[The feed clicks on to a face unfamiliar to most of Axiom Nexus. He's in a stark, industrial lab. Banks of ultra-speed processing computers surround him, blinking and humming. Behind him, a large logo on the wall reads 'Simultron: the Finest in Virtual Entertainment
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What kind of memories do you believe you are missing?
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[Keep it up and you might convince him. You are not Shockwave and are an Autobot as far as he knows. Two things that generally don't lead to painful things.]
If nothing is secure, then you don't know. All it would take is someone with the skills next to that of a Soundwave to grab your data.
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The timing is certainly...odd.
[He can't guarantee no pain. He can guarantee he won't enjoy it. That is a large step up from Decepticon.]
If it were Soundwave--or Shockwave for that matter--they could have done it without me ever noticing the theft, I imagine.
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Aurgh. And so do I. I dodged the bullet once, but I can't deter him forever.
I am just going to find a way to off that purple freak myself.
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Yes. You see why I am trying to solve this...without outside involvement.
Hrm. That may be necessary. [He did, after all, authorize releasing Arcee to track Jhiaxus.] But before that, we must have absolute proof.
I am unsure why Shockwave would want this data at all.
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Shockwave believes experiments will further our race. Megatron authorized cloning experiments in my own universe. I wouldn't put it past him to try to do something similar again.
[Now that he thought of it, going after Shockwave would be difficult on his own. He doubted he could convince say Skyfire to help him in killing the purple Decepticon. Or even any other of his few allies. But maybe he could manipute the situation here and get others to accuse Shockwave and go after him. Hmm. The wheels are turning. Watch out.]
Eh. What kind of proof would you need?
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They were both wrong.
[He won't even mention Jhiaxus. That was before his operative time. The others were his peers, fellow scientists.]
For Shockwave? First, a motive. TransTech superiority: I can't imagine he'd admit that there's something we now that he does not already.
Second, his intent on how to use it.
[Jetfire sighs.] Shockwave...makes no sense. The pieces don't fit.
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Then again I don't know exactly what kind of informatation you lost.
I could be way off base here.
[Shrug]
But if it's not Shockwave then I have no reason to help you.
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I gave you the names of two. My work is trying to repair the damage they wrought. To help others, and to help win the war.
[He sighs. He should have expected this. It was a surprise Starscream had contacted him at all.]
Just...if you hear of this kind of data going missing, please contact me. We don't know--we don't want to imagine--what these deranged lunatics can get up to.
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So, why should I help you in something that'd win your war?
The Decepticon thing to do would be to take what little information you gave me and track it down on my own. I could take all this dangerous information for myself instead of contacting you about it.
[This was mostly an attempt to gauge a reaction from Jetfire.]
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[He sighs. Moral dubiousness is Jetfire's standard terrain. He should recolor himself grey.] Have I blamed the theft on any Decepticons? It's entirely plausible that an Autobot could have stolen this data to bring back to his homeworld, also.
If I were to be so blinded by faction, I would locked my query to my own faction. [Logic, he haz!]
[He shakes his head. ] You can, and you very well may. But some issues are simply beyond the scope of one mech, by himself, to handle. I fear you may discover that the hard way.
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We do surprisingly agree on a few things. It's not the faction so much as the common goal that matters.
However, I do nothing without some form of gain for myself. If I find out anything and I tell you -- you'll owe me.
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[Decepticons with their conquest and scorched earth policies, Autobots with their freedom, both arrows pointed in the same direction. Unless you were touched by The Darkness
[He nods.] I would expect nothing less. In fact, [something almost a smile] your candor is rather surprising. I am almost...honored.
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That is where Megatron failed and why Shockwave almost succeeded in my universe.
[He huffs.]
Blatent lies don't work on someone like you, don't feel too special now.
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[Jetfire would hate to admit he feels the same. If the goal is worthy enough, it doesn't matter who offers to help achieve it.]
I wonder what kind of lies I do rate, then.
[Is that a sense of humor?]
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[In the Nexus he was actually a little scattered. Back in his own universe things were simple. But now everything was just ... complicated.]
[He does, however, smirk at that second part.]
You? I think you are more of a "use truth to manipulate" type. Push in a general direction sort. And then go from there.
[And that was spoken with some humor.]
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