Past Deeds

++ The Decagon <BOT> ++
A massive prism-like structure that sits at the edge of Iacon, rising       
several dozen stories up, and having ten walls on the outside (hence its    
name). Colored in grays and reds, this is the center of Cybertron's         
military command, as well as a host to top military officials, allowing the
two to handle security, intelligence and tactical operations across the     
planet. The building has wide parade grounds and several alternate          
entrances, and is heavily defended above and below with weaponized turrets  
jutting out from the corner points of the buildings. A security wall rings  
the outer grounds, and only authorized personnel are allowed past the       
checkpoints in.                                                             
Exits:
N [Grand Imperium]                    NE [Iacon]                           
IN [Grand Hall <Decagon>]            
The large tank mode of Quickswitch moves ponderously toward the Decagon. He's been in hiding ever since the death of Zeta Prime...and with good reason. It is this reason that draws him out now. He comes to a stop once he reaches the Decagon and transforms to root mode, looking equally ponderous and pensive as he studies the entrance, at pause, as if considering something.
Arcee has been mostly keeping to the Decagon ever since she brought Blurr back from wherever it is he had been hiding. She hasn't been seen outside of the base in some time, but when she spots Quickswitch rolling up to the base, she heads over toward him in surprise. She was pretty sure at one point that Quickswitch had been on the casualty list; looks like she made an error and he was just missing in action.
"Oh, hi Arcee," Quickswitch says to her, sounding a little out of it, defeated. He takes no further step toward the Decagon, or Arcee, "Nice to see a familiar face."
"It's good to see you're still alive," Arcee admits. "What made you decide to come back? You look like you've been 'going it alone' for some time now."
Springer has come out for some exercise if thats what you want to call it. Hes simply decided to come out and walk around on one of his rare moments where hes not on duty. The triple changer catches sight of Arcee and turns her way and then looks to see shes talking to.. quickswitch, "Whats going on here?" he asks as he steps up to them and gives the huge 6 changer a look.
"I was.. sort of.." Quickswitch murmurs, "I came back because I needed to. Because there are things I need to discuss with Command..." he addresses both Arcee and Springer. His mouth turns downward in a mournful expression.
"Oh. Right, understood." Arcee looks over at Springer as he comes out of the Decagon, and motions him over. "Remember Quickswitch?? He's alive and well," she mentions, then she turns her attention back to Quickswitch. "You realize that they're probably going to...make you register. They have this 'Autobot Registration Act' in place, which is basically retaliation for the old Decepticon registration act..."
Quickswitch kicks out at the ground. "I have no right to call myself an Autobot, or to engage in whatever petty actions the Decepticons try to put into place. I just can't do it, and I think you would agree."
Megatron has arrived.
Arcee frowns slightly. "Quickswitch, what are you saying? This war's been complicated since day one...and one of the more complicated issues is doing what's /right/."
Springer studies the 6 changer for a moment, "Depends, pal." he says finally. "Depends on how much of what you did was what you wanted to do and how much was what they made you do."
Quickswitch touches a digit to the bottom of his mouth, deepening his frown, "I did terrible things...in the name of Zeta Prime. On his orders..." he confesses, "I could not disobey a Prime..." but that is no excuse. No excuse.
"Well...look...you have a clean slate, now," Arcee says to Quickswitch with a tinge of sadness. "Because the Prime is gone. /Permanently./ No more Primes."
"As long as no one wants to hold you to what you were only followign orders for," Springer begins, "The only thing you should worry about is how to deal with it on this inside. And Im sure we can help you with that."
"I-I don't know what to do without a Prime to follow.." Quickswitch reaches up and pulls at his face, "And I don't know why.." the emotional sixchanger adds, voice full of deep sadness. He shakes his head as he speaks, "You don't know what Zeta Prime made me do. For those deeds I must be brought to justice. I... I turn myself in. It's the best action I can take."
"Quickswitch...please, don't be so hard on yourself. You aren't a war criminal," Arcee insists. While she's never been a close friend of his, she completely understands the feeling he must have that things Zeta Prime ordered him to do could certainly be classified as war crimes, and 'just following orders' is no defense. She glances over at Springer with an awkward look.
Springer can see the situation Quickswitch is in and while he can understand how the mech feels he also has faith in the fact that the Autobots in charge now will be fair and openminded with the 6 changer. "Why dont you let the ones in charge decide if theres any justice to be metted out first, Pal." he says.
Quickswitch looks on, completely stricken in expression, moved to silence for the moment. 'I will.' he wants to say, but Quickswitch just shakes his head. He looks up, smiling sadly.
"What do you do without a Prime? Why, you live free."
That comes from behind the trio and is a voice that should be recognizable by now. It is one that has addressed Cybertron several times over in the last number of days. Megatron, leader of the Decepticons and acting ruler of all things Iacon strides into this former holding of the Primes. It is true what was said - there are no more Primes now. Everything they held is not in Megatron's hands. With the defacto ruler is a squadron of his Vehicons, clone warriors that fan out. They do not carry weapons but rather... data pads. They immediately begin to take inventory of their surroundings.
"Actually, Quickswitch *is* a war criminal... were we still at war, and had I not pardoned Zeta's followers for their actions. Murdering innocent civilians is indeed the action of a war criminal," he assures Arcee as he joins them. Uninvited. "Yes, you should register. You all should. Only those that spoke out against the Decepticon Registration Act are those I would consider that should be spared from such a thing but since no bot did... well."
As Megatron approaches them, Arcee rather unconciously edges closer to Springer. "Well, I'm already registered, I didn't have much of a choice in the matter," she notes, and she begins to think to herself that Quickswitch won't have that choice, either. (Hmph, some 'freedom'!)
Springer hears an all too familar voice from behind and turns to see Megatron approaching. A cool glances at the vehicons that fan out, and he commits their location to memory. Then the miner continues with what he says next. "And what petty revenge is taking place by making the 'autobots' register, Megatron?"
What..? Pardoned?! The sixchanger's face takes on a caricature of a horrified smile. He doesn't know what to think, doesn't know what to /feel/ and so feels everything. The voice sets off alarms--/THE/ DECEPTICON!!--and yet on that authority, an authority he cannot trust by his brainwashing, he is pardoned?! A disjointed chuckle eminates from Quickswitch as his mind suddenly /tears/ under the strain of this incongruous situation, "Free...?" he barely whispers now. He doesn't /feel/ free. Inside, Quickswitch wonders why Arcee and Springer haven't opened fire on the leader of the Decepticons, wonders fatally why /he/ hasn't either.
"Unlike me and my brethren in the Decepticons, we were not granted any choice in the matter. At least I have allowed you Autobots the luxury of doing so." Though the consequences of doing so, well, Megatron doesn't speak so openly about those. "There is nothing petty about it, Springer. It is only fair, which is what I thought you and your kind were all about? Like Prowl, you should be willing to register. No one opposed the Decepticon Registration Act. So I ask you - what makes an Autobot one so questionable, especially when there was no questions asked of the DRA."
"Yes, Quickswitch. For the first time in Cybertron's history we are all free. Free to choice what we will become, rather than having it determined for us. No more Primes. Never again shall one bot lord over us all with falsehoods, with lies and deceptions. There is no Matrix of Leadership, and thus, what leadership we shall have is up to us to determine. We can only have that conversation if we are all on equal footing. No more castes, no more unfairness in the laws we abide by."
Springer folds his arms and seems umimpressed. "I know why the Senate had the DRA -- so do you, and you cant tell me the ARA is any different. Only its you that will know have all that information. If everyone is truly free and if that was the only thing you really fought for, there is no reason for the ARA..."
Arcee complied with one of the more 'sane' Decepticons when she registered, as she didn't want to have to get into a terrible tangle with Motormaster that she would likely lose anyway. "It seems kind of strange, especially if it no longer 'matters', since we're all 'free', you know? Just a little bit odd that we need to register at all."
Megatron! The hated voice, but rational words that threaten his very programming. Quickswitch thinks back to his conversation with Sixshot and begins to shake. It's all too much for his sensitive, fragile and dominated mind, "I need some time... just need some time to think..." And with that, Quickswitch does the only thing he can do short of opening fire, and there is biting shame in it. He nods to the others and walks inside the Decagon to his long-neglected quarters. To think.