[Accidental Vid] Fire in the Nexus
[The communicator shows someone exiting processing and the feed is so crisp its possible it may have been recently replaced. This someone is also rather tall, even for a transformer, and his sigh is audible as he stops at the curb and transforms]
Why do I get my hopes up like this? The probability was so low and yet… somehow I thought maybe they ( Read more... )
Why do I get my hopes up like this? The probability was so low and yet… somehow I thought maybe they ( Read more... )
[There was two of them. There should not be two of them. Despite having met alternates of himself, Starscream seems to lose all sense of logic over this.]
It's official. I've either died and gone to hell or the universe has decided to play some sort of cosmic joke!
Why are there two of you?!
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[And that seems to be some sort of incoming signal on his own comm unit. How could someone know...?
Oh. ...its...the other Jetfire...broadcasting? And its...]
Starscream.
I...should...have suspected there would be a version of you, here. [It doesn't change how sudden all of this is, especially as worn out and low on energy as he is currently.]
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Some might consider this karma, I suppose.
But I'm just going to believe that the universe just plain hates me.
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[He hadn't meant to use that word, but there it was. The intended use was purely scientific, nonetheless.]
...is slim.
I think I would have to do a great deal more to you for you to arrive at that hypothesis, though.
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[Because the universe obviously revolved around himself.]
But still as I do not know which universe you hail from it is likely that you are from a --
[Wait.]
Why in Primus' name am I talking like you?!
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If I actually am your Jetfire, to begin with.
[Though it certainly looked like Starscream...]
[He...actually smiles a bit.] Cognitive resonance. Others are more likely to like you if you sound like them. And...you...are...versed in some manners of science, aren't you?
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[Starscream just stares for an extremely long moment. Well, okay it was more like two seconds because he cannot go very long without talking. He's Starscream after all. But still it felt like a very, very long time.]
I --
[But that would mean...]
[Of course Jetfire's last comment distracted him a bit. But he still had been caught off guard.]
... You ... are correct.
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Then perhaps you could assist me. Have you been in this Nexus long?
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Too long.
... What is the last thing you remember before arriving here?
[He partly did not want to ask that, but he also -had- to know.]
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So you are from the same universe as me.
[That confirmed that, at least...even if its spoken quietly.]
Something attacked Omega Supreme and I when we were above a class 3 planet. We crashed. I was separated from Omega in the crash, but found our assailant, and was pulling him towards a source of energy when I was buried in a shower of solidified water crystals.
I...am afraid I do not know how much time has passed since then.
[He'd been in pretty heavy stasis.]
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[How fortunate for him. Though he both slightly hurt and yet grateful for that fact. He would admit to neither though. He huffed a bit.]
...
[Bah.]
... Even if you had not ended up here, you would have rejoined up with your fellow Autobots soon enough.
[He kind of figured Jetfire might like to know that.]
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[That prompts a great deal of thinking, both about Starscream and about the parallel existences of simultaneous timestreams.]
[He perks back up at that last bit, though.]
...th...
Thankyou. It...is good to know I do not fail utterly in my mission. Is Optimus Prime alright? How does the war progress?
[He'd hoped there wouldn't still be a war, but with the way Starscream was singling out Autobots...]
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... Save your sentimentality for ...
[someone deserving]
The Autobots.
[If Starscream had eyes to roll he would have done so at this time. Of course Jetfire would ask about his fellow Autobots.]
As far as the Autobot leader -- I don't know. But judging by the fact that Shockwave was back to cowering under Megatron -- and that Shockwave is completely pathetic -- I'm sure he is still among the functioning.
And ... what do you want me to do, give you the Reader's Digest version of the war?
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I...will save it, yes. [He was going to put it away, and lock it up where it wouldn't interfere with his job, if he could. But emotions were what separated him from Shockwave--his sentimentality caused him to adhere so strongly to his morals.]
Shockwave is--hm. [That was certainly evidence.] I don't believe I would use the word 'pathetic' to describe him. [Ruthless and brilliant came to mind, but those compliments weren't necessarily intended as such.]
I...would like to know what you have been up to, yes.
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[He was not bitter about the whole Sunstorm fiasco at all -- Nope not a bit. He was only going to find a way to crush Shockwave into a flattened piece of metal one of these days.]
...
[Okay so that did kind of earn Jetfire a stare.]
You do remember that I am a Decepticon and you are an Autobot right? As in you know hating and trying to kill one another. Blah, blah. You protect the world. We must stop the Decepticons. I am evil and all that jazz?
[Then again he had counted on Jetfire's honorable nature when dealing with his clone...]
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[He stares right back, open and honest.]
I believe I was told there is no war on this Cybertron. It was the end of a string of good news that started with: 'You're no longer frozen in a solid matter state.' I'm...inquiring...as to your well being, that is all.
[And if Starscream happened to let any information free about what the Decepticons were up to, that would be good, too. Not that anyone would believe him back home if he told them, but at least it meant that he could prepare.]
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