Oscilla (Oz)

Designation(s): Oscilla, Oz (05C177A)
Age: around 2 million years old
Canon Point: mid-war, after getting intel Decepticons are planning to take over neutral settlement she's currently in

Height: around 11ft tall
Weight: Heavier than her frame type might imply, being a birdformer


Basics:
In an alternate universe very similar to the IDW1, sparks are usually harvested from a sparkfield through a process called "Forging" or created artificially by use of Vector Sigma through a means called "Constructed." As the sparkfields began to go dormant, more and more bots were created through Construction. Carriers bots are always Forged and often used for scouting, espionage, assassinations, and communications tapping, and experiments were happening on sparks before they were properly developed into a protoform in many Cybertronians organizations, both government funded and covert. Oscilla is a forged spark that was removed from her sparkfield early and experimented on.

The military in Kaon assumed the spark they had would be turned into a triple-changing powerhouse, but that isn't what happened. They thought her to be defective when her protoform finally developed and they realized she was actually a Cassetticon instead of the larger, more powerful mech they were hoping to create.

She was a triple changer with her third mode being that of a bird beastformer similar to Ravage and Laserbeak, rather than a Maximal, but she stayed small and as a Cassetticon she had the drawbacks of being one. As a Cassette, Oscilla needs to "dock" into a Carrier at regular intervals to help with processor defragging and energy distribution. Carriers and Cassettes are supposed to have a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship where they both benefit from the bond (Cassettes help Carriers with their excessive databanks and work as a stabilizer for them). Instead, Oscilla was used as a tool, a servant, swapped between Carriers for the military of Kaon. Treated as a spy and a pet, sent out to do surveillance and gather intel on their enemies--or even get rid of targets on her own if necessary.

They were not sure if their experiments are what caused her to be a triple changer or not, but her other ability, which allows her to synchronize and resonate with crystals is assumed to be a manufactured outlier power.

Of course, they made it simple by surgically embedding crystals to her body, linking them directly to her spark. Oscilla wasn't a person to them, so they didn't bother to ask her opinion on it, and instead continued to embed more and more crystals into her that would afford her different abilities by resonating with them. And then they would bind her to a Carrier who would use her as tool for their missions. All of the Carriers were modified so that they could siphon these abilities from Oscilla and the person suffering the effects was her. It led her to needing a lot more energy and other fuels than a typical Cassette and had almost killed her on more than one occasion.

What the scientists didn't realize was that the more crystals they embed, the more power they give her access to, the more she gains the strength, skills, and endurance to push through their control protocols and eventually rebel. Including an ability of mental suggestion that allows her to influence someone's thoughts/opinions and behavior. They thought they could control her because they installed a block program into her control chip, which caused her pain if she tried to use these abilities on the Command List in her head, but that was fine. She could work around it. First it's lowkey, behaving so well they don't bother to check the video feeds connected to her optics. Just enough that she can hack the files and change them when needed without them noticing. Then she starts making connections outside of her handlers. She even gets an anonymous hook up with a discreet medic.

When everything is in place, she acts, killing both the scientist, Alkaline, and her current Carrier, Reverb. Then she got the fuck out before anyone would notice while the feeds were still corrupted and made her way to the medic's clinic. She had them remove the control chip she'd been fighting, patch what damage they could to how the chip fried a chunk of her processor, modify her frame so she was not dependent on a Carrier like other Cassetticons, and take out her optics and all of the connecting wires and circuits to avoid the video feed tracking. Then she had them replaced with a visor. She paid them well and then use her mental suggestions to make them forget she was ever there. She gets the hell out of Kaon territory and has a few hundred or so years as a wanderer selling intel and doing mercenary missions anonymously before the Civil War breaks out fully and she takes the chance to get off planet with the other Neutrals.

She has seen enough to know that Decepticon or Autobot, she only wants to interact with them on her own terms to get what she wants out of them. And she will use whatever tools, skills, or information she has at her disposal to do that. She has very few inhibitions when it comes to getting what she wants and is willing to play both sides for that. This doesn't mean she doesn't care about people, but who fits that category is a very very limited few. She can be hyper-controlling of them at times, even if she portrays her behavior as concern, and will use her abilities to nudge them into doing what she wants because she thinks it's for their own best interests.

Because of what she went through as a Cassette, she essentially refuses to ever use that form or bond to a Carrier. She acts as if that alt-mode doesn't exist and she can only transform into her robotic-bird form. Her entire design was inspired by the Great Blue Turaco, but it's not exactly that.


Modes:
As a Cybertronian, Oscilla has the ability to transform into alternate modes. Due to the experimentations done on her spark before she was properly formed, she is a triple-changer, meaning she has the ability to change into three modes: Her base/root mode (bipedal robot), her beastmode (aviary), and her Docking mode (Cassette). Because of this she also does a lot of mass-shifting between her modes as each mode is smaller than the last (Cassette is smaller than Bird is smaller than Robot).

Base Mode: She is a bipedal robot with wings on her back and a tail that shifts and moves. Her helm has spikes and an adaptable crest that rotates up and down over the back of her helm. Her fingers can extend into claws but usually she keeps those capped. There are crystals permanently embedded in her wings, chest, and wrists. There is also a large crystal embedded in her back that is partially obscured by the wings. (references above)

Beast Mode: She is a bird robot with wings, her neck elongated, and parts of her helm shifted forward to make the beak. Her head in bird mode is more slender and streamlined for flight. Her tail extends more to be longer. Her feet separate to make the talons of her bird more but much of her body collapses into the body of her bird mode. (reference above)

Cassette Mode: She compacts herself into a Cassette tape that is capable of being connected/synced into the frame of a Carrier-model Cybertronian. This is called Docking and not all bots capable of Docking are Cassettes (Combining is a form of Docking). Cassettes are the only ones who Dock out of necessity as this allows the Carrier to provide assistance in defragmentation of data during recharge and energy distribution. Due to their small size, Cassettes do not have fully formed systems for energy distribution and can become overcharged by said energy or underfueled as their bodies do not process energon as efficiently. They also can work as secondary processors for the Carrier who typical have very extensive hard drives and can need help in sorting and cataloging all of their data from their highly advanced multi-sensory data systems. This creates a mutually beneficial symbiosis (usually). (refernece to come)


Abilities:
Crystal Resonance: Oscilla is capable of resonating with crystals and funneling energy through them and soundwaves. This is why they found special crystals to embed into her body which allowed her to resonate with them and thus create additional abilities. None of these abilities she can use at the same time though and trying will cause major damage to herself and those around her as the crystals can create a Rebound effect.

Cognitive Dissonance: Oscilla can send waves through crystals that create suggestive, mind-nudging thoughts into a mech's mind and influence their perceptions. This allows her to camouflage herself, by making them ignoring her presence, alter their memories by making them override or delete memories related to her, make them want to do things for her, or even see her as a very open and trusting person who they will spill secrets to, things they never would have admitted or told her otherwise. She can even push someone who is extremely weak-willed to commit crimes for her, including murder.

Redistribution: When someone attacks Oscilla, the crystals can absorb the energy and allow her to alter it and redistribute it as a different form of energy. Meaning if you punch her that powers her crystals up to let her hit you back even hard. Her preference is creating an electrical charge and using it fry someone's processor or spark. She essentially becomes a tiny tank when this happens as she can take a lot of damage and keep going and returning it in kind.

Phase-Shifting: The ability to make herself physically intangible. This one burns a lot of energy from her and she's not taking in any energy to reuse and maintaining it takes a lot of concentration.

Accessory Boost: This allows her to use her energy to boost someone else. This can only be used by a Carrier and was used before to allow them to use the abilities from the crystals as their own or siphon energy from her instead of affording her any. This one burns the most energy and has almost killed Oscilla on more than one occasion.