Void saga (hopefully) finale!

[hidden_watcher]

[From Cyclonus's journal here.]

*on the bridge of the Dis, absent-mindedly with an arm around Dreadboots to reassure her* *one optic and audial monitoring the copilot's station, but mostly just watching Galvatron, watching the console lights throw shadows across his proud, fiercely set features, watching those strong fingers move with caressing

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[chaos_gunner]

((Cleaning up again, new thread!))

*The yellow line runs out at the foot of what is, obviously, the bridge door of the Cocytus. Galvatron steps forward, gesturing those behind him to wait, and palms the door control. Let me pass?*

*the door slides open, revealing Jetstorm lost in his trance and Cyclonus beside him, leaning heavily against the console - he looks up at the sound of the doors opening, showing ravaged, half-blinded features twisting in an expression too complex to identify beneath the damage and the streaks of drying oil...*

Cyclonus! *feet barely touch the ground across the intervening distance and Galvatron is at his lieutenant's side, catching Cyclonus as his body finally gives out and he falls*

*voice breaking with rage* WHO DID THIS?!! *nobody else is allowed to do this to you, you're mine, I say what is done and when and why...!*

[firstlieutenant]

*hasn't really been aware of anything but the pain for a while now, nothing left to do but focus on staying conscious, staying alive, not letting his guard drop until someone else is here to take over* *so when Galvatron walks through the door it's an immediate stand down, and his overstressed systems plummet into long-delayed failure* *dimly he's aware as he falls of Galvatron's arms around him, Galvatron's thigh bracing his back as the warlord folds to one knee to take his weight*

Mighty Galvatron... *so many things he could say, wants to say, so many possible endings to that sentence*

*but somehow all that comes to mind, and vocaliser, is...* My lord... what took you?

*fractional smile, as remaining optic goes black*

[apprentice_lurk]

*beardlings stream into the room, perching on the consoles to look into monitors and peek at the controls, not touching anything but familiarising themselves with what goes where...when they're settled and ready, they all turn to Cyclonus and instantly let out soft, shivery little noises of shock horror Galvatron make it not hurt him-!*

[hidden_watcher]

*and a larger blue-winged shape is only seconds behind them, near-flying to his triadmates* *Scourge kneels awkwardly beside Cyclonus, uncaring of his wings scraping the deckplates, reaching for his friend*

Cyclonus? *touches him, feeling the cold fading flicker of his aura faltering on the edge of sensing* *quietly, desperately* Oh, hells...

[apprentice_lurk]

*runs in after him, skidding to a halt beside the others; her optics go almost white at the sight of Cyclonus and she looks over at Scourge, trying not to sound like she's panicking* Boss, what do we do..?

[hidden_watcher]

*quick glance at you* *with remarkable steadiness* Fix him, if we can.

*looking at Galvatron for permission, reaches out and opens Cyc's chestplate - it's not properly closed to start with, so the task isn't difficult* *looks inside at the damage, and makes a face*

Hmph. Amateur.

*reaches inside and, with a quick twist and slice of his claws, severs a handful of wires...*

[corruptedhope]

*Scourge and Cyclonus were already making their way to the bridge, but both break into a run at the sound of Galvatron's roar. Scourge reaches the bridge first*

Oh, hells. *and the first thought in his mind is He's dead, he's dead and I've killed him because I was too much of a coward to save myself.*

[apprentice_lurk]

*there are some quiet, startled squeaks from the beardlings, who recognise alt-Scourge from before but had yet to meet alt-Cyc as well - another one? The nearest ones blink over at them in surprise, still keeping their sensor arrays high and wary*

[corruptedhope]

*Cyclonus rounds the corner and crashes into Scourge, knocking him against the wall. He recovers and stares at the scene before him in utter shock. Galvatron and Scourge kneeling on the floor, clutching his own bleeding and broken body, watching his own mangled face...this was not the meeting he had hoped for or suspected. He takes a tentative step towards them, hoping that there is something he can do for his alternate, donate matched parts or give fuel, anything*

[firstlieutenant]

*from somewhere very far away behind a deep, space-cold haze of black, is dimly aware that the pain has stopped, awareness severed in a final cleansing flash that had a distinct sense of familiarity to it* *autorepairs, suddenly no longer fighting a losing battle, gear up and start to flick through vital priorities, restoring core systems - slowly and haltingly, but at least it's happening*

*optic slowly fades back on* *the frozen ache in his core starts to dissipate as he finds himself soaked in the heat of Galvatron's aura, and he unconsciously presses closer to his lord*

....ouch?

[chaos_gunner]

*grins, optics flaring bright with approval and relief* *sternly* Don't die on me, Cyclonus. That's an order!

*looks at Scourge* How did you know-?

[hidden_watcher]

*wings droop in relief, and is not going to admit to Galvatron ever ever that that only had a percentage chance of working* I've seen it before. *tries to sound confident* Someone had left his pain sensors turned all the way up. It's an old torturer's trick. The physical damage doesn't need to be critical, but the pain signals eat up processor cycles and disrupt autorepairs until everything goes into cascade failure.

*quietly* Looks as though we got to him in time to make it stop.

*wonders whether he should mention that he knew that trick because he saw Cyclonus do it to someone else once, and the Autobot had screamed all the way down into oblivion...*

[corruptedhope]

*nods slightly in relief, now that Cyclonus is out of danger. Yes, he'd known that one from personal experience, but he'd never seen a way of repairing that*

[hidden_watcher]

*it's far too crude to be called a repair - he just cut the wires that connect the central sensory banks to the metaprocessor. Someone will have to reconnect and restore everything later, and Cyc will be unable to feel physical sensations until they do, but it solves the immediate problem*

[corruptedhope]

*still, it's a start, and it would be far too much for Cyclonus to see himself die as well as his lord. He takes a few more cautious steps forward until he is in viewing range. Or would be, if Cyclonus turned his head away from Galvatron, which doesn't seem likely at the moment*

[apprentice_lurk]

*is grinning from ear to ear, though the impression she gives is that had she been human, she'd be crying her eyes out at the same time* ...Hey, Cyc. *hugs Scourge tight, both for doing whatever the hell it was he did and because she daren't touch Cyclonus himself at the minute*