Coalescence

that on casual Fridays. So if you could go ahead and cover those back up, that’ll be
good.”
Emulator peered out from the other side of the pillar. Cybaxx started to rez-out again,
leaving just a single word floating behind as he did: “Disgusting.”
After waiting a moment to ensure that Cybaxx was gone this time, Emulator and Rick
ran full speed to Cyclonus and Darkwing’s cells. The Decepticons were still iced
over; Darking could turn his head to see the humans, but having been frozen in jet
mode meant Cyclonus was nearly blind but for a single ceiling tile directly ahead of
his cockpit.
“Please tell me one of you is ‘Sephie’.” The red and orange jet intoned. “I need something
to go my way today.”
“That’s her.” Rick pointed to Emulator, he then cleared his throat and corrected, “But
call her ‘Emulator’.”
She patted Rick on the shoulder and affirmed, “‘Sephie’ is fine.”
Rick smiled back.
“Hey, I’m sure that’s a touching moment or something,” Darkwing groaned as he
struggled against the ice. “But I’m not so shoddy that I deserve this. Care to help a
bot out?”
“I could try to find a resonate frequency to target with one of my sonic blasts. That
might break you loose.” Sephie held her palms up and willed enough energon to
change her eye color to a familiar purple glow.
“Wait!” Rick called out, “Shut down the bars first!”
Sephie heard Rick, but couldn’t stop. She had already begun to emit a powerful pulse
aimed at the prison cells. The electro-bars on Cyclonus’ cell twitched with a spasm
and then nictitated to a violent click. The effect wasn’t limited to Cyclonus’ cell,
though, and soon the energy grids securing every other hold began to twitch. One by
one they shut down, and the hallway was filled with the custodian robots. All of them
chittering away about pursuing information.
They spotted Sephie and Rick, and descended upon the humans, two dozen synthetic
voices asking for a new inquiry. As they drew ever near, a command echoed through
the hall. The robots stopped and buzzed.
“Mini-Cons! Halt interaction mode! Return to your cubicles for cataloging!” The
voice was assertive, yet small. When a purple and pink robot stepped from a nearby
prison cell, it was clear why the voice didn’t boom or echo; the robot was barely
larger than either Sephie or Rick.
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