Transformers: Steel Reign

[LadyTevar]

Crimson entered the repair bay, her blue optics taking in the destruction. The armor on her left shoulder had a large hole in it, but the internals seemed not to be damaged, and a large section of her left torso showed the telltale scorchmarks of weapons fire.

She nodded to Deathstrike, who was obviously about to do some make-shift repairs on himself. "Is Hornet in here?" she asked the Decepticon flier, worried even more about the teenybot now that she'd seen the remains of the three drones and their victims.

[General Havoc]

A voice cut through the crying and the pain, physical and mental, of what had happened, and what he had done. In a nanosecond, Hornet had matched it to the originator from memory files, and his optic flew open.

"Cri...mson?" he said, weakly, in a voice that was barely audible, but could be picked up on Transformer sensors. Was the battle over? Was everyone returning? Was everyone all right? These questions shot through his mind even as he tried to lift his head and failed, but realized that his chestplate and frontal armor (such as it was) appeared to be missing, though he couldn't remember how that had happened...

[LadyTevar]

The voice was barely audible, but Crimson had been hoping to hear it. Her head jerked over towards the sound, and her optics widened in shock.

"Hornet...?!" she exclaimed in concern, rushing over to the table where Deathstrike had been working on him. No front armor, a hole through his optic that nearly took half his head off, his wing-arm nearly torn off ... Crimson had never seen a larger Autobot that badly damaged and not in stasislock for repairs.

She looked the teenybot over with a mix of horror and concern, and it took several cycles before she realized that the sticky reddish fluid covering parts of him was actually human fluids -- blood. "You look like scrap, teenybot," she murmurred, knowing that he probably knew how bad off he was. She looked away, spotting something she could use to clean him off.

[General Havoc]

It WAS Crimson's voice, he now had enough audio material for his processor to assure him of it, and he turned his head and saw a blurry reddish figure standing over him. "Crimson..." he said, his speaker sparkling with static as he did so, and he tried to reach his wing over towards her, forgetting that all he was extending was a mangled stump, blown off below the elbow joint. He closed his optic slowly and cried, relieved beyond words that Crimson (and thus presumably, all the others) were still all right, and that the battle was clearly over, even as the images of the armored humans he had killed not moments before (actually more than an hour before, but his sense of time had evaporated)... and the shocked expression in Crimson's face all swirled around him like condemnations.

"P... please don't go..." he pleaded in a soft, scared voice as she turned away, unable to see what she was trying to do, afraid she was recoiling in horror at what he had just done and about to leave. If Deathstrike was congratulating him for what he had done... then... what would all the others think...

"I'm... I'm sorry..." he sobbed before breaking down into tears completely, his smashed wing landing with a hollow "clink" back down on the repair table

[LadyTevar]

Crimson was back quickly, a couple rags in her hand. "I'm not leaving, teenybot..." she said, carefully using the rag to clean the blood from his remaining optic. "Just got something to help clean you up a bit."

Once again, it was busy-work, something to take her mind off the bigger problems outside. "Why are you sorry? From what I understand, the humans are calling you a hero."

[General Havoc]

Crimson vanished for a moment, but then suddenly reappeared. What was a matter of walking away and back to her looked to Hornet like de-materializing and re-materializing. His optics weren't working very well, well his optic.

And then she wiped the gunk off of his optic, and suddenly he could see reasonably well again.

"There were..." he said in a halting voice... "these humans... in armor... and they attacked everyone here.... and I... *Sniff* I... fought with them... so that they wouldn't kill all the other humans... and I think I killed them."

Tears continued to leak from his optic, but with his vision clear, he could now see that Crimson too sported damage, specifically a carved-open shoulder. His optic widened, and he lifted his head in surprise and fear.

"Wh... what happened? Are... are you okay? Is everyone okay?"

The irony of someone in his condition asking her that was lost on Hornet. Most irony was.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson gave the little bot a smile. Some might find it ironic... she found it just another sign of Hornet's caring personality. "Deathstrike's welding armor back on, Stryke's going to need his legs repaired. All of my damage is armor-only, so I'll be fine ..." she trailed off, not sure of the status of Breakout, Shellshock, or Overload.

She continued to wipe off the fluids, mecha and human, from Hornet's form as best she could. "You know... if you'd not been here, there would have been no one to stop the drones," Crimson said carefully. "If you'd not killed them, they would have kept fighting their way across the base." She paused, looking the teenybot in the eye, knowing that Deathstrike was also listening in. "I'm proud of you, Hornet."

[General Havoc]

Hornet's frame seemed to relax somewhat as Crimson assured him everyone was okay. He did not notice that she had not mentioned Overload and the others, or if he did, he clearly assumed it was because they were all right. He laid back on the diagnostic bench, and twitched as Crimson cleaned off the majority of the blood and mech fluid, causing his tickle algorithms to spike periodically.

"If you'd not killed them, they would have kept fighting their way across the base." She paused, looking the teenybot in the eye, knowing that Deathstrike was also listening in. "I'm proud of you, Hornet."

Hornet seemed to freeze as Crimson spoke. His optic widened slightly, and he gazed up at Crimson in something approximating shock and wonder and incomprehension.

"But..." he said weakly, as if his words were themselves about to shatter. "but I... I... killed... four humans. I... I stabbed. one of them with a... a bar... and he... he..."

He couldn't continue coherently. In a way, it was almost worse that Crimson was proud of him, or said she was. How could she be proud of him for this... how could anyone?

"I didn't want to hurt them..." he said plaintively, as if trying to convince somebody.

No points awarded for guessing who.

[LadyTevar]

Crimson's head turned, looking over at Deathstrike, who'd been nice and staying silent for the moment, then looked back to Hornet with a sigh. "Death and I had this conversation earlier," she told the teenybot as she finished wiping off the blood and fluid she could see. "The humans in armor were drones, Hornet."

This was not what Deathstrike had told her, and if the Decepticon was going to try correcting her, she was going to ... to ... well... make him shut up somehow. Hornet (and Crimson) needed to see them as already broken. "Whatever had been done to allow them to transform," Crimson continued softly, sadly, " .. broke them somehow. They were no better than base AIs, even if you didn't know that."

She set the rags down, and looked into Hornet's remaining optic. "And that is why I'm proud of you, Hornet. Even though you thought the drones were human, you did what you could to stop them from harming the other Humans. You did what we Autobots were created to do -- you defended those weaker."

[General Havoc]

Hornet fell quiet at the revelation that the drones were not sentient beings themselves, but merely AIs slaved into their bodies through some arcane Decepticon process. Given that, everything that Crimson said made a lot of sense. He wasn't hurting the humans, he was protecting others. He knew that he should feel better about it, that this was why Crimson was telling him, that he should feel relieved.

He didn't.

It wasn't that he didn't believe Crimson, indeed it never occurred to him not to, but when Crimson told him that he had done what Autobots were supposed to do, and defended those weaker than himself, he blinked a few tears out of his optic, and looked back up at Crimson, and said, sadly and simply.

"... not all of them."

And with that, Hornet weakly reached up with his one remaining wing and gave Crimson as strong a hug as he could given the circumstances, which is to say almost strong enough to tear tissue paper, and cried quietly as he thought back to everything that had just happened.

[LadyTevar]

Deathstrike can say what he wants right now, Crimson didn't care. She returned Hornet's hug, carefully maneuvering him so she could sit on the table and cradle him as he mourned.

She assumed he was mourning for the humans that had died before he killed the Drones. She hoped he wasn't mourning for the drones -- there was a limit to how far Hornet's protection could extend, after all. "Easy, Hornet.... you did your best. I'm still proud of you."

[SirNitram]

The unmistakable sound of treads entering the maintenence hangar marked the arrival of the massive tank, bearing the odd mishmash of Human and Autobot technologies. The vehicle moved up towards where the two Autobots were, coming to a halt. It was then that things became odd, as Overload's voice spoke from it.

"By the Matrix, you're both alive. I was worried for a moment, what with the fusion explosion and everything."

[Charon]

Shellshock was following the tank carefully, seeming to almost dout over the machine. The old warbot looked up and saw the condition that Hornet was in. "By Primus, what happened to you Hornet?"

Shellshock groaned inwardly, this was going to get him another 'talk' with Wheeljack.

[General Havoc]

Hornet felt himself being gently moved, but since his optic was squeezed shut and blinded with wiper fluid in any event, he had to simply trust that it was Crimson, a fact confirmed a moment later when she returned his hug and just sort of held him in her lap for a little bit. He cried and squeezed Crimson as hard as he could, but that was barely hard enough to notice, both with his intact left wing, and the twisted remains of his right. Hard as it was to explain why, just that much was enough to make everything start to feel... better. He still hurt, in every sense of the world, but his pain was starting to fade. Nothing helped more than someone to hug. Someone who cared.

...

... not that a little distraction wasn't a help...

When Hornet opened his optic to see what the rumbling sound was, he saw a massive battletank sitting in front of him. That was perhaps not the LAST thing he expected to see, but it was certainly close, and he hesitated for a second or so before looking up at it, his optic wide. Shellshock was standing behind the tank, so he assumed it had to be a friend.

And then it spoke with Overload's voice.

"O... Over..load?" Hornet asked with real confusion in his voice. Overload had switched forms recently but...

He looked up over Overload's turret at Shellshock. "Some... some drones... tried to attack the repair bay while the humans were fixing me..." he said haltingly. "They... started to... to kill the... humans so I..." he lowered his head, "I... killed them..." The admission still hurt like a knife to the lasercore, but there was nothing for it. His squeeze of Crimson became incrimentally tighter as he admitted to what he had done.

"Um... Overload?" he asked finally, not even his pain able to suppress his curiosity. "How come you're a tank?"

[Cynical Cat]

"I did not say they were drones," replied Deathstrike. "I said they were probably volunteers. "You should be proud Hornet. You save many human lives."

He finished removing a damaged plate on his chest. Red beams shot from his optics, marking the shape of the piece on the replacement plate. His x-ray laser sliced the new piece out and he mounted it on his armour. Two mechanics began to weld the new armour into place.

Deathstrike activated his long range communications system. "Deathstrike to Teletran-1. Request scan for location and status of Decepticon Shockwave and any unusual Decepticon activity."

[LadyTevar]

Crimson was able to ignore Deathstrike for one very good reason. There was a talking non-Autobot-make tank in front of her.

"Overload?!" She looked up at Shellshock, saw the worry/concern there, looked back at the tank, and shook her head in slow, sad realization. "... you broke the other body, didn't you."

[Cynical Cat]

"He's lucky not to be scrap," said Deathstrike.

[frigidmagi]

My shock absorbers are broken, my primary sensor systems are down, my upper surface armor is holed and torn, my missile launcher is jammed and everything hurts and aches. I've had better days. Seeing Overloaded secured I had turned around towards the base. Only to find my top speed dropped even more. A freak flux in one of my governors I believe, but my dianogisic system is damaged from the blast and so I cannot really be sure. None of the damage is that time consuming though, I believe it would take a few hours to a day of concentrated repair work top return me to full effective status. I send out a message over radio to see if any other members of my improvised unit have survived.

I rumble through the base, humans stop in their work to stare, in mad dash to get Shockwave I had taken reckless chances and my armor shows it. My visual state gives a lie to my alternate form, as no human made IFV would have taken all of this and kept moving. I turn into a repair where I see other Autobots awaiting repair, I take a place and switch my engines into neutral and wait. I am better suited to the pitfalls of a life of combat then most of my fellow bots, it would be better for them to be repaired first.

There is nothing wrong with my upper mental functions however and I consider. Shockwave's plan is meant to keep the Autobots and our human allies on the defensive, to make us react instead of act. Reaction does not win wars, only action. This recent battle is proof of that, our reaction to the taking of Fort Maximal allowed for the Cons to strike elsewhere doing great damage more then likely.

We must attack Decepticons and their allies. Offensive thrusts into important territories is the only real way to buy time for the humans to spin up their industry to a point where they can fight in a meaningful manner. Would the Cons fight to defend China? Or would it better to take the battle to Earth's MiddleEast? Anything damaged there would hamper Con industry and inferstructure, any missile, shell or energy blast that didn't hit a Bot would be a win for us...

Either way we must conduct an offensive, one that goes into the belly of the beast. I am convinced of that, how do I convince Prime or the High Command? Can I convince my squadmates?

[SirNitram]

"Yea, well." Overload said sheepishly. "Turns out, if you shove an energon sword through Shockwave's laser core, he explodes like a high grade fusion weapon. Who knew? I mean obviously he did."

The tank contrived to look stately. "Still. Operational enough, even if I can't transform yet. Glad you all are operational." The subject of the drones made his tone change to somber. "We'll see what comes out of looking at the remains and prisoners. Either way, they weren't showing any disregard for their fellow humans, so we stopped them. Come on, it's a long ride back to the Ark, sooner we start, sooner we're there."

[Cynical Cat]

"Shockwave's design includes a fission reactor in his chest," said Deathstrike. "It supplements his energy storage cells. It wouldn't explode unless he deliberately reconfigured it to do so. Another anomaly."

[Charon]

Shellshock looked Hornet once over. "Good job Hornet."

Shellshock took another look around the facility, there had definately been one hell of a fight. "Thanks for holding the fort, though I'm sure Wheeljack is gonna give me an earful any time now..."

[General Havoc]

"... thanks," said Hornet softly, with no feeling behind the words. He didn't feel that he had done a good job at all. The blood and bodies scattered about only seemed to confirm it.

At the mention of leaving, and of Wheeljack, Hornet perked his head up a bit. "But... what... what happened?" he asked the two warbots. "Did we... did we win? Is..." he glanced back up at Crimson, worry crossing his face again. "Is... Wheeljack okay?"

[SirNitram]

"We stopped the Decepticons from advancing on this front, saved alot of civilian lives, and have at very least seriously hampered Shockwave. It'll do for a victory." Overload rumbled.

"Deathstrike's right, though. His behavior deviated from the normal almost as soon as he engaged the Dinobots. I wonder if they got a shot to his datatracks?"

[Charon]

Shellshock looked at the small bot, the old warbot was about to say something about Hornet's apparent feelings on the manner then stopped.

"Overload here," Shellshock smacked the tank, harder than he needed too, "Shoved his sword through Shockwave's spark, Shockwave died, rather explosively, and without a leader the Decepticons ran."

[Cynical Cat]

"His behavior deviated from his norms in engaging the Dinobots solo," Deathstrike corrected. "The Shockwave we engaged being a remote controlled clone and this whole engagement nothing but a feint is the conclusion that most closely matches Shockwave's behavior and planning. We should have more data when Telatran-1 reports back."