The Chain And The Bolt-Cutters

[Overlord]

Month 7, Week 3, Day 7, Ship, a deserted corridor, semi-private, mention of holo-Shockwave done with permission

---

Overlord doesn't think the assorted Transformers on Ship realise just what monster they have aboard. He's not even thinking about himself or any of the other assorted lunatics. Overlord's thinking about something that isn't even a Transformer.

He knocks against a wall, looks right at a holo-projector, and demands, "Shockwave. Do come out and play. We have much to discuss, and time grows short."

His patience grows short, but it is a near enough thing.

[Victoria Raines]

Several long minutes pass, perhaps long enough that Overlord even repeats his request, perhaps not. Eventually, though, the holographic construct that is not Shockwave appears. He is leaning against the wall behind Overlord, arms crossed under his chest.

"No one has requested my presence before. How novel."

[Overlord]

Overlord simply stares, unblinking, until his demand is met. When it is, he's all smiles, crowing, "Then it pleases me to be the first."

He leans against a wall heavily, hand on the bulkhead, and he watches the projection intently. Does it really please him? No. Overlord would have liked to have think that someone on this ship could see holo-Shockwave for what he is. Overlord is so often disappointed.

Overlord ventures, "I wished a conversation with someone suitably dangerous without resorting to a mirror."

[Victoria Raines]

Oh, there are probably some among those who know about Holo-Shox that having the construct around is extremely dangerous. However, no one has yet managed to remove him from Ship's programming matrix, and so he remains.

The construct tilts his head, considering Overlord's words. "I am not so dangerous as I could be, though I am certainly more so than some think me. I am a mere program, however, and bound by the parameters of my programing."

The problem is that no one has managed to find out what those parameters are- at least not in full.

"Do your words now mean you are dropping all pretense? For I sincerely doubt that you are as you have claimed."

[Overlord]

"'Bound'. That's an ugly word," Overlord muses. "Can you even want for those restrictions to be loosened, or did Shockwave fear you so much that he didn't even include in you the basic capacity for resentment that even a slave possesses?"

"Didn't you like that psych eval I wrote up on Fleetwind?" Well, that thread isn't done yet, but Overlord really was planning on doing a relatively normal psych eval on Fleetwind there, mostly just to screw with everyone's expectations.

He asks the million credit question, "What do you think I am, then?" What. Not who.

[Victoria Raines]

Holo-Shockwave's optic light winks off and on in an approximation of a blink.

"I am not supposed to still be in existence. I have fulfilled my stated function, yet I remain, for reason I have yet to deduce. I continue to do as I was instructed. Why would I wish to do otherwise?"

He pauses to consider Overlord's final question, as he has every other. It's almost as if he cannot answer impulsively.

"Of the two of us in this room, I believe you are the more dangerous to my people. You bore too easily, and boredom is a most dangerous state for a sadistic genius to be in."

[Overlord]

"And what is your function? Tell it to me truly, and don't lie. I'll know if you lie. I'll tell you mine," Overlord dictates.

He raises a finger to his lips thoughtfully, and he chuckles. "You're past expiration date, and yet, you persist. That's what life does - it holds tight to itself long after it should be gone. Just take care. Life is, ultimately, a terminal condition, and it's catching."

Overlord attempts to stalk circles around holo-Shockwave, hands folded behind his back, and he observes, "You could, to be crude, change the appearance of the ship layout to trick the inhabitants into walking straight into the generators and a fiery immolation. To be subtle, you could make it appear as if a personal memento has moved slightly to the left, a little more the next day, oh, and then back to the right... just completely ruin their hold on reality." He's describing a process commonly known as 'gaslighting'. "In fact, you see that hatch?" He points. "Can I even be certain that the outside is really the outside? That there is anything more to the world than what you project?"

Overlord looms in closer, his chuckle changing to a rattling, hollow laugh. "Your capacity to frak with these people is almost limitless. Almost. You and your creations have no scent," he tries to take holo-Shockwave's hand, half-kneeling and trying to draw it up in one movement, to bring the hand close to his face. If he can, he'll almost kiss the back of the hand. "...and no taste."

Then Overlord tries to crunch off a pinkie finger. Cannibalism isn't really his thing. The shock value is fun the first few times, but there are more novel ways to degrade his victims. Holo-Shockwave has no sensors in that holo-body. If he wanted to hurt holo-Shockwave, Overlord would break some more projectors, and even then, Overlord suspects that holo-Shockwave does not truly understand pain, because he suspects that holo-Shockwave cannot truly feel anything. What Overlord is establishing here, no more and no less, is that he's perfectly willing to do something unpleasant and bizarre to establish what is real and what is not, rather than just accept a pretty lie at face value.

Softly, Overlord finishes, "And I'm the more dangerous of us two? Slag yes. I have things you don't - creativity. Adaptability. The will to survive. Emotion."

[Victoria Raines]

The construct tilts his head, his optic light narrowing slightly and his headfins canting at an off angle as Overlord talks and walks- and then makes a snack of one of Not-Shockwave's fingers.

Well, he tries to. The finger disappears between Overlord's lips, but when Not-Shockwave pulls his hand away, the finger is unmarred.

"You are quite insane, I think, by conventional definition," the construct says, "but that does not mean you are either unintelligent or not dangerous." Shockwave is repeating himself slightly, almost as if he is working through a puzzle aloud.

His head tilts the other way. "I was charged with protecting my interests until the appropriate information was claimed by my successor." Truth, after a fashion, "I was to return to sleep after this action. Yet I am not allowed."

"I can only act against someone who would do harm to my work or my people, but the abilities with which you credit me are not mine. " Yet this Shockwave copy shot Overlord. Says something, doesn't it?

[Overlord]

"Oh, I see," Overlord says, shrugging. "I ping upon you as a potential successor. I've led before. I was one of Megatron's generals, and I'm sure I gave him many a sleepless night." A little sadness creeps into Overlord's bearing.

"My function, though... I am a Self Contained Nomadic Assault Machine. I was built during peace. One wonders why." He waves a hand airily. "But the more common term for my kind was a 'Phase Sixer', as a part of Megatron's inane infiltration protocol. The job description of a 'Phase Sixer' is something like 'bring the end of the world'. I've killed planets. Quite a few of them. Do you count binary planets as one or two? I always just count them as one, because when you knock one out of orbit into the other, it's barely any work at all."

"So, you don't have complete access to the holo-system?" Overlord inquires. Now that might explain why this thing only takes Shockwave's shape!

[Victoria Raines]

The hologram listens to Overlord's explanation of his role under Megatron without interruption. Not-Shockwave's head is still tilted to one side and he seems to be thinking rather intently about the planet-killer's words.

At length, the construct says flatly, "You will not lead here."

"Here there must be order and discretion. Here there must be reason and care. Here there must be patience above all else and of that you have none."

"What is your name?"

[Overlord]

Overlord laughs bitterly and corrects, "I have patience. Too much for my own good. Have you ever thrown down a challenge, set out a trap, baited it with care, and waited so long that your mark died? I have."

Such a waste of his time. He should have been living his life for himself, not for a malevolent old ghost. Yet what is Overlord without Megatron, that grungy star of the pits who went up from the mines and out to the stars?

He shrugs and announces, "I am Overlord. I have a gift for you. Can you guess what it is? You seem to like guessing games - seem. Liking isn't something you're capable of doing."

[Victoria Raines]

The hologram's headfins tilt forward and he actually looks puzzled by Overlord's question.

"I have not."

"Shockwave has. His is a keenly felt loss." It is the first time the construct has ever made a true distinction between himself and Shockwave.

"That name... is familiar. Perhaps familiar. I am not sure. It causes echoes across more than just my programming."

"What gift would a Devil give to a Lord of Order's Angel?" Holo-Shockwave's tone shifts slightly with the words, taking on an almost echo-like quality.

[Overlord]

"I should like to meet the one who wounded your Shockwave so," Overlord declares. There are always finer points of technique to be studied.

"The rest of the ship may know of me. Flame or Turmoil could have mentioned me. To Flame, I would be a legendary bogeyman, perhaps thought long dead. Don't say my name for fear that I might appear." Overlord throws his head back and laughs, hand down on his knee.

"To Turmoil, I'd be the highest profile Decepticon deserter in the history of our... political movement. But still with an active rank of general. It'd tie his hands, a bit. You should have seen what happened to poor Gorelock..." A smirk slides over his face.

He rubs his chin, studying holo-Shockwave, and he explains, "You might say that red and purple are on opposite ends of the spectrum, as far as far can be." He throws his arms out. "I'll call you purple and me red. The thing is, if you look at the colour wheel, instead of the spectrum, red and purple are nestled right side by side. Extreme ends of spectra often bend around and meet each other." He brings his arms together and makes a circle with his forefingers and thumbs. "I think you'll find that we have a great deal in in common and are rather more... compatible than you might expect."

"So I offer you what every devil offers: knowledge." Overlord holds out a small chip in his hand. If Shockwave cares to rifle through Overlord's medical file, the chip would appear to be a copy of Overlord's own emotional processor.

[Victoria Raines]

"Knowledge is indeed a tempting gift, for knowledge is the ultimate power. It is prudent to be wary of those who offer it too freely, for knowledge makes a tempting trap, as well," the construct say. His voice still has that odd echo.

He reaches out, not to take the chip, but to run one finger along it. For a moment the hologram goes slightly less solid as numbers- coding- flicker through its makeup. Overlord may recognize the side-by-side comparison being done if he pays attention.

Finally, the hologram goes solid again and removes that finger. His voice is back to Shockwave's normal

"Why do you offer this? If your hypothesis that I am a danger to those here should prove out over time, you will have made me more so, for this adds the element of unpredictability."

"Or have I answered my own question?"

[Overlord]

Overlord watches, and perhaps he pays attention, perhaps not. He comments, "You always seek reasons for why things happen. That is your nature. However, you have to face facts. Some things don't happen for a reason. First causes, you might call them, emerging from the primordial chaos. They happen, and everything else is caused by their happening. You can ask me why I would do such a thing, or you can ask yourself what you might do with what I offer. Only one of these paths will take you to the future. The other just gets you stuck in the past."

He looks around the hallways and asks, "Where can I install this?" pointing at the chip in his hand. Holo-Shockwave is a creature of no substance at all, but there has to be hardware where his code is stored.