A Sinking Feeling - A New Focus
- Location
- USA
This naturally takes place right after Grasping Victory.
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The Belligerent
"So. Allow me to determine if I am understanding this...correctly."
Bandit glanced nervously to his left and right from where he was locked down in the sustainment bed. In a way, he was somewhat relieved - it was clear that the others had scragged something pretty badly, even if he couldn't exactly determine what it was yet. But spreading the wealth when it came to blame only covered you so far with Tyrannous.
"The Predasaur you designed-" Scrapheap to Bandit's left went still, likely having had a similar calculation going through his processor, "-and that Rangefinder had so painstakingly crafted together for you is gone."
"...yes, my liege," Scrapheap slowly admitted.
"And you-" To Bandit's right, a thoroughly singed Throughput and Smelter stiffened similarly, "-lost the armor unit that was similarly designed and constructed."
"Yeah, boss," Throughput said, Smelter nodding rapidly in agreement, "but we-"
"I did not give you permission to speak further."
The once urbane and calming voice coming from the command throne hardened abruptly, slamming down onto every Kausen on the the bridge. The shadows over the command throne masked most Tyrannous's form, save for a slight outline and the sinister blue glow of his optics. You could see just enough see and feel his intent - and neither was exactly a good feeling at the moment. Not when everyone was reporting in a failure.
The only one that seemed exempt from this was Rangefinder. The big, large mechanic that also doubled as Tyrannous's servo to crack heads if he couldn't be bothered to do it himself simply stood to Tyrannous's right, arms crossed over his enormous bulk. Bandit still didn't know why Tyrannous favored the big dumb lug like that, but here they were. In this case, the single chipped processor got to glare at them with his boss on account that his work had been scrapped.
"Disappointing, really." Tyrannous stood up from his throne, finally allowing the light from the primary star to shine onto him. His form had changed somewhat since he'd been able to bring back the Pilum from PJH - Tyrannous had taken a shine to the form and had readily adopted it as his configuration. Human-styled ordnance pods prominently stood out on his forearms, along with the stabilizer wings along his back. But the faceplate and those sinister optics remained - all configuration did was give him alternate methods to make things painful if he wanted to. "So, before I make any further...judgments. Do any of you have anything to say in your defense?"
Tyrannous spread his arms and looked around at the badly singed and beaten up collection of Free Brothers. Even Crackdown was quiet, the normally insane mech realizing just this once that it was probably a bad idea to gainsay the boss.
Well, scrap it. I'm not sinking with these losers.
"Uh, boss?" At once, Bandit almost regretted it as he felt Tyrannous's attention squarely on him, just as it had started just a little while ago. "I, uh, did see something new when Scrapheap busted me out." He tried not to wince in anticipation, but he was slightly encouraged when a slight nod from the mech himself allowed him to continue. "There's new Kaus running around dirtside."
Before Bandit could continue, his processor seized up as something jammed into the back of his head. Accessing recent files. Chimaira's voice hissed loudly in his audio receptors - or was it directly into his processor? He felt her presence drive a spike into his memories, the last cycle or so projecting outwards onto the holographic displays in the center of the bridge. He was not allowed to even think about anything else, focusing on and then dismissing memories that he might have revisited on his own-
And then three figures were shown on display. The larger, bronze colored Kaus slamming an enormous pair of fists into Crackdown in tandem with Nailhead. The quick and agile Kaus the size of Highway dancing around larger Drones setting up their destruction at Architect's hands. And the Kaus with the strange human contraption on his shoulder fighting alongside Beowulf.
Tyrannous tapped his chinplate thoughtfully. "Hmm. And who might these be?" He paused, then laid his optics onto Scrapheap. Or at least Bandit thought so - he was not allowed to think about anything beyond the three mystery Kausen before Chimaira painfully tore his attention back to where she wanted it.
"Respectfully, my liege," Scrapheap mused, sounding much calmer knowing that he wouldn't get offlined right this instant. "...I don't think they are from Mekaen. I briefly witnessed them myself in the breakout attempt. But their mannerisms, their styles...they seem far more human. But my sample size is admittedly rather small."
Tyrannous mulled that thought over, before his optics turned to another corner of the room. "Yes, Throughput?" he asked, in a pleasant, almost fatherly tone, as if he hadn't just threatened his dismemberment shortly before. "Oh, and Chimaira, save the images for future reference. You can let Bandit down now, thank you."
The spike crudely ripped out of Bandit's head, and relief surged through him as his memories were again his. He barely could hear Throughput's report, "...ound another one like 'im. But he didn't talk like us at all."
"The humans are making their own Kausen," Tyrannous said to himself slowly. For the first time he could ever recall, Bandit saw a look of bemusement in Tyrannous's optics. That quickly faded away, however, as his form began to heave with a low throated chuckle. "Ohhh, this is rich. And so many possibilities stemming from that." He then turned to Scrapheap. "Get Bandit a new body - use one of the captured 'Jackals' we acquired if you need. As for Bandit himself..." Tyrannous's optics burnt into his. "Your recent dealings with some of the humans turned out decently well. Reach out to them again. See what we can do to keep the humans at each other's throats."
"S...sure thing, boss," Bandit replied weakly. His processor was still trying to reboot properly after the memory spike - and defragmenting to see if everything was still where it should be. "Any, uh, specific requests?"
"Just one." The image of Beowulf emerged. "These particular humans," Tyrannous mused as his hand reached out to inspect the holographic image, "are becoming more of a nuisance than I'd like." His hand abruptly clenched around the image, and the hologram shuddered before disappearing into Chimaira's memory banks. "I want them dealt with permanently."
