Caught with her Thorax Down

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Pleasant in violet and gray, the maintenance bay is one of the more luxurious areas of Kolkular. Spacious, it accomodates multiple oil baths, detailing centers, washracks, and even a full on engex bar. Video monitors hanging in the corners from the ceiling provide entertainment and information. Off to the far right in its own enclave is a series of booths for games and even the use of illicit substances. Here, one can enjoy the bountiful rewards of being a part of the Decepticon army, and for those who came from lower stations in life, it is a reward indeed.
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There's an old saying that a poor man would drown in a tea cup and in the case of a certain insect that's come to pass. When a message goes out for Overclock - or perhaps 'that big black bug-dog thing' - to head to the command center, no one arrives. If a search is conducted, she's not in the mess hall, not in the hallways, or the troop quarters, or the training pit, or the repair facilities. No, Overclock is in the maintenance room, almost completely submerged in a hot oil bath and adding her own unconscious instrumentation to the white noise drone of the overhead televisions.
It sounds rather like a freighter idling it's engine.
The whole of the beastformer... Insecticon... thing that is Overclock is submerged out of sight beneath the bubbling oils, with just her head poking out and leaned back against the lip of the bath. Her facemask and unlit visor are still on even bathing but the rest of her panelling is hanging on a nearby wash rack, sprayed and scrubbed to a proper, clean shine. Despite the hot cleanser applied to them, the chitinous plates are stone cold; the machines finished their task long ago.
When Overclock comes up for air, well, she shall find Megatron standing over her.
Not *directly* over her, but still, he is there, optics on the surface of the oil and the creature submerged beneath it. He is a mech of many tasks and a meeting with this bug-dog thing is on the docket for today, that is sure. Yet, rather than keep to a schedule Megatron vastly prefers to *stay ahead* of it. He's had a busy night which caused him to endure a great many injuries, that once repaired he's now like a new mech. Thus, lots of gumption to get to what needs doing.
Megatron wishes to speak to Soundwave, yet this matter needs addressing first. The Decepticon leader will have sought Soundwave out and together they will have come to Overclock. 
"I believe you wanted to speak to me, which is fortunate, as I would wish to speak to you," he greets the bathing bug.
Soundwave is here as well, the big blue carrier having a certain...personal interest in the "bug". He knew she was there the moment she stepped inside Kolkular for the first time- his telepathic senses picking up her familiar mental patterns, even though her form was unfamiliar to him. Busy with errands he was unable to properly greet her until now, but this meeting is definitely of particular interest to him. He had met before, when she was in a different body... and he (to perhaps his surprise) got to *know* that body and that mind. He interfaced with her, sharing experiences, sharing the essence of who he is, in an attempt for understanding and to ...perhaps... bring her into the fold. 
Now here she is, and he follows Megatron to greet her. The carrier stands behind Megatron, off to the side, and lets his leader take the proper fromalities. If she looks his way, she'll get a subtle nod in greeting. The mech isn't highly demonstrative, after all. And he will not take center stage right now- this is Megatron's spotlight.
To those with a sixth sense for authority or who are light sleepers, Megatron's presence alone would be enough to put nitrous in their cylinders, much less the weight of a miner and carrier frame walking in together. By the femme's lack of response she seems to be neither of these - she probably would have woken up two hours ago if that were the case. Laying unmoved where she is, the Insecticon is gone from the world; she's sleeping - and hard.
Megatron considers standing there until she wakes. It would be nice to have the opportunity to rest... yet, Megatron waits for no bot, be they mech or beast.
He steps closer and reaches into the bath, to haul Overclock up in an effort to claim her conscious attention. "Enjoyment os luxury is not a crime, but there is a time and place for such things. We will speak now, Overclock, or not at all."
"Ack! Let me--!" Though it might not be an issue for a mech such as Megatron, Overclock's frame is significantly heavier than her head might at first imply. Femme or not, she's packed to the vents with actuators, pistons, and turbines... which are now all on display. Somewhere in the time it takes to be pulled from the bath with hot oil running off her bare systems, the Insecticon's visor brightens as she's started awake and a clawed hand grasps the arm holding her up. The stinging end of her tail, which had been soaking, narrowly avoids stabbing him as the beastformer's better senses come online and she realizes who's holding her up.
"--Megatron, sir!" The femme blurts, searching for ground beneath her feet to stand on her own as she releases her grip and tries to salvage her appearance. Without a single panel below the neck, she's a crash course in Cybertronian anatomy, though noticeably alien in the peculiar routing and presence of vein-like wiring and the segmented nature of some of her systems. Insecticon runs spark-deep in her frame.
Soundwave goes completely unnoticed for the moment, though the telepath may have a chance to enjoy the shocked whirlwind of her mind rebooting - or maybe just study her schematics.
Megatron does not avert his gaze because as he looks he does not glare. His focus is on Overclock's optics only. Mech, femme, whatever parts are within matter not. It's the spark that concerns him. "I had been lead to believe that you are a bot of purpose and desire. I do not think this greeting changes that. I have caught you unprepared. I apologize. it was not my intention to be inconsiderate, merely... I am busy yet ahead of schedule. So you have my attention, if you can make make time for it now, Overclock."
Should she wish to lay claim to his time now, Megatron continues with what he wishes to say. "There are some Cybertronians that fail to realize that ambition is a fuel of its own. That is a power that I appreciate, and one that I know you have embraced. Your cravings to improve yourself are admirable and fit of reward. You could go far in the ranks of the Decepticons; as far as you are able to fight for. Do you have wishes, Overclock? Demands you would make of me for your allegiance? Or conditions I should be aware of before I grant orders?"
As Overclock finishes waking up, she steps out of the bath and her frame settles into a formally correct posture of attention. Megatron has presented himself as a superior officer and some instincts are alive and well even from a past life.
"No apology necessary, sir. Searching Nyon was... taxing and I did not make proper arrangements," she replies once the mech has said his full piece. .oO(And all the shiny paneling I was going to wear to this is still sitting on the rack! Primes on a jackhammer I'm an idiot!)
Catching blue out the corner of her visor, she turns enough to see Soundwave fully and smiles behind her facemask as he nods. .oO(Hey big guy. Guess who's back?) She asks fondly as her optics turn back to Megatron where they belong. "You flatter me, sir, and... I do."
"I am not a bot concerned with flattery, Overclock. I might have once partaken in a florish or two for the benefit of the crawd, but I am not want to waste needless energon on prattle or decoration. What I state is true. What I give is earned. There is no flatter, only honesty." His look levels more to her visor as he wishes to ensure that he is clear on this.
This is a negotiation afterall, so Megatron settles back a step and locks his hands behind his back in preparation to hear this out. His lip curls to a smile, pleased that Overclock is wise enough to be honest. Everybot has wishes yet not everybot embraces them, especially enough to speak of them before Megatron. "What are your demands?"
And in turn Megatron's treatment coaxes a pleased hum from Overclock's systems. The commander accidentally just said several of her favorite words.
"Requests, sir. Demands, force against will, are what the automaton Senate makes," she corrects lightly to Megatron but with a vile finish. The dismissal of flattery loosens the femmes tongue though her posture, out of comfort, remains unchanged. Claws are relaxed at her side where they can be seen and her tail is hanging behind her back, dripping oil into the bath rather than onto the floor.
"I want to help you tear down that blasted establishment and replace it with something better... but if you want a soldier who snaps a salute and marches blindly into a grinder because it's an order, you won't get that from me. I'll be the first one to charge Zeta himself and as many of his monstrosities as he has left if it's for the right cause, but I need the freedom to question a bad order and demote a bad CO; that's just how I am."
The smile deepens. His choice of words was purposeful and rather than enter his trap, Overclock has expertly avoided it. "Consider your request granted. I wish for no Cybertronian, no matter their form or function, to be forced against their will. I welcome the questioning, Overclock. Already, there are others I keep near to me for just such a purpose. Such things keep me honest, focused on those that are most deserving of answers. You wish to exert your own will in the face of the tyranny Zeta imposes, then you should have that right. I am only glad that you are willing to do so at our side, among our ranks. For too long too much of Cybertron has been divided, the weak from the strong with the weakest lording over it all. This is the right cause, you know it in your spark. It is why you are here, and why I have requests to make of you."
"If only Orion could see your way... but maybe in time," Overclock laments, having at least a passing familiarity with their feud after all. "One more thing sir," she hazards to interrupt, but then pauses to choose her words properly. Recent and not wholly pleasant conversations play through her mind as the femme tries to crystalize the notion chewing at her spark like she did before. A breath of air passes through her vents and her posture loosens just a micron - visor brightening, chin dropping, shoulders floating back to their natural places. Megatron the mech more properly gets her attention, instead of her manners for his status.
"I'm incomplete, and I'm going to fix that," she asserts with a tone of finality. "I'm going to need more upgrades and I doubt I can find everything that it will take within your ranks. Anything I gain - skills or power - I'll use to help your cause as long as it stays pointed in the right direction, but I'll need some freedom to improve myself and some help doing so."
"I am not concerned with Orion Pax, nor should you. He is a mech of falsehoods. He showers himself in pointless hope that the system he has put his faith in can be redeemed. Time will prove him wrong, just as it always has. Orion will always chase his dreams - so let him, I say. Let him tire himself out with such fruitless seraches as he fails to understand where the real force of change comes from. The strength within." Megatron steps to the plateless Overclock, close, within reach. His voice lowers, not out of fear of being overheard, but as he speaks it is though he is taking a vow. Perhaps saying a prayer. Overclock is a bot he confides in because in some ways - though certainly not all - he can find some measure of himself. "Courage is not something to be mustered, gathered or even granted. Courage is the ability to act, despite your condition and despite the situation. Courage is not a will to exert on others but a dominance of self to be asserted."
Overclock's talk to needing to improve herself concerns him. He understands the plight, even the need... yet still, all too common it becomes an addiction, something that cannot be controlled. Int he pits he witnessed many bots lose themselves to modifications, and since the formation of the Decepticons such behavior has cropped up. "Let the frame change but never the spark," he cautions. Overclock's choices will define her. "Consider yourself assigned to Shockwave. Are you familiar witht he former senator? He, like you perhaps, finds himself remade." Shockwave has fully embraced his new way of being, something that Megatron is hopeful will rub off on this bug. "HIs purpose is as constant as his work. It is menial work yet labor you might enjoy; a hunt. Gathering to him 'resources' he requires... that I am sure you could lay claim to any manner of price as compensation for your efforts," he smiles.
Just as there's a fervor to the femme's beliefs, there is also that danger and Megatron is right to be wary. Spectrum, Bloodhound, Overclock... what was one vorn a happy, simple scientist is now the part-Insecticon, part-beastformer chimera standing before him and she shows no signs of stopping yet. But perhaps such things are still a secret between her and the blue mech at his side.
Finding her first note of disagreement with Megatron, Overclock keeps herself silent as he speaks. There's still, somewhere in her frame, some lingering hope for Orion's quest. As little as she's met him he left a positive if misguided impression, and with the knowledge of what comes after a war - with distant memories of the seemingly endless struggle of the Interrgnum to form a stable government - there is also a desire to have principled, idealistic mechs like that in the fold.
"Loosely," she answers on the matter of Shockwave (read: from rampant interfacing with Megatron's trusted telepath). "That... sounds like a good assignment." There's a cheer in Overclock's voice as she considers the possibilities, and somewhere deep in the back of her mind, the thought of having another lab mentor. She stares at Megatron a few moments longer, the former miner and gladiator who's clawed his way by grit and courage to the top of the planet's best hope for absolution, and adds an honest, unflattering correction to one detail as her voice drops to a confiding, somber tone.
"My spark's already changed, for good and ill," she admits to both mechs. "But I think I can help regardless."
"Evolution is not the same thing as change." Now it is Megatron's turn to make corrections. "An alternation can be just that, or far more if you allow it to be. I do not mean change as in an unbecoming, to fashion yourself into something other than what you have always been. Some have difficulties believing that a miner drone such as myself can or deserve to stand as I do today. It was not transformed from one entity to the next - rather, my progression was transformative. I am the sum of all my parts. What I was I still am but that does not mean I will not become more. This is what I mean by evolution. You are a bot given to that very ideal, I feel. Admittedly, I do not know you well, but you strike me as a bot of growth. Your frame might change to match your needs but your spark has not been rewritten." How Overclock navigates that journey is her own pilgrimage, he knows, but perhaps he can guide it. Or rather, Shockwave can. Shockwave's logic might well temper this bug's ... cravings.
Megatron steps back. "Then we are in agreement. I welcome you to the Decepticons, sister Overclock." For the Con army are all brothers and sisters, united in purpose.
"For a miner drone you are an excellent speaker," Overclock admits as Megatron's reply strikes a chord in her spark. It's a relief really, to meet a well-spoken leader she can trust. It's been far, far too many millenia.
Snapping her heels together, the Insecticon rights her posture again in a show of respect, gracing Megatron one more time with proper Vanguard manners. "Thank you, Megatron. It's an honour to help."
Best time the femme has had naked? Definitely.
Category:Autocracy