Atomizer

Former interior designer turned weapons engineer and assassin.(IDW Atomizer Roleplay Account)

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

It was a good, solid plan. Brainstorm knew Atomizer’s aim was impeccable, and closing in on the wayward specimen would be their best chance at containing it.

Unfortunately for the two of them, sometimes even good, solid plans can go awry.

Atomizer took a shot when he was satisfied that the creature had been cornered, but neither of them had expected the nameless being to suddenly launch itself directly at Brainstorm’s midsection. The arrow just barely missed its target, and the jet instinctively recoiled in sheer surprise instead of attempting to catch it.

When he looked down at the area where he’d felt the creature land, Brainstorm was stunned to find that it was no longer there.

"W-what happened? Where’d it go?" he said, turning around and then inspecting every inch of himself that he could see. "I thought for sure it hit me, but…"

[formerdesigner]

Atomizer concluded that wherever this creature came from, it must have been a world without physics, which meant that it could be virtually anywhere right now, perhaps not even within the same plane of existence anymore. Or perhaps it's everywhere. Or nowhere. Or--

Oh wait, there it is.

"Brainstorm, it's on your aft," he said. "Hold still, I'll get it..."

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

Brainstorm continued to try and keep track of the rogue specimen, though it became harder and harder to aim his pistol at it. “Slag! If this thing would just hold still…!”

"We’re going to have to herd it somewhere. Keep your optics on it, I’ll clear this corner over here." Backing away and then quickly turning around when Atomizer seemed to have a handle on things, the engineer pushed cabinets and equipment away from the nearest corner of the room. After making a clearing, he turned back to Atomizer and the scurrying creature.

"Okay. When it comes over this way, try closing in on the direction of the corner while I do the same from the other side. It should back into that clearing and then you can take your shot."

Brainstorm got into a readied stance, waiting for the creature to draw near.

[formerdesigner]

Atomizer wondered if these things ever slept because then they could just wait until it got tired, but at this rate, it seemed far more likely that it would outlast them and then they'd be unconscious in stasis mode, vulnerable to whatever unfathomable whims this creature possessed.

"Alright, that sounds like a plan!" he said and redrew his weapon, holding it at the ready.

The creature moved very quickly so he would have to time his shot a bit early, but not too early as to frighten it back out of the clearing. He draws an imaginary target on the floor in the corner and directs his aim onto it, waiting until the starfish is within half a meter radius away before firing another shot.

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

"Yeah, that looks like it’ll do until we get a proper container. I’ll just—"

Something in Brainstorm’s peripheral vision moved, and he looked over to make sure he hadn’t been seeing things. “Atomizer, over there!”

Sure enough, the small yellow creature appeared from the shadows in between a filing cabinet and began racing around the room.

"What the hell is it even doing?!” Brainstorm shouted, pointing his pistol at it and attempting to keep a good aim on it just in case the creature became dangerous.

[formerdesigner]

"What, whe-- Aha!" He turned and spotted it instantly. "It's really freaking out. Maybe it's scared? Could have been the tear. Primitive lifeforms can sometimes have an unpredictable reaction to a change of environment."

He knew this to be fact from his experiences keeping (or rather attempting to keep) pets... And also from one that time he'd tried to take the booze drone with him to a beach party on Hedonia and it started shooting arrows at everyone. He'd forgotten that he modified it to do that himself and thought it was having a panic attack.

Weird net guns weren't exactly his cup of tea but, if anything, this thing was much easier to use than a bow. Taking careful aim, he fired a shot at the berserk clopsfish.

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

The door opened with a whoosh, and Brainstorm and Atomizer walked into the room cautiously, as prepared as possible for whatever awaited them. The jet quickly turned on the lights and…

…Nothing.

"Well, that was anticlimactic." Brainstorm quipped, “I’m kind of disappointed."

Room 113 looked the same as it always did, save for a broken container in the far corner by the shelves. The scientist nudged Atomizer lightly. “No Cybertronians here, but it’s possible that that little creature’s hiding somewhere. You search the right side of the room, I’ll search the left. Okay?"

Closing the door behind them, Brainstorm set to work looking through all the cracks and crevices he could find. “We need something to put it in when we find it too. Are there any containers or anything over there?"

[formerdesigner]

"Same." Atomizer had been looking forward to heroically saving Brainstorm from a moving target but his current arsenal would be overkill for a tiny clopsfish. He stowed his bow at his back and crept over to the right, looking for de-energized weapons or any other signs of the small creature.

"There are some metal crates over here... a glass jar holding what looks like a radioactive spark or something. It's kinda cool but... possibly not a good idea to pop it open. Oh hey, how about this incredibly silly-looking thing?"

"It doesn't look very dangerous. Wonder why it's back here..."

He held up what looked to be some sort of net gun.

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

"Could be. But it doesn’t explain why most of the lights are off."

The taller mech watched in fascination as Atomizer unveiled his surprisingly detailed and complex lockpicking device. “Ooo, nice! I don’t think I’ve seen that particular arrow from you before. Very clever. Will you let me give it a look later?"

Just then, a quiet shuffling noise was heard from the other side of the door, followed by what sounded like glass breaking.

"That’s gotta be either our specimen, or some poor fragger that got locked in." Brainstorm reached into his subspace, arming himself with a small laser pistol, “Or maybe whoever’s behind everyone’s disappearance."

[formerdesigner]

"Sure thing," he replied, always happy to receive praise from the esteemed engineer.

"Whoever it is, he can't be too clever if he got himself locked inside." Nonetheless, Atomizer made sure his bow and quiver were within easy reach before proceeding with the lock pick.

The first few combinations he scanned failed, indicating that either the locks had been changed too recently or that someone else had attempted to break into the room.

With the next combination, he heard the door click and promptly withdrew his arrow, readying his bow instead.

Directing a quick nod at Brainstorm, he opened the door.

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

Brainstorm didn’t really notice how inappropriate his hold on Atomizer was, nor how his friend reacted, since he too was too distracted by other things.

"There’s only one way to find out. Come on, we’ve got to find that thing before it does any serious damage!"

Grabbing Atomizer’s arm, Brainstorm half dragged the archer with him out the door and into the halls. As he scrambled to get to Room 113, the scientist couldn’t help but feel ill at ease at how deserted it was.

"Where is everyone? This is usually the busiest hall in the whole station!" There were no alarms going off; nothing to indicate that Kimia had been evacuated or overtaken by anything. “And there are hardly any lights on… What the hell is going on here?!"

Shortly, the pair reached their destination and Brainstorm finally let go of Atomizer. “Looks like it’s locked. You wouldn’t happen to remember the combination, would you?"

[formerdesigner]

Atomizer didn't mind being dragged around by Brainstorm and let the taller scientist lead the way.

"Maybe everyone else vanished through the tears like on the Lost Light?" he guessed. Somehow, this explanation didn't quite feel satisfactory.

"Ah, no, I don't know. Didn't it change all the time too?" He wasn't sure if he ever knew it in the first place. "But I think I got this..."

He pulled an arrow out of his quiver and unscrewed the head, revealing an elaborate lock pick, a useful tool for someone who always gets his crossbows taken away an assassin.

"This port here is only meant to be used by the master key," he explained, pointing at the side of the lock, "but I can use it to scan data from the lock and find a recently used combination."

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

Brainstorm mimicked his colleague’s head tilts, “You know, I think you’re right. And if you squint it kinda looks like he’s winking." Facing Atomizer again, he added, "…What the frag is a glockenspiel?"

The teal jet listened to Atomizer while getting a good look at the room. Why was no one else there? The mess hall on Kimia was usually open at all hours since the staff there all had wildly different schedules. At the very least, one of the kitchen workers should’ve been around…

The crunch under Atomizer’s foot instantly got Brainstorm’s attention. “That wasn’t what I think it was, was it?"

A closer inspection proved that, yes, that was indeed the remains of the container. Taking a hold of Atomizer, the weapons engineer carefully held him upright as he lifted up the other mech’s foot and checked underneath for the remains of the strange creature.

However, there we no traces of organic entrails.

"It’s…it’s gone. The creature’s gone! It must’ve escaped when we fell through the tear!"

[formerdesigner]

"It's a musical instrument. From Earth, I think. I only know because Siren got one from somewhere and I convinced him to let me replace his vocalizer with it when he was drunk but it didn't work very well because he was still annoying--"

Atomizer temporarily forgot what he was talking about because Brainstorm's hand was suddenly on his butt and it was very, very distracting.

"What's go-- Oh right. The thing. Yes." He tries to think of something else to distract himself from the distraction. "Maybe it went somewhere where the electrical charge is stronger... Do you think Room 113 is still around?"

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

"I’m a little sore, but I’m okay," Brainstorm said as his friend helped him up. “The bigger question is, where are we?"

"You saw it, though, right? That was a tear. It had to be, and we fell through and now we’re…here." The taller mech peered through the darkness, trying his best to figure out why it felt like he’d been here before.

It was very dark, true, but there were machines around them adorned with small, glowing red lights and tables and chairs neatly placed in rows.

Wandering from Atomizer’s side, Brainstorm walked over to what looked to be a button for the lighting in the room. He pressed it and—

Oh.

OH.

"I knew I recognized this place." He walked back over to where he’d landed, hands on his hips. “Kimia’s mess hall. It’s gotta be. That mark on the wall over there is exactly like the one Rad made that one time when he got overcharged at the staff party a few years back."

Sure enough, a sloppily carved piece of graffiti that looked very, very vaguely like an Autobot symbol was in the far corner of the room.

"I never did understand why no one bothered to fill that in."

[formerdesigner]

Atomizer looks over to where Brainstorm pointed. "Oh, that thing. I shot an arrow at it once from across the room." He tilts his head to the right, to the left, and then to the right again.

"You know, if you look at it upside down, it looks kinda like Sureshot... If Sureshot had one eye. And a moustache." He tilts his head to the left again. "Although from this angle it looks more like a glockenspiel to me. Either way, it doesn't go with the room's décor at all."

Giving the wall one more disapproving look, he turns back to Brainstorm.

"You're right, it's definitely Kimia. A detail like that seems too specific to make this an alternate universe, but something about this place is still o--" He hears something crunch beneath his step and glances down to find the broken clopsfish container.

"...was it just a coincidence or did that thing...?"

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

"Okay. Now, we’ve got to do this pretty quickly. These things can really move when they need to." Brainstorm said, his optics following Atomizer’s every move as the former designer looks for something.

"Huh? The floor’s the same as alwa—"

And that’s when Brainstorm’s optics trailed to the floor and caught a glimpse of a moving mass in the strangest shade of mauve he’d ever seen before a flash of light overwhelmed him. An odd falling sensation came next, and it was very hard to tell what exactly was going on. He caught a glimpse of Atomizer floating—or was it falling?—in front of him and the container careening out of his grip.

The next moment, he heard and felt himself clatter onto a hard floor. “Oww… What the fraggin’—?!"

Looking around, he seemed to be in a dark room…and not the lab he and Atomizer had previously occupied. Somehow, though, the place felt familiar.

Rubbing his sore aft a little where it had hit the floor, the scientist saw Atomizer still in front of him, just as dazed and confused as he was. “You okay over there?" he called out.

[formerdesigner]

The sensation of movement was familiar but also disconcerting in a way the previous portals he'd encountered were not, although he couldn't quite place as to why. He tried to hold onto the container as he fell, but the inter-dimensional void did something to the senses, making it difficult to control one's own body.

Last time he tried to move in one of these rifts, he ended up randomly triggering his transformation sequence and experiencing it in slow motion while hearing upbeat music playing somewhere in the distance. It was weird.

Brainstorm's voice snapped him out of the daze and he quickly rushed over to the scientist's side. "I'm fine. Are you alright?" he said, adding half to himself: "Well, this definitely isn't the shrimp dimension..."

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

"Yeah, I tried using an x-ray already. Emphasis on tried. I had to work an entire day repairing the poor machine after that thing was through with it…"

Brainstorm put one hand in his hip, cocking his head to the side. “Extremely likely, I’d say. Maybe to a lesser extent, but there’s no way I’m going to try that out personally to see. I’ve already had one lab incident today thanks to Whirl. I don’t exactly want another."

The weapons engineer’s grin grew even wider. “You’re speaking my language, friend. Just let me go grab a few tools and we’ll get started!" With that, Brainstorm rushed off to the storage closet. A few moments of shuffling and clanging sounds later, he reappeared in the room with some lab instruments in hand and quickly grabbed a small testing chamber from a nearby desk.

After walking back to where he left Atomizer with the three creatures, Brainstorm turned to face the other mech. “Ready? We just need to transfer the specimen into the testing chamber and we can get started."

[formerdesigner]

"Why do we only have one x-ray machine on this ship anyway?" Atomizer wonders out loud. Unless there's more hidden somewhere else. In disguise. Like the sofas. He doesn't wonder this part out loud because it probably wouldn't make any sense.

"Do you need help with those or-- Alright." Atomizer decides to think of a name for the starfish while he waits for Brainstorm. Perhaps he could call it... Not feeling particularly inspired by the thing's woogling, he then remembers reading somewhere that organic creatures like this are usually gonochoristic and proceeds to stare at it, trying to determine if it's male or female. He doesn't have much success there either.

"Ready!" he replies and picks up the creature's container, half-opening it as he walks over to Brainstorm. He realizes he's not entirely sure how he's supposed to hold it and glances around, looking for a test tube holder or something. Something else catches his eye.

"Wow, was the linoleum in here always this color? I'm not sure I approve of this design choi--"

(Turns out the linoleum was dimensional anomaly-colored, a sort of suspicious mauve shade.)

[formerdesigner]

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[formerdesigner]

"I was wondering about that," Atomizer says as he peeks into the bin; he’d noticed it earlier but didn’t think much of it. “I thought Wheeljack had left his stuff here or something."

"Maybe it’s sick…?" Atomizer taps lightly on the glass encompassing the yellow starfish. “Although it looks kinda lively now. I take it hasn’t tried to attack you either? I remember the red ones could give a pretty nasty zap…"

He observes it for a few more moments, amused at how the small creature is practically doing back-flips across its cage now. “Also, wow, it seems really lively now."

[unmentionable-genius]

The jet made a ‘tsk’ noise. “Come on, Atomizer. You know me better than that. I’d never share a lab with Wheeljack! Well, unless I was forced to.”

Brainstorm picked up the container gently, shifting it around to show Atomizer as many angles of the creature as possible. “See, I thought about that too, but there’s no discolouration and no obvious wounds. I doubt it’s sick." He tapped at the side of the container again, watching as the creature flailed about and scrambled towards his finger. “I mean, look. It’s perfectly fine when it’s being fed, or when I’m near. And when you’re near too, come to think of it."

"And nah. I haven’t touched it directly, considering the nasty habit the other two have of zapping things. But I guess I could—" He paused in his verbal musings to consider the former assassin’s comments, and suddenly got an idea. “Say… Do you think it can sense that Cybertronians have more electrical charge than the stuff I usually feed it with? It would explain why it’s so drawn to us. And if I’m right—which I probably am, let’s be honest—it’s possible that this variant of…whatever these things are require feeding on a stronger electrical charge to remain in the best shape."

He tapped at the side of the container, grinning behind his facemask as he usually did when he found something interesting. It was an almost maniacal expression. “Do you still have those high volt arrows you made a while back? We could use one for safe testing first, and then move on to larger charges."

[formerdesigner]

Atomizer examines the creature more closely when Brainstorm holds up the container. He can't really make much sense of it although he agrees that it does look healthy.

"Maybe we could x-ray it? Or would it drain the machine before we get the chance to see anything? Guess it'd be best to avoid annoying the medics..."

He nods as Brainstorm explains his theory. "That does seem probable. Would that mean it'd do to a Cybertronian what the others did to your tools?"

"And yeah, I have still have plenty of those." He quickly reaches into his quiver and pulls out a single arrow. "Time for a little experiment then~?"

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

"Weird organic creatures?" The weapons engineer thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers. “Oh, those! Well…"

Brainstorm motioned with his finger for Atomizer to follow him in back of the left side of the lab, where three starfish-shaped creatures sat in containment tanks. The red one was slowly making its way around the walls of its container, while the black one twitched almost menacingly and the yellow sat at the bottom of its own container, unmoving.

"Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out too much about them. Organic biology isn’t really my forté…" Tsking, he tapped the glass containing the yellow specimen. “I tried synthesizing organic food up for them, but they didn’t really do anything with it. However, I did find out that the red and black ones seem to feed on some of the electrical charge in my tools when I went to examine them further. Unfortunately, they also made a habit of making them break or explode."

Brainstorm pointed to a nearby bin. A small pile of broken and scorched tools and miscellaneous machinery lay at the bottom of it. “Not exactly the tidiest of eater, hmm?"

"This one, however…" he said as he turned his attention back to the yellow specimen, “I’m not sure what to think. I tried ‘feeding’ it equipment like the others, but for some reason it doesn’t make a wreck of it like the others, just depletes the energy. It’s so lethargic, too. The only times it moves is either when I feed it or when I trace my fingers on the side of the container."

The scientist demonstrated and, sure enough, the creature immediately came to life and eagerly followed after Brainstorm’s finger as he slid it along the side of its tiny, clear prison.

"After finding that out, I got a bit, err, distracted with other things."

[formerdesigner]

"I was wondering about that," Atomizer says as he peeks into the bin; he'd noticed it earlier but didn't think much of it. "I thought Wheeljack had left his stuff here or something."

"Maybe it's sick...?" Atomizer taps lightly on the glass encompassing the yellow starfish. "Although it looks kinda lively now. I take it hasn't tried to attack you either? I remember the red ones could give a pretty nasty zap..."

He observes it for a few more moments, amused at how the small creature is practically doing back-flips across its cage now. "Also, wow, it seems really lively now."

[formerdesigner]

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[unmentionable-genius]

Brainstorm, in the meanwhile, had just gotten back from talking with First Aid and Eject a few hours ago and had resumed working on the implosion mine when he heard the knock on his door.

Thankful that at least someone around the ship had the common courtesy to knock first before entering, the scientist shouted back, “Atomizer? Come in, come in…"

He put down his tools and wiped the grease off of his (now repaired) hands before turning around to face his guest. “I, uh. I haven’t seen you in a while," he said somewhat bashfully. “Do you need something? Some more material for arrows, maybe?"

[formerdesigner]

Atomizer glances around the lab as he walks in, partly trying to seem casual but mostly just wanting to get a good look at anything new and potentially interesting. He spots at least four cool new things but no sign of the starfish.

"Nah, I'm good for now. Haven't had much real targets to shoot at lately so my arrows have been piling up. Started making some really weird ones out of spare material when I was bored. Have a whole barrel of lobster-shaped ones. Not sure why I made those; it seemed like a good idea at the time, I guess, but turns out they're not very aerodynamic... Er, anyway..."

Hoping to prevent himself from more nervous rambling, he decides to quickly cut to the chase. "I was just wondering if you had a chance to look at those weird organic creatures I found a while ago."

[formerdesigner]

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Atomizer had been sitting in a random lounge, shooting arrows at the ceiling fan reading a datapad, when Sprocket suddenly ran out of a portal on the east wall. He was covered in some sort of strange organic creatures and yelling. Before Atomizer had the chance to react, another portal appeared on the opposite wall and Sprocket vanished through it, the organics along with him.

Atomizer shrugged and returned to his target practice reading... for about two seconds, then he remembered that he'd seen creatures like that before. Curious if Brainstorm had ever gotten around to investigating them, he decided this would be the perfect opportunity to bother the other scientist and headed straight for his lab.

"Hey, Brainstorm. It's Atomizer," he said as he knocked on the door.

[biorobo]

slightly less pink

For Lysol (and chairs because he’s a slut who likes whirl)

edit: sigh, the image quality is kinda meh, the file on deviantart is a bit better (not like it’s HORRIBLE here or anything but I can’t stand artifacts >BU)

[formerdesigner]

[formerdesigner]

ask-atomizer replied to your post: Hi other sexy~ me!

Just two sexy uses right?

Far as I'm aware, there's actually four of us handsome fellows.

This one and this one.

So, four Atomizers... Just enough of us for a good game of Scrabble!

(( The first one is actually me again~ The second one is a friend. ))