Flashback: Smoke On The Water (Closed)
Sept 13, 2014 11:04:51 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Sept 13, 2014 11:04:51 GMT -5
This wasn't supposed to be the way he was going to go out.
He was the last one left.
And if he wanted to have any chance of making it out, he had to act now and get everything right.
Only got one shot as this so he had to make it count.
It had taken him vorns to put the whole story together. Where he was, what was going on. How he'd ended up in the Pits.
Smokescreen had snapped awake to the blare of alert sirens.
His helm was throbbing faintly, the pain the reason why he'd onlined at all. It was dark. He couldn't see much at all. He'd tried to move, only to realise he couldn't. There was something...
The ends of his limbs were sheathed in metal. Vacuumed sealed. What the-
Smokescreen's optics scanned his surroundings, this time searching harder. Faint details began to make themselves clear. Right in front of him, some sort of clear flexi-glass. His servos and pedes were spread and encased to the ceiling and floor. And across from him, if he peered hard enough through the glass, he could see more mechs imprisoned exactly the same way he was.
Containment pods...
Smokescreen was in one.
Fresh out of stasis, it took the Autobot far too long to figure out what this meant for him. Last thing he remember was back on Cybertron, trying to make it an evacuation point before everyone abandoned the planet. It wasn't long before the full weight of his situation was illustrated right in front of his optics.
There had been a sickening crash. Encased as he was, Smokescreen could barely even flinch. Then, loud shouts coming towards him. From the far end of the corridor, a door opened up, light spilling down the dark hallway and Smokescreen could just barely make out the shape of two large mecha. His optics, he quickly powered down low, so that the bright blue glow wouldn't give him away.
"Who the frag piloted us into an asteroid belt? Rotor Head's been injured when the auxiliary power relay exploded. Needs a new arm and replacement energon."
"You know the drill...find some poor bot who's the closest match to his specifications and take 'im out."
Curious and unable to help himself, Smokescreen strained as much as he could to angle his helm so that he could see. The glass distorted his view but he could see the two mecha coming to a stop, not looking in his direction. One slammed a servo against the control of a pod. There was the whirl of mechanisms unlocking, then the glass slid up as the metal encasing the imprisoned mech released his limbs. Smokescreen caught sight of a patch of red on the mech's front.
Autobrand. He's an Autobot.
His optics darted to the two big mecha, zooming in to find two ugly purple splotches. Decepticons.
The released Autobot fell limply to the floor. Smokescreen willed the other mech to get up. Come on, on your pedes. You need to get up and show these Cons who's boss.
"Well, Autobot. Rejoice. Today you contribute to the Decepticon cause."
That was the only warning he got. Then, a bright light -a heated energon blade- was shoved right through the spark chamber of the Autobot. Any energon lines would be cauterized instantly, part of Smokescreen's processor observed in clinical detachment. The spark chamber had been breached, killing the poor mech instantly. The Autobot didn't even had time to scream, a shocked sickly cry escaped but it quickly faded, along with the mech's life. But it wasn't over, the Decepticon with the energon blade made one last cut, rending the right shoulder and arm from the body.
"Get his energon drained, Gearswitch," the same mech grunted as he picked up the dismembered limb. "I'm getting this to Spinner pronto so he stops pinging my comms just about every other astrosecond. Primus, does he ever shut up?"
Smokescreen shrunk back, unwilling to watch anymore as the other Decepticon hauled up the body. Unwillingly, his audials tracked the heavy stomps as the two disappeared with their gruesome burdens. It took the young Autobot several breems before he realised he was shaking.
What did I wake up to…?
His helm sank low. The Autobot was alive and they killed him. Killed him so that they could harvest his parts and energon. Smokescreen's jaw tightened. This time, when he stared down the row of pods, he noticed that some were empty.
And it's not just him.
Any of them, the Autobots in the containment pods, any of them could be killed and used the same way. Smokescreen had known that the Decepticons were evil but he'd never witnessed their cruelty up close. It had just been...stories his cohort and the instructors had talked about back at the Elite Guard. He'd seen the aftermath, the devastation the war had wrought upon Cybertron but having never seen it in its glory meant that he didn't quite grasp the magnitude of destruction that had occurred.
The young Autobot tilted his head back and rested against the wall. There wasn't anything he could do, Smokescreen realised with a cold chill. Each of his limbs was trapped, he couldn't get any of them free because well, he needed a free servo. Which he didn't have. Smokescreen strained his body, tugging hard on each restraint. No give. Which made sense. A containment pod wouldn't be much use if they could be broken from the inside.
The world -no, a ship, he was in space- shuddered violently again. Asteroid belt. That's what woke me. He'd hit his head and-
Smokescreen tilted his neck. There was something he could feel weighing lightly on the back of his neck. He couldn't figure out what it was but a nasty suspicion had him pressed up against the plexi-glass again, peering hard at the pod beside him. He could make out the outline of an aerial deep in recharge or stasis, hanging forward against his restraints. Giving how uncomfortable it had to be, hanging like that -hanging like dead weight, a small part of Smokescreen's processor whispered and his mind unwillingly flicked back to the scene that had occurred moments before- Smokescreen was willing to be the mech was in stasis. And-there.
There it was. A cable from the wall of the pod plugged into the back of the mech's neck. Just like the one Smokescreen could feel but- the young Autobot flexed his shoulders and the weight moved and shifted before slipping off his back completely. His was disconnected.
The asteroids. That impact. It hadn't just thrown him hard enough to bash his head against the side of the pod, it had also unplugged the cable keeping him in blissful stasis.
So...what did he have? What did he know? How could he get out of this situation? He was a soldier, time to put that training to use. So what if he'd never really made it to proper active duty?
Current location: a Decepticon ship. In an asteroid belt. Known number of hostiles: 4. 3 undamaged, 1 injured. Could be more. Total number unconfirmed. Number of nearby Autobots: 23. Their status: in stasis but undamaged. My own current status: imprisoned. Containment pod. No access to any weaponry. Can't use my pedes or servos. Was previously in stasis but isn't. Unknown how much time was been spent due to the forced nature of the external stasis induction.
My current objective: escape.
Right. Because that was going to be easy.
Enemy objective: currently unknown. Known enemy actions: execution and murder of imprisoned Autobots for the salvaging of their energon and parts.
Speaking of which, his energon levels were still quite high. Smokescreen's optics widened as he quickly realised that being in stasis was the only thing that had conserved his energy. If he stayed awake like this...the Cons didn't need to check if their prisoners were going to offline from energon starvation if they were all in stasis. No one would come by and notice that he was running low. Giving that they had reused that Autobot's energon, they didn't have enough to waste on keeping a prisoner fuelled.
Current status: energon levels high but no supplies to replenish my reserves. Possible solution: re-initiate stasis?
But that would leave Smokescreen vulnerable if they came by to harvest him like they did the others. Coming out of stasis left you disorientated and confused until your processor kicked in and started working properly. Those Cons hadn't given that Autobot time to recover, they'd butchered him straight off.
Stasis: viable option. Need more intel about current situation before a plan of action can be decided.
From inside his containment pod, his ability to gather intel was...quite limited. They didn't have any guards stationed down here anyway. Didn't need to, given that all the prisoners were in stasis and locked up in their pods. Smokescreen strained against his restraints again but he could feel nothing give. He could keep testing the bonds...try to see if he could weaken them...but the energon he'd use up just staying online…these cuffs were meant for keeping a mech imprisoned after all. They wouldn't break just from a little pressure.
Smokescreen's head dropped down again. Slagggit. What could he do? Go back to stasis and get butchered in his recharge? Or risk offlining from energon starvation, to stay awake and keep watch for the Cons to slip up.
Not that there were Cons to watch right now.
A couple of cycles, Smokescreen decided. He'd stay online for a couple of cycles and then re-evaluate. If he had something new, he could start planning from there.
If he didn't...well. That's when stasis got brought back to the table.
He was the last one left.
And if he wanted to have any chance of making it out, he had to act now and get everything right.
Only got one shot as this so he had to make it count.
It had taken him vorns to put the whole story together. Where he was, what was going on. How he'd ended up in the Pits.
Smokescreen had snapped awake to the blare of alert sirens.
His helm was throbbing faintly, the pain the reason why he'd onlined at all. It was dark. He couldn't see much at all. He'd tried to move, only to realise he couldn't. There was something...
The ends of his limbs were sheathed in metal. Vacuumed sealed. What the-
Smokescreen's optics scanned his surroundings, this time searching harder. Faint details began to make themselves clear. Right in front of him, some sort of clear flexi-glass. His servos and pedes were spread and encased to the ceiling and floor. And across from him, if he peered hard enough through the glass, he could see more mechs imprisoned exactly the same way he was.
Containment pods...
Smokescreen was in one.
Fresh out of stasis, it took the Autobot far too long to figure out what this meant for him. Last thing he remember was back on Cybertron, trying to make it an evacuation point before everyone abandoned the planet. It wasn't long before the full weight of his situation was illustrated right in front of his optics.
There had been a sickening crash. Encased as he was, Smokescreen could barely even flinch. Then, loud shouts coming towards him. From the far end of the corridor, a door opened up, light spilling down the dark hallway and Smokescreen could just barely make out the shape of two large mecha. His optics, he quickly powered down low, so that the bright blue glow wouldn't give him away.
"Who the frag piloted us into an asteroid belt? Rotor Head's been injured when the auxiliary power relay exploded. Needs a new arm and replacement energon."
"You know the drill...find some poor bot who's the closest match to his specifications and take 'im out."
Curious and unable to help himself, Smokescreen strained as much as he could to angle his helm so that he could see. The glass distorted his view but he could see the two mecha coming to a stop, not looking in his direction. One slammed a servo against the control of a pod. There was the whirl of mechanisms unlocking, then the glass slid up as the metal encasing the imprisoned mech released his limbs. Smokescreen caught sight of a patch of red on the mech's front.
Autobrand. He's an Autobot.
His optics darted to the two big mecha, zooming in to find two ugly purple splotches. Decepticons.
The released Autobot fell limply to the floor. Smokescreen willed the other mech to get up. Come on, on your pedes. You need to get up and show these Cons who's boss.
"Well, Autobot. Rejoice. Today you contribute to the Decepticon cause."
That was the only warning he got. Then, a bright light -a heated energon blade- was shoved right through the spark chamber of the Autobot. Any energon lines would be cauterized instantly, part of Smokescreen's processor observed in clinical detachment. The spark chamber had been breached, killing the poor mech instantly. The Autobot didn't even had time to scream, a shocked sickly cry escaped but it quickly faded, along with the mech's life. But it wasn't over, the Decepticon with the energon blade made one last cut, rending the right shoulder and arm from the body.
"Get his energon drained, Gearswitch," the same mech grunted as he picked up the dismembered limb. "I'm getting this to Spinner pronto so he stops pinging my comms just about every other astrosecond. Primus, does he ever shut up?"
Smokescreen shrunk back, unwilling to watch anymore as the other Decepticon hauled up the body. Unwillingly, his audials tracked the heavy stomps as the two disappeared with their gruesome burdens. It took the young Autobot several breems before he realised he was shaking.
What did I wake up to…?
His helm sank low. The Autobot was alive and they killed him. Killed him so that they could harvest his parts and energon. Smokescreen's jaw tightened. This time, when he stared down the row of pods, he noticed that some were empty.
And it's not just him.
Any of them, the Autobots in the containment pods, any of them could be killed and used the same way. Smokescreen had known that the Decepticons were evil but he'd never witnessed their cruelty up close. It had just been...stories his cohort and the instructors had talked about back at the Elite Guard. He'd seen the aftermath, the devastation the war had wrought upon Cybertron but having never seen it in its glory meant that he didn't quite grasp the magnitude of destruction that had occurred.
The young Autobot tilted his head back and rested against the wall. There wasn't anything he could do, Smokescreen realised with a cold chill. Each of his limbs was trapped, he couldn't get any of them free because well, he needed a free servo. Which he didn't have. Smokescreen strained his body, tugging hard on each restraint. No give. Which made sense. A containment pod wouldn't be much use if they could be broken from the inside.
The world -no, a ship, he was in space- shuddered violently again. Asteroid belt. That's what woke me. He'd hit his head and-
Smokescreen tilted his neck. There was something he could feel weighing lightly on the back of his neck. He couldn't figure out what it was but a nasty suspicion had him pressed up against the plexi-glass again, peering hard at the pod beside him. He could make out the outline of an aerial deep in recharge or stasis, hanging forward against his restraints. Giving how uncomfortable it had to be, hanging like that -hanging like dead weight, a small part of Smokescreen's processor whispered and his mind unwillingly flicked back to the scene that had occurred moments before- Smokescreen was willing to be the mech was in stasis. And-there.
There it was. A cable from the wall of the pod plugged into the back of the mech's neck. Just like the one Smokescreen could feel but- the young Autobot flexed his shoulders and the weight moved and shifted before slipping off his back completely. His was disconnected.
The asteroids. That impact. It hadn't just thrown him hard enough to bash his head against the side of the pod, it had also unplugged the cable keeping him in blissful stasis.
So...what did he have? What did he know? How could he get out of this situation? He was a soldier, time to put that training to use. So what if he'd never really made it to proper active duty?
Current location: a Decepticon ship. In an asteroid belt. Known number of hostiles: 4. 3 undamaged, 1 injured. Could be more. Total number unconfirmed. Number of nearby Autobots: 23. Their status: in stasis but undamaged. My own current status: imprisoned. Containment pod. No access to any weaponry. Can't use my pedes or servos. Was previously in stasis but isn't. Unknown how much time was been spent due to the forced nature of the external stasis induction.
My current objective: escape.
Right. Because that was going to be easy.
Enemy objective: currently unknown. Known enemy actions: execution and murder of imprisoned Autobots for the salvaging of their energon and parts.
Speaking of which, his energon levels were still quite high. Smokescreen's optics widened as he quickly realised that being in stasis was the only thing that had conserved his energy. If he stayed awake like this...the Cons didn't need to check if their prisoners were going to offline from energon starvation if they were all in stasis. No one would come by and notice that he was running low. Giving that they had reused that Autobot's energon, they didn't have enough to waste on keeping a prisoner fuelled.
Current status: energon levels high but no supplies to replenish my reserves. Possible solution: re-initiate stasis?
But that would leave Smokescreen vulnerable if they came by to harvest him like they did the others. Coming out of stasis left you disorientated and confused until your processor kicked in and started working properly. Those Cons hadn't given that Autobot time to recover, they'd butchered him straight off.
Stasis: viable option. Need more intel about current situation before a plan of action can be decided.
From inside his containment pod, his ability to gather intel was...quite limited. They didn't have any guards stationed down here anyway. Didn't need to, given that all the prisoners were in stasis and locked up in their pods. Smokescreen strained against his restraints again but he could feel nothing give. He could keep testing the bonds...try to see if he could weaken them...but the energon he'd use up just staying online…these cuffs were meant for keeping a mech imprisoned after all. They wouldn't break just from a little pressure.
Smokescreen's head dropped down again. Slagggit. What could he do? Go back to stasis and get butchered in his recharge? Or risk offlining from energon starvation, to stay awake and keep watch for the Cons to slip up.
Not that there were Cons to watch right now.
A couple of cycles, Smokescreen decided. He'd stay online for a couple of cycles and then re-evaluate. If he had something new, he could start planning from there.
If he didn't...well. That's when stasis got brought back to the table.