The High Road: Part 4
A long journey back to Cybertron to clear the Maximal's names. Many mysterys about the present siuation, the crew and the part are solved.
PART FOUR
"Dude, it's a talking machine!" Weede said in awe. "Uh, what's up, machine dude?"
"I don't- krakle- you- shizzwam- fuel tank- hisshrar- help?"
"Dude! The machine dude is a machine chick! And it's all static-y!"
"Crazy." Penji said. "Where's that pick-me-up?"
"Oh yeah, come check it out, dude."
Weede pulled out his bong and he and Penji retreated to a corner. Luckily, the entering Eternity heard the transmission and took the console.
"This is Eternity, what's up?" she asked.
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Relic was just about to speak some, when the door burst open. He turned to see an unfamiliar figure, optics burning with hatred, staring at him.
"...Motherf**er!!!"
Buckshot burst into the lab, shoving Mimi out of the way. Before Relic could even get a syllable out, Buckshot punched him in the jaw. HARD. Relic tumbled to the floor, and looked up in confusion to see Buckshot shaking with anger.
"You sorry little b**ch, I knew I recognized your ugly-ass smell!" Buckshot yelled at him. "You killed all those Preds! Get the F**K out of my way, Querion!"
Buckshot shoved Querion out of his way and dropped to one knee, slamming the other into Relic's gut. Relic sat upwards with a whoosh of air from his mouth and Buckshot grabbed his head and slammed it into a table, knocking beakers and jars everywhere.
With a grunt, Buckshot turned Relic over and held him against the lip of the table with his foot. He drew his shotgun and pressed it against Relic's forehead.
"Guess whose b**ch you are now, murderer? Mine." Buckshot growled, loading the gun.
Relics red eyes cleared and he gazed down the barrel of the shotgun in front of him. Suddenly a smile split his face, and he began to laugh, A true hearty amused laugh in spite of himself.
What the f**k is so funny murderer? I'm gonna..."
Buckshot didn't have time to finish his sentence, with the precision of years and training, Relic darted down dropping between Buckshot's legs. Instantly the table vanished along with a good chunk of Relic's cape as Buckshot's shotgun reduced the table to splinters. Blindingly quick Relic flipped to his feet again and spun around, sinking just the tips of his clawed fingers into Buckshot's back. His eyes were wild and feral, with a savage feline snarl he heaved the rotweiller over his shoulders and across the room. The bot crashed into a wall and slid to the ground. Spinning around Relic looked at Querion his eyes clearing slightly...
"I think I better..." Relic's sentence was cut off as he was cracked across the back of the head with a baseball bat.
That one hurt...
A lot...
Relic hit the ground hard with his head spinning, he just had time to roll out of the way before the baseball bat put a nice dent in the floor where his head had been only a moment before. Relic spun around on his skidplate on the floor his foot snapping out to take Buckshot in the chest sending the bot stumbling back a couple feet. Relic rose to his feet coughing. He still had C.R. in his system, it made him sluggish and was what was making his cough but it also meant that he could shove his jaw back into place with a minimum of discomfort.
Buckshot was already coming at him again, Baseball bat whooshing back and forth through the air as he spun it one handed. Nearing the assassin Buckshot flicked the bat out and the assassins' hand snapped up to catch it, metal screeched against metal as the aluminum bat hit his steely digits, barely scratching them.
Relic's forearm however, made a very audible popping noise as something inside gave way. Still holding the bat Relic curved his other hand into a fist, the dangerous cutting edge of his fingers turned in, and gave the rotweiller a good round house punch in the jaw. The two combatants staggered back Buckshot dropping his bat.
Relic looked out at the room through C.R. fogged eyes, weaving groggily... a faint smile tugging at the edge of his mouth. He hadn't been able to hear anything but a high pitched ringing since the rotweiller had smashed the baseball bat into his head. He saw Querion at the door, shouting into an intercom, emergency lights flashing all over the place, he couldn't see Mimi anywhere and in front of him the Rotweiller was shifting from foot to foot, his fists in a boxer's stance, a bit of blood dripping from his back.
"No..." Relic thought... "things are definitely not looking good for me at all."
Penji bobbed his head back and forth, watching the blinking lights of the bridge with a new interest.
"oooh pretty.."
"Rhapsody!" Querion's voice barked over the intercom. "Get your skidplate over to the CR Hall right now!"
Behind, there was a loud crash, as the baseball bat came smashing down on the chair. The seat splintered into small wooden fragments, while Buckshot proceeded to thrash the room in a frenzied attempt to get to Relic. The assassin wove and ducked himself out of harm's way, still capable despite the spinning in his head. There was no room for tactics, nor was there respect for honour; both sides were each trying desperately to bring each other down. It was a blur of fists and claws, as Buckshot and Relic collided into a heap on the floor.
"Back off Buckshot!" exclaimed Querion, as he grabbed the dog-bot from behind. The dog-bot reached out towards Relic, clawing and snarling in a frantic scramble for the assassin's neck.
"Leggoff me!" roared Buckshot, trying to shrug the swordsman off, but the wolf-bot's grip held. Querion was groaning on the ground minutes later however, as a well-placed back-kick between the legs sent him sprawling. He rolled on the ground, convulsing with pain, his mouth agape and eyes wide open. He rattled off a string of curses in between his groaning, as the two combatants continued to square off. Querion picked himself up, albeit slowly, his face grim despite the pain.
"That does it. The kiddy-gloves are off!"
Relic ducked under Buckshot's swipe, then raked at his opponent's face with his claws. The vulgarity-prone bot stumbled backwards, but caught the panther's face with a left hook. The world seemed to spin after that. Relic lay groggily on the ground, his arms up in a meagre attempt to defend himself. The rottweiler stood over him, clenched fist raised, aimed at the assassin's face. The blow never connected though, as Querion barreled into him, throwing him onto the ground. The swordsman then shoved Buckshot into the empty CR Chamber, slammed the hatch shut, and barred it in place with a metal bar. The captive dog-bot hammered at the hatch, but it held. A long loud string of profanities exploded from his mouth, but Querion did not seem to care.
"You too. Stand off!" barked the wolf-bot at Relic, who was stalking menacingly towards the CR Chamber. The assassin blinked in surprise, wrapped his cloak around himself, and situated himself in a dark shadowy corner of the room. Querion and Relic said nothing, while Buckshot continued to rant and rave inside his cage.
"What in the Matrix is going on!?" cried Rhapsody, as she surveyed the scene. Broken chairs, shattered tables, bloodstains... It was going to take a lot of explaining.
Wraith charged in after Rhapsody, obviously pissed at them for ruining his chance with her. His expression changed drastically when he saw the condition of the room. "Damn man! What the hell did you guys do?"
"Relic got out."
Wraith glowered darkly. His one chance, shattered by a stupid mutt. Drawing both his sai, he ventured futher. "So...where is he?" He asked menacingly.
"Scanner recalibration complete....what did I miss"
Deffinetly not good, and getting worse.
"That would be me," the assassin said emerging from the shadows. Wraith stood in front of him, his Sais weaving dangerously.
"I wouldn't try it pup..." Relic said his eyes appraising the young assassin. "Not yet anyway, come back in a few years."
Wraith seemed unimpressed by Relic's bravado, the cloaked bot look like he was just about ready to fall.
Relic sighed, "Call off your dogs Rhapsody," Relic said his voice weary, "Unless you want more mech-fluid on the ground, mine or theirs."
Rhapsody beckoned Wraith back with a sharp gesture of her hand. The young bot ignored her still glaring at the older assassin.
"Wraith!" Rhapsody hissed with a note of command. The young wolf looked back over his shoulder and then reluctantly withdrew. The older assassin's arrogant dismissal of him had only added to his rage, and the look he gave Relic as he stalked past promised that they would have another confrontation.
Their was a hiss of indrawn breath and the room fell silent even Buckshot stopped pounding on the C.R. chamber as Relic stalked up to Rhapsody, their commander, the heart and life blood of the resistance.
"Might I suggest oh Captain mine," Relic began, his voice strangely differential. "That you lock me back up... put me under protective custody if you will, until this issue is resolved."
There was a pause as Rhapsody looked at him emotionlessly.
"If not one of my fellow rebels," the assassin spoke the words with a hint of irony. "Will see to it that the issue is resolved with their own particular brand of justice, and one or both of us will die."
Rhapsody continued to stare at the assassin saying nothing, wordlessly she stepped out of the assassin's way.
Relic walked towards the door of the med-lab just across the hall, it was empty except for some scanning equipment and a med-bed. The assassin pawed at the controls innefectually for a moment then snorted in disgust. "Querion, would you please..." he said stepping into the room without looking back.
Querion walked up and looked at his friend. The assassin nodded and after a moment's hesitation pushed a couple buttons on the control panel. A glowing translucent force field snapped into place. Relic experimentally tapped his finger against it, the field made a fizzling noise and held.
The assassin smiled weakly at Querion through the force field. "Looks like you shouldn't have let me out, old friend."
Wraith stormed down the corridor, banging his fist on various things as he made his way. After a short trek, he reached the hatch, opened it, and jumped out. Returning to his usual forest, Wraith drew his sai and approached a large redwood. He carved an image into that looked remarkably similar to Relic.
"I wouldn't try it pup..." The words echoed in his mind. "Not yet anyway, come back in a few years."
Wraith glared angrily at the image, thinking of Rhapsody. How dare he make such a comment...to him...in front of her...
To say Wraith was furious would have been the understatement of the stellar-cycle. He struck a fighting pose, closed his eyes, and froze. He stood there for a good while in total silence, not moving, not breathing, just like a stone statue. Then he moved. A fierce blow shook the tree, Wraith, and the ground around them. The crack was heard for several miles, as was the crash the tree made when it hit the ground. Rubbing his knuckles, Wraith decided he was still angry. Drawing his katana, he made his way through the forest, stripping several trees along the way.
A large brass bust of a very old Transformer found itself inside an even larger bag which was being carried by a not-so-large robot. It was soon followed by an assortment of elegant blades, some spare change, and a large jar of candy. The bag was getting full. Skitch decided to take it to his stashing place.
Skitch was cramming everything he could steal into unused storage bins in the cargo bay. Upon landing, he would use his vehicle at the port to spirit the storage bins away. It was not a well thought out plan, but it was a plan. And as Skitch liked to say, a plan is better than no plan. Some would argue that having no plan would be better than having his plan. And they would be right.
Ignoring the flaws in his plan, Skitch continued looting. His source had been right. He hadn't been sure whether to trust a drunk, but his gamble had paid off. Now he had to pace himself. To keep the stealing low so that no one would suspect. This was the hard part, as any thief will tell you.
Buckshot glowered at the Maximals from inside the CR chamber. He was panting and seemed noticeably disheveled. He spat something at them from inside the enclosure, but they only saw his mouth move. He pounded on the door angrily, mouthing something.
Buckshot then glanced up in the chamber and saw the intercom button. He pressed it in the middle of his rant.
//"-to be stopped! Are you guys listening?! I don't know who this @#%$ is, but he's a f**king murderer! I have proof!!!"//
Rhapsody blinked- that was right. Buckshot had never met Relic. She stared at Relic for a moment, then turned to the CR chamber.
"Buckshot? Calm down."
//"Calm down?! To hell with that noise! Why are you keeping this dipstick alive?! I have proof! Eternity's shuttle has the body of one of his victims in it! A civilian Predacon woman! She's dead, @#%$ you, dead!!! For no reason! You think my Beast Mode is a dog just so I can piss on fire hydrants? That murdering bastard's stench is all over her! And she wasn't the only one! I monitored Endport broadcasts! He's killed civilians, innocents, children and families! WHO IS THIS PRICK?!!"//
"That prick is Relic, a long-time soldier of mine." Rhapsody replied softly, sadly.
The comm sharply cut off as Mimi's sword was across buckshot's throat. "You know nothing Dog boy and i suggest that if you would like to contiue breathing you will shut up and ask someone that was actually THERE instead of hauling off like a jackass and attacking people. CAPICE?"
"Capice." BUckshot said watching the sword. Buckshot stomped out of the room once Mimi lowered her sword. The cat walked over and stood in front of the energy field.
"YOu men, when will you learn?" Mimi said shaking her head.
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Rhapsody shook her head and exited the room, "I can't take this @#%$ anymore." She said while heading back down the hallway. "Now where did that boy go, better talk some sense into him before he goes and breaks somthing apart." The song bird sighed anger replaced by sadness. Rhapsody thought for a moment and then headed for Wraith quarters and fond him punching a bag with some kind of holoprojector on. "What do you think your doing?"
"Well I.."
Rhapsody cut him off speaking as his commander. "What makes you think you can just haul off and fight a member of our team?"
"HE called me a child!" Wraith protested jabbing the bag hard. "Like i am some kid!"
"YOU ARE A KID!" Rhapsody said the words and stopped knowing they had hurt. Wraith stop moving and looked away from her. Rhaposdy changed her tone readdressing him. "YOu are still young and you can't just fight whenever you get mad and you need to have more respect for the superior members of this crew." Rhapsody sat down in a chair and sighed again as Wraith sat as well. "What am i gonna do with you?" She said ina joking tone.
Wraith smiled a bit feeling his confidence regained, which was exactly what Rhapsody wanted to do. Now is not the time for a civil war.
Wraith cracked his knuckles. "I've got an idea." He said rather matter-of-factly. "You can tell me where to find that rustheap so I can give him the beating he needs." Wraith's voice almost litterally dripped with venom.
"Not a chance Wraith!" Rhapsody barked back at him raising to push him back into his chair. "You can't just go off and beat on other crew members you do that and I'll hang you of the back of this cruiser and wait for your head to explode in the vacum of space."
Wraith sneered at the thought of letting Relic go unpunished for his snide remark, but the thought of Rhapsody threatening him hurt him, so he let it go...for now. "Alright alright. I'll let him go this time." There was an uncomfortable silence as the two bots looked at each other for a minute. "So, like I was saying before Garlic.." "Relic" Rhapsody corrected him. "Whatever. Like I was saying before Relic raised the Pit, you seem to be down. What's the problem? I can probably help."
Burnout sat in his chair, staring into nothingness. Suddenly he started chuckling to himself, the chuckles turned into downright laughing as he unclipped his harness. “Ret, I’m guessing the repair ship is out of fuel by now, set a course to go pick-“
“GOT IT!” Catfish chirped from next to Retro, deftly punching in coordinates on the control panel like a pro.
“Ok…” Burning said, simply happy that something were getting done. Making his way off the bridge to go see what all the commotion was about in the medical section, he turned to Penji and Weede. “No getting stoned on the bridge, take it into the lounge.”
Penji decided on a dignified response to Burnout's request.
"PBBBBBFT!"
"Huhhuhhuhhuhuh.."
Burnout was not amused. Penji smiled and waddled off.
"Sorry. Bye!"
Weede had a delayed reaction, then took off after Penji.
Phyphen sat hunched over in the repair vessel. Her back ached and she was getting bored. She could have sworn she heard someone on the intercom on the control panel but, she could have been mistaken. Phyphen rolled over and rested her feet on the panel. It was out of fuel anyway – what harm could she do.
The young ‘bot was growing quite restless. She hopped up and draped herself over the back of her chair, peering behind it for anything amusing. She droned out the words of what she found as she tossed them aside.
“Wires… wires… papers… junk… more junk… a PlayBot Issue #83…. More junk… an old uniform… WHAT THE ?!?!?!”
Phyphen gasped. “A PlayBot … I thought this things weren’t in circulation.” Phyphen picked up the magazine and held it in front of her with two digits, as if it was infected or something. The young fox wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Ewww….”
She gave the magazine a little shake and it doubled out to the centrefold. Phyphen took a closer look. When she had discovered what she had seen she closed her eyes and hurled the issue back behind the chair.
“That is soooo disgusting. How can boys look at that? They’re all… all… YUCK!” Phyphen was totally mortified at the thought of ‘bot oogling the pictures. She quickly turned around placing both hands firmly in her lap. “I don’t think I’m THAT bored.”
She stared at the ceiling of the vessel as she waited. ‘I wonder if anyone one that ship even knows if I’m gone? Or cares? Maybe I’m just supposed to float out here forever,’ Phyphen laughed despite the predicament she had got herself in, due solely to her own selfishness. ‘I swear I don’t know what I’d do if I ever saw them again.’
Phyphen was just lying there thinking to herself about nothing at all when she realised that SHE could be captured by space pirates or something. The child started to create elaborate impossible scenarios of her being captured and tortured…. Or worse. The adolescent ‘bot decided that she would need a place to hide if the impossible occurred. She still had her sword with her, and her whip and crossbow but it wasn’t enough. Phyphen cleared out underneath the chair and checked if she could fit. She could. Phyphen laid down underneath the chair, sword in hand and awaited the inevitable.
"You'd think that Rhapsody would interview her applicants before accepting them," joked Querion, attempting to brighten Relic's spirits. The assassin was not smiling. He sat cross-legged in the centre of the force field, eyes closed in a display of intense meditation. The wolf-bot sighed, pulled a chair towards his friend's cage, and settled his skidplate on it, crossing his arms as he leaned backwards, rocking the seat on just two legs. He looked around the hall, the messy scene reminding him of the scuffle that had just transpired. Bad move, Querion.
"This is some hell you've gotten yourself into, Relic," said the wolf-bot grimly. "I don't know how the others are going to take what happened lying down. You've probably made more enemies today than in the past 200 stellar cycles of your life."
Relic snorted, and said, pained, "You think I don't know that? But, but what I did was not of my own free will. I should know; I've encountered possession one too many times." He buried his head in his hands. "Seems my life has taken a turn for the worst. And there's nothing I can do about it. I'm leaving my life in your hands, but I will not see to it that that mad rottweiler tears my neck apart without provocation. What I only ask, is a fair trial."
"You know the penalty if convicted?"
Relic nodded bleakly.
Querion sighed again. "I hope I do not have to be the one to... Never mind. I'd hand you a mug of ale to cool your circuits, if not for this field." The wolf-bot paused, then said, "Don't worry, friend. You'll get your trial, even if I have to fight off the rest of the disgruntled Resistance to fulfil my promise. I owe you that much for being your friend."
"There won't be a trial." Mimi said sitting next to Querion. "Everyone told me about that thing that had you, it couldn't have been yourself. Rhapsody is smart enough to listen if you just tell the truth. They couldn't possibly put you on trial for somthing you do..at least not your mind."
"You'd be suprised." Querion huffed.
"What was that thing anyway relic?" Mimi said quietly.
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Solarflare was cruising through the commons area simply waiting to run into Switchblade and just taking it easy. He was now involved ina card game with spyder who was going about losing, slam who was whipping everyones ass, and corvus who was sulking about Mimi.
Felt like old times.
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