Imager
- Location: Eurythma
- Date: 9/4/15
- Summary: The Last Note threatens the world of Eurythma, destroying the planet from within.
Eurythma is in disarray. The planet itself quakes, buildings threatening to give way, despite their esoteric designs, despite their majesty. Cadenice and Bassoun, the two betrothed lovers who had ventured to Earth in search of a hero, had found the Autobots, and found their 'maestro', Imager.
Tremors ripple throughout the planet as the Autobots follow the secret tunnels to the planet's core. Lights flicker and fail, entrance hatches stubbornly refuse to open, and the star performer is still of no mood to play anything.
On the comms from the nearby Autobot Shuttle, Perceptor performs a bit of exposition for the crew. <<Cuffs' diligence, I believe, has paid dividends. This Vovocent was at best something of a hack in the research and design field, but even a wild gurtherian can ascertain the relevant temperature and status within a few approximal units.>> He seems rather pleased with his put down, as the Autobots tromp forwards, debris and dust a constant sight as the ceiling threatens to rain down upon them.
Perceptor continues, <<Assuming it solidifies enough to be more than this...anti-sound phenomena, I am confident that the adjustments made to your munitions will be enough to expel it soundly.>> Again Perceptor shares a bemused look.
At this moment, the Autobot party reaches the large, heroic scale doors that lead to the planet's core. A rather large rock crumbles from the tunnel, smashing part of the exit behind the group. Cadenice and Bassoun are in accompaniment, though the two frail Eurythmen are hardly combatants. Cadenice urgently intones, "The world is ending, it is end-iiiinnngg. The crescendo, it will complete our endless song."
"One thing I can say for sure is that Vovocent met a very unfortunate end," Arcee mentions as she carefully makes her way toward the ominous-looking tunnel. "And we'd better get this right the first time around, because I don't think there's going to be a do-over. We ready??"
Imager uneasily looks around at the situation, the boisterous Femme has been at a loss for words for the most part. Her hands are clasped together as a nightmare unfolds around her. "Its uh....its not looking good." She eyes the enormous door before the small party, "I don't think this is going to work..." In response to Arcee, she manages a half-snort, "No. Nope. not like...at all."
As if in response, a tremendous shudder ripples through the planet's core.
Blaster looks around him at everything as the world wobbles and bucks. As he makes his way down the tunnel, Blaster stares with mouth agape, sometimes folding down his visor to examine the soundscape digitally, and sometimes leaving it up to just take everything in raw at once. "Hey, gal, be cool," he says to Imager. "It'll be OK. We'll work it out - we always do. You're the lead singer in this, but we're your backup, and together we'll carry the tune, dig?" He smiles reassuringly at her, although his dopey look of rapture at being within Eurythma isn't very comforting.
Slingshot follows along behind the group, keeping an eye on their six. He's a little unnerved by the rattling, but at least for now he doesn't think the disturbances will result in Decepticons popping out to take pot shots at him. "Just don't play anything really loud, Blaster, we don't want anything falling on our heads," he says, peering at the ceiling with some trepidation.
For once, Blaster isn't playing ANY random music, and just taking in what's around him, and preparing for what's ahead. He has his electro-scrambler rifle in hand, and foot-rockets armed and ready should they be needed. "Any idea what the gravity's gonna be like in there, lil dudes?" he asks the Eurythmans. "We're awful close the core now, aren't we?" He looks at the massive door, flipping his visor down again to give it a complete analysis.
Cadenice raises her arms, "The Core is home to our most perfect harmonies, an enormous spacious concert hall of the highest honor, but we must hurry! Hurry to save our beloved home."
Cadenice's shrill speech over with, Imager draws her shotgun, then slams on the button to open the doors to the core. In a swift, almost instantaneous motion, the door rises up. That's when it begins. A shuddering, vibrating....sense. Within the middle of the core itself is a black shape, twisted and evil, almost, more of a cloud than a creature, it writhes and dances as it spells the demise of a planet. For one such as Blaster, this strange sense is the worst sort of disconcerting....
- For there is something different here, something the opposite of sound. It is not silence, Silence is the ABSENCE of sound. THIS is anti-sound. Something so horrid and wilted that it staggers the unwary.
Slingshot isn't rattled, but does hear something. "Are you sure you didn't leave your subamp woofer running?" he asks Blaster, raising an optic brow. "Cuz it's either that, or planet-quake time."
Bassoun, having finally recovered from his wounds, stays with his betrothed in the back. The Eurythman says in simple awe and horror. "The Last Note. The end of the song....We are too late."
The Last Note writhes and shifts, as if it knew. It KNEW that there was something nearby. The unintelligible garble it spouts, hurts the audio receptor, punishes the eardrum. The vibrations increase as cracks start to form in the planet itself. One of the massive copper colored plates starts to break way, sending debris down everywhere as rock shudders and splinters, being pulverized by something from beyond.
Arcee has seen a lot of things. Has dealt with many different kinds of threats before. But this...she isn't quite sure what this /is/. The sensations she's getting from this thing are reminiscent of dark energon, but she isn't sure if it's the same thing. One thing she /is/ sure of is that she's going to test her weapons on this beast until she finds one that works.
The beast's kick (along with the tremors) catch her off-balance, but she quickly gets back up again, laser-pistol in hand.
>> Arcee strikes The Last Note with Pistol <Medium>. <<
Imager eyes the beastie warily. She hoofs it along away from the rest of the Bots, firing her shotgun at it, the plasma seeming to just go right through it without effect. A rather large piece of the planet cracks, shrugging downward, threatening to come loose fully. Even as the anti-sound buffets her, she fires her weapon repeatedly, "Aahhhhh! How many times do I have to kill you?"
Blaster's optics widen behind his visor, and his mouth gapes open even more. Oh, if Soundwave could see him at this moment, how he would laugh. "That's just…. Wrong," is all Blaster can gasp, and then The Voice of Cybertron is at a loss for words. In response to Slingshot's quip, he slowly turns to looks at the Aerialbot dumbly and non-comprehendingly. It's time to act, but for a long moment, Blaster just stands there, completely discombobulated.
However, the trembling of the cavern at last seems to literally shake Blaster out of it, and he braces himself, holding out his hand to steady himself before he falls. As if in a fog, Blaster turns back to the black mass, and activates his visor, trying to analyze the anti-sound and ascertain the best assault against its alien weirdness. Whatever this unnatural evil is, it must be stopped, no matter the cost.
Slingshot yelps as the great shadowy white noise beast tries to lash out at him. He evades smoothly, then takes out his pistol to fire at it to drive it back. "So lemme get this straight. Do we terminate it? CAN we terminate it?"
>> Slingshot strikes The Last Note with Neutron Beam <Medium>. <<
The Last Note seems all but inscrutable. Without form, without measure, without pattern, and without sound, the Last Note continues its wordless rampage, as the core of the planet, hollowed out for such serene acoustics, cries out in its deathrattle. Off in the distance, a mile long piece of planet just breaks free, crashing into the platform, snapping the supports off as if it were open air. The humming and vibrating of the malevolent creation, that which was between the notes, grows closer to its fruition, to the destruction of the planet itself.
"...This is not going particularly well," Arcee exclaims, watching as even the ever-evasive Aerialbot manages to get caught up in this hellish dervish. She finds some temporary purchase against a boulder, as she ups the charge on her gun. "Imager...the time for the performance of your life is just about here. I would say that the curtain is up and it's time to start this show!" She shoots into the horrible-nothing, not really sure if it's having ANY sort of effect. It just calms the sinking feeling in her spark.
>> Arcee misses The Last Note with Heavy Laser <Medium>. <<
Imager lowers her weapon. Defeat already on her processor. It was over before it began. "dammit...dammit all." She mutters. The shotgun drops to her feet, her hands move to her head as she takes a knee. "The world's dying...get a grip. Get a grip and play. Play already. Just play. You know what to do you dummy." As rocks fall, and literally everyone here could die soon, Imager just bemoans her fate. "So obsessed. Such a sulker that I couldn't even play them a dirge...don't the dead deserve their last song?" She looks up at the alien creation in sad contemplation.
Blaster stands there scanning, until hit with a chunk of broken-away planet so large he's nearly crushed and killed in one fell swoop. "Hey, man," he says to the mass. "That just ain't cool." Deciding he needs to act now, before it's too late, he decides to fight anti-sound with sound, and painfully transforms into a massive boombox and cranks up the Queen, trying to use the acoustic nature of the hollow in his favor as he blasts almost pure sound at the evil, unnatural form. "Hey, Imager! It's your cue! Fire it up! Fire it up! It's time to rock!"
>> Blaster strikes The Last Note with Sonic Blast <Medium>. <<
"One last song. One last dirge."
- Imager draws herself back up to her feet, her faceplate still in anguish as the abomination's vibrations smash into the party, the two Eurythmen hiding behind Blaster for purchase, or else be blown away by the immense power of the attack.
"Fine. The last song of a Maestro."
Tears of wiperfluid cross her face as she draws her shield forward, slamming it into the ground.
And then, the shield starts to transform as well. It folds in upon itself to about two thirds of its size, into the shape of a musical instrument. A vioello. Perhaps none of the other Autobots note the guilty look on her face as she raises the bow to the instrument, tucked under her chin....
And then she stomps her foot, sending her own tremor out....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASGmADPzXuY&noredirect=1
Slingshot acks as he's struck by the rampaging, trampling beast. It doesn't hurt that much, but he doesn't like getting pummeled by shadowy eldrich abominations. Said Eldrich Abominations need to be put down! "I think we need a fat lady singing to kill this thing," he opines, as he blasts at it again.
>> Slingshot strikes The Last Note with Neutron Blast <Medium>.
Contorted by rage, by fury, the Last Note blares its anti-sound. Blaster's careful analysis is rewarded as Imager finally begins to play, her music countering the creature's wrath. The data comes in...he had to play what WASN'T being played. The strange combat was joined now, as the Autobots, geared up to fully take this thing out had their Maestro...and what was a maestro without their sound crew?
- >> The Last Note misses Arcee with Smash. <<
- >> The Last Note misses Slingshot with Smash. <<
- >> The Last Note strikes Imager with Smash. <<
- >> The Last Note strikes Blaster with Smash. <<
Blaster is overcome by injuries, losing consciousness.
There comes a point when things begin to get fairly intense, and Arcee is a little worried that Imager isn't going to step up to the plate after all. But then...the Maestro inside of her returns, and this is enough to give her own spirits a rally.
"That's it, keep doing that!" she exclaims, and she continues fighting this...anti-thing...with everything in her arsenal. She's no musician, but she can bring the house down if needed.
>> Arcee strikes The Last Note with Electro-Disruptor <Medium>. <<
Imager closes her eyes, not even looking at the Last Note as it materializes fully, the malevolent shape that of some gargantuan fanged creature. As it lashes out, an invisible force, the sound itself is repelled by Imager's playing. She hits a high note, which causes the creature to actually reel backwards as the Autobots lay into it with their weaponsfire, the lasers having been adjusted to the proper frequencies by Cuffs' investigation. Her holograms come to life as she plays, shadowy figures of her past, no doubt her team as Arcee can recognize the flickering outline of Cometchaser silently watching.
>> Imager strikes The Last Note with Plasma <Medium>. <<
As Imager forms blazing Zor - er, vioello at last, Blaster locks onto what she's playing and shifts his tunes to accompany and enhance what she's playing, trying to amplify her effect without overpowering or disrupting what she's playing. With the skill of a true improvisational DJ, Blaster fills in the sounds that aren't played, backing Imager up with a full-fledged wall of sound - until the anti-beat beast lashes out with antisound, and Blaster, more than anyone else, is affected. As the monster robs him of his melody and his voice, the shock is too much for Blaster. His tape spools shudder to a halt, and briefly at least, the music dies.
The fact that Blaster falters is horrible in its own right, but he was the only thing providing Cadenice and Bassoun cover. The two Eurythmen look at each other wordlessly, then take each others hands. In unison, they begin to sing. The song of creation, of healing. While of no effect in their world while the Last Note plays, Blaster was born on a much different world.
The beast again lashes out, but misses Slingshot entirely this time. He watches as Blaster gets taken down. "I guess we gotta step up our game if we don't want to wind up like Blaster," he says to Arcee and Imager, and raises his Neutron rifle for an attempted finishing blast, at maximum power. "Stop that, you're making me feel like I'm going deaf!" he yells at the beast's antisound assault before shooting.
>>
Slingshot strikes The Last Note with Neutron Rifle <High>. <<
Arcee nods, frowning in determination as she braces herself against a wall, and begins blasting the Last Note with both pistols on the highest setting, rambo-style.
As harmony once again washes over Blaster, he finds himself healed by the mystical singing of Cadenice and Bassoun. He not only feels better - he feels high, pumped, and ready to take on the world - and the killer of worlds. His tape spools start working again, and he records a snippet of the Eurythmans' sound to analyze later, before bringing up his own sound. "Aw, that's it, y'all. It's time to knock this one off the charts!" Mixing the sound of Imager's vioello with a discordant backmask of the Eurythmans' healsong, pumped to 11 with some Motley Crue thrown in just for good measure, Blaster cranks up his unholy abomination of sound and blasts it at top volume at the evil destroyer, assaulting it with sound as the other Autobots decimate its corporeal body.
The beast roars in its strange earsplitting way, the entire party hears things that audio receptors were not meant to pick up. The creature writhes and twists as it breaks Euclidean geometry. Under the combined fire of the Autobots, and especially Slingshot's powerful Neutron Rifle, it starts to vibrate as it draws in against itself, condensing into a sphere...
And then with but a gentle 'pop' it dissipates...
Arcee keeps firing until...suddenly...
"...Wow. I think we did it." She nearly collapses with relief. For anti-noise, that thing sure made some extremely unpleasant sounds.
Only after the beast is gone like last year's pop music does Blaster bring his beat to an end, lowering volume and switching to Queen's "We Are the Champions" in celebration.
Imager finishes her tune just about at the same time everyone else just ganked the sucker. She keeps her gaze on the Last Note's position for several moments, you never know when those boss fights could get a second round. Her vioello transforms back into its shield mode, which she absently slings onto her back. The planet was hurting, but Eurythma was a planet of healing. It would be repaired shortly. She eyes the projections she had placed out during the fight, a solemn look on her face.
"I don't think I could ever play another note..."
Cadenice clasps her hands in celebration, "You did iiiiiit! Eurythma is saved! We're saved! It has been doooooone! The Last Note has failed, and the song goes on. We cannot thank you all enough!"
Bassoun turns to his love in agreement, "I suppose"...he says in his alto tone, "the question is what comes next?"
"Blaster, Slingshot...you guys okay? Thought I saw you fall a few times but...in that chaos, I couldn't tell for sure," Arcee admits, shaking her head as she checks on both of them. "Do you realize what we've done?" She looks over toward Imager. "Do you realize what /you've/ done? You could have made a different choice, and...and we wouldn't have succeeded. Your music was the key, the Eurythmen were absolutely right. I know you said you'd never do it again, but...I'm proud of you that you found it in yourself to carry through."
Slingshot phews when the beast finally falls, vanquished. "Glad that's over with," he says, "Now, does this mean we averted the Apocalypse or something?"
Blaster painfully transforms, and hobbles over to back Arcee up, smiling through the trauma at everything Imager accomplished.
The scene fades to black....
☀https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrF814OnFQ4
- It is a few days later, up upon Eurythma's surface. Already repairs are finishing up most everywhere, and today is a joyous day for a certain two Eurythmen...for today is the day they join their songs together as one in marriage. Among the crowds of aliens, the Autobots have a special place of honor and praise, and one Maestro plays a very special song, and maybe, just maybe a hint of a smile crosses her faceplate.
- She'd never tell.
- Later, at the wedding, Blaster is all smiles - no mere hint of a grin here. Having been healed by the music, Blaster lets other people play DJ for a change, and just listens and records, adding the sounds of Eurythma to his beats archive for mixing and sharing later with Jazz. For him, this place is heaven, and only its near destruction allowed him a chance to truly appreciate it.
And that...was how Imager got her groove back.