A Visitation

"SENATE-ELECT ON DECK!"

The guards at the cells bring their rifles up and to their chests, standing at attention, parting as the light from the ramp upwards shines, signalling the gates are open.

Walking down into the prison cells (gee this must seem familiar, Blast Off) is a small, limber blue and black fembot, shrouded in a blue cloak, which gathers at the neck, sealed by a Senate emblem. Her face is entirely masked by a reflective black visor. Those who have met her before will recognize Feint.

Swivel clamors to see whoever is coming into the detention center. She, however, does not recognize Feint.

Two Enforcers approach Feint. "Sorry to disturb you ma'am, but you're the only mnemnosurgical specialist presently available on the premises. One of the prisoners has gone into a stasis lock. We need her repaired and fit to stand trial."

Feint nods slowly. "Clear a space if you can in one of the interrogation rooms, we'll have to make do. Move the patient in, I'll begin immediately." She follows the guards further on down the hall.

                                -+-

It's not long after Feint leaves that she returns to the central prison area. She hand waves for the guards to leave her. They are momentarily confused, but as if by some unseen force, suddenly change their minds and go back to guarding the prisoners, as if Feint is somehow magically a non-person now. Curious.

She approaches the cell full of the priority one prisoners, hands folded together in front, visor concealing her face. Megatron's face is reflected in its surface - an indicator of who she is looking at.

Megatron looks at the femme looking at him and holds her gaze, "What do you want?" he finally asks.

"You may speak your peace, Megatron. The guards have been... commanded, to ignore anything that we discuss," Feint says.

She retracts the facial visor, allowing Megatron to see her clearly. She smiles politely. "I've wanted to meet you for a very long time. Our paths never quite seemed to cross in the mines."

Megatron looks at her guardedly, "Why have you 'always wanted to meet me' and explain how the guards have been 'commanded' to ignore out conversation? No one else in this cell has."

Slipstream is there, not far from Megatron. It's not like there is an abundance of space to be found elsewhere, or anywhere for the matter, and she has angled herself to be near to her chosen lord and master. It also means that she can see to Barricade... who is not taking all of this as well as she would like. Thus, Slips feels the pressure to be even more in command of herself for the sake of those she aims to protect. She reminds herself, yet again, that she could not be here... but that line of thinking isn't going to help her much when she chose to be here. "I think, Megatron, she means to suggest that she is someone of influence, if she can command the guards in such a manner. She has a purpose for seeking you out, if not to try and single you out."

"I toiled for 500,000 years in the mines below these streets as a disposable. A 'mining tool like so many other unfortunates. The only reason I left at all was because my overseer sold me to be dissected. I had... gifts. Gifts that do not fall within the constraints of my function."

Feint steps closer, hands unclasping and moving into her cloak. "I wanted to see you for who you are, and what you intend. Your words have echoed far and wide. There are Senators that believe. The Senator over Kaon - the mech who has inducted me into his house as next in line to rule this polity - has been moved by your words."

Slipstream is clearly skeptical of this visitor to Megatron. "If there is such a supporter then he would would willing to be heard by name and not title. Titles can be exchanged, inherited, or even altered to fit what is... convenient," she cautions from Megatron's side. He didn't ask for her counsel, but she is surely giving it. "As somebot who has been roused by Megatron's words, I find the apprehension to act - such as everybot here has - somewhat disconcerting. You are on the wrong side of the bars to be believed, at least so freely."

Megatron studies the cloaked bot before him and then side glances at Slipstream, "If I want your opinion --" but then he pauses and looks back at Feint, "She raises a good point. Care to explain that?"

The low voices of conversation rouse Vortex' interest. He glances at both Swift Blade and Blast Off, neither of which seem to be awake. Well, with Swift Blade it is hard to tell due to her ability to be still and silent for long periods of time. Either way, the two are together, thus Vortex does not seem apprehensive about leaving Blast Off's side momentarily to go move closer to the sound of the conversation - nudging prisoners out of his way as is necessary.

"I would think you'd know the mech you labored under for so long! Senator Halogen is in position over the badlands - Kaon, Blaster City, the Rust Sea? The other Senators hardly trust him, but he's been over Kaon for so long no one dares to speak out against him. Seniority has its privileges."

Feint takes no offense at Slipstream's distrust or accusations. They're valid ones. "Not everyone is a gladiator, my lady." Odd for a 'senate elect' to use such terms, but Feint's mannerisms completely lack the arrogance and self-importance of a high caste. She acts much more like the disposable she claims to be. She addresses prisoners formally, speaks with deference and even has difficulty maintaining eye contact. "Force is one way to bring about change, but for those of us who have no strength, we must rely on deception and subtlety." Her name is FEINT after all.

"And he wastes his time and position," Megatron says, "Why would you think I'd have warm feelings for the mech I was a slave to under the surface of this planet for as long as I was? And Deception and subtly is the problem with the Senate is it not?"

"Nor is every bot willing to commit to what they believe in," she returns to Feint though... there is appreciation for the label. She is NOT a gladiator by any means and fighting in a pit is not something she would seek to do. Ever. Yet, she's willing to follow somebot that discovered his courage there. "Deception is what has been wrought on Cybertron, an evil that must be conquered. At this point the only way to bring about such a purge is by force. Cybertron is not going to liberate itself. Your master, Halogen, he is beset by how much opposition? For all he has witnessed, how much change has he affected? What change can he promise?" Slipstream looks from Feint now to Megatron. "Sir, to stand down now or to cease in what is to be expected..." She flicks a glance to those around them, behind them. Megatron has put himself before the mob. If Feint is urging caution, that point has long since past.

Feint speaks directly to Megatron. "Because that mech may yet free you."

"I am an outlier. My gift is terrible; you need only talk to Blast Off to know. Halogen intends to put that gift to use very soon. Because of the death of Decimus, and because of your capture, there will be a special convention of the Senate within days. It is during that time that Halogen intends to table the end of the caste system itself. He intends to use my gift to make sure every Senator in the room agrees with him."

Megatron chuckles skeptically, "Really now? Why should I believe you?" oh he'd love to believe this but he cant, not after everything that has happened recently.

Slipstream has succeeded perhaps as well as she has because more than another other Seeker, she is well aware of her place in things. Maybe that is because she has crafted such a position(s) herself rather than fallen into them. Still, she knows when to bite her tongue. She does so now. She does, however, look away from Megatron and to her Commander. She even nudges Starscream with her foot, to seek for him to pay attention.

Feint looks over to a guard who is standing with his back to the wall, near the edge of the cell. With perfect calm, she gives him a command.

"Tear out your right optic."

The guard suddenly trembles, dropping his weapon, his face contorts in panic as if he's seeing some phantom monster in front of him. Without hesitation he thrusts his fingers into his face, grunting, straining, howling as he shatters the visor there, breaks the optic lense and glass, and, hands trembling, jerks out his own eye, optical cables snapping and micro energon lines misting pink down his face.

He drops to his knees and agony, holding his face, cradling the wound. None of the other guards notice. None of them speak. None of them move.

Feint looks back at Megatron. "Do you believe now?"

Well, that is horrifying.

Slipstream is... slackjawed. This is exactly everything they are fighting against. The fact that someone can do \*that\* and gets to walk around, empowered by the Senate... she can't really look away from that guard on his knees. "Megatron...," she starts though, truth-be-told, she isn't surely exactly \*what\* she seeks to caution other than \*everything\*.

Megatron narrows his optics dangerously and if anything stands taller, "You have no place here." he says coldly. "I suggest you leave for your own safety. That is the only warning I will give." he cares not that he's being held prisoner and restrained with inhibitor cuffs right now. He knows he could still order her attacked and it would be done.

Feint is visibly crushed by Megatron's curt dismissal. She only wanted to help. She wanted to give Megatron hope that he'd be free. She wanted to tell him that it would be all right, and that she was risking her life for everyone's sakes. All she ever wanted to was to do good for others and yet, no matter how she tries, she can never quite reach her aims.

She glances over to Slipstream. "When Barricade comes to his senses... tell him that Pursuit will be fine. I repaired the damage Whirl did. When she comes back on line she'll be healthy and whole. It was... a peace offering." She knows she is no longer welcome, and quickly leaves, trotting rapidly up the ramp out.

Seconds after she is gone, the injured guard's image flickers and he's standing upright and whole, his optic perfectly fine. Was it all just....?