Lugnut
Minor
Broken.
Posts: 268
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Post by Lugnut on Nov 11, 2010 19:07:09 GMT -5
Oh, those plays of words don't go over Lugnut's head. Far from it, in fact. At first he just growls in mild annoyance, his central optic dilating, and miraculously controls himself throughout their little conversation. But then Hellbender just had to ask him that, making the zealot growl and stomp the floor with one foot, while pointing dramatically at Rampage. "Yes, I can! It is already blasphemous that your Megatron is a mere impostor, a fool who took on a legendary name to make up for his own incompetence! But I will not let you sully that glooorious name by talking about the shameless exploits he had with you! An impostor, indeed, because the One True Megatron would NEVER lower himself to conquer a vile, inferior Decepticon knockoff like YOU! Cease now, OR SUFFER THE ETERNAL GLORIOUS WRATH OF MEGATRON!"
His point made he backs down, keeping his optic narrowed, though even he blinks in surprise at Rampage's rather loud exclamation. How in the Great One's name did he know that? "No, he does not! He has a laser core, an alternative to Sparks! One of the differences you will encounter in here."
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on Nov 11, 2010 20:09:31 GMT -5
Tarantulas groans when he hears that Tigerhawk joined the Maximals. "Better them than those blasted aliens, I suppose."
At Rampage's threatening gesture, the spider makes one of his own, discreetly pulling a scalpel from subspace and transmitting privately to the larger Predacon. //You'll keep your claws to yourself, Protoform X, unless you want your status as a scientific oddity to become public knowledge. And trust me, you don't want to become Shockwave's pet project. I work in medical, I can keep your true schematics off the database, but that means you don't tear up my webs. Deal?// Tarantulas doesn't actually expect Rampage to honor any agreement they make any longer than it's convenient for him. Tarantulas wouldn't, after all. But it still suits his purposes to keep the crab's true nature a secret.
Cackling at Lugnut's reaction, Tarantulas responds, "Oh, you've certainly seen through our clever double-talk, Lugnut. You caught us. It just makes me wonder what your feelings are toward the GLORIOUS Megatron. Should I be looking for a hidden shrine somewhere? Covered in marks from where you've lovingly pressed your mouth and pincers against it?" Tarantulas is already moving to put Hellbender between himself and Lugnut as he speaks.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 11, 2010 20:23:32 GMT -5
"Brain module, Ah have a brain module, Lugnut," Hellbender corrects. "Red & Blue Screamer's got the lasercore." Hellbender had learned that much from Dead End's ghost stories. "But he's right, Rampage, it's one of those little differences. Figure whatever we got special that you people carry in sparks, we either got in those other things or dispersed around or something. We still all get killed the same." Hellbender isn't going to talk about his special redundancies; they're 'Need To Know If Your Name is Shockwave or Hook'.
Tarantulas and Rampage were still having a private staring contest. Oh yeah, there was History between those two, or somebody had swapped his processors with Duskwing's--- What the slag did Tarantulas just say to Lugnut?
Hellbender stares at the idiot spider in complete disbelief for an instant, then steps back, out of the line between Lugnut and Tarantulas. He sees what you did there. At least Lugnut didn't have his explosive punch back...
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Nov 11, 2010 21:32:30 GMT -5
Rampage actually growls at the sight of the scalpel. Oh, it doesn't have the energon blade that would be needed to repeat his Megatron's little experiment, but that doesn't mean he's fond of sharp medical implements. //Deal. As long as I get to keep my spark whole and undamaged, you get to keep yours.// He leans in closer, until his helmet almost brushes the forcefield. //But Tarantulas? If you ever tell anyone, they'll never find all the body parts.//
Then he can only stare blankly at Lugnut's rant, quickly followed by his own deep cackle. The idea of himself and Megatron-! Hah, he wouldn't even violate the overgrown lizard's corpse. Well, not in that way. Roast tyrannosaurus seems like it would be awfully tasty alongside fried ant and crispy spider legs.
His laughter only grows as Tarantulas invites the purple behemoth's wrath. Oh, how delightfully coincidental when Hellbender just warned him against doing similar. It would be far too lucky if his pest problem were to be eliminated so soon after their deal was made. He's already lucky that no-one bothered to question his slip-up out loud, though he has an explanation in the works.
Transformers without sparks, how absurd. But how very interesting that this 'brain module' of Hellbender's registers almost as clearly with his spark as the sparks of Tarantulas and Lugnut. It is simply lacking some inherently sparkish... 'flavour'.
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Lugnut
Minor
Broken.
Posts: 268
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Post by Lugnut on Nov 12, 2010 6:26:33 GMT -5
Lugnut's optic shutters retreat abruptly, the glow of his optic intensifying immensely, burning bright with an intense rage. "HOW DARE YOU!" He bellows, his armor visible rattling with anger, but he holds himself back, not wanting to go through Hellbender to get at that accursed, blasphemous, leggy, disgusting-
Oh, Hellbender just moved. Yay!
Lugnut roars as he kicks in his thrusters, jumping over the the console, pulling out his hammer out of subspace with a frightening 'swing', the glow of his optics only intensifying as he aims to bring it down on the spider for a good old fashioned game of 'Whack the Spider'. "DIE!"
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on Nov 12, 2010 21:23:46 GMT -5
Oh, come on Hellbender, don't be that way! Tarantulas would totally stand in front of you if you pissed off someone huge! Okay, no he wouldn't.
Tarantulas didn't have time to sythesize an energon scalpel on his way to greet Rampage. But Ship has an excellent synthesizer system and making one just jumped to the top of the spider's to-do list.
Tarantulas had a pretty good idea of how Lugnut was going to react. He drops down to spider mode and attempts to scuttle under the console before Lugnut can smash him into a million pieces. "For such a big mechanism, you have awfully thin plating, Lugnut! Surely Megatron would rather be served by a soldier who knows how to take a joke!"
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 13, 2010 10:17:55 GMT -5
Lugnut will get one swing, whether or not he hits, then Hellbender steps back in, probably body-blocking Lugnut and and trying to grab the hammer arm near the wrist.
"HOLD IT, LUGNUT! That's enough--stand down! Concentrated stupid on their part makes me a bit slow--" he glares at Tarantulas, righteously infuriated at the spider's mischief--will the spider take the hint? "But we can't go poundin' on officers as a matter of course. Even if they got it coming, unless the Boss orders it. Bad for discipline--that's the kinda slag Starscream pulls."
Congratulations, Tarantulas. He doubts it will bother you any, but you've landed on Hellbender's Slag List. For Hellbender, managing Lugnut and keeping him disciplined takes a careful balance of strength and cajoling, and you just screwed that up for giggles. He despises you now, and Rampage may sense the anger and contempt Hellbender is feeling.
"Tarantulas, learn when to shut it!" he growls. "Rampage, can you refrain from chortling quite so loudly in your concern for your dear friend here 'til things calm down a bit?" Sarcasm, Hellbender has it, even when wrestling with Lugnut.
His orders regarding Rampage will have to wait until Lugnut calms down...
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Nov 13, 2010 17:08:42 GMT -5
Ah, anger and rage. Not nearly as sweet as agony and terror, but an entertaining emotion nonetheless. It could be such a focusing emotion: burning away the shallow, insipid emotions of day-to-day life and leaving behind only a singular pulsing core of emotion, strong, simple, and pure.
He calms his full-bellied laughter to a softer chuckling. "But of course," he replies to Hellbender - if only because it looks like the spider will avoid even superficial, though painful, damage. He's tempted to taunt Lugnut into a deeper rage toward Tarantulas, but it's a bit early in the game to push the boundaries of their freshly made agreement. Instead, he begins to tap a foot impatiently and asks, "Am I to be caged all day?"
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Lugnut
Minor
Broken.
Posts: 268
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Post by Lugnut on Nov 13, 2010 21:25:26 GMT -5
The hammer comes crushing down on the spot where Tarantulas had just been standing, caving in that segment of the floor with tremendous force. Lugnut just roars in frustration and rage as the spider evades his wrath, turning around and leaving the hammer for what it is, so he can waste no time in lunging for the Predacon...
And then Hellbender has to get in the way of his vengeance. Lugnut roars once again in frustration as he tries to push the other Decepticon aside but to no avail, his arms flailing as he tries to get them past him, his pincers briefly snapping at Tarantulas. "NO! HE DARES MOCK MY DEVOTION TO THE GLORIOUS MEGATRON! HE MUST PAY FOR HIS HERESY!"
Still, he respects Hellbender. If it were any other Decepticon he would have turned his wrath on that person by now, but not with him. He remains angry, but the intensity with which he is struggling is decreasing as well as the glow of his optics. Though he does fire off as many insults towards the spider as he can.
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on Nov 14, 2010 17:29:36 GMT -5
Screwing things up for giggles is what Tarantulas does. Only usually the things are people.
"Sticks and stones, Lugnut," the spider says, still lurking underneath the console. "I don't think the glorious Megatron would approve of you wasting your energies this way over every little thing."
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 14, 2010 21:37:33 GMT -5
"Rampage, you ain't oozing fuel and on the verge of dyin', far as Ah can tell, so just idle your engines for a bit. Ah'll get to you," Hellbender snaps, still trying to restrain Lugnut.
"Lugnut, CALM DOWN. The fragger is trying to get you in trouble, are you going to let him do that?" Hellbender's tone is firm.
"Tarantulas, cut out the fraggin' Starscream routine, or Ah will forget you're an officer," Hellbender warns. "Ah can't finish processing Rampage until you two CUT IT THE SLAG OUT."
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Post by Rampage/Xavier Goodkind on Nov 15, 2010 10:36:22 GMT -5
Even Rampage's chuckling has faded now. With Tarantulas no longer at risk of immediate bodily harm, Lugnut's raging is quickly becoming more irritating than amusing. He wants out of this forcefield and he wants out now.
"Shut up, Tarantulas," he growls.
While he waits, he explores further with his other senses. There are several other minds on the ship, more than they ever had in the Beast Wars. Some are the bright points he knows to be sparks, but others are... 'duller', so to speak, what he assumes must be Cybertronians like Hellbender who have alternatives to sparks. He pushes further, beyond the point that he can resolve even strong emotions, and there's a mass of barely indistinguishable minds, and then even beyond that, itching at the very edge of his non-specific senses are more minds then he's ever encountered one time. Millions and millions. A planet? And a well-populated one at that. He'd always stuck to the quieter areas of space during his brief stint of freedom. Less likely to get caught.
To actually be surrounded by so many minds... it makes his plating crawl.
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Lugnut
Minor
Broken.
Posts: 268
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Post by Lugnut on Nov 15, 2010 10:46:53 GMT -5
Lugnut is about to go into Berserker Mode at Tarantulas' taunting, but amazingly enough, Hellbender's words manage to get through to him. Oh, the zealot still wants to tear Tarantulas limb from limb and find exciting new ways to inflict pain upon him, but the worm is right. He cycles his vents as he forces himself to calm down, giving Tarantulas one last glare before focusing on his comrade, nodding lightly. "You speak words of wisdom, Hellbender. Wisdom that I will not ignore, no matter how heretical the spider's words are." Though he WILL make Tarantulas pay one day. No one speaks ill of the glorious Megatron and gets away with it!
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Tarantulas
Minor
The not-so-friendly neighborhood spider-man
Posts: 398
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Post by Tarantulas on Nov 15, 2010 20:58:19 GMT -5
Tarantulas blinks all eight eyes. Starscream routine? He guesses that comment makes more sense to someone who interacted with the guy on a regular basis. He really was trying to calm Lugnut down with that last sentence, though, seeing as he has a vested interest in not being turned into an arachno-pancake. The spider needs to work on his people-manipulating skills, he supposes. It's been a while since he's had to use them.
Tarantulas continues lurking silently under the console.
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Hellbender
Major
Mecha-Shai-Hulud
"Seriously."
Posts: 892
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Post by Hellbender on Nov 15, 2010 21:45:58 GMT -5
Oh good, everyone seems to be picking their sanity and CPUs up off the floor and putting them back where they belong. Hellbender stops trying to restrain Lugnut now that his fellow heavy bomber has calmed down. Thank Primus that pointing out the obvious actually worked! If Lugnut decided to play Squash the Spider in some seldom-frequented passageway later on, that was Tarantulas's problem, not Hellbender's.
"Okay, better. First, I'm releasing Rampage--" he thumbs the forcefield control off, "into Tarantulas's custody, per Lord Shockwave's orders. Tarantulas, you can come out from under there now. You're responsible for Rampage until he's cleared by the Mayhems. Take him to Hook for medical evaluation, room assignments, and get him on a limited duty schedule--if you don't know the drill, it's in Shockwave's General Orders file."
"Rampage, you heard what I just told Tarantulas. You will have limited database access and are not allowed to leave Ship until you're cleared, got that? I recommend familiarizing yourself with the chain of command, the General Orders, and whatever Special Orders apply to you," Hellbender says, logging that he's done all these things and that Rampage is Tarantulas's problem now.
So why did he suspect that those two were going to be a Problem for everyone?
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