42715-Saving the Saveable

Feint finally makes her way back home - well, no one really knows that. She's altered enough security footage (and carefully) that as far as any one knows, she's been in a CR chamber adjusting to her new frame.
She enters the mess hall and has a seat, turning her visor-covered face towards one of the news feeds displayed above.
Arcee sips from an enercube, feeling very uncertain and uneasy about things. The only thing in her life right now that she has any faith in is her trust in the former Triorian Guard captain.
Feint enters the mess hall, and Arcee looks at her blankly for a long moment before finally greeting her quietly, "Welcome back."
Springer has decided now that he's finally cleaned up and had a fairly decent recharge for once hes going to get something to drink before he heads out and does all the things Triorian guard captains do. The Green one walks in and glances around, sees Arcee and decides to join her. "Doing any better?" he asks as he sits down.
"You don't want me back," Feint replies to Arcee, cutting right through the forced pleasantry. "That's all right. I can understand if you do not."
"Depends on how you define 'better', I suppose," Arcee admits to Springer. She sips from her enercube again, then glances over toward Feint. "Well, after everything that's happened, it hardly even matters what I want anymore. It's just petty in the grand scheme of things. I think it's probably more important of me to ask how you're managing...this place is so deserted anymore, I'm surprised to see anyone here at all, save for maybe Prowl."
"There's something I need to tell you both, because you are very correct, Arcee. Time has almost caught up to us, and there is the very real possibility that we will not see another month on this planet." A likely, if fatalistic approach, but Feint has become far more willing to look evil in the eye and not blink. "I did nothing to Scattershot. It was his idea to fake his personality adjustment so that we could begin to watch out for other Autobots who might be on the list for 'corrections'. Seems to have been successful, considering how quickly most of the rest of you turned on me." She seems amused by that. "I'm here because I have become a watcher on the wall - When Zeta pushed into Nyon, I immediately began the old operations of running others to safety, out and away from the danger here. I will remain until everyone else is safe."
Springer didn't need to hear even more shattering of what he thought was a perfect group of mechs and the best way to run this planet. But hes been seeing and hearing a lot of shattering things lately. And this seems like one more reason to just.. walk away. His energon arrives and he takes a slow sip of it. "Who is on this list, do you know?"
Arcee looks somewhat surprised. "Very interesting," she muses. "...So that's why there's been a silent clearing out of this place. That would explain it. Where is everyone going, though?"
"Rung, Wheeljack, Torque - there are hundreds," Feint says to Springer. She continues speaking to the both of them in general, delicate black hands holding her energon container, stark against the white of her frame. "Most of them are going to find Commander Pax. Despite Zeta's claims, he is very much alive. I am only telling the two of you because I believe you'll make the right decision - to side with Cybertron rather than the madman who believes he must become a monster to achieve peace at any cost. Zeta is planning to march on five other polities soon, and he has given orders to the New Institute to begin a mental pogram againist anyone who has been forced onto the Decepticon Registration Act. It is an attempt at full scale menticide. There will be no more personality adjustments in secret. It will be concentration camps full of those waiting to be lobotomised."
Springer looks at the energon in his glass for a moment and asks, "Which madman are you talking about though? Your description is a good fit for Zeta and Megatron."
Arcee covers her mouth in an expression of horror. "Oh no..." she shakes her head. Nothing Prowl has told her up to this point is enough for her to justify this terrible program. Nothing is. She glances over at Springer, then back to Feint. "No, we have to stop this."
"Ha! The only difference between Megatron and Zeta now is that Megatron will not suck the energon out of your body to fuel his fusion cannon. Even Orion Pax is considering whether or not it will be necessary to work with the Decepticons. The remaining Autobot forces who have not been mentally coerced into serving Zeta are few and the citizens cannot stand against him on their own. Not with out... what happened in Nyon. We cannot afford a pyrrhic victory here." Feint's visor slides back, revealing that there is, in fact, a face behind that visor. She takes a sip of her energon. "Be careful of Blurr. He believes Zeta is correct in his course - so much so that he has cut me out of his life for questioning the word of the prime."
"I'm not surprised he did that, Feint...I'm...not sure who his 'handler' is these days...and you will know what I mean by that, certainly...but they're keeping him on a tight leash. I'm not even sure it's him making that decision, you know? It's...I'm sorry it ruined your plans together, and I'm nearly certain that THEY had something to do with it, because he's not even close to the friend I remember, he's become something else, someone strange and paranoid." Arcee shakes her head, looking sad. "Springer, what do you think? Prowl's wanting me to stay the course and that Zeta will 'come around', but he seems to be getting worse by the astrosecond. I'm not sure we /have/ time to wait."
"I have no problem questioning the word of a Prime." Springer retorts, "Not when you need a score card to tell the players in this game of thrones and at the cost of everyone on this planet." he stands. "Pax is with Megatron?" he glances at Arcee, "Then for the time being I say that's where we need to be."
"I've made contact with Pax personally... I know how to distract Zeta," Feint explains. "I do not know if I would go into Kaon ... but more and more are, and perhaps in numbers you'll be safer. In regards to Blurr, well - he would not leave the IAA. He's regressed developmentally and he rejects everything I did to help him. I can no longer afford to try to save someone who will not be saved. As for Zeta... do not trust him. He's ignoring the very Senate he placed into position."
"So Pax /is/ alive...do you know if Rod is alive, too?" Arcee gives Springer a worried, momentary glance. Surely, he wasn't going to risk remaining in this place. Not after what Feint's just disclosed to them. Can they afford to do it? What if Blurr is recording everything they say, this very moment? He could turn them in for treason at any time.
Springer takes a sip of his energon. "Then distract him. We take only what is necessary and anyone else that we can - but I'm not wasting time with them, they come or they dont. But we get out of here and soon. What is your idea to distract Zeta?"
"....."
Feint's visor snaps into place in shyness and embarrassment. "I will distract him in a way that only a femmebot can."
"... Forgive me, but yes - Hot Rod is alive. He's among the Decepticons right now, with Commander Pax."
"Oh, come on, Feint, you're better than that," Arcee snaps. "And it might not even work, besides. Some mechs /are/ immune to 'wiles', you know."
Springer is happy to hear Hot Rod is alive. Figures hed be too as crazy as the young mech is. Then he thinks on how Feint will distract the Prime and starts thinking about that and then Arcee comments. He loos over at her. "Well you have a point and normally Id say it wouldn't work, this is a Prime we are talking about but this mech isn't any Prime in my book."
"Not when they are backed by an outlier's abilities," Feint gently corrects. "I will do whatever it takes to make certain that no more die from the vamparc ribbons that madmech has decided to turn on his people. What does being 'better' matter when the lives of millions are on the line?"
These are some very dangerous times, Arcee decides, and desperate situations call for desperate measures. "...Alright, but listen," she says. "If you end up in a bind...call me. I'll provide some backup so you can get out of there," she offers to Feint, looking very serious. "This does have the potential to go very wrong, and should that happen, you'll need to be able to get out of there." She seems to agree with Springer's assessment that Zeta hasn't been acting like any Prime she's ever seen or studied.
"... I'd advise you to leave the Citadel as soon as you can. Find -any- excuse. Take anyone you know is loyal to Pax and to this planet and /get them out of here as soon as you can/," Feint advises, hunkering down, lowering her voice. "... I'm going to coordinate with Pax and Megatron. We're going to take down the rest of the Omega Destructors ... and I'm going to open the door to Zeta's inner sanctum when they arrive."
Inwardly, Arcee feels some very genuine fear; it's a fear of the unknown. But she's calmed by the fact that Feint is...not the femme she expected her to be, in a very positive way, and...she's going to have Springer with her, which eases those fears even more. She nods to Feint, then looks over at Springer. "You ready to do this?"
Springer finishes his energon and stands, looking at the two of them, "Lets do this."
"Good luck and good hunting you two," Feint murmurs softly. Two down - many more yet to go.
Category:Autocracy