Detectiving, Now with More Blueshift

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.

Previously on The Transformers..

With their outlook depressing and desperate, Scorn Harrow and Kickback could do nothing but watch as more and more Decepticon gumbies were taken from the cell.. with only half of them returning from experimentation. Escape however, did present itself. In the form of Viator.. or what once was the Seeker known as Viator. Breaking free of his bonds, calling himself Virantulus, beheading gumbies left and right, the strange spider-algamation bored into the cell's walls and provided the Decepticons with the means to excape their captors.

And so, they have returned to investigate the base. Excavation teams have been working around the clock, clearing away tons of murky Cybertron swampland, and complaining about the smell. Surveying the progress, Borehole orders the drills out of the makeshift tunnel. "Yup, looks like we found it." he smiles to the others gathered.

"Yes, how CONVENIANT!" Blueshift looms out of nowhere behind Borehole, sword in hand. "Only a TRAITOR would know where Backfire's secret base was, am I right, TRAITORHOLE?" With that, he hacks Borehole's head off, turning to everyone else. "Don't worry guys, panic is over! Also I have been taking lessons from the greatest detective ever - Sherlock Holmes!" Blueshift places a deerstalker hat on his head and injects his arm full of turbo-cocaine

"Wy did we bring him?" Kickback asks.

No-one brought Blueshift, he just followed everyone :( No-one realised until it was too late :(

F-35B Lightning II  flies up to this mysterious swamp where this mysterious base is supposed to be. She feels like Spinister should be here; he is very mysterious, so he would fit right in. Maybe he IS here. She can't tell.

Then Blueshift executes a potential WITNESS. Or maybe just a witless. She sort of hover nearby, like a vast predatory bird, and she sighs, "Someone give Scorn that head for her collection."

Smelling? Silly, noses are unthemely! But no, really, this place smells horrid. Scorn does all she can not to complain while the others work on excavating the hidden base. But when Borehole announces their success she flutters over, smirking sharply at the new passage. "Excellent, good work, Borehole." She looks over his way, only to find him.. headless? Wait, she doesn't remember doing that.

Blueshift. Optics narrow at the mech and she hisses, "Blueshift, knock it off. Firstly, we need the mechpower in case they're still in the base, and secondly, decapitation is my job." Contrail's comments get a snort next, Scorn carelessly booting the head away to roll into the swamp. "Not an important enough mech to grace my collection. Now come on, let's have aa look." And with that said she draws her pistols and makes off down into the hole.

Blitzwing slogs through the disgusting swamp, noisily coming up behind Kickback just in time to witness Blueshift beheading Borehole. "That was rhetorical, wasn't it?" Blitzwing presses on through the muck, coming up to Blueshift and moving his hand level across his throat a few times in an exaggerated 'cut it out' gesture. "Knock it off, already, would you? I cut your brother's head off, once. Is that how you want to go out?" Blitzwing turns to the tunnel now, and whatever may lay beyond the threshold. He points at it, grunting. "Someone worthless, get down there and poke around."

Blitzwing says, "I nominate Blueshift."

Blueshift turns to Blitzwing. "What? I don't want to go out with you, that's disgusting." He watches Scorn start down the hole. "Should we pump gas down it?"

Borehole backpedals from Blueshift, his hands held out as he stammers. "Scorn told us wh.." the plea falls on deaf audio receptors, his formerly quivering jaw falling to the ground right next to his dead body.

The other gumbies shy away from Redshift's brother, loading up the mining equipment. A large yellow and black drilltank comes up from the passage and transforms into.. Drill Bit! "Borehole, why weren't you down ther.." he trails, looking at the headless corpse.

As Scorn follows down the trail, the makeshift tunnel with it's rough drilled walls lead down and twists around until it meets the cell she and the others had been held in. Dome lights inserted into the ceiling by the excavation team keeps the area in well enough light, though they didn't manage to install the smell dampeners.

That was Borehole's job, thanks Blueshift!

Kickback spreads his wings and jumps down into the hole, vanishing from sight above --

-- And landing just a short distance behind Scorn. "Quite the cornucopia of aromas," he muses, unphased. Locusts are attracted to things with strong odors. It usually means a good meal. "The chemical analysis would be interesting."

Blueshift sighs and starts to tramp into the hole. "I hope we find Backfire here so I can murder him," he grumbles, taking his sword and weighing it in his hand. "I get antsy if I havn't murdered anyone for a few minutes, I am told it is a proper medical condition."

Blitzwing turns to answer Blueshift, but is instead distracted from any further banter as Scorn and Kickback volunteer the old fashioned way. He drops whatever it was he was going to say, shutting his mouth and peering down the tunnel after the insects. To no one in particular, the triplechanger shrugs his shoulders and huffs in mock disinterest, feet-thrusters kicking up and propelling him down the shaft in kind. "Check for demolitions. This place may be rigged to come down on our heads at any moment."

Blueshift nods towards Blitzwing. "Yeah, be calm and on the alert for ITS ON THE WALL THE WALL!" he turns and fires at the wall next to him. When nothing happens, he gives a sigh of relief and wipes his brow. "Sorry, I thought there was a bomb on the wall. False alarm!"

"Eugh, I can only imagine what's causing it." Scorn mutters at Kickback's comment, narrowing optics at the room. Funny how they managed to dig down into the same room they were held in, only now it's charred to hell and void of prisoners. "Hmph.. I guess they didn't bother to use this room again. Kickback, Blitzwing, get that door open, will you? I'm sure they haven't even touched this room since last time." It's possible the door is even still locked, but if not? Well, that just makes it easier.

The room is essentially as they had left it, only charbroiled walls replace the grungy ones they'd been used to. The rectangular room has bodies littered here and there, a couple decapitated (had Blueshift been here already?) but all lifeless and covered in soot and grime.

Blueshift places his hands on his hips in a manly pose as he looks about. "Scorn, where was Harrow chained up? I want to inspect the chains to make sure they were REAL CHAINS"

Blitzwing puts a hand on top of Blueshift's rifle, pointing the barrel to the ground. "You...," he jabs an index finger at Blueshift, "...door.," he hikes a thumb over his shoulder and at the door Scorn has brought to their attention. Blitzwing, meanwhile, unshoulders his gryo-rifle and thumbs the safety, checking the chamber, preparing for what lay beyond.

F-35B Lightning II  transforms and follows the other into the hole, taking up the rear. This is probably a stupid idea. In a transformation that is harder than it looks, Contrail rises up into robot mode.

Scorn is trying to be very, /very/ patient with Blueshift. A lot easier said than done as she pinches between her optics at his question. "She wasn't chained up, Blueshift. She was stasis cuffed with the rest of us."

"She wasn't chained up, eh?" Blueshift strokes his chin and injects another round of turbo-cocaine into his arm. "The mystery deepens!"

"Yes, those were a bit annoying," Kickback muses, moving clear of the door. He's not going to bother with it; it was thick enough before that his strength wouldn't be enough to overcome it. Let the muscle handle things.

"Quite clever what you did to get us out, Scorn. Clever indeed."

Blitzwing hisses, "Blueshift. Door. -NOW-" The triplechanger thunders over to the door. He doesn't want to rely on Blueshift so much as he just wants to be able to /see him at all times/.

Blueshift trudges over to Blitzwing. "What?" he moans, looking about the room. "Scorch, is this where Backfire did all his vile torture of you?"

The gumbie team peel away from the door, already having been cutting at it with laser welders for sometime now. Padlock gives Blitzwing a reassuring nod, and shys away from Blueshift's glare. Less he find himself without a head as well.

Upon reaching the door, Blueshift starts to punch it with his retard twink-strength

Contrail looks back the way they came, crossing her arms over her chest. For good measure, she also looks up. And then down.

Blitzwing sighs. This is a test. This is ~only~ a test... he repeats as mantra in his mind. Blitzwing reaches out and pats Blueshift on the head. "Stop." With that, he balls the same hand into a fist and throws it bodily through the door.

Did Blueshift's peppering of punches lighten it up for Blitzwing? Probably not, but we'll never know. The weakened door flies off it's hinges and crash to the floor with a large..


 * KAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALAAAAAAAACK*

What lies ahead is dark, same musty smell they've probably grown accustomed to.

Blitzwing points at Blueshift, points at his optics. Back at Blue. Back at his optics, and then moves past the door and into the void beyond.

Blueshift casually saunters into the horrible dark mysterious doorway. "Oh wait, hang on, someone else go first"

Blitzwing ignites his electro-sabre with his free hand, lighting the immediate vacinity in an eerie pink hue.

Turning into a police car, Contrail fights crime! Wait, that's not right. Contrail causes crime. Lamborghini Gallardo  turns on her headlights. Her high beams, because she is a jerk.

"Home sweet home," Kickback muses, looking in. "It was surprising how many prisoners were in here at one time... the incinerator was probably the most merciful thing that happened to them."

Blueshift swings round and shoots at Blitzwing's feet. "SHADOWMEN!" he shouts, pumping laser fire at Blitzwing's shadow. Then he stops, the light from the gun drowing the shadow out. "Phew, I got it!"

The area opens up into a weird corridor, lined up on the wall to the left are rooms similar to this one. Five others, to be exact.. with numbers adorning each on the outside. The gumbie team cautiously follow Blitzwing and Blueshift, jerking nervously when the latter begins shooting shadows.

Padlock pushes forward, breaking out his own form of illumination and peering into the dark beyond. "So what's this Backfire's deal, anyhow? He always been a coniving traitor or what?" he asks, still strobing the dark with his small flashlight.

Blueshift scowls at Padlock. "Yes, Backfire is a filthy traitor who is in the employ of Rodimus Prime himself. Also he owes me 12 Shanix for lotto payments, so it is imperative we find him so he can settle his bill"

Blitzwing dances a bit as Blueshift blasts the ground just in front of him. "CEASE FIRE!" Blitzwing resists mightily the overwhelming urge to tackle Blueshift and pound him into what could only be described afterward as a pile of something that came from the planet of Junk. The triplechanger seethes, taking a moment to calm before turning back and coralling the rest of the gumbies into the hall with a wave of his rifle. "Split into groups. Check the doors. CQB tactics. Get to it."

"I'm not certain since I was dead for much of the time he was in your employ. All I know is that for whatever reason, there has been experimentation going on down here... the kind of which might even give Shockwave pause," Kickback replies. "Prisoners would be taken out, and come back in with completely different body parts."

Lamborghini Gallardo  laughs as Blueshift shoots up Blitzwing's shadow, because she can't facepalm in this mode. She rolls along behind the others, panning back and forth. Contrail decides to follow one of the groups of gumbies. They will probably need her 'help'.

Blueshift moves to kick in the nearest door. "Kickback, can we be sure that everyone who returned was who we think they are? I mean, for example, could Backfire had cut off Harrow's face and put it onto an Insecticon? That would explain why she thinks I am some sort of traitor"

"The ones of us that escaped are the ones of us who remained intact," Kickback explains. "Minus Viator of course. Maybe you really ARE a traitor, Blueshift, and you've been hiding it from yourself the *whole time*. You have to admit, that's impressively dastardly." "Or at least, that's what you think - did you ever loose sight of Harrow at any time for Backfire to make his evil switcheroo." He gasps. "Perhaps backfire disguised himself as Harrow! That is why we can't find him. I always thought Harrow had manly hips!" Blueshift then sneers at Kickback's words. "Don't be ridiculous, if I was a traitor, I would be called 'Traitorshift' or something, do keep up Kickback"

"Backfire's a traitor, and he's not called Traitorfire," Kickback rebuffs calmly.

With enough effort, each door can be kicked in.. or opened using the handle on the outside. Unless you want to look macho, then they're kickable as well. Padlock sticks close to Contrail, putting his tiny flashlight away. "Experimentation?" he asks, optics growing worried.

The team that followed Blitzwing hang behind him, fingers dancing nervously over the safety locks on their rifles. A faint scratching noise can be heard from the only cell unopened, labeled 001 on the exterior with faded yellow paint.

"That doesn't make any sense, Blueshift. Why would Backfire dress up as a girl?" Padlock says.

Blueshift is right onto cell 001, launching at it with all his body. "Because Backfire is one sick 'Con!" he shouts back at Padlock

 Blueshift says, "This is all making so much sense"

 Blueshift says, "Should we have guards arrest Harrow right now?"

Kickback moves ahead to the more... sane group, lead by Contrail. He's had enough of Blueshift to last him another lifetime.

He checks doors, opening them, looking for signs of life, and looking for viewing windows - there was one in his cell, maybe there were others. "Yes. The prisoners would be taken out a regular intervals - they came back raving mad. Seekers with grounder parts, insecticons with wheels and wings - butchered badly, barely alive, barely functional. They kept talking about a Queen and the Darkness."

 Kickback says, "No."

 Kickback says, "We need her to repair things."

Lamborghini Gallardo  transforms and just tries to open the door like a normal person using the handle. She replies to Padlock, "Eh, standard evil stuff." Contrail wasn't /there/. She doesn't /understand/. In a transformation that is harder than it looks, Contrail rises up into robot mode.

 Blueshift says, "We're blatantly going to find evidence Harrow is really Backfire in disguise any moment now, so let's not waste time"

 Blueshift says, "Obviously Backfire knew I was the greatest threat to his plans due to my superior intelligence, so I was his first target to discredit"

 Blueshift says, "It all makes sense"

 Blueshift says, "Hang on, I've run out of turbo-cocaine"

 Contrail says, "Her hips aren't manly. Seekers are a standard design."

 Kickback says, "Where did you even GET that."

 Blueshift says, "I don't know. Some sort of corpse or something"

Cell 001 caves in upon the full body frog splash courtesy of Blueshift, the scratching sound growing louder and filling the corridor. All the other cells appear to be empty, scorched walls like cell 006 and combination of burnt up body parts, corpses with strange adjustments made to them, and the familiar grimy stink.

As Kickback draws closer to Contrail's group, a flash of light would reveal a large open room untouched by the flames it appears.. an operating table with cabinets all around it. Tools, with energon stained on their blades, still lie on one of those rolling tables.. having been used recently. The room is a disaster though, files and parts lay strewn about as if the base was exited in a hurry.

Blueshift takes out a small pink torch shaped like a pig (his pig torch) and shines it into the cell. "Hello? Harrow? Is that you in here? Don't worry, we've come to rescue you!"

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "I think I have found the real Harrow!"

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Quickly, someone arrest fake Harrow!"

Contrail starts to go through the scattered files, skimming them and tidying them up. All she says is, "Hm."

<Decepticon> Harrow says, "What!?"

<Decepticon> Weirdwolf says, "... Did Crystal City send inferior imposter like that Cyclonus again? Because really stupid to try same trick twice would it be."

Kickback investigates the operating table. He pauses to taste some of the energon remaining on the blades to get an idea of how long ago they were used. "Anything significant?" he asks Contrail.

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "I have you now BACKFIRE"

<Decepticon> Blueshift says, "Blueshift is on the case!"

"Medical files," Contrail reports flatly. "Kickback, do a database search to see who has accessed these files in the last little while." She pops open the shredder to look through it.

Kickback nods, and looks for a terminal, trying to see if it's still operative.

"Energon on the table is a little soured. I'd say it was fresh right up to a few hours after Harrow, Scorn and I escaped. I can't imagine we were the reason they left in a hurry, if that's the case."

<Decepticon> Weirdwolf | Monzo .... "Yeeeeah, you just go 'head and handle that yerself."

Inside cell 001, a roughshod body is in the center of the room. Oblong shaped, it appears that almost all of the legs of the buglike body have been removed save for one. Scorched from the fires, the plating on it is likewise grimy black and sooty. Upon closer inspection, it's one of the Insectihounds.. Munch!

Void of life, it's eerie as the anntennae randomly scrape the ground in front of it in a postmortem spasm.

Blueshift stares down at the horrible vision of Munch. "Wow, Harrow's let herself go. Come on then!" he grasps one of the antennae and attempts to drag what remains of the insecticon out of the room

Kickback finds damaged power cables runing to a data terminal. He does some quick repairs, and the screen flickers, the computer console coming back to life. Unfortunately, the screen is little more than jumbled static with flickering, erratic scan lines.

"Did we find anything in the other cells?" he asks.

Blueshift calls back "Yeah, I found Harrow!"

"No you didn't," Kickback says.

Blueshift says, "Oh yes I did!"

Kickback rubs his face a little. "Okay, then let's see 'Harrow'. Bring it in."

Blueshift drags whatever the hell it is he's found towards Kickback, not really caring if he loses any bits on the way. "See, it's Harrow! Look what Backfire did to her!"

Kickback says, "That's Munch."

Blueshift stares down at Munch, giving him a kick in the head. "Hey, are you Harrow?"

Munch is dead as the dodo. So he doesn't say anything.

Blueshift moves Munch's jaws up and down. "I'M HARROW" he says out of the corner of his mouth

Contrail keeps looking through the shredded bits and bobs even when Kickback goes to check Blueshift. She tries to determine if there is any pattern to the medical files.

That's more than Kickback can handle. He snatches Munch away from Blueshift, visor lit brilliant crimson, "THAT IS ENOUGH OF YOUR STUPIDITY!" He snarls, his voice taking on a sibilant, chittering hiss. "SIT DOWN AND SHUT UP OR MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL SEARCHING THE REST OF THIS FACILITY!"

He turns on his heels and goes back to the computer, still clutching Munch closely to his body. One hand strikes the side of the monitor, which snaps it into focus enough to make out what's on the screen.

Fragments of information about energon research can be discerned amid the static, mainly something about integration on various test subjects - Viator and Munch's name come up as 014 and 002 respectively; 006-011 are failures. Fragments of complex equations on energon and variable mixtures are visible.

Blueshift rolls his eyes and walks over to a filing cabinet, beginnging to punch it. "Fine!"

Contrail is no longer animated, because she is just sorting papers, and that is boring for children to watch.

And so, the scene fades as CSI Decepticon teams come in via the makeshift tunnel and begin to file away the evidence in neat little ziploc bags marked with labels.

Blueshift punches all the things until it fades to black.