SOLLUX FLIES AROUND WITH CORPSES

[nitrodamus]

Who: Sollux and Breakdown MEGATRON IS HERE TOO
Where: Mojave party desert
When: March 13th I guess
What: Sollux finds some corpses and flies around with them. Also, he hooks up with Breakdown and finds out Knock Out has been captured.
Warnings: You can probably guess what might go wrong here. It begins with the base premise.

This isn't something Sollux can just ignored. Whether he intends on keeping his powers secret or not, he's not going to leave anyone to any fate even resembling the one that he personally suffered, not if he has the power to stop it.

And fuck if he ever has power. He'd almost forgotten, after long months imprisoned and even more kept on CONDOR's leash. But out here, in the desert, where he can fly free with minimal fear of repercussion and exploit his abilities to actually make a difference...

Well, he actually feels kind of good about himself, for the first time in a while.

He senses deaths nearby, and he has for a while. But it takes a lot of searching to finally find any evidence. He finds the animal corpses - ones he's heard similar reports of, appearing in the night. Earth mammals with limbs and facial features hideously cut from their bodies. They are pretty gross to look at, like someone's butchered lusus, but he figured that someone out there has to have some use for them.

He picks a few of them up with him, and casually takes them along. Their weight means pretty much nothing, even if the sight is kind of a spectacle.

Comments

[bigfuckinggun]

The light show isn't what draws Megatron's attention to their location; he'd already picked up Breakdown's energy signature, and as the only one he's been able to find, he was already making a beeline for it.

The tremendous laser blast does give him pause, but only for a moment – mere seconds after Sollux's eye beams sweep the desert Megatron drops out of the sky almost directly above them, transforming on the way down and throwing up sand as his ridiculous cloven robot feet hit the ground a few metres from Breakdown. There's a low whine in the air as he straightens up and looks around, his cannon already powering up, but the other Decepticon doesn't seem to be under attack.

"Breakdown." His eyes are on the troll at his soldier's side, rather than on Breakdown himself – the idea that this organic creature could have been the source of the blast isn't an obvious or intuitive one, but he knows full well it's possible. "Where is your partner – and what is this creature?"

He knows what an Alternian is, obviously – he's spoken with enough of them himself, over the centuries – but they're not here to negotiate with Alternians, and a little imperiousness never hurt anyone.

[nitrodamus]

Sollux jumps with shock when Megatron suddenly hits the ground like a metric fuckton of bricks - "jumping" in this context meaning that he almost forgets to hold himself aloft for a moment, and drops a foot or so before picking himself up again. He stares at Megatron, and at the canon that is almost as big as he is.

He finds himself strangely unafraid, but he can't quite look away.

"Wow, you are fucking huge," he says in Alternia. He looks at Breakdown. "Who the hell is this guy?"

[buffedthat]

Breakdown starts a little — Megatron literally dropping out of the sky was not the appearance he'd expected — but he recovers fast. Looks like he's probably going to have to bring the matter of the missing partner to Megatron after all, if he's asked for an explanation for this whole situation.

"Lord Megatron," he says respectfully, meant as a greeting, but a little pointedly for Sollux's sake. It's in English, but he figures the troll must at least know that much of the language. He'd better, because there won't be much Breakdown can do to help him if he decides it's a good idea to piss off Megatron. "Knock Out is... uh, missing, and this is the Alternian that can help me find him."

See? Situation totally handled. No need for Megatron involvement, right?

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron raises one skeptical metal eyebrow. 'Uh, missing' doesn't sound very promising, but it's clear that Breakdown knows more than he's letting on...

"Starscream and Orion Pax have also dropped off the radar," he says. "Anything that you do know about Knock Out's location may very well apply to them too -" assuming Starscream hasn't simply fled after failing to retrieve the synthetic energon formula, that is – "and I do not take the disappearance of half my forces lightly."

He looks back down at Breakdown's new... friend. It doesn't look like an adult, but then it's been some time since Megatron dealt with Alternians face to face. More importantly, though, it doesn't look military... Where in Primus' name did Breakdown pick it up?

Megatron doesn't stoop to address the troll, or even really incline his head much more than he would when speaking with other Cybertronians, but he does switch to Alternian: "Were you responsible for that energy burst?"

[nitrodamus]

Sollux becomes slightly less blatant in his ogling when Breakdown implies that Megatron is the one in charge, but not a ton. He's not really scared of this guy right now, though he does find him impressive enough that he wants to respect him for other reasons.

"Yeah, that was me," he says, lifting himself into the air enough that he's on level with Megatron's head. "I'm a psionic. I'm trying to help you guys out with this bullshit."

[buffedthat]

Pax and Starscream, too? That gets a frown, and is definitely bad news... but at the same time, lucky. If all three of them went missing then it'll be easier to blame whoever took them than their own incompetence. Maybe Megatron could even consider a rescue mission. Especially for Pax. Megatron definitely wants to keep Pax around.

He finds his mood, for the first time since he and Knock Out ran into the cyborgs, brightening.

"He's an ally," Breakdown adds quickly a little eagerly, back to Alternian again. It's true enough, even if it's more in the personal than the military sense. "Small, but pretty useful. And he's got connections that could find out where they took them."

Which is all hopefully enough for Megatron to decide he's worth keeping around and alive.

[bigfuckinggun]

The Alternian doesn't seem intimidated at all. Fascinating, that a creature so small should be so self assured – and, by the sounds of it, for such an attitude to be justified by his power... Despite Breakdown's concerns, Megatron seems to approve of his organic companion – although he does have some reservations.

"Connections, hmm?" He eyes Sollux as he hovers in front of him. "And what are your affiliations, beyond your decision to aid Breakdown here? What would a single Alternian gain by assisting Decepticons?"

[nitrodamus]

Sollux glances at Breakdown, unsure of what the right answer to this is. If there even is one. Megatron doesn't seem mad yet, though, which means that he can't be doing too badly.

He is visibly sort of baffled by the question, though.

"I dunno, dude," he says, an ear twitching uncertainly. "I'm not with the Empire or anything...I left those guys on purpose. But I basically got picked up by the wrong end of the human stick as soon as I got here." He glances at Breakdown again and then shrugs. "We've been helping each other out with some mutual problems, and he's cool. And I have a personal interest in whaling on anyone who tries to pull the kind of bullshit these cyborg guys are."

[bigfuckinggun]

Ah, then this troll is a deserter. He's often enough encountered rogue Alternians outside of the Empire's reach – mercenaries and traders, usually from the 'lower' castes, seeking a life free of the constraints of their society's hierarchy... Megatron rarely deals with them himself, of course – but he likes to think he understands their plight.

He smiles.

"Excellent. Breakdown and I would welcome your assistance. Tell me, what are these useful connections you have to offer?"

[nitrodamus]

Sollux brings out his phone again, as if taking a moment to peer at his address book. He's not going to try to sell his connections as anything enormous, he's only been free for like a perigee, but...

"Mostly some hooks into the local superhero community...basically people who fight crime on this planet. One of them is a different kind of robot whose entire job is to deal with this kind of thing - if anybody had compiled any secret evidence by now it'd be them."

[buffedthat]

He relaxes just slightly when it starts to look Megatron is at least accepting of this particular ally. It could have gone pretty badly otherwise, and Breakdown would be disappointed if Sollux ended up dead.

That's just one small hurdle, though. There's still the matter of finding Knock Out.

"It sounds like they'll be keeping them somewhere around here—" He gestures out at the empty desert. "No idea where, though. That's what we're hoping Gemini's contact can find out."

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron nods. "Any information you can offer is greatly appreciated," he tells the Alternian – and then adds, with a knowing smile, "As, of course, is your firepower."

He turns to Breakdown, although the vast expanse of sand is where most of his attention ends up. "And if his contact cannot –? Is this where you last saw Knock Out?"

[nitrodamus]

Sollux looks fairly pleased with this outcome, at least as much as he can be before they have any actual results. He starts typing away at his phone, sending the message to Legion. He suspects the answer will be pretty prompt, regardless of the answer.

"There's been all kinds of sightings out here lately," he says, intended as an addition to Breakdown's insight and not a replacement.

[buffedthat]

He nods, the last of his unease dissipating into grim solemnity. "Five miles north of here. I've been — " Madly driving around in ever-widening circles, but also— "Searching."

[bigfuckinggun]

Megatron gives Breakdown a considering look, his optics narrowed in faint contempt. "I shouldn't need to remind you that in circumstances like these I expect to be informed immediately. Our troops are too few to risk losing a single Decepticon."

Some of the harshness in his expression subsides as he turns to the troll – Gemini, apparently – but not all of it. "Sightings of what, exactly?"

[nitrodamus]

"Earth beasts with cyborg parts, mostly. Swarms of them." He hesitates for a moment before reaching over to pick up the corpses he'd been carrying around, body and etched with metal. He raises them in way of example. "These fuckers."