[ti]Ep 2[/ti]The War Machine - [Starscream]

[Starscream]

Starscream had caught on to the issues he was making for himself long before he'd tried to weasel out of everything that'd been done or said. The first issue he'd made for himself was humoring Soundwave with this conversation to begin with! Starscream was a master of deception, and could weave and twist lies and truths to talk himself out of almost anything. Except with Soundwave. He didn't know what it was about the spymaster that had him so on edge and had him lose his cool. The silent, judging gaze? The lack of response? It was always so much easier to talk oneself out of things if you knew what your opponent was thinking – either from the look on their face, to their reaction and reply. Soundwave gave none of those. Ever. It was like talking to a very judgmental and scary wall.

Which meant Starscream had to keep one step ahead of him. Usually, this was no issue, but by slipping up and revealing a few things in this conversation? Soundwave would now be watching the few chosen Eradicons closely. Normally he wouldn't have minded if it were just the spymaster, things had slipped under his nose before with these chosen five - but it was the promotion that gave all the higher ups a reason to watch them that had him internally screaming.

As Soundwaves visor flicked off, Starscream flinched just slightly – finding himself staring at his own reflection in the glossy black faceplate of the other mech. Was this Soundwave's way of saying he was done? That this was over? Keeping one step ahead of Soundwave in this incident meant getting out of here as quickly as possible. The helm incline was the final straw in this decision, and he'd take a swift step backward.

“Well if that's all, I suppose I shall be on my way! I shall await their return to tell them of the good news!” He followed this with an almost nervous chuckle, before swiveling quickly on one heel to begin striding down the corridor before Soundwave could initiate more 'conversation'. While his first instinct was to promptly leave the Nemesis and get to the five Eradicons, to tell them to stop whatever it was they may have been doing and to abandon their mission? That was what Soundwave would be expecting of the Second in Command. Not that it mattered any – he had an inkling that the spymaster would go down there one way or another to see for himself – regardless of Starscream making an attempt to get there first or not.

It would eat him alive, no doubt. The nerves and stress, knowing that Soundwave would be watching the Eradicons – but he would do his best to remain calm, cool, and collected. Going about whatever it was he was doing before this unfortunate run in with the spymaster who had too much time on his hands.

As he walked away from Soundwave, he would pull the datapad from behind his back and blip it on once more. Acting as normal as possible as not to draw attention to the fact his processor was now working overtime trying to work out a way out of this rather unfortunate mess - resisting the urge to glance over his shoulder to see what Soundwave's next move would be.  

[Soundwave]

When it came to one of Starscream's rank and stature within the Decepticon Hierarchy, many responded in rather cookie cutter means. A sharp salute, a bold statement of affirmative or understanding of a directive given, many dipped their helms in resignation before an individual that could possibly have them killed if their work and worth wasn't up to snuff. Even those that regarded the sleek mech in poor taste tended to force out at least a minder chip of respect to be shown during a commander's departure.

Soundwave did nothing.

He did not dip his helm again after his taunting resignation a moment prior to let Starscream 'win'. He didn’t lift a thin arm up to place to his helm in a salute. He didn't even look away to go about his day just yet. Instead, he watched, and waited, the cold black visor angled to follow the silver mech while he retreated. Let there be no mistake, what was happening here was definitely a retreat as far as Soundwave was concerned.

Clicks.

Crackling Synapse.

Prickles of electricity flicking and thrashing.

A new game has started to see who would get to the finish line first. One trying to act covert, trying to play under the radar with a spotlight blared upon them, while the other simply had freedom to act. It was only when Starscream was a good distance away, that the spymaster finally moved. His frame turned with casual movements, before he started to depart down the opposite hallway Starscream was going.

A small communication relay was put together then, brief and modest, a simple data packet with a few small glyphs to denote importance and rather... the lack of urgency. There was no particular rush or need to address it anytime soon, a casual question.

The packet included the general area that the Eradicon scouts were located, with a comfortable buffer of a few miles added around it for some wiggle room. The string of coordinates created a flow of direction that indicated what way they were going, with empty markers where they may be heading to. All of this was labeled with a query marker, indicating a request to know what the recipient knew of the region, since there really wasn't much there of interest as far as Soundwave was aware. If they were to fly in a straight line, eventually they would reach humanity and a city, but... that was not going to be the goal more likely than not.

This request for information was stapled with a scouting request marker that was crossed out, since Soundwave would be handling that on his own shortly. This request was just to see if there was anything he should be ready to find or not, that may have slipped beneath the radar.

Once the navy mech was far enough away that Starscream would not catch on, and he was close enough to a hanger hatch that lead to the outside, his rolling strides halted. A quick transformation, a swift shift of plating and armor. After a few hacking cuts of slender panels sliding against one another, Laserbeak formed, the small Cassette buzzing to life with a content whir. It didn’t dally; it didn’t halt to look upon its Carrier, and instead departed happily from the ship to set on course.

The moment Laserbeak was outside, it's fanned wings folded together, and it dive-bombed sharply to gain speed, the small Cybertronian engine mounted in its core whirling to life before it veered sharply in the direction the Eradicons were going.

It would take awhile for Laserbeak to get there, especially since this was an adventure 'off books' and it had to get there upon its own power. No trails would be left with Space Bridge records, no strings to tangle up things in the future. The only indicator the Cassette was gone, would be if an individual saw Soundwave directly and recognized the barren plate of armor on his chest that was typically covered with sharp angles.

Rolling into movement once more, Soundwave started to walk again.

[Starscream]

Starscream didn't care that Soundwave didn't regard him with any sign of respect as he turned to depart. Well, at least not in this particular incident. He had bigger things to worry about than the spymaster not giving him a salute.

He held strong, and managed to not let curiosity get the better of him – refraining to look over his shoulder to see what Soundwave was doing. He wasn't sure if he would be followed, or if Soundwave would turn back the way he came. He didn't really even have to look, he knew what was going to happen – which was why he had to move faster than the other mech and win the race of departing the ship.

Soundwave saw and heard almost everything, but there were blind spots on the Nemesis even Soundwave did not know about, and therefore could not watch. At least not by the usual means, anyway. Starscream had them all mapped out for when he had to make the occasional quick exit from the ship – and that would be where he would be heading.

His heels would click against the metal panels of the flooring as he quickened his pace just slightly. His attention still very much on the datapad, as if holding the thing and staying focused on it would level him out some. But he was very much panicking now. He had to get to the Eradicons first.

Luckily, he knew he was superior in flight compared to Soundwave and his cassette – and while he wasn't sure if Soundwave would leave himself, or simply send out the annoying little drone? He was clever enough to work out that would for sure be Soundwave's next move. Then again, that much was obvious. He wasn't sure which was the worse of the two outcomes, however. Soundwave being there meant he would see everything for himself first hand then and there and there would be no explaining his way out of it. Laserbeak being there meant that Soundwave would see still see everything but it would be less obvious. Laserbeak was smaller. More compact. It could hide away and go unnoticed. Which was troublesome in itself as the Eradicons would have no clue they were being watched.

Only once he had safely turned the corner did Starscream stop. He took a moment to compose himself, before leaning back and peeking down the corridor which he'd just come from – just to see. He didn't take note of what Soundwave was doing – he was way too far away for Starscream to see, he just saw that the spymaster was heading in the opposite direction.

This was a new game indeed, one of which that Starscream fully intended on winning. He had the upper hand. The advantage. He may not have had the head start here, but he could out-pace and out-fly Soundwave, so he did not need one. Just as quickly as he'd poked his helm around the corner would he quickly set off once more.

He'd stroll down the corridor toward the Medical Bay – before making a beeline into the room. Knock Out was in here, sat behind a desk and scrolling through datapad after datapad. He glanced up to see who'd come into the room, before going back to what he was doing. This... Was a regular occurrence and so the Chief Medical Officer didn't seem the least bit phased. At least common enough to the point that Knock Out didn't really question it anymore. The Medical Bay was one giant blind spot. Something about doctor-patient confidentiality and all that – something about privacy, he didn't really care. Point was? Knock Out had his back, and so he was free to come and go from here as he pleased, knowing that Knock Out would cover for him if he ever got asked about where Starscream was.

It wasn't exactly the most ideal method of leaving the ship – there were other blind spots in the corridors where he could escape out a small hatch, but this one had been the most convenient as he needed an alibi should Soundwave have remained on board.

He'd walk with purpose, setting down the datapad on a nearby bench and lifting up the small hatch of the nearest garbage disposal shoot. This was so very beneath him, and he barely fit into the small, narrow tunnel – but he was desperate. A short and awkward slide later, and he'd landed in the refuse center of the Nemesis. Wonderful. He wasted no time, moving to the far wall after scrambling over various pieces of trash – yanking open another small hatch – which led to the outside world. He'd swan dive out, gracefully shifting into his alt-mode as he fell, before flying away from the Nemesis, and toward the location of the five Eradicons.

The race was on. And he would win.

-End-