Decibel is recovered

Blue Ligier JS-11  isn't really one to announce his whereabouts and intentions unless ordered so, especially since he heard rumours of 'leaks' existing within the Autobot faction. Nevertheless, the counter-intelligence specialist is on the driving down the freeway and approaching the location that Teletran Two had reported earlier.

Decibel is just hanging around near the border, literally, the bulk of his body may have been reduced to a heap of melted and twisted metal but his head is fine. Well that's if you consider fine as being impaled upon a stake in the ground. Anguished look frozen on his features his left optic socket flickers now and again. Other than that small bit of motion he seems much as the reports claimed him to be, dead.

Patchwork isn't really the sort that worries about anyone knowing where she is. The medic is usually cheerful and loud, and her teal and white colour scheme doesn't exactly blend in most places. But at the moment, the femme is lacking her usual cheery music as she races towards where the reports said something about Decibel needing help.

Blue Sportscar  motors along near the other Autobots, occasionally letting himself fall behind or speeding up to lead the little convoy, swerving from one side of the road to the other and back again, and generally trying to keep himself and his driving skills sharp during the otherwise tense and tedious journey.

Cybertruck  is on the road again, off into Decepticon-held Mexico. Damn, but they really need to free this place! Anyway, if Decepticons want to ambush him, they'll find that idea maybe not as good an idea as they thought, because Kup's got an Autobot to get outta here, and by Vector Sigma, he's gonna do just that. He asks the others, "See anything?"

There's a small glint of metallic debris in front of Mirage, prompting him to swerve to a stop and leap back into his robotic form. He picks up a piece of the metallic fragment in hand and squeezes against it for a moment before deducing that it's Cybertronian in origin. A quick glance around the area reveals to the Autobot spymaster that there's a sea of debris in the area of all shape and sizes which. Mirage begins following the trail of the mess with a grim expectation of what he might find at the end of said trail of messy parts.

In the distance something shines as sparks from Decibels body reflect off the pike he's recently become so attached to.

Blue Sportscar  transforms into robot mode and follows Mirage, trying to keep his optics on the general surroundings more than the 'trail'. Like Kup he's not too thrilled to be this close to (or inside even) Decepticon-held territory. "Maybe...I'll let you know!" Patchwork replies to Kup as she catches that shine and spark in the distance catches her attention. INcreasing her speed, the medic starts towards the flash while the others transform and investigate the debris.

Clutch transforms into robot mode!

Blue Ligier JS-11  transforms into his Robot mode.

Mirage looks behind as he realizes the other Autobots has also arrived too, "Not a pretty sight." The Autobot spymaster comments dryly on the situation to Clutch before continuing forward towards the light emissions from the sparks crackling from Decibel's head.

Cybertruck  rolls up, transforms, looks at the mess, one hand on his hip and grimace on his face. He calls to Clutch and Patchwork, "Lad, lass, any chance he ain't dead, or do I gotta go knocking on Prime's office door and deliver him some real unpleasant news?" The pickup truck rises up into the old veteran Autobot, Kup.

"Until we find enough of him to see, I'm not giving up, Kup!" Patchwork informs the much older 'bot as she continues towards the flash. It takes a moment, but she eventually gets close enough to recognise the wreck. "Over here!" Transforming as she gets withing helping distance, her optics slide over Decibel slowly. "Oh....Decibel..."

Decibel may look it but he's not dead, at least not yet. Built to store massive amounts of information internally on magnetic disks his entire trunk was built to take a licking and keep on ticking. Oh course at the moment he's had his clock cleaned but the gifted medics of the Autobots would know that all his important metal functions and such would be diverted to specialized internal sub-systems, at least while power holds out.

Mirage looks at the ground, seeing a sea of debris everywhere, "Doesn't look like there's much left to bring back to base." He pulls out a small canister of thermite grenade, "Are you able to figure out which parts we can salvage and which we nuke to keep them from falling into human hands?" The Autobot spymaster grimaces a bit as he sees Decibel's head on a pike, at least he knows -that- part of his CO ought to be salvageable. Why? Well, he can recognize that it's a head for starters.

Clutch gapes. "What--?! No!!" He pushes Mirage's grenade down again. "Put that thing away! We've got to...to do something. Take him back to base and lay him to rest." Hey maybe Decibel didn't turn out to be a 'great Autobot hero' and all but business has been slow at the Masoleum these last few years, he's sure they'd make an exception. "If nothing else, keep his subspace weapons away from the Decepticons." A scowl crosses his features at the memory.

Decibel sadly wasn't made of sterner stuff.

"He's alive. He's just...not in good shape." Patchwork shoots a narrow-opticed glare at Mirage at the suggestions concerning Decibel. "We need to pick up the pieces, but...I think I can repair him. Honest." Crouching down next to the 'junkheap', the medic begins to gently poke and prode, carefully examining Decibel.

Kup paces about in a grid pattern, looking for pieces of Decibel to add to their collection. He glances sidelong at Mirage as the spy immediately concludes that they need to blow up the evidence, and he snorts. Kup points out, "I've seen 'bots survive worse. Check him for ah, good job, lass. So we won't be needing that grenade, Mirage."

Decibel is an outstanding patient not moving or complaining at all as he's poked and prodded at. In fact all he really does is flake off some bits of armor turned to ash and spark. Blissfully unaware of his current condition or the pain he would be in if still linked to his primary neural interface Decibel just wallows away his time in the secondary processor reviewing various events of the past as if watching his life flicker before his eyes.

Mirage lets out an audible tch in annoyance as he's bombarded with objections at his decision to melt away the sea of Cybertronian body parts that litters the ground, "Well if you guys have confidence at salvaging him, I'll leave it at that. Just trying to keep tech from falling into the wrong hands." The Autobot spymaster tucks the canister of thermite back into a side compartment before he asks the million dollar question, "So, who're we going to put all this mess onto to transport back to base?"

Decibel might be a good patient and not complaining, but Patchwork is gentle all the same. "He's in really bad shape," she admits to the other autobots before she tilts her head and hefts a heavy breath. "You can carry the scrap...I can tow Decibel if no one else can."

Kup transforms into pick-up truck mode and offers, "You can toss a lot of the pieces in my bed. Let's bring him on home." Kup turns into a pickup truck, nothing fancy, but he can tell you, there was a day when transforming into anything at all was something special.

Mirage smirks a bit, "Well he's already in pieces, there might be nothing left of him if you towed him across the interstate." The Autobot spymaster kneels down and begins collecting the fragments of Autobot kibbles and bits from the ground, occasionally tossing them into the back of Kup's bed once sufficient amount is gathered.

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===================== Autobot =================================== Message: 3/119                    Posted        Author Decibel recovered                 Thu Oct 07    Kup -- Kup appears and reports, "Well. Good news. Decibel ain't dead. Now the bad news is he's generally cut up and blown up, his limbs are in pretty bad shape, his head's clean torn off, his torso took major damage, 'specially the... what did the tech boys say? The mass conversion system, yeah. The eggheads got him on life support, but he's linked into the main computer if you wanna talk to 'im. Thanks, Mirage, Clutch, and Patchwirk, for helping bring Decibel home. As for the slaggers who did this to Decibel," Kup's optics narrow, and he points angrily at the camera, "they got another thing coming. I swear it."

Spinny

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 Jetfire says, "... Wait, what happened to Decibel?!... Sorry, I've been sequestered in my lab most of the day working on things for Maximus' on-going operations."

 Kup says, "Eh. Someone decapitated the kid. Happens to the best of us."

 Smokescreen says, "You didn't stick a Nebulan on to replace it, did you?"

 Jetfire says, "... mass conversion system damage? ... Oi! As if Subspace hasn't given us enough trouble lately!... that's a tricky thing to work with though, I'll have to look into that..."

 Kup says, "Slag no! Don't think we got any handy, anyway."

 Jetfire says, "Err, yeah. Beheading is a minor inconvenience to us... but Decibel has one of the smallest alternate forms current active next to the cassettes. If his mass shunt has been damaged that's... a problem."

 Kup says, "What is WITH people getting in the fiddly bits? First Blurr getting his power chip rectifier burned out, now this?"

 Kup says, "Matrix, this is why I don't truck with fiddly bits, m'self. None of this special power size change nonsense. Just old fashioned transforming and subspace for weapons."

 Jetfire chuckles a little. "Ironhide use to grumble much the same thing." Does a bad impersonation of grumpy old timer, but its affectionally so, "Some fancy slag special trick systems ain't no substitute fer ball bearin's and good ol' gumption!"

 Loadout coughs. "As someone who's been somewhat time displaced from the 'good old days' I can certainly say there was something to the whole idea of things being simpler.

<Earth> Cyclonus says, "Autobots! You've no doubt.. stumbled, upon the present left for you at the border.  Be that a lesson to those who would trifle in Decepticon matters."

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime says, "Kup has a special trick system. He's easy to rep- aw, hell."

<Earth> Foxfire says, "Hi, Bunny Ears. Haven't heard your stupid voice in a while."

<Earth> Kup says, "Cyclonus? Y'saying I need to tifle all over your face?"

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime considers. "On the one hand, he's probably doing that JUST to torque us off, and letting him get us stirred up is giving him exactly what he wants, on the other hand..."

<Earth> Grimlock says, "Yeah! Us gonna wreck you face off!"

<Autobot> Kup says, "On the other hand? Let's tear off BOTH his hands!"

<Earth> Rodimus Prime says, "I've got a few lessons for you next time I see you, big, dim, and purple."

<Autobot> Grimlock says, "Yeah! Do that!"

<Earth> Cyclonus, sounding slightly more agitated than before, speaks clearly and concisely. "Likewise, Rodimus. Or shall I refer to you by your prior name, since that foolhardy trinket is still empty?  As for the rest of your lot, Decibel paid the final price for your transgressions.  The blood is on your hands, not mine."

<Earth> Rodimus Prime says, "It doesn't matter what you call me, I'm still tearing you a new exhaust."

<Earth> Foxfire says, "Hah! Shows what you know.  Decibel's gonna make in through.  You'll see!"

<Autobot> Rodimus Prime says, "Hey, Foxfire? We /could/ have surprised the Decepticons with that."

<Earth> Cyclonus, in as much as can be considered a joking tone with him. "So the deed was not completed, eh? I don't suppose you'd be foolish enough to reveal his location, so I can finish the job?"

<Autobot> Saboteur Foxfire says, "...To be honest, I'm not sure if I was even telling the truth."

<Earth> Kup says, "Last time I checked, Rodimus didn't hold a gun to your head an' /make/ you murder Decibel, you sick frag, so don't gimme that 'Rodimus made me do it' slag."