.001 ← Text + Files || Day; Finally coming out of the woodwork in an act of desperation

[stand_witness]

Status Report 200.058.9

Current Operational Status--> Fully functional, Held captive by unknown enemies
Anomalous activity detected --> Estimated to be unknown human civilization
Primitive Networking Design--> Defenses easily penetrated through orbital bombardment. Human infestation level; High

Data Package File Contents; Stark_PORTAL_GUIDE.pdf,

Comments

[auto_enthusiast]

[Well. Well well well. Isn't this something?]

Ah, Soundwave. So good of you to join us. [Deadpan 'Con is utterly deadpan, but at least he's obligingly transmitting coordinates to his current location?]

text; locked; Decepticon Encryption

[stand_witness]

[ He knows where you are, Knock Out. Known for a while, and waited to make contact until he'd learned more about this place.
Oh, and way to spread his name over open channels B( ]

Rendezvous at specified coordinates.

text; locked; Decepticon Encryption

[auto_enthusiast]

[Stealth: Knock Out's not the best at it.]

I'm not going anywhere. At your leisure.

[Not that he particularly wants to sit around in his clinic and wait for Soundwave to show, BUT...]

[action spam ]

[stand_witness]

[ You don't have long to wait, Knock Out. Soundwave was cruising the city at high altitude, so the muted whine of his engines is likely heard long before he homed in on the signal trace.

Shifting from alt mode, into normal slouching creeper, his bases make impact with the asphalt outside the bay doors of Knock Out's clinic. ]

[action spamjack ] MOAR CREEPERS

[notglitching]

[Soundwave's not the only one who can follow coordinates. And while he had yet to succeed in breaking the new arrival's encryptions, it was hardly difficult to guess what would result from the first transmission. Rinzler wasn't going to rush in, but this seemed an optimal chance to gather new data.

He's traveling by lightcycle, using what cover he can to stay out of sight. The program reaches the corner facing Knock Out's location, and-stops. There's something descending-reforming...

Well.

The program backs around the corner, cycle collapsing to a baton once he's out of auditory range. Rinzler mutes his sound, dims his circuitry, and cautiously resumes approach. This is an encounter he wants to observe.]

[action spam] CREEPER PARTY

[auto_enthusiast]

[One handy little feature of Knock Out's Place of Solace are the proximity alarms on the doorways-- when someone's outside, he knows it. Unfortunately--or rather, fortunately for one creeping program around the corner--they have an abysmally short range.

Still, it's enough to notify Knock Out of at least Soundwave's arrival, and the big metal doors obligingly roll up to admit the communications officer.]

Soundwave.

[Knock Out, standing at a terminal on the far wall of the big, garage-like bay, sketches a shallow and fairly insincere bow of greeting.]

[action spam] YEEEAH!

[stand_witness]

[ Typically silent, Soundwave's blank faceplate only moved from left to right as he scanned the inside of this place. Seemed secure enough...though a touch disconcerting to see something so recognizable in this strange place.
Reaching up, he let Deployer detach from his chest, and withdrew the odd mask he'd had on when his systems came online. That, plus his faceplate playing an audio file concerning the city, the king, and queen is clear enough. Well...to Soundwave that is. ]

Bridge malfunction undocumented, alternate, parallel reality possible.
Return routes already attempted_

[ There must be a way out! What methods have you attempted?!

The drone, meanwhile is hardly acknowledged as it cruises out the bay doors to hover over the building itself. ]

[action spam]

[auto_enthusiast]

[Knock Out out spares the drone a glance, but not much more than that, returning his attention soon enough to Soundwave. Leaning back against the terminal, he crosses his arms over his chest and shrugs.]

It's kind of hard to facilitate an escape when there doesn't appear to be a concrete point of entry, I'm afraid. I've done enough...poking around... to determine that this city is extensive. Don't know that I'm willing to concede endless quite yet, but I haven't found the boundaries yet myself...

[action spam]

[stand_witness]

[ Resisting the urge to faceplate!palm here. ]

Dimensional flux not subject to 'borders'. Systems rudimentary, Network primitive.

[ The next file played is something picked up between Sephiroth, and Gabranth concerning 'magic'. Then another clip covering time paradox, and 'mutants'. ]

Human civilization in possession of unknown, unquantifiable power.
Additional data needed. Possible use for returning to correct timestream_

[action spam]

[auto_enthusiast]

Possibly. [He concedes the point with a lopsided shrug and a one-handed gesture.]

I'd think that if the... unprecedented abilities of the squishies around here could be turned to getting the slag out, then there'd be fewer squishies around with unprecedented abilities. Wouldn't you?

[action spam]

[stand_witness]

[ Turning humans against themselves? Hmm. Well, Knock Out is being treated to the rare sight of Soundwave looking at the floor in thought. It was certainly a possibility, and they are wildly outnumbered with no known means of returning to their proper world.
When his faceplate comes back up, another video file, this time of the arena plays. ]

Tactical advantages in civil unrest. Riots provide cover for extraction of pertinent data.

[ Then the video flickers over to an aerial shot of the Unnatural. Yes, he's planning to find a way to break in somehow. ]

[action spam]

[auto_enthusiast]

[What's this? A reaction from this, the most impassive of mechs? Knock Out manages to contain his shock--it's a close thing, but he's nothing but attentive when Soundwave looks back up.]

Ooh, you'll want to be careful with that around here, Soundwave. The natives don't take lightly to trouble-making, and somehow I suspect riots will count.

[action spam]

[stand_witness]

[ While you may be the opposite of subtle, Soundwave takes pride in his aptitude for stealth. He doesn't comment, but internally, he's rolling his optics. ]

Minimal personal involvement

[ His faceplate flashes up more video clips. Each showing signs of rising tensions between the human factions.
Tensions were riding high enough, now, that even a small spark could set everything off into anarchy. ]

[action spam]

[auto_enthusiast]

[The expression on Knock Out's face is contemplative.] Things have been a little tense around here since... Hmn. [Boy he does not want to talk about THAT.] I doubt it'd take much to get the insets all-- [He waggles his fingers.] Stirred up~.

[action spam]

[stand_witness]

[ Well, the idea was Knock Out's originally, so it stands to reason he could be useful as more than a medical officer. Soundwave was sifting through more files--

--When his faceplate suddenly jerked to the side as though her were 'looking' through the wall. Without communicating verbally, the slowly orbiting drone makes a sharp turn, and barrel roll as it homes in on Rinzler like a laser. ]

[action spam]

[notglitching]

[Well. He'd been wondering if this was too close.

Long-range scans had picked up on some kind of detection system around the doors, and Rinzler had been working to configure his scan shielding against that as he'd moved from audio range to visual. But the aerial surveillance was... a problem. At the sight of the descending drone, Rinzler drops flat, rolls back to the cover of an alleyway, and jerks his weapons forward, disks splitting in his grasp.

Threat? Most likely, though he didn't doubt he could deal with it. But his chance to observe in secrecy was almost certainly lost.]