Decepticon Broadband

[Dead End]

// That would depend on where 'there' is, wouldn't it? // Dead End says. Apparently sitting on a nighted road waiting for cargo is making the Stunticon quite giddy.

// Decepticon, in case you missed the Air Commander's orders, please report in with your identity, last known datestamp, status and what you know of your location. //

[Sky-byte]

//Decepticon?!// Sky-byte sputters. Decepticon? If they address him as such without too much hostility, that must mean the addresser is a Decepticon. But none of the voices of Scourge's troops matches any voice of the mech overheard on the comm. He plows ahead anyways.

//What makes you think you can order me around so lightly? Hmm? Megatron will hear of this, I swear it! Hmph, order me around. I am Sky-byte, second in command of the Predacons. I only receive orders from Megatron. Not from you measly Decepticons.//

Yep, Sky-byte was born with two feet in his mouth.

[Starscream]

//Oh really, 'Demolishor'. Well I shall await the arrival you and your backup with great interest, then.//

Second-in-Command of the Predacons? Do we really have to suffix everything with '-con'?

//Sky-Byte, is it? Well, I'm very busy getting my faction in order right now, so I don't have time to point out your idiocy. Considering the Megatron most of US know is a Decepticon, I'd suggest you get a firm grasp of the situation at hand and do your best to swallow your pride. Otherwise I wish you all the luck of my friend Demolishor here.//

[Sky-byte]

As Predacon sounds better than 'Predabot', 'Predamechs', or anything else one can think of, it will have to do. You can never credit creators with too much creativity.

One thing Sky-byte does know is when he's beaten. It's him against an entire faction, the number of which is unknown, but unimportant. If it's more than two then Sky-byte knows he doesn't stand much of a chance, and he'd like to stay alive for now thank you. At least, alive to find some allies of his own.

//Ah...I see your point. Consider me under your command, sir oh Aerial Commander.// 'For now' but that is left unsaid.

[Demolishor]

//Sky-byte, I'd stop listening to him if I were you. Have you even met Starscream? This guy isn't Starscream.//

[Dead End]

A thought is starting to niggle at Dead End's CPU. // Demolishor, I assure you that is the Starscream that I knew--or one very much like him. Would you be so kind as to describe your Megatron? //

He's not going to voice the thought aloud until he gets more information. Embarassing himself in public is not one of Dead End's favorite avocations.

[Demolishor]

//Um...he's Megatron.//

Demolishor's starting to wonder whether these really are Autobot spies. They seem far too clueless for someone wanting to fool him. Perhaps he's simply been accidentally transported to an insane asylum planet.

//You know, big tank in purple and green, a few hints of orange, got a deep smooth voice that'll get your attention in two seconds flat. He's got a pair of big ridged horns, sorta like those Earth beetle things, his cannon's down at his side in his robot mode right under his powerlink port and his Mini-con is a little mobile cannon thing called Leader-1.

...is any of this ringing a bell with you guys?//

[Dead End]

Dead End replies, // That would be a 'No'. Our Megatron was a big mech in silver, with a heavy, unadorned helmet and a voice that could best be described as 'gravelly'--but definitely attention-getting. Carried his cannon on his right arm. He transformed into a firearm, not a tank. I do not know what you mean by 'powerlink port', and what is a 'mini-con'? Is that like a minibot, only of Decepticon make? //

There's a short silence. // I suspect that you come from a different timeline altogether than most of the rest of us. Already we've discovered that many of us come from the future or the past of each other.... It seems that some of us may have come cross-time, as well. Oh dear. You have no idea how this complicates things. //

[Demolishor]

There was a very long pause before Demolishor spoke. He didn't choose to delve into Dead End's caliber of verbosity, but simply summed up his feelings in a clear, concise statement.

//Huh?//

[Starscream]

Starscream sighed wearily before barking on the channel.

//Never mind, the offer is withdrawn. You are obviously too stupid to be of any use for me. No energon for you, 'Demolishor.'//

Yes, it is a ploy to get him to start listening to reason. By reason, we mean 'Starscream'.

[Demolishor]

Demolishor seemed to be reconsidering. His tone wasn't so much begging for forgiveness as it was trying to figure out what the heck was going on.

//Look, um...Starscream guy. If all this temporal whosiwhatsit is true, maybe you're not the guy I think you are and this is a mistake or something. What d'you look like?//

Demolishor! This is not that sort of comm frequency--never mind.

[Starscream]

Starscream sighed. //I am a standard Decepticon Hunter-Seeker. I am primarily gray with Red and Blue details. I used to turn into a Cybertronian tetra-jet but since my arrival on earth I've been reformatted into one of their pitiful attempts at aviation.//

//Now give me a reason to bother listening to your babble on this frequency any further.//

[Demolishor]

//Grey? Not red and yellow?//

Another thoughtful pause.

//Lemme ask more question before I can trust you. Do you ever take your wing off and hit people with it?//

Because Starscream's treachery aside, there is something very weird about a guy who uses bits of himself as a melee weapon.

[Starscream]

//...I'll take that as a no then. But if you must know, I don't.//

[Sky-byte]

//What kind of ridiculous question was that? Why not ask him 'how do we know you're not going to capture us and strip us down to spare parts' or 'exactly why should should we follow you'?//

Sky-byte was getting greatly irritated by this Starscream's all too familiar attitude and down-talking. If the world needed another Scourge, it got him. 'Why?' Sky-byte asks. Because it takes too much perverse pleasure in watching him squirm.

He also conveniently forgot that saying this over the Decepticon broadband meant that everyone (mainly Starscream) would hear it, not just Demolisher.