Life always empty, but I will never change [OPEN]
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... )
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... )
Comments 94
She does find it distressing that any of them may fade in this manner. She'd seen it before, when she'd found Starscream's gray shell on the street in Detroit. That had been a rather short time before she found herself in Axiom Nexus. Something around six lunar cycles have passed - depending on the calendar in use - but it isn't like she's forgot! She hadn't cared then, either, except, maybe it had distressed her that the Cyber-ninjas hadn't faced Starscream in combat, but just...accidentally caused him to offline. It- this isn't the way a Decepticon is supposed to go!
The whole thing does bother ( ... )
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He takes a moment to answer, his voice a low grinding scrape now.
"I've been this way since I came here." He takes a klik to cycle some air through his vents. His seeming placidity is a sharp contrast to her agitation.
"I don't know what they did to me. I tried... examining myself when I had the time, but nothing that I can comprehend. Not the details anyway."
Another long pause.
"I survive much like a xenomorph- what humans call insects..." He admits.
"From my understanding. I am a bundle of programming wrapped in a shell."
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"But you must have made some plan!" She doesn't allow Starscream time to answer, not immediately, but goes on, nearly at a rant. Her vocalizations and her steps rapid, the flaps on her wings flick back and forth in agitation. "You examined yourself. There was time. You must have a plan. You haven't trusted me in this short time to tell me, of course. But there must be one. A pass out of the Offworlder Zones, or a lead on some artifact that's been smuggled in...."
She looks, finally, at Starscream, standing still as she waits for an answer.
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Position. To be trapped in this way. The way she rants at him. It's everything he went over with himself, only concentrated into one sentence.
"There is no plan." He's run out of time.
"The only... possibility is to take a fragment. From one of you." He says flatly.
"I wanted to avoid it, and now I am too weak to offline one of you." he's very plain, as if he's not talking about ripping the life out of one of them to save himself. He knows Slipstream will understand his logic. She is a part of him, after all. He means no offense. It is simply a Decepticon way.
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Isaac found out on his own, when he was researching quietly, typing furiously through his datapad and trying to calculate a solution. But he's exhausted everything he can do, everything he knows. Somehow, Starscream was existing without what they call a spark. Was it something Shockwave did?
Just who the hell was Shockwave, really? What did he want? Was this some kind of sick game?
Isaac sucks in a breath sharply, holding the bridge of his nose and closing his eyes. Damn it, he can't believe he's getting upset, but somehow Starscream did end up... growing on him. He got better, over the course of time. Hell, Starscream even appreciated his work. That's more of an accomplishment with the Decepticons than he expected.
But just like anyone else he tries to save, he's dying.
"Are you really going to compare this with me, Isaac?"His grip tightens on the datapad. He stares at the floor; he can feel her breathing against his neck, and he can't bear to look up ( ... )
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"Like slag." He croaks.
Slowly one arm dislodges itself from under the tarp that covers him and lands on the floor with a loud clang. Resting palm-up, one of his claws twitches a 'come here' motion, and his digits splay slightly, inviting the human to step into them.
He'd rather have Isaac where he could see him instead of some disembodied voice near the floor.
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This is just miserable, seeing Starscream like this.
"I could... rearrange the sensory nodes further. I don't know how much more effective it could be, but I could try to lessen what you feel. You'd pretty much be numb, though."
He feels helpless in this. Isaac can't save anyone except for himself, per usual.
"Do you call this thing a friend?"
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No. Not like that.
"Just. Stay with me a while." Now his highest goal is to not die alone.
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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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None did, and instead he found himself standing in a room that already smelled like death. Dirge felt his engines kick on, grinding out a low mournful tune. A funeral dirge... His talons tapped out the tune on Starscream's berth as he approached and leaned over the prone form.
"I could try to kill you again, for old times sake?"
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Who else would enter through the window?
Though he's completely vulnerable now (well, not entirely, Isaac would have at anyone who tried to harm him now). If Dirge really wanted to, though. He could simply end Starscream here. Though pointless as it may be. It is inevitable.
"You owe me a new window." He muses darkly.
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Not acceptable.
"It still works perfectly fine. Just...plug it up or something." He waved a hand dismissively. Bending even lower, Dirge put a claw on the other jet's shoulder.
"Quickly now- before you offline. Teach me the rest I need to know to be better."
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"Oh, Dirge."
He grabs the clone by his hand.
"I have one thing for you, Dirge. This will be my most valued knowledge to you." His voice scrapes low, and he gestures Dirge to lean closer.
"Think." He sighs.
"Think about why I hate you so much." He'd let Dirge simmer on that.
"Then you'll understand." What makes Starscream- Well. Starscream.
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