodded, shimmering into nothingness before their optics, before the door opened so it was like they were never there. Arty got a whisper in her audio receptor, "I'll keep an eye on Beddy-bye too."
Trailcutter groaned, "Bedlam, sweetspark, wait" he called, wanting to chase after them.
Strike was, of course, keeping an eye out for the sparkling as well, grinning a little bit at their curiosity
Gears snorted, "You sure we can trust her?" He asked Artimes, of Strike, "Just because she's a Wrecker..."
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Post by artemisprime on Nov 8, 2015 18:09:45 GMT -5
"You trust me, right?" Artemis directed to Gears, but before he could retort, she turned to press a shoulder against Trailcutter's arm, one of her queues that she had a plan. "Thank you, 'Raj; 'Cutter, Hound, and I'll be trying to figure out what's going on. It would be a huge help."
"Plausible deniability," Hound muttered with a nod. To the remaining Maximals, their captain ordered, "Best behavior, folks; we're representing diplomatic relations, after all!"
Grapple held up one finger and opened his mouth to retort, but held his tongue.
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Post by striker on Nov 8, 2015 18:19:51 GMT -5
Gears also was about to say something, but smartly, thought better of it as Artimes had last say on things. Grunting, he watched Bedlam trot around the ship. He hoped they opened up the hatch soon.
Trailcutter smirked as he felt her press against him... in the way that said she had a plan. Curious, he nodded, stopping his chasing of his offspring, waiting for another cue from his Conjunx
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Post by smokedtoast on Nov 8, 2015 18:50:49 GMT -5
Kamikaze just nodded back in Strike's direction as he finished lowering the back hatch, leaving those waiting on the roof in full view as the others exited the ship. He finished shutting down the ship's power before unlatching his own harness and heading towards the back. This... was going to be interesting to say the least. A question lingered as he met up with Renegade, both moving towards the others at the back of the ship. "So how much have you told Mamacat anyways?" He asked his friend, raising an eyebrow. "I let Huffer and Brawn do most of the talking Kami..." He replied back, swinging his gear over shoulder. "I'm not exactly a science guy, what were you expecting me to tell?" He added calmly as they continued to walk. It was true, most of the changes since Artemis had left were more of a second-hand account to the gruff mech-spawn. "... Rivet's Fielders for one." Kami responded back, watching Artemis's most recent spawn take off out of the ship as they walked up. "That seems like a big thing to bring up." He considered his words carefully, not sure where to begin even as he glanced in Strike's direction, as if asking approval to add more. "They actually went forward with that nickname?" Renegade just responded with a chuckle, shaking his head. A yelp of "What The!?!" came from outside as Dead End jumped back and out of the way of Bedlam as they continued to track their obvious prey. The last thing he was expecting to come out of the ship was a sparkling, especially of that size and energy. Slingshot just looked up at the others as they exited the craft, a geniune smile on his face despite his injuries. "Artemis... Hound... 'breaker. Greetings... It's been far too long. The other council members are waiting inside." He responded, glad to see old aquaintances from the Lost Light. A proud Predacon sits on his chest plate where his previous symbols had laid, a sign of his ever evolving alliance and allegiance to those around himself.
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Post by striker on Nov 8, 2015 19:38:09 GMT -5
"AHAHAHAHA" Strike almost fell backwards at hearing Dead End yelp out at seeing Bedlam barreling forward.
Trailcutter snickered, also quite amused.
Even Gears gave what could maybe, possibly, sort-of... be a smirk
Mirage, of course, couldn't laugh or he'd give himself away... so his sides were hurting as he hugged himself, trying to keep from blowing his cover.
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Post by artemisprime on Dec 15, 2015 22:07:24 GMT -5
"Slingshot!" Artemis greeted brightly, approaching her old friend with hands outreached. "Can we get a quick briefing so that we know what's going down before we sit down in parley? I'd like to get as much ammo on the situation as possible."
"Agreed," Hound flanked the jaguar Maximal, eyeing the Predacon insignia on Slingshot's chest. "Way it sounds, we're sliding back into dangerous territory."
Bedlam was oblivious to the others in their path as they made their way into the building, Taking the stairs to the lower levels, the sparkling regarded the door at the base of the roof access stairs. The workings of their toddler mind to voice their desire to have their uncle to open it for them and doing it themself. A rattling growl of contemplation before they drop their stuffed animal just long enough to, with a flash blue tinged in orange, they resumed bipedal mode and struck the green button. The door slid open and they keened happily, looking at a supposedly vacant spot, before reclaiming the plushie, continuing on their way into the building, following the blip they sensed.
(Bedlam will continue in No Rest for the Healthy)
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Post by striker on Dec 17, 2015 20:00:16 GMT -5
Naturally, Mirage would silently and invisibly follow Bedlam to keep them out of trouble. The young bot somehow could always sense where he was, having turned back to look right at him before moving on, certain that their foxy babysitter would follow without hesitation or fear.
Trailcutter frowned, doing his best to let Bedlam toddle off with Mirage in sightless tow, knowing his old friend would watch the sparkling like their own. He had to act like he hadn't noticed, tried to keep his internals from whirring up in nervousness as his spark clenched, worried he wouldn't be able to keep an optic on them.
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Post by artemisprime on Dec 20, 2015 15:34:31 GMT -5
"'Raj has their back, love," Artemis assured, low under a purr. There were few she placed that level of faith in watching those sparklings she claimed as her own; maybe if Mirage wasn't a skilled fighter, it would have been a different matter.
"Besides," Hound added, on Trailbreaker's right, "we could have sent Gears to watch after the furrball. You know how much he loves sparkling-sitting duties."
As much as they had enjoyed the family unit on board the Dawning Light, there was the matters at hand; Artemis's smile dropped, returning her optics on Slingshot, then flitting her gaze to Kamikaze. "There's things you're not telling us, Kami," she warned. "We need to know what we're getting ourselves into. In detail."
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Post by smokedtoast on Dec 20, 2015 16:32:07 GMT -5
Slingshot smiled in response to the warm greeting, though he seems to be expecting the change in tone as she gets down to business. "Depends on how far back we need to explain... but the big events seem to be this. Someone for lack of a better term... found and 'borrowed' Vector Sigma." Kamikaze cuts in on this. "Stole would be a better term. They experimented with it... had a couple effects. Main one is being called Rivet's Fielders... Cybertron started sprouting the dead back to life. Lot of people I've only heard about from stories about the great war. Got the name because they were literally bubbling out of Cybertron's surface alive." "But changed." Slingshot interjected. "People had suspicions because the anomalies were like my enhancer technology. Some of them still think I'm behind it really. Other effect was a number of new combiners. Including Felis's kids, though I don't know how much he's kept in touch on that. Others were a bunch of sparklings, some MTOs and others a couple of mixed up kids. We thought we had dealt with the situation..." Renegade nodded in response to this. "Sounds about when I left cybertron with Huffer and Brawn Artemis... I already told you about the freak outs there-" Slingshot's demeanor changes as he responds with a serious look. "They weren't freakouts. We have... suspicion that an undisclosed member of the Neo Autobot party had made arrangements to have people... removed from the councils. Those that would not follow along with their plans. They may also be operating in conspiracy with the implementors of the recent combiner wars." He paused for a moment in contemplation. "What we are sure of is they are re-implementing an anonymous police force in the Autotroopers... and someone with access to Legion technology tried to murder myself and other council members while the Ambuses and their cybertronian security force were dealing with other situations..." Chokehold adjusted her posture as she added in. "Didn't expect Slingshot to surround himself with people who'd hate his guts, heh. Though that wasn't the only attack around that time. It was just the least effective... Wish we could have been more effective for Deva though, they picked just the right time to strike. After Striker here'd laid my aft to the floor in the ring." Kamikaze cringed. "I was in the crowd... they were way more subtle about it then the rest of the attacks Mamacat. They wanted her offline for good... I should have been able to do something... All the councils got struck about the same time, really." Slingshot nodded. "Not all in the same way... but both the Preds and Cons were attacked by phonies pretending to be certain traitorous council members... Someone attacked one of the Bot Council members off grounds. Sounds like the kind of trick someone we -all- know would try... doesn't it?"
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Post by striker on Dec 20, 2015 21:05:08 GMT -5
Strike snorted, wincing as Chokehold brought up the attack on Deva. She said nothing, just frowned, it was a sore point with her, she felt like she had failed, getting caught up in the idiotic spectacle of the fights that Deva -herself- had put Strike into.
She went along with it instead of protesting, and Deva paid for it.
= = = = Trailcutter frowned, "Does sound like some stories I've heard from others. I was... away... when it all happened the first time around."
The bear-former did relax when both Hound and Pantera assured him that his sparkling would be fine with 'Raj after them. Still, a worrywort was a worrywort.
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Post by artemisprime on Dec 21, 2015 9:31:23 GMT -5
Artemis listened with a neutral expression, the one she reserved for when she had been in Council, over twenty stels ago. She raised a brow upon hearing "Felis's kids" and "the Ambuses", and on "anonymous police force," she curled her lip, but held her tongue until Slingshot, Chokehold, Kamikaze, and Strike -- her reaction spoke volumes -- finished the first part of the report,
"So no one remembers their history," she sighed.
"Social repression brought on by information creep," Hoist pointed out. "When a social unit buries past trauma, but ends up forgetting altogether what had happened to cause said trauma. And we begin anew. That's why some of us keep finding ourselves in the same situations."
"And no matter how much those who remember try to remember, they are branded as doomsayers and pariahs," Grapple lamented, his optics on the roof access. "As an observation, this structure is far from sound from aerial attacks -- "
"Why don't I help you prepare a report to present to the board of your concerns?" Hoist suggested, moving closer to his partner. "Hound may be more inclined in this conversation."
"The 'Cons would be more aware of the situation," Artemis stated. "After all, they claim the revolutionist who brought down Functionism. Though both Megatron and Orion Pax worked along the same vein during the Clampdown, it was Megatron who made the noise."
"And 'Cons are more likely to read 'Towards Peace' than 'Bots because, well, think about it: what 'Bot would be caught in a cafe reading the missive of a warlord and terrorist?"
"So the Neo-Autobots and Maximals, from a social standpoint, forgot why the Great War started in the first place, only remembering...frag it all," Artemis rubbed her head. "You see, this is why I got out of politics."
"I thought it was the fights on the Senate floor you started," Hound muttered; Artemis pointed a warning finger at her comrade's nose. Holding up his hands, the canid cleared his throat. "So basically we're looking at the 'Bots are trying to control the trafficking of enhancers and boosters by going after the legal routes, but neglecting to focus on the black market areas, thinking that if they were to cut off what they would consider the source...."
"Problem is, repopulation of our planet was aided greatly by enchancers..." Trailing off, she met Hound's gaze.
"They're trying to control the flow of enhancers," Hound whispered. "Those who control the enhancers, control the population. We're talking possible eugenics."
Artemis's first and second thoughts -- "Felis? Kids?" And "Ambuses? Plural" -- had evaporated.
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Post by striker on Dec 21, 2015 17:38:55 GMT -5
Lips tight, Strike made a motion with her head, a nod, "A good point. I think we've played about on the roof enough. We should head inside and get to my off-- I mean, Deva's office." she corrected, chewing on her bottom lip.
She passed Chokehold but said and did nothing-- not normal for her, not -now- anyway. And headed for the roof access, "This way, if you please, everyone." she said sternly, firmly and fairly monotone.
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