Accessing Data Bank...please stand by.
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Error: Database corrupted, attempt retrieval?
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Retrieval Commencing
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Data Loss at 20%
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Catastrophic Failure of primary memory module, switching to emergency standby
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Data Loss at 57%
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Energy Surge to Emergency Standby. Data Fragmentation increasing.
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Data Loss at 91%
Retrieval Complete. Stabilization of remaining memory modules in process. Running earliest non-corrupted data entry
...ven't seen things this bad since the Hate Plague, and believe me that was bad.
To recap: About 72 mega-cycles ago, there was a detonation of a unknown device in the center of Cybertropolis. A large pillar of a gaseous substance was visible for several nano-cycles before it descended to the streets below and began spreading rapidly - too rapidly for a natural occurring substance.
The science geeks figure the gas was a delivery system for the virus that has managed to erase our transformation subroutines. However, it's obvious the code was written by a amateur, since the secondary side effects vary depending on the individual. Maybe 80 to 90% suffer a forced Stasis Lock, but the remaining 10 to 20%, it affects us all in unusual ways. The one thing medical has been able to determine is the virus' unintended side effects are rampaging through our systems. Overwriting and deleting code at frankly, an alarming rate. As it stands, sooner or later we're going to go into full system shutdown. Without stasis lock, our Sparks will be extinguished.
Another...possibly unrelated phenomenon has been observed since zero hour. Functional Cybertronians have been confirmed roaming the streets and alleys of Cybertropolis, but these aren't any Cybertronians anyone is familiar with. The vast majority are completely identical right down to gear alignment. There's a handful of various body types, but for all intents and purposes they're the same. There's been no encounters between my men and these newcomers, and I'm not encouraging contact. Call it a nasty burr in my rotator, but something about those guys don't add up.
I don't know the significance of these two related events, but I'm certain there is one. Thus far, my unit and myself have managed to gather as many of our fellows as we can - whether they're in stasis lock or not. We shall remain at our present location until we hear word from Maximal High Command. Barring that...until the science geeks can figure out how to delete this damn virus. Report Ends.
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Loading next Journal Entry. WARNING: Fragmentation at 5%
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~*@#$^^&@$^&%*(#%^$oned the least affected by the Virus to man the walls of the building. I'm beginning to regret my decision to wait in one location until this crisis has passed. I may have made us nothing more then a turbo-fox in its burrow.
To Recap: Not more then six mega-cycles one of my scout teams reported seeing the new Transformers approach a Stasis Locked citizen on a street corner and...proceed to tear out his Spark. One of the scout team is reported to have cried out, which alerted these...these things to their presence. According....according to the survivors, each of these mystery Transformers is equipped with a device on their arms that can extract a Spark. They displayed a sound grasp of the terrain and tactics and managed to corner and...extract the sparks of three of the team before the remaining two made it back here.
While I'm thankful those two managed to escape...it did mark this building to those monsters outside. So far we've had small squads probing the perimeter. I realized too late that these squads were to determine how many of us were actually here, more then to capture the escaped two members of the scout team. By the time I realized what was happening, it was too late.
Those specimens I was able to obtain before we were brought under siege appear to not have a Spark. They are, beyond a shadow of a doubt, Drones. We also discovered a sophisticated communications network that traces back to the Hall of Elders in the center of Cybertropolis...also ground zero for the virus.
What the hell is the Maximal High Command doing? Report Ends.
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Loading Next Data Entry. Fragmentation: 50%
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!!*#&!@&$^&^@^T$R%^#^&@&$*(#^@!&#*$(edical officer of this...I suppose you could call it a facility. Though it seems more like a castle now-a-days. It's been five days, and at this point if the Virus doesn't finish erasing our code, then those Dead Metals outside will eventually break in and rip our Sparks out.
The "commander", as we'd taken to calling him, had come down to our makeshift medical bay to inspect the drones. We never thought to use a signal dampener - we were still used to fighting something that required a Spark to function. Whoever's in control of these things...WHATEVER is in control...was obviously waiting for him to appear, because the damn thing activated just as the commander was leaning over to look at some kind of indentification marker. It slammed it's fist into his chest and extracted his Spark right then and there. Me and my assistant managed to shut it down....I panicked and ended up ripping its head off, severing its communication relays from the rest of the body...but there was nothing we could do for the commander. The arm apparatus functioned as a sort of stasis pod, but when I severed the connection and the body depowered, any life saving energy being pumped into the Spark ended. The Commander's Spark extinguished not long after.
The commotion from the other room startled both of us, and when we ran out to see what was happening...all the Drones had reactivated and were...moving through the civilians. The few Security Forces that still had access to their combat protocols were doing the best they could, but we were faced with a new gruesome aspect of this enemy. With damnable efficiency, the Drones were ripping Sparks out of bodies then ripping the bodies apart and restructuring them. We put down the last Drone just as it finished on the first of the restructured. It tried to come online itself, but we zapped it before it could shake itself down.
Sweet Primus...it's bad enough these things are taking our Sparks, but they're using our own bodies to create more of themselves. We've taken to calling them Dead Metals after that. Kinda appropriate. Latest reports from the guys the Commander stationed on the walls puts the number of Dead Metals outside upwards of 20,000. Good thing this building was Predacon Built. It's designed to take a pounding. And at least none of them can fly.
Yet.
Primus help us.
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Loading Next Data Entry. Fragmentation: Critical. Catastrophic Memory Loss imminent.
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~*#&$^$^%&*#&#%^$&#*(@@*$&%^&*(!@&$^&@*(!#&$^%$&#*@(!#$*&^%breaking
through#*%&&$#*@(#$*&%^$&*#@(we can't hold them back anymore@*%&%*#()@(*&%^&$*#(@)#*$
upper levels are secure for now, but the lower levels are swarming with them*$&*(@)!*$&^T%$*
(#)@!(*@&#^$&$#*COMING THROUGH THE WINDOW#*&%*(@!))(*$&%^&#*@(
abandon the stasis locks!&#*(@)!@*#$&%^&*@(!)(@*#&$^%^&#*@(!*$&%^&#*@()!&@#$^%&$*#
IdontwannadieIdontwannadie!(%&*@(!)$*&%^&$*#(@)!_)@(#$&%*$(#@)
Locked myself in a reinforced security closet. Virus is at...critical levels. They're right outside the door.
!$&^%&*#()!@#($*&%$*#(@)!(#*$&%&$#*@(!)#(*$&%^&#*@(!)#*&$^#&@*(
!*#$&^%&*#(!&$%^&#*!(!%talking with her voice. But it's not her! It's not her!!*&$*(!@
!(#$&%^&*@(!&%^$&#*@(Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Bang. Denting the door. Bang. Bang. Bang.
~!&$%*(@)!*$&^%&*@()!@(*#&$^%&$*#()@)#(*&$%^$&#*(@)help*&$^#*(!)(*&^T%$*#(@)!(*#&$^%$&*#(@)
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>Catastrophic Memory Loss! End of Messages