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Post by Victoria Raines on Jul 1, 2009 19:09:45 GMT -5
Day 21, concurrent with PS I Hate You. Also, private thread.
Shockwave steps back from his prisoner and sets his instrument down on a tray nearby. The scientist has been exacting as always, but that has not kept his armour from being stained with the fuel and fluids of Ultra Magnus. Shockwave does not mind the mess, for once; it is almost comforting in it's familiarity.
All things considered, the former Wrecker truly has been well cared for. Shockwave has insured that Magnus had enough fuel to remain functional, to keep the semi's self-repair systems working He has let Magnus down from his bond periodically, helped Magnus hobble about and keep his joints limber. For Shockwave does not want Magnus crippled, far from it. He just wants the Security Commander to give in. Again.
Still, Magnus's body is covered in cuts, some fresh, some not, and he is missing parts of his armour. Some are plates obviously unlatched and removed. Other access points, however, were carved in.
"Now," he says, reaching up to cup Ultra Magnus's face, " Do I need to remind you yet again to not bring up the state of my plating from earlier in the week?"
Permission, yada yada.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jul 1, 2009 19:57:32 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus is in interesting new depths of pain. Parts of him he didn't even realise had tactile sensors burn from laser scalpel cuts and stylus gouges and he feels raw from head to toe. He aches from hanging in restraints for too long, he's a little dizzy from the survival rations, and every waking moment just reminds him why he wants to kill Shockwave as painfully as he can.
And somehow, it's still worth it because he got to see Shockwave looking every bit the fool in enough colours to choke a rainbow. Shockwave's question prompts a chuckle from Magnus; it's thin and raspy, weak with fatigue, but he still can't help laughing.
"I'm not the one who keeps bringing up your little technicolour malfunction." His tone oozes 'delirious grin'. Then he leans his head back against the wall and chuckles again.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Jul 1, 2009 20:53:58 GMT -5
"You are delirious," Shockwave says flatly. Too flatly. Magnus likely knows what such a tone heralds. "Perhaps I have pushed you too far, Ultra Magnus." His hand slips down to his prisoner's neck, thumb digging into a long gouge just under the chin. "Perhaps not far enough."
He lets his hand fall, steps back, and turns to another table, this one littered with small containers of energon and chemicals. His hand hovers over one vial, then suddenly he turns and backhands Magnus across the face, hard enough it makes something in the Wrecker's neck audibly snap.
Shockwave sighs and reaches again for Magnus, now gently examining the damage. "I shall have to repair that at some point, and it will be none too pleasant. You should not mock me, Magnus, you know it flares my temper." Which is why Magnus does it. Shockwave shakes his head. "You are too weak. I shall have to risk allowing you a bit more refreshment, or else I may lose you."
"And that, my dear Magnus, I shall not allow."
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jul 1, 2009 22:56:59 GMT -5
That's the primary left hydraulic support and all three motor lines Shockwave just broke. Ultra Magnus can't stop his chin from dropping limply to his chest, nor can he really fight it at all when Shockwave grabs him again to look over the injury.
"You already lost me," he tells the Decepticon. "Not my fault if you're incapable of grasping that fact." But Magnus will enjoy watching him flounder no matter how unpleasant Shockwave tries to make it. If he can't just shoot him, he'll at least take immense joy in seeing Cybertron's conqueror suffer.
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 1, 2009 23:50:02 GMT -5
Rather nearer than Shockwave would suspect...
... A small blue carbot with a smoldering, furious optic band caught behind an otherwise featureless face kneels and inspects some dust on the floor.
The tire tracks he found before are gone, but that's only because enough time has passed for the dust to build up. Either way, though, Counterpunch has never had a better opportunity to investigate this area, this region where no one should go... but someone's been.
He doesn't have particularly enhanced senses, but he's damned good at using the ones he's got, and as Counterpunch walks through the tunnels, treading normally so that, if caught, he can complain about how confusing these things are and ask directions, he watches around him for signs of something being disturbed that shouldn't be.
He's nearer than Shockwave would expect. And getting nearer still.
OOC: Skippable.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Jul 2, 2009 10:29:11 GMT -5
"Stubborn as always," Shockwave sighs, almost...tiredly. "Things would be so much easier if you would only see reason. Reliquish this." He taps his gun tip on one scarred Autobrand. Throughout the interrogation and torture Shockwave had allowed them to stay, forcing that point on an almost daily basis. Renounce, and live free as Shockwave's creature. Refuse, and remain as Shockwave's toy.
Turning back to the the table of chemicals, Shockwave tacks a very small cube of obviously potent energon and begins to mix a few items into it. He may be no chemist, but he knows enough for this. As he works he talks.
"Over a week, now, since your arrival. I imagine we will be seeing some of your fellow Autobots soon enough. Their Emirate seems cold enough to not want to hurry to the rescue of a possible traitor, but he is no fool. He would not risk leaving such an asset in my hands, regardless of your chosen side." A pause. "They might even now have their Mirage or another mech slinking about our base looking for you, risking his life. Or," he tilts his head over his shoulder to gaze at his prisoner, optic light narrowed, "we may already have caught and disposed of him, another failure, another death, to add to your collection. But of course, they will just send another."
He finishes the mixing, then returns to stand in front of Ultra Magnus, cube in hand. "Now, are you going to take this easily, or must I force it?"
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jul 2, 2009 14:03:52 GMT -5
Through most of Shockwave's monologue, Ultra Magnus just glares at him, set off by the suggestion that he should give up his brands. He kept them even while serving as Cybertron's security commander; it'll take more than this – more than anything Shockwave can to do him – to make him strip them off.
At that casual aside, though, at being reminded that the Autobots are probably trying to reach him and probably suffering for it, Magnus falters for an instant. Soldiers know the risks when they sign up. Part of being a soldier in this miserable war is understanding the inevitable sacrifices, that one just may not come back. It doesn't make having lives on his conscience any easier for Ultra Magnus. Others keep paying for his mistakes and he's weary to his very spark of it. Not that he can seem to stop making those painful mistakes, either.
He glances up, only able to get a badly-skewed angle on Shockwave and that small cube. His neck threatens to spasm from the strain being placed on the intact motor lines and support and he's sure that's hydraulic fluid he's tasting.
"That depends," he says bitterly, "on how much you're trying to drug me with it."
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 2, 2009 20:32:11 GMT -5
Counterpunch is only moderate in a fight. Probably below par, although he makes up, somewhat, in viciousness what he lacks in skill.
But his job. His actual job. He's very good at that.
It includes things like noting when the tunneling worm with the enhanced seismic sensors has been sent away from base, for example, possibly on a resource gathering mission. Or those times when the bases own mechanisms, designed to keep it running from day to day, are operating at their fullest, making the masking of more minute movements likely. It includes things like habitually wandering less suspicious but still out of the way tunnels on a regular basis, so that it seems less strange should he head into a more... sensitive area.
It includes things like noticing that there's a segment of tunnel up ahead where the dust on the floor does not line the edges like it should.
Counterpunch walks past that area, step sulky, angry, normal. He gives no outward sign of noticing, and before long he's out of sight.
He has to make sure no one's up ahead first, after all.
OOC: Still skippable.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Jul 2, 2009 22:28:57 GMT -5
"Now, now, Magnus, have I ever tried to drug you? I am not Mixmaster, after all," Shockwave gently admonishes. He sets the cube down on the instrument table, then unfastens the bond at Magnus's wrist. There is another bond just above the Wrecker's elbow which will prevent Magnus from having too much freedom. But he should be able to grasp the cube and sip from it, albeit uncomfortably.
"It is merely high grade, augmented with elements to dull your current pain level as well as stimulate your systems and encourage self-repair. You will want to drink it slowly." He hold the cube up to Magnus' hand. Ultra Magnus only need take it.
The alternative is Shockwave feeding him, and Shockwave doubts that given an alternative, Ultra Magnus will want to add insult to injury.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jul 3, 2009 18:10:10 GMT -5
Ultra Magnus does take that cube so he can feed himself, managing to close unsteady fingers around it, but he doesn't drink right away. He has to negotiate his barely-functional neck first, and that's an uncomfortable task.
"Just because you haven't," he murmurs, eyeing the cube warily – something to dull the pain sounds questionable at best coming from Shockwave – voice strained as he tries to turn his head, "doesn't mean you won't. Or did you really expect me to think otherwise?" After all, he leaves hanging in the air, you've already tried to kill me. With that, one optic still on Shockwave, he finally tries a small, clumsy, excruciating sip. His neck threatens to spasm with the effort of holding his head at that angle, but he manages to get a taste of the fuel in spite of the pain. Then he makes a face.
"…I bet Mixmaster could make it taste better."
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Post by Victoria Raines on Jul 3, 2009 18:40:12 GMT -5
Shockwave watches impassively as Ultra Magnus struggles for that small sip. He then reaches out and carefully supports Magnus's neck, tilting it so that it both relieves some of the strain and makes drinking easier.
Somehow, Shockwave doubts Magnus will appreciate the gesture.
"I am sure he could have made it taste like the finest vintage in the Council's holdings," Shockwave answers, "He also could have made it melt your insides in an excruciatingly slow manner, while keeping you from caring about the damage one whit."
He shakes his head. Magnus knows damn well Shockwave does not want him dead, nor a mindless shell. Why can the security commander not see reason?
"You need to drink at least half, Magnus, for it to be effective. I want to brace this hydraulic before the strain damages the other. Unless you really wish me to take you offline and detach your head?" Which, really, would be the easiest solution.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jul 3, 2009 21:01:19 GMT -5
It's humiliating that Shockwave is standing here holding up Ultra Magnus's head so he can actually consume some of that energon – his need to feel better than two steps from stasis lock just outweighs his leeriness of the mix – but at least no-one else is around to watch.
"Decapitation?" he muses after one bitter gulp. The stuff really does taste awful. "Skystalker gave you ideas, did he?"
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Post by Victoria Raines on Jul 4, 2009 8:38:07 GMT -5
Shockwave's grip on Magnus's head turns from gentle to near crushing when Ultra Magnus dares mention that usurping, ungrateful little Micromaster. The Micromasters, Skystalker in particular, are one subject upon which the gunformer is not logical. The smaller Transformers are dangerous, deceitful- yes, even the Autobot ones- and it is a good thing none have arrived.
On the Decepticon side, that is.
He abruptly releases Magnus's head (which may now have a few more dents in it), then snatches away the remains of the mix. "Enough of that," he growls, "You will just have to have to hope it was enough, hmmm?" He sets the drink down and begins to gather what he needs to brace Magnus's neck. It will not be a full repair, but the hydraulic will at least be more or less functional.
Canting Magnus's head to one side, Shockwave shoves a sharp, heavy pin through the wall, using it to brace Magnus's neck in that overstretched angle. He then removes some smal parts of armour that are in the way, and begins to brace and repair Magnus's neck. Shockwave's movements are careful, exacting as they always are. He is not deliberately causing pain, but he is likewise not taking steps to lessen the pain, either.
After a few moments, he says, voice still too flat, unaccented, "Are you trying to goad me into killing you in rage? That will not happen Ultra Magnus. You will not be rid of me so easily."
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Counterpunch
Minor
The Overlord, His Peerless Highness, Arch Duke Counterpunch. The Salient Vanquisher of His Own Mind
What're you looking at?
Posts: 419
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Post by Counterpunch on Jul 4, 2009 18:48:10 GMT -5
Counterpunch wandered past once, and now he's 'wandering' back. He slows as he reaches the area where the dust had been disturbed, then stops. He approaches the wall, looks both ways down the isolated, deserted tunnel, then crouches next to it, starting a very, very careful search of the area around it. His optic band widens and then narrows as he catches a sound, faint, but there, apparently from the other side.
It is very hard to noiselessly shove a sharp, heavy pin through a wall, after all.
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Ultra Magnus
Major
Disappointing Fellow Autobots Since the Age of Internment
Posts: 565
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Post by Ultra Magnus on Jul 5, 2009 17:58:58 GMT -5
That viselike grip should hurt more than it does. Ultra Magnus knows this and on some level, the fact that it doesn't hurt that much is unsettling, but he's still too giddy – between his under-fuelled state and now the rush of that concentrated fuel and its receptor-numbing additives working its way through his systems – and angry to care very much more than that. Still angry. It's hard for him to let go.
He doesn't let go of the cube so easily either, but he's at a bad angle and his strength doesn't count for much when Shockwave has the leverage. The cube cracks under his fingertips before he relinquishes it and some of that high grade splatters over his hand. He eyes it critically; he always was good at making messes.
"Hngh!" That hurts, being forced to extend his neck like this. It's like a splash of acid under every piece of plating Shockwave removes and Magnus just cycles air, forcing it out of mind. For a few moments, he drifts out of it, staring at the ceiling and thinking of Iacon. He isn't particularly appreciative when another dull stab and that droning voice interrupt his reverie. "…Rage?" he wonders scornfully once the words actually sink in, turning his gaze back down to his captor. Like any other Transformer, Shockwave is capable of fits. Magnus knows this.
Still, the very idea of Shockwave actually killing him in the throes of anger makes him snort.
"You say I'm valuable," drawls Magnus, "that I'm yours. You even expect me to accept that. But all your semantics won't change the fact that you've already tried to get rid of me and you did it very easily." His optics narrow. "But maybe all that time you spent sitting on a stick has made it a little hard for you to pick up on subtle things like this."
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