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Characters: Open Location: Jasper Mountains Content Warnings: N/A Plot Summary: Realizing he hasn’t actually full on skated in forever, Dylan decides to have some “fun” with it on the mountainside.
He figured Ratchet and Pharma could kill him later.
For now, Dylan was just going to enjoy the afternoon, an afternoon where he actually had nothing to do. No homework, no chores, just lots of free time that he was using to finally get some skating in. But the skate park sounded boring at the moment, so he decided to make use of the mountains near his home instead.
He’d done it a few times down the steep paths, and he was getting pretty good at it. But all the same he hasn’t been skating in quite a bit so he made sure he wasn’t about to crash like he had which lead him to meeting Blizzard. No, each trick he did was executed with precision, even though a few hikers had seemed a bit annoyed, he didn’t care. They could handle his recklessness for a little while, and then he’d get going soon anyway.
Checking his watch, it was getting pretty late in the afternoon, which cemented that. He was sure his new family would get a little worried if he didn’t come home from school by around seven. So that gave him an hour longer, at most. But he would definitely enjoy it while he could - the calm before whatever storm came next he figured. Since there was always a storm.
Playback had almost gotten a job in a place like this, not too long ago. He'd spent nearly thirty years on Earth alone, as the lone-wolf minicon. There was a time when he'd wanted to just give up being a Decepticon, and get a job as a rental bike up in the mountains somewhere. It was a pretty good trade for having to put up with Hypnos, daily. But, his loyalty to Megatron superseded his desire to strike out on his own. Hypnos had still been on Earth, and so she was still his responsibility to watch over. Granted, he hadn't looked for her too hard. There was only so much verbal abuse he could take, after all.
Dylan didn't sound like too bad of a kid, from what Playback had read. Hypnos had a knack for digging up all kinds of dirt on her targets, but this Logan kid hadn't read all that bad. Playback might've even felt a bit of sympathy for him, if he were a bit more 100% human. Still, orders had come down from up top to start clamping down on the Autobots' human allies, so that's what the dysfunctional duo had to set themselves to. Playback had never been too keen on the small jobs, but Hypnos absolutely loved them. They were like little petri dishes that she could play with, and subsequently chuck in the trash only to start again.
The sound of an ATV riding around in the mountains wasn't an uncommon sound to hear this far from town, and should've been expected. Playback was the ATV, at the moment. For their target to be so far from Jasper and without an Autobot escort, there was little he could offer them in the shape of resistance. Playback wasn't in charge of the 'fun part', as Hypnos had described it. He was only there for tracking and conversation, which suited him just fine.
A driverless white and blue ATV rolled up over a rocky ledge overlooking Dylan, checking to verify his physical description. Everything checked out, so the minicon introduced himself politely, "Hello! Say, are you Dylan Logan? I just need to make sure, yeah? Lotta humans come up here hiking, and I don't wanna call somebody the wrong name. You just... you look blonde; that's my reasoning." he asked, his tone genuinely curious.
And of course, those weren’t uncommon. He remembered when his friends parents had once taken them up there to ride ATV’s. It was one of the good foster care memories he really had! But at the same time something seemed, off... Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. He stopped his skating for a moment - turning his board around as the ATV seemed to get closer. He was careful to make sure that his mini com was there, just in case someone had to track him.
Maybe he was just being paranoid though.
Then again, he’d never seen an ATV Autobot. But there was the paranoia again - with so many new Autobots showing up... Yet something still felt weird. Had Ratchet or Pharma sent this guy out to check on him? Using his name he could assume such. But again, that nagging feeling was persistent, and he didn’t know how to respond - at least without anything going wrong.
Shifting his helmet, he looked back at it quietly. “Sorry bro, think you got the wrong guy,” he then squinted as if unable to tell that there was no driver in order to keep himself playing cool. “Good luck finding him though. These mountains are pretty dense - could be a lot of places.” He added as he kicked down his board to make another run.
Couldn’t lead this guy back to base if there was something up after all.
Yep, it was him alright. Nobody else but a guy who'd seen Autobots before would be so calm after having a riderless ATV talk to them. Playback still had to play it cool for him, though. Except he really didn't, though he really liked playing dumb. Hypnos had mentioned it was one of his stronger abilities. The minicon watched started on his way, though he didn't intend to lose his target just yet. He fired up his comms, speaking loudly enough for the human to hear without too much trouble.
"No, it's not him. Yeah, he's blonde, so I thought-"
"No-"
"No, I-"
"Yes, a lot of humans can be blonde, but he could have-"
"What?"
"No, just because I get "stranded" on Earth doesn't mean I have to memorize human facial features!"
"..."
"Okay, alright; I apologize."
Playback turned to see Dylan continuing down the path, before he moved to start following him. Though in actuality, he wasn't following him. The ATV sped right on past, with the intent to fully leave the area. He called back before he was gone completely, "Sorry about that! You humans kinda look identical!"
Dylan watched the mech go with raised eyebrows of confusion.
What the heck was that? And why on Earth was he looking for him? Dylan looked thoughtful, knowing at this point something was up. Flicking on his comm, which was connected to his phone. He decided the best way to do this was to send a com into base. :Hey guys, Dylan here. I’m heading home right now but I just ran into... A weird little ATV I’ve never seen who was looking for me,: he shot in the message on base. :I’m headed home now - but I got red flags from it. So uh, be aware I guess? And if anyone can meet me at the entrance that’d be great too.:
He felt nervous - especially after what happened to Chris. He was a high profile target among the Autobot Allies - even he knew that. It meant a lot of Bots would raise hell if he went missing. But it also meant a lot of Cons would definitely want a piece of him. “Just relax, Dylan. It’s only a twenty minute ride,” he murmured under his breath as he began the ride back toward base. “Probably just a weird coincidence, yeah. Weird coincidence.”
Playback had done his job and gotten out of the area as quickly as he'd arrived. He never liked watching what came next, anyway. The little minicon knew he'd be seeing Dylan again by the end of the day, once Hypnos was done with him.
From over the hills and through the trees the sound of footsteps echoed from within the forest. It wasn't just one or two sets, either; there were dozens of them, all converging on Dylan's position. Then, one by one, they began cresting the hills. They were people, ordinary, regular humans. Most of them were obviously uniformed police officers, but a small percentage looked to just be folks going for a hike, like Dylan.
"There! THAT'S HIM!!" one of the officers yelled, his tone frantic and excited. On his confirmation, no less than twenty seven other officers and hikers emerged from the woods, all eyes locked on their quarry. Some of them rode mountain bikes, all of the officers were armed, and some walked; they were a veritable army all rushing towards Dylan.
The scene unfolding in the forest was watched like a hawk by the black, menacing helicopter hovering between the clouds.
Ok - so Dylan had handled the cops before. But a whole barrage of them? What in the world was going on? His first instinct was that something was very wrong and these might not have been cops. But if that were the case, what did he do? If he fought them, there was a chance they were cops. And then he would find himself in a whole lot of trouble - trouble he couldn’t afford with his adoption coming up. And the government looking for every reason to stop it. The there were the ones on bikes, and the random people...
What on Earth?
He kicked up his board, and decided it better to run for it.
There were plenty of good hiding places in the mountains he figured. But just in case... :Guys something really weird is going on. I got a group of random humans coming after me. I don’t know what’s going on! Send help!: he’d never actually sent out an SOS before and he definitely hoped someone was listening to him.
The machine hovering just beneath the clouds suddenly dipped down, changing it's behavior completely. It's rotors carved up both the air and sound throughout the forest as it sped towards Dylan and the crowd of humans. The helicopter pulled sharply upwards once it had descended to an elevated position just above Dylan, disturbing a great many trees as it did so. It began to slowly follow the boy as he maneuvered through the greenery, providing oversight to the rest of the human hunting party.
The side doors of the craft unfolded to reveal a pair of humans standing inside, one with a rifle, the other with a pair of binoculars. One of them shouted something inaudibly over the roaring whirl of the chopper's rotor blades, though whatever it was it couldn't have been anything meant to be reassuring to Dylan, now being chased by a veritable army. As the helicopter followed along, the shooter standing inside of it loosed a shot towards Dylan. The round impacted harmlessly against a tree, and from the trajectory it could've been inferred as a shot meant to incapacitate, instead of one meant to outright kill.
Just as the sniper began their volley, a second group of police officers began to emerge from a clearing up ahead, right in the direction that Dylan had been fleeing towards.
Of course the shot didn’t hit him - it hit a tree nearby. But between the helicopter and the others he knew he was in deep trouble. He had to think quick - and thankfully that was what Dylan was best at. Taking his phone, he quickly found one of the manny foliage around him, and chucked it inside, in a way that wouldn’t be immediately recognizable as he made it look like he’d tripped as he did so.
He then stumbled away past it - keeping the attention off of the bush - and his phone. Once he’d found himself a fair distance away, Dylan dropped to his knees and threw his hands up in a sign of surrender. Of course, he knew he’d been cornered and incapacitated or not - it could end in damage to himself. No doubt Pharma or Ratchet would say the same had they been there - especially since he was now convinced the humans were not alone.
“Alright, you got my attention,” he snapped - trying to level his breathing. “You can throw human minions at me all you want but I’m not an idiot. But you must be. And I never thought I’d use this phrase, cliche as it is,” he then added rather bluntly. “You do know who I am, right?”
One of the police officers was quick to handcuff Dylan the moment the boy surrendered himself. Once he was subdued, the man forced Dylan up to his feet, keeping a rather firm grip on him in the meantime. Now that their target had been secured they all stood around motionlessly, silent, and disconnected from reality. Their primary directive had been fulfilled, so all they could allow themselves to do was prevent anything from reversing it, until their hypnosis wore off.
The helicopter that had been hounding Dylan settled down in the center of the clearing, allowing the two humans stationed aboard a chance to disembark and join the crowd below. The side doors folded back up once the chopper was empty of biological life once again, leaving it sitting quietly in the field. What should've been a regular helicopter began to transform in place, unsurprisingly. Once it was over, the Decepticon towered over the assembled members of humanity, it's posture vaguely hawk-like and predatory; a set of folded rotors sat upon it's back in place of wings, and in place of a head and beak sat a single blue eye.
Hypnos wasn't the first to speak, however. The voice she produced was one all too familiar for her newly captured friend.
"Dylan Logan, middle name Elijah. I thought it sounded nice. Your mother passed away before you could get to know her, which left you with your... father, for the next five years. You have an arrest record, commendable for anybody your age. You detest any authority that doesn't treat you with respect, which in your case, is most of the time."
It was Ratchet, his voice and clinical tone emulated perfectly.
"You decided to vandalize, well, me in a fit of hormone-fueled defiance. You like to see the Autobots and their allies as a surrogate family, a family that could succeed where humanity had failed you."
If she had a mouth, Hypnos would've been sneering. She switched back to her 'normal', more unnerving voice.
"That about covers it at any rate. The more important parts, at least."
Dylan groaned a bit. God he hated handcuffs, always had really. But he was not about to show fear, needless to say he was the last person to let anyone know he was afraid. Instead he let the officer roughly pull him to his feet while he carefully noted his exits, if he needed it. He cracked his neck and let the Decepticon transform. “Oh surprise, surprise a Decepticon. You know most would say you need to work on the subtlety,” he snarked a bit. “Or should aim your goals a little lower. Since I’d say you have less than twenty minutes before at least three Autobots show up to kick your aft.”
He then added, with the bit of Cybertronian he knew. ”Deceptiscum.”
Dylan listened to her - dang she knew a lot. Not that he cared, all she knew was common information. And if she thought she could break him with Ratchets voice she was sorely mistaken. “Well you definitely did your homework. But it’s not “surrogate” anymore. Pretty soon it will be legal,” he said casually. “Now are you done boring me with my life history? Chris told me Decepticons were supposed to be scarier in person. I don’t see it, honestly. Maybe Megatron, but even you grunts are scared of him.”
Yeah, that was a lie, he was practically pissing himself right now. But maybe she’d keep trying, in which case he could keep her talking.
Hypnos regarded Dylan with something of a mixture between a bored and dismissive gaze. None of this was new to her whatsoever, and honestly it felt a bit dull at this point. The only high marks of this part of the job were 'covertly' subverting expectations and viewpoints, as she planned to do in just a few moments. The Decepticon clasped her claws together, stretching out her recently folded out form, groaning a bit.
"Ohhh... the beautifully sweet sounds of bravado. It had to surface now of all times, just to compensate for all that submissiveness in the face of adversity just a few short years ago."
Dylan's last comment struck a chord within Hypnos, down to every last fractal in her spark. He couldn't have possibly known how wrong he was, so she decided it would be in his best interest if she educated him on the subject. But first, she laughed, "Mmmhm..haha... my dear, sweet innocent friend." Her tone changed from a soft edge to something much more motherly, oddly enough; Hypnos pulled off the elder caretaker vibe quite well.
"I don't fear Megatron, Dylan," she started, before she stopped to snap her claws together once. On command, each of the police officers held their guns to their temples, and pulled the hammer back in preparation. "Megatron fears me..." She took a moment to appreciate the veritable collection of frozen statures standing around in the clearing, stepping around them and over them.
"They are fully conscious of what they're doing... they can feel emotions, regret, anger... terror. Unfortunately, their bodies just won't do what their minds tell them to."
"They do what I tell them to. My name is Hypnos; want to guess what I can do?"
Dylan’s eyes bulged at the sight of the cops cocking their guns.
Sure he didn’t like cops - his dad had been one and ever since he’d been nervous around them. But at the same time, he didn’t want to see any of them dead. He must have struck a chord and normally that would be a good thing, but at the same time he knew that a Decepticon was usually serious. But then again... This would cause a big scene. Something that he had a feeling wouldn’t fly too well - and as a result, he continued to believe this was a bluff.
Standing his ground, he looked Hypnos square in the... Well, eye. Optic. Whatever. “Mind control, even I could have figured that out. But you won’t do it. That’d cause too big a scene. Sure they’d pass it off as a suicide. But all these people in one place? Yeah, good luck explaining that,” Dylan then added. “Besides, if they kill themselves I could just run while you’re distracted with that. So I’m other words I call your bluff, Hypnos.”
“Now I’m going to ask this one last time nicely, ugly,” he said as bluntly as he wanted. “What do you want? Or are you just going to spend all day putting up empty threats? Honestly after you guys scarred Chris. I expected way better..”
Just keep standing your ground Dylan, it had to have been what? Five minutes now since he comed base? Someone was coming he told himself - he just had to keep himself calm and her here. The longer they were here the faster they could track his phone to where they were. “Honestly though, I’ll get comfortable. I can see you’re not done with your big villain speech.” He added.
Hypnos was impressed, to say the least. It took some big bearings to throw over thirty lives away so recklessly like that. He would've made an excellent Decepticon, if he weren't so fleshy and insignificant. In any other situation she would've given the order to fire, but she stayed her hand. For the moment. Her one eye narrowed in what could only have been interpreted as the most devilish of smiles.
Admittedly there wasn't much she could gain from Dylan that she couldn't dig up over a thorough and precise data sweep. Still, his bravado had to be rewarded of course. Three hidden plates on her head opened up, and flooded the forest with the sound of an enthralling audio tone. The voice that followed sounded slow, and sluggish; but over all, it was dominating.
"Tell me the names of the Autobots' other human allies."