Fill In The Gap

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Bombshell nods and begins his way towards his personal playground. The inside his laboratory was a literal treasure trove of war crimes. Bits of what appeared to be Cybertronian Processors lay strewn about the black panel flooring, some burnt out, some partly eaten, and some of the larger chunks even seemed to still be active. On the walls there were holographic screens showing footage of experiments long since past and diagnostics for his specialized shells. "I'll need you to lay there." the Insecticon stated pointing out an area of the room with two large medical berths. "Now I had planned to scan you both at the same time but it seems Blast Off is busy." either that or he's hunting for a way to get out of it either scenario wouldn't be surprising.
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Phantom is slightly unnerved, but after a little bit, he shrugs it off. He peers around the laboratory, horrified but curious at the same time. "You must pride yourself on being strong and wicked," he says, "it would not be hard for you to become a superior alpha -- but there is a saying, that the longer an alpha reigns, the thicker the hate for him brews. So if you come to power, watch your back as if you were about to be devoured every moment." He smiles at Bombshell and obeys, laying down on the berth as the Insecticon has commanded.

Bombshell idly walks over before pressing a few command keys and forcing rather powerful clamps over the Con's arms and legs. "I don't need you panicking." he offered as an explanation before walking to the top of the table. "Now, this may sting..a lot." he stated before placing two large cabals near Phantom's head and upon activation, about seventy wires pressed through his optical sensors and began forcing themselves onto the cerebral center. Which if Phantom was knocked out wouldn't be bad at all but well Bombshell couldn't work with a patient who isn't functioning at full capacity.

"..." Phantom doesn't complain about the pain, surprisingly, and his arms and legs don't twitch either. The sensation is similar to what he feels when any part of his body solidifies around any physical mass. Except, no bleeding. Which is a plus in Phantom's book.

However, after a while, the pain causes his body start to lose it's density. He starts to sink through the berth a little bit...

Bombshell curses as the subject sinks through. "I'll need you to stop that." Bombshell asked in the most polite tone he could muster. In front of the Insecticon files began buzzing about before forming a very dense data set. "I don't take command because that kind of control is nothing." Bombshell finally replies in an attempt to keep Phantom's mind off the pain. "I control something much more powerful," he states running his servos through the projection before beginning to scan through them. For each file activated there was a slight shock from the tubes attaching Phantom to the computers. "I'll need the exact details of your supposed control."

Phantom is too incapacitated to respond in any manner, really, but Bombshell may want to take back his comment about needing him to stop phasing through the berth -- it would appear his loosened density causes the data set to disperse into more comprehensible chunks, which Bombshell may find very peculiar and not at all like any other subject he's ever studied.

Apparently, he's retained memories from an alternate universe, one in which Bombshell's fellow Insecticon Shrapnel is unusually powerful. The data is all fleeting though, and he will notice that upon Phantom's entry to the present universe, strange memory gaps start to occur. Some are shorter, some are longer, and there appears to be some sort of pattern, but it's difficult to understand completely. However, he will notice that one of the memory gaps does not follow the pattern at all. It's incredibly short, and ill placed....

Bombshell does seem rather perplexed by this change of Data and of it's content which he quietly saved to data drives for further study later. He does however peruse the sections on Shrapnel with some interest. "Well, seems you are more unique then I previously imagined." he admitted before continuing his work and thats when he found it, data that shouldn't exist. With nimble control he worked out all data surrounding the gap and began examination of the base coding itself hoping to find at least some level of corruption.

It will be easy for Bombshell to deduce from the memory chunks he's examining that Phantom does not always have control over his phasing, which would explain his current state of fluctuating loosened density. At unpredictable intervals, or when he's emotionally or physically compromised, it would seem the memory gaps appear, and whatever data in those gaps is completely irretrievable.

But upon closer examination of the anomalous memory gap will show that the stimuli for that particular situation had no clear reasoning. For some reason, though the situation did not call for it, a fight or flight response was triggered...

Bombshell continued his research eventually discovering the pattern and the fact that the memory gap that seemed odd only grew more mysterious. "Well, that's all I need." he said before removing the cables and awaiting Phantom's return to total consciousness. After all, given that this new Con didn't scare so easily, there is a possibility that he may be interested in Bombshell's findings.

Phantom gasps, air rushing out of his ventilation shafts. He sits up abruptly, rubbing his optics. He mutters something in a dialect that Bombshell won't understand, and it is then that Bombshell may notice that Phantom has a peculiar sort of accent that is hard to place. But that may not surprise the Insecticon, after examining the data in his memory banks, Bombshell will be able to know that he is well versed in multiple dialects not native to this Cybertron.

Did you figure it out...? What did you see..." he asks, still feeling a bit hazy from all the pain.

Bombshell points to the large data cluster above him. "Judging from the pattern of you particular ability and it's response to outside aggression there is a conclusive jump of time that you cannot account for and it's logical basis is all but missing. It does appear you were controlled but given your abilities it seems all data is gone." he said with some level of annoyance. "Which means Blast Off may be my only lead." he groaned out and headed towards the door. "By the way, where exactly are you from?" he asked, memories of the alternate world still buzzing in his mind.

He looks thoughtful for a moment, and places a hand to his helm, pensive. "You are right... and yes, I know that I did not remember that time, I have this thing, sometimes I disappear completely, like I do not exist. And then some of my memories go with it. But I investigated this matter, and asked someone what happened during that time I could not remember. What you are saying makes sense to me, now. That person I asked said that I did a thing, that when he told me, I couldn't believe it. I have never done anything like that in my whole life. Like, I can make myself disappear completely like I was saying before, but I do not ever do that unless I think I will die for sure, because there is a chance I may not come back at all! Also, because I will forget things. But that time, I was told that I did it on purpose anyway, for something as simple as to look good and brag about it! It doesn't make sense, I would never do that!"

He peers at Bombshell, as if trying to understand the Insecticon. "Thank you, my brother, you are getting us closer to understand what the Autobots are doing. I am from Polyhex .. but not this Polyhex. I remember a guy from where I was living before -- He could make life out of scraps. That was amazing and scary." He pauses. "There is something I want to give you. It is a great literature all Decepticons from where I came from learn and memorize about power. It is very insightful and will help you overcome your weaknesses and anybody that may threaten you."

Bombshell seems rather unaffected though the gears in his head were turning full speed. "So, someone not only controlled you, but they knew /how/ to wipe you away." he stated in thought, removing his yellow visor and lightly scratching at his shimmering crimson optics. "This could be just a hunch but you may wish to study your friends more closely." he advised as at this point the enemy seems to have some rather handy information ready. "You're braver than most Cons, acting like i'm one of the group like that." he said immediately after being called 'brother' of all things. Still, the offer of a new read wasn't completely discarded and Bombshell offered an extremely quite thanks. "Now, I need you to keep this information between us and Starscream, not another spark here can know."

"No," Phantom corrects, "you see, I always lose my memory every time I disappear. Which is why I do not like to do it." He shakes his helm. "She is not a friend like that," he says, "I do not trust her, we were just there. The Air Commander was also there around that time when I think it happened, so maybe he is just lucky that he didn't get messed up too, though I do not know, maybe he did too, he just doesn't know it yet. And you know Blast Off too, you will have study him, I think him too, he got messed up in the helm at the talent show. The Autobots are always just waiting to take advantage of us, anytime, whether we try to stay away from them or not, that is what I think."

Phantom just smiles at him kindly. "You have helped me, I would be willing to do almost anything to understand this terrible mystery that I was gotten into," he says, "and of course, I will not tell anyone. I will write down that book I memorized. I think you will like it a lot -- it is legendary and people say that it was written by a war god who is like your kind -- many stories tell how he killed his queen and owned a Hive that was a million strong." He nods and heads for door. "I will give it to you when I finish writing it down -- please tell me if you find out anything from Blast Off." And with that he transforms and heads back towards the barracks.