Eve of the First Big Mission

Soundwave stands in the Hall of the Forge at the head of a long table. All around him are diagnostic screens, maps and charts displaying the information gathered by numerous sources regarding the dreaded Institute. Elita One has asked Megatron for his help in breaking out several prisoners from this disreputable-and yet extremely elusive- environ.

Having received enough information to go on, Soundwave went to work gathering resources, spying and accessing archives until he feels the Decepticons will be ready to go tomorrow. For tomorrow is the big day, and this must go smoothly. Megatron himself will be heading part of the mission, and Soundwave doesn't want anything to happen to the charismatic Miner. Being a bit of a stiff, perfectionistic sort (just a \*bit\*)... he's determined that every possibility will be accounted for. And thus he asks for a meeting with other heads of the Decepticon ranks. Surely \*everyone\* wants this to go as smoothly as possible.

And of course, arriving fashionably late and dramatically is the seeker Starscream. He flings the door wide open, wearing his deceptively charming and cocky half grin. "Soundwave!" he greets the other mech. "Long time no see," he says, placing a hand on his shoulder. He sits down and props his feet up. "What's up?"

Soundwave just stands there, silently staring at Starscream. It is the great... non-reaction. Par the course for the tall, quiet mech. "Starscream," he speaks in his usual near-monotone- also quite flat. "Incorrect. You and I met only 2.53 cycles ago." There's a brief glance at Starscream's oh-so-casual manner, but if he had anything to say he seems to decide to let it rest and moves on. His hand points to one of the maps onscreen. "I have determined the best time and place for tomorrow's infiltration attempt in the Institute. Your thoughts and input are sought."

"Mm." Starscream muses, looking distracted. He doesn't respond to Soundwave's request right away. "Oh, my bad. Or are you really that forgettable?" The seeker smirks at his own quip. "Oh, that thing Megatron is heading up," he says, disdain creeping into his voice. "I thought I already put my two shanix into it."

Soundwave's visor flickers momentarily, but then settles down. "Did you input your suggestions into the form 23-AJ312 as requested? Your name was not among those that I saw. Accessing data now..." And indeed, he stops and seems to be running through data to see if he missed something, somehow....

Rumble enters from the ramp leading up into the Arena.

"Of course I did." Starscream says lazily, "Not." He stands up. "I mean, come on, Soundwave. I can do whatever I like. Really. Don't you think I've contributed enough to the cause already?" He smirks. "I'm going to find those Insecticons and soon, they'll be our newest addition to the expanding Deception movement."

Soundwave looks very nonplussed, for someone as... totally unexpressive as the big blue mech. "Observance of order and proper adherence of rank and protocol: important to growing Decepticon ranks. Skipping vital steps in such protocol: disruptive to front of unity desired for lower ranks to observe. Insecticons: important. But our goal cannot be achieved without careful consideration of all factors, and thus detailed planning must take place beforehand. Planning cannot be done without all known facts and ..." he looks at the screen, "Paperwork."

"Hey!!!" A very LOUD and rather menacing (and perhaps familiar?) voice can be heard coming from the main walkway which joins the Forge with the Arena proper. "Don't make like you ain't seen me, mech!! I want my shanix, an' I want it NOW!! Now hand it over, or I'll smash your <CENSORED!> faceplate into the <CENSORED!> wall!!!"

This bellowing continues on, and it becomes apparent that whoever it is is not addressing anyone in the Forge. It's definitely a conversation taking place some distance away.

Starscream smirks. "Sorry, what? I didn't hear any of what you just said," he quips at Soundwave, folding his arms. Then he hears the commotion outside in the hallway and groans. "Primus, go babysit your protoforms, they're making trouble. Again."

* those

Soundwave hears this oddly familiar bellowing, and his immediate response is a purely natural one for him: he reaches out with his mind to touch upon Rumble's. Who is this, and who is he yelling at and why? The mental touch gains immediate recognition, and the outlier's visor flickers at a not-so-far-off memory of a drink and a discussion.

Then there's a confused, possibly even slightly annoyed look at Starscream. "Ravage, Buzzsaw and Laserbeak are all accounted for. High volume emiting from... other source." The outlier finally shrugs a little and begins to head towards the source of the sound, since it appears their meeting will not continue otherwise. "Inquiry? Reason for disturbance?" He asks mildly.

In the walkway area, Rumble is 'facing down' a mech several times larger than he is, although the other mech seems fairly intimidated by Rumble's belligerent threats. It's probably because Rumble has a mean reputation for acting on his temper.

Rumble's rage seems to abate considerably as Soundwave arrives, however. "...Oh, hey," he greets Soundwave. "Was I gettin' kinda loud? Cause I do that sometimes. This mech owes me some shanix an' I was requestin' that he pay back his loan in a timely fashion, see."

Starscream strolls into the room, following Soundwave. He looks down at Rumble and laughs. "Seriously?" He gives the other mech a disdainful look, but presses a finger down onto the top of Rumble's helm. He looks amused.

Soundwave comes across the scene and stands there a moment, taking in both Rumble's rage and the the more nervous wave of emotions coming off the larger mech. Some might respond less than favorably to Rumble's display. While Soundwave doesn't exactly \*approve\* of it... he doesn't disapprove either. He can appreciate- can \*feel\*- the small mech's courage (also some less savory notes of likely bluster and questionable decision-making). The rage itself comes across as a point of focus to Soundwave, and allows him to latch on mentally, helping him to focus as well.

Soundwave looks from one to the other. He finally ask the larger mech, "Is this correct? Do you owe him shanix? Debts should be paid." Of course, Soundwave may or may not be aware of his own tall, looming, possibly intimidating form. There's a glance to Starscream. "Dispute: over shanix. Resolution can be achieved." He looks steadily to all of them. "Fairly."

Rumble actually grins slightly when Starscream comes over and presses on his head. "Heh, I'm serious like a broken fuel line is serious! I don't play around." He's still talking tough, but Soundwave's intervention has managed to completely diffuse the little guy.

"What is your proposal?" the larger, combatant-armored mech asks Soundwave curiously. "I...don't have the full payment. My fortune wasn't the best in the last few bouts. But I have \*some\*..."

Rumble looks completely unafraid of the other mech, despite the size difference. If Starscream were to let the little pipqueak go, he'd probably make good on his promise to begin smashing up the other mech. He's just that much of a little toughie.

"Primus," Starscream says, looking exasperated. "I can't believe you two actually got in an argument about this." He removes his finger from Rumble's helm, but now reaches down to pick the little mech up by the helm. With his other hand he opens his subspace compartment and produces an ample amount of shanix. "See," Starscream says, sliding a smirk in Soundwave's direction. "Problem solved."

Soundwave looks dispassionately at the larger mech. "Give Rumble what you have now, then..." But before he can finish, Starscream sidles on over... and \*picks up Rumble by the head\*. The careless, casual manner in which he does so rankles Soundwave... it strikes him as disrespectful. Yet another example of the /slag/ that disposables and smaller mechs are subjected to by the snobby elite class. Starscream \*has\* made a commitment to help all mechs- including the downtrodden low castes... but it doesn't help that he acts like such a... snooty high class sometimes. The outlier stiffens a little, though his voice remains calm. "Put him down."

Rumble is pretty used to being...bandied about. It's been his lot in life for a long time as a little mech, and he's learned to either tolerate it, or (when the situation warrants it), savagely fight back against it. But most of the time, especially when it's all in good fun, he puts up with it. He seems surprised, then, when Soundwave actually speaks up to defend \*him\* against the one mech in the room who has the social clout to do as he pleases. Now THAT takes some cogs. He's so surprised, he's stunned into silence for a long moment.

The has-been warrior mech does a double-take at the air commander's loot, but even so, he \*still\* antes up his meager portion of Rumble's payment, and dutifully hands the credstick over to Soundwave. Then, he heads off, because he isn't sure he wants to stick around for a confrontation between any of them.

Starscream offers the shanix to Rumble, smirking at Soundwave. "Hey, you know you don't look anything like Megatron," Starscream says to Soundwave, continuing to look amused. "So you'll have to pardon me if I refuse to obey you like a slave," he says dryly.

Soundwave accepts the credstick from the debtor, and will be sure that everything is sorted out fairly later. But for now his main attention is on Rumble and Starscream. The latter's words fall like lead on his audios, and his visor seems to dim slightly. "You call yourself a Decepticon? Inquiry: what does that even mean to you?" He doesn't wait for an answer, instead leaning in almost imperceptibly. "Decepticons are formed after one individual: Megatron. His teachings: all are equal; all deserve to be treated equally. Picking up smaller mechs by helmet: /disrespectful/." That last word seems especially emphasised. He leans in again. "Like something an \*Autobot\* would do."

Ooo, now \*that\* could be an insult! Of course, it was said in a very calm, monotone way.... there to make a point. "Now put him down. We have business to discuss. /IF/ you care to be involved with Decepticon business, that is." He almost dares Starscream to say he \*isn't\*.

Rumble couldn't be more impressed with Soundwave than he is right at this very moment. Naturally, he accepts whatever shanix Starscream offers him, because that's going straight into his low-grade energex and smokes fund. Soundwave, though...Soundwave impressed him the first time he met him. But now, he's kind of a fan. He can't really deny it.

And he's so impressed, he's kind of forgotten that he's still being dangled in the air by his helmet.

"Please," Starscream says, his optics narrowing when Soundwave starts speaking about Megatron. "It's only disrespectful if he minds," he says harshly to the blue mech.

Then he does something unexpected. "Fine," he snaps, and grabs Soundwave's hand, dumping Rumble into his palm. "Happy now?" He dusts his hand servos off, looking annoyed.

Soundwave's optics glance from Rumble to Starscream and back again, until finally resting on the Seeker. There's a terse stand off for a long moment... and then the tension breaks as Starscream hands Rumble to Soundwave, whose visor flickers once again. He looks down to Rumble and gently places the smaller mech back on the ground. "You are... intact?" He asks Rumble, searching with his mind to see if Rumble is in good shape at the same time he asks it. Then his gaze returns to Starscream, and it's the same flat look as before... though it's possible there's an icy edge that wasn't there before. It's so hard to tell with Soundwave sometimes, though.

Once again, he looks as if he's going to say something, then declines and starts to turn around- back to the table with the screens. "Meeting should continue. There is much work to be done before tomorrow. Rumble: you are welcome to join. Someone with your skills could be useful tomorrow." Not to mention his small size, though he's not going to specifically say that given what just happened.

"Yeah, it's all good," Rumble assures. There's...probably \*something\* he's not letting on, with Starscream there. It isn't that Rumble wouldn't love to try and pile-drive the smirk off that guy's face -- he'd jump at the chance, in fact. But, he knows better. He knows that Starscream has a lot of status and influence, which works like an invisible barrier in a way.

"Oh, you're havin' a meeting back here?" He rubs the back of his head. "Hey, if you need me to help with somethin', I'll be glad to do it."

Starscream meets Soundwave's gaze evenly, his optics glowing ominously. The seeker knows he cannot hide his pure contempt for Megatron and traitorous nature from Soundwave. At the same time, he is not afraid. Starscream's usefulness to Megatron has kept him where he's at rank wise among the Decepticons, and he knows that probably isn't about to change anytime soon. "Well, then. I suppose." He strolls back towards the room they had been in previously.

Soundwave picks up Rumble's annoyance, and if he were alone with the mech he'd assure Rumble he felt the same. But patience is required- especially with these high-falutin', uppity, high caste types. Sometimes... one must be \*very patient\*. It's something Soundwave knows well. Of course- he also senses that Rumble isn't probably ever going to be fully capable of following that advice... not alone, at least. Perhaps Soundwave will put in a good word for the mech with Megatron- and he already knows Megatron is familiar with the small, fellow miner. "Affirmative. We are making a plan that involves infiltration and underground work. You could be helpful."

Indeed, Soundwave is well aware of Starscream's contempt for the Decepticon leader- who the outlier holds in such high regard. It is only because he believes it can be kept in line and under control (partly due to his own mind-reading capabilities) that he feels this is even a tenable situation anymore. Also- questionable loyalty or not... Starscream's \*very\* good at his job. So Soundwave keeps that patience, and simply nods. He knows his own power comes from the secrets and true intentions he can read at the spark of every mech. It's all information- and information can be used- and bargained with.

He strides back to his screens, once again standing at the head of the table. "We will be hitting this facility tomorrow. Megatron himself will be involved. I was coordinating plans and timing routes." Slight sour look at Starscream. "But not everyone filled out their forms beforehand."

"Oh...so scoutin'...maybe some tunnelin'...yeah, no problem," Rumble assures, clasping his hands together. "I done some work like this in the past, so I get what's involved. Just point me in the right direction an' it's a done deal!"

Starscream just looks incredibly bored. "Primus, we have to fill out forms to fight these days? Heh, what'd I join the Deceptions for," he remarks, glancing over at Rumble. He sighs, and folds his arms, sitting down and propping his feet up again.

Soundwave nods, though he adds a bit of caution. "Appreciated. Note: infiltration, information gathering, rescue of prisoners likely. Demolition: not advised. At least... not on a large scale." It appears he's picking up a certain... relish the smaller mech has for watching things /break/. "However, circumstances inside may eventually neccessitate targeted demolition or tunneling. We must try to forsee and plan for all possible outcomes."

Soundwave just gives Starscream one of those looks that isn't a look, really, but it kind of \*is\*, but just more subtle than usual. Because it's Soundwave. "....Not required. Simply \*helpful\* for those of us in planning." He pages through some screens, until he comes to a blank screen. Poised with a finger raised up at first, he places it near a map of the Institute. "This location will have the lightest guard, provided the other teams involved have done their job. But only at at 103.76 breems after midday cycle." He proceeds to point out the planned route, with planned particpants, then turns to the other mechs. "Have either of you infiltrated a facility before?"

Starscream returns Soundwave's gaze. "Well how about you?" he says, smirking.

"Uhm...nope. But I'm beneath a lotta mechs' notice. I think I could do it," Rumble says to Soundwave confidently. Starscream's question sounds...kind of sarcastic to him, no surprise there! It's annoying. But again, he knows when not to be a menace about such things.

Soundwave regards the Seeker a moment before replying, "My friends and I have done several smaller reconnaissance and infiltration missions, but.... not on this scale, no." He seems to get thrown off a bit, pausing to look down at the table, then back to the maps as if seeking some wisdom there. But there is none to be found, save what he finds and makes himself. "Again I ask if you have any applicable experience?"

Rumble's comment receives a nod. "You could. And what others might consider being "beaneath" simply gives you an advantage in the kind of work we are discussing. You can slip right by those clueless mechs."

Starscream appears amused but doesn't answer Soundwave's question. "Well I suppose I could have a look," the seeker says and leans over the table, peering at the diagrams. "It would certainly be helpful to have an insider."

"Tell you what," Rumble says, "Just gimme a call on the frequency when all is in readiness. I'm in for sure. Right now...I gotta get home. Can't keep a femme waitin'." He grins triumphantly, as if he had just found a way to trump Starscream. OK, he didn't have class, or a nice position, or anything like that...but he a had a girlfriend!

Starscream just looks really disgusted. "Primus..." He doesn't say it, but he's thinking he can't even imagine what kind of stupid femme would even be attracted to a tiny loudmouth like Rumble.

Soundwave nods, positioning the screens so Starscream gets a better look. "INput appreciated." As Rumble scoots off, the big mech turns to look and nods. There's a pause, then... "Good luck." With that, he turns back to planning and charting out every contingencyhe can think of.