[Fic] Inversion.
He sat in silence on the pad that Starscream had created. Why he'd agreed to this, he now wasn't sure. Perhaps it was because he was used to being experimented on and, in a way, this contraption reminded him of the SSC with its metal struts and trusses. At first, it'd been an interesting allusion to home. But now that the Decepticon was looking over readouts and adjusting feedback, Kitt had to question, "Cometfall, are you certain no harm will be done to me?"
"Oh, of course!" answered the flier, not looking up from the monitors. "The chances of a distortion wave forming during this scan is practically-- Not quite practically impossible; there is a chance-"
"A twenty-two-point-six-four percent chance," Kitt interrupted.
That got the scientist's attention. "When did you calculate that?"
"I do posess visual sensors, and your screens are easily visible."
"...Yes, well, the point is that that leaves a seventy-seven percent chance that nothing will go wrong, and we need to find out precisely what's happened with these abductions. And as Kang is still angry over his, ah, shall I say 'alterations', and I don't believe Sam could sit still long enough for a full scan, that... does leave you." Starscream at least had the decency to look apologetic as he spoke.
"I see," said Kitt, using his customary phrase for what he understood, even if he didn't quite agree with it.
Starscream flashed him a smile. "Plus, it should only take a few minutes for us to find out just what kind of field disturbances your unique multiversal signature has registered with all of these changes. That should tell us what world of origin the abductor comes from, and around here, that might narrow down the field quite well." He turned away again, giving Kitt a view of his back. Kitt had long gotten used to the size of the other inhabitants of Cybertron, though the differences in their construction was still a curiousity. He watched as a few more adjustments were made, letting his sensors soak in some of Starscream's more intricate inner workings - how different they were from his own technology.
"All right," he heard. "Ready?"
"Yes."
"Scan starting... now."
As Kitt had been expecting, the platform was surrounded by an odd blue glow that extended from the pad below him to the sensory apparatus above. But just before the glow extended past his sensors, he saw Starscream's expression go from scientific curiousity to growing horror. "Wh--what-- What did I-- No, that isn't supposed--"
The blue glow was changing to a mottled yellow and white shot through with threads of violet like lightning. An electronic buzz filled the air. The energy readings his sensors gave him weren't what they'd expected. He'd seen the screens, he'd seen the trial run - nothing had happened then. Nothing like this. And then his sensors, his nanoskin, all of the feedback shot through his systems like an arc from a Tesla coil.
Starscream heard the scream during his frenzied efforts to cut off the power to the system, but even coming close to the displays sent electrical jolts through his hands and into the more delicate wiring inside. Even as he fought, he looked over at the field emitter and barely glimpsed Kitt's form through the lightshow. The black Mustang seemed to be stretching and warping, panels pulling away with strands of nanites straining to keep the body in one piece.
"POWER DOWN, you glitch!" he screamed at the panel as he pounded on the keys. "Stop the scan!"
The electrical field had grown too strong, electromagnetism holding the current configuration no matter which wires he pulled and which connections he tried to disrupt. On the flickering monitors, the readings fragmented and grew, showing the distortion wave he'd been afraid of building in pulses that stretched further and further with each energy spike. The scream had quieted, but he couldn't see anything through the sparks. A cold ball of fear surrounded his ember.
He'd killed Kitt.
He'd killed him, in what was supposed to be an innocent scan. Something that was supposed to help, not hurt!
The realisation froze him in place, one hand holding the bundle of wires he'd pulled from the console, his optics frozen on the electrical fireworks that came closer and closer as the wave neared. He'd killed an innocent. Was he no better than Prime? The sight of Kitt's nanites pulled to the breaking point repeated in his memory before the wave hit him in a shower of sparks. And then the scream was his own.
---
There were questions, rushed queries, but he couldn't make out the words past the strange... feeling... that spread through him. The last time he'd hurt this way, he'd lost part of his shell, and all of the sensor input contradiction was overpowering his circuitry. This time, he couldn't find a specific cause. Had his entire nanoskin been scoured away by the sparks?
Then he realised he couldn't see. His audio sensors were online, but his visual sensors gave him... nothing.
A panic rose in him and he fought it back, fought to move -- but something gripped him, kept him from even trying. Something was... strangling him from the inside...! Somehow, he felt relief as his systems faded into darkness once again.
"They're alive, but only just. We have to get both of them out of this smoke!" announced Hoist to the other TransTechs who had come at the sight of the column of black smoke that had risen from the laboratory. "Get them to Saint Fallen in Zone Five - now! They have a department specialising in organics."
"Yessir," answered one of the crewmen. The smoke was beginning to clear but not by much - not enough that Hoist felt like he could remove his own mask.
"What the hell those two thought they were doing with this scan array, I'll never know," he muttered as he backtracked from the scene - it was sheer luck that the two of them hadn't been set on fire.
"Oh, of course!" answered the flier, not looking up from the monitors. "The chances of a distortion wave forming during this scan is practically-- Not quite practically impossible; there is a chance-"
"A twenty-two-point-six-four percent chance," Kitt interrupted.
That got the scientist's attention. "When did you calculate that?"
"I do posess visual sensors, and your screens are easily visible."
"...Yes, well, the point is that that leaves a seventy-seven percent chance that nothing will go wrong, and we need to find out precisely what's happened with these abductions. And as Kang is still angry over his, ah, shall I say 'alterations', and I don't believe Sam could sit still long enough for a full scan, that... does leave you." Starscream at least had the decency to look apologetic as he spoke.
"I see," said Kitt, using his customary phrase for what he understood, even if he didn't quite agree with it.
Starscream flashed him a smile. "Plus, it should only take a few minutes for us to find out just what kind of field disturbances your unique multiversal signature has registered with all of these changes. That should tell us what world of origin the abductor comes from, and around here, that might narrow down the field quite well." He turned away again, giving Kitt a view of his back. Kitt had long gotten used to the size of the other inhabitants of Cybertron, though the differences in their construction was still a curiousity. He watched as a few more adjustments were made, letting his sensors soak in some of Starscream's more intricate inner workings - how different they were from his own technology.
"All right," he heard. "Ready?"
"Yes."
"Scan starting... now."
As Kitt had been expecting, the platform was surrounded by an odd blue glow that extended from the pad below him to the sensory apparatus above. But just before the glow extended past his sensors, he saw Starscream's expression go from scientific curiousity to growing horror. "Wh--what-- What did I-- No, that isn't supposed--"
The blue glow was changing to a mottled yellow and white shot through with threads of violet like lightning. An electronic buzz filled the air. The energy readings his sensors gave him weren't what they'd expected. He'd seen the screens, he'd seen the trial run - nothing had happened then. Nothing like this. And then his sensors, his nanoskin, all of the feedback shot through his systems like an arc from a Tesla coil.
Starscream heard the scream during his frenzied efforts to cut off the power to the system, but even coming close to the displays sent electrical jolts through his hands and into the more delicate wiring inside. Even as he fought, he looked over at the field emitter and barely glimpsed Kitt's form through the lightshow. The black Mustang seemed to be stretching and warping, panels pulling away with strands of nanites straining to keep the body in one piece.
"POWER DOWN, you glitch!" he screamed at the panel as he pounded on the keys. "Stop the scan!"
The electrical field had grown too strong, electromagnetism holding the current configuration no matter which wires he pulled and which connections he tried to disrupt. On the flickering monitors, the readings fragmented and grew, showing the distortion wave he'd been afraid of building in pulses that stretched further and further with each energy spike. The scream had quieted, but he couldn't see anything through the sparks. A cold ball of fear surrounded his ember.
He'd killed Kitt.
He'd killed him, in what was supposed to be an innocent scan. Something that was supposed to help, not hurt!
The realisation froze him in place, one hand holding the bundle of wires he'd pulled from the console, his optics frozen on the electrical fireworks that came closer and closer as the wave neared. He'd killed an innocent. Was he no better than Prime? The sight of Kitt's nanites pulled to the breaking point repeated in his memory before the wave hit him in a shower of sparks. And then the scream was his own.
---
There were questions, rushed queries, but he couldn't make out the words past the strange... feeling... that spread through him. The last time he'd hurt this way, he'd lost part of his shell, and all of the sensor input contradiction was overpowering his circuitry. This time, he couldn't find a specific cause. Had his entire nanoskin been scoured away by the sparks?
Then he realised he couldn't see. His audio sensors were online, but his visual sensors gave him... nothing.
A panic rose in him and he fought it back, fought to move -- but something gripped him, kept him from even trying. Something was... strangling him from the inside...! Somehow, he felt relief as his systems faded into darkness once again.
"They're alive, but only just. We have to get both of them out of this smoke!" announced Hoist to the other TransTechs who had come at the sight of the column of black smoke that had risen from the laboratory. "Get them to Saint Fallen in Zone Five - now! They have a department specialising in organics."
"Yessir," answered one of the crewmen. The smoke was beginning to clear but not by much - not enough that Hoist felt like he could remove his own mask.
"What the hell those two thought they were doing with this scan array, I'll never know," he muttered as he backtracked from the scene - it was sheer luck that the two of them hadn't been set on fire.