A Daring Escape

Coolant System Sewer Basin

The murky, stagnant swamps above drain down through countless ducts, pipes, and drains, eventually reaching this large basin. This huge, cylindrical chamber is nearly entirely full of dark, oily water, with more constantly flowing down from above from the myriad assortment of grates and sewers. Hoses and pipes criss-cross the open expanse, many broken and leaking, others providing a solid enough surface to stand upon. Spotlights rim the top of this chamber, but due to disrepair and the constant flow of fluid from the surface, few remain functional, and those that do sputter and flicker, providing only meager illumination. Deeper down, the lack of proper illumination and the dimness of the tainted water may yet hold secrets as to the purpose of this vast flooded chamber.

LAST TIME ON TRANSFORMERS..

Scorn awakens in a desolate basement, surrounded by familiar and strange faces alike.. all belonging to her own faction! It appeared that Sapphire absconded from the Finger Canyons with her in tow, but she wasn't the only one. She was joined in her makeshift jail by Kickback, Munch, Harrow, and.. Viator? The older Seeker spoke in riddles which eluded any rhyme or reason. And just went all felt desolate, Munch collapsed in Scorn's arms and expired.

With their backs against the wall, what will our dastardly evil Decepticons do to escape their current predicament? Will Scorn get sweet revenge for the death of the wittlest Insecticon? Will Viator start making sense? Will Kickback formulate a plan for escape?


 * The sound plays, flipping the Autobot emblem to the Decepticon emblem as the scene opens*

The foul sewage dripping from the cracked roof sends tiny wisps of smoke throughout the room as it impacts on the light fixture, swaying it only slightly. It appears Backfire and his new Empire had been at it all night, people being taken from the cell and herded back in.. worse for wear. The main occupants however, have been left alone mostly. Everyone except Viator, who is being led through the door at the moment. Campfire, forced to carry the Seeker because of his loss of legs, gives a slight grunt at Scorn and the others as he walks past.. chaining Viator up to the wall.

Turning on his heel towards the exit, "Haha, you friend Munch should have been named Crunch." he sort of grunt-giggles out, his right hand toying with a key. "That sound him make when we throw in trash."

Walking out, the door slams shut violently and is relocked with that familiar sound of tumblers clicking into place.

Kickback is still thinking up potential ways to get out of this cell. The first problem, however, is the stasis cuffs. Without a way to get out of those, even if they escape, they're stranded being defenseless and on foot.

He knows that they're being listened in on, and that now the guards come with a sort of semi-erratic regularity. Why they have been spared until last is beyond him, but he knows it's only a matter of time before one of them is taken for these ersatz 'upgrades'.

He studies the door for any kind of protruberances - handles, bolts, hinges - anything other than a smooth surface.

It's been tough holding herself back every time a seeker entered to take away another prisoner for whatever experimentation or torture they were inflicting upon them. The urge to leap upon them and tear out their throats was strong, but Scorn does what she can to remain calm and collected, trusting Kickback to use that brain power of his to formulate a plan.

Campfire gets a nasty hiss at his remark before he leaves and she looks to Viator back in his spot on the wall. "How are you holding up, old mech?" She questions, wanting to bring at least him back alive since they couldn't save Munch.

Viator, who spent most of the night howling prewar protest songs, just stares back at Scorn. While his legs have been removed, a rather massive backpacklike addition has been grafted onto him, replacing his wings. He says nothing, but does not break his stare.

The lighting in the room eventually dies down, only illuminated by that one light fixture.. the water breaking off slightly, a reprieve of burnt out toaster oven smell at least. With the all night experimentation, it appears they took away more prisoners than they've brought back. One individual stands out, however. To be put it more sufficely, two former individuals stand out.

Leaning forward from his chained station, what was once two.. are now one. The mech, constructidrone by look of it, lets out a heavy deep sigh. Grafted onto his frame are parts from a Seeker, or what was a Seeker. Awkward wings dangle, barely attached by a single transistor line. The mech stares forward, making optic contact with Kickback.

"Was one, now two." the Frankenstein-esque monster gruffs on, an uncontrolled quiver of his jaw rattles away inbetween speech. "Was one, now two." he continues, part of his former altmode plow making contact with the ground and sending a shrill scrape throughout the room.

"Who did this to you?" Kickback asks the bifurcated mech. "Do you know why?"

Scorn narrows her gaze a little at Viator's stare. Well, at least he's still alive at least. Shifting attention back to Kickback who she scoots over close to to speak lowly, still knowing the place is bugged somehow. "Any ideas yet? I still say we jump one. I'm sure these guard mechs coming and going have a passkey for these cuffs on them somewhere.."

A nasty, annoying scrape then fills the room, cutting Scorn off and making her cringe before glancing up with Kickback to view the mismatched Con, frowning deeply at the sight of him. "..Why in the pit are they doing this.." This is Shockwave and Buzzkill level of mad science, and she doesn't like it.

"You don't have much time, Insecticons. No time, in fact. The Dark Dwellers will break you. I am already gone, and you are next." Viator. Remember when he had a sore hip and was sort of funny?

Kickback turns to Scorn, and leans in close to her, to try to speak as quietly as possible. Kickback mutters to Scorn, "... have to... in stasis lock from... hunger. If... unconscious,... a... to... them... come..."

"Who did this to you?" Frankenbot copies Kickback's question, his optics still maintaining contact. It is a little unsettling, seeing as how one is bright red and the other is a dull blue. Yet they stay trained on the Insecticon, never swaying. "Why?" he repeats only the last word this time, finally breaking off to look down.

"They.." he tries to formulate the words, "They didn't say." Groaning, the mech looks back up. "So loud in my head, what did they do?"

Now his attention is drawn to Viator, and the other experimented upon Decepticons in the room. Finally, they lie on his own frame. "WHAT DID THEY DO?"

The lighting in the room fades in and out, the light fixture still sways slightly and has momentary lapse in illumination when the putrid liquid drips down from the cracked ceiling.

Other than the ambiance change, it really stinks.

Scorn continues to eye the frankenmech as Kickback whispers to her, antenna twitching a little in response. "Hm.. Maybe.." But there's no guarantee the guards will even take off the cuffs, and chewing through again isn't an option with that electric failsafe.

Hm. Electric.

She idles in her own thoughts for now, slowly scanning the room, though optics draw to the light when another waft of that horrid smell reaches her, the femme curling lip in disgust. "Ugh, we hardly have any light as is. Bad enough that leak keeps messing with it..." A few moments pass before she suddenly sits up a bit straighter, realization on her face as she looks to Kickback, eagerly gesturing for him to follow as she moves to her feet to stand under the lamp. Scorn doesn't want to give away the idea, so she just gestures up at it and gives him a look, hoping he catches on.

Kickback notices the swaying fixture. "... Are we *moving*?" he asks out loud, puzzled. A lamp doesn't normally just keep swaying like that on its own.

Scorn gets up and of course Kickback is paying attention; he's hypervigilant right now. Following her motions and gestures, he quickly comprehends her idea. He stands, but lets ladies go first.

It may be a little degrading on Kickback's end, but Scorn directs him to stoop over so she can stand atop him, helping boost her up higher to get closer to the bulb and push it out of the way of the leak, allowing the nasty liquid to miss the light and instead fall onto her stasis cuffs instead. Please work, please work!

Viator starts to groan, obviously in a lot of pain. His optics flicker, a little sharper. Clearly some sort of morphine esque agent is wearing off.

"I.." Frankenstein looking mech starts to trail again, his optics squinting. The right one gets stuck slightly on a blink loop, which is trippy when he starts talking again. "I don't know. I need to get this out while I have.." he looks around the room, the numbers from before having been decimated by Backfire's new Empire experimentation.

"Clarity." he finishes, wrestling against the shackles. "They didn't ask any questions and I don't remember much, while under.. I mean. It's all a blur, they had me under something.. I remember talk of the new regime.. new order? Something." he pratically froths at the mouth, his rate of speech picking up as he rambles.

"Backfire. He did this.. that weird mood music in the background, making me be a.." he looks down at himself, shaking violently. "LOOK AT ME, I'M A FFFFFFF-REAK!" he shouts.

A gumbie comments on the side, "I'm dying man, I'm frakkin' dying!" The entire room devolves into hoots and hollers, the Frankenbot working them into a literal frenzy.

The light moves out of the way easily, and as the drip from the leak hits the stasis cuffs.. it sends a sudden and violent burst of electricity through Scorn. Strong, but shortlived.. as the cuffs quickly begin to short out and crack right open.

Kickback doesn't mind being used as a step stool; he braces as much as possible to let Scorn up and potentially to freedom -

It *works*.

"Hurry!" he hisses, rushed, as the other prisoners begin to shout. "They'll be coming soon to stop the noise!"

Viator lets out a snarl of annoyance and pain when he realizes Scorn and Kickback have found their moment. "Traitors! Free me!"


 * KLANK*


 * KLANK KLANK KLANK*

The banging continues outside the door, Campfire's muffled voice can be heard. "Keep 'er down dumbutts, I come in and make you!"

Inside the dingy basement, the prisoners are now in full riot shouting.. especially when Scorn and Kickback manage to break free of the stasis cuff. "TRAITORS!" Frankenbot rocks back and forth shouting, fully surendered to the madness of having another chassis-type grafted onto him. "FREE TRAITORS, FREE!"

Success! Though not without a price, Scorn getting a nice dose of electricity for her troubles. "Grzzkh!" But she stands her ground, tensing up and gritting her teeth while riding out the shock, nearly collapsing on Kickback once it ends and the cuffs fall off. The femme vents a deep sigh of relief, moving again to push the light out of the way so Kickback, and even background Harrow, can get the liquid on their cuffs as well before jumping down.

"Get Viator off the wall." She speaks lowly to Kickback. "And try to cut the others down too." And with that she gets this devilishly malicious grin and reaches up, crushing the lightbulb in her hand to send the room into darkness, the sound of transformation heard soon after with a momentary scuttle of feet closer to the door. Scorn crouches before shifting into her scythe-armed mantis mode.

Kickback holds up Scorn until she can shake off the effects of the electricity. He bears the shock as well, freeing himself soon after.

"My thoughts exactly," he replies in acknowledgement to Scorn. "Let the mad ones rush the door first. I'll get Viator, you may enjoy your revenge!"

Breaking the cuffs, he assists Harrow towards the liquid, then goes about freeing the others.

Suddenly, the room is bathed in bright sterile light. From each wall comes on a floodlight, the effect is blinding at first.. but the optics will adjust. The sound of the door being unlocked can barely be discerned against the backdrop of screaming prisoners, who are oddly in unison now.

With the Frankenstein-esque mech leading the call, "ONE IS TWO!"

Viator falls forward when Kickback frees him. No legs and all. He looks up at the Insecticons, optics glowing red. "Viator is gone, Insecticons. The Empire is gone. One is two." His body starts to shake, and he screams in pain.

Massive robotic spider legs transform out of Viator's back, his head replaced with something between the cockpit of a tetrajet and the head of a tarantula. He darts forward, massive teeth crunching in on Frankenbot's head, spraying energon everywhere, while his front legs spear two other prisoners through their sparks. The beast turns, facing Kickback and Scorn.

"I am VIARANTULAS(rantulas). Your Empire is DEAD(dead).

As the door opens, Campfire is pushed aside by the femme Seeker Sapphire. Bursting in with electro cattle-prod weapons, her gaze falls over the scene. Viarantulas is chewing down on Frankenbot's head, skewering two others through the chest, Scorn is in mantis mode, Kickback is attempting to free other prisoners, Harrow is here somewhere.. not yelling strangely enough.

Yup, that about sums it up alright. Depressing a button on her wrist communicator, she speaks "Inform the Lord that containment cell six has been compromised, prepare for full incineration." With a smile, Sapphire struts out of the room and slams the door shut.

<> a VERY familiar voice comes in over the PA system. <> As he speaks, small compartments open up along the sides of the walls.. a flame flickers on the other end.

Harrow tries not to appear /too/ amazed as she witnesses the apparent result of the sadistic tinkering here. "Wow..." Sucks to be Viator. She scrambles to pull her scalpel from subspace as VIARANTULAS destroys other prisoners, hardly noticing Sapphire popping in to survey the damage. "...Currs. That's Backfire! "YOU FRAGGER!" she starts yelling again, it's inevitable. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU! IF YOU HAVE AN OUNCE OF /HONOR/ COME DOWN HERE AND FACE US LIKE A MECH!"

Robotic Praying Mantis  is standing at the side of the door, waiting to ambush any that enter, but she doesn't expect the floodlight to come on, hissing softly in annoyance and lifting a blade to shield her optics as they adjust. Nor does she expect Viator to transform into a friggin' semi-Insecticon. Shit.

And then Sapphire enters again, Scorn too distracted to take notice until the doors begin to close again. "No!" She roars, launching a wad of acid spit to try and hit her or Campfire, but only a bit makes it through, the rest splashing on the door and violently hissing and bubbling as it eats at the metal. "Slaggit!" Scorn curses, rushing the door and striking it with her coated blades, try to slice through quick before the room errupts in flames. "Kickback, the door!!"

"I'll get the door, see if you can destroy the nozzles on those flame jets!" Kickback shouts, transforming into locust mode. Leaping over in front of the door, he turns around, drawing in his legs, and begins throwing all his power into breaking the already damaged door down.

Sapphire leaves one her guards in the room. Prefire, suddenly realizes her inevitable betrayal! "What do we have he..RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Viarantulas spits a mass of barbed shrapnel, which cuts into the Seeker and begins shocking his systems until he falls to his death, muttering something about his premature death before actually succumbing to it. The spider-seeker hisses as he chews through Frankenbot's body, feeding on him, and slashes at Kickback, before deciding that surviving fire is more important than murder and feeding, and leaps at the ceiling, legs digging in to the crack where the dripping liquid originated from. The metal of the cell peels back like tin foil, and Viarantulas crawls up and out, into a tunnel of his own making.

Follow the murder spider or stay in the burning room. It's a real Sophietron's choice.

Harrow chooses to follow the spider. Incineration is among the worst ways to go. "Forget the doors!" She quickly piles up some bodies to reach up into the new tunnel, using her scalpel as leverage.

The small amount of acid makes it through the door crack, catching Sapphire right in the face as she turns around. The tiny amount leaves a vertical acid scar right over her optic, the optical instrument grows opaque and useless in a matter of moments.

"You vile wench, I'll see you BURN for this!" Sapphire rages on the other side of the door, peering through the porthole. Inside the room, the openings begins to glow with bright red light.. as well, they'd notice the temperature rising.

<> the disembodied voice comes in over the PA system, <>

Robotic Praying Mantis  grins inwardly at landing a hit on Sapphire. Take that, bitch. But congratulations will have to come later since progress on the door is slow and the room is growing hot. Screw it, time to follow the spider. "Ngh, nevermind, leave it, let's go!" She calls to Kickback, making a leap for the exit in the ceiling once Harrow is up there, scrabbling a moment for purchase until she gets a better hold and hauls herself up and free of the room before it burns them all.

"Oh, why do I even bother," Kickback mutters to himself. He leaps up into the tunnel after Scorn, bringing up the rear.

Harrow shuffles along, hopefully the Viator spider won't notice. But she continues to yell anyway, "YES! A FOOL! A fool but not a psychopath! You've betrayed us! At least explain your reasons!

Whatever reply came over the loud speaker, it wasn't able to be overheard because of the huge gust of flames that spouted from the four openings.. quickly filling the room and rushing towards the only opening, the tunnel!

Before the trio of retreating Decepticons, is a long twisting tunnel hastily scrawled out by Viarantulus. Metal shavings and chunks are dabbled here and there, enough of an obstacle to overcome on their way through.

With jutting flames hot on their tail, even boring through spots in the passageway.. will any of them taste the new Empire's baptism by fire??


 * Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawoooooooooooooooooooooooooosh*

Combat: Backfire misses Robotic Praying Mantis  with Strange Seeker 's If You Can't Stand the Heat.. Get Out of the Cell! Area attack!

Combat: Backfire strikes Harrow with Strange Seeker 's If You Can't Stand the Heat.. Get Out of the Cell! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Harrow's Agility. (Crippled)

Combat: Backfire strikes Kickback with Strange Seeker 's If You Can't Stand the Heat.. Get Out of the Cell! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Kickback's Agility. (Crippled)

Fire, of all things, fire! It's no wonder Scorn is scaling the tunnel as fast as she can, blades digging into the sides to help pull her up quicker with all four scuttling legs. "Move, move!" She hisses up at Harrow urgently, though lets out a screech of surprise and ducks when fire spouts into the space between them, just toasting the tips of her antennas.

At this point she wants to just crawl over the medic and flee while they're being roasted, but she can't leave them, instead shoving Harrow along quicker and reaching back with an arm to try and urge Kickback on.

Well it ain't much safer in here! Harrow can only duck and cover as flames lick over her shoulders and wings, singing everything down to the painful wire. She shrieks and claws forward, if the blast from behind hasn't propelled them further. She's also got a giant mantis head pushing her along.

Kickback endures the flames, though not without a howl of pain. "Go, GO!" he shouts to Harrow and Scorn, "Don't worry about me just KEEP MOVING!" He has no intentions of becoming an oversized chapuline today, but he does try to eat any lose obstructions near him - and quickly - to regain strength. He might need to try to close the tunnel behind them, if possible. Combat: Kickback takes extra time to steady himself. [Pass]

The flames rollick over the two Decepticons, jutting in from overhead and the sides as well as chasing them up the twisting and winding makeshift shaft. Rising sharply, the shaft opens up into a wider dug hill that leads sharply down. All along the way, however, jut craggy metal chunks and other such obstacles.

Do they risk the plummet or taste the flame?

Robotic Praying Mantis  really doesn't want to let Kickback fall behind, but if he's telling them to go.. Scorn stares back at him a moment, likely to frown if she were able to in this mode, and continues on with Harrow, pushig the femme on until they reach the end of the tunnel and the beginning of a steep hill leading back downward. There may be hazards, but there aren't any flames, so it may be their only hope. "Ergh.." Scorn pauses while looking over the seeker's shoulder, trying to make a decision. "..Just go, use your antigravs if you have, or just.. climb on my back if you can't." If it has to come to that she'll allow her to ride the mantis, but Primus help Harrow if she ever tells ANYONE.

Once she says that she's clattering out of the tunnel, digging scythes and feet hard into the hill wall to keep her from falling while she moves.

Harrow ends up tumbling into the open area regardless of choice. Too damaged to properly fly, she of course reaches for the giant mantis' neck and hops on. At least Scorn will hit the jagged metal before she does! Maybe. "Slag slag slag!"

Once the two ladies are clear, Kickback pushes his way into the opening of the pit. He's pretty manueverable in this mode, and, spreading his wings, he glides down to the first jagged ledge he can, grasping hold of it, ready to leapfrog his way down from point to point.

How do they fare down the steep decline? One can never tell, the fire that follows them up the makeshift tunnel loosens some of the overhang from the top, sending it tumbling down towards them!

However it turns out, they're met by a nice soft landing that leads to an even longer stretch than optic can perceive.

Combat: Backfire strikes Robotic Praying Mantis  with Strange Seeker 's Falling Debris! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Robotic Praying Mantis 's Accuracy. (Blinded)

Combat: Backfire strikes Harrow with Strange Seeker 's Falling Debris! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Harrow's Accuracy. (Blinded)

Combat: Backfire strikes Kickback with Strange Seeker 's Falling Debris! Area attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily affected Kickback's Accuracy. (Blinded)

Robotic Praying Mantis <Scorn> erks and grumbles under her breath as Harrow latches onto her and hoists herself up on her back, riding her like a horse. She better not grab those antennas. She can't complain too much at this point though, too busy descending the hill and avoiding the debris jutting from the walls. Or, she would if some hadn't managed to shake loose from above and strike her, Scorn crying out in surprise and pain while she's knocked loose and tumbles the rest of the way with Harrow in tow.

"Oof!" The landing isn't hard, but it's still unpleasant, Scorn laying there a moment, her vision knocked out of focus when trying to stand on three legs now. Looks like the other got a bit mangled during the tumble. "Hn.. Everyone still alive?" She asks, rubbing her head with the flat side of her blade.

Harrow braces against whatever mantis kibble she can reach as debris rains down upon the battered seeker. It makes her faceplant into her mount and knocks out vision for the moment, and she just sprawls there with her limbs dangling off. Cursing groans means she's still alive at least.

Kickback gets nailed midflight and crashes into the debris below. Fortunately he wasn't too far from the bottom to begin with. "Yeah... Still alive here. Singed, but alive."

Over the expanse of the long tunnel, a light can be viewed. First small in diameter, it grows larger and larger as the distance is closed. As the trio of Decepticons approach, it appears to be.. blinking?

"Good.. Let's keep going." Scorn goes what she can to shake off blurred vision, clearing it up some and glancing back at her passenger before moving off down the tunnel. The light is honestly a welcome sight, as it may be their freedom, but doubt begins to creep in as they close the distance, optics narrowing at the blinking and steps slowing some. "Stay alert, we still don't know if that damned Viator... thing is still around or not. Hn.. the slag is that.." She questions the blinking light, continuing to get closer.

Harrow slowly begins to see less dark and more light. Well a pinhead of light. Freedom!? No, it's blinking... Harrow just lets everyone else 'stay alert', thunking her head back down.

"Hopefully it's a way out. If not, maybe a quick, clean death," Kickback replies joylessly as he tries to regain a sense of where he is.

As they pull up, it appears to be nothing more than a systems warning light.. a result of the HUGE hole ripped into the side of the drainage facility. Beyond the torn entrance, a set of stairs leads upwards.

Robotic Praying Mantis <Scorn> sighs in relief that it's only a warning light. It's concerning as to what made the hole to make the light go on, but that isn't something they should worry about now, not when there are stairs to freedom before them! "Finally!" Scorn says in exasperation while scuttling over and up. "Almost there.." No more wall climbing, just good old stairs. "Once we're out of here I'm radioing in for a pick up. Maybe bomb this place too while we're at it."

"Bomb...? No no, we have to make a perimeter of this place and turn it over to the Empire! We can investigate what madness Backfire's up to." Harrow pauses. "And maybe save Mulch? What's his name? Though that Viator fellow is long gone."

Kickback is silent. There's a lot going down here he's going to have to report on, as he follows the others out into safety.