Shadows Given Form

[air_n_darkness]

Month Four, Week 2, Day 6

---

It is a very simple message. Essentially, it is a mere string of numbers, which would mean little to the average person. The numbers are sent when Hellbender is already planetside, conveniently enough, and there are actually two sets of numbers.

The first is a command override which only one person should know. Hellbender himself may not even know it, but he will certainly recognize it.

The second set of numbers are coordinates which, if followed, will bring Hellbender to a remote, mountainous area, and a ledge overlooking a lightning-burned forest, the landscape not unlike that which proved the backdrop for the worm and his master's first tete-a-tete.

Coincidence?

Comments

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

Hellbender recognizes the first code; it sends a shiver through his circuits as the numeric phrase unlocks a suppressed bit of memory: This is the top-level priority code: should you receive it, what follows overrides all other orders, and is to be acted on immediately.

It's not technically irresistible; if Hellbender were capable of rejecting all authority and orders, of rebelling against his creator and committing treason, he could just ignore it. Optimus Prime is technically capable of becoming a cruel tyrant who puts non-Cybertronians in death camps, too. There's a difference between what one is physically capable of doing and what one is psychologically capable of doing. Hellbender cannot ignore the orders of his master/creator/father/superior.

He takes a shuttle, flies cloaked, and puts it down in a deep canyon many miles from his destination. Hellbender doesn't know what's going on, but if there's an injured Shockwave here, he may well need the heavy transport. If there's intrigue afoot--and the hidden message to himself all but screams that there is--the fewer who know where he's gone and what he'd done, the better. He carefully camouflages the shuttle and locks it to his personal code... and Shockwave's.

The coordinates are just a set of coordinates until Hellbender emerges from the access tunnel he dug from the shuttle and flies slowly in robot-mode to the target. It's only when his feet settle on the mountain ledge that he realizes that the view down the valley resembles that from the hills above the Decepticon base on Gillanan III. It only lacks the abandoned mining town with the huge crater blasted in it; instead, there's a blasted forest.

"Hellbender reporting," he growls, then tries a weak call on Shockwave's personal frequency: // Hellbender reporting as ordered, priority code Aleph One. //

He listens intently for a reply on the radio, and listens even more intently to the world around him, feels the texture of the dirt and rock under his feet. What might be moving out there? What songs does the rock sing?

[air_n_darkness]

//You have always been exceedingly prompt in obeying my orders, Hellbender,// comes an answering reply to that radio hail. The accent and inflection are certainly familiar to the wurm, but the voice itself.... The voice has a higher pitch, a different tone, and oddly enough a warmth that cold and emotionless Shockwave never really had.

//I have always appreciated that fact.// Of course, Hellbender has little option to resist, but he does have free will. He could rebel. But he does not and that is testament enough to the force of Shockwave's will.

There are footsteps coming along the path that leads to that ledge, but the footsteps are oddly light. Not the heavier steps one would associate with a mech of Shockwave's size.

//I shall be with you momentarily. Please be prepared. I am not as I was.//

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

Testament to Shockwave's force of will, or testament to that other Shockwave's skill in painstakingly working out the building blocks of true loyalty? Programmed obedience and mental blocks against harming one's superior are one thing, but true loyalty, with initiative and the drive to make things better for one's superior... are quite another. Still, this Shockwave has never taken Hellbender's loyalty for granted, but has quite assiduously cultivated it--and been rewarded with the full bloom of devotion.

// Yes, sir. // Hellbender radios his acknowledgment, and there's more than a bit of relief in his voice. Shockwave survives, and will doubtlessly return and set things right--but then his additional words send a spike of concern through Hellbender's processors.

// If you're damaged, Ah've got a shuttle hidden a piece over the mountains. Just in case you need the transport. // Something isn't right, but how bad is it? He hopes they can return to Ship; Hellbender has no repair skills, and if Shockwave was badly damaged and in some kind of improvised shell...

The light footsteps, very light, the weight of a human, perhaps, attract Hellbender's attention. What is a human doing here, now? Trouble? A human minion of Shockwave's? // Sir, are the locals allies or problems? //

[air_n_darkness]

Perhaps a testament to both?

//I am not damaged, Hellbender. I am quite well. Simply... altered from our last encounter.// Surely that isn't a hint of self-consciousness creeping into the gunformer's voice? Shockwave doesn't worry about such things!

Shockwave does not mention that even as they speak, the shuttle Hellbender used is being dismantled and packed away by operatives working under Shockwave's orders, or that the shuttle was masked from Ship's sensors almost from the point it entered earth's atmosphere.

//I assure you, Hellbender,// the voice starts on the radio, but it finishes from the mouth of the tall, pale, dark-haired woman that rounds the corner, "Any humans you see in this place at this time are my allies."

If Hellbender is prone to studying news of science and the like, he will recognize her as the founder and president of one of Earth's more prominent companies, Kaonic Technologies.

She holds herself stiff and several paces away from the robot, waiting, most likely, for the inevitable refusal of belief and the censure that will follow.

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

Hellbender's optics narrow, and his shoulder gun slews round to point at the human, the targeting reticule a third red eye gazing at the woman. His pattern-matching routines do indeed dredge up a match from his intelligence briefings; as Ground 2IC, he had to keep up on "targets of interest" as well as enemies and his own subordinates. Kaonic Technologies was definitely "of interest" to the Decepticons, and the name had raised more than a few red flags, just like Primatech on Pzz-Zazz.

For a moment he is silent, watching suspiciously, senses extended for this.. person's backup or possible ambush. What's out there, what stirs the rock and air? Finally, he speaks, and his voice is deep and grim. "Ah hope you got a higher estimate of my intelligence than to think Ah'm going to take your identification at face value. Where Ah'm standin', you look and sound an awful lot like a human that's cracked open Shockwave's memory banks, which means you better have a real good explanation as to why I shouldn't burn you down right here, right now. That includes the present location of Shockwave's body."

If Kaonic Tech is another Quintesson front, they very well could have captured Shockwave and dissected even his peerless brain module. If Kaonic is a front of Shockwave's, the Boss would have a way of proving his bona fides.

[air_n_darkness]

Hellbender can likely hear movement off in the distance, but there does not appear to be anyone or anything other than wildlife approaching the area.

One corner of the woman's lips quirk up in a slight smile. "Of course. I did not expect belief. This is a rather jarring change to accept. I assure you, it was even more so for me thirty years ago when I awoke in this body."

Appearances and the occasional emote aside, Hellbender might notice that the woman's carriage and mannerisms are striking similar to Shockwave's. She does not move about as she talks, keeping very still, almost unnaturally so, and she is obviously conscious- yet seemingly unafraid- of the danger inherit in the giant robot before her.

"It has been a mere handful of months for you since I vanished. For me, it has been vorns upon vorns. Much has happened."

"I cannot give you the location of my body, for it seems to have ceased to exist when I was transplanted into this one. And I have looked," she adds, a touch dryly, "But you will not destroy me, because while you may doubt, I remain the closest you have been to your commander in entirely too long. You are too much mine to destroy a possibly exploitable resource in a fit of pique."

Again that slight half-smile, "Scourge would try to kill me on sight regardless. Decepticon leaders do not easily let go their power."

Her gaze narrows suddenly, becomes calculating as she looks Hellbender over. "You are still unfinished," she says.

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," Hellbender growls, optics still narrowed. Oh, he's noticed those behavioral quirks, but they can still be explained by the most depressing and plausible theory. "Simplest explanation is still that you viewed the contents of Shockwave's memory banks and are a very good actress. How can it have been 'vorns and vorns' if you turned up only 30 years ago?" What is her apparent age? Hellbender can't tell human ages all that well anyway; he's simply not familiar with the species.

"Ah would not casually throw away a lead toward my commander, no." Hellbender tilts his weapon away from the woman, but does not power it down. This could still be an ambush. "But we do have interrogators who know how to extract information from human brains. Convince me Ah should not turn you over to them."

A bluff--or is it? They have Cons who have worked on Earth before, gathering intelligence from humans. Quite a few of them, in fact.

Hellbender's optics widen very slightly. "Ah did not trust any other than Shockwave and Hook to do that kind of work on me. But you would know of the plans if you had studied Shockwave's memories."

[air_n_darkness]

The woman looks to be in her middle years, late thirties to mid-forties, perhaps.

"Come now Hellbender, you were built with more intelligence than that. I did not say that I merely turned up some thirty years ago; I said that I woke in this body thirty years ago."

"A space bridge is a tricky thing. It displaces in space, but also can displace in time, if properly- or improperly- adjusted. I came to Earth during its Jurassic period, though it was not the first planet I visited." Again that slight half-smile, "Why do you think you are finding energon now, in a universe that previously has not known it? I knew that eventually, my people would come here, and they would need sustenance."

She moves over to a large, flat rock which has broken off the mountain and sits, gracefully crossing one long over the other. "You argue that I could be merely a human- or representing one- who has somehow subverted Shockwave's security measures and cracked open his memories, his plans. You miss a key fact, however. A human cannot read Cybertronian, and with no key of reference, it would take much time to decipher."

"Nor can a human speak it," she says, switching as she does so to an ancient form of Cybertronian with a heavy Kaonic dialect, "Their vocal cords are ill-suited for the language." Indeed, the words sound strained coming from the woman, but her pronunciation and synatax are still spot on.

"Besides," she continues, still in Cybertronian, "If my goal was merely to ambush you, I could simply utilize the overrides which would negate your free will and render you but a drone under my command. Every weapon has failsafe, Hellbender."

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

Hellbender inclines his head slightly in acknowledgment. "Ah know what intelligence Ah was built with. Just seein' if the inconsistency had an explanation. So you're sayin' you've been here in your proper form until just 30 years ago, and then you poofed into a human for no particular reason?"

Something about the lady-Shockwave's account of herself sounds familiar... "When you were out planting energon.. you didn't run into the Dynobots this time around, did you?"

Hellbender again nods every so slightly. "If it were just humans Ah'm considering, might be pretty persuasive. Trouble is, we got Quintessons in this here universe, and if they're workin' with humans... worrisome notion. Makes it pretty hard to trust what Ah'm hearing without considerin' the angles--and their technology. Dead End had some pretty interestin' information on them in his original security briefing. They would have no problem deciphering Cybertronian."

He fell silent for a long moment, staring out at the mountains, before speaking again. "On the other hand, pretty good Kaon accent you've got there. From all Ah've heard, the Quints don't think enough of us to bother noticin' that we've got cultures and regional dialects and such like."

He turns his head back to look straight at the mysterious woman. "'Course you know those overrides will only work if mah backup CPUs agree that you're the authorized user of those overrides--a function not under mah direct control."¹

He continues to look down at her. "Where do you propose we go from here?"

----
¹It's a voting function of the four redundant CPUs, in case the one in control goes rogue and tries to block or disavow the override, or treasonably yield control to an unauthorized override. Majority has to agree that the issuer of the override is in fact Shockwave, and that it is an actual override command.

[air_n_darkness]

"I believe I have deduced the reason," she says, at the question about her current status, but does not elaborate. They aren't yet at such a point, that she would give him that.

"I simply have not yet discovered the cure."

"No, I did not encounter the Dynobots. I did spend a short time on Titan. And the Quintessons of this reality would have more trouble than you would think. Recall that we have found none of our race in this universe, no indications of kindred. They perhaps could reverse engineer the language, as formal Cybertronian does share much with their language, regardless of reality set. Perhaps."

She tilts her head slightly to one side, considering Hellbender's final question. "You choose. Always, you have been my most loyal here, largely because of your make and programming. Now you must choose me or not for yourself. Stay with me until I am better prepared to reassert my position. I will finish your rebuild, and answer what questions for you that I can. Or deny me and return to Scourge's rule, and always wonder if you lost the chance to aide your master when he needed."

This, perhaps, is the most Shockwave of everything the woman has said and done until now. For it is like Shockwave to not force anyone to come to him. Not initially, at least.

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

Hellbender nods in acknowledgment again. If Shockwave wishes to tell him--and with a start, Hellbender realizes he has started thinking of this woman as Shockwave--he will tell Hellbender in his own good time. The former testbed-turned-mining worm learned long ago not to badger his master with unnecessary questions. It reflected poorly on both of them.

"Scourge... is more like Megatron than yourself." Hellbender observes. "And they are not overly anxious to find you, though there was a signal that caught their attention." An overt concession of identity.

"If my Lord Shockwave requires me to stay, I shall," is his oblique reply.

[air_n_darkness]

She nods at the comment regarding Scourge. "He is certainly Megatron's get, yes, but Scourge is more. He has yet to make his mark upon the world, yet to live up to his lineage. This makes him more dangerous, harder to control. He will not give over control easily."

"And after him, there is Starscream."

The woman slips off the rock and walks over to Hellbender, reaching up and tracing a panel on the worm's leg, if the touch is allowed. "I do bid you stay. I look forward to finishing your rebuild without interruption."

"The signal was a risk, but the timing... it could not wait. Come. I've transportation down the mountain." She turns away, but pauses and speaks over her shoulder.

"In the company of humans, you are to address me as Victoria. Victoria Raines. My true nature is unknown, even to my second. Most will consider you yet another experimental weapon of my company, an attempt to capitalize off the 'alien visitors'."

Which isn't far off the mark.

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

"As you command... Lady Raines." Hellbender nods his head in acknowledgment. Carefully, he follows her down the mountain, one massive metal foot set down gently after the other. "What is my cover story among your fleshling minions, then?"

[air_n_darkness]

Victoria pauses on the path and looks back at Hellbender. "You have just heard it. However, you will interact with very few of the humans, and there will be few if any public appearances. I do not wish to call Scourge and Starscream's attention to myself until I am ready."


She continues down the path, "I hope it will not be too difficult or you, being cut off from the others for a time."

Eventually, the duo will come to a clearing at the base of the mountain. In that clearing is a stone circle large enough for both of them to stand in. Victoria heads to its center.

---

OOC: Yes, I'm riffing the Rings from Stargate and combining it w/ some spacebridge tech. They will likely never appear again in game.

Several days later...

[air_n_darkness]

Victoria was not joking about how little contact Hellbender would have with people other than herself. Nor was she merely dangling the promise of his final upgrade before him in an attempt to sway him to her side. Once the worm is settled into her very private and very secure workspace beneath Kao-Nic Technology's main research facility in Detroit, Victoria dives right into the work.

She is still reserved, as Shockwave was, still formal. Yet, there is something different. She can't quite hide that she is happy for Hellbender's presence, happy to be working for hours upon end upon his systems. She does not rush the work, at times being as critical and exacting as Hook. As she works, she sometimes talks, telling Hellbender some aspect of her time-displaced journey. One might think she has been starved for an equal (or a near approximation thereof) with which to interact, evidenced perhaps by her tendency to merely distance Hellbender's consciousnesses from his body, rather than take him fully offline for the work.

At the moment, she is tweaking the worm's entire subspace array, and telling Hellbender of her time spent in the gentle care of Sector Seven's laboratory.

"In truth, I've little memory of most of the period. Sometimes, like in a dream where one almost reaches the edge of wakefulness awareness would almost penetrate... I know from the information I recovered after my awakening that I was their captive for almost a century."

Her lips twitch, "I enjoy sending them on various wild chases from time to time."

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

Hellbender had drawn in on himself after Shockwave's disappearance. As Acting Ground Commander in Turmoil's absence, and a conscientious one, he'd had more than enough work to keep him occupied. Neither Scourge nor Starscream exactly invited junior officers to hang out with them, and Hellbender just plain avoided Slugslinger. The Air Commander was just as obnoxious as Hellbender's original Starscream had ever been, only in a different way, and seemed to be just as big of a screw-up--the opposite of everything Hellbender respected. Why he hadn't gotten his ugly aft demoted yet was a complete mystery to Hellbender--damn near anyone except Duskwing would be an improvement. Needless to say, Hellbender did not spend any time he didn't absolutely have to with Slugslinger--otherwise, he would have punched him in the face, rank or no rank. Come to think of it, Wreckage had done exactly that, and Hellbender hadn't found any compelling desire to punish Wreckage too terribly hard for punching a superior officer.

Jets didn't mix with ground officers, and as Acting Ground Commander, Hellbender didn't feel he could rightly fraternize with his ground-pounding subordinates. A command officer was a far sight from a squad sergeant. In short, even on Ship he hadn't had all that much contact with his own folk lately.

Hellbender would not have admitted he was lonely; it's not the kind of weakness a Decepticon dares admit. Shockwave's presence, even in human form, is purest anodyne for the weakness that dare not say its name. And he (she?) talks to him. (Hellbender is still indifferent to gender. As far as the worm-former is concerned, "Victoria" is Shockwave wearing an organic/Pretender mode, like the Predacons, only more organic and less Pretender. The gender of one's external disguise is irrelevant).

He rumbles, a deep subsonic sound that shakes the floors as Shockwave recounts his (her?) captivity by Sector Seven. "May Ah destroy them when you are finished upgrading me, sir? Or do you have deeper plans Ah should not interfere with? How did they capture you in the first place?"

[air_n_darkness]

"It was less a capture and more a fortuitous discovery on their part," Victoria says, "I was caught in a volcanic eruption during the Jurassic period and covered by volcanic ash and rock. My systems shut down to bare minimums due to shock."

"An archeological party unearthed me early in the twentieth century. Apparently, I went immediately into the government's tender care. Much of this world's technological advancements were gleaned from my circuitry while I lived in stasis."

She pauses, moving to another section of the worm's internals. At length, she continues.

"I am thankful that one of their scientists became a bit overzealous about testing his newly discovered fuel source. Else, I might still be hanging beneath that dam, their favorite toy." Some bitterness has creeped into her voice by this point.

"You may not," she finally answers the worm. She offers no explanation as to why.

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

Hellbender listens to Victoria's explanation. There's something familiar about this, but not quite. It's something that he read in a report, not something that happened to him. He starts searching memory banks, trying to match up what Lady Shockwave is saying to an elusive pattern...

'Dam'. That's it! He retrieves the history report for Barricade's reality. "Sir--er, ma'am, that sounds a mite like what happened to Megatron in Barricade's reality. Definitely a parallel there."

Hellbender ponders this last point for a few moments. "May Ah ask why not?" They are Decepticons; Decepticons do not forgive or forget such transgressions against them.

----
[OOC: *curses lack of preview button* *curses new default comment page* *re-enables custom comment pages on own accounts*]

[air_n_darkness]

She carefully severs connections and removes a component. She carries the piece over to her worktable. There are some other pieces in various states of completion there. One of these, she starts to integrate into the removed component.

"Yes, there are some similarities, as well as some to another reality set. It is almost as if this universe is some sort of melding pot for every Transformer reality's history."

Hellbender's question prompts Victoria to look up. There is something almost like a fond smile on her lips as she gets up and walks back to Hellbender. Gently, she lays a hand on the worm's head- or what she can reach of it.

"Your loyalty, your desire to avenge me, is most appreciated. You must understand, however, that my current state requires that I work within the human systems. Sector Seven has accesses and information that I do not and cannot have. Removing them would allow for the possibility that their replacements would be both less useful and more competent." This argument is similar to the argument Shockwave used when confronted about the rebels on his Cybertron. Essentially, the devil you know is easier to control than the devil you don't.

"There will come a time when all debts will be paid, Hellbender. I promise you."

[headless-seeker.livejournal.com]

The actions and the position are familiar, at least. Hellbender is so very used to being worked on--too used to it. He's almost addicted to having such attention paid to him by his creator.

"Ah see. Infiltratin' them and usin' them from the inside." He chuckles, a sinister basso sound that echoes and re-echoes around the work chamber. "You can remove the robot from the Decepticon, but not the Decepticon from the robot, Ah might say. Good to know you aren't losin' your touch, sir--er, ma'am."

"Lookin' forward to it, ma'am. Ah'll be as patient as you order me to be, ma'am." Amusement laces Hellbender's voice.

[air_n_darkness]

Victoria finishes the installation, moves back to Hellbender, and replaces the part in the worm.

"Let's run through a transformation sequence. It will be rough, incomplete, and possibly painful, but the bones are there now."

Several days later and much further along in the rebuild.

Victoria sits on a stool, elbow propped on the table and her chin propped on the back of her hand as she looks Hellbender over. She is almost done, and the worm now has wings in truth. They are down to details now. Some components still stubbornly refuse to mesh with the Gillanese tech, and the problem is slightly frustrating to her.

"I have the hard data, but tell me in your own words of the problem."

OOC: feel free to make something up. Just felt that something this big shouldn't go perfectly smooth, especially given the limitations of Victoria's form, and the materials on hand.