Unclenched

Background Music: Nice To Meet Me - Zack Hemsey (Megatron's Theme)
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The gathered crowd is large tonight, roaring for more carnage, more spilled energon. The air is thick and tense in the basement-like arena, constructed this time at the far end of Kaon, closer to the recycling centers of Tessarus; it's easier to meet here, sneaking through the rubble. Easier to build with the materials on hand.
The last two combatants are clearing the field, one injured and victorious, one dead and being hauled away by Ruiner and the other Harvesters to be chopped for parts. The floor is cleared of debris for the next fight.
Clench has decided to personally take part in the fights tonight. The teal and gold mech is tense and angry, despite hiding it all behind a swaggering arrogance that defies belief - and he's dragging his next opponent into the ring behind him. "You're long overdue to get your hands dirty! C'mon!"
Rumble is here with his almost-constant companion these days since Shiftlock left town, and that would be...Soundwave. How these two managed to become such fast friends is anyone's guess, as different as they are in personality. "Wow, someone's gettin' slagged in here tonight. You can feel it in the air!" he exclaims.
Drift strides down the streets of Kaon purposefully--it's only been a cycle since he awoke from his comatose state, but already he has a goal in mind: to find Megatron and join the Decepticons, per Bombshell's instructions. To his left is the Forge, and he guesses this location is good as any other when comes to searching for the infamous miner now gladiator. Entering, he watches as Clench drags his next opponent into the arena, his brow ridges furrowed.
Soundwave is here, watching from the edge. The outlier never really participates in the fights and yet there is something about him that suggests that he is still not someone you want to cross. It's almost like he knows things. Rumors have spread that it's very difficult to keep a secret around him, but not everyone knows why. Rumble would know, however. He glances down to the smaller mech with what could almost seem like fondness, if he didn't seem so hard to read himself. "Affirmative. I can feel... many things in the air. Emotions are ... very strong tonight." In fact, he has to work to keep those emotions at bay, so they don't effect HIM too much, for HIS secret is that he is a mindreader.
The talk of war and revolution had Torque scared. That's something she wouldn't deny. And it did so much so that being around the Forge was something she did less and less these days, with one being today. She should have stayed at the shop... 
"Let go! I fraggin' told you I don't wanna be in the top fights!" The femme struggles and flails in the ringleader's grip until she's unceremoniously tossed out into the arena, landing hard in the center and grunting as she staggers to her feet. The buzz in the air isn't like anything she's experienced before, the thirst for blood and death bearing down like a weight and forcing her to stare up at the crowd with wide optics. 
"Clench.. please, you gotta see I don't belong here!" She turns back to the large mech, antennas back and looking almost frantic. "I've done good for the Forge, you know that! Just.. just let me go, okay?"
Clench could care less as he takes a heavy blaster rifle from one of his nearby assistants, and tosses it at Torque. "Shut the frag up and get ready, little femme," he growls. "You seem to have forgotten something." He stands tall and takes a sweeping glance across the crowd. "ALL OF YOU ARE GONNA GET REMINDED OF SOMETHING TONIGHT!" he shouts, raising his voice, causing the others to grow quieter out of - fear? Respect? Hatred? Maybe all three. "WHEN YOU STEP FOOT IN THE FORGE YOU BELONG TO ME. You are all MY PROPERTY, to do with as I SEE FIT! You go where I TELL YOU TO GO, you FIGHT WHEN I TELL YOU TO FIGHT!"
Clench glares down at Torque. "Get up and get ready."
Rumble is watching the action within the arena with rapt attention. Sometimes, forced fighters do amazingly well under this sort of 'test', and they end up proving themselves. Other times, they die pretty quickly. Rumble prefers it when they fight hard for their lives -- it proves they have the spark of a warrior and the inner strength needed to join the revolution. "C'mon, sister, don't wimp out, let's see some rage!"
Soundwave's optics flicker slightly as Torque is dragged out into the arena. He frowns under his faceplate. Her fear and confusion come to him like a tangy, salty mess. It is... unpleasant. Even more bitter is Clench- his words are caustic, crooked and vile. But for now the outlier simply watches... and waits.
Torque looks completely bewildered at the blaster rifle that lays at her feet now, the weapon almost alien in her hands when she reaches down to hesitantly pick it up. And she continues to stare at it as Clench's voice booms throughout the entire arena. This can't be happening. Dear Primus, it just can't... 
But the reality steadily trickles in. The reality that this will be her last stand here.. Might as well make it worth it. And so, closing her optics and taking a deep cycle of her vents, she casts the gun aside and looks up to Clench, staring him down with amber optics flashing bright with an inner flame. 
"..If I have to fight you, then fine. But know that you don't own me! You don't own any of us! And to show that I'm gonna fight you with my bare hands!" She barks at him from across the arena now, settling into a fighting stance with fists near her face. "And if you've got any brass you'll fight like a mech and do the same!" Screw the guns, she's fighting on her own terms. She'll die, but she'll go out doing it how she wants.
All those pretty words are lost on Clench, who just begins to chuckle at the fact that Torque tossed away what he feels is her only chance at survival. "Tried to make it a fair fight, glitch, but you just wanna die, don't you? All right then. Time to show you what this is all about."
Light flashes from Clench's chest. The point of an energo-spear is sticking out of his chest.
Megatron, standing behind Clench, is holding the other end. "Go ahead, Clench," he says with a steely, even calm. "Take one for the team."
Clench's supporters are suddenly being thrust into the arena by others behind them, looking startled. "What the--" "HEY!" "What do you think you're doing!?"
Rumble is grinning as he watches the femme choose to go out fighting. "Yeah, that's the spirit!" he calls out.
Then, suddenly, Megatron shows up, and spears Clench straight through his chassis. "What the fffff.......!!!! Soundwave! Hey! You just see that?? It just got real. It just. Got. REAL."
Drift's gaze wanders aimlessly around the arena for a moment, then his gaze lands on...
"...Megatron," Drift mutters. He pushes his way to the front, his optics narrowed. Consequently, he approaches the entrance of the arena, but doesn't enter just yet. He waits, watching as each of Clench's opponents get thrust into the ring.
Soundwave did. The carrier stares as Megatron stabs Clench right through. He can feel the sharp sense of shock, pain, and dying light. Not that that light ever shone very brightly. And yet, his chassis swells slightly in pride. Megatron has also seen this... blight for who he is, and taken action! Megatron is great, indeed. He responds to Rumble, "It did. Megatron shows us the way... and the way is NOT Clench's. Not... anymore."
"Just shut up and fight me!" Torque grates out between her dentals, trying her hardest to keep from shaking as she awaits the inevitable. But she can't back down. She has to stand tall and look death straight in the face and go down swinging. 
But then in an instant something protrudes from Clench's chest and Torque is looking just as confused as he is until they both see Megatron. "Megatron.. You.. Wh-What's happening?" Confusion makes her bristle in defense when seeing others getting pushed down into the arena with them, the femme drawing in on herself like a loaded trap, ready to spring on anyone who approaches. Is this it? Is this the beginning of the Forge's end?
"Congratulations worm," Clench snarls as he turns, wrenching himself free, to violently kick Megatron to the ground, "You speared the mighty Clench!" Despite being impaled he's STILL ready to fight!
Megatron just smiles faintly. "Why don't you take a rest?"
*SLASH!* "AAARRGH!" The gray miner in red war paint strikes like a cobracon, the spear flashing and cleaving Clench's right arm from his body, taking half his torso with it. Flipping the spear back up to the ready, he stands tall as the grievously injured criminal boss of the pits falls to the ground. "I think I can take things from here. NOW! CIRCLE FORMATION!"
AT that command, Barricade, Black Out, Lugnut, and a host of others who are loyal to Megatron press through the crowds, falling upon Clench's supporters. The bloodbath is swift and merciless; heads torn from bodies, bodies pulled in half, sparks ripped straight out of armored torsos. It's over in the blink of an eye.
Megatron turns and faces the stunned crowd.
As Megatron's loyal mechs begin purging the crowds of Clench flunkies, Rumble watches in awe, hardly even cognizant of the danger. His reward for remaining steadfast is the severed head of one of Clench's most fervant supporters, which flies backwards in a misted spray of fuel, and Rumble catches it. He grins and holds the grisly trophy over his head cheerfully, as if catching the ball during a mecha-soccer game.
Drift's optics narrow as he watches Clench knock Megatron to the ground violently. He starts, about to rush into the ring, but he stops himself just as the grey and red gladiator strikes backs and cleaves Clench in half. 
However, when the other Decepticons rush into the area to help annihilate Clench's team, Drift joins them, participating in the slaughter using the blade Bombshell had given him upon awakening. When it's all over he approaches Megatron boldly, and kneels. 
"Megatron.. forgive me, I am unworthy to fight by your side."
Soundwave watches this with a sort of... patriotic fervor. This just shows the glory of Megatron... how he is both wise, thoughtful, and yet capable of brutal force to conquer his foes... THEIR foes. He does pause and blink as Rumble catches the dismembered head like a ball, but simply says, "Excellent reflexes, Rumble." Then he watches Drift approach Megatron, reaching out with his mind and trying to get a glimmer of the mech's intent.
The instant the carnage begins, Torque swiftly attempts to backpedal away from it, bumping into mechs and getting splattered with energon as she wheels nearer the arena wall to watch the extermination. 
"Primus.. dear Primus.." The femme mutters to herself, unable to watch the majority and closing her optics until it begins to settle, leaving her to look out at nothing but a sea of violet as well as the stains on her hand after wiping her face. It's.. Primus, it's horrible.. 
"Megatron, you.." Torque begins shakily, unsure of her own voice right now when staring blankly towards the warrior mech. "You saved my life.. I.." It's obvious she wants to thank him, but shock is making it a bit hard to talk right now.
Megatron looks at Torque first, as the bodies are quickly drug out of the way by those that had slain them. "You said, aloud, what I have been thinking. You spurred me to action. How could I do any less?"
Then to Drift, who has the fervor of a newly caste Crusader, waiting to be knighted, or blessed by the patron deity of his newfound faith. "Drift," he says, reaching down to put his hand on the other mech's shoulder. "I have heard promising things about you. Stand, do not kneel. Meet me as an equal."
Drift hesitates, then stands, meeting Megatron's gave evenly and steadily. As blood drips down his blade, he stows it, his expression akin to one a knight wears when he is ready for battle. 
"Thank you. As have I--the Deception movement you started, where will it go from here?"
"I just hadda get my hands on a soovy-neer," Rumble tells Soundwave. "Cause this day, I don't ever wanna forget. Cause this is the day the Forge just got a million times more awesome." As he halfway-listens to the discussions Megatron is having with Torque and Drift in the arena, he absentmindedly begins hollowing out the severed head, just pulling clumpfuls of wires and circuits out from the neck and tossing the mess on the ground, so he can use it as a keepsake.
Soundwave continues watching all this, but as usual he is here to observe, not really bring attention to himself. If Megatron had need for him, he'd be there in an instant, of course. For now he simply takes this all in, looking to Torque with... it's almost a tinge of jealousy? Oh, if only HE had been the one to so influence the mighty Megatron! He watches her, and considers her among the fortunate and greatly honored here. 
 
Then his gaze turns to Drift, and he observes with interest. He nods to Rumble. "Yes. Enjoy this. This is a moment that will go down in history." If Rumble disturbs him at all, he doesn't say.
Eventually the words bubble to the surface, allowing Torque to speak up while sidling nervously around the corpses. "Megatron, I don't know how I can begin to thank you.. If there's anything I can do to-- What?" That's when he speaks up, his words hitting her like a lead weight. "What do you mean I.. No, this isn't what I'd meant at all!" 
In outright defiance of what Megatron thinks, Torque flat out deflects him with as much courage she can muster behind frayed nerves. "I wasn't at all thinking of having everyone killed! This.. This isn't what I had in mind at all.." Antennas fold back and she looks around the arena in dismay. Is she really part of this..?
"But you were -right-." Megatron's words are likely to offer Torque no comfort. "He did not own you. Clench only thought he did. He acted as if he did. He was exercising authority over you that he had no right to claim."
A hand goes to his neck, and he takes off the chain from which the Decepticon emblem - the emblem that is nothing more than a temporary marker to indication one's team in a set of matches - and he looks at it for a moment, before turning back to the crowd.
"I want to ask each of you a question: Why are you here?"
You come from Tarn. You come from Vos. Altihex, Uraya, and Kalis. We gather in Kaon we bring our misery here together - and we fight. We are the forgotten, trying to forget. Forgotten -- until you stand with a blade in one hand, and a throat in the other, then you remember, you FEEL IT -- you are ALIVE!"
"We can wear badges, we join teams, we fight and kill, and then the badge comes off and you CRAWL HOME." He takes a step forward. "Assembled here I see Strength. Power. The most dangerous Cybertronians alive."
He holds up the emblem. "So... what if the badge never came off?"
Drift steps forward and stands at Megatron's side, gazing at the listless crowd. 
"He's right," he says loudly enough for everyone to hear. "We have been oppressed for too long. I don't know about the rest of you, but I know where I stand." He glances over at Megatron. "Megatron. I wish to join the Decepticons and put the injustices our government is committing to a halt. And not only do I wish to join, but I wish to be a commanding officer, to stand by your side and fight for your cause. A mech's worth is no greater than his ambitions. I only hope that you do not find me unworthy." He inclines his helm at the gladiator.
Soundwave was right. He knows it already. This WILL be a moment that goes down in history. The carrier's spark could not swell with more pride, more fervor, more passion than it does now. Though on the surface he appears the same: stoic, silent, listening, inside there is fire and flash. Normally a silent observer, he does bring his hand to his chest and steps forward. "We wait to follow your command, Megatron." Drift's words are pleasing enough, though his desire to become a Commanding Officer when he just got here gets a raised optic ridge.
The badge... Torque's hand absently goes to where her emblem is covered up, made so to avoid confrontation in the Forge. It isn't like the one Megatron holds or the one that represents their ideals.. and something tells her it never will if this is what comes of it. 
In the wake of silence, Torque speaks up, quietly at first with a frown marring her energon stained features. "I.. I can't be part of this, Megatron." What little courage lies within her is enough to propel her forward, optics casting glances at those dedicated to the cause that stand beside the gray mech that she soon frowns up to. "I want to see change as much as you do, but if this is how you're going to do it, then I can't stay. I'm just.." She looks off towards the entrance to the inner workings of the Forge. "I'm just going to go home.." Even as she speaks, Torque's body tenses in preparation. She's in the hornet's nest right now, standing right beside killers, and all she wants to do now is leave.
Megatron glances at Barricade, who nods, and moves to through the crowd to Torque. He offers her his hand to help her up. There's no cruelty or ill intent in his expression.
"C'mon," he says just loudly enough for her to hear. "I tried t' warn ya. War's comin', and the pits aren't a place for soft-sparked medics. I'll get ya out of here."
At Drift's interruption, the miner-turned revolutionary only smirks. "Ambition is a powerful thing, Drift. It makes you hungry. Spurs you to action. But it can also spur you to impetuousness, bad decisions... such as presuming that you may simply ask for command." There is a soft ripple of laughter, low, in the crowd. This minor distraction from Drift provides Barricade all the cover he needs to help Torque find her way out of danger.
"Command is given when it is earned, and not before. However... I have heard of your potential, and your fervor is to be commended." He moves to face Drift. "From now on, you shall be known as Deadlock. You are a Decepticon warrior, and you will fight at my side."
Torque expects reprimand, she expects to be forced to join.. But what she doesn't expect is for Megatron to actually allow her to go. He doesn't want to make her get involved if she doesn't want to.. This sends a ripple of emotion through the femme, lips quivering slightly until she stays them when Barricade moves to her side. 
"...Thank you." The words are said to both him and Megatron, though more towards the latter when offering him a brief glance and taking Barricade's hand. And, after what might be the last thing she says to the Decepticon leader, Torque exits quickly and quietly with the other mech, needing to get back to the shop and.. and think of what to do next.
Little does Megatron know that being exposed to the likes of people like Bombshell and Starscream does things to an already violent persona like Drift. When Megatron doesn't simply give him the title he asks for, his optics narrow slightly but he doesn't comment on it. 
Perhaps a seed of betrayal has already been planted. But for now, he will take what he can get. "...Yes, Megatron," he says with some hesitancy. "I will join you." 
Megatron may be a little surprised that Deadlock doesn't stick around a klik longer than needed. Before anyone can protest his leaving, he's gone.
Soundwave feels that it's just as well that Torque is leaving. If she can't understand what an HONOR that was, she's no Decepticon, nor will she ever be. Drift... he's not so sure about. What he picks up from the mech seems a bit... chaotic. He will keep his optics on that one.
Category:Kaon Uprising