Status Report

[reallybadcop]

WHO: Barricade, Blackout
WHERE: Zone 4-ish
WHAT: Barricade feels the need to figure out why Blackout's alive/bring him up to speed on Axiom happenings...at least, from a Tyran Decepticon point of view.

Comments

[reallybadcop]

...so much for that doubt. Barricade seemed surprised only for a few moments, before raising his own hand to unsheathe a dataport. "If you insist," he said mildly, taking a step forwards towards the larger mech as well. Perhaps...perhaps he could find out a few things of his own, such as why Blackout was alive. And if he truly didn't know anything because it hadn't happened for him, could those TransTechs have taken him before his death? (If so, did that mean that Barricade himself - that Megatron had never risen again in the first place, that he'd been taken before that? Or...)

He removed these thoughts, and instead brought up the files he spoke of as he prepared for the data transfer. Designations. Causes of death. Everything that he'd found out during his time, aside from his personal experiences with Bumblebee and his ward (though he was prepared to share the fact that he was as hunted as any of the others, that there was a time he'd escaped by the rubber of his tires - only to reiterate the fact that they had been hunted. all of them.).

And how many had died with the Fallen's name on their vocalizers.

[houndofmegatron]

Closing the distance between them in one long stride, Blackout lowered his hand to meet Barricade's, connecting them palm to palm and carefully lowering the paranoid subroutines that would keep the transfer from happening. The rest of his mind remained guarded, but not excessively so, something he might have reconsidered, had he known that Barricade sought information of his own.

As it was, he just initiated uplink and waited for Barricade to transfer the files, eager to peruse the information for himself. He wanted to know what had happened, everything that had happened, even though he still wasn't entirely sure he believed it.

[reallybadcop]

And it began.

Macerator. Kickback. Trample, Tread. So many others. All the data Barricade had accumulated on NEST, which wasn't too much - for all of the fact that Cybertronian technology and software was far superior to anything the humans had, it was more along the lines of him not quite knowing where to search; he was used to Frenzy doing such things. He'd found enough to understand the purpose of the group, but not who they were going after, how they were hunting them.

His memory files of Mission City were there as well, though Blackout might easily note that none of it was first hand. He hadn't been there; why, he did not transfer, though there was a distinct sense of regret tinging it. He'd wanted to be there. He'd wanted to fight. Fate - or ill luck - had not allowed him to participate. He would not have minded dying in battle with the rest of them, but as he had survived - he had a duty to continue surviving, and to do whatever he could to seek revenge without getting himself killed in the process.

Not like the fools who screamed of the Fallen, the rumors of his return.

Barricade did not send his files since coming here; only of the time between Mission City, and just before his arrival. And not everything - simply enough for Blackout to understand that yes, this happened. Yes, he missed things.

And as Barricade searched Blackout's own files, looking for holes in memory or lies or anything to offer an explanation - he was determined not to miss anything of his own.

[houndofmegatron]

Blackout was too preoccupied with poring over the incoming information to lock Barricade out of his own processor. He had nothing to hide, anyway; he'd always been straightforward, remarkably so for a Decepticon, and there was no reason to lie about this anyway. So far as he knew, his last memories of the planet Earth were the last things that had happened there, and Scorponok hadn't been awake long enough to give him any idea otherwise.

He was getting one now, though, looking through the files Barricade was giving him. Though it was always a possibility that the files were doctored, or fabricated, there were no glaring inconsistencies or any of the other, more subtle markers that might indicate it.

It seemed he had to believe him.

He really had missed things. He shook his head, not in negation but incredulity. How could this happen? he wondered as he lingered, particularly, on the information from Mission City. The thought was probably clear to Barricade.

[reallybadcop]

Sympathy and pity did not come easily for Barricade - he could fake them, but honest feeling was another story. He did not feel either of those emotions right now...but what he did feel was a sort of comradeship to Blackout for the same thought he had thought many, many times. The Decepticons outnumbered the Autobots, were more powerful there, Megatron was more than a match for the Prime and yet, somehow they had been reduced to hiding on the pathetic waste of a planet.

As Blackout made no attempt to keep him out, Barricade took another, deeper look in - then, finding nothing to answer his question (unless the lack of something did so), he oulled back out. Satisfied? he sent without sarcasm along the data link.

[houndofmegatron]

Blackout had been a Decepticon too long to expect them, and did not note their absence. Just this was enough--the willingness to meet, and to share. Not a few of Megatron's soldiers would have been all too happy to leave a comrade in ignorance, just to see him struggle to find the answers himself. This was far preferable.

Satisfied, he acknowledged, caching the files for further examination later and initiating disconnection of that link. "The Allspark..." he said aloud, the volume of his vocalizer low and the tone pensive. "Does anything remain?"

[reallybadcop]

Blackout was larger and more powerful than him - Barricade approved of his strength, if not his words and actions many times, and he would earn himself nothing by withholding the information. Blackout was far from a friend, but he was a valuable ally to have.

"A single shard," he explained, sending the relevant data file, which...did not have much information to it. The humans - and Autobots - hid its location well. "I do not know where it is," Barricade reiterated, before starting the subroutines to close the connection.

[houndofmegatron]

The information that the Allspark hadn't been wholly eliminated was reassuring, certainly, meager though that information was. He accepted this transfer as well, then confirmed the disconnect and pulled his hand away, curling it into a fist absently.

"Not that there's much we can do to reclaim it even if you did," he muttered. "Not unless they happened to bring it here."

[reallybadcop]

"I would rather return to Earth, and to Megatron." And now Barricade touched on what he'd learned since then - "The girl, Mikaela Banes. We have spoken, and she has told me of things that I couldn't possibly have missed - Megatron's revival, the Fallen coming to Earth."

And subsequent death. But he'd save that until he saw Blackout's reaction.

"She believes it to be truth, if nothing else." And how would a human know of the Fallen?

[houndofmegatron]

"As would I, Barricade." Really, that went without saying, particularly when it came to Blackout. There was nowhere he would rather be than at Lord Megatron's side.

"...The Fallen," he repeated blankly. "The insect claims the Fallen came to Earth? That legend?" Not the most religious mech, Blackout had long ago discounted the Fallen's existence as surely as that of Primus, or the firstforged Primes, or any of the other various figures of Cybertronian myth and legend that stories were told about. If he couldn't perceive it--or-them--directly, he wasn't convinced.

[reallybadcop]

"Yes. And that it was tied into Megatron's revival." Assuming that one believed the stories - which Barricade did not, though he had rethought his belief in recent days - it made a certain amount of sense. "I will be 'asking' her for more data in the future."

Again, tone said more than words; Barricade was known through the Decepticons for getting others to tell him information. Willingly. Happily so, even, as they trusted him and why wouldn't they share such things.

"...and that the Prime managed to kill him." Here, at least, he let his disbelief shine through. "I would very much like to find a Decepticon who had seen that."

[houndofmegatron]

"I would appreciate it if you shared anything you learned from her," Blackout said with a nod--all he needed to say. He was, of course, well aware of Barricade's special talent for obtaining information, particularly from living sources.

He still wasn't sure he believed this nonsense about the Fallen, though Lord Megatron's revival was something he could accept without question, no matter what the circumstances.

"...Hn." A flutter of his rotors betrayed his uncertainty, and he had to still them willfully. "As would I. Prime is not to be underestimated, but given the legends about the Fallen's power..." It seemed...unlikely, to say the least.

[reallybadcop]

"I intend to get as much as I can. If that means that I must put my revenge on the Witwicky boy on hold, so be it." And with Blackout here - that actually could work well. Barricade looked over Blackout, considering putting on a 'show' for the humans and Autobots, perhaps gaining more trust in the process...

It was a thought, but it would require some planning.

[houndofmegatron]

"There will be time enough to repay him for what he's done," Blackout said softly, both hands fisting this time, before he forced them to relax and open again. "Human lifespans may be miniscule, but not that much so, I'm sure."

Although there was no doubt Witwicky's was in particular danger of premature termination; Barricade wasn't the only one who'd relish a chance at him, particularly given the information Blackout now possessed about him and the role he'd played at Mission City.

[reallybadcop]

"Plenty of time," Barricade assured Blackout, smirking a little. "I have already informed him that he lives only because I wished his end to be long, slow, and painful."

He most certainly had enough time to finish him off, had he wanted to then and there, but...his reasons for letting the boy live then were far from merciful.

"That said; the boy is under the Autobot's protection, and we are still outnumbered. I have made some allies, but they are not enough - in addition, they have powerful allies as well, and there is the matter of the 'security'. It would be prudent to plan to separate them, and to strike in the lower, less policed Zones...and, perhaps, to focus on what the Megatron has planned."

[houndofmegatron]

"How magnanimous of you," Blackout said dryly. "When that end comes, perhaps you'll extent that magnanimity to me and allow me to assist." He certainly wouldn't object to a chance to pay the boy back for some of his crimes, even though he'd only just learned of them. Using the Allspark to attempt to destroy Lord Megatron was unforgivable.

Shifting again, Blackout looked away, muttering, "I would prefer to make returning where we came from a top priority." He looked back, his expression determined. "If that requires working with this alternate Megatron, so be it. The Autobots and the Witwicky boy can wait."