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Post by Victoria Raines on Jul 5, 2009 19:08:48 GMT -5
OOC: Below post is rather intense. All treatment of Ultra Magnus was done with his player's permission and input.
Yes, Ultra Magnus knows Shockwave is capable of fits. For that matter, the mech currently under Shockwave's tender care knows the gunformer probably better than anyone of their reality, so long have they spent in company. Rivals, enemies, allies- each a constant in the other's life for countless millions of years. When held against the measure of realities, these two, and the dynamics between them, are old.
His hand stills in its work as Ultra Magnus so casually pokes at him, again referencing that most humiliating of times. "You were valuable," he says, voice clipped. He finishes the repair, then begins to replace the armour plates. "You were useful." He yanks the pin out and flings it hard against the opposite wall.
Shockwave presses the tip of his cannon under Magnus's neck, shoving the Wrecker's chin up at an angle hard enough to strain that only partially repaired hydraulic. "I use past tense, not as an admission, but because you still disbelieve, despite proof to the contrary. Before, your belief was clouded only by your own self-doubt. Now it is your blind anger at an event that is by no means fixed in my future which does so."
He leans in to hiss against Magnus's audial, "Circumstances may force me to dispose of you at some point, but I do not so casually dispose of my favored tools until all other options are exhausted." His hand- and the burning scalpel held in his grasp- run down Magnus's side, "And you need to seriously consider the point that if you were not favored, you would not. Still. Be. Functioning!"
He jabs the scalpel deep into Magnus's side, then rips it horizontally across, slashing a fluid line. It is that fluid spilling over his hand that makes Shockwave stop, refocus his entirely too bright gaze on the wound he has made.
"I think perhaps....that we should leave this discussion for another time." Shockwave hates losing control to such an extent, and as much as it galls the gunformer to give Magnus this victory, he knows if he stays that he will push his prisoner- body and mind- far beyond repair. He backs away slowly, deliberately turns and walks toward the exit back up to his lab. Without warning, he snatches up a small table on the way, flinging it against the far wall without care as to the noise and mess it makes. There was nothing of import against that wall, at any rate.
OOC: Will catch any parting Magnus snark, but otherwise out of thread.
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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 Jul 7, 2009 14:41:33 GMT -5
All the pain-dampeners and all the delirium in the galaxy can't numb Ultra Magnus against a laser scalpel cutting a deep gash into him. Maybe later, when he looks back on this and can appreciate the fact that he got a rise out of Shockwave, he'll be smug. Maybe later, he'll think about how hard Shockwave is trying to convince him that things can go back to the state of tense cooperation they've been for the past few thousand vorns, and he'll snort and dismiss the idea.
For now, all Ultra Magnus does is howl in pain, slamming against his bonds and shuddering. The twitching stops just about the time Shockwave throws a table and storms out, and Magnus cycles air while he watches that thin green stuff trickle down his leg. Self-repair will take care of it soon enough; it can now that he has that extra fuel in his system. His hand is still free, too… for all the good it does him. He can only just reach his own head if he stretches. He sags in his bindings and mutters a curse.
"…There's such a thing as trying too hard," he grumbles to the empty room.
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 7, 2009 22:02:05 GMT -5
Counterpunch has just finished checking the area around the strange spot where dust isn't lined as it should be, and is about to lay his hand on that spot itself, when there is a howl of pain from beyond it, audible even to him. Automatically he jerks his hand, and is about to curse his clumsiness when... it passes straight through. He looks at his hand, he looks at the wall, he shakes his head. Times like this, he'd kill for a nose like, say, Steeljaw's, or even Hound's or Red Alert's. Visual only holograms only go so far...
...but who'd be out here, anyway?
After the scream, there is a banging noise, like something thrown against the wall, and Counterpunch backs up and stands sideways and a little past the exit, so he can appear to be wandering past to anyone leaving. And then ask lots of awkward questions about why they're leaving through a hologram door, and oh, does Spinister know about this? When whatever's on the other side instead falls silent, though, he turns back, waits another moment, and then walks through.
He almost hisses as he sees the door.
So. Not just light-only holograms.
He heads towards the door and starts to examine the locks while listening. Still seems quiet in there. Normally, trying to crack this lock on the same day he discovered it would be out of the question, but right now there's someone, possibly an Autobot (the voice is familiar) being tortured in there. The wrong Autobot could even reveal him. He kneels next to the lock and examines it. His optic band narrows. Complex. This one's going to be hard, and just how much time does he have, anyway?
Hopefully enough.
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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 Jul 8, 2009 20:04:29 GMT -5
For a while, Ultra Magnus does little but hang in his restraints and contemplate how he got himself here. Because in the end, it's really his fault, he supposes. Recent events have been less than under his control, but it goes back so long… maybe even to the mistake he made in taking command. He never was made for it. Hubris; that's what it was.
"I suppose this is what I deserve," he mumbles to the empty room, optics dimming. "I could have just stayed where I belonged. Should have stayed." And let someone better suited to the job take it.
He sighs and tries to shift his weight; the binding around his arm keeps pulling on something that shouldn't be pulled on when he moves his free hand and he's getting tired of it. If he could reach that bar, he could at least try to break it. It would be cathartic, at least, even if it got him nowhere.
"…Hm." He looks from his hand to the binding above his elbow, then to the one at his chest. He can reach his head…. He cycles air and narrows his optics. "Maybe," he grunts, twisting his arm just so, feeling the twinge deep into his shoulder. He wasn't built to be quite this flexible but he pushes anyway. He hasn't been able to break these things with sheer force; perhaps with a different angle will come the leverage he needs. "Maybe… if I just… stretch…." He can almost feel the edge of the binding across his windows with his fingertips.
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 8, 2009 22:57:21 GMT -5
It takes longer than Counterpunch would like to get through the outer door, and he almost turns back the moment he sees an inner door. There's a moment of disconnect as part of him urges that he can't just leave an Autobot (if that's what it is) in there to be tortured, and the rest asks, 'Why not?' The answer becomes, 'Because I can't trust him not to tell them something important.' Punch might have been moved by sympathy, but Counterpunch is in charge now. Autobot loyalties, Decepticon sensibilities.
Eventually, Counterpunch is able to hack the encryption code of the inner door, though it takes some time - long enough for a certain someone to work through his self-accusations and start trying to actually do something. The door opens.
What's inside shocks Counterpunch enough to prompt him to open his optic band wide and drop the small electronic lockpick in his hand.
"-the Hell?!" he exclaims as he's presented with a white version of an Autobot leader he remembers as dead!
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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 Jul 9, 2009 19:53:44 GMT -5
It's with the tips of his fingers caught between his chest and that binding, which is beginning to rattle on its anchors with each small tug he gives it, that Ultra Magnus freezes and looks up. There's a door opening and it's the wrong door. Shockwave didn't leave from there. Theoretically, he could have circled around to come back in the way he brought in Magnus, but he was always one who dealt in facts. Magnus himself isn't easily given over to theories, either. So this is someone else. Uninvited?
Magnus decides he wasn't really expecting from a Decepticon the reaction he gets from this one, who sets off warning bells. The colours, the shape… a file he read vorns ago….
"I take it I'm not part of the tour," he can't help saying in a voice that is definitely not Optimus Prime's. He takes in that little gadget his guest dropped and adds, "And that you aren't supposed to be in here."
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 9, 2009 23:21:48 GMT -5
Counterpunch is taken off guard. But his expression of shock is not necessarily a drop in character - after all, even a Decepticon would be shocked by the site of an unexpected white Optimus Prime lying in a lab.
A white Optimus Prime... with Ultra Magnus's voice.
Counterpunch snorts and narrows his optic band and reaches down, picking up his gadget and tucking it into subspace. He looks around, looking for clues as to whose lab it is as he does this and says, "So whaddaya gonna do, Autotwerp? Tell on me?"
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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 Jul 11, 2009 18:01:56 GMT -5
"So. You aren't supposed to be here." Ultra Magnus supposes it's nice to have that suspicion confirmed at the very least. He pulls again on the binding at his chest and his fingers slip loose, arm swinging hard back into the wall with a clang. He heaves a grinding sigh and decides to back off trying to break the bar for now; there are too many holes in his plating and even if he snaps that binding, he's still vulnerable to whatever weapon this Decepticon happens to have. Even an old-fashioned knife in the right place could probably do him in at this point.
Some situation he's in.
"Enjoying the view?" he wonders, optics narrowing. Intelligence reports… something about intelligence reports….
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 12, 2009 11:51:20 GMT -5
Counterpunch continues to look around the lab. Shockwave's. He's pretty sure of it. He hasn't been on the inside, but the 'standard' exit... that looks like the same one. And these tools... well, this definitely isn't the shared lab, and how many other private labs does this base have?
(Don't answer that.)
Shockwave's lab. A mechanoid who sounds like Magnus kept here in secret.
Oh, leaking pit.
He snorts at the other's question. "Hell yeah," he laughs, as cruel as any Decepticon. He doesn't lean casually against anything, since every touch leaves something behind. Instead, he just puts his weight on his right leg and rests hands on hips.
"Not often I get a 'Bot this completely at my mercy. I could kill you now, head back out... seriously inconvenience the keeping you here, and no one to be the wiser. That might even score me points with the competition."
A beat. Then he goes for it. Even if he's wrong, the reaction to his next statement should be very enlightening.
"Can't say I much envy the health care program your boss has chosen for you, Magnus," he notes smugly.
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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 Jul 13, 2009 0:52:06 GMT -5
As intriguing as it is to take this Decepticon's words at face value and assume there's some sort of friction happening within the Decepticons – not too far-fetched an idea for one whose reality saw the faction splinter into three distinct groups – that isn't what Ultra Magnus should focus on right now. This Decepticon either knows who he is or is making an educated guess. Both options raise flags; if this soldier can get this far on his own and make an ID based on what's in this room, he's no ordinary soldier even if he's convincing in the part. A Decepticon other than Shockwave who recognises him without his armour… Magnus can't fathom how that's possible.
"It wasn't in the contract," Magnus says wearily; beneath the exhaustion is a sharp edge to his voice. "But that's a moot point. If you're waiting until you've picked up all your intel before you kill me, you can stop wasting our time."
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 13, 2009 21:51:38 GMT -5
Counterpunch doesn't know the body. He knows the voice. Magnus's confirmation, however, elicits a snort.
"What?" he snickers as he glances around, spotting a tool that looks promising on the table nearest the prisoner. It really looks like little more than a glorified hammer, but it'll do. He strolls over towards it, lifts it, and casually hefts it. "Tell me, traitor, who breached contract first?" He pauses a moment, placing his free pointer-finger to his chin in mock-consideration. "Oh, wait, you just implied you wouldn't share little tidbits like that! Well, I guess it is pointless to waste my time!"
He grabs the cyberhammer in both hands and swings it towards Ultra Magnus in a wide arc, red optics far too bright...
...and then stops short before actually landing the blow, the hammer so close that it probably registers on the larger Transformer's tactile sensors.
And then, suddenly, Counterpunch yanks it away, flips it in his hand, and sticks it, shaft down, in the chest restraint.
Right where Magnus could easily use it as a lever to break out.
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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 Jul 16, 2009 16:42:18 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus fully expects the blow to connect. He's more than ready for it; he doesn't flinch as the hammer swings. When that near-hit comes and goes, he nearly resigns himself to being toyed with for a while. It's all very… fitting.
When he finds instead that he's being lent a helping hand, he blinks. He looks at this Decepticon, optics narrowing as if to ask why he's being helped. There is also the beginnings of recognition, but he doesn't dwell on it – he has other things to deal with right now – and he doesn't waste any time on voicing the question. This is an opportunity he can't afford to pass up just because it comes from a possibly questionable source. He stretches again and grips the hammer, pulling hard. The hammer squeals; the binding groans and warps even more under the pressure. It starts to crack away from a small nick, one just above the deep wound in his side, likely left unnoticed by a sharp blade.
Then it snaps. Magnus uses this new freedom to stretch, pushing out and flexing his arm. Sparks fly from the gaps in his plating as he strains against that bar around his upper arm. It doesn't give way; its anchors do and it clatters to the floor. He just keeps going, taking the hammer to the bindings on his other arm.
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 16, 2009 21:52:33 GMT -5
Counterpunch steps back and watches Ultra Magnus escape, making no move to stop him. His gun, however, is summoned from subspace to his hand. He narrows his red optic band and sort of crouches, head thrust towards the Autobot.
"Maybe I'm just looking to claim I shot you tryin' to escape," he points out, the smirk in his voice that he can't show on his non-face.
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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 Jul 19, 2009 16:46:41 GMT -5
Is this soldier underestimating Shockwave? Ultra Magnus is certain that if he dies, the cyclops will want to know exactly how and why, and nothing short of not having the ex-security officer's processors and memory available will stop him from picking apart the data to find an explanation. He doesn't imagine that would go so well for his helper here, but he also doesn't think sharing that is in his best interests, either. There are ways to wipe memory banks.
"And that ought to earn you a few more points with the competition," grunts Magnus while he yanks his arm free and moves to the bar around his waist. He keeps one optic on this unstable enabler of his as he starts pushing against the binding. "Taking out an escaping prisoner… why, you'd be a minor hero. Bonuses, extra rations, praise from command – does Shockwave have oil baths for his forces here?" The thicker binding at his waist takes longer to finally snap loose from its anchor. Shockwave is downright paranoid to use this many. "Soldier like you, spending all his time in the background," Magnus continues in an increasingly conversational tone, "It'll be nice to have some recognition for once."
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 19, 2009 21:09:18 GMT -5
Counterpunch could really do without extra recognition, truth be told, but Magnus is practically writing a cover story for him, so why not take advantage of it.
He twirls the gun in his hand absently, all weight on his left leg, and makes an amused, mocking noise. "Heeeeeeey, you catch on quick. Guess you ain't as dumb as you look after all."
"Though it's kind of annoying to know I'd be doing you a favor. After all, even if you were to find some way outta here on your own, s'not like there's anyplace that'd be welcoming to a double-traitor like you."
Yes, Counterpunch keeps going back to that. On the cover, he's just generally taunting, but in truth, he's still watching carefully for reaction, trying to get some hint that maybe he really isn't sending a spy right into the Autobots' camp, after all.
Well, they have already been warned about this guy. They should be on guard, at least.
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