Ep0.5 - "Where Were You?" - Closed

[Deleted]

“Sniper.”

Optimus Prime’s voice, in that moment, threatened to strip paint. He stood in the now cleared control room, arms crossed, looking down at the sulking Lamborghini, the low tick tick of his engines fairly malevolent… at least in so far as Optimus could be. Which was more than most gave him credit for. He could occasionally loom and this was one of those time. He glared at Sniper.

“I will forgive your now multiple cases of breaching your supervision if you can give me a very, very good reason to. As it stands, I see no reason why I shouldn’t have you brigged for an indeterminate amount of time. You already abandoned Bumblebee to run some kind of street race with your former Decepticon ally, Knockout and though Bumblebee assures me the meeting was nothing but incidental this second breech is not. Your absence is unaccounted for and though your aid was vital to our last encounter with the Decepticons you are still on probation with the Autobots so I will ask this once: Where were you and what were you doing?”

[sniper]

Yes, Sniper had made no secret of his previous encounters with the Decepticons, now that he himself was no longer one of them. Optimus Prime, the large form who's shadow drew on the small mech, had also noticed this. And what Sniper could gather from the grave tone of his voice, the Prime wasn't exactly happy about it. And while Sniper had never been afraid of Optimus, he felt his head sinking a bit as he crouched beneath the weight of the Prime's voice. The ex-Con's faceplate, however, remained as empty of emotion as ever. The crimson optics peered from beneath the green helm, as sharp as ever. Yet, beneath his usual, sour looks, there was some uneasiness.

"Abiding ... abiding by restrictions isn't my strongest suite, I admit," Sniper countered, his tone defensive and tight. The red orbs of his optics would turn their gaze away from the Prime after he had spoken. "But I assure you, all of my absence has been strictly business related." Sniper didn't look at the Prime, but let his gaze linger somewhere near the walls. It seemed there was something slightly uncomfortable that occupied his processor. "I've been ... researching. Seeing if certain-," he cleared his vocalizer. "-resources are still available for me."

Sniper was weighing his options while his gaze turned to observe the Prime for a reaction.
"It required a lot of-," a visible shudder. "-work. But I got something you might find interesting." Sniper had planned to keep the information to himself until further notice, but it seemed Optimus Prime was wise enough to call his bluff.

[Deleted]

Optimus eyes narrowed very slightly at the once-Decepticon. Sniper’s recalcitrance was a simple fact of his personality matrix but the fact of the matter was that he was the first Decepticon signia switch they’d had on earth and that warranted more than caution it warranted having Bumblebee or Arcee or Bulkhead keeping an eye on him until they were beyond a shadow of a doubt about Sniper’s intentions. He didn’t really believe that the spy-bot would willingly return to the Decepticon fold after what had been done to him, personally, brutally, by the higher ups of the Nemesis command. Megatron didn’t forget faces and he never forgot offenses against him.

“Work,” said Optimus somewhat flatly, “for whom?”

Sniper’s face was inscrutable, but the hesitations in his voice told Optimus that the mech was rapidly backpedaling in the face of the Autobot’s displeasure. Optimus believed well enough in second chances and the capacity for change, but that did not make him party to a mech breaking rank and posing any kind of threat to his team. Sniper’s insubordination was minor. If he’d been Bumblebee or Arcee, gone off shift without a check in they would have received the usual reprimand against it, but Sniper was not one of his long-time Autobots and he did not have the history needed to be an acceptable ‘loose cannon’ as some of his soldiers had been in the past.

“And what, precisely, will I find interesting?”

[sniper]

For whom, indeed? Sniper hesitated upon hearing this question, but only because he was having trouble arranging the past events into words he could trust with the Autobot leader. Or rather, words that wouldn't make Sniper sound like a traitor. He wasn't one - not to the Autobots anyway.

"Let us just say," Sniper begun, his optics peering into those of the Prime's. "That I pulled a few strings I still had available to me-," Well, now seemed like a good time to flash the valuable information Sniper was fostering. "-and managed to pull together some coordinates and clearance codes you might find interesting." Upon saying this, something heated and greedy flashed in the spy's optics. Something vengeful, even. He skimmed through the airwaves to find the Autobot Leader's frequency and offered him a package of neatly filed and organized information.

Clearance codes and coordinates - to the Nemesis.
"From what I understand, these might help with our future plans."

[Deleted]

Optimus’ blinked once, optics widening slightly, standing slightly straighter in his surprise. The data package unraveled easily to the Prime’s software filters, disseminated the data instantly through his CPU as he ran a brief but thorough scan on the information provided. He held up one hand, brow ridges coming together as a holo read out leapt up from his palm. A trace line superimposed in red over a soft-light display of north-western Canada mapped a short easy to track path. There was no tampering. The data Sniper had just given him appeared to precisely match the frequency Ident of the Nemesis… and its short term nav, providing its precise coordinates for flight path over the next week.

The Autobot commander looked up sharply at the once-Decepticon. “This data… if it’s real, then it could be everything we need to launch an attack against the Decepticons, potentially crippling.” The ramifications were staggering really. So much so that it was difficult to accept without condition that Sniper had just… acquired this data on the say so of a former ally. “I’ll have Ratchet and Jazz double check this data, but, Sniper, who would give you something like this? And why? Bumblebee was clear that Knock Out knows about you involvement with the Autobots. There is no way that you haven’t been blacklisted as a side-switcher and a traitor to the Decepticon fleet. This could be a trap.”

He closed his hand, the holo vanishing. “What makes you think, it’s not?”

[sniper]

Sniper had never been known for being a very emotive mech. This situation, however, had a potential of making a mess of his reputation. The conversation was circling around matters Sniper wouldn't want to make public, and yet, there were only so many options. The level of uncomfortableness was beginning to crack his cool - mainly around the face.

Sniper's claws moved in slow, nervous patterns.

"I can assure you, the data is very real," he said, a bit of pride peeking through his tone. Sniper wasn't an amateur, after all. Far from it, actually. "Starscream couldn't afford to trick me. Nor would he be talented enough to produce well enough tampered data to fool me. He-," Sniper paused and let bit his dental plates together for a moment, letting his red gaze wander off from the Prime. "Him and I, we used to-," Primus, this was awkward. "-we used to have an understanding. An alliance," a pause, during which he glanced at the Prime again. "I must not be a shock to you - that all Decepticons don't wish to follow Megatron's lead. Starscream, more specifically," he said with a steadier voice. "Granted, him and I, we didn't always see eye to eye, but our alliance was essential for him and his efforts to overthrow his master," something cold flashed in the spy's optics. "And I have lead him to believe it still is."

Even though I'd much rather see him scrapped, than anything.
While this wasn't spoken out loud, his strict, cold expression left no room for doubt about his intensions.

"He believes I am to use the clearance and coordinates to feed him data on your people," Sniper then continued, his voice back to calm and composed now. Even if a certain kind of darkness reeked through his tone when he added: "But this slagger is dead to me. As are all his comrades." And Sniper was dead serious. There was a profound bitterness lurking behind his words. Such anger and hatred, even if he was rather skillful in concealing the most of them.

[Deleted]

Optimus’ expression at Sniper’s words – and the increasingly bitter tang of his EM field – was unreadable. He didn’t care for the impreciseness in the mech’s report, nor the impression that things were being left out for the Lamborghini’s personal convenience. The nature of Sniper’s vagueness could have been simple discomfort discussing his betrayal of a former ally… or perhaps there were aspects of his alliance to Starscream that would not be well received by an Autobot commander. Sniper was ultimately a technician and software specialist, hacking and system infiltration and bugging so he was not directly responsible for large numbers of Autobot deaths at his claws personally. His anonymity was what made him easier to tolerate as a side-switcher.

It was very possible that Sniper was trying to keep hidden any number of crimes he had been asked to commit under orders. Optimus didn’t doubt that the green mechanoid had been responsible for the deaths of Autobots, his Autobots, via whatever data he stole and supplied. Whether or not Sniper had participated in Decepticon in fighting didn’t seem to be a point of shame for the spy, who eagerly admitted to his schemes with the duplicitous Starscream. Sniper’s strained expression, if Optimus had been betting, seemed to be more… embarrassed than anything. Was he ashamed? Not of betraying Starscream, he seemed to have a certain gleeful relish about that, but about something else?

Optimus’ frown deepened, the pitch of his engines going even lower. “You were closely allied with Starscream amid the Decepticon in-fighting. He now believes you to be his double-agent here among the Autobots and for fear of Soundwave’s intercepting your transmissions he is instead providing you with possible drop locations for physical data packages. He wants you to be able to track the Nemesis for this reason?” Optimus didn’t elaborate for a moment. Then, quietly, his gaze very heavy, “Starscream must think that he knows you well, Sniper, to so trust you…”

[sniper]

The Prime had to keep poking the matter. Sniper couldn't blame him for that, but it was very likely that he was expecting the spy to be hiding something of a far more tactical nature than … what he actually was hiding. And the when the Autobot leader described Sniper's alliance to Starscream as close one, the spy bit his dental plates together hand struggled to keep his optics from rolling. The situation kept on getting better and better. However, despite the embarrassment tingling in his chest, Sniper tried to keep his demeanor as cool and professional as possible.

"Yes, it is precisely as you sa-," Sniper grew silent once the Prime started talking again, noting Starscream's trust in the spy. Well, Sniper himself wouldn't say they had a ever had a trust but rather, they shared … well. Sniper's gaze wandered off to the floor. "Me and Starscream-," had he known he would one day have explain himself in this manner, Sniper wouldn't have laid a claw on the Commander. Or, that was how he felt right now. "-we didn't necessarily trust each other in the same manner as you Autobots trust your comrades. But we-," it was like pulling a dental plates out of their place. "-we weren't partners in a traditional sense either,"

Awkward silence. Sniper's form seemed tense - not out of anger or fear, but out of sheer uncomfortableness and embarrassment. He hoped that the Prime was smart enough to connect the dots and said: "Please don't make me spell this out for you," his gaze returned to Optimus. "The kind of a partnership we used to have-," Sniper couldn't bring himself to say it. "It wasn't exactly the high point of my military career, you know," he almost muttered. His note was sour. "Or of my private endeavors, for that matter."

[Deleted]

Prime would have liked to simply let the increasingly uncomfortable mechanoid off the hook, but the fact of the matter was if he took this data under advisement and used it as the key intell for an op, the lives of many Autobots would be on the line. He couldn’t afford Sniper his preferred level of privacy. That said… the Decepticon’s discomfort with the whole discussion and the faintest plea in the Con’s vocal glyphs – well it pieced together a few things for the Autobot CO and, though it didn’t show, a flicker of regret crossed his spark. To him… it sounded like Sniper had exploited more than his alliance with Starscream and if their partnership had been anything like Optimus was supposing… then it was entirely possible the arrogant Seeker didn’t respect Sniper enough to think him capable of a betrayal on this level.

“Consider that aspect of the matter dropped, Sniper.” The Prime’s voice was quiet as he said it, optics and field blank of any judgments. “We will confirm the data. Your detailed knowledge of the Nemesis’ interior design and any current weapons or resources on the Megatron’s warship will be needed, Sniper. If we use this data, it will be to attack and we will ask for your aid in doing so. Can I rely on you for that, Sniper?” His gaze, again, was blank of any judgment in particular, but he needed Sniper’s word on this.

[sniper]

Sniper could feel Optimus reacting - not because the Autobot leader was being very emotive, but because the issue they were discussing was a sensetive one. And Sniper knew it wouldn't earn him any points in the eyes of any Autobot. He let the tension of the embarrassment release his limbs when the subject was finally dropped. That, and his faceplate and field both slowly returned to their usual collected cool properly.

"Go right ahead," Sniper replied flatly when the Prime told him that the information would be verified. While his voice and face remained very steady now, there was a very subtle darkness looming behind them when he continued by saying: "Certainly," his optics narrowed upon these words. "Anything that might cause casualties to the Decepticons, you can trust me with," while he was being completely calm about the fact, there was no denying he was harboring a lust for vengeance.

[Deleted]

“While your… enthusiasm is appreciated,” said Optimus in a tone that suggested it wasn’t, “the goal of any attack we launch will not be causalities, but the destruction and disabling of Megatron’s warship, the Nemesis.” Optimus gauged Sniper’s non-reaction for a moment. The former Decepticon was generally unreadable but the subject ot vengences was bringing out iota’s of dark emotion that made the Co wary. Ajust a beat, he went on. “Decepticon deaths on a ship populated by troopers and drones with non-fixed targets such as personnel will likely not prove as valuable or as certain as the destruction of their assets. The Decepticons themselves are a present danger and the threat, but their warship is what makes them so.”

Optimus paused. “Sniper. You understand and I cannot bring you into this mission as a field agent?”

[sniper]

Everything the Prime had just said fell through Sniper's processor when he heard it: the fact that he would not be coming along to the mission. Not even after he had made it possible. Not even after the humiliating things he had done to make it possible. His composed expression cracked and the his optics turned into wide crimson circles. For a moment, it looked like there were too many emotions trying to make their way through his face plate.

"Wha-? Y-"

At first he looked like he hadn't completely understood what Optimus had just stated. Then, he looked like he couldn't believe what he had just heard. And then, a very angry expression took hold of his facial features. The red optics burned in their sockets, as their gaze scorched holes into the Autobot leader's armor plating.

"You-!" the spy hissed, his lanky form growing tense out of all the rage he was attempting to choke - with very poor results. His claw pointed at the Prime. "You can't do this to me! I deserve-," he was almost too angry to form an intact sentence. "-I deserve my revenge!" Rage roared in the narrow optics. "After all they did to me. It is my RIGHT!"

[Deleted]

Optimus wasn’t often cold, but in that moment following the other mech’s exclamation a very palpable chill crossed into the usually unflappable energy field around the Autobot Commander. He didn’t move for a moment, just looking down at Sniper and examining the hate in the once-Con’s face and seeing in it the core of Cybertron’s destruction. Anger was a sub-zero hand fastening itself around the hot cage of his spark chamber, sliding through the natural heat of a Cybertronian’s body and making itself known through the freeze.

“Revenge is your right?” repeated Optimus, a kind of ten-ton monotone in the flat-line glyphs of his speech patterns. There was a low engine-rev growl in the back of his words. “If revenge is a right then the Decepticon cause to obliterate the whole of the Autobot army is their right and it is our right to eradicate them. Revenge is not justice it’s hatred made action and it is the reason Cybertron is dark and genocide upon holocaust has been exacted: In the name of revenge, dressed as justice. If you are angry, if your loathing too insurmountable for forgiveness – I do not contest that. Anger is your right, but do not ever say that ‘revenge’ is a right, Sniper.”

There was a very, notably dark pause. “That was the logic used to rationalize our decimation back on Cybertron. You may do well to remember.”

[sniper]

The angry grimace Sniper wore refused to leave his face. The crimson of his opts glistened with hate as their gaze burned the Prime's faceplate. The words the Autobot spoke were that of profound wisdom, but Sniper was beyond wisdom at this point. That, and his universe had been relying on very different ideals than the one he had entered upon arriving to the Autobot base. Revenge was the only kind of justice Sniper had ever known.

"You- You don't-," the spy hissed, crouching his back a little as he spoke. Sniper's whole being was consumed by rage he tried to strangle. He didn't quite remember when his anger had peaked in this fashion before (even if he was angry most of the time). It was getting increasingly hard to form intact sentences. "You don't understand- I-!"

'That was the logic used to rationalize our decimation back on Cybertron. You may do well to remember.'

Mentioning Cybertron unleashed a very brief flash of memories in Sniper's processor. There was so much guilt and regret Sniper had buried with his home. His gaze snapped into the Prime's blue optics and his expression emptied for a moment. His optics grew wider before they narrowed again. Sniper looked as though he had taken hit as a much fainter grimace climbed back on his face. His optics seemed to say something along the lines of 'oh, that was low.'

A moment of silence. And then Sniper let his gaze land on the floor panels. He begun making his way towards the door.

"I'm going for a drive," he spat through his dental plates. "A long drive." A couple of steps were taken. He moved past the Prime. And then, angry set of narrow optics peeked over a green shoulder. "And don't you DARE send Bumblebee after me." By this time, despite Sniper's behavior and attitude towards his new comrades, the Autobot Scout had become some sort of a remote equivalent for a soft spot for him. Bulblebee might have been able to, Primus forbid, compromise Sniper's decision to be furious about this injustice.

[Deleted]

“Sniper.”Optimus’s tone had a freezing affect. He immediately stepped to block the other bot. “Do you dis-remember the beginning of the conversation where you are under scrutiny for breaching supervision?” snapped the commander. “You are remanded to the base until further notice. You may have a grudge with the Decepticons, but do not make the very grave error of presuming you are the only one who feels this way… or that I will tolerate repeated security breach, by you, for the sake of your temper tantrums.” Optimus leaned down, the cold blue burn of is optics positively neon.

“Do not put my team at risk,” he enunciated. “I am grateful this information, but you are the first Decepticon refugee to be afforded Autobot asylum here on Earth and you will appreciate the weight of that, Sniper. We have too much to lose and you do not have the right to put my Autobots at risk or how can I ask them to put themselves at risk for you? Megatron may not have the Decepticon Justice Division this side of the galaxy, but you need to take that into consideration when you breach the terms of our protection for you. You do not want to meet Megatron’s ‘justice’ for side-switchers without Team Prime.”

Optimus shook his head. “Do not leave this base without clearing it fully with a CO and taking another Autobot with you. Is that clear?”