(Untitled)

[allaregone]

WHO: EbilPrime, Dudewave, Rod
WHERE: Somewhere in Zone 7
WHEN: Very shortly after this exchange.
WHAT: Dudewave is coming to rescue Rod from the clutches of the evil Optimus Prime!...there's a reason Optimus suggested he not do so.
NOTE: This will be Rod's final log for their (no longer current) player. Warnings for eventual character death, and

Comments

[inferiordude]

It's impulsive and stupid. Not unusual for him, really; impulsive is something he shares with Shockwave, but the intelligence is something that the medibot always had over Soundwave. It was always his belief that pushed them forward, like a muse without wear and tear. Soundwave can do impulsive, but he rarely thinks things through.

Too emotional. He knows. And all he knows now is that a friend is in trouble. A friend so little believed in, because of what? Mere suspicion that it could be Rodimus? He doubts it. He believes in him.

He sees no reason not to.

Soundwave follows the trail easily, just as he always does. He shoves the doors open with a grunt from his speakers, peering inside.

Last time he'd done something this stupid, he nearly died. Starscream made him promise to not leave without him next time...

But Starscream isn't here to help. And he will never take another tape near Optimus Prime again, so Ravage is out. Megatron--

Megatron doesn't believe in Rod. Soundwave is being emotional and stupid about it, but he's frustrated with those feelings. So he chooses to be on his own.

He won't let another friend down.

Eventually, he locates Rod; Soundwave lifts his helm, then doesn't spare a nanoklik. He rushes right over.

"Rod!"

Horrid reminder. He remembers, how they found Starscream, all the way back in Crystal City.

"Hey, dude -- talk to me."

[evilmoustache]

There was pain, and then there was pain. Or maybe better put, there was pain and then there was ember-crushing agony. Prime was a master of both.

A sound escaped Rod that he'd refuse to call a whimper, but he'd be the only one, and optics shuttered back into life dull with the pain. "....Soundwave?"

The voice is absolutely, completely, surprised. Rod was a very dead mech: he just hadn't actually died yet, but it was only a matter of time. He knew, somewhere, that this was due to happen one day - that everyone under Prime died at his hands eventually. Prime was insane. Prime was insane.

And now Rod was bleeding out, more helpless than he'd ever been, just waiting for this to finish. He needed that eventual end because he knew full well he wasn't getting out of this alive, knew that he'd chosen this, really, the day he'd taken the Autobots and stranded Prime on Earth.

He wished he could say it had been a good run.

"Soundwave..." It IS Soundwave, it can't be a hallucination, because Prime always broke those before they could form (And they were always Blurr for some reason). "What the slag?"

[inferiordude]

There's a bit of a scoff from Soundwave as he approaches the Autobot. He presses a hand lightly to Rod's shoulder, then gets to work. He needs to pull these fragging things out in order to get him to a medibot.

"What?" he responds, almost passingly. "Yer in a fix an' I'm here t'get ya out, dude."

He shrugs. "Surprise, but s'what friends do, right?"

Then, a shake of his helm. "Anyway. I'll get ya out of here. Think you can send a transmission to Ratchet or somethin'?"

[evilmoustache]

"...Friends...?" Rod manages, still not quite believing this isn't some sort of hallucination - not until Soundwave gets one of the hunks of metal out of his hands - and that's just a sound of- of pain, not a whimper, not at all.
It has to be real, because hallucinations don't hurt: and Prime never let anyone think someone else was doing the hurting.
But...getting out? Getting out would be good. Very good. Yes. Rod tries to concentrate but systems are failing, that slow fall towards the inevitable and it's so hard to think when your pain receptors burned through the shut off code cycles ago.
"Can't signal - d-d-damaged. You?" Optics shut right off as systems suddenly are forced to reboot
"...don' believe you - comin 'ere."

[inferiordude]

"Yep." There's a small grunt through his speakers as he works the hunk of metal out from Rod's shoulder, tossing it aside. There's a sigh from his vents and he nods. "Friends. We look out for each other, dude. S'what friends do."

He starts work on the next hunk of metal. Mentally, he does wish Starscream was here; usually he wishes that often these days, but right now, he could use his intelligence. Soundwave knows he isn't as smart as him. That's just a fact. He doesn't really know how to do a good patch up job like Screamer or Shockwave.

Compassionate optics look down at Rod, then he nods. "Yeah. I'll send a signal." Maybe he should have called for Megatron after all. Even if he doesn't trust Rod...

Even then, Megatron always does the right thing, and Soundwave knows he's been stupid about being mad at him for not trusting Rod.

"Believe? Why not?" He shrugs. "Gimme a nanoklik. I'm gonna send a signal."

It's one of the few things he's good at, anyway.

replace starscream with dudewave in the icon and it sort of works

[allaregone]

"And what a good friend you are."

The voice is clear, mocking; the hand that grabs Soundwave by the neck and raises him off the ground, not so much. It's a carefully controlled grip; just this much shy of actually inflicting damage, but certainly tight enough to slow fluids through lines if nothing else...

And Optimus's optics glow in amusement as they look from Soundwave to the wounded Rod. There's something to be said for timing; did either of them really think that he would allow this rescue?

"Send a signal now," he informs Soundwave with deceptive calmness, "And I will kill you both. I told you not to come, Decepticon," he continues in a darker voice, "but since you're here, I might as well show you something..."

[evilmoustache]

So that sound? It's not a shriek either, as Rod(imus) presses himself hard against the wall he's still pinned against - at this point the reaction to Prime's appearance was harddwired in. Prime's good at bringing mechs down to their most basic lines of code.

Rod's engine actually stalls, and he coughs, fluids no longer reaching primary systems. "We're slagged."

[inferiordude]

"Gehh--" It's not a word, and it's sputtered out through his speakers until it degenerates into basic static. Instinctively, Soundwave immediately struggles against Prime's grip. Not only are his main lines in his neck, but so are his main wires running to his speakers so he can actually talk. It's sensitive wiring, custom made by friends.

Soundwave... can look into this and be brave. He can do that, but it doesn't change the fact that his ember flickers in fear of his current predicament. Prime is not a force to be reckoned with, and truly? Only Megatron has the skill to face him and come out with minimal scorch marks. Soundwave doesn't stand a smelting chance.

But he can be stupidly brave, too. Kick reason to the curb, right? Right.

For now, he doesn't send the signal. He can't afford to put Rod's life on the line. No real Decepticon would do that.

"N-nothin' yer gonna show's gonna be p-pretty," he tries to sneer through the broken white noise he emits from his speakers. Soundwave kicks blindly, uselessly, stuck in Optimus Prime's grip.

[allaregone]

Fear is something Optimus Prime will never get tired of seeing. It's a power trip, really; to know that his presence alone establishes such a strong, base reaction...

Optimus tightens his grip in warning, taking the kicks but making it clear that he finds them annoying. His armor is strong enough that Soundwave's desperate flailing hardly dents it; that said, while his struggles are entertaining, the Prime would prefer his attention be on something else other than escape.

"You chose your fate," he informs Rodimus. "The minute you stopped even pretending to be useful to me, you knew this would happen - this one, on the other hand...

"I rather think you have some explaining to do to him, don't you, Rodimus?" he asks, optics glinting maliciously. "I'll make it quick if you're as convincing as you've already been..."

[evilmoustache]

What happens to your mind when you know you're dead, that you're slag for the scrapheap and you haven't hit it yet. How to you rectify the idea that you're going to die - cheap pig iron left to rust - while you're still alive to see it happen?

You don't. You can't.

Some people could hold onto their sense of self, their sense of honor, their greater cause - to fight and curse with their dying breath - but even then they hold that belief that there's that chance their words will fix things.

And Rodimus is no damn martyr.

"Anythin-" Beg? Yeah, he's probably going to concede that this is begging. If he gets Soundwave-
Soundwave who came to rescue him-
Soundwave. Who came. To rescue him.
Who is going to die at Prime's hand because he was damn fool enough to come after a mech who was lyin to him since he met him to look after his own aft.
Who's death was sure as slag not going to buy Rod a ticket out of here.

Slag it all to the pit and back.

"Anythin ya want... you c-c-can slaggin well ask nicely for, ya half cranked gearshaft! Wave, you better be sendin that damn signal!"

Maybe he buys them time. Maybe Soundwave calls for help. Maybe help arrives. Maybe they get out alive. Maybe.
He's certainly not doing this for the stinkin Con. Not at all. No.

[inferiordude]

The tighter grip makes him emit a far more pathetic noise, crackled in static as he kicks less. Alerts flicker into his processor, informing him on the pressure to his main fuel lines.

Yeah, no slag, he thinks wryly to his processor. Soundwave wants to struggle and kick, but finds he has less the energy to do so, and it is not helping him any.

Still, he's confused, not that it's hard to puzzle Soundwave. What is Prime implying, anyway?

He tries to respond, speakers cutting in and out.

"Can't--" Soundwave tries to pry off Prime's grip feebly. "--get y'killed, can I?"

He can wait, and try to send something encrypted. Under the radar. It's his specialty. He can wait. They'll get out alive.

Soundwave believes this, despite the lack of logic.

[allaregone]

"Oh...so unwise."

Really, he thought that Rodimus was smarter than that. He showed himself to be smart...but maybe that was just a surge of processor. He's certainly acting anything but smart, now. Optimus calmly reaches forward with his free hand, forcing Soundwave to watch as he grabs the jagged piece within Rod's chest and twists, ever so slowly.

"The Decepticon is being smarter than you. I think he knows that he has a chance of getting out of here alive, don't you, Soundwave?" Without missing a beat or giving Soundwave a chance to continue, Prime moves on: "Whereas all you have to look forwards to is a slow, painful death. I would throw you into the Agonizing Rehabilitation Chamber but at this point I don't think even that could fix you.

"But...is it just me, or do you want him to stay alive? How entertaining." The grip tightens a bit more as Optimus looks towards the blue mech. "I wonder who will break first..."

Rodimus should be able to get what he's implying from here. If he has any shred of intelligence left in that processor of his, of course...

[evilmoustache]

Rod screams on the first turn, screams on the second turn until his vocal processor blanks out. The third turn he's nearly silent for, body shuddering and his engine running too hard and high and a piercing tone cutting in and through his vocals instead of legible sound.

He tries to tell Souondwave to send the damn signal- send it or they're both dead you glitch- but he can't get a sound out - not to mention that if Prime suspects it kinda ruins the point of escape.

"What d-d-d'you want" he finally manages, feeling subsystems start to offline.

Send the damn signal he pratically wills to Soundwave, cursing his completely trashed systems. A private com link would be all he'd need right now- but he doesn't have it, and it's not coming online anytime soon.

[inferiordude]

This can't go on. He works on a private encryption, hopefully under radar. Just. Little by little. He needs to work on finding Megatron somehow. He can do it. It's one of the few things Soundwave can do.

The Decepticon pulls at the grip and groans at the faint pain, then jerks his helm a little.

"Jus' get on with it, Bogus Bot," he grates through his speakers. "What do you want...?!"

[allaregone]

"You, be silent and listen." Optimus has no patience for anything but such from Soundwave; he's a pawn in this game. And one way or another, both of them will play. Indeed, if Rodimus hadn't cooperated...

It's clear Soundwave thinks enough of his 'friend' to risk his life. And if Rodimus hadn't been willing to do anything to try and save Soundwave's own...well, the betrayal would have satisfied Optimus just as much as this will.

As for Rodimus...well...Optimus gives him a brief, critical look. He shouldn't offline anytime soon, and if he does that will make things difficult. So it's best to make this quick.

He releases his grip on the spike, petting the errant Autobot on the cheek. "I already told you," he explains almost kindly. "Explain yourself. Convince him to your true identity. After all..."

His hand then moves; from Rodimus's cheek to his chest, and into it in one smooth motion to grab his ember casing as he continues speaking. "He apparently thinks your worthless ember is worth something, even after you've played him and everyone else for a fool! Don't you think he deserves to know the truth?" he adds in a half-sneer, half-snarl, twisting the metal in his grasp. Oh, he can feel the fire of life within it, and it makes his own curl within his chest, to have another's life so easily crushed at the merest twitch of his fingers...

"Tell him, Rodimus," he growls. "Tell him everything."

[evilmoustache]

Fear and terror are a lot like pain and agony. One is bad, can be very very bad: one takes over your whole processor, turns the world into nothing but black and that one point, that one focus, overriding code and programming and personality until self-preservation kicks in and you fight or run or hide, and when you can't do any of those you break, you break because you'll do anything to make that potential blackness go away, even if it's only for a minute, a second, a blink.

Rodimus screams. When the fingers loosen their grip even slightly be babbles "-ok ok ok Prime yes yes. I lied I tricked 'im it was all all all just a fake there wasn't ever 'nother me just m-m-me didn't want to be stuck here so I lie tol' you I wasn't who you thought I was lied told everyone I wanted to help lied paint changed fixed m'hand lied stop-s-stop please-"
Prime was a master of mixing agony and terror, putting it together and breaking anyone under his fists with it. Rod had watched him do it to countless others, but he was too far gone to see the irony in it himself.

"'m Rodimus same as you knew the whole time was lyin Prime-" He cut himself off with a scream, and hung limp. Half his core processing had just hit a data error and crashed, leaving backups to slowly bring him back online, flickering and stuttering through the pain.