[NEXUS RP] Soundwave, Ravage, Predaking, Laserbeak

[soundwave_ascendant]

Just at the edge of the perimeter between Destron Hall-to-be and the Wilds, Soundwave lay back on the hillside and looked up at the stars, which were so different and so familiar all at once.

Ravage was a pleasant weight against his side, head resting on his shoulder, fingers entwined with his, as they wordlessly pointed out constellations they knew to each other, drawing new ones where their knowledge ran out.

With his free hand, he pointed to a pair of stars in a tandem orbit, circling each other but always keeping their distance.

Ravage shook his head. {We used to be like that, but not for long. And we didn't explode when we finally breached the distance.}

{I remember a few explosions. You were especially beautiful afterward.} Soundwave laughed, then frowned. Rumble and Frenzy were inside with Laserbeak, Ravage was right here beside him, the other cassettes were dormant, and there was no-one around for miles--until now.

Who was that strange mind-- and what was blocking out the stars at the edge of the Wilds?

Comments

[dontpetmeibite]

"That might be Predaking," Ravage said aloud, and sat up, sending soothing thoughts to Soundwave as he reached for his half-finished energon cube. "Can't think of anything else that looks that much like a dragon."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

Predaking tends to be imposing even when he's not especially trying to be. He knows that he's looking for a Cybertronian who resembles a cat, so he's been surveying the edge of the Wilds from a comfortable height. Between his size and power, he's confident that there's very little here that can threaten him. He's found a cave to live in deep in the Wilds, hidden from the larger Nexus but big enough to give him a safe place to live.

He's big enough that his form blots out the stars as he passes.

When he catches sight of Ravage and the other Cybertronian, he lands in front of them, wings foldoing back as he gets himself comfortable. He nods his head slightly to let them know he means no harm, but he waits for them to confirm their own identities before he transforms. He prefers his dragon form in some ways, but he needs to transform in order to speak to Cybertronians.

[soundwave_ascendant]

Soundwave also sits up. Until he knows for sure that's actually Ravage's friend, he'd prefer to be between them.

"Designation: Soundwave of Stanix. You are Predaking, as Ravage says?"

[dontpetmeibite]

"Of course he is," says Ravage, and to Soundwave's consternation, slips in front of him and into his lap.

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

The dragon nods again, and then transforms into his robot mode. He hadn't recognized the other Cybertronian as Soundwave until he identified himself as such.

"Greetings, Ravage and Soundwave of Stanix. You don't look like the Soundwave I know. You are a different one? The Nexus allows people to meet other versions of themselves, from many different worlds. Ravage spoke to me as a friend and fellow Predacon. Neither of you have anything to fear from me."

The fact that Ravage treated him like a person immediately meant a great deal to Predaking. None of the Decepticons where he came from did that.

[soundwave_ascendant]

"I know of six. Two aviforms. Four feliforms."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"I have decided that, since my fellow Predacons Darksteel and Skylynx are dead, I accepted Ravage's offer of a new family. I've heard that you seek to change your faction for the better. That you're taking humans in as members now."

Humans aren't prey to Predaking - they had been beneath his consideration. His kind fed on energon, not organic life.

"Consider me interested in an alliance. On that note, I will be impressed by any human who can stand beside a Predacon and Cybertronians in battle - humans are not a physically strong species, but they are cunning and intelligent."

[dontpetmeibite]

"Me, Stalker, who died, Howlback, and Glit," says Ravage, looking up at Soundwave. "And Laserbeak and Buzzsaw."

He turns to Predaking and smiles. "Stalker and Buzzsaw weren't stable. Buzzsaw still isn't. So it may or may not have been all Shockwave's doing, but Shockwave is not exactly a gentle or nurturing person."

[soundwave_ascendant]

"We have a human, Ben," says Soundwave. "Also a friend of Ravage's. Did the Decepticons of your universe not ever tell you why we are Decepticons, or what that is supposed to mean?"

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"No. They did not teach me about their ideals. I don't believe they saw me and my Predacons as their equals, only as weapons to be used to destroy their enemies. Megatron was afraid I would lead them against him, so he had the Predacon young killed and framed the Autobots for it. Ravage told me a little of what being a Decepticon means - battling Functionism. The idea that your form determines what you are."

Predaking assumes there's something special about this human that lets him keep up in fights. A human fighting Cybertronians wouldn't exactly be an even match.

"Maybe I'll cross paths with him someday. I don't visit the Plaza for obvious reasons. I've claimed most of the Wilds as my home instead - very little here can lay a scratch on me."

[dontpetmeibite]

"Being anti-Functionalist means that we don't expect everyone to be a warrior," Ravage says gently. "We need medics and scholars and artists, as well. In another world, where we had choices, Soundwave and I might not have chosen to be soldiers. But in Ben's case, he is an outlier and has abilities that most humans don't have, and is more than capable of fighting at our side. Do you understand what I'm getting at?

[soundwave_ascendant]

"If it had been up to me," Soundwave says quietly, "as deadly as you are, and are capable of being, you would have been able to spend your entire life writing."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"I see." Fighting comes instinctively to him, but after a moment's thought Predaking can understand what Ravage is getting at. "Aggression comes naturally to Predacons. Combat is in our CNA. But it wouldn't hurt to try a new thing. The Nexus is a quiet place. Even in the Wilds, I've been able to settle in peace. I avoid flying over the territory of the Eliksni, but that's more for the safety of the people here than my own."

Predaking has faced everyone from Megatron to a horde of Terrorcon perversions of his own people to Unicron himself. It takes more than a horde of bugs with guns to intimidate him.

"I imagine I would have a lot to say if I did become a writer. My short life is...eventful." There's deep, but very sincere laughter. "If I had the memories of the original Predaking I was cloned from, I would have even more."

[soundwave_ascendant]

"Yes. Do you have the PINpoint with you?" Soundwave is already resetting the visor so he can take a look at Predaking's communications wiring. There sure is a lot of it. Because there sure is a lot of him.

[alittlebirbtoldme]

Laserbeak comes closer and cocks her head to one side.

"Predaking? Am Laserbeak."

Then, in her bird machine-code, she says "Can you understand this?"

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

First the dragon tosses Soundwave a PINpoint he found in the Wilds. He had hung onto it to see if he could figure out how to use it sometime. His size was most of the problem.

Then he shifts into a loafing position to make the operation easier for Soundwave. It will probably take a while. While he's only one robot, he's larger than most combiners.

He nods, slowly, when Laserbeak asks her question. Maybe it's a Predacon thing. They can understand each other whichever form they're in.

[soundwave_ascendant]

Soundwave completes his assessment quickly.

"Whichever hand you'll be wanting to use when you give the gesture commands, give me that forearm. We'll have to test it in your alt-mode as well, just so you know, but it'll be easier to start from here since I've got more space to work in. Will the normal topical painkillers work on you? I can work between the plates but I'll still have to open the derma. I also have to put in a firewall so that it doesn't do anything untoward like download your entire memory bank as a readable file to whatever system is keeping track of all this."

[dontpetmeibite]

"It didn't hurt much," Ravage assures Predaking. "He's very gentle, even though he's a communications tech, not a medic."

[alittlebirbtoldme]

"He really won't hurt you," Laserbeak cheerfully agrees in machine-code. "So I'm a Predacon? That's awesome!"

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"That's right. All of you but Soundwave have Predacon CNA in you. I'm not sure what that means, exactly, but Ravage mentioned that his Predacon CNA has had some effects on his personality. Those aggressive instincts can be controlled. You don't see me tearing through the Plaza."

Predaking offers a paw to Soundwave so he can set to work. When asked about painkillers, though, he tilts his head. He genuinely doesn't know whether painkillers work on him.

[soundwave_ascendant]

"Remarkable," Soundwave says, and it isn't a happy thing. He's not impressed with the Decepticons that Predaking has had to deal with. Decepticons have been willing to use pain to get information, in the past, and it's unfortunate that he can't be sure they will never have to, again. But inflicting unnecessary pain when you're trying to do an experiment is counter-productive and stupid, as well as just cruel. It skews the results, and you can never be sure what negative effects are due to the actual variable, as opposed to the negative stimulus!

He has to remind himself that he doesn't really even know what his own Shockwave is capable of without anyone holding him back. Shockwave, after all, assigns no value to life whatsoever. It's just hard for him to reconcile that truth with the Shockwave he grew up with, the only person in his family who was willing to love Ravage for loving and caring for him, because he was also the only person in his family who still gave a frag about Soundwave.

He sprays the derma between the plates with a numbing solution from a heavy bottle, acutely aware that even if he were Knock Out or Glit, he probably still wouldn't know an appropriate dosage. But he figures at least twice what he'd use on himself can't hurt, especially since it'll have to stay in there after Predaking transforms.

After a half-breem, he taps the derma with the instrument. "Feel that?"

[alittlebirbtoldme]

"We'll talk later," Laserbeak says softly, in bird-code. "This isn't the time."

She's thinking about Buzzsaw, but not too hard, because she doesn't want to distract Soundwave.

[dontpetmeibite]

"Our Ratchet is trustworthy, too," says Ravage, "although you shouldn't assume so based on the one in your universe, given that my spouse is so very different there. And we got along rather well after I convinced him that I wasn't being mistreated and only wanted to be sure of my own decisions."

He glances sympathetically at Soundwave. "It took some convincing. But I did make him understand that you were not in the habit of giving me untenable orders. He is sure there was something, but I absolutely did not tell him what it was that prompted all that. And after he took a look at me, he was much more interested in what he found than in poking at my personal relationships."

Ravage stands up and demonstrates the gestures he uses to activate the PINpoint card's functions. "Now you do it."

[soundwave_ascendant]

Soundwave ex-vents. He's really not looking forward to talking to Ratchet; but hopefully, coming forth with this information will make the point that he really isn't interested in abusing any of the cassettes, whether or not they choose to remain so.

"Galvatron joined the Decepticon cause because he wanted power, not justice. I don't know if he has any hybrids under his banner. I would like to think not, but I can't be sure. It would be really enlightening to get the records of some of the old cold-construction facilities, but I'd be surprised if they still existed."

[thesurvivalofthefittest]

"Without information, it will be hard to identify Predacon hybrids, though they seem to be beastformers or Cybertronians who were given animal aspects. Being unusually aggressive isn't a qualification, necessarily - there are plenty of aggressive Cybertronians who don't have Predacon CNA. But it seems like you have people with the knowledge to help."

The dragon robot mimics the gestures and activates the PINpoint. So, it worked - there is a way he can use it after all.