July 6th, 2002
~Phantom(A)

Cerrius - Destroyed Foundry

        Ten kilometers east of the city stands the once proud foundries of Cerrius City, once the home and work place of over 1000 mechs and femmes who created the strongest known artillery pieces of all of Cybertron. However, unknown raiders hit this city with a power far worse than a neutron bomb... they caused a massive avalanche of molten ore to race over the area. The remains of it are now a barren tangle of twisted girders and fused metal, with only the metal skeletons of the largest buildings standing. As you look over the landscape, you notice what appears to be grotesque statues, but it only takes a few moments for your net to realize that disturbingly enough, these were mechs and femmes that were caught in the inital flood of ore, and were immortalized forever as twisted metal statues of pain and agony.


Phantom [Robot] [A]

Obvious Exits:
 -E- East leads to Cerrius - Courtyard

-Moonlight wanders into the area, not humming or making any sound as she usually is.
-Phantom is standing before a female 'statue', one that he has obviously been working with for a while. He has a wire running from his wrist computer to the inside of the shell. He is engrosed in his work, and doesn't notice much outside of the work he's doing.
-Moonlight wanders through the tangles of metal, a slight frown playing on her face. She shudders at the thought that her beloved Monacus could possibly end up like this place. Shaking her head she assures herself that no such thing could /ever/, /ever/ happen. It was too vibrant.
-Phantom continues his work, visor flashing dark every so often, then returning to normal. He taps the keys on his wrist in varying degrees of hurry. Sometimes quick, sometimes slow. He nods as he checks the readouts, and continues.
-Moonlight leans for a moment against something not quite sturdy. It creaks with protest and she takes the hint. Carefully she steps away from it, hoping that it doesn't decide to finish the job that the 'Bot did to her the other night.
-Phantom is snapped out of his work induced trance as he hears a sound, pulling his weapon from nowhere as he takes aim down the road, not sure where to look for whoever is disturbing him and his work.
-Moonlight walks a little further to come across a rather startled looking mech. Apparently not surprised, she folds her arms and waits...
-Phantom looks the femme up and down a few times before letting his optics rest on that shiny purple thing on her hip. "After my head too, femme?" he hisses out.
-Moonlight shakes her head. "Now why would I want your head? It would just clutter up my space." She grins. "Who are you anyhow?"
-Phantom lets out a half snort, half chuckle, "You mean the infamous Phantom isn't known throughout the entire Empire. That's news. Which one of them are you?
-Moonlight's face falls. "/You're/ Phantom." She takes a step back and appraises him. "Well, I know who you are /now/. Never saw you before. Couldn't get anyone to give me a coherrent description of you." She chuckles. "Which one of what? You could at least make a little sense."
-Phantom doesn't drop his weapon, still expecting an attack. "Which assassin. Or is it against your code of 'honor' to tell me your name before you try to kill me?"  Paranoid much?
-Moonlight throws back her head and laughs. "I'm not an assassin. If I was, I wouldn't have made that noise back there. I don't want to kill anyone. Though methinks you need a good talking to."
-Phantom raises a brow, rather confused by the laughing. Every Decepticon he's met as of late has tried to kill him. Why is this one different? Now he's more curious than he is defensive. Unable to compute what he's hearing, he only manages to stammer out a "Huh?"
-Moonlight takes a step forward. "Not the brightest Bot on Cybertron are you? I'm talking about Enfilade. She's a broken up femme you know. I can respect the whole shooting and punching and stuff, but your tactics are a bit nasty for my tastes. And I thought you 'Bots were supposed to be the 'good' guys."
-Phantom's visor flashes a bright red as he brings his weapon bear on the nameless femme's head. "One more of you Decepticon trash mention her to me, and I swear to Primus you'll be on your way to meeting your maker. My tactics are my own, and I alone suffer the consequences of them, even if it would appear that others do as well." His entire body is shaking, as if trying to contian his emotions, and not doing a good job.
-Moonlight backs up again. "Whoa! Calm down. More violent people than I could have shown up here and then you'd have a reason to wave that thing around." She indicates the weapon. "She's kind of a friend of mine, and I wouldn't be much of a friend if I just sat around and let her be miserable, now would I?"
-Phantom lets out a low growl, "So where do I come in in all of this? Take me prisioner and let her have the kill?" His hand lowers, pointing the blaster towards her feet, but still in her direction. "What, slow internal death not good enough for you Cons?"
-Moonlight shakes her head. "I don't think she quite wants you dead. She said something to me that wasn't exactly all death and destruction." She pauses. "Do you want to die or something? You're certainly ranting enough about it."
-Phantom continues to growl, "I'm already dying." He twirls his blaster on his finger as he replaces it on his hip maglock. "And you lot aren't making it to do so in silence with your constant yabberings about your Field Commander."
-Moonlight finds a hunk of junk stable enough to sit on. She crosses her right leg over her left knee and leans forward. "First of all, stop being such a grouch. Secondly, if someone in among your Bots was wronged, wouldn't you like to see it righted. And don't give me all that slag about us being wrong and all."
-Phantom glares at the femme from the saftey of his visor. She obviously isn't going to attack him right now, and if she does, well, he can take her. He turns his attention back to the statue he's working on. He reaches inside and disconnects the end of the data transfer cable from within. "One of the Autobots *was* wronged. And I can't set it right, so why should you be able to?"
-Moonlight shrugs. "You have a point there. But what does romance have to do with this stupid war anyhow? And if you're talking about the Kidlet, I didn't like that whole wall bit at all either."
-Phantom turns his head, "Slag the kidlet. He was being stupid. Just like his commanders." He hangs his head a bit, looking at the ground. "Not that it matters to them. The pain they cause their own. They do it without a second thought."
-Moonlight just shakes her head. "I'm glad I didn't have to grow up on this horrible planet. Everyone here is so slagging miserable. Brings my mood right down. So what's your particular gripe anyhow?"
-Phantom takes a slow head turn as he looks at Moonlight in shock. Someone asking him how he feels? And a Decepticon to boot. Maybe he should have left with her. He lets the thought go as soon as it's in his head. Now he's curious, and does his best to show it in his tone, "What's it matter to you, Con?" This time, the last word doesn't even sound like a curse.
-Moonlight shrugs. "Maybe because of what Enfilade said. Maybe cause I might not be so bad and actually consider how other people feel. Who knows? I don't half the time."
-Phantom's visor goes darker as he sees the trap, but walks right into it anyways. "What'd she say?" His voice has become noticably softer, almost pleasant, if a bit quiet.
-Moonlight looks over the 'Bot, her optics scanning him over from beneath her hat. "I really don't want to betray her confidences...but if you don't make a scene, I might just tell you. Just want to keep her aft, and my own, covered."
-Phantom raises a brow, not sure why he's about to make this confession to anyone, especially to this Decepticon. Wow, what a night this has turned out to be. "I wouldn't hurt her if it were my choice." he hisses, but not in a threatening way.
-Moonlight nods her head solemnly. "Okay. She said, 'Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if me and him had hopped the first shuttle for Monacus and never looked back.' I was trying to get to the bottom of why she was so glum all the time. She told me a bit about what happened and I asked how that made her feel. /That/ was her response."
-Phantom's visor brightens, obviously happy to no end. Yet, that end is close enough as he returns to his general state of attempted detachment. "I wonder that sometimes myself" he admits quietly. He leans against his project, then looks over at Moonlight. "I wonder that alot, actually."
-Moonlight shrugs. "I wouldn't have /left/ Monacus if there wasn't a serious threat to my life there. Of course, sitting in the center of a huge warzone isn't healthy either..."
-Phantom shakes his head, "Nor is falling in love with the enemy, no matter how much you think it's just a job." Is it true? Is Phantom actually opening up a bit to this young Decepticon?
-Moonlight sighs. "This planet is going nowhere, you know that don't you?"
-Phantom nods silently. He knows. It's why he asked Enfilade to come with him to Monacus, then to where ever would have made her happy. One lousy cycle. He lets out a 'Damn Elita' rather silently, yet still audible.
-Moonlight just chuckles softly.
-Phantom comes out of his trance pretty quickly, "What? You find that funny?"
-Moonlight shakes her head. "Only the part about Elita. I didn't grow up on Monacus for nothing. We all have to be alert to more subtle things there than outright force all the time."
-Phantom raises a brow, "I see. Well, then perhaps I can make this less subtle for you. Damn Elita. She's the reason all of this went wrong."
-Moonlight smiles slightly. "Never liked her much. She treated me like I was stupid. I can handle people yelling and cursing and shooting at me...but I hate being looked at like I'm stupid. Because I'm not. Of course, sometimes it's good to play the role." She shakes her head. "Anyhow, sorry if I was a bit harsh. But I couldn't just let her mope without seeing what she was moping about."
-Phantom says, "Well, she's not the only one moping. Trust me on that." He shakes his head again and looks at the ground, now comfortable enough with this femme that he doesn't consider her a threat.
-Moonlight relaxes her legs a bit. "Lots of people think I'm a strange Con. I get used to it. But I can't help having an outside look on everything."
-Phantom continues to look at his feet, "So what is your outside look on all of this, Mediator? An Autobot in love with a Decepticon."
-Moonlight grins mischieviously. "Considering the fact I have absolutely no emotional attachment to this war, I say love is more important. I'm into that whole happy thing. I like to enjoy my life and I see too few people on this pile of junk you call a planet enjoying themselves."
-Phantom says, "And how do you propose I follow this happiness? Leave everything I know for an enemy I've fought most of my existance? Leave this 'pile of junk' to a life of constant running from not only one side, but both?"
-Moonlight shrugs. "It's a lose-lose situation. This planet gives nothing /but/ lose-lose situations. I know, it's your home. If Monacus was under some threat, I would be back there in a flash. But honestly, it's just bad luck that brought me here, and bad luck that I'm a Con. Don't get any ideas though. Betrayl isn't my cup of energon."
-Phantom nods, "You have a great amount of wisdom. Sadly, due to the wisdom that you already possess, you already know that your Field Commander and I can't be together. Thusly," he stops leaning and regains his standing pose, "I suffer for the one act of love in my life, for the rest of my existance."
-Moonlight nods her head. "Yeah. Kinda sucks, doesn't it?" She shakes her head. "But at least I know you didn't make fun of her...that it wasn't just a scam."
-Phantom shakes his head, "No matter how much I try and make myself believe that, Moderator, it's just not true. I loved her. I still do. I would still do anything in my power to keep her from harm, even if it meant my own death. But as it stands now, I can't even get close enough to her to see her, let alone have a conversation." He sighs, "Besides, it's just business now between the two of us. Nothing more. No matter what I would want."
-Moonlight takes off her hat and looks at Phantom directly. "Then be careful with yourself. Most people don't understand. I've talked to Whiplash...she still seems to think that Enfilade wants your head. Whiplash will take it if she has the chance. Don't give her that chance. I don't know how stable Enfilade would be after her own friend turned you into a set of matching Bar Mugs. I know advising a Bot could get me in trouble, but I don't think you're going to go telling, and I'm not going to. But if you can't get things to work out well, at least don't let them get worse."
-Phantom lets out a chuckle, "Ah, the Gladiator. Sadly, she didn't fare as well as she had hoped in her last attempt to claim my head. But still, I thank you for cautions and advice. May I ask a favor of you?"
-Moonlight shrugs. "Just so long as it's not some sort of traitorish thing...sure."
-Phantom shakes his head, "No such thing. Just pass on to her a message?"
-Moonlight nods. "Sure. I guess it's sort of like smuggling."
-Phantom smiles behind his faceplate, "Just tell her that I miss her. And that I think about her each cycle when I come out of recharge. And that I *will* take her to Monacus some day."
-Moonlight nods her head. "Gotcha." She puts her hat back on. "Of course, if 'Lash gets word of this, I might end up joining you in the mug department. I like her, but she's not the best when it comes to anger management."
-Phantom nods, "So I've noticed. Thank you." He turns and begins to walk down what's left of the street, then turns, "Never did catch your name."
-Moonlight grins. "M'name's Moonlight."
-Phantom nods, "Nice to meet you, Moonlight." He adds as an afterthought, "And thank you."
-Moonlight gives Phantom a casual wave and strolls on out of the wreckage.