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Post by Barricade-3 on Dec 13, 2008 12:40:05 GMT -5
That giggle of Holi's reinforces Barricade's determination not to finish Duskwing off; he's gotta wonder if this kid has ever had a significant victory like this before, taking down a bad guy twenty times his size. For one moment as he ignores Duskwing's tirade, staring down into those furious red optics, there is a simmering rage that blossoms for an instant into pure, righteous and forthright hate- if Duskwing were in any condition or mood to pay attention or care, he might even recognize the Barricade he's thought this was in that star-hot flare. DAMN this war and all the hate and darkness that twists us all into tools and weapons!The thought of seeing such a youthful spark inevitably darkened by the ravages of this war... it aches, and for a moment, Barricade pulses a possessive curl of energy around Frenzy within him. // Hate this, // he growls softly, knowing that Frenzy will understand what Barricade means. Knowing that his partner, his best friend... His Frenzy knows him better than he knows himself most days. Knows that Barricade really best feels alive when he's testing the very edges of his limits, and knows that really only happens when they are in battle - and knows how much Barricade hates that about himself. Knows how much Barricade tries to distract himself from that as he also worries for Wreckage out there somewhere on the battlefield. // Wreckage? // he radios tentatively as the radio waves suddenly seem to clear. // You doin' okay? //* Duskwing is still raving, and one comment catches Barricade by surprise. "You just figured that out now?" he blurts out, astonished. "I was wrong. There is someone dumber than our Duskwing." Barricade doesn't know that Holi wasn't responsible for the suddenly released airwaves. He just knows that the kid was working on the problem, and now, suddenly, clear air again. "Good job, kid." And Duskwing is still raving. "Why couldn't I have gotten the lucky shot and taken out your vocal processor?" Barricade mutters. Holi wouldn't mind if he punched Duskwing, would he? Just once? Just to shut him u-- WHAM!Once, right in the chin, as Barricade leans down close and glares at Duskwing optic to optic. "I wouldn't even wish Perceptor on you, slagger," he hisses, claws of his free hand clenching and unclenching as he resists the urge to wrap that hand around Duskwing's neck and squeeze. He's not letting that sick Autobot freak anywhere near Frenzy, no matter what it takes. Ohyeah, or Holi. ooc: also copied to Radio: Barricade-3 to Wreckage-3. Also, striking of Dusky done with permission.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Dec 15, 2008 2:36:57 GMT -5
Holi doesn't quite grimace at that undeserved praise, but he comes close.
"Y-yeah," he says glumly and without an ounce of the pride he'd feel if it really was his doing. "…Tha– It… wasn't me." If it was possible for Holi to shrink, he would; as it is, his shoulders tuck inward and he hangs his head. At least he managed to take down Duskwing? There is that.
He doesn't do more than look up when Barricade punches the Seeker. Duckwing was being a raging jerk, after all, with the threats and the talk of an evil Perceptor and – and that is a frightening thought. Holi won't dwell on that. It's harder to brush off the thought of another himself out there on the field somewhere; another him all in black, apparently. How much is the other him like or unlike him, anyway?
"Now what," he asks, "Barricade, sir?"
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Dec 15, 2008 19:17:57 GMT -5
About the time it finally registers on Duskwing that Barricade is actually talking to him, 'Cade punches him in the chin.
"OWW! Whaddaya do that for? Dem whackjob bass-ackwards Autobums told me youse Decepticons is like our Autobots," Duskwing says sulkily. "They lie about dat, too? An' I only saw the guy at night, not too close. He keeps outta sight, how am I s'posed to know his whole fraggin' p-p-- Slaggit--colors? Youse guys oughta have different signs if you're different, see? Not my fault youse guys look like our guys. Youse gotta be an officer, thinkin' I'm dumb just 'cause I ain't got all the technical info you got. Nobody ever tells me nothin'," Duskwing whines.
See Duskwing sulk. Sulk, Duskwing, sulk.
He tries to lift his guns again; still no movement. Duskwing wishes his self-repair would work faster... what if it doesn't start working? What if he's stuck here until Hook or someone fixes him?
What if Perceptor finds him like this?
Duskwing belatedly registers Barricade-3's comment about Perceptor, and flashes him a look of utter horror for an instant before hiding behind a surly scowl.
"I already got Perceptor on me once," he snarls hatefully. "You can have him, I don't want him. Paid him back, but dey fixed him. He won't stay down. Not fair."
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Dec 24, 2008 20:40:07 GMT -5
Skipping Barricade-3 due to time-out. He can post back in when ready.
While Duskwing rants, Holi's glumly blank expression turns to a frown. A rather cross frown. After a few moments, he gets back to his feet and plants his hands on his hips. It makes his profile a whopping meter wider, but more importantly, it's an authoritative position that gives his confidence a sizeable boost. The Seeker may not be talking to him, and it's very rude of him to do this, but he's going to butt in anyway because this time, it feels warranted.
"I'm an officer," he declares – and he isn't completely wrong, though that captain's designation probably doesn't count here for the datastick it's saved to, "but I don't think you're dumb because you don't know things. I think you're dumb because you don't see what's wrong with being a bad guy and hurting people just because you can!" That's called being a bully and it sure looks like the Decepticon ranks are just chock full of them no matter what world they're from. Why, it's almost enough to make Holi spit. If he actually could spit, anyway. For now, he'll settle for incensed. "You aren't a soldier! You're – you're just a thug! With guns!"
Will any of this have the slightest effect on Duskwing? Holi has no idea, but Holi is also worried, disappointed, upset, and angry. And like an angry little boy – not the captain he's supposed to be – he's having his fit at the nearest valid target.
He won't even try to touch the Perceptor topic. Too biased. And too scared at the thought of someone as brilliant as the doctor, but evil.
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Dec 27, 2008 0:12:36 GMT -5
Skipping Barricade due to time-out
Duskwing stares blankly at Holi for a long time.
"Huh?" he finally says, giving the Micromaster a puzzled frown. Duskwing's expression slowly turns less puzzled and more frowning as he ponders Holi's indignant lecture.
"I am a soldier!" he retorts indignantly, stung deeply by Holi's words, though why, he could not say."I'm a Decepticon. That makes me a soldier, see? An' that's my job, hurt people and break things. Whaddaya think soldiers do?"
Duskwing lacked much ability for introspection; he only knew that Holi's words bothered him, not that they hit not-so-deeply buried insecurities: fears that without the purple sigil, he would be just another grunt, useless and despised, scrabbling for fuel at the fringes... as he had been before Megatron rose up and gave him something to believe in. As a Decepticon, he belongs, he's part of something more important than him.
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Post by Barricade-3 on Dec 30, 2008 7:05:50 GMT -5
"Soldiers protect the ones who need protecting," Barricade snarls angrily, rolling himself off of Duskwing before either the stupidity or the cruelty can rub off on him like rancid grease. "The kid's right; thugs hurt people and break things."
"You're no Decepticon."
After all, a Decepticon, as far as Barricade is concerned, is a good guy who stands up for the weak and the oppressed and protects life from arrogant, grasping slagheaps like Duskwing and his ilk. A Decepticon stands up for his buddies and helps them out, which is really what Barricade would rather be doing right now: grabbing Holi and dashing off to find and help out Wreckage.
But Duskwing has struck a nerve in the black and white knight errant, and Barricade is suddenly too furious to let such an insult go unanswered.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Dec 30, 2008 22:47:02 GMT -5
Being a Decepticon doesn't automatically equal being a soldier – not in Holi's book. The Decepticons he's grown used to really are just a collection of criminals and thugs and bullies. The thought of them having any sort of military organisation is both alien and disturbing, because if they could get organised, they could cause real trouble.
It's because the Decepticons he knows aren't anything like the Decepticons this Barricade seems to know that Holi bites his tongue on that matter. He's young and rash, but he can get the workings of tact sometimes.
"Soldiers fight for those who can't," pronounces the young captain instead. "They fight to protect those who can't fight. They sacrifice themselves for others." They sacrifice a lot; he's seen the processions of wounded and battered, been away from home for so long and missed others so much. He's given up his time, put his life on the line just like any other, and no, it wasn't fun. It was hard and sad and painful. But it was all worth it knowing that what he and the Autobots did kept his friends and family safe.
Of course, soldiers also follow orders. And what, Holi wonders, if a soldier was ordered to do the things Decepticons do? What if a soldier's commanders were the bullies and making the soldier do their dirty work? It's a rather sobering, chilling thought.
"…That's… that's all there is to it," Holi adds with far less surety.
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Dec 31, 2008 7:47:00 GMT -5
Long blank stare as Duskwing tries to process the message Barricade-3 and Holi are both sending. Finally he manages a suspicious scowl.
"You sound like Autobots!" Duskwing's gray face contorts in another scowl. "Or somethin'. Prime talked like dat; most Autobots just shoot us 'Cons."
"Youse guys talk so big about protecting, only wasn't no Decepticons when Vos and Tarn went blooie! Dat was all red badges doin' the war. Nobody protected us! We protected ourselves, see? Megatron came outta Tarn and--and... " Duskwing gropes around for the words to express those incredible events, but can't, quite.
He settles for, "He brung us all together, Tarnans and Vossies both, see, when we had no city no more and no fuel and no nothin' and the Autobot bosses didn't give a slag. Megatron knew what to do, and dey couldn't stop him. He wasn't afraid of nothin'! He showed us we hadda protect ourselfs, wasn't nobody gonna do it for us, and we hadda take what we needed, 'cause wasn't nobody gonna give it to us."
He stared at Holli like the Micromaster was something weirder than a Quintesson. "Bots sure wanted to sacrifice us to protect them," he added venomously. "Gotta protect yourself first, ain't no one gonna do it for you. 'Bots only gonna protect you if you some cute little harmless alien."
Diagnosis complete: primary motor router damaged. Initiating repairs...
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Post by Barricade-3 on Jan 1, 2009 13:18:49 GMT -5
Barricade is... confused. Not like Duskwing confused, but just mildly weirded out trying to wrap his processor around these differing continuities.
Duskwing's Megatron sounds a little like his own Megatron: standing tall and pulling the Decepticon forces together while the Autobots struck out to enslave and control everything that they could. But Barricade knows that Duskwing's Decepticons are not as concerned with the right as they are with themselves, unlike Barricade's.
A true Decepticon of Barricade's reality, for example, should be concerned first with protecting the weak, not themselves, and, perhaps he is just a tiny bit naive, but the concept of "taking what they needed" just... sounds wrong.
And Holi, this Holi, is a good kid. A regular knight errant after Barricade's own spark. It's just... jarring... sometimes to have these differences shoved so forcefully in his face.
"I don't know your Tarn or Vos," he growls, shaking his head, "but just being a Decepticon doesn't make you a soldier any more than just having red optics makes you a Decepticon! Bet you didn't care who you took what you needed from, did you? Just as long as they were weak enough for you to take it from 'em, right? Just as long as you could get away with it!"
He's worked up enough that it doesn't even occur to him that he and Holi are wasting time there, arguing with Duskwing, who probably isn't even capable of understanding the differences that the cop-car-mechs are trying to explain. Or that said wasted time could be going toward Duskwing's self-repair systems. It isn't arrogance that holds him there, but pride. Pride in what he is, pride in what his Decepticons stand for, pride in... in being a knight, for lack of a better descriptor. Pride in being a Decepticon, something which this Duskwing will never understand, and which Barricade cannot stand to see so defiled by the thug.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Jan 1, 2009 23:18:47 GMT -5
If what Duskwing says is true of how the Decepticons he knows came to be, that sounds awful. And horribly unfair. But it also sounds nothing remotely like the Decepticons Holi has come to know. They aren't victims; they're predators and thugs out only for themselves for no reason but that they can force themselves on others.
"Things don't work that way where I'm from," he pronounces firmly. "Autobots don't sacrifice others to save themselves, and everybody who needs protection gets it!" Holi is about two emotes away from raking his hands over his head in frustration and crying that Duskwing makes no sense, and really, the only thing stopping him is the sheer weirdness of the disparity between these Decepticon groups.
Argh! It doesn't compute! Holi stamps one foot, fists tight at his sides and back stiff as a board, before he sets his jaw. If he had breath, he'd hold it until he impossibly turned red in the face. He growls instead in pure exasperation.
"Does anything get through your head?!"
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Jan 2, 2009 10:31:51 GMT -5
Duskwing's face is a study in bafflement and frustration; Barricade doesn't call Duskwing a liar, but he sounds like the doesn't believe it. The little guy doesn't seem to follow at all, and Duskwing was sure he spelled it out simply.
"Youse guys just don't get it at all!" he bursts out. "Ask the Emirate--he's from my Cybertron. Ask him what happened ta Tarn an' Vos."
He glares at Barricade-3, pride stung and furious. "I flew with MEGATRON, you moron! I follow his orders an' don't just do whatever! Dat makes me a Decepticon soldier!"
Duskwing still clings to his one claim to fame, his one chance that he might be somebody, like a barnacle to a rock. He gives Barricade-3 a baffled scowl and adds (totally missing Cade's point), "'Course we took from guys weaker than us! Whaddaya, a drone? Can't take from stronger guys, they'd kill ya and take your fuel and stuff for tryin'. Dat would be stupid."
"Huh?" Holi confuses Duskwing again. Duskwing's blank stare continues longer than usual as he gazes at Holi--no, past Holi and over his head, at the rock behind them--and slowly changes to a complete bafflement.
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Duskwing-3
Cadet
I don't think you oughta do dat...
Posts: 80
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Post by Duskwing-3 on Jan 2, 2009 10:38:45 GMT -5
The rock formation is surprisingly hard to climb; the old weathered lava is friable and crumbles under Duskwing-3's weight. Still, he manages to climb to the top fairly quickly, though little showers of lava fragments periodically tumble down from below his feet. Once at the crest, he looks around--
And stares in complete surprise at the trio huddled on the other side of the rock: the Little Blue Guy, a Barricade, and---
"HEY! That guy looks just like me!"
Oops. Was that Duskwing3's outdoor voice? And is this his Barricade, or the other one...
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Post by Barricade-3 on Jan 5, 2009 19:07:51 GMT -5
It's almost comical, the stupidity. That thought makes Barricade laugh, a short, sardonic bark of laughter as he turns his attention down to the young mech beside him.
"You've never really dealt with Duskwing before, have you?" he asks, shaking his head.
Oh, he's still angry, still furious at the other Decepticon's words - perhaps not as furious as he might otherwise be without the Dark Prime's influence faintly washing over him - but the absurdity of the way Duskwing keep totally missing the point finally penetrates that ire. And, perhaps... perhaps that the Darkness is beginning to fade under the Bright Prime's onslaught has quelled that ire enough that an uncommon attack of common sense can begin exherting control once again.
Of course, even common sense cannot escape Barricade's sense of humor.
"He's dumb as a rock, dense as a quasar, and about as clever as a rusty nail," he observes, snorting as he adds, "And that's the one I like. We're wasting our time ki--"
And speaking of the devil...
"Duskwing! Aw, geeze, what did you do to yourself? The Doc is gonna flip a gasket when he sees this damage..."
Of course, they at least have a perfect source for spare parts to make repairs on the good Duskwing. He'll just have to think of an errand to send Holi off on so that he doesn't have to watch Barricade scavenge from the still conscious bad Duskwing.
// It's me, Duskwing. And the kid is the good one. He's on our side, // he transmits on their frequency.
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Holi
Major
Captain Can-Do
Posts: 672
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Post by Holi on Jan 7, 2009 12:53:55 GMT -5
Well, no, Holi really hasn't had much chance to deal with Duskwing. Either Duskwing, for that matter. They can't both be that dense, can they? That's just statistically impossible….
…Except that the Dinoforce isn't only a group of mechs that dense, there's six of them. Holi hangs his head.
//It's me,// he seconds on shortwave so that maybe this other Duskwing doesn't think he's a bad guy and shoot him like he shot first one. After all, protocol is still in place even if he feels like burying his face in his palm. Frustrated as he is, that suggestion the evil Duskwing made is starting to stick. Oh, he might be lying – probably is lying – but what if Emirate Xaaron does know something? Would it hurt to ask?
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Jan 7, 2009 22:02:09 GMT -5
Duskwing scowls at his other self as the faintest glimmering of comprehension starts to seep into his CPU.
"Hey, you're that other guy just like me that dem psycho 'Bots of yours were talking about!" Duskwing announces--then his scowl turns into an ugly snarl as the effects of Prime-3's spreading evil reach him. "Dem unsprung scraps from the reject bin said I was just like youse--"
He turns his head sharply toward the crater and snarls, "He's doing dat slag again..." With an effort, Duskwing heaves himself to a sitting position. "Dat rusted-out, grease-eating, overtorquing, coolant-burning chunk of re-melted slag Circus-wagon Prime is pissing me off! Big fraggin' coward, he hadda have two guys hold me so he punch my cockpit in."
Duskwing frowns down at the shattered mess that currently passes for his cockpit. "Eh, before. Dis here I got fighting dat funny car 'Bot."
He raises a gun to point at one of the more open bits of Barricade's armor; there's the whine and glow of it charging up. "Don't get no ideas 'bout ripping any more parts outta me. I might get really pissed, knowwhatImean?"
The other gun.. might be pointing somewhere near Holi, or perhaps it's coincidence. "Figure you don't like dat Clown Prime neither, or his buddies. No oil off my joints if dem fake Autobots fall down hard, see. One of dem guys I really wanna see sucked down a smelter in slow-motion."
Duskwing glances at his other self, who is staring back in dull surprise. "Huh. Dunno what the frag Long Claw Silver here is talkin' about--you ain't hardly hurt!"
By comparison, Duskwing-3 has quite a few laser scores blackening his wings and body, plus a few dents from his hard landing; Duskwing looks like he's gone ten rounds with a car crusher.
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