For the Love of Science: Part 4

Tuesday, June 26, 2012, 7:02 AM

 Scattershot says, "Autobot City, this is Scattershot, aboard Decepticon science vessel Tarantulus 4. Requesting permission to land."

 Ultra Magnus grates out through clenched teeth, "Permission granted."

 Scattershot says, "Figured you'd be on com, Commander. Just make sure you've got a medical detail on deck. EDC, too. I've got a lot of wounded on board, including humans."

 Ultra Magnus says, "Oh, medical will be ready for your arrival."

Landing Pad 

The smell of heated tarmac hits you first as you survey the landing and liftoff point for all flights to Cybertron. The wreckage of previous battles here are off to the back in a jumbled heap. To the southeast is the massive form of Autobot City itself, a bit battle-scarred, but still operational. Surrounding you on all other sides are forests of large conifer trees.

The spaceport absolutely sparkles with a new shine - in fact, it's almost blinding in direct sunlight. Spots are a thing of the past, and each building has a brand new coat of paint. Even the *scrap* piles look like they've been cleaned off and straightened up.

At first, all's quiet on the western front. After a few moments, however, a Decepticon ship drops through the skyline. The Tarantulas is more of a sphere than a ship, coming down for a very shaky vertical landing. The massive Decepticon insignia on the side slides open, a ramp coming down. Figures start to step out. Wolfwings, an Autobot considered KIA on Mars leads the way, a smaller Autobot leaning against him for support, missing a leg. After the Autobots, several humans, around 30 or 40 of the sluglike Kwarch, and even a few Decepticons make their way down the ramp.

Despite race, or faction, they all have one thing in common: They've been through hell. Scars, missing limbs, surgically altered faces and bodies...It's a shocking sight. Behind the mass of POWs, Scattershot follows. Beat up, armor melted away in parts, but not looking hugely worse for wear. Gone is his normal swagger and cockiness. His face looks...blank.

The heat from the tarmac creates that shimmer that's visible about ten feet from the ground up, visibly blurring and making everything all wavy. The way the sun bounces off the polished flooring and tile, everything here is illuminated to the max. Loadout must have put himself on polish duty!

The Tarantulas is trained by guns the entire way in, lining up a perfect killshot. Likewise, snipers are situated on top of the control tower.. their sights trained for the ramp and anyone coming out of it. Ultra Magnus isn't one to take too many chances. You know, besides failing to check if the Matrix's finger holes were big enough first.

After the appropriate nod from the City Commander, a slew of med-sci troops rush up to help the wounded. Magnus simply stands on the pathway to Autobot City, leveling a glare towards the Technobot Commander.

Amber MacKenzie overheard enough over broadband to not be completely surprised by what she sees, but the knowledge is nothing compared to the reality. Her EDC father, equally stricken, assists his daughter to a nearby bench, and she sits heavily, jarring her sore ribs. Words can't express her horror. The man gently puts an arm around her, and she blindly lays her head on his shoulder, too shocked to do more than stare.

Nosecone arrives, looking to see what his Technobot commander and comrade-in-arms has wrought. "This is so exciting," he says, looking fairly relaxed while he says it.

Already on standby, awaiting the landing of the Con ship, which honestly has concern on several faces, is Torque. With the nod to move in from Magnus given, the femme looks to her sectioned team of medics and nods as well, leading them in with the several other medical staff groups. The Bots split up among the swarm of bodies exiting the shit, tending to the wounded as Torque makes her way to Scattershot himself, noting that blank expression and forming a thin frown of her own while coming up beside him.

"Don't worry, Scattershot, you're all in good hands now that you're back. C'mon and I'll have a look at your wounds." Yes, the Technobot was tougher than most, but still, better safe than sorry. And Magnus most likely wants to have a word, so Scattershot occupied gives her the best opportunity to assess the damage.

Perceptor makes his way to the landing pad and begins analyzing the damage to determine the urgency of the various repairs that were required. He approaches Scattershot, wondering what happened. "Scattershot, what transpired out there?"

Scattershot finds himself stopping for Torque, looking down at her but not really noticing for a moment. He clicks back to reality as she puts a hand on his arm, checking an acid melted piece of armor. "Heya girl." He smiles a bit out of the corner of his mouth and looks over to Perceptor, searching for a suffice way to answer that, before Magnus crackles into his short-range. The Technobot squeezes Torque's shoulder and starts towards Ultra Magnus, meeting him a bit outside the group with a salute. "Commander." He offers his wrists. "My boys didn't know a thing."

Giving Scattershot a stern glare the entire time he approaches, the dour look on Ultra Magnus' face doesn't change when he's addressed or saluted. Without returning the gesture, "One." the City Commander grunts, folding his arms across his chest. "Cut the theatrics, I'm used to -your- type running off solo to save the galaxy on your lonesome."

"Two." Ultra Magnus continues, looking over the Technobot's shoulder. "Where is the Autobot Starfighter  and what is that hunk of scrap?" Magnus barks out, referring to the Tarantulas.

Ultra Magnus was partial to the Dion, for UNKNOWN reasons.

"Oh dear," Nosecone says, looking a little bit worriedly in Scattershot's direction.

Scattershot glances back at the Tarantulas. "Ah um...crashed the other one. This one's got some ok stuff, though. Ah think it might have been Shockwave's. As for theatrics..." He takes a long pause. "Commander, there... We've got a lot to talk about. Rodimus'll want to hear it."

Torque's antennas perk at the mile-long stare he gives her before finally coming back to reality, a light smirk lighting her face in turn. However it falters when he moves past to talk to Magnus, giving Perceptor a worried glance before tailing after the Technobot, medical tools already being pulled from subspace. The offer to be booked is worrying, but thankfully Ultra Magnus doesn't see to his arrest. So with the two talking, Torque gets to work, special tools already running a diagnostic scan over Scattershot to clear him of any severe damage externally or internally. "The talk'll have to wait a second, Scattershot. Lemme actually patch you up first, alright?"

The three Decepticons hang by the ramp, looking incredibly uncomfortable. Several security bots approach, guns trained on them.

"And that, Daddy, is why I have to risk my life out there," Amber whispers to her father. The tears finally come, and she's glad of them; they prove that she's still human enough to feel. She sobs silently, hurting those cracked ribs yet again. "They have to be stopped, and if I'm the best person for the job, then I have to be there. Cheer up," she adds with a shaky smile, "I'm not often going to be the best person, and you know how careful I usually am."

 Dust Devil says, "Is the medical for before or after Ultra Magnus is done with you?"

"Rodimus isn't here, nor is he at your beck and call to answer your inquiries!" Ultra Magnus shouts back, arms uncrossing and going to either side of his frame. "In fact, it's the other way around!" When Torque pops up to give him a quick patching, the City Commander momentarily pauses and waits patiently.

Giving the medic an annoyed look as if blatantly asking 'Is he going to make it?' without words actually coming from his mouth.

Scattershot stares back at Ultra Magnus, taking the verbal lashing without a flinch. "Yes sir." He says simply, turning his attention to Torque. "There's mechs that you need more than Ah do right now, doc."

Perceptor hangs back, waiting for Scattershot to explain what happened. He definitely understand Ultra Magnus' irritation at the mech going off on his own--Scattershot is fortunate to have returned in one piece, without significant injury. He glances momentarily at Amber's display of emotion, thinking that she should not accompany them on combat missions, and wondering why Magnus or Rodimus ever allowed it in the first place. They were certainly no place for a human, especially not one like her.

Two human POWs take a seat near Amber, a human medic checking them out. One glances up at the two. "Sir? Sgt. MacKenzie?" He starts to stand. "Phil Chapman, sir. I worked on deck with you on the EDC Glorious."

Wolfwings shakes off medical attention, pushing medics towards bots that can't stand, or worse. He gives a nod to Nosecone. "Hey Drillhead. Long time no see." He offers an 'everything's fine' smile.

After Torque's departure, Ultra Magnus continues. "I won't bother to list the NUMEROUS Autobot manual violations you've accrued on this mission, nor will I go into inane detail about the need for authorization." he rattles off, as if already calculating Scattershot's stay in the brig.

Which in fact he already knew, a quarter of a vorn (or seven thousand three hundred earth cycles) to be precise.

"Success aside, you've put the entire Autobot war effort in jeopardy." Ultra Magnus somewhat relaxes in tone, resuming the arms crossed stance.

Torque takes a moment to read the scan report while Scattershot speaks to her, antennas flicking before she looks up and nods. "Thankfully you've no internal damage. Just some minor leaking that'll stop soon enough. The only thing you can stand right now is some new armor, but that's not life threatening." The femme smiles once more before giving Magnus a light nod, moving along to other mechs who need assistance.

"Indeed," Nosecone says to Wolfwings, "You seem a little worse for wear. Tell me more."

Scattershot smiles at Torque as she walks away, and then gives Magnus a dark look. "The war effort in jeopardy? You're going to have to explain that one, commander." But 'commander' has some bite to it. Like, a lot of bite. Like, Scattershot is totally gonna go Riggs in a minute. "Sir, you promised me a ship and a team for this op. My team just happened to already be guests at Shockwave's shocked up murder motel."

James Bailey drives up on a motorcycle, one of the rare reactivated modern versions. He stops near the other humans in the area, nodding briefly before turning his helmeted head towards Ultra Magnus and Scattershot.

Wolfwings glances at a Cassette bot missing their bottom half being carried inside. "Scattershot said you and Lightspeed and the other Technos were working out how to find us. Thank you, Nosecone."

Perceptor 's optics widen a little at the mention of Shockwave. "Shockwave? Whatever did he want with them?"

Also, there's those Decepticons by the ramp.

"Under what circumstance? That you accomplish this mission without incident." Ultra Magnus 'bites' back. "You've been out of contact for longer than stated in my order, furthermore, your.." he pauses, noticing Bailey pull up on the pad. "Expertise would have been paramount in facing down the Titanus."

"Perceptor, you'll read the report like everyone else." Ultra Magnus calls over Scattershot's shoulder.

"I told you to take a team, you go in guns blazing by yourself. I told you that other matters took priority, you blatantly neglected that crucial fact." Magnus continues with Scattershot.

Connor MacKenzie doesn't stand, but he eagerly offers his free hand to Chapman. "Phil! I heard you died months ago!" He shakes the man's hand, careful not to jar his daughter. Lowering his voice, he asks, "What's going on here, Phil? This is like Night of the Living Dead. What about Jack, Jack Freeman? He was listed as KIA around the same time."

Amber just listens. She hasn't even noticed Perceptor there; she's been watching the walking wounded. "Never forget," she murmurs. Her developing killer instinct flickers in her smoky green eyes as she assesses every visible wound, every lost and empty face, even those who look like they're all there, and yes, the few Decepticons, too.

Phil Chapman shakes his head at Connor. "Jack was with us...he didn't last long. See, they got it into their head that they could merge organics with booster engines, like those Headmasters..." He shakes his head. "They forgot about the project before they got to me and Luke here." He glances at Amber. "Your daughter, sergeant?"

James Bailey raises the visor on his helmet, revealing a slightly incredulous expression. Then he reaches up with both hands and takes off the helmet. "What's going on here?" he murmurs to Amber, although his gaze keeps returning to the ramp.

Torque looks up from patching up the stub an arm left on one unfortunate Bot, overhearing Magnus and Scattershot talking, the former's words making mouth pull into a thin frown and a minor furrow of her brow. "But Magnus, he came back. He risked himself instead of the lives of an entire team and actually saved all these people! Protocol or not, I say he did good."

Perceptor overhears Chapman's words, and turns toward him, his interest piqued. "Merging organics with booster engines, hm. But for what purpose?" It isn't quite clear if he's asking Chapman or simply musing to himself.

The Omnibot Downshift and Ironside approach the Decepticon trio, stun guns out at the ready. In truth, they're not sure how many occupants the brig will have tonight, so they await word and just stay on guard.

"Ah read the Titanus report. Sounds like Sit-Com and Wheeljack had you well in hand." Scattershot pauses for a moment. "Sir, most of these Bots were in there because of a call Ah made. Ah couldn't..." He trails off, fumbling with a cigar for a moment. And at that moment, Scattershot looks extremely fragile. He finally lights the damn thing. "Ah wasn't going to risk sending anyone else in there..." He drops his voice, looking intently at the city commander. "Magnus, what Shockwave was doing in there...it was beyond mad science." He hears Torque's voice cut in, and looks her in direction, not smiling, but clearly glad to have her there.

The Decepticons honestly don't react much. They're no threat and they know it: It's only pride that keeps them standing. The smallest puts her hands up, stepping towards the Omnibots. "My name is Lash. My...comrades and I were rescued by that Technobot."

Connor MacKenzie is a bit entangled right now, but he manages to salute Colonel Bailey. "Sir. As far as I know, my daughter said that there were Autobot and EDC wounded coming in on a commandeered Decepticon vessel, and she thought that there should be an EDC presence here to meet them." He gestures towards the newly-landed ship. "Everything else we know is what we're seeing here. This is Corporal Chapman, reported KIA a few months ago. From what he's saying, someone was experimenting on him and the Autobot prisoners." Turning back to Phil, he nods. "Yes, this is my little girl, Amber. She's an EDC conscript and is seeing more action than I have!" Amber herself remains quiet.

Chapman doesn't answer Perceptor, but his buddy Luke looks up as a medic wraps a blanket around his shoulders, which are lacking arms. "They didn't have a purpose for any one there, Autobot. Just pain."

"Yes, Torque." Ultra Magnus replies to the Autobot medic.

"You weren't there, Scattershot. And on this matter and that one, it wasn't your call to make." he elaborates, giving a wave of his hand to the Technobot Commander to follow him. And so Magnus swivels around, walking towards the entrance of Autobot City.

"You're a leader Scattershot, and I get it.. I do. You wouldn't ask any Bot under you to do anything you yourself wouldn't do, and even more so, you didn't want any more lives at stake." Ultra Magnus lectures, arms folded behind his back. "But your actions, good or bad, set a bad example to follow. Next thing you know, half our troops are running around with 'Prime-Syndrome'.. throwing their lives at the first opportunity to make a 'splash'." he finishes the last part with a bite to his voice.

Scattershot glances back at Torque, and follows Magnus a few steps. "And they'll die trying, just like Prime did..." He recites and sighs, stopping. "Sir, Ah'm getting some severe shuddering in my laser core chassis. Can we continue this after Ah've seen a medic?"

Ironside, while not an Omnibot but just a reused graphic of Ironhide painted black, grimaces at the Decepticon. "Ah don't give a servo what'chr circumstance be, Decepticreep." The security officer stops to spit, *PYTOOH*

"Prisnah er not, we'll see what Magnus has in store fer yah."

Perceptor shakes his head at Luke's response. "No...Shockwave would not have gone to such lengths for the simple pleasure of causing pain and affliction to hapless Autobots and humans. He must have had some sort of objective." Perceptor knows this well, being a bot of science himself.

Chapman salutes as best he can to Bailey. "Sir. That's about the size of it." He makes a face at Connor. "Believe me sir, I've heard. Those god damn Cons know her name, sounds like she's making them angrier than that Optimus Leo, or whatever his name is."

"Oh, joy," Amber murmurs.

James Bailey returns the elder MacKenzie's salute crisply, Chapman's a little more casually. But then he returns his attention to the discussion. Finally he looks at the Decepticons. "So what ARE you going to do with them, Ultra Magnus?" he calls out loudly.

Nosecone nods at Wolfwings. "You're quite welcome," he says.

"Shortly, this won't take long." Ultra Magnus responds to an ailing Scattershot.

"I don't need to lecture you on the gravity of your actions, you disobeyed a direct order, just one of many violations." he begins to take up his holier-than-thou attitude. "But the ends justified the means. Now I just have to figure out what to do with them." Magnus jerks a thumb towards the Decepticon trio, assuming they were part of Shockwave's experiments. Stopping dead in his tracks, Ultra Magnus turns to face Scattershot. "This is the deal. Make a habit of this, and you're going to swiftly learn that the view from the inside of our brig cells isn't JUST for Decepticons. Now go get yourself patched and make your report, soldier."

Walking past the Technobot, Ultra Magnus addresses James. "On my way!" Continuing in his path, the City Commander stops and jerks his head around. "Oh and Scattershot?" he smiles.

"Good job."

Scattershot gives a simple nod to Ultra Magnus, coming to a stop by Torque. "Commander, those three are the reason those Kwarch got out alive. Ah don't know what we do with them, but..."

Lash glares at Ironside, and puts a hand on the larger Con behind her's chest to stop him from moving on the rude repaint. She sees Magnus approach and salutes, recognizing the Autobot Commander. "Ultra Magnus. You probably have no memory of me. My name is Lash: my unit was tasked with keeping you and your unit from joining Optimus Prime's Ark launch."

As he's been talking to himself, Perceptor has wandered over to the Decepticons being watched by the Omnibots. It has become apparent that they too had been subjected to Shockwave's experiments. A fascinated expression crosses his face, and he examines them, muttering inaudible things to himself. After a breem or two, he turns to Ultra Magnus. "Magnus--permission to examine these Decepticons more closely within the confines of Autobot City's laboratory? I believe I may be able to procure further information regarding Shockwave's intentions through a few simple experiments."

The big Decepticon points at Perceptor, shaking in anger. "Me Frightclaws kill all here before me Frightclaws go to lab! Me Frightclaws promised freedom! And quiet!" Lash turns to him. "Shhh, Frightclaws. We were promised that. And we'll get it. Nothing will happen to us here. Not like before." The third Decepticon, another femme, as yet to say anything.

"Noted." Ultra Magnus replies to Scattershot, drawing a hand up to his chin. When Lash begins to speak, the City Commander's head lowers down to look at her in the optics.

In short, words are cheap. But you can always size a bot up by staring them down in the optics, well.. except Focus. He's kinda blind and stuff.

After her plea, Ultra Magnus "Hrms." and turns to Ironside. "Take these three to the brig, make sure they're visited by medical and get a full energon ration. Their fate is up to Rodimus." Turning to face Perceptor, "Permission denied. Don't you have other important matters to attend? Furthermore, you can glean just as much from our wounded as you can theirs."

Connor MacKenzie forgets Phil for the time being and zeroes in on Luke. "What?! What are they saying about Amber?" Warning, warning, overprotective father alert! "Who and why?" He gives his daughter a stern just-you-wait-young-lady look for leaving a *lot* out of her story.

Amber is staring at the Decepticons, a look of dawning realization on her face. "Bloody hell, that's Viator's legs!" she exclaims, pointing at Lash. Her eyes are wide for a moment, and then narrow in not-so-nice satisfaction. "Good riddance," she mutters to herself, but then surprisingly speaks up in the Decepticons' defense. "I think they've had enough of being experimented on," she says out loud. "No need to emulate Shockwave." Ultra Magnus apparently agrees, and she nods to herself, pretending not to notice her father's glare.

Chapman's jaws at Connor for a moment, stumbling for a reply. "Your daughter sounds like a real hero, sir. I'm not going to lie, once people started hearing guards talk about the human civilian causing the Empire so much trouble, she turned into a bit of a hero. At least in our cell block." He tries to smile at Amber, but gets all blushy and messes it up. "We uh, would make up stories about her dropping Trypticon into the sun with a spacebridge, that sort of thing. Really kept a lot of people going. She's a real hero, sir."

Perceptor glares at Amber, not appreciating her jumping to conclusions and taking extreme offense at the mention of emulating Shockwave. "I suppose I should have specified that the experiments would have been simple /and/ harmless, only involving a few scans free of pain or discomfort of any sort. And Ms. Mackenzie, please refrain from automatically concluding that I intend to emulate /any/ Decepticon, especially not Shockwave."

Frightclaws starts howling and struggling at hearing about being locked away. "FRIGHTCLAWS NOT GO TO JAIL! FRIGHTCLAWS WANT TO LIVE WITH FRIENDS PARENTS IN WEST VIRGINIA!" Lash, who does indeed have Viator's legs, does her best to calm him down. "Frightclaws. Frightclaws! Look at me. Ok? Look at me. Look at this mech. Do you recognize Ultra Magnus? He's an honorable Bot. A good mech. We can trust him. Ok? I promise." The third still says nothing.

While Ironside and Downshift try to maintain order, Ultra Magnus steps in. "Like it or not 'Frightclaws', you're a prisoner of war. Scattershot may have sold you the moon, but you're not going anywhere until Prime hears of this." he lays it out, pointing a finger at the Decepticon.

"That said, you'll be given all the accommodations of a guest in our brig. Now fall in line, or Primus help me, you're going to be -put- in line."

Frightclaws finally calms down, staring at Magnus while he listens to Lash. The three finally begin following security, Lash clunking through on the wrong legs.

Amber MacKenzie casually looks Perceptor up and down. "I call it as I see it, sir, and you definitely *should* have specified that the experiments would have been simple and harmless, especially as these folk have just come from being tortured in the name of science. I'll take your request under consideration."

Perceptor is still visibly offended. "I apologize, but I had assumed such information was implied, since you /are/ all aware that I do NOT engage in torturing my subjects in the name of science. In fact, I /always/ do all that I am able in order to keep them as comfortable as possible." he quipped, his voice sharp. She had /no/ idea how much trouble he went through to do these things, either.

"Oh indeed," Nosecone says to Wolfwings, "And that doesn't look like the half of it."

Wolfwings, who by the way, no longer has wings, gives Nosecone a nod. "The big one is Frightclaws. He looks fierce, but he's not so bad. Him and Lash had been locked up since before the Ark launch, can you believe that? The third one, I don't know her name, but I heard she was locked up even longer."

Amber MacKenzie is visibly unaffected by Perceptor's offense. "Oh, and how do these unfortunate Decepticons know *that*, sir? They are hardly acquainted with your *estimable* moral standards." Turning to Chapman, she smiles warmly and chides, "Like most legends, it's a kernel of truth surrounded by a mountain of rumor. I'm good at annoying Cyclonus, and Spinister sees me as a threat." She shrugs. "No accounting for Decepticons' notions."

An Autobot technician steps out of the Tarantulas, where he and a team have been checking things out. He waves at Magnus. "Commander? I'm Onside, recently transferred from Cybertron. We've never met, but I'm a huge fan. He's a repaint of Brawn. "There's a whole lot of stuff in here to analyze. I'd like to request an additional tech team."

"Perceptor, see to the wounded." Ultra Magnus orders, rubbing the back of his head. "Amber, try to be easy on him?"

Scattershot watches the Decepticons taken away, and then turns towards the City, following Torque to the repair bay.

"Oh, is that how it is? You are able to respect and empathize with /Decepticons/, but not an Autobot? How odd." Perceptor remarks angrily. "Perhaps you should speak with them more often, since you are so adept at understanding their /plight/."

Another fan! It seemed Magnus was beginning to be a celebrity in this war, not that that's a good thing. The popular ones usually get Galvcannoned.. a lot.

"Yeah, I'm coming up right now." Ultra Magnus says to Onside, turning back to face Perceptor. "I said put a lid on it, now. That's an order!"

The majority of the POWS have been cleared from the flight deck. Several EDC medics collect Luke and Phil. Phil happily salutes Connor and Amber. "Sir, it was such a pleasure to see a familiar face today. You have no idea." Armless Luke walks towards Amber. "You keep killing Cons, Amber MacKenzie. Keep fighting for us." A medic backs away the...well, maybe a little off his rocker soldier with a nod to Amber.

Amber MacKenzie remains silent per Magnus's request. That, and her ribs hurt, she's tired, and her father's glaring at her. She bites her lip to keep from off-handedly mentioning the interview she owes Needlenose. "Thanks, Luke," she says quietly. "I'll do that. I owe it to First Aid, too, who asked the same when we thought we were going up in a self destruct last night. I'll fight, as long as I can be useful."