Deceptibase

[dazzlingmonocle]

Characters: Shockwave, Barricade, Megatron, all Cons on base
Content: Shockwave and Barricade return victorious and very late with medical supplies.
Location: Decepticon Base of Operations
Time of day: Night
Warnings: The normal risks involved in mechs being near Megatron. I guess it depends on his mood.
Status: Active

Returning to the Decepticon base,

Comments

[dazzlingmonocle]

Shockwave had been planning on answering, of course, but his temporary partner (hopefully for not much longer), in what Shockwave could now characterize as a typical display of impatience, started speaking before he could organize his report for relay.

And his was terrible.

"Please disregard soldier Barricade, my lord.

Approximately 37 kilometers 48.9˚ N from our current position, we located a seemingly abandoned medical facility. Within the premise we were immediately attacked by a non-sentient Cybertronian guardian of gastropod design, approximately 18 m in diameter, 40 m in length. We parleyed the creature, and were shortly joined by an additional two enemies of identical anatomy. Near the end of the battle, an unknown assailant joined the battle, later identified to be an Autobot medic of unkown designation. Regrettably, my lord, the Autobot escaped by means of unfamiliar weaponry, reminiscent of medical gear. Following this experience, Soldier Barricade and myself gathered our materials and returned to base," he concluded, with a salute of his one good arm.

[megatyrant]

Expecting Shockwave to speak for the both of them, Megatron glared as Barricade instead decided to inform him of their little adventure. Ugh...and the goo he was covered in was starting to pool on the floor. Completely ignoring what Barricade had to say, Megatron motioned to where Scalpel was perched. “Unload your supplies over there…and then go and clean yourself. There is a wash rack down that hall.”

Megatron listened to Shockwave’s report, which was far more informative but did nothing to please him. The giant creatures attacking his troops were an unexpected annoyance…he wasn’t familiar with them in the way Shockwave described, and if there were more close by he feared they might destroy the base.

The thing that really annoyed him though was the mention of an Autobot. An Autobot they let escape. “You disappoint me, Shockwave. Surely you could have been able to handle a single Autobot medic, and that’s not even taking into account what little help Barricade might have offered. At least it seems you have not proven yourselves completely incompetent, there could be enough supplies here for many repairs.”

[ze_doktor]

Scalpel studied Barricade's alt-mode, it was curiously non-Cybertronian, perhaps intended for infiltration of a world beyond Decepticon-controlled space. He dropped from the tabletop and slid down a supporting leg, then skittered cautiously toward the wheeled bot. He stopped near a white door panel.

"Ve should have a sample of zis viscus," He said, looking around for a second opinion, mainly from their current leader; the subject's consent did not worry him as much. "For study..." Scalpel did not yet know this Megatron to know his motives, but he made an extrapolation based on the one he knew, "in devising effective combat strategies." Scalpel merely wanted to expand his own anatomical database.

[halcyonlost]

Well, the plus side of being dismissed by Megatron is...the failure of the mission was totally blamed on Purple-clops. More than fine with Barricade: the less he had to revisit his Mortal Kombat with Slugs With Guns the better.

And besides, the promise of a real, honest-to-Primus washrack was enough to sweeten even his mood. Waaaaaaashraaaaaack. He could smell it! Okay, not really, but he wanted to smell it, smell anything other than slowly rancid-izing slug guts.

"Hey!" he twitched as the little spidery mech began jabbing at his enamel. Frag. He'd thought Frenzy was tiny...and weird. At least Frenzy hadn't been...icky. "Don't damage the merchandise!"

[dazzlingmonocle]

Shockwave hadn't felt such shame in a very very long time. He'd disappointed his lord to a visible degree; such failure was intolerable. He had to consciously avoid letting his antennae droop in guilt. That particular physiological reaction was fit for sparklings and cyber-pets, not full grown mechs. Yet the compulsion was there all the same. Really, only the knowledge that it would anger his leader further prevented it.

"I apologize, my Lord. I will attempt no excuses for my poor conduct, only the promise that history will not repeat," Shockwave replied.

[megatyrant]

Megatron thought he saw a quiver in Shockwave’s antennae. He frowned. The warlord knew that Shockwave must be feeling an order of guilt for letting him down; he always followed Megatron’s orders with such austerity.
“Very well…see that it doesn’t,” he responded, appeased by the sincerity of Shockwave’s promise.

Megatron stroked his chin in thought at Scalpel’s input. “Yes…a sample may be useful, if we find ourselves under attack by more of those creatures. Studying it may reveal a weakness we can exploit.”

Now curious about the consistency of the substance coating Barricade, the Decepticon leader swiped a hand over the car’s roof, gathering a large glob of the stuff and mushing it between his fingers. Satisfactorily disgusted, he deposited the goo on the floor for Scalpel and wiped the remaining filth from his hand back onto Barricade.

“That can wait, however. Firstly we must make use of these supplies.”

[ze_doktor]

Scalpel vocalised to Barricade at low volume, "Merchandise suggests goods for sale. You know? Heh heh." He then quickly side-stepped toward the front tire, where he estimated the door panel could not strike him, if opened.

He listened to the interaction between the other two. Important to know their motivations, if he should ever need to defend his worth to any of them. Important to avoid being trod on.

Most interesting, he thought, their current Leader seeing the logic of his suggestion, but perhaps dangerous, if Shockwave did not see the logic in others seeming favored. Scalpel drew a specimen container from subspace and collected some of the substance from the floor.

"Yes, yes, supplies for repairs. Ve all need to be in ze best repair." Fortunate; he could conduct repairs.

[halcyonlost]

Barricade's normal retort would have been 'Maybe I am for sale, honey,' but...to the creepy little insectoid? Not so much.

Besides, he got distracted by Megatron touching him, slopping a big hand over his slug-gooey roof. And then...wiped his dirty hand on Barricade's fender.

Barricade: resident chokey-mech, beast of burden, and now, napkin. This was shaping up just as awesome as where he was originally from.

"Could we stop with the poking of me and move along with the unloading? Mech wants to hit the washracks."

[dazzlingmonocle]

Shockwave began to speak as he inspected Barricade. "We obtained various types of medical supplies on our venture, Lord Megatron. Raw metal, generalized arm, leg, and chest plate structures, standard anti-viral programming protocols, and--" he was cut short by Barricade's retort.

Shockwave stared. Did Barricade really just utter such insolence in front of Lord Megatron? Right after they failed him? When his nerves were running short? Shockwave could not process the ostentation of this mech. If he were Megatron, he'd be putting Barricade in his place right this moment! As it were, he knew better than to decide what punishment were best for cocksure underlings for his leader.

[megatyrant]

Megatron had had just about enough of Barricade’s snappy retorts. Without so much as a warning, the warlord lifted his foot and slammed it down on the very edge of Barricade’s nose, causing the car to flip dramatically onto its roof.

Megatron stepped back, his arms spread, with the barest hint of a smirk pulling at his lips. “Well? Barricade wants to be unloaded, and I’m still waiting!”

[ze_doktor]

Scalpel was dumbstruck. In part he wished to offer help to Barricade with any resulting dents, thus gaining a chance to study his shell more closely; partly he wished to point-out that flipping the subordinate in vehicle mode was not truly conducive to unloading; partly he wished to protest that the medical supplies may be damaged. But, all of these seemed likely to earn him similar abuse.

He shook his head at Megatron's effective example lesson.

"Do zese vindows open?" He asked finally.

[halcyonlost]

Ow. Seriously. This was getting old and sucky. When the freaky little spiderbot got treated better than Barricade? There was something egregiously wrong with this hierarchy.

Right. He'd learned a little thing or two on Earth (other than porn), and he was going to utilize one of them now: playing possum.

Yup, just gonna lie here like a sad little flipped over bug, feebly revving his little tires.

[dazzlingmonocle]

Served him right, thought Shockwave. Lord Megatron's punishment technique was swift and apt as always. Barricade's humiliation combated the terrible mood Shockwave was in after failing his leader so profoundly. He wasn't worried about the materials: Luckily, they were packed so tightly (at the expense of Barricade's comfort) that the little flight didn't damage important findings.

The guardian marched up to the flipped mech, all business. Without asking for consent for physical contact, he opened the car's door.....or tried to. His one hand was attached to a currently-useless arm, damaged from the battle. His gun wasn't exactly a proficient door-opening device, especially a door made for humans. In the end he managed through brute force, and materials toppled out pathetically as he inefficiently attempted to catch them.

He quickly glanced to Megatron, and continued trying his best to make up for the lack of hands.

sudden return what.

[predatorybird]

Having grown bored looking around their new base, Starscream's attention was again drawn instead to the commotion Megatron was undoubtedly behind. It was no surprise nothing ever got done when he was around.

His mood suddenly brightened when he saw the amusing scene - Barricade apparently having just been physically reprimanded by the Commander and Shockwave being rather pathetic as usual. He was pleased he had escaped the grunt work but knew he had to be careful to avoid being justly labeled as a slacker.

"I see the materials have been gathered successfully," he commented snidely, approaching the group again with some measured caution and a derisive smirk twitching at one end of his mouth.

[megatyrant]

The Decepticon commander stood back and watched as Scalpel made an attempt to pry open Barricade’s window. When Barricade made no move to open it just to spite the medibot, Megatron had half a mind to kick the window in himself.

He would have acted on this thought had Shockwave not eventually opened the door and fumbled the materials. Megatron watched for a while as Shockwave tried to collect them, and failed repeatedly. Useless. Grumbling, he marched over to the overturned car, swiftly gathering an armful of materials and plunking them on the nearby bench.

“Barricade, get out of my sight. Scalpel: repairs,” he barked, his patience all but gone. He sat on the edge of the bench, waiting for Scalpel to choose the right parts necessary to complete his repairs.

Starscream’s appearance elicited a snort from Megatron. Trust him to show up afterwards.

[ze_doktor]

Scalpel studied Barricade through his spectacles, as Shockwave worked to retrieve the supplies. He looked for transformation seams, wondering whether Barricade was actually unable to transform or right himself in this position, loaded as he was.

His whiskers perked as Scalpel saw Starscream return. He still hoped to learn more of this one. The Starscream he had known previously was...entertaining. He had mocked some of Scalpel's earlier work in the field of cloning - but he mocked everything - then Scalpel had heard news that Starscream had gone and cloned himself; a bounty had been amended to indicate the full price was for the original. Perhaps, after repairs, he might discretely inquire whether these bots also had cloning technology.

The Doktor moved quickly at Megatron's sharp command. Scalpel scampered over the mounded supplies retrieving the various lengths of cable and tubing he would need to effect repairs to the neck injury.

With a small bow, Scalpel indicated his intent to render service, then stepped onto Megatron in order to make repairs. "As you vish." He climbed up the Leader's leg and then his arm, carrying supplies in his pincers.

Scalpel then began his work, splicing the new lengths of cable and tubing into the injured area, as he had earlier explained in his diagnosis.