Rodimus visits the Matrix

Synopsis: Rodimus orders Jetfire to perform a risky procedure that will allow him to plunge into the Matrix to seek guidance on the matter of Legacius and the new threat of Neocron. Starring: Nurse Jetfire, Galvatron (as “The Matrix”), and Rodimus Prime. Office of Autobot Leader(#387 RntN) This room is in transition right now. Assorted relics and artifacts collected by previous Autobot leaders fill a shelf on the southern wall. A large desk is empty, with various cartons marked 'Archives' lined on the wall behind it. Partially visible behind the cartons is the insignia of the Autobots. A large window makes up the western wall, giving a spectacular view of the valley beyond. Obvious exits: Door  leads to Main Lobby - Second Floor.  Rodimus Prime says, "Jetfire, what's your status?"  Air Guardian Jetfire says, "Currently finishing a recharge cycle after an indepth research session. What can I do ya for boss?"  Rodimus Prime says, "I need your expertise. Report to Autobot City ASAP."  Air Guardian Jetfire says, "Roger that, sir." Jetfire enters from the Main Lobby - Second Floor to the east. Jetfire has arrived. Rodimus Prime is, not surprisingly, sitting behind his desk. What is surprising is that he's cleaned off the normal jungle growth of datapads and holodisks that litters his workspace at most other times. He's clearly waiting for Jetfire, hands folded on the desk in front of him. He nods to Jetfire, gesturing to a seat in front of his desk. "Sorry to recall you from NCC on short notice. Come in, Jetfire," he says, sounding a little more cryptic than he usually does. Jetfire steps through the doors of Rodimus' office, his armor still heated from re-entry, seeing as he wasted no time in traversing the distance between NCC and AC (ASAP, Obviously.) He takes quick stock of the situation before nodding to Rodimus, "Not a problem, Rodimus. It'd be a lot harder if I couldn't get here in under 10 minutes, believe me." he makes his way further into the room, something about his Commander's tone of voice triggering awareness alarms, "So, whatdya need?" Rodimus Prime switches off his radio. CHAT: You leave channel . Rodimus Prime flips open a panel on the inside of his forearm, revealing his trusty built-in communicator. He presses a button, and the lights go dim. "Normally," he begins, flipping his wrist panel closed and looking up at Jetfire, "The influence of the Matrix is hard for me to recognize. It's subtle... More of a 'gut feeling' I have. But I've been able to go directly into it in the past, normally when I'm on the brink of death or heavily damaged, and probe the collected data of the ages actively." He then opens the yellow flame decal on his chest with one hand, slowly lowering the hinged plate until the Matrix is in full view, the blue-white shimmering weight spilling out of his chest across the room. "I need you to alter my main processing circuit to reroute all conscious processes through the Matrix. It'll leave me dead to the world, but I'll be able to communicate with it directly." Jetfire takes a long moment to regard Rodimus. A few stray responses jump to the forefront but fall silent, finally the Warrior Scientist asks, "You're sure about this, sir? That kind of proceedure is going to be delicate... if Neocron moves while you're in that state, I don't think I'll be able to set you back to right quickly enough." caution obviously his first thought with a request such as this... never any question of being -able- to achieve the goal of course. Rodimus Prime nods in response, a grim-set expression on his faceplate. "It's delicate and it's dangerous," he affirms, one hand resting on the chest panel that normally shields the Matrix of Leadership from the world. "That's why I'm asking you to do it, Jetfire. Teletran-2 has extrapolated every possible scenario for Neocron's approach... We know when and where he's coming. It won't be a surprise. I need to commune with our ancestors before I lead us against Neocron... I have a few questions I need answered before I'll feel 100 percent sure about this." Jetfire nods, "Alright then... safest place to do this is probably the lab, where I have full monitoring equipment available. Unless you'd prefer I move it in here... dunno what kind of security concerns you have." once his Leader has made it clear he's weighed the risks, it's all down to business from there. "I'd prefer if as few people as possible knew I was doing this," Rodimus Prime responds. Also, maybe he doesn't want to close his chest and go through the trouble to open it again. "Sealing off the lab is going to draw too much attention. People will start asking questions, and 'Don't worry, Rodimus is in a coma right now' isn't a good answer. I'd prefer to do it here, if you can." Jetfire nods, "Give me about 5 minutes and I'll wheel the equipment over here." he then vanishes from the office. (And, to save time, 5 minutes ticks off... don't you wish you had that back to do something productive?) the door swishes open again as a hovercart loaded with equipment is rolled in, Jetfire says nothing more while he sets up the rack of equipment and connects it to the power trunk that runs to Rodimus' office, "Alright, the equipment is ready." Rodimus Prime looks to Jetfire's crazy mad scientist equipment rack, nodding slightly in acknowledgement. He eases back into his chair, his chest bay still open, leaning his head into his chair's head rest. "Let's begin," he says, simply, staring with determination at the ceiling of his office. Jetfire nods and takes the first (And to him, most important) step of connecting the monitoring equipment to the various nodes within Rodimus' systems, verifying that he's getting clean signals on the monitoring systems Jetfire turns back and makes a few structural changes to the core process paths of his Commanding Officer. It's a pain staking process to make sure each one runs cleanly through the Matrix' cluster without interfering with any of the others... that kind of line noise could be dangerous. Finally, the last of the process reroute lines is laid, and only a switch waits to be thrown, "You ready, sir?" Rodimus Prime's fingers curl and tighten around his chair's armrests before he forces them to relax again, perhaps somewhat tense about the procedure. But from the dead-set lookin his optics, it's clear he's not about to change his mind, either. "Yes, Jetfire. Pull me out of it if my life signs begin to fluctuate. Normally, the Matrix will guide me out of it on its own, but if I'm in there for too long, you'll have to manually reroute me back." He nods again, more to himself than Jetfire. "Okay. Punch it." Jetfire nods once, "I won't let ya go into the light boss, don't worry." he hits the switch, which in turn severs the standard pathways, forcing the data flow to follow the newly laid down circuit lines. Once the switch is thrown, there's little for him to do but monitor the data flow and hope for the best... thus it is that he pulls over a seat and settles in, watching the life signs carefully to ensure that the 'insertion' so to speak, goes smoothly. Rodimus Prime's blue optics flare when Jetfire severs his main connections, then slowly go dim, until they're nothing but dark gray orbs in his cranium. He's ... Gone. His head rolls forward, slack and lifeless. "The Matrix" is HERE. Rodimus will feel like he is falling for a while. Falling through an abyss of light and even stars. Finally, a face will form, his own face. It will then seem to slowly transform into a very familiar face. A face that probably haunts Rod's nightmares. The face of Optimus Prime, "Rodimus...why have you returned?" His face looks as bright and vibrant as ever. In here, John Wayneotron still lives. And he looks just like you remember him. Despite having done this before in the past, Rodimus Prime still needs time to adjust to his new existence as a being of pure energy and data. He lifts up his arms, perfectly reconstructed inside of the Matrix -- and, as far as he can tell, they're quite real. Once he's come to terms with staring at the backs of his hands, he adopts a 'Superman' pose, diving through a flickering tunnel of alternating neon light and absolute, pitch black. He comes to a stop before... "Optimus," he breathes, clearly in awe of his predecessor. It never wears off. There's so much he wants to say, he hesitates for a moment, countless nanoseconds ticking by before he forces his mind to -focus- on the problem at hand. "Another dark hour has fallen upon the Autobots, Optimus. I need the wisdom of the past... I need to know about Legacius, of Quintessa. Do you know this name?" "The Matrix" continues emitting Optimus, "Yes. But I have only heard it in whispers. It is a bit before my time...even the time of Orion Pax. But I only know rumors. You will have to journey further back, Rodimus, if you want the information you seek. But be wary, Rodimus, if you journey too far...you may never return. I have faith in you Rodimus, I always have. But I can't help you. You will have to journey further." Optimus pauses for a minute, in case Rodimus has anything to say to him. "Remember...Rodimus...trust in yourself." Rodimus Prime nods at Optimus' response, perhaps having expected as much. Despite the warning from the former Autobot leader, Rodimus can't help but smile slightly at the advice. "I know, Optimus." His smile fades, though, as he prepares to dive deeper back into the past... Grimacing, he extends his arms ahead of him once more, flying forward through the stream of nearly-infite data, continuing right up to Optimus' face and pushing right through him. As real as Optimus appears to Rodimus, he's only an echo in the Matrix... "The Matrix" is always in motion, and as Rodimus moves through it...the scenery changes. The starts become more frequent and flash by swiftly, leaving a sort of glowing trail behind them. The face of Optimus remains in front of Rodimus, even after he flies right through it. But it slowly begins to change. It morphs, so to speak. When it is finished morphing, the bearded face of Alpha Trion appears in front of Rodimus. "Rodimus...Prime. Why have you come back into the abyss, not a social call, I hope?" Rodimus Prime places one hand on his own face as he watches Optimus' visage peel away and reconstruct into that of Alpha Trion... Somehow, Rodimus feels like it's his own face that is being rebuilt. The disorienting sensation passes once Alpha Trion speaks to him. "I wish I could say it was, Alpha Trion," Rodimus responds with his typical sardonic tone, though he's glad to see the wizened old face. There's certainly a lot less emotional baggage with Alpha Trion than there is with Optimus Prime. "Earth, and the Autobots, are in peril. I seek knowledge of the Quintesson's new leader... Legacius. He has rebuilt Unicron and threatens to turn it against the Cybertronians." "The Matrix" 's emission of Alpha Trions face looks taken aback in horror. "The Chaos Bringer...rebuilt? And in the hands of the Quintesson Slavers?! Unthinkable!" his optics seem to flash over a bit and he shakes his head. "I know the name, Rodimus, but only the name. He was one of the Quintesson Scientists...if you can call them that, they were really slavers, that did not agree with Primus' peaceful vision. Beyond that, I'm afraid I don't know more. Perhaps those before me will. But remember the perils of traveling into the Matrix, Rodimus. You're too important to be lost. I hope you can find the knowledge you seek...Chosen One." His wizened face seems to crumble away, leaving the path to Rodimus open. The stars shift and become a deep blackness. Rodimus Prime nods at Alpha Trion's warning, echoing the one he received from Optimus Prime. Yet, Rodimus Prime continues to dive deeper, and deeper, into the Matrix... Deeper into the past. The sense of apprehension, of being lost in the past, begins to creep up on him... He twitches, slightly, tempted to look over his shoulder, to swim back to the pinprick of light at the far end of the tunnel that represents his conscious mind. Yet, Rodimus presses on... The knowledge is too important to abandon. "Jetfire..." He mutters, suddenly doubting the name as he speaks it. Jetfire... Is there an Autobot named Jetfire? Has he been created yet? "Don't fail me now..." Rodimus runs one hand over his face. Yes. Jetfire is real. Jetfire is watching over him. Reassured, he soars deeper into the dark. Jetfire silently watches the monitoring devices, feeling oddly helpless in such a unique situation. Every now and then small flickers are noticeable, but all remain well within tolerances for safety. So the time ticks by, leaving Jetfire with time to ponder... ponder such things as the Cloaking technology... he started by using what he knows of Mirage's abilities, and extrapolating from there, but time is pressing and progress is somewhat lacking. He also ponders just what it is that Rodimus see's as he delves into the Matrix, the boundless knowledge it holds certainly has a certain appeal to one such as Jetfire, though he'd hardly be willing to accept the baggage that would come with such knowledge. "The Matrix" changes it's outright face yet again. The face of Alpha Trion shatters into millions of fragments that pierce past Prime as specks of light. The blackness now changes to purple as the leader keeps delving deeper into the abyss. A new face begins to form, very slowly. It pieces Red and White fragments together. When they finish, they look alot like Rodimus. Only more chiseled and square like. This is a leader not known to many still alive. Maybe Kup. When he speaks, it is with a deep voice. One of Authority. "Autobot Leader. It is dangerous to come this deep into our past. What do you seek?" Rodimus Prime winces as the spears of light lacerate his 'body', curling into the fetal position, for a moment, tumbling out of control into the darkness. He forces himself to steady, focusing his mind, arms and legs extending and pulling his body upright to come face to face with the ancient Autobot. "Sentinel Prime...?" Rodimus murmurs, the name only a whisper from the past, from the myths and legends of his youth. He doesn't recognize him. "Kn... Knowledge..." Rodimus Prime replies to his query, his voice seizing in his throat even as he speaks. But he powers through it, pressing his will to remain stable so far into the ancient history of the Autobots. "The slave-masters..." He finds himself reverting to ancient Autobot dialect for referring to Quintessons, "Have resurrected the Chaos-Bringer, casting its shadow again on the present. I need your knowledge... I need wisdom... To destroy this beast. Unicron. Legacius... Neocron." "The Matrix" ahhhs and nods, "Legacius. He was one of the worst of the Slavers. Primus tried to bring us peace and happiness, if any were responsible for driving that from us, it was Legacius. He was a dark scientist. He and his friends drove us into slavery. They punished us for no reason. We lived and died for their profit and pleasure. He was a genius with technology, and came up with many ways to keep us under control. But we finally revolted. Both Military and Domestic hardware joined forces and forced him and his ilk off of the home Primus had given to us. Primus gave us a final gift before passing on. The will to be free. The desire for it. It was that desire that helped us to defeat Legacius and regain our homeworld." Rodimus Prime nods slowly, as the waves of knowledge permeate through him. Though each piece threatens to bind him to the past, it's essential that he return with them to the future... "Military and Domestic Hardware have allied again, Sentinel Prime... To face Legacius once again." Rodimus pauses, struggling to remember the question that brought him so far into the past. "Will it be enough? How... How were the Quintessons able to rebuild Unicron... Did they build him in the first place? Do they... do they have that much power?" "The Matrix" would shrug, if it had shoulders. The stars seem to pause, the orange background stopping it's constant motion. "I do not know how the Chaos Bringer came to live, but it was not by Slaver means. Not to my knowledge. As for how he was rebuilt, I can only assume they merely reconstructed his parts to their own design. Even we could do that. I doubt he still lives in there. At least not completely. He may, but not to his old extent. As for your final question, I don't know, Leader of the Autobots. Is it ever enough as long as there is evil in the universe? The only way you can defeat them is with heart...faith...and steel." Rodimus Prime nods, feeling the lucidity surrounding him beginning to fade, the movements resulting in blurs of color surrounding his body. "You will be with me when I face him," Rodimus Prime replies. "May both of us find victory, Sentinel Prime." With that, Rodimus Prime looks up, the darkness closing in around him, but that incredibly faint star directly above him still shines... He begins to ascend, up through the data of the ancient past. "The Matrix" nods it's head, "May we." the stars move past swiftly as Rodimus starts to move away. The head disappears and the stars flash by quickly. As Rodimus gets closer and closer, he will hear voices. First, Alpha Trions, "May Primus smile upon you, Rodimus Prime..." and as he moves further even more, the background will start to become more and more lucid. Before he reaches the final star, he will catch a brief glimpse of Optimus, "I will always be with you, Rodimus. Always. Good luck." Each phrase of support from the leaders of Autobot past accelerates Rodimus Prime faster; he once again becomes more sure of who he is, where he is, and when he is. Just as the light swells around him, illuminating his features, his flaming chest decal now literally ablaze inside of the Matrix, he turns around to look back into the seemingly bottomless tunnel of the Matrix. "I won't let you down, any of you!" He calls, his voice echoing back through the ages. "I promise! UNTIL ALL ARE ONE!" "The Matrix" fades from Rodimus, the only thing left being heard is a simple sentence....all of the voices of the past combined. "Till all are one...." Then blackness. Jetfire sits up suddenly as the Monitors start flickering, "Crud, either something is going wrong or he's coming back... either way he'll need his processing power back." Jetfire turns his attention to the Chosen One's chest and makes a few adjustments before cutting in the original pathways once more. Rodimus Prime spasms alive quite unexpectedly in his chair, his lifesigns going from barely alive to fully conscious in a mere instant. His eyes flash brightly, his head throwing back and mouth gaping wide with a silent howl of pain. Arcs of electricity curl over his open chest panel, blasting away Jetfire's diagnostic cables, sending them flopping to the floor. He slumps forward again, a thin whisp of smoke curling out of his chest. A moment passes, and he doesn't move, but then he lifts his chin, looking up to Jetfire. Not saying anything, he places a hand on his chest panel, pushing the yellow flame decal back into place with a click, snuffing out the shimmering balmy light of the Matrix. "I think it worked," he reports, in a tone of understatement. Jetfire looks at the cables now laying limp on the floor, "I'm going to have to rewire those..." he comments, also using a tone of understatement, "I hope you learned something of value in there, boss. We're up against it after all..." Rodimus Prime stands up from his chair, slowly at first, but then with growing composure, until he rises up to his full height. His composure seems changed; there's a renewed sense of energy and confidence, visible just from the way he holds himself. "I think I did, Jetfire. And, if nothing else..." He places one hand on his chest, "I know I have good company in there."