Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Aug 20, 2009 21:24:50 GMT -5
It's a good thing Ultra Magnus is naturally modest – perhaps too much so – or all this attention might go to his pounding head. At length, he sighs in lieu of the thin, wry chuckle that nearly bubbles to the surface at that grin Rodimus gives him.
"Because… I think, in some way, I knew," Magnus answers after a pause and a faint grimace. He's sad, too, somewhere in his spark, for knowing that it wouldn't last. "I knew it would be needed again… that it wouldn't mean terrorism." And it stopped meaning resistance and public enemy the instant Optimus took charge again.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 21, 2009 23:39:40 GMT -5
That answer... is not the best.
Because Magnus knew at some level... and yet he hunted Rodimus's alternate self, anyway.
The power of self-delusion at work, but it's still disconcerting, to say the very least.
Rodimus has gotten fairly far along on the general repairs here, and is starting to get to the smaller, less important items, though Magnus is still exhausted, and there are some wounds only time will heal.
Sometimes not even that.
He doesn't answer Magnus's response, not out loud, but asks, "So what do you want to do to Shockwave now?"
Wait, what?
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 24, 2009 17:31:40 GMT -5
Perceptor has another take on Magnus's answer; hope. It is Perceptor's generally optimistic outlook coloring his perceptions, however, he sees it as Magnus, despite everything he was being forced to endure and do to try and reach the elusive goal of peace, clinging to the hope of the Autobot ideal.
Yes, he is perhaps a little biased, but he is valiantly clinging to those positive signs, imagined or not, to keep himself fully on task. It is far too easy to lose focus of the immediate picture and find himself slipping back into the memory of circuits so very similar that they might as well be the same, fading to that washed out, pale non-color that is so equally similar to Magnus's white shell. Though the guilt lays thick in his core, he will not fail his new Unit. Even if the memories threaten to superimpose themselves over these twinned circuits, where that familiar cable junction meets that control nodule, and a bare handspan away, a pair of fuel lines deviate around a routing hub just like--
Well now, this is new. Definitely not just like the circuits he has known before, and hooked into Magnus's fuel and energy dispersal systems. He is deep in study of the module, sussing out its purpose and where and how it is safest to remove the mechanism from Magnus's systems when he answers Rodimus with an absent mutter.
"Moral objectivity would dictate confinement, however my personal recommendation is expedient deactivation." Bonus points if it hurts as badly as Magnus does.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Aug 25, 2009 12:03:26 GMT -5
Magnus starts to answer Rodimus, but Perceptor – Perceptor, who looks like the Perceptor Magnus knows with a slightly different paint job, and until this point has seemed identical in his prim, clinical approach and verbosely softspoken manner – beats him to the punch.
…This place is even stranger than he thought.
"'Moral objectivity' be damned," Magnus intones, more venom and hatred in his voice than ever before. "I'll kill him if I find the chance." Not only for what Shockwave did to him, but for what Shockwave – the Shockwave here, who claims to be from relative moments in Magnus's past – is planning to do. "He has to be stopped." Even if it kills me.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 25, 2009 12:50:29 GMT -5
"No, Perceptor," Rodimus chides, tone light enough to conceal the fact that he really is frustrated with Perceptor's 'tainting' of Magnus's answer, "this is Magnus's interrogation. If you really want to be interrogated, we can do you later, okay?"
Kept friendly and hidden beneath a joke, but point made, none-the-less.
"'Objectivity' is a chancy word, anyway. Being objective means taking into account the possibility of escape, and the fact that if it happens, the one who didn't undertake a permanent solution is then responsible for what the escapee does."
"On the other hand," Rodimus adds grimly as he finishes the small parts in another section, then keeps working, "going too far in that direction... leads people to justify what you said Shockwave was going to do to your Autobots."
He applies some cleanser to the new section, carefully and quietly removing the scorched parts and dust from the area. "I'm not saying we don't have to deal with necessary evils at times," he says, voice now very, very soft, and rather sad, "but it may be... more important to remember that they are evils than that they're necessary."
Silence again, then, "What did you think when you ran into Mirage here, Magnus?"
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Post by Perceptor on Aug 25, 2009 13:45:15 GMT -5
Perceptor's hands pause in his work, tilting his head with an odd look as he catches Magnus apparently answering his thou--
Wait. He said that out loud, didn't he? Rodimus confirms that a moment later. "Oh! Ahh.... I...." Will just shut up now. Yes. That's probably a good thing.
He ducks his head with a chagrinned little bob and refuses to meet the noptics of either Magnus or Rodimus as he sheepishly returns his concentration to his work.
ooc: Perc's going skippable now, since he 1) needs to swap posting order with Magnus anyway, and 2) has a LOT of work to do yet and isn't really needed for constant responses. Just occassional interjections. Thankee all!
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Aug 26, 2009 1:30:50 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus's answer would have been the same even if Perceptor hadn't spoken up; he intends to kill Shockwave. If the cyclops really is from a short while in Magnus's past, then killing him might mean his plan goes to pieces. Or it might mean nothing more than personal satisfaction on Magnus's part.
Or it might kill Magnus. But there was a time that execution wouldn't have been his first impulse. The vorns have changed him.
"There's nothing necessary about Shockwave," he growls, forgetting the neutering of his motor functions and trying to sit up on his elbows. That he can't seems to aggravate him further, though it's fortunate for the repair work. "He's– unh." Getting Magnus's oil pressure up by proxy and when the ex-security officer hasn't the fuel to maintain his anger; Magnus heaves a shaky sigh and offers an apologetic grimace to the other Autobots. "…Dangerous," comes the understatement.
He remains quiet for a while after Rodimus's question, partly out of weariness. It isn't easy to remember exactly what he thought when he met Mirage, either.
"…Honestly," he finally says, "I wondered where the rest of the party was. He's a forward scout and occasional sharpshooter as far as I know… not a solo operative."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 26, 2009 7:55:52 GMT -5
Rodimus looks towards the ceiling as Magnus tries to sit up, shaking his head. Then gently he reaches forward and attempts to place his fingertips on Magnus's chest and gently but firmly push the other back down.
"I wasn't referring to Shockwave as the necessary evil," Rodimus clarifies. "I was talking about the need to take a life. Any life." It's a strange thing coming from a Prime who's executed downed foes in the process of begging for mercy, but just because Rodimus is capable of ruthlessness does not mean it sits well with him. Far worse with him than with Hot Rod, really.
Rodimus nods as he continues to work, making sure Perceptor has room to do what he needs to do as well. From time to time he does glance over curiously at the device the scientist is poking at.
The Prime's next question is something a bit more simple and basic, but one that's been bugging Rodimus for awhile now, anyway.
"Why do you look like a white Optimus Prime?"
There. He said it. He commented on the elephant.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Aug 26, 2009 12:50:59 GMT -5
For several moments, Ultra Magnus lies very still and very silent, simply watching Rodimus with a bemused sort of wonder while the other Autobot carries on working; the repairs themselves barely register, but the relief they bring is a nearly palpable thing. It makes Magnus that much more aware of his own exhaustion, but in a way, it also clears his head.
This Prime speaks much like Magnus's own leaders, with that same sort of measured wisdom; it's certainly nothing he'd expect of a Hot Rod with delusions of stature. How had he not realised it sooner?
"…Of course," Ultra Magnus finally says, humbled. That gives way to discomfiture and shame – at himself and what the association with him and his deeds means for Optimus – at Rodimus's next question and Magnus lowers his gaze. He answers quietly and matter-of-factly, "Because… we are brothers."
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 26, 2009 14:29:34 GMT -5
Rodimus's optics widen in shock at Ultra Magnus's revelation. He's so startled, in fact, that he's forced to pause work for a moment. A quick radio tag shows that he does not, in fact, have a large and rather baffling gap in his knowledge - the family connection simply doesn't exist in his own reality.
Rodimus recovers, going on as though he hadn't just dropped what he was doing out of surprise. He leans forward, returning to his work, saying, "Oh. I, uhm... I guess that explains it, then."
Rodimus skips over questions about how Ultra Magnus escaped. He has reason to suspect he doesn't want the other Autobot to go into much detail about that one, not with so many watching and listening.
"Hmmmm," he says softly, almost as though thinking out loud. "What am I missing..."
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Aug 26, 2009 20:15:24 GMT -5
The surprised reaction to Magnus's familial bond nets a puzzled look.
"Is it that so strange?" he wonders sincerely rather than answer Rodimus's contemplation. And if it is, Magnus can't help wondering why. Is there a world where he and Optimus are not family? Could there even be a world where family itself is an alien idea?
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 26, 2009 23:38:22 GMT -5
"Just unexpected," Rodimus answers. "You aren't in my reality." The casual way he says that should indicate that the idea of family itself is not alien - it is the specific case of Optimus and Ultra Magnus being brothers that surprises the Prime.
"Well, I guess that's it, unless you can think of anything I'm missing," the Prime adds as he gets back to work. Then he gives Magnus a brief, wry smile. "Well, for the questions, I mean." He points. "This'll be awhile longer."
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Aug 27, 2009 9:37:05 GMT -5
"Ah." Magnus eases somewhat and looks again at the ceiling. He can't imagine what it would be like to not have his brother; he leaves much of himself wrapped up in his brother, however. Perhaps too much. He isn't sure himself.
On the subject of further questions, Magnus frowns in concentration, trying to think of anything the Autobots might want him to answer now. There must be something; he has that nagging feeling that something was left out. The thoughts keep slipping away from him, lost in his mind's increasingly tangled pathways. He really is tired, and after a second or two of failing to find an idea, quietly shakes his head as much as he is able, optics darkening.
"Unless what I think of my treatment," and he doesn't mean the medical care, which is a far sight better than he thought he'd receive, "is a concern…." He doesn't think it should be, but these Autobots keep doing things contrary to his expectations.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Aug 27, 2009 10:04:38 GMT -5
Rodimus smirks, though there is a grim, unpleasant edge to the smile. He puts down his tools and takes up the cleanser, now removing flux, dust, and anything else that's accumulated during the repairs.
"All right, then. What do you think about the treatment?"
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Aug 27, 2009 12:20:02 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus pauses briefly, stifling a sigh.
"The truth is," he murmurs, "I think I'm being treated fairly. But I think I'm being treated too kindly." There's no wry twist to his tone, no veiled smirk, no light-heartedness; there is only that humourless statement. He adds, optics shut off because he's simply too worn out to keep them online so he can watch the ceiling, "I also think I should remember there may be a difference in standards… after all, I expected an interrogation before any medics were allowed near me." He leaves it to Rodimus and Perceptor to contemplate for themselves the fact that he'd expect such treatment from his own Autobots.
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