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Post by Assault/Arthur Aldrin on Feb 22, 2012 20:59:36 GMT -5
To say that this intel captures the interest of Arthur, is an understatement. He glances again at his assistant, offering her a knowing smile with just a hint of evil. Then, his full attention is back on Mordred. When she is done speaking, when she asks him his thought, he takes a moment to consider.
Then, he rises to his feet, cracks his neck, and takes a step forward. As his foot hits the ground, a glow overtakes his form until he is an entity of light, light that is then blown off and drifts on winds of pure power, before dissipating into nothing. And in the place of the young hiker is something altogether different. An imposing form, draped in a blue coat, casting a shadow over the black knight, with amber shades glaring down at her. An elder warrior, with the authoritative aura of an experienced general, born into nobility, who has served for most of his life.
Mordred asked for Onslaught's opinion? Then she will get it.
"We must annihilate him."
A gloved hand clutches into a fist, the man raising it in a display of confidence and resolve, to put more emphasis on his strong words. "Physically, Shockwave has never been weaker. I do not have any information as to whether or not Victoria is a meta-human, but even if she is, I am far more powerful, and she is a shadow of who she once was. We must not ignore him."
Then, his arms cross behind his back, and Octavian turns around so that he may pace freely. "Unfortunately, Victoria is every bit as influential as Shockwave is. Perhaps more so, because make no mistake, she is the head of an empire. An empire with many enemies, but few who dare cross her, either due to not having the resources or because they have a vested interest in her practices. The Decepticons might, but you are right about Starscream, of course. He believes himself strong when he is merely a weakling with delusions of grandeur, his ambitions held back by his cowardly nature. The others? Some may join us, but most will serve that despicable duo and resist you. The group I work for is similar. She is a thorn in their side, but any action they would partake in against her would be traced back to them." Again, he glances at Cipher. "But they will not oppose any independent action taken."
He stops pacing. Turns around, crosses his arms. A small smile pushes up a thick mustache. "Our only chance at success is if we carefully pick our allies, remain in the shadows, keep our distance until we can kill Victoria and Shockwave with a single, swift and decisive blow. A missile strike, or even something as inelegant as a car bomb. Not a knife plunged into her back or a sword impaling her chest. None of that theatrical nonsense. Swift, brutal, unexpected retribution against those who would call us their master, nothing more, nothing less."
Then, with another burst of energy, he changes back into the sweating, exhausted hiker he was before. "That is my opinion, milord."
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Feb 23, 2012 0:08:34 GMT -5
Tasha has been content to play arm candy for Mordred during the discussion. During the entire exchange, she has been listening carefully and watching both Arthur and Cipher. Tasha seems to be firmly in control, and while she is obviously still aware of her body, she is not overtly showing herself off as Nightshade was.
Arthur's display of shape-shifting startles her. As his other self speaks, she attempts to pull away from her lover and take a step toward her thrall. When Arthur is Arthur once more, she tries to place her hand on his chest.
"Did I break you?"
It's a valid question, if one knows Blackarachnia's history. Making Blitzwing into a Triplechanger gave him three personalities. If course, it's possible neither truck knows that fact, and they will both just think she's having a nutty moment.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Feb 23, 2012 9:33:50 GMT -5
"Did you intend to?" Cipher asks quietly.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Feb 24, 2012 12:15:10 GMT -5
Inside the helmet, Mordred raises an eyebrow at Arthur's transformation. That makes at least three of them that transform. How interesting. Tasha to Nightshade. Sable to Mordred. Arthur to Octavian. She wonders, does Victoria change, too?
"You assume by thinking that you are more powerful than she is. I would hate to see you die over a faulty assumption," Mordred replies, and this is accurate.
Mordred explains to Tasha, "You fixed him. He was in the wrong body. You put him in a form more suited to his mentality. Hopefully, you'll do so again, hmm?" Okay, she also brainwashed him, but they don't need to talk about that right now. Or ever.
"You can't just vanish off the radar. They'll suspect something. Instead, what you are going to do is keep looking for and finding our enemies and brethren. Particularly let me know if you find Fleetwind, Misfire, or the Mayhems. However, you aren't going to report any of them in. Instead, you are going to find humans similar to them and report those fakes in." Mordred looks at Tasha. "Help him with that. If you can make the fakes think they really are us, that'll just waste more of Starscream's followers' time trying to get humans to remember being robots they never were. Especially, you're going to need to find doubles for Nightshade and I, as I will, at least, be in public view quite a bit, and keep them just one step away from the law, so that the law will be chasing after them while Nightshade and I further our goals."
"Victoria visits her parents in Provence once a month. Uses her own private jet. I suspect it is nothing more than an affectation, but if she's there..."
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Post by Assault/Arthur Aldrin on Feb 25, 2012 13:57:25 GMT -5
The look that Arthur gives Tasha is confused. At least at first. Then, the headache returns, joined by a desire to say something. But he doesn't know what, and yet, it is at the tip of his tongue...
What is wrong with him?
"I...No, my lady. I merely have two different forms." He settles on an answer he is not satisfied with, but which still feels right. The conflict makes the headache spike, if briefly. A hand travels up to rub his temple for the duration of it. Then, the thoughts on the matter fade, and the headache leaves with it.
Then, his confusion is replaced with arrogance, a confident smirk on his face, his voice filled with pride as he speaks."I am one of the most powerful meta-humans on this planet. Even if she is one as well, in the same class as I am, I have another advantage: I am a soldier, a trained killer. She would just be a civilian with combat training. She would be below me."
"Of course, my Lord." He is quick to agree, even if she is repeating the thoughts and plans that were already forming in his mind. "I will not fail you, my liege. I will accomplish this task. But if I may speak freely...Going after her parents, or strike when she is there or even en route, would be a foolish notion."
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Feb 25, 2012 22:58:14 GMT -5
Tasha does not look at Cipher when the other woman asks her question, instead keeping her gaze locked on Arthur. Tasha's eyes do flick in the direction of Arthur's aide, however, and her nails dig ever so slightly into Arthur's chest.
The ace and the fatale have come to the same conclusion about the other, it would seem.
"I have never desired to break him," Tasha answers testily. Something of Nightshade slips through as her lips turn up in a sexy smirk, "Not like that at least."
She turns away from Arthur and back into Mordred's arms.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Feb 29, 2012 13:30:11 GMT -5
"Duly noted." Cipher listens, noting much more than that. Mordred will be the most difficult one to dispose of, she thinks.
Skippable.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Feb 29, 2012 21:59:21 GMT -5
"How do you know she's not a soldier?" Mordred asks, wondering why Onslaught has chosen this particular moment to add Flaw: Crippling Arrogance to his character sheet. "Maybe she spends her days breaking down the doors of bunkers with her forehead and killing insurgents with her toenails, and her whole company is set up as a sham to cover for her hobby of mounting her enemies's severed heads on pikes."
No, that would be Marvel Shockwave. The point still stands, though. Arthur is being foolhardy in assuming that he can handle Shockwave mano a mano just because Shockwave happens to be a womano and ruthless business tycoon at the moment.
"Why is hitting her where we know she'll be a foolish idea?"
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Post by Assault/Arthur Aldrin on Mar 3, 2012 21:48:38 GMT -5
It's a good thing that Nightshade did not come out entirely. Depending on how sharp her nails are that would have hurt.
That sexy smile, meanwhile, just makes him scrape his throat. He does not show what he thinks of it.
Then, he turns to Mordred, and answers quite simply: "Victoria is not a secretive person. Her history is well documented. While it is possible that she uses a double, she would not have enough time left for such activities. She is also quite obsessed with keeping her company 'clean'. She would not risk attention that would tarnish her reputation. I, meanwhile, have in my human form several decades worth of field and experience, as well as considerable meta-abilities. I am the very image of a born and bred commando."
Not that it matters. There is no way Arthur will ever get close to her. He will even be hesitant with looking at Victoria down the scope of his rifle, because it is inevitable that she will catch the glint and stare him down.
"Because that is exactly where everyone else who wants her dead would strike. She will literally be prepared for anything."
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Mar 3, 2012 23:23:21 GMT -5
Tasha pillows her head against Sable's chest as she continues to watch Arthur.
"Why is arrogance such a flaw in Decepticons," she says suddenly, sounding almost exactly like Blackarachnia for the first time since Mordred woke her, "I thinking it must be built into the base code and locked in place."
Blackarachnia chose her faction, after all. She pushes away from Mordred, standing on her own.
"Even if her care for them is an affectation, she will have set up security measures around them, security measures for us in our correct forms. Her facilities have energon detectors, in a reality where energon was previously unheard of. But she can't plan security measures around us as we are now because she has no idea what to plan for. Not even Shockwave can plan for every eventuality all of the time."
"If he could, he wouldn't have disappeared due to his own experiment malfunctioning."
"Both of you stop behaving like you are afraid of her and just do what needs doing!"
Tasha knee buckles and she stumbles slightly, falling against a boulder. She's shaking and murmuring to herself over and over, "What was that? Who was that?"
She won't look at either Mordred or Arthur, because she's honestly afraid one of them might hurt her for that outburst. The doctors always did.
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Mar 3, 2012 23:46:05 GMT -5
"Blackarachnia, I presume." Cipher has actually presumed all of them are Blackarachnia, but the redhead has displayed at least two very distinctive styles of behavior prior to this. Based on what Arthur said, there should be a third.
She sidesteps and takes Tasha by the elbow to steady her. If it looks like the redhead will allow it, she will wrap an arm around the other woman's shoulders. Her touch is not particularly gentle, but it is certainly not painful.
Meta-humans having fits of insanity are the leading cause of other meta-human deaths. Cipher would prefer to avoid endangering Arthur, and, more importantly, endangering her own squishy self. If this means physical comfort, then there will be physical comfort.
"She is right," Cipher adds. "You can spend all day discussing 'what ifs', but she'll still be alive at the end of it. Ms. Raines has access to formidable resources, but as she does not live in a self-sufficient fortress under the Antarctic, there's at least one way to kill her."
There was at least one way to kill the Ice Lion, too, but it had proven easier just to pay him off.
OOC: Handling of Tasha with player permission.
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Post by Sable Conolly on Mar 7, 2012 22:03:07 GMT -5
"You," Mordred says firmly to Tasha, thinking, That was you.
Mordred tries to place a gloved hand upon Tasha's shoulder and muses, "Perhaps we should change the rules on Shockwave..."
OOC: Head towards a wrap?
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Post by Assault/Arthur Aldrin on Mar 10, 2012 8:31:47 GMT -5
Mordred is not the only one who swiftly pays attention when Blackarachnia comes out to play. Or rather vent her frustration. If Arthur was not under her spell, he would have snapped back that Victoria would know that what happened to her could happen to others as well. Or if he had asked Starscream about this, he would retort that Victoria already knows that it happened to them.
Or he may have just tried to kill them both.
But he is under her control, so he remains quiet, his attention glued to her, nodding solemnly at her words, even if he does not agree. When she collapses, he too walks over, extending a hand for her to take it, as the others have already rushed to claim her shoulders
________________
Good with wrap.
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Tasha Walker
Minor
She's got legs, she knows how to use them. She never begs, she knows how to choose them.
Posts: 430
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Post by Tasha Walker on Mar 10, 2012 10:47:36 GMT -5
Tasha is still so upset that she has very little awareness of Cipher's attentiveness at first. Mordred's presence usually steadies Tasha somewhat on every level, but that one-word assertion starts the shakes anew.
At the Mordred's touch, Tasha whimpers slightly and almost throws herself against the knight, curling her body in and hiding her face against that cold armor if allowed. Tasha is not crying, but she is still shaking violently and she needs the rock that is her knight desperately.
Later, she will speak to Arthur about his attempt at comfort. Right now, she just doesn't have the ability to play his master and she can't afford to treat him as a friend.
Wrap is good w/ me
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Frenzy
Minor
Emperor of Profaningshire
Fscking Bigjobs
Posts: 339
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Post by Frenzy on Mar 11, 2012 20:15:35 GMT -5
Cipher steps away as Tasha falls into Mordred's arms. Her gaze drifts to Arthur, hard and steely as the day she first walked into his office and introduced herself.
He has some 'xplaining to do.
OOC: Also good with a wrap.
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