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Who: Buzzkill, Shockwave |
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Trypticon Laboratory
Lab equipment fills the room. Equipment hangs from the ceiling, sits on the benches and all over various tables, lines the walls, and on the table in the middle of the room. A series of terminals connect to the main computer in Trypticon. It's a maze to get through the room without knocking over any of the beakers, containers, burners, and such. Also the lab is equipped with the latest of equipment to use and study whatever comes through the door. Assorted projects lie scattered about amongst tools and other miscellaneous objects that the normal Decepticon cannot identify.
Contents:
Robotic Honey Bee <Buzzkill>
Decepticon Sensor - Panama Canal [Hidden]
Decepticon Sensor - Nameless Canal [Hidden]
Dispenser
Obvious exits:
West <W> leads to Trypticon Medical Bay.
Fusillade has arrived.
Shockwave's laboratory is completely segregated from the main lab. Here, one will find four Decepticon soldiers, each strapped down to their own operating slab at an angle. The first soldier's head has been taken almost entirely apart, with only the mech's optics and mouth still readily identifiable. The head casing itself has been removed, and a half-dozen wires and cables have been attached to diodes in the Decepticon's brain. The other three soldiers are in a similar situation, each in a varying degree of being disassembled. The wires lead up to a central computer terminal situated between all four soldiers. Despite their dire condition, they all seem to be asleep and at least somewhat comfortable.
Shockwave stands at a terminal just off to the side, monitoring their vitals with keen interest.
As per Shockwave's orders, Buzzkill practically sprints to the laboratory, occasionally shoving a loitering gumby out of her way, to get there in a timely fashion. As soon as she enters Shockwave's personal lab, her optics are drawn to the soldiers strapped down to the tables and their exposed brains full of wires and other devious-looking science things. Whatever is going on in here, she's pretty sure she's going to enjoy.
She approaches the big purple cyclops and drops to a knee, bowing her head in her typical respectful (and maybe even kiss-ass, depending on who you talk to) fashion. "You requested my presence, sir?"
Buzzkill transforms into her robot mode.
Shockwave slowly turns his head as Buzzkill makes her arrival. The four other Decepticons with only half a head each do not, though the one on the right's mouth twitches at the unexpected noise. "Rise, Buzzkill," Shockwave intones. He steps to the central computer bank in between the patients, tapping a button on each of the four sides. Four monitor flickers on, each corresponding to a soldier. The first mech has a strange, chibi-sized version of the mech jumping through fields of blocky flowers, arms outstretched in joy as he bounces around happily. The second shows a similarly superdeformed Decepticon rooting around through a very brightly coloured blocky junkyard, trying to find a certain piece. He moves through the junkyard the way Scrooge McDuck swims through his money bin. He too is having a great time. The monitors for the other two aren't visible from this angle.
Shockwave gestures with his gun arm. "Observe, Buzzkill. Images of our soldiers' offline processes. Your thoughts on the matter." It isn't a question but a demand.
Buzzkill rises to her feet and follows Shockwave to the central computer, curious to find out exactly why he called her down her. It all becomes clear when the monitors turn on and the sight of the super deformed soliders frolicking through some kind of blocky hell greets her. If the frown on her face is anything to go by she seems extremely disturbed by what she's seeing (blocky flowers? BLASHPEMY!) but it's hard to tell for sure since that's what she always looks like.
"In all honesty, sir, I'm a little disturbed by how happy all of them look," she finally says after a stretch of silence. "But I'm also intrigued that both of them appear to be in the same..place? Universe? Dreamscape? I'm not entirely sure what you would call it."
"It gets worse," Shockwave states, optic flashing in the relative dim lighting of his lab. "Replaying memory scan: time-index: 44000 astroseconds ago. Subject: Sledgehammer." The monitor showing the mech--presumably Sledgehammer--jumping through blocky flowers suddenly shifts to another scene. This time Sledgehammer is in another part of the flowery field. He holds a blocky flower in his oversized hands and has a sheepish look on his face. Then, with a coy stance, he holds the flower out to a femme beside him. The femme is pink, cheerful, and unmistakably Autobot.
"I have examined the 'dreams' of fourteen Decepticon soldiers," Shockwave reveals, "This same dreamscape has appeared in 100% of them."
Worse is an understatement, what Buzzkill is seeing is one of the most digusting things she has ever witnessed (and she throws up inside people's mouths on a daily basis.) She recoils from the horrible sight, trying her hardest to keep herself from gagging. "What..." She pauses for a moment, doing everything she can to keep from throwing up all over the place. "..What is this? WHY is this? HOW is this... how is this possible? How are they ALL having the same 'dream?' This is..I don't even know what to say. This is horrible. Disgusting. Absolutely reprehensible."
Shockwave says nothing of the horrible, reprehensible nature of the video clip. Instead he drones, "Replaying memory scan: time-index: 12000 astroseconds ago. Subject: Ice." The monitor shifts to show a Decepticon femme working with an assortment of other chibi-Transformers from both factions. They seem to be happily working together to build a really big tower in the middle of a field. "Of the other Decepticons present, their own dreams corroborate this exact scene," Shockwave states. "Note the presence of Autobots. It is likely they are suffering from the same infliction. As are *you*, no doubt, and any other Transformer on Earth."
While the idea of Autobots and Decepticons willingly working together is also disgusting, it isn't NEARLY as disgusting as a Decepticon wooing an Autobot with some kind of deformed flower. Buzzkill is still incredibly disturbed though, especially when Shockwave tells her that she's probably having the same sort of dreams whether she remembers them or not.
"This is.." A brief pause from the honey bee. "..most disturbing news. What can be done about this?"
"That is my question to you," Shockwave states. "I want you to find out how to exploit this to our advantage. This affliction traps Autobots in a dreamscape whenever they are offline. If we could manipulate our own minds to keep our memories and personalities intact during this state, we could steal every secret the Autobots have without them ever knowing about it." Yes, Shockwave is talking about hunting Autobots in their dreams. And yes, he implied that he has a personality.
This is definitely something Buzzkill can get behind, she is a Decepticon after all and there's nothing a Decepticon loves more than deceiving Autobots (hence the name) and screwing them over. The fraternization thing she saw earlier kind of scares her though, she really hopes that kind of crap doesn't happen with her (not that she has any predisposition to do something like that but it IS some kind of weird dream so who knows how that works.)
"Understood. I will do everything in my power to find a way to exploit these....strange dreams for the Empire's advantage."
Shockwave, in his dream, formed an underground builders rebellion with /Grapple/ in an attempt to show the world that it was ok to build things even if you don't have the proper instructions. He had to stand up to the fascist Moonracer in this endeavor. Needless to say, all bets are off when you're in the Kre-O dreamscape. Also needless to say, Shockwave refrains from mentioning this to ANYONE. "These four are at your disposal should you need them," Shockwave states, pointing at them with his gun arm. "Note that indiscretions made in the dreamscape are not to be held against the individual. Do not kill them," he clarifies. /Most/ scientists don't have to specify that.