Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Mar 11, 2008 4:11:54 GMT -5
Starscream continued to get frustrated at his own subordinates. //DUSKWING!!// He radioed to the seeker, //It would be VERY bad form to find yourself executed by me so shortly after I have brokered for your LIFE. Unless you want that to be a reality, COMPLAIN ON YOUR RADIO.//
Starscream turned his attention--and his radio--to Needlenose. "See that he's gotten a touch up on his paint job, a top-up of energon and a decent defrag." //He gets none of that. Hook is to inspect him thoroughly and immediately.//
However, the words of Rodimus have calmed Starscream, words that pique his curiosity. And dare he say... hope? "True, a Skyfire.." Starscream wondered what his old friend would be like, if there was a version of him that could see the light of the Decepticon way. "Will he be making an appearance with us before the assault?"
Starscream smirks to himself. Were it not for Omega, the outcome of the group battle with the Autobots would no doubt have been much different. If Rodimus' crew weren't offering an Omega of their own, Starscream's crew would have yet another advantage.
"We have a subterranean means of assaulting the base." He offered. "One of our own, damaged, had his laser core inserted into a mining worm device we found on the planet. I doubt the Autobots have prepared their defenses for that. A few airborne warriors--which will exclusively be Decepticons," Starscream gestured to Oracle, "Unless your silvery friend here wishes to join them, that is--can make them believe they are under attack and fortify that wall. The rest of us will assault from an opposite angle." He pauses, his optics inclined in an angle indicating he's patiently awaiting Prime's response.
Starscream does not attempt to shoot at Pee-Dee. There is no way that Scourge cannot handle the Junkion. And if he couldn't? Then he deserved anything she could dish out.
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Post by Needlenose on Mar 11, 2008 18:49:17 GMT -5
"As you command, Lord Starscream," Needlenose answers, properly and formally out loud. //You got it, boss,// he says over the radio.
With one last dirty look at Oracle, he releases his Nebulans from their magnetic holster, then transforms and opens his cockpit, allowing them to clamber in. Then he closes up again.
"You'll have to straddle me for the flight, Duskwing, and just hold on tight. I'll take it easy." As a transformer from the Marvel-verse, Needlenose doesn't have any fancy anti-gravs to fly in robot mode. As another transformer from the Marvel-verse (even if their Seekers can fly), Duskwing will no doubt understand.
As soon as Duskwing climbs into place, Needlenose will take off, removing them both from this thread.
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Perceptor-3
Rookie
Curiosity killed... everyone else. After a lengthy examination, of course.
Posts: 139
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Post by Perceptor-3 on Mar 12, 2008 0:34:38 GMT -5
Perceptor hears Shockwave's qualification of his work, he notes it, but does little else, and certainly does not react to it. Not with his arms full of... very responsive minibot. Frightened, very responsive minibot.
Oh, the potential.
But enough of distracting the focus from his Prime.
"No need to strain yourself, Synapse," he murmurs softly. "I have you well in hand." His left hand, to be precise, as it strokes along the underside of that node again, just the bare brush of his thumb against a bit of unscathed surface.
"You will. I assure you."
ooc: skippable unless needed.
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Duskwing
Major
"What the slag happened?"
Posts: 848
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Post by Duskwing on Mar 12, 2008 11:55:22 GMT -5
Starscream got only dead air in reply. Duskwing's radio was still offline.
Shockwave's comment about the deliberate intent of Perceptor's repairs didn't quite register with Duskwing's metaprocessor the first time. Intent on his own outrage and fury, he missed a few things, like Starscream's annoyance--but he did catch the Air Commander's orders to Needlenose.
"Huh?" Released from Shockwave's examination, Duskwing slowly got to his feet. The one leg still didn't behave quite right, and as for his wings! He felt like he'd been transplanted into someone else's body, and it didn't fit. Things pinched and grated, like a collection of mismatched parts crudely slapped together.
For the first time in his surprisingly long life, Duskwing dreaded transforming. He liked to fly, but who knew how badly that red Bot had screwed up his transform joints and flight systems? He needed to be fixed--
With dismay, Duskwing realized that Starscream had only ordered rest and fuel, not repairs. "B-but--"
The tingle of static building up in his vocalizer warned Duskwing of impending pain if he continued to talk. Slag it, he couldn't even explain himself! He needed to be fixed, the Bots had messed him all up! He stared at Needlenose in confusion. Why was Needlenose going to carry him? Did he think Duskwing was too low on fuel to fly himself back?
...actually, he was. The Bots hadn't wasted their precious energon on refueling him. Probably a good thing, too. That jackleg drone-repair bot would probably have managed to pour lube oil in his fuel tank or something equally stupid and bad.
Duskwing nodded at Needlenose and climbed on, wrapping his arms around the purple and teal jet's fuselage as best he could. "You made it," he said. "Good--*KRRRK*"
Fingers dug hard into Needlenose's fuselage as the spark snapped painfully through Duskwing's vocalizer. "Recycled Empty-shell bootleg drone-modder! I'm gonna kill him and feed his parts to the fabricator. 'Cept I'll keep his head until the boss gets a proper smelter built--and drop it in still online--*kRRRK*"
Making death threats against new allies at the meeting site may not have been the brightest thing to do, but Duskwing is Not Bright and his judgment about how to treat strangers in new situations is notoriously bad.
Lashed to silence by his vocalizer, Duskwing clung to Needlenose like grim death as they flew off...
--- Out of thread
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Nightbeat-3
Cadet
Going to make you an offer you can't refuse.
Posts: 49
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Post by Nightbeat-3 on Mar 12, 2008 12:34:24 GMT -5
Nightbeat is reasonably certain that his lady can more than handle the big wanna-be Prime. Doesn't mean he wants to see her put herself in the line of fire, though. But such sentimentality has its place, but not around the boy-Prime. Increasingly, he's not so sure he likes what he hears out of that former blasted youth-element.
"Don' forget, Prime," he adds to the list of assets. "Ya got me. Th' greatest thinker dat Cybertron's ever seen." And then there's the Decepticons. Nightbeat doesn't, as a rule, trust anyone. Even those who never ask him about his business. But he trusts these ones even less. Especially that swarmy screechy-voiced leader of theirs and the one-eyed freak.
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Post by Rodimus Prime-3 on Mar 12, 2008 15:18:59 GMT -5
Rodimus does not respond to Shockwave's accusations of sloppy work. He could claim that doing work in the back of a moving trailer, especially one that was none-too-gentle in taking bumps, is bound to result in sloppy work, but that would not change the fact that some of that was very much intentional, and besides, if the Decepticons were not going to let the matter interfere with their negotiations, why dwell on it? "You're right. It won't," Rodimus answers softly, firmly, darkly to Synapse's declarations that 'it' won't happen again. Like Synapse himself, he does not clarify what he means by 'it.' Best to leave that to the Minibot's imagination. Besides, Perceptor is handling things for now. And now, to Starscream. "He will be," Rodimus says, answering the Decepticon's question about Skyfire. "Most definitely." If I have to slap a mode-lock on him and rewire his controls myself, he'll be there, Rodimus thinks, but does not say. The Prime's lips curl into a smile as Starscream mentions a subterranean assault. " Excellent!" he says. "The Decepticons of my own reality lack such a capability." And if they don't, he can think of one spy who will soon be suffering for making incomplete reports. "Oracle will be part of our assault. This will keep the them from learning that the we've combined forces for the attack as long as possible. We should probably assume they have an Oracle as well. This also means that they may receive a warning a few seconds prior to the onslaught - more if we're spotted by their Synapse or Airazor. For the former, we'll want to stay below cloud coverage, and choose an overcast day - I'm assuming it will take time to tunnel all the way there. For the latter, we just need to stay on the alert and be ready to take her out quickly should we encounter her. "Do you know yet how long your subterranean assault unit will take to get in place? This will give me time to move those of my forces who will be participating over." 1To Nightbeat, Rodimus snaps over the radio, //I am well aware of your capabilities, Nightbeat, but considering I brought your keen intellect along to observe these Decepticons, I didn't care to call attention to it.// //I suppose such a vast intelligence is difficult to contain, but some days I wish you were more a straight forward thinker and less a sideways thinker.// 1 OOC: There's no need to give an exact amount of time. We're just trying to establish that there will be a few days for bad-guy-to-bad-guy interaction before the actual attacks begin.
Also, looks like we're reaching a wrapping-up point, but limits will need to be set on where the Autobots can and cannot go, ICly. Otherwise, we're just going to assume we can come and go as we please.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 12, 2008 22:19:21 GMT -5
Shockwave continues to listen as Starscream and the Prime plot. He should, perhaps, be commenting more. But he is slightly distracted by a growing sense of annoyance, annoyance tinged faintly by that edge of anger that had worked its way through earlier when Shockwave was working on Duskwing. Shockwave continues to eye the Autobot contingent speculatively. Such feelings are not within his normal operating parameters. Something is off here.
Then another distraction presents itself. Autobots, at the desert sensors. Hrm. And some dead on arrivals that didn't trip the sensors. Interesting, but the timing is poor. He makes a quick call to Starscream.
//Starscream, there are Autobots at the desert arrival point. Unless you want to dispatch units immediately, we will likely loose that sensor array. They might simply move it and recalibrate the telemetry, but the probability of that is low.//
Something the Prime says catches Shockwave's attention. "How would the existence of the female's counterpart among them give them warning?" he asks, his gaze fixating on Oracle.
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Synapse-3
Cadet
It would be a pleasure...
Posts: 84
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Post by Synapse-3 on Mar 12, 2008 23:14:55 GMT -5
Synapse twists in Perceptor's grip, but it's without any results. What does cause him to shrink in his struggles is dangerous attention that Rodimus Prime briefly grants him. No. He doesn't want that from the Prime now, not when he's been placed under the scrutiny of Perceptor.
The minibot's struggling and vocalizations cease, though Perceptor can probably feel the tense shivers that wrack Synapse's body.
No more attention, and perhaps if he's quiet and still enough, Perceptor might be merciful enough to let him go with just a simple repair session...would that be too much to hope for? Yes.
OOC: Synapse-3 is skippable
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Oracle-3
Cadet
It's such a thin line between heaven and hell.
Posts: 80
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Post by Oracle-3 on Mar 13, 2008 0:04:54 GMT -5
Oracle had been standing silently at the back and watching the proceedings without moving since the Autobots arrival. For her this was a fairly unusual achievement, accomplished by treating the entire meeting as an assignment and shifting herself into her work mindset. She probably would have annoyed someone with her restless twitching by now otherwise.
Even when Scourge loomed over Pee-Dee her only reaction had been a slight shift in her weight and a flexing of her fingers, only indicative of a threat if you knew where her weapons were hidden. Pee-Dee could take care of herself, that wasn't her concern, but Scourge might not be the only one with a short temper here.
When Starscream indicated potentially including her in the airborne strike, she simply looked at Rodimus. She thought he would probably hold her in reserve to attack with the other Autobots at least for the first strike to preserve surprise, but obviously she would go where she was ordered to.
At the dirty look from Needlenose, her head tipped slightly as she mentally filed it away along with everything else she had observed so far, but that was something she thought should be followed up on later as it had seemed personal for some reason. At a guess, it had to do with her encounter with the helicopter from earlier, that having been the only thing she was directly and individually involved in.
Rodimus' future orders for her when they did come weren't surprising to her, but what did surprise her slightly was the intent interest Shockwave fixed her with. Apparently her counterpart was unknown to the Decepticons here. After a moments pause, though neither her surprise or hesitation showed outwardly, she decided that Shockwave's pointed gaze was close enough to a direct question that she answered him. "Because if my counterpart is there, she would see them coming a few seconds before they attacked." Hopefully she wasn't stepping on any toes by speaking up, and unless addressed she would be perfectly happy to subside into silent watching again.
OOC: Still skippable unless addressed.
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Starscream
Major
"Sometimes I can almost feel it!"
strangely enough, male.
Posts: 945
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Post by Starscream on Mar 13, 2008 18:03:35 GMT -5
OOC: Work-made post, it's a rush job. If I've missed something then I apologize and I'll edit it later.
Starscream scowled at Duskwing's line being dead. There was no way taht was his mistake, and Duskwing would suffer for that.
Starscream offered Nightbeat an unimpressed look. "Really," he draws as he mentally deducted about 30% of the potential smartness Nightbeat had attributed to himself.
To Rodimus, again. Starscream offers an esitmate of time that is accurate enough to satisfy most people, with the probable exception of Hook, Basically, it boils down to 'soon'. "While we organize our forces, you are welcome to establish a temporary base of operations near our own."
And then to Shockwave. //We will crush them. I'll make the arrangements.//
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Nightbeat-3
Cadet
Going to make you an offer you can't refuse.
Posts: 49
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Post by Nightbeat-3 on Mar 13, 2008 20:24:37 GMT -5
Which was Nightbeat's plan all along. The gangster dialog? Carefully done and faked. The bragging? For the same reason. If people thought you weren't as smart as you were, then you could easily pull one over on them.
//No brag, just fact, chief. But dey're gonna think otherwise.//
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Post by Rodimus Prime-3 on Mar 13, 2008 21:32:37 GMT -5
//Yes, yes, Nightbeat. Very good. You almost had me fooled.// Rodimus is, perhaps, a bit less sarcastic about the last line than he sounds. He does know how clever Nightbeat can be, given the opportunity. This is, after all, why Nightbeat is here.
Oracle has answered Shockwave's question. Prime does not need to. He simply turns his head towards the gunformer and nods very faintly as she speaks, then returns his focus to the business at hand. Shockwave was more interested in her than Rodimus entirely liked, but if Oracle is stupid enough to let Shockwave get a hold of her, she deserves anything she has coming to her.
And if Perceptor is looking forward to 'repairing' the sensor-laden Minibot, how much more will he enjoy getting a chance to figure out what makes a precog tick?
"Thank you for your hospitality, Starscream," Rodimus says dryly in response to Starscream's offer to let them camp near the Decepticon base. As he speaks, there is a faint smile on his expression that does not go beyond his lips. "Also, if we're to be working together, it will be best if we're able to communicate. I propose <string of numbers that adds up to a frequency not already in use by any group> as a centralized frequency between our teams."
Rodimus takes a step away from Starscream and shifts so that his gaze can encompass the group as a whole. "And if that is all for now, I believe there are some preparations that need to be made."
OOC: Wrapping this thread up, but there's one more round for final posts, if folks want to make them.
ICly, we are now starting a period where the Decepticons and evil Autobots can mingle and interact. The Autobots are setting up a temporary camp of sorts near the Decepticon base, on the far side of the mining town (remember that the entrance to the mine is actually outside of the town proper). They can't interact freely, exactly, as the alternate Autobots aren't allowed in the Decepticon base, but they can, and are encouraged to, talk with each other/spy on each other/play games of cat and mouse out in the woods and mountains/whatever else. For anyone who wants to participate in this sort of thing, but is having trouble coming up with a way to start the thread, please PM an admin for suggestions or help. As this period will last a few days, people currently in medical can participate in these threads.
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Post by Victoria Raines on Mar 13, 2008 22:32:39 GMT -5
Shockwave's headfins tilt back slightly at Oracle's answer. See them? The phrasing does not seem to indicate that such would be accomplished via radar or some other scouting method. This bears investigation.
He is very glad Starscream had the presence of mind not to grant access to their base to these Autobots. That would have been an error Shockwave would not have been able to stay silent about. It does mean that arrangements will have to be made for future planning, but that is a small matter.
Shockwave's attention turns back toward Perceptor with his arms full of minibot. "I do not suppose you would allow an observer once you are settled? Professional curiosity and all that."
To Starscream, Shockwave privately radios: //The transdimensional technology must be a priority. We can only hope that pride and arrogance infects this Perceptor as it seems to infect these others. Before that though...the information I pulled from the minibot. There is something you need to see."
OOC: Shockwave will leave when Starscream does, or if ordered to do so.
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Post by Rodimus Prime on Mar 16, 2008 23:33:26 GMT -5
OOC: The terms have already been agreed on and set, and we're now starting the period where the 'Bot-3s and 'Cons can socialize. Feel free to start new threads as you desire. There's no reason this thread needs to be RP'd out to the bitter end, especially as one of the major players involved is moving right now, so I'm going to go ahead and lock it. Everyone can consider their characters officially done with this thread, and being follow-on RP for the next few IC days as it seems appropriate.
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