Journey Into Backfire's Brain Module

Trypticon Medical Bay

Several operating tables are set in a row here, and long benches line the walls. On these benches are assorted tools and equipment used in repairing damaged Decepticons. The benches near the door are for patients waiting their turn for treatment. Scattered throughout the room are various repair droids, awaiting the arrival of more wounded to repair. The room gives you the perception of being immaculately clean, with not a single tool out of place. Your olfactory sensors pick up the faint odor of the cleansing solutions used to keep the room clean and sanitary.

LAST TIME ON THE TRANSFORMERS..

Once again igniting the Torque and Backfire rivalry, the dopey Seeker more or less tried persuading the Autobot to turn coat and work for the Decepticons. Hey, no one ever said he was smart! And so, Torque beat him within an inch of his life. Armor slagged in most parts, cracks running rampant on his frame, random articles of junk superheated to his chassis, and his right arm was completely missing. Slipping in and out of his usual delusions, the Seeker managed to call out to a team of Decepticons on a skiff before losing consciousness completely.

And so, the crew of the U.S.S. Crap-Scrap picked him up and dropped him off to the awaiting medical staff at Trypticon. Their leader, Tankspank, was in a conversation with medical when we last left off..

The symbol revolves and the 'Brrrr-drr-drr-drrrr-drr' sound chimes, signaling the start of the show!!

Tankspank marches up and down the deck of the bay, arms crossed behind his back. Backfire lied on a slab, in his same condition, with all sorts of tubes and wires running from him to machines set adjacent. Suddenly, Incision returned with the readouts.

"I fear the wounds are.. fatal." he meekly says, to which Tankspank drops to the floor. "Are you serious, doc?" the skiff commander asks in almost a sobbing voice. "Haha, nah.. that was just my Perceptor impression. I'm trying to sharpen my skills before the Olympic improv!" the gumbie doctor teases, before pulling open the chart. "It's strange though, while alive.. Backfire is in a comatose state.

Bonecrusher storms into the room, paying no attention to what is happening around him- and why should he? He's Bonecrusher, damn it! The Constructicon picks Backfire's leg off the ground, and looks irritated to discover that it is attached to Backfire. "HEY. Doc. Saw this leg off now! I need it, ya heard? Gotta punch someone in the face with a kicking limb."

Contrail arrives and promptly finds a wall to lean against, arms crossed. She watches Bonecrusher demand Backfire's leg and overhears that backfire is comatose. Does she have an opinion? Who knows?

Americon follows Bonecrusher into the room, holding a big radial saw in his hands. "Gotcher saw right here, Bonecrusher!" He promptly drops the saw, which turns itself on and goes racing around the floor like it's alive. "OH GEEZE WATCH OUT WE'RE ALL GOING TO DIE!"

"Alive or not, wouldn't it just be easier in the end to dispose of him?" The familiar purr of the Insectifemme's voice is heard as she enters the medbay along with any others coming in, catching the tail end of the conversation on Backfire's condition. "Because really, with all the trouble he's caused us in the past I don't see a reason to keep him around."

Without any care about medical procedures she steps up on one side of Backfire, leaning over and tapping his empty head. "I know a person who'd be willing to dispose of him for free..." AKA her.

Rumble runs as fast as his little legs carry him in after Bonecrusher, finally catching up to him "No way! Its true, Me an' Frenzy, we whooped Devastator AN Astrotrain at the same time." The little punk is correct after all, Devastator got toppled by the might of the Cassettecons back in the day, Astrotrain just happened to be the transport carrying everyone that got pounded." He puts his hands on his hips, "Its true an stuff!" He points a finger accusingly at Bonecrusher, "so if anyone kicks anyone with Backfire's stupid leg, its me to you!"

Harrow doesn't appear particularly concerned, as she's brought back mechs from the brink of death plenty a time, so she's content to sit back and watch the rest of the medical team figure this one out, perched on a stool nearby. "Bonecrusher, there's plenty of damaged seeker legs in the storage closet- aiee!" She climbs up on her stool to avoid the killer saw. "Oh you just want to eat his head, insect!"

Blast Off walks into the room, looking aloof as usual... and a bit tired. The shuttle is here looking for one of those pick-me-ups he seems to find here on occasion. Seeing everyone else here, though, he stops and tries to appear like he was looking for something else. Ah, Backfire is in medbay, is he? What the BLAZES IS that mech's problem, anyway? Blast Off stands and listens to the others, almost hoping to hear an explanation for the other Con's.... oddity.

Bonecrusher stops and stares at Harrow. "The Seeker clos...WHY DIDN'T I THINK OF THAT?" He points at Rumble. "I'm coming back with so many legs and I'm gonna PUNCH YOU WITH ALL OF THEM." He transforms into a bulldozer and dozes out of the room and down the hall, at FULL DOZER SPEED.

BONECRUSHER transforms into his KOMATSU D575A SUPERDOZER mode!

"Ain't there anything you can do?" Tankspank asks Incision, getting up from the floor and dusting off his mitts. He'd think about punching the doctor in the mouth, but he's sorta needed to fix the Seeker at the moment. "I mean, hey.. I know this mech ain't the most popular, but he was one helluva Skiff captain. Plus, if you just shout 'glory' a lot and salute.. he don't ride you like a dog, some of the others like Blitzwing can be mean!" he explains.

"No need to explain your bromance, Tankspank." Incision replies, looking over his notes in a hurry and re-checking some vital signs. "His levels of brain module activity are running high, unusually so for a comatose patient." Incision taps his chin, adding "There is -one- experimental procedure I've been working on.."

Pulling a device from subspace, the good doctor sets it down on a tray table. "It was supposed to be a training-sim room solution.. making the training take place in your own head, but I -could- apply it to this instance? If you were able to stimulate enough activity in his brain module, it just MIGHT pull him from the coma and back to reality." he offers, making the neccesary adjustments to the device.

Turning towards both Bonecrusher and Americon, the gumbie doctor wags a finger. "Sorry, cannot officially donate patient limbs unless I get a signed Galvatron copy of limb donation." Then the saw goes running through the medward, the doctor chasing after it. Tankspank waves a fist at Scorn. "You leave Backfire alone, Insectiwench!" To the others, Tankspank eyes the machine and then them.

"Alright, I'm gonna need all hands on deck here.. we're going to travel into BACKFIRE'S BRAIN!"

As the Medical Bay doors slide open again, Misfire appears to be chatting with Aimless. Aimless' organic voice is the first that can be heard, "You think we can get his quarters?" Misfire shrugs, "Maybe...I wonder if is covered in glitter from the Glitter Armor Plan?" Aimless shrugs, "Okay, here is the deal, I'll walk over there...search through Backfire's things and take anything of *mphmphm*..." Misfire's hand clamps around Aimless' mouth as they realize that their are tons of people around Trypticon's Medical Bay. Misfire chuckles nervously, "Hahahaa, organics say the darndest things..." Misfire looks around, "Wait, y'all are really going to look through his head? I thought that was..." Misfire holds his hands in front of his chest, "Nevermind that, this is going to be awesome!"

"Alright Misfire, lie down on that slab and we'll get started!" Tankspank says, hooking up cables to the device on the tray. "Well, what are you mechs waiting for?" he addresses the others.

Rumble shakes his fist at Bonecrusher, "You do that you...Tonka Truck!" Having settled THAT hash, he looks around at the Con meeting grounds, then at the saw revving around the joint. "What IS it with this place?" His fists turn into the dreaded hammers, the tiny engine of destruction that is Rumble takes a few smashes at the runaway saw, then loses interest. "We gonna do what now?" He climbs up on one table curiously, not really having thought through the situation. His little legs dangle over the side, "Why don't we just...smash him?"

Harrow perks up. "This could prove interesting. I'll help! Also, someone should record everything that happens. And take notes! Maybe we can figure out what went horribly wrong with him. Ah good, director!" She waves over Contrail. "Join us on this jaunty jaunt?"

Looking at the slab, Misfire starts to walk towards it. "Wait a second...." Before he can say anything, Aimless charges at Misfire, hitting him in the shin, causing Misfire to hop on one foot, then hit the side of the slab, sending Misfire sprawling across the slab.

Contrail raises a finger and asks, "What if Backfire's brain spills condfidential information to... lower ranked Decepticons?" Hey. It /could/ happen. She looks at Harrow skeptically and asks, "Do you really consider it wise, Harrow?"

"HOLD ON," Americon yells, helping the Doctor chase the saw. Eventually he thinks he has it cornered, and runs right at it! "I got it! I got it--" And then the saw unpredictably spins around and around before suddenly flying into the air--FFZZZGHHHKKKKKKt. Americon stares down at himself. The saw is firmly lodged into his chest, but at least it's jammed. "...uh, I caught it. So, uh, where do I... ngh... sit?.." He approaches Tankspank slowly, what with his newly added weight.

Scorn is quick to skirt out of the way of the saw that goes spinning about, glaring daggers at Americon and issuing a hiss at him. To Harrow she just scoffs softly, "Hardly. There's nothing in there to even eat. I'd rather preserve it since it's quite unique to have a semi-functioning mech with no discernable processor." She flashes the medic jet a sharp smile, though it falters a tad at Tankspank trying to ward her off before mentioning their mission.

To this she just.. stares a good few moments before raising a brow and giving a look of disbelief. "..You're joking, right? Why would we ever do something like that? Though.." She gives pause, holding a knuckle to her lips in thought. "I wonder if I'd find out more about those horrid clones from before.. hmm.. Fine. But if something goes wrong I'm gutting you." And so she agrees, joining the lineup.

"Oh, I can help you with that, Bonecrusher!" Triggerhappy grins, as his photon guns are already popping out. He ignores the saw on the floor, stepping in front of it. It bounces around and cuts into a ped. He doesn't appear to take much notice of it as he prepares to shoot Backfire's leg off.

But then medics remind them that limbs can't be donated without something signed by Galvatron. He sighs and retracts his weapons, but smiles as Misfire comes in. He chuckles and lowers his voice. "Hey...um...you guys might not want to talk about that in front of everyone..."

Blast Off hears something about going into "Backfire's brain". HA! As IF. As if he would, even if he could, and as if Backfire actually had a brain to begin with. At that moment, Misfire walks in, and Blast Off nods to him. He shakes his head and considers walking out of the room, but... Backfire has been acting VERY odd around him lately. He still doesn't even know WHY. If Blast Off got a glimpse into what makes the strange Seeker tick, then perhaps he'd at least know what the slag he's always going on about? And if that doesn't work, maybe Blast Off can find some secrets... something he can use AGAINST Backfire if he needs to at any point. He walks over, too. Seeing Scorn, he nods to her.

"Smashing bad." Tankspank advises Rumble, then adds "Unless it's good, of course." Before a retort can be worded, the mech works his way around hooking cables into the back of everyone's heads. "Director Contrail, I understand your concern.. but if this is a success, you could discipline Backfire for every infraction?" he offers her a cable, hooking in his own and taking a seat on the slab.

"Alright, so I just flick this switch here.." Tankspank speaks to himself, messing with the device.

"...Well it may not be /wise/ per se but who cares, SCIENCE! This could really assist in the medbay!" Harrow points out, readily grabbing a cable and hooking herself up.

Rumble raises a finger, as his hands transform back, "Smashing is ALW-KZZZZKKZKKZKKKKKTTTTTTTTT!!!!" Tankspank applies the cable to him in mid sentence. Maybe there was an error, maybe you don't need to talk, but Rumble goes into a momentary seizure...and then promptly folds up into tape mode, the cable still attached to him.

Looking over at Triggerhappy, Misfire waves from the slab as Aimless walks over to Blast Off, tugging at his left arm, "Smokes?" Misfire then looks at Aimless, "No smokes! Stop pestering Blast Off!"

Contrail half face-palms at Harrow's reaction. She says wearily, "I do not want to discipline Backfire. I just don't want him to leak his passwords in the first place." Nonethless, she joins in on this crazy plan, taking a cable, sitting down on the floor, and hooking it in.

Scorn gets very, very still when Tankspank plugs her in. Anyone watching her may notice she's gripping the slab pretty hard where she's sitting now. Let's just say cable jacks and Scorn don't get along very well since that meeting with Archaeonix. Ugh, so terrible. But none the less she keeps from attacking Tankspank and just grunts when it's applied. "This better be worth it.."

Blast Off mutters to Harrow, "Science is FINE and all, but it is far better to be the scientist than the guinea pig... guess which WE are?" He grabs a cable, too, however, and hooks up. Then there's a tug at his arm. The Combaticon looks a little confused as Aimless pesters him for "smokes". He looks at Misfire and Aimless. "Is setting yourself on fire something organics actually enjoy?"

"Wait, I wasn't paying attention--why are you putting a cable in my--HHRGHGK!" Americon manages to blurt out as the cable to his head, and spazzing out like crazy. The saw jiggles on his chest, revving a bit as it's nearly freed to resume its rampage, but thankfully it stays stuck.

Aimless shrugs up at Blast Off, "Eh, we like to smoke to take the edge off...not actually setting ourselves on fire..." Misfire looks at his cable before plugging it in, "Isn't Backfire's password just Drowssap?" Misfire then plugs and screams out Modem Sounds, about 9600 Baud. Aimless then screams for a moment before falling over, and grabbing his head, "Ughghghg...." Aimless struggles back to his feet. "Stupid bond..."

"If toggle switch A is in the upright and fixed position, flick green depresser to the yellow setting until it clicks seven times.." Tankspank reads the directions, tossing them aside. "Screw it, SCIENCE!" he smiles at Harrow, flicking a multitude of switches. Everyone currently hooked up to a cable falls back to their slab immediately, slipping into a semi-conscious state that is disconnected from the outside world.

However, they are all 'transported' to a blank room. Seriously, it's white for as far as the optic can see. A big white blank expanse. Even the sky is white. Tankspank looks around, whistling. "Well, I guess you guys were right about his head being empty."

Back in the medbay, Incision walks back up after having chased the buzzsaw around. "As I was saying, I need to make some final adjustments and pass it with.." he trails, staring at the mechs with cables running into their heads. "Awwww, for frag's sake!" he exclaims.

Rumble is one of the first to give the once over to the 'room'. He pulls himself up to his feet, then tests the white 'floor' beneath him. The Cassettecon gives it a good firm punch with no yield. He puts his hands on his hips as he strolls around, just meandering. After several moments of consideration, he comes to the conclusion, "Dis place sucks."

Contrail paces around the blank, white room and studies it. On a whim, she looks up. Any ceiling?

"When did you people get so whiny!? This is FOR THE EMPIRE! HAIL GALVATRON!" Harrow thrusts her fist in the air, and suddenly, they're within a blank room. "Huh. I imagined it to be a little more chaotic."

Staring around the blank white room, Misfire starts to hum, "Woah, I didn't realize Backfire and I had the same dreamspace...Cool!" Misfire fist pumps.

Blast Off nods to Aimless, then finds himself transported to a dull, white room. The Combaticon calmly leans against a "wall" and waits.... He asks Rumble, "Were you expecting something else? Backfire's brain isn't going to have much going on IN it, after all."

Scorn is tempted to push Harrow off the slab to make her shut up, but too late, out go the lights! It's a bit strange to remember slumping over, and now finding yourself in a vast expanse of nothing. Scorn just rubs her face and sighs at Tankspank. "I told you." As much as she enjoys saying how right she is, though, the mantis doesn't bother, instead viewing the lot of them and crossing arms while tapping her foot. "So now that we're here, any ideas on how to go about actually looking through his mind? This can't just be it."

Americon stands up in the blank room, confused for a moment, especially as he no longer has a saw in his chest. Then... "OHHH! We're in someone's head!" He notices Rumble's here with him. "Oh, I see, we're inside Rumble's imagination!" Pause. He didn't mean that as an insult... but then again, Rumble's liable to take it as one. "Uhhhh... heheh. It's, uh... um... OH! It's Backfire's brain, of course! I knew that! Haha, what a joker I am!"

Rumble laughs at Americon's line. "Eheheheh, if dis was my head, it'd have...uh..." He pauses his words as he approaches, "Probly a lot more hammers and bashin an stuff? I was tinkin maybe...uhm...wait you think we can bust through this floor here?" He gives an appraising eye to the groundwork, its insubstantiality not withstanding.

Suddenly, with a pink whiff of smoke akin to Nightcrawlwer from the X-Men teleporting (minus the brimstone smell), a small anime cuddly version of Backfire blinks into existence.


 * plnk*

"I wouldn't try that if I were you, it is quite sturdy in here." the mech advises Rumble, before studying the others for a moment. "Welcome to Backfire's brain, I am subconscious designate #67410.. but you may call me Chibifire." he announces, taking a slight bow. He's still hovering in the air, so it looks awkward. "I assume you're all here to try and pull Backfire from his coma?"

Suddenly, from the far far far far far far far horizon.. a row of bookcases come flying up towards them, running past for awhile before stopping. Deposited on the shelves are boxes of all assortment, each with a file number.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=Y70vcs3oV14#t=11

Contrail is bowled over by a zooming bookcase. She lets out an alarmed, "Awk!" noise.

"Watch your step." Chibifire adds, a bit too late it seems.

Looking over at Chibifire, Misfire frowns then looks at the other angle, "MaFire?" Misfire looks around as the cabinets fly around him. "Woah...." He starts to peer through the boxes. "Woah...a whole file on glitter! Neat!" Misfire starts to look through it. "Glue! That is how it sticks..."

Rumble opens panicked fire on the books! "No way, no how, I ain't going to be doing any learnin! If Mericon can be President without bein able to write his name, I don't need it either!" He catches a book under his foot, then raises his sidearm to it menacingly, "Looks like your checkout is...overdue." He then blasts the book into pieces.

Americon phews, he didn't provoke Rumble enough to merit the usage of hammers on his face. Americon looks down at the floor with Rumble. "Huh, well, I dunno, Rumble. Can you smash things that aren't real? That would be really wicked cool if you did..." Then Chibifire appears! "WOAH KILL IT!" he yells, pointing dramatically at Chibifire. He frowns. Can he even kill things in here? He's not sure. He resumes pointing.

Then rows of books rush into frame. "WOAH! Hey, that's kinda neat, but I was expecting guns! Guns beat books every time! Though sometimes a thick book can stop a bullet, which is an American tragedy! Wait, you said something earlier about a coma? Sorry, I have no attention span today, haha!"

Harrow fails to stifle a laugh. "Oh how terribly quaint. /This/ is a manifestation of the subconscious? Yes, we're here to wake him up." She barely manages to hop out of the way when the book shelves rush up. "Mind yourself, director!"

Blast Off eyes the chibi creature dubiously. "Maybe." Then bookcases come zooming in. The agile shutleformer sidesteps and avoids collision. He looks at the boxes, but is in no rush to find out what Backfire would keep in boxes in his mind. He edges over to Misfire. "Is there anything actually USEFUL in there?" He glances at Americon. "Well, they say the "pen is mightier than the sword"... whether that is actually true depends on the situation, however."

Chibifire? Oh boy, this is going to be a long trip. Scorn asesses the tiny mini Backfire. "Well.. at least you see more competent than the original." A single step sideways keeps her from getting a bookshelf to the face like Contrail, frowning a tad at all the books lining this. "This is going to take forever. Which one of these will give us access to his unconcious? We need to start somewhere to get this little quest moving."

Scorn doesn't know much about the inner mind, sadly. If only they'd brought Mindwipe. Though she knows enough at least to bristle when Rumble starts destroying books. "Rumble, knock it off!" She snaps with a hiss, "You could be ruining our chances of being able to get out of here again!"

Holding the file towards Blast Off, "Well, it looked like Backfire was pretty close to creating a self-reinforced glitter matrix which would increase the average armor piece's integrity by 15 percent...But OHHHH, look he found 1,845,329 shades of purple Glitter...Way Cooler!" Misfire points at the detailed spreadsheet of Purple Shades. "Look...I bet we'd look good in Galvatron Omega Seven Purple..." Misfire points at that shade.

Americon looks up at Blast Off. "I dunno! I tried beating up an Autobot with a book once! It wasn't very effective! In fact, it was a few seconds before he even noticed me hitting him with a book. Speaking of books, yeah, maybe we should be careful with them! They could contain priceless knowledge!" He randomly picks out a book and examines its cover. WHAT DOES IT SAY!?

"I'm afraid you won't find much in there." Chibifire suggests to the others, seeing as how Misfire has already found the glitter file. And then Rumble blasts the tiny tome called 'Battle Strategies and You: The Decepticon Minion's Guide to Combat'. It was a dusty old book anyways, hadn't seen use in YEARS.. if ever.

"They're more for a show, as is this room. If subjected to just the code, I'm afraid most of your heads would explode." Chibifire smiles, creepily. "Oh, yes. I am currently calling up several adventures that -should- stimulate his brain module enough to awaken him." he reports, blipping a tiny keyboard into existence and typing on it. It's loud, like some people when they Skype.


 * KLAK KLAK KLAK KLAK KLAK KLAK KLAK*

"Area A-6 incoming in five, four, three, two, one.." Chibifire counts down, hitting the enter key. Suddenly, the Decepticons are once again deposited somewhere else.. somewhere strange.. somewhere stupid?

Main Facility - 

If you thought the Launch Pad was in need of a big band-aid, the Main Facility might require a cast. Full body cast, that is. Entire structures are caven in, either with amounts of acidic solution pooling up within, or makeshift quarters for the outpost's inhabitants.

Only one real building lies in the area, seemingly untouched by fate's cruel hand. On the front of the structure, a large golden door that's missing a hinge. The door reads: Accilade-6 Supremo Leader.

Obvious Exits: Hidden Door  leads to White Room - 

A couple of Decepticons of all make and manner are dancing around, it looks to be some sort of festival of sorts. Banners are strewn up haphazardly, reading in bad spelling and handwriting 'HAPPY MEGATRON SPRING TIME FESTIVAL'.

Contrail gets back up, dusts herself off, and scowls. She demands, "...can we just put Chibifire in charge of Backfire? He seems like he'd be more competent..."

Rumble complains, "You saw it! The libary (typo intentional) attacked me!" He glances down at the book's remains, "Tactics?" He says with disgust. He manages to walk behind a bookcase before the scene change. The animators forgot to include him in the next scenechange.

Blast Off is actually surprised by Misfire's assessment. "...Really? Then Misfire continues and Blast Off looks less impressed. "Ah, of course." He considers the purple shade. "Perhaps. But this Sandstorm Orange might bring out your magenta color better...." The Combaticon then studies the book Americon shows him. "I can't tell.... it's in gibberish." He pokes at a page. "The illustrations look like they were scribbled by hand...in crayon. Is that Blitzwing, or a can opener?" He may never find out, however, as he suddenly finds himself at a...festival? "What in blazes?..." He crosses his arms.

Sure enough, mechs are dancing around like crazy.. acting a straight fool. Except for Jazzy, who leans by a building. He's busy pitying the fools, rubbing the gold chain around his neck in boredom.

Backfire, well a smaller and younger looking version of him, sits over alone in a corner. His knees are brought up against his chest and his arms are wrapped around them. He looks sad.

Back at the festival, Brawny is chugging an enerbrew and slapping Blurry on the back a couple times. "Hahaha, you see that loser over there pouting?" he grins with his robotic mustache, suddenly a roll of paper towels appear out of nowhere next to him.

Peering around as the the scene starts to shift, Misfire goes back to the file which starts to disappear out of his hand, "NOOOO! I was just about to find the perfect color to go with my Magenta paint...it would have been perfect!" Misfire looks at Blast Off, then blinks as he looks at the festival, shaking his fist, "We finally really had it! The perfect accent color" Misfire falls to his knees screaming. "YOU MANIACS! YOU BLEW UP THE GLITTER FILE! OH, CURSE YOU! CURSE YOU ALL TO CHARR!" Pausing Misfire stares and scrambles back to his feet, then slaps Blast Off around the back, "Oh, this is the Happy Megatron Spring Time Festival...Blast Off! There will be BOOZE! I totally got drunk here once!"

Oh Primus no. No! Not Accilade-6 again! Scorn thought she'd seen the last of this backwater planet! "Dear Primus, not this place.." She groans, face in hands. "Of all places, why here again?" Sighing deeply to keep from getting upset she just rubs her forehead and sets other hand on a hip while surveying the battered building and the idiots celebrating. "Welcome to Accilade-6, everyone. Planet of idiots and apparently Backfire's old home."

A familiar shade of ugly brown and orange amongst the crowd certainly peak her interest despite the festivities going on, yellow gaze fixing on past Backfire. This must have been a long time ago. "Hrm.. Guess he's got the answer to fix this mess and wake himself back up. C'mon, keep up." She's the only one here that's ben to this place before, so might as well take the lead. Waving to the rest the femme moves into the festival, not bothering to celebrate and instead slipping through the partygoers.

Harrow whips out a camera and snaps away. "Fascinating... Megatron?" She looks between the mechs, her attention eventually settling on Backfire. "Hey, shouldn't he be joyous? It's a party!" Begrudgingly, she follows Scorn's lead.

In between the first and secodn slaps, Blurry runs away, gets himself a energon sandvich, returns, and is about to bite into the sandvich when the second slap hits. He coughs up a bit and glares at Brawny. He replies quickly, "Oh yeah, I saw him, kind of hard to miss him, and by that I mean that he can't dodge for slag, you know, like a loser, but also, he's really obvious, you'd have to be a loser not to notice a paint job that bad, am I right, I'm pretty sure that I'm right, and this hesitation is really unbecoming, so-"

Blue streak, speeds by... kicking up mud in everyone's faces? Where did the mud even /come/ from!? He zooms past the sad Backfire to splash extra mud on him.

Americon examines the book some more. The cover says, "THIS PAGE LEFT INTENTIONALLY BLANK." Americon stares, remarking, "But... it's the cover! You can't do that!" He tosses the book away with a sigh... just as the scene shifts to Accilade-6! "OH NO! I remember this place!" Then he remembers that that was another time, another place, another character. "Oh, wait, I don't."

"...ennh, back in my day, the youngbots would always go on praising the Decepticon Empire and their leaders!" Sippy Kup says. "But that freaking guy. I ain't heard him praise Megatron even once! Or Decepticons in general! BAH!" He tosses his walking cane at Backfire's head, and immediately falls over. "GAH! Well, you see, I hated him so much I threw my cane at him even though I can't stand without it! Maybe... I can't stand H--BLLGHGH" Mud in his face!!!

Blast Off watches Misfire have a fit and blinks. "Uh.... It's...okay?" (Isn't that what "friends" say?) "Perhaps if we get to talk to Backfire again, you can ask for his help in finding that again?" Then suddenly- mood change! Blast Off gets slapped on the back and begins to grumble... then Misfire mentions booze. Blast Off's optics brighten slightly. He's actually rather in need of refueling, and there SHOULD be food and drink at a festival.... but is it safe? "I'd love to, but can we trust anything here? Or its effects on us?" Blurry speeds by, and for some reason Blast Off really doesn't like him.... He doesn't know any of this place, or these people... except one. He points to Backfire...or what appears to be Backfire. "Misfire, perhaps we should go speak to him?"

Backfire is caked with mud, though even under the thick film you can still see his sorrowful expression. Spitting a bit of it out, he sorta just shrugs and goes back to sulking alone. Forever alone.

Until he spies a crowd of people moving his way. Some of them he notices as the bullies 'The Warrior Four' and the others look like strangers. The blue and yellow Seeker looks pretty, at least. "Ah well, probably coming to make fun of me." he mumbles, slouching further against the wall. And then a cane knocks him over, face down into some more mud.

Brawny and Jazzy follow behind the new arrivals, making cat calls at both Scorn and Harrow. "Heya chickies, ever seen muscles this big on a frame this small before??" Brawny asks, flexing right after injecting himself with more robo-roids. Jazzy sidles up to Harrow, "You a bad bittie, you know that? I dig your style, what you want with that fool?" he asks pointing at Backfire. "He's lamesauce, err body know it."

Blurry zooms around and now kicks up /sand/ in everyone's faces. Backfire gets extra sand. He calls out to Blast Off, "Hey, you look almost as slow as Backfire, if you get my drift, only you probably don't, because I'm just too fast for someone so slow, I mean, was your factory a snail, seriously, anyway, Backfire's a worthless sack of slag because he's slow, and he's never going to amount to anything, because if you're not first, you're last!"

"How should I know? I thought you'd know since you're related to him or something." Scorn quips back to Harrow, only stopping when simulated mud, which feels exactly like real mud, splashes up in her face and coats her polished armor. The mantis is pretty much stock still in shock, an optic twitching as she beats back to urge to eviscerate the anti-Blurr she ended up unintentionally killing in real life.

To Brawny and Jazzy she just hisses nastily, splitting her face a bit to snap lower jaw at them, not in the mood. "Back off, I've had enough of you Acciladians to last me a lifetime, and thensome. Besides.." She looks to Backfire, "We're here for him, not you." Stalking up to the young seeker and helps him up from the ground, leaning down sideways to get a better look at him. "Backfire, you don't know us, but we'd like to have a word with you. It's rather important."

Looking at Blast Off, Misfire smiles and nods as he starts to walk over towards Backfire, "Good idea Blast Off!" Misfire pauses to rub his jaw as Blurry taunts Blast Off and sand kicks up in his face. "HEY! Blast Off and Backfire aren't slow! They are deliberate..." Frowning, Misfire looks at Blast Off and gives him a thumbs up. "I got your back!" Misfire smiles broadly, pleased with his retort.

Harrow's optics narrow upon being hit on. She plants a palm on Brawny's face and attempts to push him away. "I'm only interested in jets. And lay off Backfire, he's ours to abuse, not yours!"

Back at Trypticon, Triggerhappy somehow missed out on everyone plugging themselves into some kind of machine. He probably went off to help Incision catch that saw, because chasing an out-of-control saw flipping around on the floor is more fun than science.

He comes up next to Incision, the saw still buzzing in his arms as he tries to switch it off. ZzzzzZZZZzz!!! "Yeah, but did you t--" He stops as Incision cusses upon finding everyone lying also comatose on circuit slabs. Except he doesn't quite realize exactly what's happened. "What the...?" Was it true that Backfire's idiocy was contagious?! And now his comatose state is contagious too?! It's almost funny. "...the slag?" He drops the saw again, and it goes back to bouncing around wildly.

Blast Off is now CERTAIN that he really doesn't like this "Blurry" fellow. Then Misfire tries to "help"...and really doesn't. He starts to yell at Misfire "WHAT DO YOU MEAN DELIBER... Gah, never mind!..." He turns to Blurry. "You want to see if you are as fast as I?" Blast Off darts up quickly, trying to show some of his own speed, to glare at the annoying mech optic to optic. Backfire is forgotten for the moment.

Sippy Kup wipes the mud off his face and, reaching into his own body and ripping out one of his one skeletal support structures, has a new cane for him to stand on. "HEY! Leave the Youngbot, er, Youngcon, WHATEVER, leave him alone, or I'll whip ALL a ya's!" He wags his new cane menacingly as it still drips his own mech fluid.

Looking at Blast Off like a wounded puppy Misfire whimpers out, "I just meant, you know, you think and stuff, plan..." Misfire toys his fingers together, "I mean, a combat plan...and then act, not primal..." Misfire kicks the ground as Blast Off takes off. Slowly, Misfire moves towards Backfire, his head hung low.

Brawny merely licks Harrow's palm with his unthemely dream robot tongue. "Ewww, gross. Tastes like -that- Seeker loser, maybe they're related?" Jazzy thinks for a moment, "Nah, that'd only happen in bad fanfic or roleplaying." he states, they both look at the audience for a silent moment.

Backfire gets up with Scorn's help, then yanks away his arm from her hold. "Hey, I don't need any pity party. I get it, no one likes me. It's fine. Sometime soon, they'll all RUE the day they crossed me.." he holds up a fist, shaking it at the Warrior Four. Then he turns to the 'newcomers', "Wait, I don't know you.. Where'd you come from?"

Jazzy helps Sippy Kup up to his feet, "Hey, those slam dammas ain't worth yer audio processors, Sippy. Ya dig?"

BACK IN REALITY..

Incision looks at Triggerhappy, then checks the devices. "They're in Backfire's head, all sharing in his subconscious. Who knows what is going on in there.. furthermore, I'm not sure what's going to happen here!" he freaks out, studying them all with a close optic.

"It was just a prototype!"

"Doesn't matter anyway, I don't have any purpose here." Backfire adds, slumping back against the wall. "I'm not as good at anything as they all are."

Jerking his head up, Misfire stares blankly at Backfire as he reaches into subspace for a flask...only to have his hand reappear empty, "What? Virtual Realty Bytes!" Misfire curses, before staring at Backfire, "Backfire, it is me, Misfire!" Misfire pleads, "You know Misfire...DAKKA...DAKKA...DAKKA, EVERYONE DUCK! Dakka, Dakka, Dakka, Stop shooting Misfire!" Misfire smiles, "You remember, the creation factory..." Misfire frowns as he looks at Backfire, "No way, Bro! You are like the best morale officer the Decepticons have ever or will ever have!" Misfire states with a thumbs up!

Blurry zooms around and covers evyone with Angel Delight, which is just. Why. No. Stop. He also dumps some cake all over Backfire, shouting, "Let them eat cake! Because the cake is a lie and not even the cool kind of lie that gets you promoted, like lying about stealing Jazz's radio, that kind of lie could get you a medal, couldn't it, not that I've ever done that, of course, and I'm certainly nto speaking for anyone's guilty lack-of-conscience..."

"Eh, I guess," Sippy Kup grunts as Jazz helps him up.. "But I don't like 'em! Wait a minute, where the hell they come from anyway! BRAWNY!" Out comes the cane, cracking Brawny over the head. "WHAT HAVE I TOLD YOU!? Stop lickin' the femmebots! You'll get the Cosmic Rust doin' that! Believe me, I know. There's dis Blue Femme out there somewhere, she's practically made of the stuff. Eh, heard a rumor some Autobot cured her, though. Karp mighta been his name. Anyway... HEY!" He's covered in Angel Delight, until he looks like an angry snowman--well, custard-man. "BLURRY! Knock that slag off or I'll hit Brawny again! Then he'll have to hit you!"

"EEUUGHH!" Harrow jerks her hand away, and makes to sock Brawny in his kisser, after Sippy Kup smacks him with the cane. "You disgusting imbecile! I hate this planet! Come on, let's move on, maybe there's a high-grade area of his subconsciousness." Her grimace fades when Backfire speaks. "Aw frag. You have purpose! You'll see. Well it's... /some/ kind of purpose."

Scorn can already feel the processor ache starting by being around these morons again. She grimaces at Backfire when he pulls away, simply sniffing and slough the mud and sand from herself. "We're from... er.. Cybertron. And Galv-I mean, Megatron has sent us here to take you back. Though, he told us to tell you that he needs you to wake up first." This sort of thing works in movies, right? Maybe it'll apply here. She opens her mouth to speak again, but it's filled with some weird pudding that has her sputtering. That's it! She's reached her limit!

SKREE!!

With an angry screech the femme makes a lunge for Blurry, ready to kill him all over again.

Blast Off glances over at Misfire, but isn't quite sure what to say. Then Blurry speeds off again. "Get BACK HERE! Don't IGNORE ME!" The Combaticon rushes after him, winding up near Backfire with the others.... while picking off Angel Delight, for some reason. He diverts attention between Blurry and to Misfire trying to talk to Backfire. "You know him from way back, don't you?" To Backfire he asks, "We came from... far away. What is going on here? Where are we.... really?"

"Misfire? You new or something?" Backfire looks at the Targetmaster, sans gun, shrugging. "Never seen you lot before in my life." Turning to Harrow and Scorn, "Wake up? What are you guys going on about? It doesn't matter, I'm of no use to anyone.. let alone Megatron!" he double slouches against the wall all angst-like.

SUDDENLY!

Fireback bursts out of his office, a small piano-former follows closely behind him. "Attention Acciladians! I've just been informed by Overture that Megatron Mountain is going to erupt soon if we do not take DECISIVE action!" he announces, giving the Warrior Four a look.. and another to the 'newcomers'. "I'm told the person who will venture into the volcano shaft for this mission will have to be slower.." he looks at Blurry, "..small.." he looks to Brawny, "..un-hip.." he looks to Jazzy, "..and young." he finishes, looking to Sippy Kup. "Anyone here meet those specifications?" Silence. "Anyone? Anyone??"

Getting up from his slouched position, Backfire raises a hand. "Uhh.. I am." Approaching the younger Backfire, Fireback kneels before him. "Backfire with your skills so.. light, won't you venture into Megatron Mountain tonight?" he asks, bowing his head. Suddenly, upon Fireback's actions.. all the other Acciladians follow suit, taking a knee.

"Haha, this is GLORIOUS!" Backfire jumps up in the air, pumping a fist all 80's Judd Nelson 'Breakfast Club' style.

* plnk *

And suddenly, everyone is back in the white room with Chibifire!! The small cute cuddly version of Backfire is arguing with Tankspank, who gives everyone a curious look when they blink into existance. "Where were you guys?"

Americon stares at nothing as they're back in the white room. "What the hell was that!?" he says after a few moments. "And why did I stop doing things for several minutes!? OH WELL. I guess some mysteries aren't meant to be solv--oh, hey! I don't really know, Tankspank; I think it was the planet Acclaim. Ha, who would name their planet after the guys who published some of the worst NES games ever?"

"I'm sorry, this isn't a per.. per.. perfect system!" Chibifire explains to both Tankspank and Americon, curiously stuttering. "Although, I did read some spikes in brain module activity. You're getting closer. What was it exactly that you did there?" he asks the returning group.

BACK IN REALITY..

Incision is studying the vital signs on Backfire like a hawk, fist pumping and returning towards Triggerhappy. "Whatever it is they're doing, it's working! There was a seventeen point six rise in brain module activity just now."

Triggerhappy chuckles as Incision basically starts freaking out. "So they're in Backfire's subconscious, eh?" Ah, too bad he had to miss out on this, it sounds amusing.

"...uh," he briefly glances at each of the others laid out on the circuit slabs, then at Incision. "So if we just unplug 'em, will they snap out of it?" he asks, hovering near Misfire's prone form and poking at the cables.

Scorn likely missed Blurry since he's so, well, fast, leaving her seething a bit until Fireback makes his grand entrance and asks Backfire to head into the deadly mountain. Maybe that's why he's so messed up in the head, seeing as the fumes in there are rather deadly. Either way the scene immediatly disappears in a flash, Backfire's little dance the last thing before everything turns white again. ..It's better than where they just were, at least.

"Accilade-6." Scorn corrects Americon. "Not like it mattered much. Are we supposed to even do anything, or are you just showing us past events to make some sort of point?" This question is directed at Chibifire, the femme setting arms akimbo.

"NO!" Incision yells, throwing himself inbetween Triggerhappy and Misfire's cable. "There's no telling what would happen if you suddenly disconnected." he starts to ramble, checking Misfire's vitals. "It's just a prototype."

Chibifire's image cracks in a couple of places, glitching out. It returns to normality, however, in a couple seconds. "Apparently, you effected some sort of change. Replaying these memories as I have been since he was knocked into a coma hasn't yielded any results." he replies, optics shiftily glancing over some statistics. "None like this, I mean."

Tankspank smacks a fist into his open palm, "H'okay, where next?"

Blast Off is slightly disappointed he didn't get to finish a showdown with that Blurry character.... but no matter, they are back in the White Room. "We visited some memory, like Scorn said. Were those REALLY mechs Backfire used to know? Did he really jump in a volcano or something? That might explain it....." He glares around the room, and at Chibifire.

"I don't know what we were doing!" Americon says. "I mean, that's normal for me, but that time it was pretty bad. Maybe it was that old guy. He smelled pretty bad." He looks up at Scorn. "What? Accilade-6? Ohhhhhh. Oh, I see. Okay." Back at Chinifire. "Oh, so, we're just supposed to relive your life? Cool, so it doesn't matter what we do then, right?" He nudges Blast Off in the shin. "Dibs on shooting Backfire!"

"..." Triggerhappy steps away when Incision jumps in front of him, suddenly looking worried. "I know, but--"

"...so are they stuck in there?" He's primarily concerned about Misfire. And Blast Off, because, you know, Bruticus. Can't afford to lose that guy. Everyone else can be stuck in Backfire's brain module forever. Especially Americon.

Staring blankly at Chibifire, Misfire raises a finger to speak, "Where are the Booze, 'Mech..." Misfire stops and looks down as his left leg disappears. "Woaaah....trippy." Then his right leg disappears. Then his left arm, then his right arm. Misfire frowns, "This happening to anyone else?" Misfire's chest disappears, "This doesn't look good...Guys, uh guys?" Then the rest of the universe disappears!

BACK IN REALITY

With the Real Life tinkering of Misfire's wire, Misfire is yanked out of Backfire's head and back into the Medical Bay, "Wooooaaaaahhhh...." Misfire emits before he shuts back off and slips into a coma similar to Backfire’s.

Soundwave transforms from his less conspicuous mode to full standing height beside Triggerhappy. The tape commander takes a firm grasp on his fellow's arm. "Interference inadvisable." Soundwave's attention turns to Misfire's sudden jolt. "Interesting." The tone of concern can be heard through the synthetic audio, not to be confused for empathy but rather in reaching new discoveries in mind machinations.

Scorn looks rather alarmed by Misfire suddenly starting to vanish, antennas flicking upright. "That can't be good.. We better hurry up then." Back to Chibifire. "I guess we stopped him from being bullied? Either way, if we're on the right track then we should get a move on to the next memory."

Blast Off looks down as Americon nudges him. "We can BOTH shoot him, how about that? Just to make sure.... I'll take the high road and you can... take the low one." Then Misfire disappears. "What?" Blast Off blinks, not quite sure what to make of that. Did he return to reality? Or get absorbed into Backfire's brain? The thought is a creepy one, and also unlikely... but still, this IS Backfire. You never know.

Triggerhappy watches Misfire disconnect and slump over. He grins...phew, looks like his friend is okay. Turning to Incision, "Well, I think he's fine, anyway--right?"

He jumps when Soundwave suddenly appears, turning to face the communications officer. "Soundwave!" he starts. Hadn't seen that mech in...several stellar cycles? The Targetmaster straightens up and salutes. "Been a while since we've seen you around...sir."

"Not my life, I am merely a prog..gggggg..gram." Chibifire replies to Americon, pulling up another 'memory'. "Please make sure your tray tables are in the upright and lockkkkkkkkkkkked positions." he glitches out again, as Misfire blinks out of existence.

That can't be good!

Suddenly, everyone is transported back to the Trypticon Medbay? All the slabs with people on them are gathered in a corner, cordoned off with a clear plastic screen that hangs from the ceiling. A couple layers of dust, dirt, and grime have accumulated over it. Incision is over at a computer terminal, entering data.. but he has a metallic beard now? "Logistics CO Incision report: It is day 1,457,341,478 of the Backfire Mind Protocols. None of the subjects reacted to physical stimuli, Misfire.. even disconnected from the power source still lies in his coma. Attempts to interface with Backfire's operating programs have all resulted in failures.. this infernal 'Chibifire' program keeps locking us out." he says aloud to the terminal, which types up the report for him. Sighing, the doctor leans back and rubs his beard. "Tomorrow I will attempt to isolate the 'Chibifire' program from the host, though my superiors conclude this will only result in death."

Then suddenly, he swivels around to find a bunch of new visitors to his ward. "Oh, one moment.." he reaches out for his robo-glasses. "Optics aren't as good as they used to be."

BACK IN THE REAL TRYPTICON MEDBAY..

Once he's sure Misfire is alright for now, Incision moves back and studies the readings again. "This is.. troubling. The data stream coming from Backfire's head has parts missing." he says aloud, looking to the sudden emergence of Soundwave.

Instantly saluting, Incision states "Greetings Commander Soundwave!"

"Yeah, yeah, I know how this works, Backfire," Americon says to Chibifire. "I'm only going to kill Backfire the next time I see him! Anyway..." He pulls out his guns, waiting for the transition. "DEATH TO BACKFIRE!!!" Americon yells, firing his blasters as the scene shifts to... inside Trypticon's medbay!?!?! And naturally Americon blasts his own self over and over and over again, and Americon's other self explodes into flaming debris! "...I... I... oh Primus."

* Poof! *

Americon's gone.

Triggerhappy moves over to the display showing the readouts and looks over Incision's shoulder, though he can't really make anything of the datastreams himself. "Parts missing? What exactly does that mean?"

Soundwave releases Triggerhappy as he salutes and turns to Incision as the medic addresses him as well. Moving closer to some of the terminals, the haunting glow of the screens reflecting from his visor as he assesses the situation for himself. Until this moment, he had only taken a passive observation to the scene around him - but the recent excitement has shifted his full attention over to the events at hand. The Decepticon communications officer adds to Triggerhappy's inquiry to follow up on Incision's reports with a single booming word. "Elaborate."

"Eh? What's wrong with you?" Scorn narrows gaze at Chibifire starting to glitch out a bit, but there isn't enough time for an answer as the scene shifts yet again only to find themselves in.. the medbay? "..Did we wake up already?" She questions aloud before spying all of there bodies before them, the femme getting a shiver up her spine at the sight of her own comatose form. "What the.. this can't be a memory, what in the pit is going on here?"

A voice across the way draws her eye, and it's Incision, or at least Backfire's envision on him. "/What/?? What do you mean a billion days, how is that possible? And.." A pause, mind wandering back to the glitchy program, "What do you mean by Chibifire?"

Blast Off is a little concerned as Chibifire seems to glitch out, then ...medbay! but... it's not? The shuttle tries to decide if Chibifire is actually some sort of virus in whatever "reality" they are currently in... wait, what does Incision mean by "death"? "Death?" He looks to Scorn. "Is that merely Backfire's mind demonstrating concern over what he is worried COULD happen, or is that a reflection on what's actually being said in medbay now? PLEASE don't tell me we're going to be stuck here for any length of time...." Blast Off looks slightly worried for the first time. "How....long IS this going to take? I have things to do... space missions and...whatnot."

Incision slips on the robo-glasses, peering through them. "I hope you signed in with Triggerhappy outside, he's been very protective of Misf.." he suddenly stops, clutching his chest. "Straxus ghost." is all he manages to mutter out.

Minutes pass in silence, the doctor remains seated.. just staring blankly at them. "I'm dead. I finally died, trying to solve this infernal dilemmia that I dedicated my life to!" he cries into his hands.

Tankspank merely sighs, stepping up to the mech. "Hey, get ahold of yourself! You're not dead.. well, you're not exactly alive either." he admits, shrugging towards Scorn. This sort of thinking is above his paygrade.

BACK IN REALITY..

"It's not.. a lot." Incision states, re-reading the charts. "It's just sending less data, trivial stuff. Really." he admits, giving Soundwave a nod. Then a flash of worry crosses his face, "Wait, strike that!"

Pulling the readout around towards the other two, he points out certain data on functions being left out of the update. "See? I can't figure it out, it's not the device.. so that means it has to be something on their end."

Soundwave peers at the readout and confirms Incision's findings that the fluctuations are not equipment in origin but coming from the source. "Soundwave concurs."

The tape commander pauses to consider his interpretations of the data. "Feed stochasm internal in origin, stimuli dynamics unknowable to end-users without audio and visual deciphering."

"Possibly.." Scorn asides to Blast Off, not sure herself. "And don't worry, I wanna get out of here just as badly." To the dream Incision she nods in regards to what Tankspank says, ready to lay it out flat to him. Maybe it'll reach Backfire or something. "You're actually a dream... or some sort of horrid omen. Anyway, we're the real ones here while your real self is out there keeping an eye on us while we try to wake up Backfire." She eyes the bodies again, tapping her chin while thinking. "But this could help us. You may be some sort of subconcious truth to what's going on, so.. tell us what happened here. And about Chibifire."

Blast Off shakes his head slightly as Incision's reaction. No... no, this is not good at all. The Combticon would really like to be somewhere very far away about now.... in fact, Pluto is very nice this time of year.... He should know, he's been there several times. He then nods to Scorn and listens as she questions the medic. "Yes, good idea. How... pervasive is this small Chibifire mech?"

"Chibifire? That blasted POS has been foiling me for YEARS!" Future-Incision declares, getting up from his seat. "It took awhile, but we finally figured it out." he explains to them, pulling up data and putting it on the main screen. What's laid out is an analysis of the 'Chibifire' program, "Apparently, the wounds Backfire suffered from Torque weren't what caused this. This program has been lurking in his systems for a time now, something happened.. something activated it. It's sole purpose is to induce a comatose-like state and act as a barrier to anyone who would think of bringing him or them out of it."

Turning towards Blast Off, "Chibifire isn't a 'mech'. He's just a program. We can't figure out why something like that would be in Backfire." he pauses, retaking his seat.. obviously overwhelmed. "Any idea who would have some sort of vendetta against him in the faction? Someone smart?"

BACK IN REALITY..

"Right, which leaves us here with nothing to do but watch as the data stream narrows down to less and less.." Present-Incision states the obvious, taking a seat.. obviously overwhelmed.

"So..." Triggerhappy sits down as well. "I mean, what does that mean, exactly? What's going on in there? They're minimizing Backfire's brain activity or whatever?" He still hasn't gotten an answer to his previous question, either. "Are they stuck in there? Are they gonna need us to pull 'em out?"

"So it isn't just something from his own mind." That certainly clears things up a bit more. "Vendetta? He's mainly just a nuisance, so I doubt anyone would have it out for him except..." Scorn stops herself, her optics growing a bit brighter in realization and attention shifting from the body of Backfire to Incision. "I can think of one mech. Someone who forgot to cover their tracks better." Yeah, she saw him with Fireback. Hard to miss that unique altmode. "Overture, some cerebro-scientist or something, turns into a paino for some reason. They've have a run-in in the past, caused us a lot of trouble, but I thought he was brigged indefinitely. Could he have infected him previously and it didn't kick in until now?"

Soundwave tilts his head to Incision, a cue that very few understand to be that of surprise for the tape commander. Soundwave had been talking to himself and recording for future reference, a practice often done alone and without the consideration of others present. Incision had apperantly misinterpreted this as dialogue exchange. Soundwave decides to go along to maintain some vesstiges of rapport with his fellow. "Observation accurate, conclusion contestable."

Soundwave gives an apathetic response to Triggerhappy's concerns. "Unknown." Soundwave certainly knows of at least one final and potentially fatal way of edifying Triggerhappy's inquiries - but he'll let this play out for a while longer to satiate morbid curiosities.

Blast Off would frown at Incision, except, well... faceplate. He LOOKs like he's frowning, though. "Honestly, I can think of MANY mechs who would have a vendetta against Backfire. Intelligence, however, is a.. sadly, much rarer trait in THIS army." He rolls his optics and listens to Scorn. "Perhaps that individual, then? I don't know Backfire enough to truly have a large list of suspects for you, I am afraid. Except.... hasn't Backfire had dealings with Insecticons in the recent past? Did he ever have any altercations with that Insecticon...what was his name? Bombshell?"

"Overture? Oh, we are soooooo dumb!" Incision kicks himself verbally, sliding over to the command console. A very LOUD klak of keys later, information is brought up on the piano-former. "He's been MIA since late 2034, right after the 'Insecticlone Incident' that happened." the doctor reports, "Ah, so all we have to do is.."

It's a shame, Incision will not get the chance to finish that sentence. Suddenly, with that pink puff of smoke.. Chibifire appears in the near-future Trypticon medical bay. "Tsssssssssssk tsk, you haven't been playing by the rul-llllllllllllll-es." it glitches out mid finger-wag at both Scorn and Blast Off, the scene around them both instantly freezing. Incision looks goofy, because his face is frozen in the joy of solving a billion day problem. Suddenly, the scene goes black.. and they are falling, sans bearded Incision, downward in a spiral. Further and further down they plummet, until suddenly they are inside an old shack.

They don't exactly land, though. More like that weird stomach sensation has ceased and they find themselves on solid ground again. In the dimly lit shack, a small fire burns on the far wall. The outlines of a rocking chair can be discerned, a cable running from it towards another wall.

BACK IN REALITY..

"Not the brain activity, our readouts." Incision clears up for Triggerhappy, still slumped in his chair. "And as Commander Soundwave said, unknown. The fact is.. we don't know anything about this process. Tankspank wasn't supposed to just turn it on and hook everyone up." he admits, a sullen expression still on his face.

"It was just a prototype."

Soundwave raises his boxy white gauntlet and looks down as the chirp and red blip of the comm hails him from afar to be summoned elsewhere. Some exchange of information transpires before he turns his attention to Incision and Triggerhappy one last time. He considers saying something but decides otherwise.

Soundwave nods, then exits rather unceremoniously - he only has so many words at any given time.

Wait, the Insecticlone Incident? Scorn perks at that, fixing Incision with a stare. "What do you mean right after? Don't tell me he was-- Eh?" She's halted mid-sentence at Chibifire's arrival, the femme clenching her jaaw and hissing at him. "You little glitch, let us out of here!" No dice, Chibifire just casts them into a freefall into pitch blackness. "Gah!" The femme flails a moment, trying gain some semblance of balance, but things only end up right themselves once they land.

In a shack, apparently. Bending forward slightly she sets a hand to her midsection, not liking the feeling in her tank, though it eventually passes. "Great, where in the pit are we now? I'm getting so sick of this little adventure."

Blast Off 's optics brighten slightly as some progress seems to be made. "Then this Overture character is..." that's when Chibifire appears and the floor seems to fall out beneath him and the shuttle falls into 'space". But hey, he's used to that, so the Combaticon shuttle manages to land on his feet as they find themselves inside... a cabin? He looks at Scorn. "Indeed."

"Okay, the readouts, but of what? Of what's going on with the simulator thing?" Triggerhappy asks. "Maybe someone in there doesn't want us to know what's going on..." The Targetmaster shakes his head. And then Soundwave just nods and leaves. Whatever that meant. "Well, I guess all we can do is wait, then."

A figure gets up from the rocking chair, stepping into the light. "Greetings." It's a beat up Backfire, essentially. The large cable runs from his back into the wall. Taking care to manuever around it, he approaches both Blast Off and Scorn. "Mother Torque will be happy to see you both."

The door to the shack is kicked in, and in rush a couple of individuals. One of them looks like a strange Seeker-Towing Truck hybrid. She barks at the others who came in with her, "Bar the door and keep watch, they'll be on us in a matter of no time!" Striding across the room, she gives Backfire a solemn look.

"Are these the ones we've been waiting for?"

BACK IN REALITY..

Incision just sorta stares blankly at the Decepticons lying in a row before him, his hand held on his chin in deep contemplation. "Vital functions, processor requests, audio feeds, video feeds, you name it.. they're being silenced one by one." he replies to Triggerhappy. "Someone.. or something."

Soundwave, Decepticon of mystery.

"...and, that's bad, right?" Triggerhappy continues. "I mean--come on, there's got to be something we can do. I don't know about the others, but I don't think Scorponok would be very happy with us if we let Blast Off disappear into Backfire's head. Because--well, you know what that would mean. Let's just pull the plug. Misfire was fine, so why wouldn't the rest of them?"

Scorn straightens back up at movement across the room in the rocking chair, shifting stance to ready herself to fight Chibifire. Except is isn't him, it's actually Backfire, who's not looking too good all hooked up. Scorn can't help thinking back to when he was being farmed for his energon which gives her a faint shiver. "Mother Torque?" That Autobot medic that's totally not an alt? Scorn raises a brow at this, but immediatly whirls around when more people enter in a hurry, the hybrid in particular drawing her eye and a mild scowl of confusion. "Hold on, you've been waiting for us? How did you even know we'd show up?"

Blast Off looks at the now older Seeker dubiously. "Mother Torque?" Like Scorn, he looks slightly confused as the others enter. "What do you mean, waiting for?"

Backfire moves to a console in the room, bringing up some information with the click of some keys. "I'll allow Torquefire to update you on that." he monotonely reports, busy typing.

Striding into the room proper, Torquefire turns the lights on and sets a decapitated head on the table. It's old Incision's head! "Because of him, he was able to warn us what this.." she holds her arms up, pointing to everything.. and nothing. "Really is. Listen, we need your help. I don't have time for an explanation!" she yelps.

In from the room adjacent, walks Torque. Though, she's much older.. slower.. still large handed. "No, but they deserve one." she addresses her 'daughter', moving across the room to put a gentle arm on Backfire's shoulder. "No one believed Incision at first, afterall.. it was just Backfire in a comatose state. Some other no name Decepticons not worth mentioning, as well. But, then things started to happen. Certain events that Incision had predicted. The fall of Galvatron at Orion Pass. The battle of the Inseekticlone horde in Crystal City, costing Omega Supreme his life. The conversion of Trypticon and the eradication of Earth." she rasps off, patting Backfire and moving to take a seat. "Chibifire is nothing more than a Overture program. In the event of close system's shutdown, it would put him in a comatose state.. a conditioning program to prepare him for what came next."

'Backfire' rises from the console, collecting the head. He gives Mother Torque a nod, then goes back to work. "Don't be fooled, that is not the Backfire you know. He is a creation of mine, a.. copy of his former brain module algorhythms that Soundwave helped me create." Mother Torque adds, getting up from the chair. "I do not expect you wartime Decepticons to understand, but after everything that's happened to us.. I.." she breaks off, as if about to break down in tears.

"I missed the old Backfire. Before he was changed by Overture's manipulation."

"ETA, ten minutes!" Sixswitch, future version of the combined forms of the six changers, calls out from the doorway. He takes a sniper shot from his vantage point through the window.

Outside, a horde of Inseekticlones are skittering across the landscape. A loud sound can be heard in the distance as well, repeating every so often. In a pattern, with the same interval inbetween. Beachhead, Beachcomber's grandson clone, looks to Sixswitch. "Timed explosions?"

"No." Sixswitch replies, looking through his sniper scope. "Footsteps."

SUDDENLY, a figure thrashes through the opposite window and charges at the group. "INSEEKTICLONE CONTACT!" Beachhead calls out, throwing himself in front of the charging assailant. The form easily rips into his metallic flesh, tearing off his face and severing the head with a twist. "I'll add -that- to my collection!" she sneers, looking at the others.

Especially Scorn.

Why? Because it's future Overture conditioned Scorn. "Little late to the party, eh?" she smiles, robo-tongue playfully licking her fangs.

Scorn just kind of stands there, mouth slightly agape at everything that's going on. It takes a few seconds until slowly, but surely, she begins to speak up. ".....So then what do you want us to do to fix this?" Scorn is pretty smart, yes, but this sort of insanity is nearly flying over her head, the femme trying to keep herself from blurting out that these bots are just figments of Backfire's mind. But she reins herself in, playing along for now, though the mention and sound of Inseekticlones is making her visually anxious.

And then things get even more insane when the enemy advances and Scorn is staring down herself from a Backfire fueled future. "Damnit, this is just what I need..." She growls lowly, already drawing pistols and training them on her doppleganger. It's safe to say she'll need a bit of therapy after this.

Blast Off ...is very lost. But this is Okay, he's used to this. This is all PART OF THE PLAN...especially whenever Backfire is concerned. He just shakes his head and prepares to bring out his ionic blaster if needed. "Why does this remind me of every other fleshling movie I have seen while orbiting around Earth from space?"

Tankspank rolls forward, unleashing a salvo of punches on the doppelganger Scorn that sends her to the ground. A short bursts of Longshot's pistol later, and she's down for the count. "Heh, don't play with a mech who ain't got nothing to lose!" Tankspank calls out, giving Longshot (who is another rebel) a hi-five. Turning to Mother Torque, he essentially repeats her statement. "Yeah, why us?"

Future Scorn, not dead apparently, lashes forward with a claw hand to gut Tankspank. Immediately, he falls to the ground in a pool of his own energon. "I.. can't die." he sputters, before lying face down. Torquefire reacts in kind, vaulting over the pair of them with a sommersault and roundhouse kicking future Scorn's head from her body. "Because, you can get close enough to the real Backfire."

Backfire II rises from his seat, redepositing the head on the table. "It is done, Incision's virus algorhythm is uploaded and ready for use." Mother Torque rises, handing Incision's head to Scorn. "As my daughter put it, you can get close enough to upload the virus.. end this facade, prevent this dystopian reality from ever occurring. Rodimus Prime need not perish at the end of Overture's devilish plan, or any of your comrades." she feigns a smile, knowing this will end their 'world' as well.

Approaching Backfire II, she embraces him with a hug and holds onto his shoulders. "I care not to leave you, my sweet. But this is for the good of the future." she whispers into his audio receptors. "As well, it must be done." he monotonely replies.

Longshot puts a couple rounds in decapitated future Scorn's head for good measure. "Guys, we've got incoming.. it's actually Backfire this time." Sixswitch reports from the window.

BACK IN REALITY..

Tankspank's vital signs suddenly crash and flatline. Rushing over, Incision takes a reading and slumps down on the floor against a slab.

"He's dead."

Triggerhappy stares at Tankspank as his vital signs suddenly flatline. "Slag it! I knew this was bad. Incision, we have to do something. Scorponok will kill us if he finds out we let these guys get offlined by some prototype. Especially...you...if it was your prototype..." he grimaces. "What if we just disconnected Backfire from the simulator?"

Scorn doesn't have to use her pistols afterall, not with a room full of highly trained rebels already on her double, killing her swiftly after she in turn kills Tankspank. Wow.. is she really that easy to put down? Also there's not much concern for Tankspank. He'll just wake up like the others, right? ....Right?

The mantis nearly drops her guns when she's handed Incision's head, "Er.. Right.." She stares at the head and loks over to Blast Off, "Guess this is the only way to fix this and get out of here. You ready?" It's a shame this 'reality' will be lost, but unfortunately such sympathy for it is lost on the Insecticon. Good thing the real Torque isn't seeing this.

And so, with head in hand Scorn makes for the door of the shack to step out and face this supposed incoming Backfire. she's not sure what they'll find, or how they'll shut down the Chibifire program, but that'll all hopefully be revealed soon.

Blast Off hears that Backfire is "incoming" and seems to smirk a little.... Good, this sounds more...final. The shuttle decides it's probably time to bring out the ionic blaster. Maybe he can finally shoot Backfire, then. If nothing else it will make him feel better! He nods to Scorn. "Quite. Let's get this over with, shall we?" He looks around. "I wonder where everyone else went? Did they all wake up? Get lost? Get taken by Chibifire?" He stands close to Scorn. "Looks like it's down to just us, squaring off against potentially impossible odds. How like.... a movie. In backfire's brain, I am somehow not surprised. However.... let us hope he never saw "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid."

The 'family' share one last embrace, before following Scorn and Blast Off towards the door. "You two will have nominal efficiency getting closer to Backfire, the Inseekticlone horde will not attack you because of your vital signs." Backfire II reports, taking future Scorn's damaged head and fiddling with it. Pushing it into his chest, which surprisingly just absorbs it, the copy of the Seeker merely blinks a couple of times before continuing. "I'll be able to blanket myself adopting a similar sign, but you both must press on and fuse Incision's head.." he points to the one in Scorn's arms, "Into the real Backfire's lasercore." Turning to Blast Off, he nods. "Chibifire has dwindled your number each time you've jumped memories? It's highly logical he is eliminating the potential threat you pose one at a time."

Without elaborating on just -how- they'll achieve it, Backfire II opens the door and the team make their charge out. Inseekticlones quickly jump the rebels, but Torquefire manages to keep most of them at bay with her Metallikato. "Move, I'll keep up!" she orders the others, crushing another drone's head inbetween her thighs during a hurricanrana.

Longshot and Sixswitch on either side of the large group do their best to escort them up towards.. Backfire.

The size of a gestalt, 'Backfire' stomps closer towards the shack and the group. His body is made up of small individual corpses, all Cybertronian, interlinked and fused together. A starship's reactor makes up the fusion cannon on his right arm, a starship itself making a shield on his left. <> he booms, the voice itself sending a blast of air through the area.

BACK IN REALITY..

"I didn't sanction it's use!" Incision hollers back at Triggerhappy, his entire body convulsing from the thought of a Scorponok interrogation. "You saw Misfire.. he was disconnected and slipped right back into a coma, we can't beat this from the outside! All we can effect is.." he trails, getting to his feet.

Wiping non-existent robotic tears from his face, he approaches Backfire's slab. "Triggerhappy, get me a load of supressants from that far cabinet. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, by affecting his processing.. we can cool down his brain module activity." he rambles, hands moving a mile a minute.

"If we can get him to a lower level, maybe the others will be rejected by the program itself. I mean, it's theorhetical.. but it's all we got!"

"I know you didn't, but it was Tankspank's idea, and he's dead." Triggerhappy points out. "And besides, I really don't think--"

And then Incision as an idea. He does as the medic asks, and opens the requested compartment to retrive a highly concentrated dose of suppressants. "This better work." he says as he hands him a tube full of it.

Blast Off nods to Backfire II. "Well... THIS threat (he thumbs to himself) is going to be more than that Backfire bargained for. I will NOT go quietly into the night." He casts a glance to Scorn. "She is a capable fighter, as well, I believe." He pauses, and half-muses to himself.... "And she does put on a GREAT show..." They are ushered out, and then...PRIMUS. Except not... it's Backfire, the size of Bruticus. That irks Blast Off. How DARE a mech like Backfire misappropriate that... look. He could give all big combiners a bad name. Blast Off looks to Scorn. "I will take him from above if you want to hit from below? MY speed could distract him as you try to get that...head to his lasercore."

Scorn smirks a bit at Blast Off beside her, chiding him playfully while tucking the head under her arm and holding a pistol in the other. "I think you've been watching too many human movies. ..And I'm not sure. We'll have to see once this is over." Nodding to the Backfire copy she heads outside with the rest, coming face to face with the Inseekticlone horde she hopes stays good and dead after this, as well as a disturbingly gigantic Backfire gestalt. "Damn, and I was hoping this'd be easier.."

But she can't complain as everyone springs into action, Scorn nodding to Blast Off's plan while the others draw most of the attention. "Right, let's go!" Plasma rounds bring down those in her path along the way, swift kicks digging through optics into the processor and mouth splitting open to rip out the throats of any who get too close as they get closer.

If Blast Off can draw enough attention Scorn will attempt to snap wings open when she gets close enough and take off up the Backfire giant, kicking off where she can to gain a boost, the femme swiftly scaling up to his chest.

Longshot dashes out to cover Blast Off, who is too busy being jealous over Super Backfire, to notice one of the non-drone combatants. It's Americon! Well, kinda. It's an eagle for sure, who flies straight through Longshot's chest and out the other side. "For America.. may she rest in peace." he squawks, coming around for another pass. Backfire II takes to the air, anti-gravs bringing him ever closer towards Gestalt Backfire. "I shall open up the path to the core, you two must get it in there." he monotonely reports to them both again, harrying one last look at Mother Torque before taking off towards the threat.

Mother Torque, bringing up the rear, snaps the neck of one of the Inseekticlones with her large Magnus hammer in one swing.. sending the drone backward into a group of them. Torquefire dashes forward, taking out all sorts of drones in a dizzying display of speed and efficiency. Looking back, she calls out "Hurry up Mother, what are you waai.." she trails, suddenly tackled by a Inseekticlone. Covering her face, expecting to be ended shortly, Torquefire opens her optics to find Mother Torque swinging wildly with the hammer. "Haste not, waste not." she smiles to her daughter, helping her up.

A jolt later, and a blade is sticking from Mother Torque's midsection.. a tiny droplet of energon drips from her open mouth. Torquefire moves quickly, reaching around her and sending a toxic-energon fueled fist through the drone's head. "Mother!" she exclaims afterward, seizing Torque up in a grasp. "No, move on.. see the mission through, you've trained your entire life for this.

Fighting back the tears, Torquefire charges off towards Super Backfire after one last embrace from Mother Torque. In the background, Mother Torque manages to take out seventeen of the drones before succumbing to their numbers.

BACK IN REALITY..

Incision instantly administers the supressants to Backfire's feed and stands back. "If this doesn't work, I'm blaming you."

In the dream memory world, both Blast Off and Scorn would notice that everything around them.. slows down, akin to bullet time in any of the Max Payne games. Apparently, the supressants are working!!

Blast Off hehs and replies to Scorn. "Oh, I KNOW I have. There are times I am stuck orbiting a planet with nothing else to do, but watch the broadcasts from the planet below... and we were stuck on that mudball Earth for several years." He snorts, then nods to Backfire II and focuses on the task at hand. As the others leap into action, so does the space shuttle, transforming into that alt mode. He accelerates his thrusters and rockets off towards the giant Backfire. The shuttle is a little confused to see Americon...or something like him. He swerves to try to miss the "eagle" and continues on his way, swooping up towards Backfire himself. "Backfire! You seem to have a problem with me.... why, I still don't know. Care to explain? Or should I simply shoot you first to try and loosen you up?" He takes a shot at the larger form. Then things start to slow down... interesting. But it seems to make things easier. Blast Off arcs around, trying to annoy and distract Backfire and giving Scorn and Backfire II an entry way. He is also ready to rush in to help Scorn put the head inside Backfire if needed.

Triggerhappy is about to protest, but then realizes that'd be pointless because he's the ranking officer in the room so he's automatically to blame anyway. "Exactly why this had better work." he reiterates, folding his arms and giving Incision a severe look. Yeah, it'd better work, Incision...he's a gunner whose partner is Zarak's brother, and you're just a medic. A medic who apparently can't keep a proper optic on his prototypes.

Scorn doesn't even notice the world is beginning to slow down until she's halfway up the giant mech, forced to stop when a clone skitters around the torso and lunges at her, though Scorn ends it with a shot to the head and wings aside to avoid getting hit. It's then that she looks out over the field. At this point she shouldn't even question what's going on, honestly.

With Backfire II closing in however the mantis continues her ascent until she's at the center of the chest where the lasercore would be, Scorn grasping at the dead bodies there to hold on while he closes in. "Hurry up, I don't think we have much time left!" She has no idea, but isn't taking any chances with this strange slowdown.

Gestalt Backfire concentrates his fire on Blast Off, though all of his shots are terribly off because of the time delay. Imagine the blaster pistols of a thousand Decepticon soldiers firing off however, as each one that makes up the bulk of his combined body train lasers at the Combaticon. Is he fast enough to dodge them all?

Backfire II charges into action, firstly pushing Scorn out of the way with one hand.. while the other charges up some of the toxic-energon seen earlier. The only difference, this clone's isn't just charging.. it's superheating. "You must avoid.. detection." he emits, using both hands now to rip into the chest cavity of Gestalt Backfire. The pieces of the corpses surrounding it, some are familiar, tumble away when the hot knife hands slice into it.. revealing a large lasercore, personally guarded by a strange algaman of Overture and Backfire. A fusion powererd blast from the duo-mech rings through Backfire II's head and sends him plummeting to the ground.

Rushing forward, Torquefire scales the giant mech slowly. Back in the action, lonely Sixswitch attempts to hold back the giant horde. Transforming more times than Backfire can count, the twelve changer holds his own.. and then some. Entire legions of the Inseekticlones are taken out, until finally.. no more come. Landing, exhausted, Sixswitch falls to a knee. "I can't believe we.. did it." he smiles, then falls to the ground from energon depletion.

"You did nothing, because you didn't do it in America!" future Overture conditioned Americon squawks out, landing on his chest and pecking at his optics. Sixswitch would fight back, but his energon levels are completely gone.

At least he doesn't have to 'watch' himself get eaten alive.

Both Blast Off and Scorn notice the slow motion time effect is wearing off, fast.

BACK IN REALITY..

"Damn, it's not working anymore!" Incision screams, slamming a fist on an empty slab. "It's like something is.. fighting against us!"

"Ugh, increase the dose then, slag it!" Triggerhappy exclaims, and he brings out another tube, this one marked as being five times the concentration of the one they'd just used. "Worst comes to worst...Backfire is more expendable than Blast Off. Or Scorn. Or anyone in there, come to think of it." He is so tempted to just shoot Backfire in the head, right now. But he might not get in as much trouble if the medics told him to euthanize the poor Seeker instead of him just losing it.

Well, of COURSE Blast Off can dodge the attacks. Even in real time, he generally has no difficulty evading most hits... and in a time-slowed alternate reality? Child's play. Which, coincidentally, was ALSO a movie, and we'll just hope Backfire never saw THAT one.... The space shuttle continues to do his best to annoy and distract the huge Backfire. "Are you supposed to be something like Bruticus? PLEASE. How pathetic... you are a pale imitation of a true gestalt!" The dead bodies don't help improve Blast Off's mood, either...how gross. "By the way, you're supposed to combine with LIVING forms, not dead carcasses..." The shuttle continues to snark away, growing more and more confident and arrogant... and then suddenly Backfire speeds up again. A blast from the huge mech singes one of Blast Off's wings, and the shuttle falters and wobbles in the air..."Gah!" He swoops in low, while reestablishing control and almost careens into the not-Americon, possibly knocking the "eagle" off his prey. Blast Off manages to keep going however through sheer momentum, and eventually gains altitude again. He arcs back up for another round. <> He radios.

Scorn is shoved aside, nearly sent tumbling from the mech if she didn't grab on again a bit lower down, jaw clenched as she looks up to see Backfire II melting through right to the core. "That's it, we're through!" She begins to clamber back up, but Backfire II goes down with a single shot from the fused abomination that is Overture and Backfire. Thankfully Torquefire is climbing fast, Scorn having no trouble sending the femme in first to draw away the fire.

"Get in there and hold them off, I'll head in after you!" And if Torquefire does head in Scorn is right behind her, moving as swiftly as possible through the fading slowness and making a final leap to shove Incision's head into the lasercore when she reaches it.

"What's going on??" Sixswitch calls out, "I can't see!!" Future mindwarped Americon is indeed knocked off and straight into a blade lying on the ground. He flaps around haphazardly before lying there helpless, dying. "For.. America."

Torquefire does just that, ignoring Scorn for now, and throwing herself into the huge cavity that is Super Backfire Gestalt's innards. "So, you're the THING I have to thank for this life.. eh?" she spits at the Overture/Backfire hybrid, which gimpily limps after her. "I am the Alpha Trion and the Omega Supreme now, you shall meet your end quickly little girl!" he shouts, smacking her with a couple of well aimed blows. Torquefire takes the damage in stride, getting in close to the pair. "We all meet our ends eventually, all that matters is HOW you meet them!" she cries out, knocking the duo Cybertronian with a viscious headbutt.

Before scorn, the HUGE lasercore lies open and unguarded. Outside, the large Gestalt is stomping up closer towards Blast Off. <> it shouts, reaching down to enclose him in a palm.

Inside the cavity, the battle between the pair rages constantly. Even if Torquefire had been training her entire life to face Backfire/Overture, it seems for naught. He's beaten her senseless and stands over her with fists held aloft. "Heh, seems your end is coming sooner than mine!"

BACK IN REALITY..

Incision hesitates, holding the dose in his hand. "If this flatlines him, they'll probably all die." he advises Triggerhappy, shaking terribly.

The Backfire/Overture mishmash won't have the satisfaction of ending Torquefire and Incision won't have to make that injection. Not when Scorn reaches the core. It's big. Bigger than she imagined, but that doesn't deter her, not about to back out now that they're at the end. "Here goes, hold on everyone!" She warns, holding up the head and pressing it against the core in hopes that it'll absorb it.

Blast Off circles back around as a huge palm reaches down for him. Noting that Scorn is almost to where she needs to be, the shuttle allows himself to be captured. At least that's what he'll tell anyone who questions him about it afterward. The Combaticon transforms again as he is grabbed, trying to keep his arms free and bringing his ionic blaster out of subspace again- pointing it at the huge Backfire's optics. "Ugh- apart of you? I'm afraid we just don't see optic to optic that way!" And he fires right at Backfire's optics, trying to blind him and give Scorn the time she needs. This must be done now...or they are all in trouble.

Triggerhappy glares at Incision's hesitation. "Look, they're all gonna die or be stuck in a comatose state forever if we don't get them out of there, you glitch!" He glances at a nucleon feed leading into Backfire's systems. "And if we lose Blast Off, we lose Bruticus. We. Can't. Have. That." And with that, the Targetmaster tries to grab the tube and empty it into the feed.

"How does it feel, to have your life ended by your own father?" Overfire asks Torquefire, about to bring both fists down on her head. She swivels her hips, legs following and toppling the duoformer to the ground. "Father? You sick demented piece of shit!" she rages, knocking him back with a series of strikes with her knees and legs. "My father met his end getting us INTO this core!"

Gestalt Backfire's optics don't break a stride as the ion blaster shot rings off of it, his other hand comes closer to pinch Blast Off's arm apart from his body. <> it shouts out, moving to pinch his tiny head inbetween his index finger and thumb next.

Another combination of strikes pushes Overture/Backfire to the edge of the opening in his chest cavity, Torquefire places a bootheel on his head. "Mother Torque sends her regards." he spits, kicking him off the edge to where he tumbles to the ground.. quite the fall. Turning, the Seeker-Tow Truck manages to catch a glimpse of Scorn before the virus meets with the core. "For the future.. tell my father, hello." she says meekly, before the entire scene is enveloped in blackness.

BACK IN REALITY..

Fighting with Triggerhappy, Incision finally is pushed backwards and falls to his aft. The dosage is juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust about to be administered, when Scorn and Blast Off find themselves waking up in the -real- Medbay.

"WAIT!" Incision calls out, pointing to the chorus of bleeps that sound off from the numerous machines monitoring everyone's health.

That's it! They've done it! The virus is introduced, working rapidly through the system. The last thing Scorn sees and hears is Torquefire before the world falls into darkness.

Optic shutters open slowly, dim glow met with the bright light of the medbay that has the femme squinting while sitting up slowly. "Ergh.. Did we do it? Did it work..?" She looks rather dazed while looking at Triggerhappy and Incision, but reality soon floods back in and she snaps awake, quickly pulling out the chords in the back of her head and grunting. "Last time I ever do anything for Backfire, I swear."

Blast Off 's shots have NO EFFECT. The Combaticon fires off a few more shots before beginning to punch and kick and try to squirm free. At least until the huge hand comes down and Blast Off suddenly knows what it's like to be on the OTHER side of Bruticus' grip. He yells in pain as his arm is wrenched off with a cascade of sparks, and then the hand comes for his head....OHSLAG. ....And then he wakes up. He jerks his head up, blinking and looking around. "It's... we're back? Where are the others? What the slag WAS all that?"

Aww, Triggerhappy had been secretly hoping that they'd have to euthanize poor Backfire for the sake of Bruticus. Oh well. He smirks, dropping the tube instead of injecting its contents into the IV. "Well, what do you know. It worked after all." He turns around, watching as Scorn and Blast Off come out of stasis. "Heh, yeah hopefully next time they'll let me shoot the pathetic glitchead before his brain module manages to get someone killed. We were lucky it wasn't Blast Off." Because then surely Scorponok would interrogate them, then rip the lot of them apart.

He then turns to the medic. "Incision, you better get rid of that thing." he says, pointing at the simulation device. "Or at least lock it away somewhere."

Incision smiles when the others wake up, standing to collect himself. "Calm down, they're fine." he says, shooting Triggerhappy a look. "They are experiencing some strange residual effects of the trip. They'll be up and about within the cycle." He pauses, giving them all a once over. "What happened in there?"

A teeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeny tiny amount of the supressant was introduced into the feed right before Triggerhappy dropped it. Surely he'll be alright, right? Stirring, Backfire rises to a seated position slowly and surveys the lot of them. "Whhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhy arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrre yooooooooooooooooooooou allllllllllllllllllllllll looooooooooooooooooooooooooking attttttttttttttttttttttttt meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee?" the Seeker asks, all SUPER SLOW-MO style.. it takes about a minute for him to complete the short sentence.

Blast Off looks down at his arm- which is STILL THERE, thank Primus, and flexes it gratefully. He overhears Triggerhappy actually sounding concerned about him... well, probably because of Bruticus. Figures. But still... nice to know he cares. Not that Blast Off would actually tell him that. He sits up and watches Backfire come back online. Huffing, he says, "Because you're an idiot, that's why." Slag, Blast Off never did find out why Backfire kept acting strange around him. Well, considering what he just experienced, maybe it's Combiner Envy? He looks at Incision. "It...I... it's hard to explain. ... Do you watch many fleshling movies, by any chance?"

Triggerhappy chuckles at Backfire, but gives Incision as stern of a look as he can possibly muster. He synthesizes a coughing noise. "Ahem. I'm calm. But I'm ordering you to put that thing away. Anyway if you don't, I will." He points an arm downward at the device, a photon blaster folding out of it. Any excuse to shoot something, really...

Scorn's head is pounding, the poor femme likely in need of a nap or something. Plus that'd give her an excuse to get away from here. But not just yet, she has unfinished business. Namely Backfire, who gets her ire when he wakes up. She's glaring daggers at him now, hissing under her breath and standing with a bit of a wobble before moving toward him and grabbing him by the chestplate. "Don't /ever/ call for my help again." Her point is made clear by three strikes across his face. Slap, backhand, slap. After that she lets him go and snorts. "Oh and by the way, some imaginary femme in your head named Torquefire says hello." To the rest in the room she just waves a hand, dismissing herself and striding on out of medbay without another word.

"I'll turn it over to Commander Soundwave within the cycle, or you can justify ruining cutting edge technology to him." Incision replies to Triggerhappy.

Backfire obviously can't evade the slaps, so he just sits there and gets femme handled like a boss. His optics blink a couple times, trying to make sense of it all. The supressant starts to wear off, "I didn't asssssssk for your help. What just happened?"

INSIDE BACKFIRE'S BRAIN MODULE..

Because of the introduction of the supressant and the residual effects it has, the program stays open temporarily.. still shutting down. Inside it, Torquefire stands alone outside the hulking gestalt who is about to go super-nova from the virus injection (a backup plan incase the virus didn't work). She stands before the corpses of Backfire II and Mother Torque, their fates a testament to the harsh reality this universe offered.

When from outside, in the smallest imaginable voice possible she hears it. Scorn's message and her father's voice. Smiling, Torquefire and the rest of the dystopian Backfire world is enveloped in a nuclear explosion.

~Fini