DAY 43: CAFETERIA, MORNING

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Where was Blitzwing?

Lugnut ignored the nurse's fussing over his foot, even as it howled objections to his ill treatment of it the night before, pounding through the town in search of his wingmate, reportedly helpless and injured by an attack the night before-- and not finding him, not seeing even a glimpse of his crazy triple-changing ally.

Snarling at the nurse, but restraining himself from shows of violence-- Blitzwing would mock him if he showed up drugged already, and he would be useless to Megatron like that--he made his way impatiently to the cafeteria, stopping for just long enough to post an urgent notice on the board.

Where was he?

Looming in the middle of the cafeteria, he took the tray the nurse handed him (filled with disgusting human fuel, didn't she know he didn't have time to eat, not when his wingmate was missing?) and ignored it, watching for Blitzwing, where was he?

He refused to think about what might have happened to a wheelchair-bound, drugged, incapacitated warrior, with the swarms of monsters flooding around him, clawing and biting...

[for Scourge]

Comments

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

"These guys go to a heck of a lot of trouble for no reason." Par for the course at Landel's, he supposed.

Scourge almost hoped he got a "visitor". Maybe Optimus Prime to give him an inspirational speech, or a neatly brainwashed Starscream (could they have two Starscreams, if they were from different points in time?). Maybe Soundwave? He had no idea how Soundwave would translate over.

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

"Hrmph, as if any mere human could rightfully claim to be a Decepticon," Lugnut grumbled, stabbing a bit of food with his fork and shoving it around his plate.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"At present, permanent human status is hardly a factor for anyone here. Only how effectively you can employ these weak bodies while we are all trapped in them," Recluse said, spitting out the words 'human' and 'weak' as if they were curses.

"What capabilities does your race have in its normal state?" Recluse asked, for lack of anything more useful to discuss. The real bodies of all non-humans--possibly including himself--were being stored somewhere within the control of the Institute, and at least one of them had been returned to it for the nightly brainwashing. Beyond that, it never hurt to know the capabilities of others.

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

Scourge shrugged, licking the sugar from his lips. "Depends on the build. We're all robots, obviously. Most of us are bigger than a human, although the Cassettes come pretty close, but standard height is maybe three or four humans tall. Most Decepticons, me included, can fly, although there's a few who can't and a few Autobots who can. Some of us have natural weapons attached, but I just carry a gun around. And these, of course." He held up one hand, fingers spread to display his claws--no longer pink, but still long. Ideally he could file his nails a bit sharper during dinner, in preparation for the night. "There's also those with unique abilities like cloaking or creating holograms. I have tracking skills, heightened perception and detection way above what I've currently got, but nobody else has that.

"And there's transforming, of course, we all do that, but we turn into different things. I'm an air skiff, for example, and Starscream was a F-15. If Lockdown was the guy running around two nights ago, then he transformers into a muscle car."

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

"Three or four humans tall?" Lugnut echoed, and snorted. "Pathetically small. Blitzwing, Megatron, and I are far larger than that-- I'm about as tall as this building," and he waved his hand at the institute, "Blitzwing about a head smaller. He is a triple-changer, and three-faced. Megatron took the form of a helicopter when he was rebuilt. I am a bomber." He looked at his hands, and murmured, "I had explosive mods installed."

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"Interesting." All the information was filed away for later use. Nothing that was said made him at all worried. If they were restored to their original forms, then he would still win in any confrontation. "There are no Decepticons or Autobots in my universe, but there is a conflict with the same dynamic there as well." It seemed inevitable that there would always be some variation on Heroes and Villains fighting throughout the multiverse. Some were simply more capable than others.

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

It wasn't Scourge's fault the animators had no sense of continuity. It was a good day when Bluestreak wasn't the size of Bumblebee. "I said it was the average," Scourge snapped back. He was telling the story! "Omega Supreme is...I think the length of this building if he's lying on his back, maybe taller. The gestalts are even bigger."

Explosive mods? What, his hands exploded? That sounded uncomfortable.

[*gigglesnerk* Or no trucks are riding in the cab of a pickup?]

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

"He's much taller," Lugnut stated, definitely. "And not among Decepticons! The only ones I know that size is that Swindle person, and Blackarachnia." He paused, then added, "And Oil Slick, maybe. Autobots are much smaller. What's a 'gestalt'?"

Re: [*gigglesnerk* Or no trucks are riding in the cab of a pickup?]

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Gods, was he stuck in the middle of an argument of who was bigger now? No matter the species, it was still amazingly immature. Recluse tried not to roll his eyes. "A gestalt would in the context likely be several individuals that combine into a larger form."

Re: [*gigglesnerk* Or no trucks are riding in the cab of a pickup?]

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

Scourge made up his mind to start ignoring Lugnut. What kind of crazy name was Blackarachnia anyway, 'arachnia' wasn't even a word. It sounded more like a human name.

"Yeah. Five or six guys merging to make a single larger robot. They're not exactly bright, but they do a lot of damage."

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

"... Oh," Lugnut grunted. Combiner technology. Why couldn't Scourge just say that?

"... Anyway," he grumbled, making a short answer to Recluse's original question, "we're war machines. We fight, and we fight well."

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"Humans in my universe have developed that technology for their robots by now." Or at least the Malta Group made use of it with their robot designs, complete with at least one ridiculously large, overcompensatory Titan unit that his spies had discovered.

"Interesting." Today, that seemed to be Recluse's condensed version of 'I couldn't care less, but thank you for the information'. "How much of your skills are still applicable in these feeble bodies?"

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

"I've still got some abilities, although they're pretty reduced. I can only see a tiny part of the electromagnetic spectrum and my hearing's severely dampened. If we get an actual robot showing up I probably can't pick up on his energy signature."

Scourge eyed Lugnut, leaning away from him suspiciously. "I'm hoping Lugnut doesn't explode anymore."

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

"I didn't explode in the first place," he snapped. "I had a mod where I could punch something and it would blow up." Blitzwing would yell at him if he set it off without warning.

Reminded, he glanced around for Blitzwing. He still wasn't in the room, lazy fragger.

"... I no longer have my natural armor or weapons, but two million years in the pits of Kaon have hardly left me helpless," he said, obviously still annoyed.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

"But neither of you have training in fighting organics at this level. Or fighting as organics, for that matter. It might be advisable to rectify that." With how easily they all seemed to get injured, it was remarkable they were still alive at all, after last night. Scourge had been mostly cowering behind him and Marcus all night, but the rest were just zombie bait.

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

Oh, that made much more--nope, still made no sense. unless you punched it extraordinarily hard.

"I've still got two arms and two legs, the details aren't completely different. But I've heard some of the 'clubs' around here teach self-defense."

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Lugnut stared at Recluse, hard, then loomed to his feet.

"Two million years," he repeated, growlingly, "through countless bodies and reformattings, sometimes starving and half-broken, with every weapon ever conceived passing through my servos, fighting in the gladatorial pits of Kaon until even those who did not know my name knew of the Kaon Crusher, until Lord Megatron came and lifted me out of the pit to serve his glorious purpose and throw down the oppressive rule of the Autobots-- two million years, and another four million years serving the most magnificent commander Cybertron has ever known, or will know again--" he leaned over, grabbed Recluse by the front of his shirt, and hauled him closer, "-- and you would say I cannot fight?!"

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Well, that was an impressively impassioned speech. He hadn't heard one that fervent since his arrival here.

But touching him was not to be allowed. "No, you cannot." Recluse grabbed the hand on his shirt, getting a good grip--driving his thumb in between the metacarpels as he did so for good measure--and twisting hard. Hard enough to make sure the Decepticon let go. Not hard enough to sprain the wrist or anything potentially more drastic. "You can do nothing with a body that you do not understand."

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

And they were fighting again, great. Scourge hated it when this kind of thing happened, he never knew who to support and they always expected him to support someone.

Right now he just supported not getting hurt. They'd just made it through a night of zombies, could no one settle down and enjoy the fact they weren't meatloaf for two astroseconds?

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Lugnut yelled in pain and fury, trying to wrench away, and-- when that didn't work-- bellowed "You fragging glitch!" and slammed his other hand towards Recluse's head.

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Recluse calmly brought an arm up to block, the impact quite strong, even with the block properly angled to redirect the blow. "We could have settled this without attracting the nurses," Recluse pointed out, punctuating the remark with a hard twist to the Decpeticon's wrist, likely enough to sprain. "And without breaking any more of you." He was going to keep entirely to defensive measures if possible. He didn't want to end up sedated as well.

[haplesstracker.livejournal.com]

"Yes, please? I've already been involved in two fights this week, the nurses are going to start getting suspicious about me." Scourge covered his face with both hands, leaning heavily on his elbows. Actually he could really, really do with a visitor right about now.

[hailmegatron.livejournal.com]

Lugnut yelped and tried to wrench his hand away again, which got another yelp out of him, followed by a snarling burst of swearing as he lunged bodily against Recluse, trying to get him off-balance so Lugnut could get his hand back. Then hit him with it.

[damned-nurses.livejournal.com]

The nurse was there in a flash, materializing as if out of nowhere with two orderlies diving in to pull the two patients off of each other. She stood with her hands on her hips, a hint of annoyance filtering through her stern expression.

Fortunately, it didn't seem the fight had gotten bloody yet.

"Just what is the problem here? You both know perfectly well that violence is not tolerated within these walls."

[tartaros-avatar.livejournal.com]

Recluse willingly pulled away when the orderlies arrived, letting go of Lugnut's wrist. "He attacked me needlessly. I did nothing more than defend myself." He didn't say 'without provocation', for what it was worth.