Murder the Medic(s)

++ Altihex Orbital Platform ++

Floating high above Cybertron, held at the very edge of the exosphere where gravity has no hold and tethered to the planet's surface by the massive  cable-structure of the space elevator, is the Altihex orbital platform. A wide disk with many 'spokes' - shuttle bay hangars - this is the launching point for supplies, equipment and individuals to the Kimia Facility a short  distance away. A military facility housing the Cybertronian Orbital Patrol  as well as top secret energy and weapons research, it is accessible only to a privileged few.

Contents:

Kimia Facility <KF>

Exits:

   D [Altihex]

Kimia Facility <KF>

++ Kimia - Hangar ++

  This room has no description currently.

Exits:

   O [Altihex Orbital Platform]

Starscream laughs a little. "Do you really think I'm that foolish? The weapon activates on my command. You couldn't shoot me, even if you wanted to. Besides, would you /really/ kill me? Are you sure you aren't too /cowardly/ for that?" he asks with a smirk, turning to face her. "You are foolish Torque. I'm the one holding all the cards, so don't even try to play poker with me."

 Should Torque even be surprised that Starscream would cover his bases like that? Deception is the game here and he's the master, giving her choices even though there's only one road. ..But it's a road she doesn't want to go down, so she rejects it, rejects him, and nearly roars in fury while throwing the gun down the hall. "You're a monster!" She screams with emotion pouring over, having had enough. "That's all you are and all you'll ever be! I won't play your game!"

 At the breaking point, the femme openly sobs and falls to her knees, crumpling in on herself. Why her? Is this his revenge? Dear Primus, she'll never know.. And all she knows now is that nothing but pain awaits her. How is she ever going to get out of this...

 About thirty breems will pass, and whatever Torque chooses to do with that time will be up to her.

 However, after the aforementioned amount of time, Starscream contacts the femme mechanic once again. "<Come to the laboratory. I hope you're ready. I don't think Pharma plans on having his test subject survive>"

Torque used her time the best she could, managing to contact Wheeljack and call for help before the rest of her time to patch what she could of the wound. A medic never goes anywhere without a few tools and she was more than happy to find they weren't confiscated from subspace.

 Unfortunately time would pass quicker than anticipated and Starscream would soon call for her to join him and Pharma. Frowning down at the blaster in her hand, having picked it back up at the seeker left, she shuts her optics tight and sighs before maglocking it behind her and moving to her feet with some effort.

 A hand on the wall now, the medic slowly makes her way to the previously mentioned lab, stepping through the door that slides aside and trying to steel herself for whatever may come.

        Pharma is waiting in the lab. Despite the 'terms' of his agreement with Starscream, he doesn't looked all that fazed. Which is because he -knows- what is to come, and in the end, it will all be to his own benefit. And Torque's, of course! Not that he -actually- cares about her, but Wheeljack had made him an offer he simply could not resist. He peers up at the other medic as she enters. "Torque, I presume?"

Torque grimaces the moment she sets optics on Pharma, grunting as she steps fully into the room and stops before him. "You know who I am, you aft." Or did he already forget meeting her before with Ratchet? But she's not concerned about that right now. No, she's just got one thing on her mind. "..So what do you plan to do to me?"

Pharma sighs. "I was just being polite, I guess." He steps closer and leans in, lowering his voice. "Look, Torque, whatever Starscream's told you about me, don't believe a single dram of it. He just hates me because he got expelled from the academy and I didn't. I don't know why the slag he hates you, but clearly something happened that made him decide that you somehow got something he thought -he- deserved more. You see, he's convinced that the world owes him something." He shakes his head. "He wants me dead, that much is clear. I'm as much of a prisoner in this as you are."

Torque's grimace deepens some when Pharma approaches and speaks to her in a quiet voice, explaining himself and just what is going on. Should she believe him, though? Honestly, it's not easy, but then.. Starscream DOES seem to be the guiding force behind all of this, so maybe it's true..

 "If that's true, then how are we supposed to get out of this?" She questions back in an equally hushed tone, fingers twitching ever so slightly at her side when continuing. "Pharma, he wants me to shoot you and kill you. What am I supposed to do? I.. I don't want to do this.."

Not far away, the Seeker watches the interaction between the two medics from a camera surveillance in the security suite of the facility. "</Don't/ listen to him Torque. He's just playing you for a fool, all of this was /his/ idea. A weapon that drains energon from live mechs because of the shortage, that's the prototype he's planning on trying out on you. He is a disgusting abomination who eviscerates people for fun, you /will/ regret the chance I'm giving you to kill him>"

 Starscream then flies back over to the laboratory and lands in front of the door. Mobilizing both his null rays, he presses the barrel of each of them against the sliding doors, using the heat from his weapons to fuse the panels together. "<You aren't getting out of this, Pharma. I don't forget the promises I make to myself>”

Pharma smiles gently. It's a good thing he knew her before, so he has her hailing frequency. << Don't worry, just do it. Let him think that he's won. Once you've killed me, he'll come in here and use the harvester on you. However, I've sabotaged the prototype. It will overload when he activates it, and explode on him. Don't worry, it won't be large enough to injure you. Once he's down, you take his weapons and use them to blast your way out of here and call for help. >> He transmits calmly. << Now quickly, do it before he suspects anything is off. >>

Torque glances sidelong at the door when she hears Starscream comm her until Pharma overrides him and.. Primus, no.. Is he really suggesting that? Turning back to him, she looks stunned for a moment, a look of complete and utter shock on her face before reality begins to settle in and forces her to frown in concern. <<Pharma, I.. I don't think I can do this. As a medic I took an oath never to intentionally bring harm to someone..>>

 Hesitantly, Torque reaches back and pulls out the blaster and stares at it in her hands, looking completely lost. <<...But I have a feeling this is the only way. Pharma, I...>> Optics rise to meet his, biting lower lip and moving in to hug him tight. << I'm so sorry.. And thank you.>> With that said, she steps back and raises her weapon. It feels so strange in her shaking hands, so foreign and alien. But she has to do this... And with dentals clenching tight and optics squeezing shut, Torque forces herself to pull the trigger despite every ounce of her being refusing.

Starscream scowls, clenching his fists as he hovers a few feet away from the freshly welded panels. "This is a colossal waste of time," he snarls to himself. At that moment, he activates the program that gives the blaster Torque is holding the green light for a direct shot. The seeker actually beats Torque to pulling the trigger. As soon as she lifts the blaster, it mobilizes and fires, aiming for Pharma's chassis plate. The seeker hopes to fatally wound the medic.

-Combat- You hit Pharma with your ranged attack!

The shot explodes out of the barrel, tearing through the air and striking Pharma on the chest. It blows a hole in his armor and he collapses forward, his optics going dark and his frame fading into a greyish color...she had really done it...he was really dead.

        ...Or was he? Well it looked that way, at least.

Is it possible for a sound to physically hurt? Because just hearing the sound of the gun firing and the heavy thud of Pharma hitting the floor almost makes Torque ill. As does the sight of him when she slowly opens her optics and looks down to see.. Primus.. no.. No no no! "What have I done.." She whispers over the crushing force of dread that bears down on her, makes her drop the rifle and brings her to her knees.

 "Pharma, I'm so sorry.." The femme croaks, head in her hands, emotions spilling out like a waterfall. She killed someone. She actually killed someone.. Was it all worth it, though..?

The release of a sonic boom can be heard as the seeker flies around the facility to the exterior of the opposite side of the room. Torque will hear the sound of paneling being melted into slag as the seeker makes an alternate entrance into the room.

 She'll hear the gentle hiss of his boosters as he approaches her, like the still breeze that comes right before a violent hurricane.

 A long, low laugh reverberates off the walls of the empty lab.

 "Oh Torque."

 Starscream suddenly appears, his crimson optics gleaming in eager anticipation. And he's holding a very terrible and outlandish looking weapon. Well, Pharma had been right about him wanting to use the prototype on her...

This is it. This is where she has to be strong. This is where she has to face...

 Starscream fills her vision when he closes in and she looks up, wide optics reflecting the terrible sight before her now. So that's the weapon he made Pharma build... It's intimidating, but she has to trust Pharma's word. To trust that is won't hurt her.. much.

 "Do it!" Torque suddenly bursts out, almost screaming and holding arms out to invite him. "I.. I broke my oath.. I killed him! So what's the point anymore! Just get it over with, I don't want this blood on my hands!"

But Starscream is taking his time. He steps towards her slowly, the prototype glistening in the dim light of the laboratory. "What /oath/," he snarls. "You really are pathetic, you know," he growls, "you couldn't even scratch the surface of what it feels like to violate your own conscience to save your own damn life." He swats her with the gun, his optics burning bright with rage. "You're so self absorbed in your own slagging pity, believing you're so rightful in your misery, you can't even be thankful life has handed you respect and fairness on a damn golden platter! You've had it so good. So, so good." He sounds bitter. Very. Bitter.

Torque takes the smack from the gun, her body shifted aside at the force. But she holds a hand to her face and rights herself, amber optics now glaring at him and dentals gritting. If he wants to draw this out and pontificate then she'll let him, but not without getting a dig at him in return.

 "You sure you're not talking about yourself? Look at you! You were a great scientist, and then leader of Vos! I may not have had it bad, but I've never had it as good as you. You were at the top! But.. now look at what you're doing. Just /look/. What's all of this going to get you?"

Starscream glares icily back at her, his optics still burning. "You don't know anything about me, you bastard!" He leans towards her, fists clenched. "You don't know anything. You're a fool, naive, callused and ignorant. Do you even know the meaning of the 'despised'? Tell me, DO YOU." His jet boosters are burning large holes in the floor, and his null rays are blazing, creating a heat haze around him. "No, of course not. You'll never know what it's like to /almost/ have everything you ever wanted. You'll never know what it feels like to be able to fly and reach for the stars, only to run out of energon before you get there. You'll never know, what it's like to know your own immense potential, only to be shoved down and spat upon by others. You don't know endless suffering. You won't. You can't. You're just a worthless idol, somehow handed respect though you hardly even deserve to say the word 'respect.'"

How is it possible to feel pity for Starscream after all he's done? Torque hasn't a clue, but she does and it brings a soft frown to her lips as anger begins to die down. "..Maybe I never will, but that doesn't make me an idol. I don't look for respect or think I'm better than anyone. I don't try to climb ladders, I'm content where I am. And even if I get respect, it's because I give it back and don't seek out anything in return. I don't know why you've decided to take all of this out on me, but.. I think you're wrong to do so. I'm not someone to be envied. I'm just.. me."

"I'm not /wrong/!' The seeker rages, his anger relentless. "You /deserve/ this! You are /finally/ getting what you deserve. Primus, you /still/ don't get it, do you? I have worked /damn/ hard for respect and to get what I deserve in this world. And everything I sought after, you .. you /took/ from me! I am Megatron's second in command. Do you know he treats me? Like a drone. I am /nothing/ to him. A piece of decoration, nothing more. Though I have served him for many metacycles, he fails to value me for what I am. And then, /you/. You showed up out of damn nowhere and he hails you as a pivoting point for justice! And what did you do? NOTHING. You were too cowardly to fight. Too weak to do anything other than struggle like the frail, strutless fragger you are. And as if I weren't already humiliated enough, you corrupted Wheeljack. The only person ever since my primary academy days who didn't just /pretend/ to like me. And now, you're both damn Autobots. /D-Damn/ you," his voice falters slightly, but he continues, "Damn you all. One of these days, /I/ am going to make all of this right. And I won't need Megatron's help. The Decepticons will make Cybertron new. /I/ will give Cybertron peace. Peace through tyranny. There will be no more brilliant intellects serving as underdogs. No more blasphemous blame shifting. No more unfairness and inequality. I will erase the wrongs, starting with /you/." He advances on her, the vamparc ribbon prototype mobilizing as he steps towards Torque.

"I never asked for Megatron to put me on a pedastal like that." Torque responds tersely, mouth pressing into a thin line and brows knitting. "And don't you dare say I was a coward in the ring. I was ready to fight Clench, even if it killed me, but it was Megatron's choice to step in when he did. I didn't do anything, so don't blame me for his actions." As for the mention of Wheeljack..

 "..I know you and Wheeljack were friends, but me coming into the picture didn't change that. He still admired you more than any mech and I was actually excited to work with you. But.. whatever you were feeling, whatever sort of jealousy you developed, that was all on /you/. He even held onto the hope that you'd turn around even after you destroyed everything he had. But when he hears about all of this I.. I don't know what he'll think anymore."

 She frowns up at him, antennas drooping some in the realization that the moment draws near, her form tensing. "Starscream.. I just want to say I'm sorry all of this happened to you. It didn't have to be this way and I think all of us really could have worked together.."

”Quiet!" he rages bitterly, "I don't care. None of what you say is true. If Primus exists, he has dealt me the hand of being the glorious yet despised. I am, and forever will be, unfairly despicable in the optics of everyone. And there are no exceptions. Not even with someone like Wheeljack."

 "Enough of this," he spits, his jaw set angrily. He raises the weapon to fire at Torque, but when he pulls the trigger, the prototype explodes.

 The red and white seeker will take the full force of the explosion--and it isn't pretty. When the vamparc ribbon explodes, the translucent compartment for storing it's victim's energon shatters, its shards flying into the seeker's body, digging deep into his armor. The vamparc substance itself has splattered all over Starscream's armor, and like a sponge filled with acid it rapidly starts absorbing his energon and eating his chassis--yet, in doing so, the substance becomes volatile after a certain point in time and begins to combust, showering Torque in seeker blood. Within nano-kliks, half of Starscream's face, upper torso and leg have completely disintegrated in the most gruesome way possible. With a cry of intense anguish, the seeker collapses. If Torque doesn't do anything, Starscream is going to die. Horribly.

In the split second before Starscream pulls the trigger, Torque instinctively ducks her head down and curls up to protect herself. Starscream may get the brunt of the damage, but some of the vamparc substance still strikes across her back. A small splash at most, but still enough to make her wretch as it begins siphoning off her energon before overloading and exploding.

 Screaming in pain, the femme rolls over to her side, teeth gritting as she seethes and scrambles to reach the fresh wound. She doesn't even notice she's covered in another's blood until Starscream collapses beside her, a complete mess from head to toe.

 "Frag.. Frag.." Torque vents hard, grunting and wincing when twisting back, trying to ignore the pain now that she sees the state of the seeker. Pharma said to take his weapons and go, but.. Damnit, she's not going to have another's blood on her hands. "Starscream.. Hold on. Ngh.." The medic fights back a whimper and drags herself to her knees to kneel beside him, the medical supplies in her subspace spilling out all over the floor. It's by no means state of the art equipment one would find in a medbay, but it's all she needs to stop his bleeding and hopefully keep his spark from dimming long enough for her to call for help during her escape. And so, with shakey hands that she eases with a few flexes, she gets to work.

The damage is spreading, but somehow, the seeker is still conscious. "N-No....!" The anger in his optics still burns bright. "L-leave m-me..." He struggles weakly, making his injuries worse and causing the shards to dig deeper into his armor. "Don't t-touch m-me..!" Starscream tries to drag himself away from her, making him leak even more energon...

However, Torque will most likely realize that a problem has presented itself. Naturally the seeker doesn't wear his badge openly, but due to all the damage he's received, his badge is now exposed. And it isn't in a place that can be removed without further injuring him. Covering it would seem too obvious--and if anyone came here in response to her call for aid, they'd notice he was a Decepticon and he'd be as good as dead...

Torque may be injured and low on energon, but she's still got enough fire left in her to use what's left of her signature strength. With an annoyed growl she grabs hold of his armor and pulls him back, holding him still and making him look her directly in those flaring optics of hers. "Listen here, you idiot. You got yourself into this mess and I'm not about to let you die because of some stupid, jealous tantrum. I don't give two scraps that you just tried to kill me. I don't even care if you try to kill me again. All that matters right now is that I fix what I did and make sure no one else dies today. Now hold still or I will make you."

 It's not wise to cross someone who knows all the intricate workings of your insides, so not complaining would be in Starscream's best interest. Whether he wants it or not she patches him up the best she can with what she has, rerouting energon lines, stabilizing his spark, and pulling out those damnable shards stuck in his armor. It takes a decent amount of time, but she eventually finishes.... only to see one final problem in her way.

 "Damnit, Starscream.." Torque mutters softly with a frown and brushes the Decepticon sigil. Her options are severely limited now, but she does what she can to make the best choice.. which is hauling him up over her shoulder. Were she at full power he'd be like a feather to her, but it's clear the wear on her body has taken its toll. Grunting with effort, Torque carries one of his weapons under an arm while holding him as well, her feet almost dragging while making her way out the makeshift entrance he made. Right now she needs to get them both out of here, so to the best of her ability she moves off in search of a transport to take him somewhere she can work on him more properly.

The flare in Torque's optics are mirrored in the seeker's optics. The bitter fire in his optics hasn't died just yet. "I..I.. I'd rather DIE.. than be fixed.. b-by your likes..." But as the words are leaving his lips, his tone of voice starts to break, his reputation for perfect lies disintegrating little by little.

 He winces when she touches the Decepticon sigil, though if she's watching carefully, she'll notice that the pain he's experiencing goes deeper than physical. His expression is distant and pained, his thoughts clearly elsewhere for the time being. And maybe she'll see a tiny flicker of immense weakness in him. Like so many others in this sick and miserable world, he's been damaged, early on. And that damage never healed.

 As she lifts him onto her shoulder, his struggling comes a stop, and he allows her to drape him across her shoulder. He's actually surprisingly light--his lithe form falls easily over her backside. "....why..." he mutters softly. "...why are you doing this..." His optics start to dim.

Torque can see the hurt in him, and unfortunately she knows it'll only get worse now with the war. For all of them. "Because it's who I am. I can't help it.." The femme says quietly in return as she moves off with him, final words holding a tinge of sadness. "..And I guess neither can you."