Overlord
Cadet
Plot Character
Please Attend Carefully
Posts: 88
|
Post by Overlord on Jun 14, 2011 14:47:35 GMT -5
Month 7, Week 2, Day 1, Ship CR pool
Overlord required an awful lot of surgery, and he's still not up to snuff. So for now, he's just lounging around in the CR pool, waiting for his internals to regrow. Overlord looks more his usual self, but his outer plating is just thin sheeting stapled into place, fragile and weak. He can't wait until his normal plating regenerates, and he sheds this dross, like a death's head moth emerging from a cocoon.
It doesn't hurt. It tickles. It's annoying.
So these Decepticons and Predacons and Vehicons and whatevericons - must they be so tiresome with the names? - think he's some 'Gigatron', a criminal psychologist. Hilarious. Overlord's sure he'll get tired of the ruse before he gives himself away. Yes, there might be others of his reality who could recognise him, now that his face is again his own, but there's the trick. If he's Overlord, he still holds the active rank of general in the Decepticon army, and they'll have to do as he says, renegade or not. If he's not Overlord, if he's Gigatron, then they don't have a problem, do they? They won't want problems, not the kind of problem that Overlord is.
He splashes idly in the CR pool, looking 'down' at the normal water pool 'below'. It's bizarre to him. Perhaps to someone there in the room, perhaps to no one at all, he comments, "You know, if you filled an arena with CR fluid, you could have some fantastic mock naval battles."
|
|
Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
|
Post by Hellbender on Jun 16, 2011 20:38:14 GMT -5
A certain big worm-former has just sauntered in and contemplates the pool. He's learned to wash any excess muck off before jumping in; oddly enough, the pool isn't a bath. It's for aquatic types to lol around in, or others to pretend they are aquatic. Hellbender does not quite get the idea of getting ionizing solvents in one's joints for recreation; he's here to do some periodic water-tightness checks on his transformed mode.
He glances up at the newcomer. "Could program the sim room to do that, invite anybody as wants to come. Or propose it to the boss as a training exercise. Might be interesting."
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Raines on Jun 17, 2011 0:07:27 GMT -5
OOC: As a Division 2iC, Hellbender has mostly likely read a report about the Holographic Shockwave Scourge and Co encountered in Thieves and Beggars. However, "he" has not been making anything even resembling regular appearances, and certainly not outside Shockwave's personal areas. So this would be Hellbender's first actual encounter with Not-Shockwave Shockwave.
There wasn't anyone sitting on the edge of the CR bath when Hellbender entered. There is, however, a familiar purple visage sitting there now. The construct who can not possibly be Shockwave is studying Overlord rather intently.
"That would be a prodigious waste of resources."
Not-Shockwave looks down. "Hello, Hellbender."
|
|
|
Post by Dark Skyfire on Jun 17, 2011 18:41:45 GMT -5
Skyfire is beginning to think that Blackarachnia dislikes him. Because he keeps getting assigned to medical duties. What in the designation 'space investigator' overlapped with 'scut medical work'? He knew enough to do most of his own self-repairs but, honestly...!
Well, he sighs, resigning himself, at least this way, giving the routine stuff to him freed up more skilled and, well, competent mechs (and femmes) for the more difficult, skill-driven work. He is still studying his datapad as he enters the pool room.
Oooooh a criminal psychologist. He might be a good mech to ask about...well...Swindle. And Frenzy. And...oh just about everyone he's met so far here. Something is terribly, terribly odd about these 'Decepticons'. Honestly, he wonders sometimes how they got in.
He looks up--finally--to see three mechs. Oh. "Which one of you is 'Gigatron'?"
He presumes Gigatron's the one with all the staples, but...he doesn't want to be rude.
|
|
Overlord
Cadet
Plot Character
Please Attend Carefully
Posts: 88
|
Post by Overlord on Jun 17, 2011 18:56:48 GMT -5
"Sim rooms don't really yield realistic behaviour," Overlord comments to Hellbender, not looking at the worm yet, instead steepling his fingers under his chin, laced to together. "There are the fatalists who realise it doesn't matter and so underperform. There are the insecure, who wish to prove themselves, and so perform unrealistic acts of bravery that they'd never actually engage in on the field. It's a lulling fantasy, but don't think for a moment that what you learn there is anything more than a compelling illusion - same as the simulation itself."
"No matter how much a simulated death there may hurt, it lacks the sting of the real thing, and thus the-"
Overlord cuts himself short, optics wide, as Shockwave appears out of nowhere, as if he'd been there all along. There are any number of options to explain the occurrence. After all, people drop into this dimension unannounced all the time. This Shockwave seems to know Hellbender, however, so Overlord's optics narrow, and he asks, "Invisibility cloak, teleportation, or simulation?"
He can't imagine a Shockwave laying low and being a person of no account of his own free will, but perhaps this Shockwave is a Shockwave in appearance alone.
Overlord gives Dark Skyfire an airy little wave and announces, "I'm the mech you're looking for," and he studies Skyfire, sizing him up in a glance. Oh, big, yes, but... new to war, so new that he doesn't even get the concepts yet, Overlord's quite certain.
|
|
Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
|
Post by Hellbender on Jun 17, 2011 19:33:45 GMT -5
"Yeah, well, it's still a better and more versatile training environment than the firing range, and we don't have enough troops to tolerate the usual wastage from live fire exercises," Hellbender replies. "Those ain't all that hot, in my experience--someone is always using it as an excuse to settle scores with 'accidents' instead of actually training and--"
Hellbender stares at the sudden apparition with astonishment, then engages other senses. Lord Shockwave seems solid enough, yet there was that report about the illusion in Shockwave's quarters.
"Lord Shockwave? Did Ah miss the announcement of your return?" Hellbender asks cautiously.
Then Dark Skyfire wanders in. "Son, you really ought to learn who you're sharing the ship with. What if you ran into an Autobot infiltrator in the hallway and ignored him because you thought he was just another trooper? Ah'm Hellbender."
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Raines on Jun 18, 2011 9:56:28 GMT -5
Not-Shockwave continues to gaze down at Hellbender, "Would Shockwave return and snub his most loyal? I think not. You have missed nothing."
His attention returns to Overlord. The construct tilts his head. "I have puzzled you, and I have seen you to be one not easily puzzled. I believe the appropriate reaction would be pleasure, were I possessed of such programing."
"The solution to the issues you raise is to place the individuals into a realistic sim while unawares, so that they cannot be certain they will survive, or to alter the parameters of the simulation after they have entered. It is possible to change the safety protocols on the room, after all."
Skyfire is ignored for the time being by Not-Shockwave. The shuttleformer was evaluated long ago, after all.
|
|
|
Post by Dark Skyfire on Jun 18, 2011 10:37:16 GMT -5
Skyfire's strangely getting used to being written off. It's like his own personal stealth mode, and as a huge mech known for getting in the way, he's actually kind of tickled by it. He thinks he can guess the topic of conversation, so he chips in. To belong, of course.
"Honestly, isn't naval combat a bit archaic?" He flicks his wings. Air power, after all. Water's only on part of a planet--air covers everything. "I suppose as a strategic exercise it has some value, like cyberchess, but...beyond that?"
He ruffles a bit at Hellbender's comment. Really, the condescension was uncalled-for. "I'm sorry. I'm used to solo missions and I'm afraid I'm rather out of practice learning names." He does know Turmoil, his roommate! And Rampage. And Ravage. And a whole motley crew of...strange mechs. But worry takes over. "Has that happened? Infiltration?" Maybe he should carry more guns.
He nods at Gigatron, scrolling--and scrolling--down a loooooooooong list of procedures the mech has already undergone. "Uh, perhaps we should start with the basics. Are you in any extensive discomfort? Internal diagnostics giving pings?"
|
|
Overlord
Cadet
Plot Character
Please Attend Carefully
Posts: 88
|
Post by Overlord on Jun 19, 2011 22:26:21 GMT -5
Well, well, well, Hellbender really is a stuffed shirt, isn't he? Oh, and loyal to the missing Shockwave? Oh, that explains a great deal.
Overlord gives holo-Shockwave the desiccated, dead ghost of a smile and a small shrug, touching his newly repaired optic, and he says, "Only having one optic allows one to see the world in unusual ways. I'd recommend it to anyone."
Not that he really expects anyone to go around poking out their optics on his say so at the moment. Overlord files away the implication that simulations can be turned lethal. There's a form of roulette to be had there, he's sure. 1/6 chance of a sim being lethal, and the way that the participants play the game would change entirely.
There are wings on Overlord, but he was once a general, Megatron's go-to problem solver, and so he indulges Skyfire, "It really depends on the planet. You see, on one mostly covered by water, with deep oceans, it is quite possible to have your undersea boats dive so very deeply that even the best of satellites cannot track them, and then you have a lovely invisible shipping and attack force. Of course, your enemies will develop their own forces to counter them, and you'll have counter-counter forces... the dance never ends. Until you change the rules."
"But ah, you see, I am an aficionado for gladiatorial games. That is the true beating fuel pump of it. Naval battles in an arena are always spectacular, no matter how half-sparked. The most disastrous can be the most delightful."
Overlord idly splashes at holo-Shockwave. Perhaps it's juvenile, but he doesn't care. To Skyfire, he finishes, an inscrutable smile on his carven face, "I can't say I feel a thing."
|
|
Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
|
Post by Hellbender on Jun 20, 2011 13:54:45 GMT -5
Hellbender frowns at holo-Shockwave. "Okay, so you're that holo-sim of Shockwave that Scourge and Needlenose ran into. Y'ought to change your appearance a bit, so as not to confuse troops as to your position in the chain of command. Maybe blue instead of purple?" Because no one has seen animation-error Shockwave yet!
"To us? Not yet. We've done it to the Autobots a time or two; if we can do it to them, they can do it to us if we get careless. Helps to know your fellow Decepticons--easier to spot strangers, and folks acting out of character," he replies to Dark Skyfire.
Hellbender stares back up at 'Gigatron'. Why did Hook put the CR bath on the ceiling again? Made it a pain to hold conversations with people in it unless you were on the ceiling yourself, or stretched out in the pool looking up. Maybe that's why Hook did it.
"Hmm. Ayep, we've got Pit-fighting and gladiator fans on this ship. Too bad you missed our stop at Pzz-Zazz; some of our folks participated in games there," Hellbender informed him. "It did let some of the hotheads blow off steam, though, since they were under orders not to engage."
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Raines on Jun 21, 2011 12:12:18 GMT -5
"I see no reason to change," Not-Shockwave says evenly to Hellbender, "I am as I created me, and will remain so."
"There are parts of Cybertron where liquid flows still, lakes and rivers, some that flow so far beneath its reaching cities that few even remember them. It does not hurt to keep such skills honed, Skyfire."
The CR fluid splashes up on Not-Shockwave, sticking to him just as if he were a true being and not a construct of light. His attention remains fixed on Overlord.
"You are a connoisseur of pain and enjoy watching the inflicting of it, you mean. A lesser mech would not have survived your wounds, and there are few who could be so flippant about them if they did survive."
"You remind me of my Megatron."
|
|
|
Post by Dark Skyfire on Jun 23, 2011 16:38:26 GMT -5
Oh. Well, all right then. Skyfire doesn't mind the lecture, but he admits to being a bit...taken aback at the strange, well...glee Gigatron seems to have about these things.
"Well," he says, carefully, "I suppose they must be entertaining, arena demonstrations. As long as, well, as long as no one gets hurt." He's sure that's part of the appreciation--that they could make it look so real and dangerous.
He nods at Hellbender. "Yes, I suppose we should be careful. Our enemies will use any strategy against us." He frowns. What's wrong with a little conquest? It was how nature worked, after all--the strongest, the best adapted, survive.
He just doesn't think it has to be so...enjoyable as Gigatron seems to find it.
And Skyfire admits he has no idea what to make of this Shockwave mech. That certainly doesn't seem like a very flattering thing to say. Except the Megatron part. Megatron was a great leader. But..'connoisseur of pain' seemed a bit, well, psychotic.
And then here's Gigatron. "No signals at all?" Skyfire frowns. "I need to run a diagnostic on your external sensors. That's not right." Not that he wants Gigatron to feel pain, but, well, without pain, the body lacks key signals that it's going too far.
|
|
Overlord
Cadet
Plot Character
Please Attend Carefully
Posts: 88
|
Post by Overlord on Jun 23, 2011 23:09:20 GMT -5
"A hologram could appear as anything," Overlord observes lazily. "Interlocking rings of pure baryonic matter forming a strange attractor with the rings rotating at just the right frequency offset to stagger the impulses down your wires just that the waves overlap and build and finally crash and break - in your CPU, causing catastrophic system failure," like a tsunami. "For this simulation to appear as Shockwave would indicate that it strongly associates Shockwave with its identity. To change even as much as the colour would be a surrender of some of the self. For some, no surrender is ever excusable."
He looks to holo-Shockwave's shoulders and what they lack, optics twinkling thoughtfully, but he gracefully says nothing on the matter.
Instead, Overlord asks, "Not to engage? Why, were you only in Phase 1?" He static-coughs into his hand. What an abysmal strategy that, the infiltration phases. So inflexible. So soulless. There's no art at all to them.
Shockwave confirms what Overlord had to say about appearance reflecting identity. Gratifying. Overlord does flinch, ever so slightly, when he's compared to Megatron. It's more reaction than he'd like to give, but he gave it, and so be it. He won't worry himself unduly over it. He busily himself prying open the panel on the back of his hand and, quite deliberately, breaks one of the struts, before submerging the hand under the CR fluid. He watches it expectantly, looking to see how long it takes that little break to heal. It shouldn't be long. Then he looks up at Skyfire, considering.
Overlord replies, "Getting hurt is part of the catharsis of the arena. In my reality, you see, the Decepticons rose out of the dispossessed underclasses. Most of us the loved the illegal Pit-fights. Do you think it strange that we, those ground under the heel of the Autobots oppressors, would turn to slaying one another? It isn't so strange when you think about it just a moment. A gladiator might die in the arena, but he'd die on his own terms, not slaving in a mine for some Autobot overseer." His lips curl into a sneer. "And the crowd, oh. Everyone in the audience thinks he has some say in whether or not the loser lives or dies, even though the individual cheer means nothing. But the illusion of control is seductive. Of course, we eventually diverted our attentions from pounding the bolts out of each other to a proper uprising."
It was fun while it lasted.
"I get the signals, yes. 57% operational levels left anterior primary load servos... I could rattle that all off for you until your chips dribbled out your mouth. I just don't feel much." That emptiness again. "It's just tedious, no more. Why don't you come a little bit closer?" Overlord's optics brighten and widen invitingly.
|
|
Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
|
Post by Hellbender on Jun 24, 2011 12:22:18 GMT -5
Hellbender listens to Not-Shockwave and considers what he's said, replying only with "Ah see." The holo-entity (where does he come from?) carries over Shockwave's analytical persona. It could be very helpful, if it wants to.
The worm-former stares up at 'Gigatron' as he slides into the pool, still in robot mode. That mode needs water-tightness testing, too, and it feels a bit too crowded to transform into worm mode with all these large people present. Besides, there's something about 'Gigatron' that puts Hellbender on his guard, reluctant to give the inquisitive, condescending psychologist any more information than he has to.
Retelling public information is another story. "Ah dunno what your Phase I is part of, but we had 'Do Not Engage the Autobots publically or Locals at all' orders on account of we were passin' through to resupply, and our leader decided on a political strategy. In this reality, they don't know Autobots from Decepticons from Lithones from generic protocol droids, so we let the Pzz-Zazz locals and vistors get the impression that us 'Cons were mild-mannered interstellar traders, and the Autobots were war-mongering pillagers. Ah'd say it was a wash: managed to get some of their hotheads tossed in the local stockade, got plenty of local cooperation in getting resupplied, but didn't get any of the 'Bots permanently taken care off, and didn't really hinder their resupply."
"On the other hand, as far as regional interstellar relations go, regional inhabitants should still think we're a neutral party and not be on guard against us. We also confirmed that there's Quintessons and Unicron known in this reality, and both are bad news for any Cybertronian," Hellbender concludes. They'd already known about Unicron, but on Pzz-Zazz they learned it had a considerable back trail and worshippers.
"Skyfire--weird callin' you by that name, jest like it's weird callin' the new Starscream by that name--someone getting hurt is the whole point of gladiatorial games. Gives the ones that want to fight and maim someone something to do, and the hotheads who just want to be around a battle something, without all the morale issues of random fights in the barracks, or the strategic problems of unplanned, ill-prepared attacks on the enemy on account of someone just wantin' to fight that bad." Do they not have pit-fighting or State Games in Dark Skyfire's reality?
Oh joy, Dr. Gigatron is pontificating again. "Really? Ah think my Decepticons had the same start. Your games were illegal, though? That's different. In mah reality, the State Games were a public spectacle, started back when everyone was an Autobot. Megatron got to be a big name in the Games, back when things were falling apart, before there were Decepticons."
Hellbender listens carefully to what 'Gigatron' has to say, and watches him as well. Not-Shockwave's analysis seems to be spot on, and Hellbender is getting the feeling that Dr. Gig is one of those arrogant fraggers who likes to push other people's buttons for fun. Either that, or he likes to hear himself talk and impress people with how dangerous he could be if he had occasion to. Or both.
|
|
|
Post by Victoria Raines on Jun 25, 2011 19:04:10 GMT -5
Not-Shockwave's optic light narrows slightly and his headfins tilt back as he listens to Overlord and Hellbender get into a word count contest. There is something in what they say that puzzles him, not that one could tell that. The flinch from Overlord is gratifying, but only momentarily.
"Do the people of your reality require regulation of their aggression coding to insure that they are not all psychotic sadists?" the construct asks, "Some do, it seems."
He looks down at Skyfire, "He is beyond feeling, I think, Skyfire, Interesting, because I do not think he lacks the ability to feel, given his reaction to Megatron's name." The construct tilts his cannon arm and fires a shot through Overlord's lower torso. "Now you have a wound which will be more interesting to watch heal," Not-Shockwave says conversationally.
OOC: shooting done with permission.
|
|