|
Who: Tailgate, Repugnus, Blurr |
|
|
AC Training Chamber
This stark, spacious chamber is well reinforced and shielded to stand up to the strain of many practice bouts. A gleaming training drone stands in one corner of the room, ready for work. The walls are sheathed in reflective alloys, allowing the combatants to observe their motions and progress.
So the little minibot is summoned by his superiors to receive some "proper training," since prior to having arrived at the base, he hasn't really recieved any. He's just been under the assumption all this time that scouts don't need much because they usually aren't involved in direct combat. However his senior officers seem to think otherwise, consequently, he's at the base training facility, feeling a bit frightened and rather intimdated. It is needless to say that he's quite reluctant to participate in this activity. However, orders will be orders...
He arrives late, hoping to stall whatever harsh ugliness would await him at the hands of Blurr and that wheedling bug like thing everyone knew as Repugnus. Slowing his gait as he approaches the training room, he peers in before entering, hand servos folded neatly over the subspace compartment in his chassis--he'd come directly from the dump and had stashed a small conventional toaster in the aforementioned compartment. It probably isn't going to be the best life choice he's made in a while... Looking up, Tailgate sees Blurr and Repugnus. "H-Hello, sir. Ehm, sirs..."
Bug Creature <Repugnus> has a top hat and cane right now. This is because he hacked the training room to constantly project those things onto him at all times. "Helloooo Tailgate! And welcome to the world of adventure! A place ~where your dreams come true!!!~" he singsongs. Then his face goes blank. Finally he stares at Blurr and says, "Wait... what are we doing again?"
Blurr shakes his head at the minibot. "Oh come on, Tailgate. There's no need to look like that. This is just a training exercise." He says, nodding toward Repugnus. Hopefully that will answer the intel CO's question.
The strange human-like apparel just gets a slight quirk of a brow ridge. That kind of thing was expected from Repugnus, anyway. The speedster turns to the control panels, and he begins scrolling through various simulations. "Hmm...let's see. Repugnus, any suggestions on what we should start out with?'
Just a training exercise... Tailgate's optics are already starting to glaze over. Just the way Repugnus has said "where your dreams come true' unnerves him, A lot. Blurr may have found Repugnus' kooky attire odd and perhaps a little annoying, Tailgate finds it creepy and offputting. Why did he need to wear that to a training exercise? His innocent and frightened mind is starting to make up violent nightmares about the cane Repugnus is carrying. Lowering his helm, his servos start to quake with anxiety. Oh no, Blurr is asking Repugnus about how to begin. This can't end well..
Bug Creature <Repugnus> shuffles over next to Blurr. "Oooh! Oooh! That one, I designed that simulation myself." Looking at the preview, it's easy to see that this is indeed the truth--the preview video shows an orgy of blood, death, and madness. Faces melting away. Impaled victims writhing in the sun. People thrown into cruel, enormous meat-grinders.
Blurr pauses momentarily when Repugnus indicates the simulation he'd designed himself. Maybe it wasn't a good one to start out with, but...Tailgate could honestly use some...breaking in. He was too soft and trusting.
"'Kay then. Get ready, Tailgate." And he hits the 'execute' function.
BLOOP. And then just like that OH PRIMUS it's the like the cover to a death metal album! The skies are blood red, the ground is a bleak and barren hellscape, skulls and bones are everywhere, and it's too damn hot. But where's the impaled bodies? Oh, there they are. "Oh Primus, help me!" some cry. But Tailgate has little time to ponder what to do as five cloaked riders on rusty mecha-horses gallop straight at him! What's with their faces? Oh dear--the metal over their faces has been peeled away to reveal the skeletal support structure underneath! "YAAAAAH!" they cry as one, waving wicked sickles over their heads.
No, please... he begs inwardly, when he sees the simulation Blurr has selected. Please, please, for once, be somewhat ethical...But it's too late. His unrealized nightmares have come true. Tailgate just stands there, knee servos suddenly buckling and he practically collaspes, shuddering in horror, hardly able to look at the five cloaked riders. He tries to tell himself this is all just a simulation, but somehow, everything just looks way to real for him to actually concretely believe it...
"Tch." Oh, Repugnus...Blurr could only expect this out of something the Monsterbot had created himself. He slaps Tailgate on the back. "Come on, pal. There's only five of them and the outer armor on their faces is missing so that should be pretty self-explanatory. I'll go first."
And the courier darts toward the bone-face on the far left, attempting to grab the sickle right out of its hand before it can do anything and thrust the weapon straight at its creepy face.
KA-SHUNK! The sickle goes right through the faceless robot's lack of face and into its brain! But does it die? Oh, it doesn't JUST die. The creature lets loose with an ear-splitting howl, every joint in its body suddenly spraying energon. Its head twists around and around until it finally flies off and explodes. Its body explodes shortly after as well, spraying energon blood and body parts everywhere. Another rider is quick to counterattack Blurr, though, swinging its scythe at him!
"That one isn't even trying to run away!" rasps one of the other riders. "Grab him so that we may prepare him for the SACRIFICE!" And a rider reaches down for Tailgate...
When Tailgate sees Blurr thrusting the scythe through a rider's face, his joints somehow unlock. "Blurr!! N-no!" he cried. His faceplates drop in horror when the rider falls down, his head completely severed, The body falls the ground, and Tailgate hurries over to it, placing a hand servo under the bloody neck, supporting it gently. But then the body explodes, covering Tailgate in innermost energon fluids and stray bit of innard chassis. However, another one of the riders reaches down to pick him up, and he allows himself to be scooped up, arms hanging useless by his side. "If I'm sacrificed, will you stop massacring all these innocents?" he asks very quietly, optics wide, limpid and sad.
Blurr groans. "Tailgate, no. This is a fight. NOT a negotiation!" He sighs, glancing at Repugnus. "Pug, get it through his processor." He jumps sideways to avoid the scythe, and his blasters activate as he aims for the head of the skeletal rider who has grabbled Tailgate, hoping to make its head explode.
The faceless rider leers down at Tailgate as he rides off with him, "Of course not! Our God demands blood! Blood over everything else! Yours and theirs!" And then his head explodes from the blaster shot, and the headless body spasms before it also explosively rips itself apart. Alas, even as he drops Tailgate, another rider grabs Tailgate, and, casting a nasty glare back at Blurr, the rider seems to activate a transformation in his mecha-horse, and its legs turn into thrusters, which suddenly and quickly propel it into the air, off in the direction of an ominous, spiky tower.
The last rider turns to confront Blurr, but suddenly, the ground erupts into a swarm of tiny mechanical flies, which swarm all over the rider, and he howls as he and his horse are devoured, leaving nothing behind.
Repugnus replies with... nothing. He's not there. Where'd he go off to?
"Repugnus?" Now where did that Monsterbot get off to? Oh, well. No one can outrun Blurr.
FWBOOM!
And off he goes after the one who had taken Tailgate, not sparing the swarm of devouring insects a second glance. <<Primus frag it, Tailgate, fight back! I know you have weapons!>>
"But why..." Tailgate mutters, wondering if this simulation was what the inside of Repugnus' central circuitry looked like. When Blurr blows the head of the rider carrying him off, he covers his optics, shaking his helm. "N-no!" he cries. "Stop!" But he's suddenly grabbed by another one of the riders. With a sigh, he allows himself to be taken away, Optics turned downward, he waves sadly at Blurr as the rider takes off into the distance towards the dark foreboding tower in the distance.
No, Tailgate, the inside of Repugnus's head is far, far worse. But anyway, while Blurr maybe be faster than anything on the ground, the air is a different story as the rider ascends and ascends higher and higher. Soon he's out of reach and out of range. Even so, Blurr's speed will make it possible for him to keep up to a great degree.
He sees Blurr chasing the rider carrying him, and suddenly, he becomes a bit frantic. With a surprising amount of agility, he frees himself from the grasp of the dark rider and hops onto his shoulders, covering his helm with his body, effectively blinding the enemy who was holding him hostage. "NO! DON'T KILL HIM!" But soon they're out of shooting range...
"Slag it," Blurr mutters, but he figures they're headed for that dark-looking structure in the distance. Where else could they be going, anyway? So he makes for it at supersonic speeds.
"GET OFF, FOOL! I CAN'T SEE!" the last rider yells, reaching up to yank Tailgate away. But it's too late--the rider crashes through the tower! The mecha-horse and rider don't survive the crash--they're smashed to pieces upon impact. The room they crashed into, it turns out, is some sort of twisted piano room, though the piano in this case doesn't use strings in the standard sense, but rather, they're electrical lines hooked up to thousands of humans, and sections of them scream in agony corresponding to whatever key is pressed, like a demented church organ. And who's playing this twisted machine? Why, it's--
"Who dares interrupt my orchestra!?" cries none other than Repugnus, clad in a red cape and sporting a crown on his head!
Down at the bottom of the tower, two hulking, imposing guards wait at the foreboding entrance, looking ready to use their scourges to flay anyone who draws close. Numerous examples of their handiwork, mechanical and biological, have been crucified nearby, some of whom are still twitching.
Blurr arrives at the towering structure just as the mecha-horse crashes through the wall to reveal the twisted musical instrument of sorts. The speedster takes in this horrific sight for a moment, then shakes his head. This wasn't surprising, but maybe he shouldn't have gone along with this. Maybe Repugnus ought to be banned from making training simulations.
"Repugnus, I know you enjoy this kind of thing but--don't you think this is kind of overkill for a training simulation?" he asks, though it's more of an implication than a question.
Unfortunately, Tailgate realizes that he's now very, very high up, and not being a flier by any means at all, he becomes rather afraid. "Aieeee!" He yelps, clinging to the rider's helm as if death itself were chasing them and turning his optics off. Then, "Ungh...!" They've crashed through the tower's walls, and the rider along with his mecha horse are dashed to pieces. Tailgate faceplants onto the floor, a bit disoriented. Then, he bolts to his feet, deadpanning, optics wide. He seeswhat remains of the rider and gasps sadly, "Oh no... I'm sorry," he says softly and gathers the remains, cradling them gently, not quite sure of what to do with them for the time being. But then he sees Repugnus playing that tortuous organ, using the pain of the humans to implement its sadistic melody. His optics quaver and glaze over, and he drops the remains and rushes over to the piano, shoving Repugnus away from the disgusting instrument with a surprsing amoung of force, knocking the crown off of Repugnus' helm. "Stop!" he cried, his optics angry. Then his expression softens. "What's.. what's wrong with you? Why are you .. why are you the way you are?! Did somebody do something terrible and unforgettable to you a long time ago? If so, then I'm really sorry. But ...this..." he gestures at his surroundings. "It won't fix anything. I don't know if you're trying to get back at the world for something, or if for some weird reason this brings you pleasure, because there are other, better things that can bring you pleasure without causing other people pain." Tailgate walks over to the organ and gently begins to sever the electrical lines connected to the humans. "I've always wondered about you, About why you're so terrible." He wasn't going to sugarcoat it, he knew Repugnus didn't care for it. "But I made a promise to myself that no matter how horrible you are to me or anybody else, I"ll always care for you and protect you to the best of my ability. I don't know if it will pay off. But I'm hoping one day it will."
"GUARDS!" Repugnus yells, not answering Blurr's question. The two guards from the bottom of the tower burst in with their scourges, and, immediately spotting Blurr first, rush towards him, trying to flay the armor right off of him!
And Repugnus is shoved off of the organ with such force that he even looks surprised by it! "What? Who are you, even, to condemn one such as I, the great king!" Then he hears the rest. "You'll... care for me? Protect me? Why... that's so noble. So noble..." He waits until Tailgate is holding one of the cables, and a delirious grin appears on his face. "AND SO FOOLISH!" And he hits the key that will send a charge right through the cable, zapping Tailgate and the section of humans that the key corresponds to!
Blurr mutters when Repugnus ignores his question. And then the guards are attacking him. He flips and strafes across the floor, evading their melee weapons as best he can--but of course they're not as fast as he is. Heh. So, that's how the Monsterbot wanted to play this? Well all right then.
He transforms and charges straight at the two guard, attempting to catch them in the same spot and slam both of them into the wall with the impact of a projectile his size traveling at near-supersonic speed. Which, if this room were larger, he would have been supersonic.
"... agh!" Tailgate yelps, falling backwards onto the floor. As much as Repugnus' words hurt him, he remembers his promise. No matter how terrible Repugnus was, he's still going to care for him. But now Blurr is attacking the guards. No, no, no... he just wanted all of this to stop. He didn't want anymore violence or gory death. So he gets directly in Blurr's way. "S-stop...no more, please... please..."
Unfortunately for them, the guards might have been strong, but they're also too slow to react to Blurr, and they're smashed right out of the tower. But now Blurr's up against perhaps a more formidable obstacle--a friend!
King Repugnus hears Tailgate's begging, and just laughs at him. "Stop? Make me! Hahahaha!" And then, leaning over to his organ, Repugnus plays the keys randomly, not bothering with any sort of musical pretense, constantly zapping the poor, helpless humans over and over. They shriek in pain, and some get zapped so much that their heads begin to smoke. And all the while, Repugnus is grinning evilly down at Tailgate.
"Tailgate, for Primus' sake, stop!" Blurr exclaims, frustrated but thankfully stopping in time to keep from knocking Tailgate through the wall as well. "Don't you get it? We're trying to get it through your processor that you can't be like this all the time. You have to do what's necessary sometimes, even that means killing people who are dangerous in order to preserve as many sapients as possible. We all knew from the start that saving everyone would be impossible."
He transforms and turns to face King Repugnus, his weapons charged. "Don't make me do this, Repugnus."
He stares at Repugnus mournfully, not a single trace of hate in his optics. Tailgate sighs. "You're right. I can't. And if you're trying to manipulate me into forcing you, well you've failed. I can't control you. I can only control me." He turns to the organ, about to continue plucking the electrical lines attached to the humans, but suddenly, Blurr is aiming his weapons at Repugnus. "Blurr! Don't!" He jumps up and stands in front of Repugnus. "You don't seriously think that's true in all cases, do you?! Dangerous doesn't mean malicious, And you can't make me believe the same things you do, Maybe saving everyone is impossible, but there's always a choice and sometimes, you have to die for what you believe in." He suddenly grabs the barrel of Blurr's weapon and aims it at his own chassis, holding it there firmly to prove his point.
"Stop plucking my strings!" Repugnus yells in frustration, banging on his keys, and causing a multitude of horrible shrieks. "STOP RUINING MY FUN!" he continues to rave, and mashes the keys that have not had their lines severed. The unfortunate humans yet to be freed of the organ let out horrible cries. Now and then one of their heads will slump forward and cease to respond to shocks. At the moment, Repugnus seems utterly immune both to threats and to pleas for reason, his sole focus on torturing the humans with his perverse device.
"Primus frag it!" Blurr exclaims. This slagging minibot, he didn't get it, did he? "How the slag would me killing you instead help this situation, Tailgate? Tell me! " He jerks his weapon away from Tailgate's hands and brings it around, aiming it at the strings this time. And he starts blowing them away, a few at a time. "Dangerous might not mean malicious, but that doesn't matter! We don't always have the time to ponder these things. It's life or death; fight or die."
"If this situation were real--if killing Repugnus were the only way to save all these humans...then it'd be worth it. And it'd be necessary."
While the two argue, Repugnus doesn't join in. He truly does seem to care only for spreading as much as he can. And so, when all but a handful of the cables remain, Repugnus simply holds down the corresponding keys. It's truly awful--the screaming is nonstop, the room begins to fill with the smell of burnt flesh and ozone, more of the humans' head slump forward.
But of course, Blurr probably never second guessed himself or took a lot of time to think about the decisions he made, Tailgate figures, he lived life in the fast lane, doing everything as fast as mechly possible. "I wasn't trying to say that killing me would helped the situation," he says softly. "I was trying to prove a point." He shook his helm. "That's not always true... it isn't always the only way. Maybe if it really was the only way after examining the situation, I'd consider it. But this isn't a real situation, I'd never let you kill Repugnus, because I care about him. If it were someone else really not worth caring about, I probably do the same as you!"
"Like I said, there's isn't always time to sit there and ponder and examine the situation to see if that really is the only option." Blurr argues, as he continues until every wire is severed. "Sometimes it's obvious that it isn't the only way, like this time. But sometimes--sometimes we have to make tough decisions."
He turns to Repugnus once he's finished. "You should be glad I didn't decide to shoot your hands instead."
He just knew that Blurr was going to say that. Tailgate sighs. He still didn't agree with all of the things that Blurr believed in, nor Repugnus. You don't have to take a lot time to ponder, he thinks to himself, it would just matter that you actually did, which is probably something you probably never do. But he's too tired to argue, he knows Blurr isn't going to agree with him and he can't force him to think like he does. "Of course we do, and that's why these decisions should be thought about carefully.." he says softly, too softly for Blurr's audio's receptors to pick up.
He looks over at Repugnus. "Are we done now...." he asks very tiredly.
King Repugnus glares at the two as finally at the cables are severed, and the suffering of the humans, one way or another, comes to an end. He opens his mouth, about to say something--then the whole world disappears, including Repugnus himself, revealing the training room once again.
"Yeah, we're done here," Repugnus says from behind the two Autobots, sounding none too happy. "Yeah, eh, that wasn't really me, and this is a training room anyway, so your 'mercy' was kinda wasted, Tailgate." He kneels down in front of the minibot to look him in the optics. "Kinda disappointed in you, man. I mean... you SAW how my counterpart was torturing and killing those humans, right? We're supposed to saving those guys, you know?"
He stands up, raising a brow at Blurr. "And you. Man, I thought you were starting to 'get it.' But like Tailgate here, you took the long way around a very simple problem. Lives were on the line, guys. You couldn't afford to screw around all day. All you had was SHOOT ME and the humans' suffering would have stopped right there. I mean, were you just trying to give Tailgate the chance to do this himself, is that? I hope so." He sighs, hands back his back as he paces around the room. "Don't aim for the hands. Aim for the head. You can still play a piano with feet."
Tailgatehangs his helm. ". . ." Oh, but it looked so real and they were supposed to pretend it was real, right? Right? "I-I t-tried.." he mumbles sadly. I don't think that it would have been necessary to kill you in order to stop the suffering of the humans, he thinks to himself. But why would Repugnus, or even Blurr, believe me? But Repugnus is right, isn't he? They were supposed to be saving the humans, and he barely managed to save any of them. Now he just feels like a failure, and a terrible Autobot. He stares at the floor, speechless, having no excuse for his awful performance.
"Er....yeah." Blurr says, rubbing the back of his neck. "I was trying to see if Tailgate would have the struts to do what was necessary." he confirms, though it isn't entirely true. Mostly, he just thought he was fast enough to sever all the wires before any of the humans died or suffered too much more.
But he sighs, shaking his head at the minibot. "No, no you didn't Tailgate. You didn't try, you argued with me and tried to stop me!"
This is the part where Repugnus would mercilessly troll Tailgate until he broke down into... well, not quite tears, but the next best thing. But then it occurs to him that he's trying to be responsible, or at least pretend to be. "Ehhh, we can't all be super badass killing machines, Blurr. But he's right, Tailgate. Next time a situation like this comes up, you need to SHOOT to KILL. And yes, you need to do that even if it's a fellow Autobot. How do you know that one day I won't completely flip and decide to hurt humans as much as I hurt Decepticons? What if that really happened, Tailgate? Would you let humans suffer because you didn't want to hurt me?"
The creature spins and twists about into Repugnus's robot mode!
He doesn't look at Repugnus or Blurr. "I-I'm sorry," he apologizes pathetically to Blurr. He doesn't really know what else to say. He cringes as Repugnus utters those stinging words. He doesn't answer right away. But finally, Tailgate says, "No. I wouldn't kill you, and I don't believe that I need to do that if that were to happen to a fellow Autobot, unless there was absolutely no other choice. Which doesn't happen very often, because I believe that in most circumstances, there is ....a choice." He pauses. "I also don't break the promises I make. I promised I would always protect and care for you. I won't go back on that. But I would find a way to keep the humans safe, even if it meant jeopardizing my own life."
At this point in time, Tailgate remembers the toaster in his subspace compartment and suddenly realizes he should check to make sure she's okay and has survived the traumatic incidents that have just occured, so he cracks his compartment open just a little and peeks in to ensure the toaster's safety...
"Exactly, Tailgate. There's always a choice, but we have to have the struts to make the right choice, even if it's difficult." Blurr says, sighing. "Anyway, I guess that was the point of this little...wait." he notices the minibot peeking into the compartment. "What is that?" he demands.
Repugnus bites his lip as he sees the toaster. Oh, the trolling that would ensue under different circumstances. Alas, he's wearing his Commander hat right now (metaphorically) and restrains himself. "Eh, probably just gonna make some pop tarts later or sumthin', eh heh." He sighs. This guy's hopeless. Even Bumblebee would have pulled the trigger, surely? "Blurr, if I did go crazy and start hurting humans, you'd use lethal force on me if that's what it took, right?" Perhaps that's a secret hope of Repugnus's--that one day, someone will stop him from being the crazy psycho that he is.
Tailgate's optics widen. Oh no. "W-well...I-I.." he stammers, starting to back away. "Nothing you'd be interested in," he says hurriedly, "and you said we were done, so.." he attempts to make a quick exit.
Blurr nods at Repugnus. "Of course..." Though he hasn't been in a situation quite like that before so who knows?
Blurr's optics narrow at Tailgate's stammering suspecting that he's probably hiding some piece of human tech that he somehow still thinks is sapient, but he leaves it for now. "Fine," he says, waving a servo. "We're done for now." Repugnus might think Tailgate was a lost cause, but Blurr hopes he'll get it one cycle in the future.
Repugnus smiles fiendishly at the messenger. "Just what I wanted to hear. Yeah, eh, go on, Tailgate. Head on home, which is here, and write a... uh, two to two hundred paragraph summary detailing what you learned from the training session."
His ventilators rasp audibly as he heaves a giant sigh of relief. "O-Okay, thank you, And o-of course," he stammers in response to Repugnus. "Sir. I will. Anything you say," he says quickly but obediently. For a moment, he glances worriedly over at Blurr. Would he really kill Repugnus? Blurr's reponse bothers and perhaps frightens Tailgate. After all, if one day he thought Tailgate was being too friendly to Outbound, would he... give him the same treatment? However, that is something for Tailgate to ponder later. For now, he hurries towards the egress of the training facility, eager to leave this wretched place that would hold many a bad memory for him.