damned_institute | Day 41: Intercom, Evening

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Day 41: Intercom, Evening

When the intercom's jingle sounded, there seemed to be some kind of tapping in the background noise, like letters being punched into a keyboard. It stopped and the Head Doctor chuckled.

"Hello, everyone! I'm actually taking a break from paperwork for once – everyone needs some recreational time, you know! – and of course, now we can all look forward to a scrumptious dinner from our cooks. Tonight, herb-seasoned grilled salmon is on the menu, served with buttery mashed potatoes and asparagus. All our regular drinks and vegetarian options are available, and for dessert, we will be serving yellow cake with a whipped cream icing.

"...Well! I can hardly wait to get my own dinner after saying all that. Good bye for now, everyone, and enjoy your delicious food!"

The intercom clicked off.

[ All room threads go in response to this post; please post your character's room number as the subject line of the initial post. (Find all of the newly changed room assignments and shift introductions here.) If you are introducing your character during this shift, you may either choose for them character to wake up before their roommate gets back, or after. ]

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Lockdown noticed HK's poorly-hidden relief, and smirked. "Perhaps another night, when neither of us are busy."

Just as well, since, according to those notes he'd tried, and failed, to surpress, if two males tried it without some sort of 'lubricant', it wouldn't be pleasant for either of them. Lockdown had honestly tried to get those notes out of his mind the second after reading them, but they had etched themselves into his processor. Now that he had thought about it, he figured he may as well do things this way, or else the interfacing tension would get to him sooner or later.

"Oh. Joy." Damn it, this whole thing had scrambled his thought processes somehow! He needed to figure out how to defrag this meatbag brain, this was just getting out of hand!

Actually, that was a nice, distracting idea. HK liked the prospect of tying up most of his currently minimal processing power with internal diagnostics so he didn't have to deal with the scattered and yet unfortunately focused way that meatbags thought about everything.

Lockdown patted HK's cheek again. "Look forward to it, kid. I certianly will be," The bounty hunter punctuated his statement with a wink.

He finally released the other former inorganic from his hold, leaning back on his bed, propped up on his elbows.

HK cringed just slightly, realizing only now just how obliviously he'd marched straight into this whole thing. He really should have seen it coming, but... He hadn't. GAH.

As soon as he wasn't being held, he decided it would be best if he fell back to a more defensible position. To translate from HK, that meant 'fleeing immediately over to his own bed where it was safe.'

Lockdown let the other go, knowing full well he'd have HK in his bed soon enough. Hopefully no one would have any jobs for him at that time.

Who would have thought the night would go from Lockdown punching HK for acting weird to this?

The bounty hunter lay on his side, his body facing HK, but he kept his optics down and absently folded the sheets between his fingers. "Wonder if this would make for a good poncho?" He asked himself.

HK was happily (okay, not happily, but at least less neurotically) rearranging several areas of his brain that had somehow managed to return to meatbag-style clutter when his roommate began to confuse him again. Thank the maker it didn't involve touching him this time. "Query: Why?" He knew what a poncho was, but why would anyone want one?

Lockdown shifted his optics towards the younger former inorganic. "Used to have a poncho before I got stuck here. Would like to have another one." That poncho had been good for keeping the wind and dust off him, like when he had gone to the moon to look for Starscream. Granted, there was no wind in space, but the moon was absolutely covered in dust. Plus, once he fashioned himself a few belts and holsters to hold all his weapons, it would be nice to have something to conceal himself, and his weapons, with.

...Alright, that was odd. As if anything that had happened since entering this cell hadn't been odd. "...Statement: Because of the domestic protocol droid programming I was given to blend in with civilian droids while on assignments, I... know how to sew." It was so embarrassing. But he had quite a lot of data on file that he wished that he never would have to access.

Lockdown looked up fully at HK. "Oh, do you now?" Lockdown had purchased all his ponchos in bulk from Swindle. Plus, even if he did know how to sew, he doubted he would have been able to anyway, since he'd only had one hand for the past several million stellar cycles. Last time he'd checked, one needed two hands for sewing.

"Well, perhaps you can help me out with providing me with a new poncho."

"Affirmative: I can. Observation: It's payment that I can't give away by accident, after all." Yet another reason why he needed a defrag: his tendency to ramble without stopping. Usually, that was never, ever a problem. It could sometimes be a help to him, when adversaries became so distracted and frustrated by his constant talking that they made a mistake. But this was different. Unfortunately.

"So, I take it that means you're not going to help me with that unless you get something in return?"

Well, perhaps he could convince HK to help him make a poncho once he bribed him with the chocolate he would soon be recieving. Lockdown thought about trying to sew a poncho himself, but then figured that since he'd really never sewn before, he might botch the thing, and he didn't want that. He'd sewn up tears and holes in his ponchos, but that was different. That was repair work.

"Affirmative: Yes, and I will not be tricked into doing otherwise." He'd had enough of that by now. This was more the sort of thing that his Master did brilliantly. He wasn't programmed for this sort of thing.

"Aw, you're not still sore about your little slip-up from earlier, are you?" So, Lockdown would indeed have to bribe HK into doing this for him. Hopefully that chocolate would be ready by tommorrow, like the guy on the bulletin promised.

"Affirmative: Yes, I am. It should not have happened." There were a lot of things that he could say that about this evening. His ego could only take so much.

Hopefully, getting something sharp and good for slicing open meatbags would help restore morale.

"Were you always this tightly wound, even as a robot?" Lockdown asked. Or perhaps HK had been purposely programmed or trained not to provide such information, because Lockdown had known mechs like that. The way that pink intel-bot had refused to just give away that important data in her processor, Lockdown honestly couldn't be surprised that some other bots were the same way.

"Answer: Not on all subjects. Being stuck in a meatbag body has made certain dislikes about the condition far more personally relevant," HK said, referring to all organics as some sort of unfortunate hereditary disease.

"I was created to be a covert, discrete alternative to military assaults on a target. If I was captured or otherwise unable to return to my master or complete my mission, my memory core would automatically seal itself. I am supposed to be able to keep information entirely confidential."

"You don't say," Lockdown murmered. "So, you're part assassin part intel-bot, huh?" Almost every intel-bot he'd ever encountered, target or not, had been good at sealing their memory cores to keep data completely private. Unfortunately for them, memory cores could be cracked. Usually through painful interrogation or hacking into the memory cores themselves. It was the main reason that pink intel-bot had had the medi-bot wipe her processor in the first place. Lockdown grumbled at the memory of that failed mission. He'd lost some good payment thanks to those two.

"Affirmative: If that fits the definition, then yes. I was created by the Dark Lord of the Sith, after all. I had access to highly sensitive information. Statement: If the aforementioned protocols were put into place, my primary memory core could only be unlocked upon returning to my original Master." Which he hadn't even known, once he had been forced to shut down while on his still unknown mission into Mandalorian space. Those memories were permanently gone.

"The directives have been activated several times, first when I was incapacitated while on a mission, and then four more times after that. After my primary core locked, I was forced to serve other masters. Each died gruesomely, although it was only slightly my fault. When each expired, a secondary, less complex version of the protocol was activated each time."

Well, listening to HK was certianly more interesting than listening to some of the other inmates he'd met here. Lockdown also couldn't hold back a tiny snicker when HK mentioned the 'died gruesomely' part, followed by how it was 'slightly' HK's fault.

"Well, sounds like these Sith know what they're doing when it comes to security," The bounty hunter then held back a yawn as best as he could.

The reaction to his description of his previous masters' deaths was appreciated, if not exactly what he felt himself. He was bound to serve, after all, and it was never exactly a mark of pride when a master was exploded into tiny fragments while you were out completing an assassination for them.

"Affirmative: Yes, except for that one unfortunate incident in which my master's apprentice betrayed her. Statement: That took place during the period in which my memory core was locked, and was therefore unable to assist my master, or preempt the attack. If I had known what he would do, I would have gladly removed his entrails the first time I met him." As he had sworn to his master once all involved had regained their memories.

"Hm, seems these Sith have more in common with Decepticons than I first thought," Lockdown stated in a thoghtful tone, closing his optics as to rest them a little. "Most Decepticons that make second-in-command or apprentice aren't content to just be number two. And usually the only way to get a promotion is to get the number one out of the way." Starscream was a prime example of this. He could almost count the number of times he'd listend to the Starscream back in his world complain that he'd make a much better leader than Megatron.

"Statement: It is fairly traditional, usually expected that a Sith apprentice will attempt a violent takeover of their master's role. However, it was likely expected that the meatbag would attempt such a feat after the far more capable master had crushed the Republic. Malak continued to win, but only by overwhelming force." Sending cheap, expendable units after the fleets worked in theory, but eventually the Star Forge would be left building more ships with no Sith left to crew them.

"That is, until my master regained her memories--therefore triggering the seal on my memory core as well--and destroyed her traitorous apprentice. I unfortunately was not there to witness it, but I did get to view the remains. Very charred."

Lockdown gave a nod of satisfaction, "Nice. She sounds like someone you definatly don't want to be on the bad side of."

He stiffled another yawn before continuing. "Something similar happened between the Decepticons in my world. After Starscream betrayed Megatron, old Megs tried to terminate him. Of course, thanks to the whole immortal thing, Starscream just kept comin' back from the dead. Megatron eventually placed a heafty bounty on Starscream's head, which grabbed the attention of your's truely," He tapped his chest lightly with a finger for emphasis. "Cybertron, now that was an interesting and eventful mission."

"Affirmative: Yes, I remember watching traitors being telekinetically crushed to death at the very least. Usually as a finishing touch." He did so love his master for this reason among many.

"Query: How did that end?" HK asked the obvious question, something he could fairly consistently be counted on to do, no matter how oblivious he might be to details that should not have escaped his notice.

Lockdown smiled, "Nice." He always held some measure of respect for those who could find creative ways to kill others.

"Well, it's a long story," The bounty hunter sighed. "This young Autobot ninja named Prowl teamed up with me so we could work together to catch Starscream. I even gave the kid some nice mods, which he liked. We caught Screamer, but Prowl turned on me when he found out that I was bringing the target to Megatron. The kid's conscience got in the way, and wanted to turn him in to the Elite Guard instead. I tied up Prowl, promising to come back for him after I got my reward. However, when I deliverd Starscream to the meeting place, the Autobots showed up with another Starscream. Turned out that both Starscreams were sparkless clones rigged with bombs. I managed to get away, and I suppose the Autobots took care of the bombs. I called Prowl and offered him the chance to ditch the Autobots and become my partner for good, but he rejected me." The tone of his voice made it clear that he was greatly affected by Prowl's choice. It was one of longing. Lockdown yawned once more. He was more tired than he thought.

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Day 41: Intercom, Evening

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