Facelift shrugs.
“Long as you ain’t squeamish,” he says.
“Putting it in there is what’s got her like this,” the prison medic explains. “There’s no benefit to having these behavior modules in a bot’s brain.”
“That analysis is still ongoing, crewman SideStep,” Motherboard explains. “However, all of the crewmembers on this list have participated in our battles in some capacity.”
Broadwing stepped in. He walked over to Starchaser and laid a gentle claw on her head. She let out a low growl in her sleep and kicked her legs. It wasn’t aggressive. The sound was more affectionate than anything.
Broadwing had a pained look on his face. One of remorse and understanding. Though he said nothing.
“Considering the nature of the Antispark, any attempt to study it would be extremely dangerous.” Garand said.
“That and the fact that the Matrix of Leadership is the thing that defeated the Chaosbringer means that it has the power to kill him, if not considerably weaken it.” Zepar said.
Epsilon kept quiet, waiting for the cargo ship to launch.
“Alright then.”[quote=“Chromeharpoon, post:8712, topic:49995”]
“That analysis is still ongoing, crewman SideStep,” Motherboard explains. “However, all of the crewmembers on this list have participated in our battles in some capacity.”
[/quote]
“Hm. Well, maybe just those who haven’t been in many battles?”
The surgery was short. Facelift removes the armor on Starchaser’s head covering her cranial unit, before using a laser to cut a whole into the silver dome to access her brain module. His fingers split apart into tiny claws that disconnect Breig’s behavior chip from the techn-organ, before he removes it from her body entirely. He crushes it between his finger and tosses it over his shoulder into a disposal unit.
Facelift and the prison medic mend the rest of Starchaser’s wound while they were at it, while also undoing a few more of Breig’s shoddy modifications.
“Ugh, this breaks my spark just looking at it,” Facelift feigns a gag. “Yet for some reason, everyone’s scared to go under my knife!”
Thrift shrugs.
“Yeah, that’s true,” he says. “But ol’ Crystal Ball o’ Destiny’s been missing for… well, it’s been missing for a while, hasn’t it?”
The junkion frowns and taps his chin, thinking on something that perplexed him.
The cockpit of the cargo ship was currently empty.
“Checking…” Motherboard says. “Done. Crewman SideStep, of the crewmembers on this list, crewmen Fortress and Darkside, along with crewwomen Starchaser and Caedia, have participated the least in our battles. Crewman Treadquake has just been reported as having died in an accident in Engineering; the New Decepticon spy has not updated this list yet, it seems.”
Thrust watches them carefully.
“Hmmm… I doubt any of them are the spies, but I’ll check out Fortress and Caedia. Can you send me their locations?”
“Crewman Fortress is in hangar bay two,” Motherboard reports. “Crewwoman Caedia was last seen conversing with crewmen Pixel and Blight and Crewwoman Juliana in the Antillian Sunrise.”
“Thanks, Motherboard.”
SideStep transforms and speeds off to Caedia’s location.
“It won’t go away… Not completely… Not forever…”
Broadwing said quietly, in a melancholy tone of voice.
“Buddy, you have not seen me work!” Facelift says proudly.
“…Wait a minute; yes you have!” he realizes. “I gave you those hands of yours!”
Garand takes the pilot’s seat and prepares for takeoff.
Thrift and the technicians settle into the cargo bay.
Broadwing shook his head.
“No. I know this… I know what she feels… Its a madness… You can remove the source… But it never leaves completely…”
“Just watch, man,” Facelift says confidently as he continues to operate.
“I’ll get her right as rain faster than you can say ‘light our darkest hour’! Hell, while I’m at it, I’ll get this beast mode working proper- possibly even free of charge, too.”
“For her sake… I hope…”
He said somberly.
Garand finishes the preflight checklist and awaits clearance to launch.
“No need to hope,” Facelift maintains.
Some time later, he and the prison medic complete their operation, removing the behavior module and undoing the other modifications that Brieg had made to Starchaser, so that Facelift could redo the alt-mode installation properly. The prison medic focuses her attention on Starchaser’s injuries, and mends the worst of them. The two step away from their patient.
“There,” the prison medic sighs. “That’ll do it. She’ll be in stasis for a while as she recovers, but I she’ll wake up before too long.”
“Yeah, and she’ll feel great, too!” Facelift brags. “Y’know, before she eventually finds out she bit the head off a wrecker in a fit of animalistic rage, but one thing at a time, y’know? We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Garand is given the necessary clearance to take off.
Garand begins piloting the ship to the vault.
“It could have been worse… I would know.”
Broadwing admitted.
One of the circular landing pads jutting out of the mountainside seemed stable enough to hold the cargo ship. Most of the others were sunken into the earth, warped, and otherwise unsuitable for use.
“Yeah, perhaps,” Facelift says with a shrug. “But, we’ll never know, will we? All thanks to me…”
“A-hem,” coughs the prison medic, frowning as she glared at the mad doctor. Facelift turns around and winces.
“Together with the assistance of one Tailspin of Simfur,” he adds.
“Get fragged, creep,” Tailspin scoffs.