WHO: Starscream, [OPEN] To all! He's taking visitors.
WHAT: Starscream faces down the idea of being one of the first Decepticons to suffer a slow death, rather than a quick blaze of glory. He's waiting his last few days.
WHERE: Starscream's apartment.
WHEN: All day today and tomorrow.
WARNINGS/NOTES:
Soundtrack start. (
I wouldn't want to live like this forever. But change myself? Never, never!
The very thought sends shivers down my spine. I'm sure everything, everything will be fine... )
If that were even possible.
He was capable of creating and maintaining his lesser units -- Ravage, Rumble. The Reedman drone. The failed experiment that was 'Alice'. In-depth repairs were not beyond his capabilities. But, if these were... then data indicated it was not a total loss.
If he was correct, then his efforts would possibly strengthen the alliance -- such that it was -- once the alternate Starscream expired. And if not... well. He could mine the husk for data.
Soundwave didn't bother announcing himself. He simply let himself into the apartment without a word.
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"Hi." He greets quietly, barely lifting a hand to twitch his claws as a sort of half-wave.
He knows Soundwave can't help him, but it's nice to have people try to preserve his life. Odd, how many...
He'd never expected this.
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Cables coil out from their housing, winding around his arms, ready and waiting.
"SCANS: PREPARED," he says. To locate the damage, of course.
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What Soundwave will find is a mech who should by all means be dead. Not withholding information leaves him open, without a spark. His internals beyond repair. He is a shell with programming.
Little more.
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Not much of a reaction, unless you knew Soundwave. That was as good as a startled yelp.
Regaining his composure, Soundwave set to work. There isn't anything much he can do. Nothing major, anyway. But he can, at least, attempt to temporarily cool overheated components, replace small parts. It won't do much more than alleviate pain.
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He gratefully grazes his claws weakly over the nearest cable. It's hardly a ghost of a touch.
The brief reprieve from pain allows him to relax a bit, and he lets slip a relieved sigh.
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... If there is a future. If Starscream returns like the others have. If his gamble is successful. A good many "ifs".
Still, he works. He might as well. He's here. But the touch and the sigh makes his head turn, blank expression almost accusing. Was there a problem?
"CONTINUE?" he asks.
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"Continue." He winces, shoving the cable a bit, urging him to keep working.
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The cable coils around Starscream's shoving hand, out of reflex, and the satellite pays it no attention.
"DAMAGE: SEVERE," he reports.
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How pathetic he's become.
Maybe he should have Magnum come put him down...
"I know." Starscream grumbles.
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It isn't really a question. Soundwave never really asks questions. Maybe it's the lack of vocal inflection. He's curious, though. How could someone keep functioning like this? For as long as this Starscream has?
It could be useful to know.
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"It's. The Transtechs. They did this to me... I was offline on arrival. They picked up my dead shell." He says bitterly.
"Now it's just. A failed test."
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"DATA INDICATES: TRANSTECH REVIVAL UPON DEATH . . . LIKELY," he says calmly, while removing a piece of melted wire with deft claws. "SECONDARY RESTORATION: POSSIBLE."
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"Possible.. if they see fit. But what will they turn me into? Will I just repeat this cycle?" The Seeker looks away bitterly.
"I don't want to suffer like this."
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But he doesn't want to continue to have to sit in the presence of another's pain. He can filter the data by now, sorting it into a space reserved for the thoughts of others. No longer does the influx of data particularly bother him... but this is something so alien to him that it nearly unnerves him.
Soundwave has never felt overwhelmed once in his life.
"TRANSTECH: SHOCKWAVE . . . A POSSIBILITY," he states. If Shockwave could warp individuals at his whim...
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"So then I'm to be tortured. A possibility. They are all possibilities. In find it hard to believe I will return. Or return for the better." He sighs, letting bitterness overtake him again.
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