Ep. 0 - Awakening - Open

‘I think he’s coming online.’ The murmured chirp-whirr came from a short distance away, just outside the medbay. Just beyond the haphazard pile of crating (still acting as the only privacy between the medical berth and the rest of the base) the restless hum and whine of anxious engines could be heard revving with frustration. Bumblebee, the mech causing all the mild ruckus ‘Shadow, Ratchet’s not here right now/is recharging. I just want to talk to him for a minute. Please, Shadow I know you’re mad, but think Sniper could…’

The scout trailed off doorwings drooping at the withering EMF pulse she flashed at him. Clearly, the intell bot was not pleased with him for dragging the ripped up Decepticon to base. Doing so when Ironhide smashed Barricade unconscious against a wall was fine, but dragging one in for repair was clearly different. ‘Shadow, he was dying and he’s potential data source. You can’t be mad about me bringing him here…’ Obviously she could. ‘Look, I just need five minutes. Really.’

Bee cringed, EMF flinching back from Shadow’s and flattening against his frame as he shrank away from her. For a stunned moment he didn’t know what to say because he’d been prepared to accept some flack for bending rules but given the circumstances – a Con clearly tortured by his own, too damaged to function, dying – there was little to no risk of said Con being a security breach. No more than Barricade who was one of Megatron’s most lethal and wriggly officers. His doorwings rattled slightly, the scout clearly shaken.

‘I didn’t bring him here because he’s a source, I brought him because it was the right thing to do…’ Bee’s plates bristled. ‘AND because he could be a source. We don’t leave other mechanisms to die like that/hacked/in agony. We don’t.’

"Foremost," Prime's voice only just proceeded him as he entering the room from the large doorway near the two bots. He glanced over to the "medbay", his height allowing him to see over the makeshift wall and to the awakening mech within. "He is a Cybertronian. He will be given the opportunity to speak for himself, then the decision of what to do with him will be made. He was found dying, perhaps betrayed by his own. If this is true, considering current events, I feel it would be in our best interest to know why. " Prime's optics traveled between the scout and the spy, but finally came to rest on Shadow.

"And everyone deserves a second chance, if one is desired."

A part of Shadow recognized that Bumblebee's argument was sound; unfortunately, it was utterly overwhelmed by the anger and betrayal crackling through her circuits. It slid black through her EMF, balanced on the razor edge of deliberate cruelty as she asked, "Do you really believe that? Or are you just playing back the Autobot party line to convince yourself you aren't turning into Megatron?"

‘He was completely glitching/in pain/dying. I have no idea if what he said was true.’ Bee hesitated, optics still lingering on Shadowrunner – like he’d just now seen her for the very first time standing there with hatred seething in her electromagnetics – but the steady pressure of Optimus shunted his hurt and worries aside for that moment. “However, the fact of it is no one on the Nemesis could have done such a scramble but Soundwave so it followed Soundwave had a reason to hack him insane. It was personal and nothing is personal to Soundwave like his own intell.[/i]’

Bee shrugged. ‘Whether he has useful information about the Decepticon’s plan of attack or the Fallen war ship… I don’t know. There was no time to ask and I told you already the other Decepticon, the femme flyer, appeared to be breaking rank to help him.’ Bee still didn’t know what to make of it. The whole scene made no sense to him still.

A low hiss emerged from the spy's throat when let his tense limbs settle again - as though he had given up on trying to free himself. But rather, he has been distracted by the talk that was taking place not-too-far from him. The lime green helmet settled against the berth, his optics gliding the the general direction of the foreign voices. Only two of them, the spy could recognize, even without a proper visual. His expression grew a tad more composed upon concentrating.

Optimus Prime. And ... Bumblebee, was it? Sniper couldn't remember clearly enough. And in addition to these two, there was also a female voice - which didn't sound only the most alien. but also the most hostile to him. Sniper had never been a lady charmer - especially with the Autobots, oddly enough. A broken flicker would occur in his optics as he boosted power to his audio sensors.

'He is a Decepticon, Bee.' For a moment, Sniper's processor draw blanks. No, he wasn't. Not anymore. This thought got a slight grimace to tug the corners of his mouth, but no significant expression would make its way to his face. The mentioning of both the Decepticons and Soundwave would flush a set of recent memory files through his processor. His claws moved to form tense hooks by his restrained form.

'Why would one of them break ranks to help you with a cast-off piece of Con scrap?'
Sniper's vocalizer gave out a broken sound - one that sounded strange even to him.

"To rebel?" the spy's voice was crippled and glitchy. "I see it is not a foreign concept..," a broken whir forced the spy's vocalizer, and he grimaced slightly, the color of his optics dimming for a moment. "..in your ranks, either."

It was peculiar, hearing his own name from the vocalizer of an Autobot - spoken in a manner that was not hostile. Sniper blinked slowly, his optics fixing on the yellow paintjob he remembered. Bumblee. Yes, the 'Bon from the desert. He had been of help - because of which Sniper couldn't decide how to react to him. There was just a reserved expression and a crimson red gaze. A silence followed. Sniper narrowed his optics at the young scout, deep in though for a moment - as though he was considering if answering would be safe.

His vocalizer glitched again with a sharp whir that made him cringe slightly before any audio could be fed out. There was a tiny grimace on his face, as though he would have been in pain when the whir occurred.

"I have-," another silent glitch. "-I have been in less humiliating places in my life." The tone beneath his broken voice was composed, even if a slight trace of hostility shone through it. He considered it his best defense at the moment. "...but I am intact."