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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 12, 2023 3:07:42 GMT
Characters Appearing: Optimus Prime, Skyfire, Open. Location (s): Autobot City Central Command. Timeline: A week after the breakout. Plot Summary: Optimus wants answers about the Decepticon breakout. But how will he react when he knows who contributed to it?
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 12, 2023 3:10:16 GMT
In Central Command Optimus was frantically going through all the reports. Since the breakout last week the Autobot command system was in havoc and Optimus needed to get everything under control. But that was never gonna happen until the Cons were dealt with.
He needed clearer answers and fast.
He turned on his comm link.
"Skyfire. I've seen from the data that you were at the G.H.O.S.T. Prison when the breakout occurred. I want you to report to me as soon as possible. Optimus out."
Optimus dared to hope. Skyfire had been one of his most dependable soldiers despite his Decepticon origins. Maybe he could help him make sense of this.
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Post by Skyfire on Sept 12, 2023 3:18:56 GMT
Skyfire had known this was coming. Ever since that first discussion, there had been no doubt that Prime would want to find out more about the situation with the breakout. The large scientist took little time navigating through Metroplex, only taking a moment to greet his (much larger) friend on the way. He arrived at Optimus' office and entered without ceremony, standing inside the doorway.
"I am here. What information do you require, Optimus?"
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 12, 2023 3:21:38 GMT
Optimus didn't even know where to start. How did this happen? Why did this happen? What Could they do about it?
Optimus calmed himself down. Show no weakness. Show strength. Don't let it get to you. The Autobots need you.
Optimus turned.
"Whatever you can. I need any information you can provide. Do you have any idea who was behind this?"
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Post by Skyfire on Sept 12, 2023 3:30:22 GMT
It didn't take the most socially-aware mech to realize that there was some introspection going on in Prime's headcase. That was good, since Skyfire was far from the most socially-aware mech on Earth (or Cybertron). He nodded. "Clematis' sister, Nightshroud, was the primary instigator. I believe she had outside assistance, but I don't know who that was for certain. The entire goal of the operation was to break Starscream out. Soundwave and Blackout were, as the humans say, icing on a cake, Prime."
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 12, 2023 3:36:19 GMT
The news brought no comfort to Optimus. If anything it made him more on edge.
"If Starscream is out then this could be bad. I know you have a history with him so you're aware of how dangerous he can be."
"But there's even more troubling news. A prisoner of high priority also seems to have escaped and if they're free..." Optimus trailed off. The horror in his voice was evident.
He composed himself and continued on. "Do you have any idea who the bot who provided outside assistance was? Is it Clematis? She could be motivated to help her sister."
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Post by Skyfire on Sept 12, 2023 6:08:44 GMT
Skyfire shook his head, looking at Optimus. "No! Clematis is blameless in this! No Autobot provided direct assistance, Optimus, you have my word. It was Nightshroud and Decepticon accomplices. She has deluded herself into the impression that the very mechanism who would have killed her in Uraya has... some sort of feeling for her. Protoform nonsense, I say. He's using her to his own ends. I've seen it before, once."
He cleared the static from his vocoder as an equivalent to a sigh, and shrugged. "I attempted to get her away from Starscream; to realize that he is not the mechanism he once was, or that she wishes him to be. If he were half the mech she wants him to be, he'd have surrendered and started to work with Thundercracker and I - I could have convinced 'Cracker to get back into science if we were all together. At the same time, I'd hoped to reconcile her with Clematis. That failed. She moved up the timetable. By the time I could possibly have warned you, she was already in motion. She set it in motion because I tried to bring the sisters together. With all that was lost in the War - even our homeworld, I'd hoped to do as you would, and bring the two siblings together. I failed in that, Prime. I've realized, the Decepticons have a significant malfunction in their positronics, engaging their reason circuits is valueless. I'm sure it's nothing a teardown and full rebuild can't fix."
To hear the usually compassionate (if sometimes unemotional) Skyfire discuss torture like that might give Optimus a clue about how deep the massive Seeker's shame and pain went. The fact that Nightshroud had modeled her altmode as a Seeker didn't help matters either.
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 12, 2023 6:35:34 GMT
Optimus looked suspicious. His eyes narrowed. Something still felt off. Was Skyfire hiding something?
"That's an interesting tale Skyfire. Though one thing has me perplexed about it" Optimus notes.
He paused for a bit. That meant he was doing some deep thinking. Had he figured something out?"
"Why did the attempt to reconcile the sisters fail? That's the only part of your story you haven't gone into detail on."
"And yet it seems to be the most important part given it's what led to the timetable moving up."
Optimus sat down. He put his hands together.
When Optimus looked serious that's when you knew you were in trouble.
"What happened with NIghtshroud's timetable exactly Skyfire?" Optimus asked in a calm but firm and and commanding voice.
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Post by Skyfire on Sept 13, 2023 16:33:23 GMT
Skyfire looked at Prime - for him, at least part of this was a question with an easy and immediate answer. "The attempt failed because Nightshroud is a Decepticon, that's the only reason I have for it. She's been influenced by Starscream's rhetoric. She used the offer to meet with her sister as a means to be underhanded and start the breakout. My patience fuse blew a while ago, especially when it comes to Starscream. She refuses to see him for what he is. He refuses to surrender. I guess they do deserve each other. Maybe their sparks will meet in the Pit, unless the rumor about his spark case is true. She manipulated Clematis into bringing her to Starscream, and used that opportunity to free Starscream and Soundwave. From there, I know little beyond my direct sensor inputs, because I was focused on the conflict between myself, Starscream, Soundwave, and Blackout. Clematis was briefly taken hostage, as a means of staying me from activating my self-destruct systems. She was freed because Starscream would have been unable to evade me with a passenger."
Prime's voice changed, turning more commanding - on one hand, that got Skyfire's defenses up. On the other, he'd done nothing that he saw to be wrong. "When I realized that the main reason for Nightshroud to break in here was Starscream's release, I suggested to Ratchet that we put him into stasis lock and sink him - shell, spark, and all - into the Laurentian Abyss. We know for certain that our race are able to be held in stasis lock by cold and pressure. I thought that would resolve the problem of Starscream's influence. Ratchet disagreed, in spite of Starscream's ongoing refusal to surrender and the extreme danger which he represented while imprisoned. With her considering that a threat to him, rather than trying to protect her and any other mechanism from his influences, she panicked. You'll note that neither Skywarp nor Thundercracker involved themselves in the situation, and Dirge and Ramjet were quiet as well."
Skyfire hoped that Prime would realize - by naming all of the other active Seekers believed to be on Earth (unless Thrust got back in that last desperate pulse of the Bridge), it meant that no one else that knew him had come to either aid or destroy Starscream. All of the Seekers, once they escaped Starscream's influence, either had an antipathy toward their former commander or simply avoided him at all costs.
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Post by Optimus Prime on Sept 14, 2023 1:45:57 GMT
Yes. There it was. Skyfire had his own role to play in how things went sideways.
"So what you're saying is this is partly your fault,"Optimus noted that same serious tone in his voice.
Optimus turned silent. Skyfire needed to be dealt with. Question was how?
Skyfire was still Optimus's friend and a loyal Autobot but even the best bots screwed up with the best of intentions.
He knew that better than anyone.
It was then Optimus knew how he was going to deal with Skyfire. But it all depended on his reaction to the next question.
"Skyfire. In light of this situation do you have anything to say for yourself? Do you feel you screwed up?"
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 3, 2023 6:33:10 GMT
Skyfire nodded at Optimus' confirmation that he had, in fact, had a part in the breakout. It wasn't his doing exactly, but he had a part to play in the fact that it had happened. There was no shame in his expression, he was beyond that.
"Yes, it was."
He looked Prime in the optics, trying to figure out what, if anything, he had to say. All of it had seemed logical at the time, or at least reasonable.
"Yes, I made a significant error in judgment, when I hoped that a member of our species who was created from a protoform might recognize reason over emotion. And further, I believed that my situation was not unique. That another mech being misled and manipulated by the Decepticons would be able to recognize that fact with some prompting. I have come to realize that this is not the case. Her function is war, now; she had been a scientist. Many of us know that feeling well."
He shrugged lightly. "During the direct conflict before they escaped, I hesitated against Starscream and Soundwave. I feared the collateral damage. That led to me doing exactly as they expected of an Autobot. Had I transformed, powered my docking clamps, and initialized my self-destruct, I would have been able to destroy at least one of them and send their sparks to the Pit. Likely both, and Blackout too. All that, for the mere cost of Clematis and I joining the Matrix. But, I hesitated. I was afraid to die this time; and moreover, I was afraid to sell Clematis' life for the cost of theirs."
He shook his head slightly, disappointed in his own weakness. "I'm sorry that I was a coward, and allowed them to continue functioning; but my prime function is explorer, not warrior. And I apologize, as the whole attempt had been meant to try and reunify Clematis and Nightshroud as a family, the death of Clematis seemed too high a price. I was hoping to bring them together. That failed. Now, I know. I should have remembered what I learned about Decepticons on that cold mountain."
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Post by Optimus Prime on Oct 3, 2023 13:48:28 GMT
Optimus took not of Skyfire's words. He did seem genuinely repentant in what he had done. It also seems he had acted in order to save the lives of the other young bot Clematis. It was hard to fully fault him for that.
"I see..."Optimus let himself dwell on Skyfire's words for a while.
"Skyfire. You shouldn't have to feel ashamed you saved a life. If I condemned you for putting emotion over logic I'd be a hypocrite."
"But still for your role in things, you must face some atonement. You need to help make things right. Can you do that?"
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Post by Skyfire on Oct 8, 2023 11:06:26 GMT
Skyfire looked at Prime, trying get through the cogitations that were running through his logic circuits. He nodded a moment later when answers finally appeared in his mind. He had a challenge in trying to come to the same conclusions that Optimus did, though he respected their leader greatly. Then again, setbacks this serious affected his ability to think clearly; the mech lost touch with his emotions sometimes when incidents happened.
"Yes. I will find Starscream and Soundwave. I will return them to the custody of G.H.O.S.T., where they belong. I may require assistance, but that remains to be seen."
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Post by Optimus Prime on Oct 8, 2023 16:52:59 GMT
Optimus looked at Skyfire proudly. He had come a long way from his Decepticon roots.
"That's what I like to hear Skyfire." Optimus said.
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