[The video starts by focusing on a large, empty dog bowl...which a cybertronian hand picks up for size reference.]
It turns out something of mine is missing. [He shakes some dust off the bowl.] And probably has been for some time. I can't imagine that a three-headed, one story tall organic canine can vanish easily, so I want him found.
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And so you rate your dog the same as one of your most loyal mechs.
[Halfway between shock and disgust. How could he have been so...wrong?]
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Do not dare presume anything about my feelings toward Soundwave.
If you did not notice, there is a reason one broadcast precedes the other.
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And yes. I imagine--I presume--that the reason is order of preferment.
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[He's staring at Wing, knowing this...must be about something else.]
If you're going to presume, at least use some of that logic I know is in there somewhere: I didn't know Soundwave was gone before I'd already made the first part of the post.
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And do you 'presume' to lecture me about logic?
[He narrows his optics.] You should stick to threats and intimidation, Magnum. At least you have the ethos for those.
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[Hm. So appeals to a higher mental function weren't working. He'd have to be a little more direct.]
But I doubt you're so furious because I might have slighted Soundwave. Tell me...did I accidentally step on a friend of yours?
[Sarcasm--he has it.]
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If you had hurt a friend of mine, Magnum, I would not simply be speaking to you.
And I am not 'furious.' I'd...choose another word. [Disappointed. Disgusted. Reeling at how he'd let himself be manipulated.]
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[Wing gets a very special tailored smirk of snark.]
What word, Wing? If I have transgressed, don't I at least deserve to know my crime?
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So I've seen.
[Have a snort to go with your smirk.]
Are your crimes so many that you need someone else to keep track of them for you?
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[He likes that tiiny little bit of surprise that registered when you realized what other meanings 'action' could have.]
And you'd be welcome to tell me all about them.
Later.
[He glances down, checking other messages.]
If you haven't noticed, I'm trying to overthrow the mech who is seeing fit to remove me of my Soundwave. It is...important to me.
Now, are you going to help, or shall I consider your affronted self to be reneging on our deal?
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'Overthrow'? [He laughs.] And under what delusion are you suffering that you think I will help you prosecute your war, Megatron?
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And, speaking of consent...
Perhaps I'm operating under the memory of you swearing your services to me.
Or did that not happen?
You're either mine or you're a traitor. Take your pick.
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[He's going to hypervent for a few cycles here.]
I did not give my word to start a new war, here, Magnum, but to prevent one in our home.
[He forces himself calm. Or calmer].
And again, you see the world in such limited binaries, don't you? Enemy or servant, those are the two colors in which you paint the entire world?
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[His smirk is gone...showing how serious he is, because this is important.]
You gave your word to follow me, in exchange for a reasonable chance to change the future. And you should be smart enough to know that changing the future starts with listening to what went wrong.
So listen, Wing.
I. Am. Not. Starting. A. War. Here.
Not yet.
I am, however, organizing a contingent to pursue a mech who has been kidnapping residents against their wills and experimenting on them. [He had ulterior motives, of course, but he wasn't lying about this.] Would you prefer I just...let them be tormented?
[Oh, is he staring at you for this.]
Or would you prefer to continue jumping wildly into your allegations? Must I fit into this mold you pour me in?
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I... [He cycles a vent. He knows it's not how Magnum is putting it. It can't be. He won't be seduced by pretty words again. He won't.
[But...it squares with everything he's heard. Mechs taken, returned--changed. And not for the better. Someone behind it all, someone no one else wants to, dares to stand up with.
[Save Magnum.]
I will aid you that far. [Why did it feel like a slippery slope?]
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