The prodigal returneth.

[Spinister]

Spinister wants to just stare at Starscream and then, possibly, vanish. He came back for these people so that... Needlenose could yell at him while Starscream encourages it? Spinister doesn't have time for this!

Needlenose, there is a thing called 'plausible deniability'. Spinister lives for it, and it helps keep his beloved Empire and his wonderful comrades safe when Spinister does insanely risky things. Oh, Spinister broke the truce? The Decepticons had no idea he was out there! Can't hold a rogue agent against them. Spinister cannot imagine that his other self didn't explain that concept to Needlenose.

Spinister ignores Needlenose and instead addresses Starscream, "At your will, Lord Starscream, I will take Needlenose's comments under consideration." He switches gears without a hitch. "There are some you will want this information given to," and some that Starscream will not, "Do you wish to handle that yourself or will you dispatch me to brief any particular individuals?"

[Needlenose]

Okay. Needlenose is totally trying to be angry at Spinister, and he's just having a really, really hard time doing so in the face of just how... weird Starscream is behaving. So he once more finds himself distracted when Starscream says he has a point.

"...I do?"

Still, when Spinister mentions 'taking his comments under consideration,' Needlenose's antennae lays back and he narrows his optics in irritation. That's just another way of saying, 'I'm going to ignore them, but don't want to say so to your face.' And then Spinister tries to put off dealing with him by offering to be 'dispatched.'

He crosses his arms. "Y'gonna have to come back to the room some time," he grumbles.

[Starscream]

Ah, Needlenose, if Starscream were capable of loving anyone other than himself, it would be you at this moment.

But Starscream begins to get bored with this. "Very good, Spinister, I see you have learned your lesson." And then to his subordinate. "Needlenose, Spinister has returned with some remarkable information from our new ally's own dimension, including details on the dimensional generator they have used." Starscream waved the datapad enticingly in one hand, before stowing it away on his person. "Spinister, you're the one who has written the notes. Just how many people are we going to NEED to carry out this task?" Like, say, between the three of them here, is there going to be any need to involve someone else?

[Spinister]

Spinister radios Needlenose, //Could we talk about this later? I'll play Ping with you,// or whatever the heck that game is. There's always one or other that Needlenose is after him to try.

He considers Starscream's question. Spinister understand some of the notes, but he's also smart enough to know that he's not smart enough to put them together. More, he really doesn't want people knowing just how smart he is - sharper than the average tack, sure, but they needn't know that Spinister is a monomolecular tack, comparatively speaking. Still, this isn't even a task for a monomolecular tack. It's a task for a fragging laser, like Starscream, Shockwave, or Hook - or Perceptor.

He replies, "Sir, I just copied the notes down. My guess is that someone such as yourself and a good deal of time would be required to make sense of them, but it isn't my field."

[Needlenose]

//It's Pong, and that one's way out, anyway,// Needlenose replies.

Since Starscream seems to be addressing them both concerning the information Spinister brought back, Needlenose adds to what the Sniper says.

"Lord Starscream," the Mayhem begins, "I'm no scientist, and while I'm a fair enough engineer in general, my specialty is circuitry design. I may be some help there, or on any bits where the plans have already been written out, but if you need someone to puzzle out temporal physics, you'll have to look elsewhere." Of course, with this Starscream being a scientist, he may just be able to do that part himself.

Starscream the scientist is still a weird thought to Needlenose, even after having met his ex-partner. It's rather strange - based on what he's heard of his own reality's Starscream, they're similar in enough ways that it's easy to get complacent. Then every now and again Starscream shows understanding of something technical or scientific beyond what Needlenose'd expect of an old-school politician, and it surprises him all over again.

[Starscream]

It never occurs to Starscream to point out this fact to other Decepticons, because noone has told him that his scientific aptitude is not something that other Starscreams have. Of course, any attempt to do so would only reaffirm that he is the one, 'true' Starscream.

Starscream frowns. He doesn't want to involve other people. "You are both to gauge my Decepticons. Advise me of someone competent, discreet and trustworthy. I will see if they are going to be needed later." The ability to completely those who would deceive him to another dimension is too alluring for a villain with a penchant for theatrics like Starscream to pass up.

Starscream paused for a moment. "Wait.. where exactly did their Xaaron and 'Swerve' run off to?"

[Spinister]

//Pick some game, and I'll play,// Spinister replies, a little irritated.

"Hook didn't know, Lord Starscream. Thought they might have gone to the Decepticons, but I didn't see them in my survey of their Decepticons," Spinister explains. He kept his survey of the Decepticons very brief. He wasn't interested in being captured by himself, even a nicer version of himself.

Spinister considers, and he suggests, "You might try Hook." Hook did a bang-up job on the holo-room, and if Starscream could play to Hook's ego, Hook would stay shut up about the matter.

[Needlenose]

'Competent,' 'discrete,' and 'trustworthy' are pretty tall orders when you're dealing with a bunch of Decepticons. Needlenose nods in agreement with Spinister. "Yeah, Hook doesn't even like talking to people, anyway, so the odds of him letting something slip are pretty low."

One antenna quirks slightly to the right as he considers the Decepticons they have. "There might also be Blackarachnia, but according to Thrust and Jetfire she eventually turns traitor. On the one hand, I'm not sure how much stock I'd put in the judgement of those too loonies, but on the other, just because she hasn't pulled something yet doesn't mean she won't pull something."

[Starscream]

Starscream wasn't sure about the tiny semi-squishy female. Starscream holds to the belief that he can avoid what might be an inevitable death by knowing what is in store in his future. She seems genuinely offended by the concept that she would defect to the Maximals or fall in love, such that he's seen. But he's also seen her be disrespectful to him.

"I'll consider Hook as an option." he said, after a long pause in thought. "Spinister, thank you for the information." He stopped again, looking as if he was finding a way to open his mouth and vocalize the matter he had on his processor. "But.. as I go through this.." He stopped again, his arms slacking at his sides. He's being very self-concious. He decides to just go for broke and continue his question. "Will I find any data you have collated about... this other world's version of myself?"

[Spinister]

Spinister murmurs, "Not much, my Lord." He barely spent any time at all observing the other Decepticons. It was half a continent away, after all, and he was very much worried about being detected. Starscream will mostly find very polite, vague comments that add up to 'he seems kind of like Ultra Magnus'. "However, their Omega Supreme speaks normally and does not appear to be out to kill Hook."

[Needlenose]

Starscream is being self-conscious.

Hnh.

For now, despite his irritation at Spinister's vanishing act, he falls silent and lets Starscream finish the questioning, although he's likely to drag Spinister off the moment Starscream is finished with him.

---

OOC: Skippable unless addressed or Spinister is dismissed.

[Starscream]

"Just imprison him..." Starscream murmurs in response to Spinister. "Well, I think that will be all. Good work, Spinister. YOu're both dismissed."

[Spinister]

"Not Long Haul," Spinister corrects, assuming that Starscream means that this Omega Supreme just imprisons Constructicons, rather than killing them.

He bows in thanks and moves to take his leave. His Nebulans are hungry, and Hairsplitter has been complaining that he hasn't had access to the kitchen he set up. Hairsplitter is a fair hunter, but he hates cooking over an open fire. Spinister, meanwhile, just hates open fires. They're a great way to be found by enemies.

Also, Spinister did just promise to play video games with Needlenose.

[Needlenose]

Needlenose stands upright, then bows forward, as Spinister has done. "Yes, Lord Starscream!" he answers, snappily.

Then he reaches towards Spinister and attempts to grab the other Mayhem by the shoulder. If he succeeds, he will promptly try to drag Spinister into their shared room and out of this thread.

---

OOC: Out of thread.

[Starscream]

Starscream, datapad in stow, makes his way to his office. He has to see what he can learn from this datapad. As well as who to share it with...