Ep 0.5 - Starscream's Lab - Open

[Deleted]

Soledad tilted her head to peek up at him, unsure for a moment how to react. Was this really the same guy who'd promised to kill her if it became 'necessary,' whatever that meant? Was he for real?

"...Yeah," she answered slowly. "Sure. Why not?" She tried on a smile. "I'm always happy to meet another Pokefan."

Setting her uneaten food aside, she stood up and brushed herself off. "Are you really not allowed to talk to me when Starscream's in the room?" she asked as an afterthought.

[jefferson]

Jeff almost cheered, but the human's hesitance and following question made him pause. He immediately sobered, unsure if it was safe to answer. Again, he decided to bumble onward.

"Starscream is my superior officer," he explained quietly. "He's Second in Command of the whole Decepticon army, and I'm just a grunt. I do what he tells me to do, and I don't get scrapped."

He glanced at the abandoned food to her side.

"Are you not hungry?" he asked a little louder.

[Deleted]

Soledad glanced at the half-eaten burger, then looked away. She really ought to eat as much as she can, there was no guarantee she'd be fed again anytime soon, especially if Jeff was that scared of his neglectful commander. But... "Not right now," she said, turning away. "Maybe later."

She took in a deep breath, held it a moment, then let it out slowly. "So," she said at the tail end of it. "You guys... aren't from Earth, are you?" It was an obvious question, so she didn't bother to wait for the answer. "What are you doing here? Because, take it from a native, Earth is kind of a horrible place. There has to be nicer planets you can invade. It's a big galaxy, you know."

Not that she really knew anything about how common life was in the galaxy - nobody on Earth did. For all she knew, Earth and - wherever these guys were from were the only inhabited planets in existence. My science teacher would squeal like a little girl, to know what I know, she thought almost-fondly.

[jefferson]

"Uh..."

Well...if he was going to answer her questions, he might as well go ahead. It wasn't likely she'd escape anyway, which was sad to think about, but that was for the best. If she got information and then escaped somehow, people would think she was crazy if she told anyone. If she got to an Autobot, then that could be bad, but what were the chances of the Autobots ever finding out the Nemesis was hosting a...'guest?' And if she doesn't escape...

He didn't go there. The word 'experiment' itself brought up several horror scenes and he didn't like to think about those. (Why in the Pit did he watch those movies anyway??) Standing in a superior's lab was already a little nerve racking, he didn't need to add fuel to the fire. Still, somewhere inside he did feel sorry for the little creature. There wasn't really anything a lowly drone like him could do that didn't mean deactivation for him.

"We...We're here looking for energy to help fuel us and keep us alive. We'd eventually power down and even die without it...." He trailed off, something she said ringing false to him, "What are you talking about? Sure, humanity has bad things to deal with, but there's a lot here you have to be proud of and thankful for. Pokemon, for example, and Cowboy Bebop. And, um, your cars. Humanity's cars are really cool! Ask anyone here - everyone wants or has a cool Earth alt mode."

Personally, Jeff favored the F-22 Raptor but it didn't match his specs and he wasn't sure he even could scan a new alt, being a drone model. He dared not try. He didn't think anyone did.

"'Sides, life's pretty rare out there. I've never seen aliens before Earth. At least, not sentient ones."

Jeff took this time while Starscream was gone to reach in and uproot the upside down trees, trying to make the place look a little better. He couldn't do anything about the shack without it falling over, but maybe he could arrange things so that...

He took a step back and his visor dimmed in disappointment.

"Sorry. Dead trees aren't exactly good for landscaping..."

It looked even worse than before. If that was possible.

[Deleted]

"Gah!" Soledad retreated to the corner as Jeff's attempt at 'landscaping' resulted in a miniature avalanche of dirt, covering her shoes and completely ruining what was left of her lunch. When Jeff let go of the tree, it rocked on the dirt mound at a precarious angle, roots lifting in the air.

"...Yeah," she said flatly, surveying the damage. "No kidding."

At least she was finally getting some answers. So, they're here for energy, she thought, and because... they think Earth is cool? Come to think of it, maybe that's why he calls himself Jeff... She extricated her feet from the dirt and tapped some of it off her shoes and ankles. "Yeah, I guess there's that stuff," she agreed aloud, "though whether it makes up for - you know, wars and racism and all the terrible things we do to each other is probably a matter of opinion." Her own opinion on the matter fluctuated from day to day, after all.

She glanced up at him, one hand on the wall to steady herself. "Anyway, you seem to know a lot more about Earth than Starscream does, or cares to. So why aren't you in charge of all this?" She waved her free hand at the lab. "How did such a space case as Starscream get put in charge? Did he just kiss the right asses or something?"

[jefferson]

At Soledad's comment, Jeff merely shrugged. He was bottom of the totem pole around here, his brethren subject to all kinds of abuse, but Decepticons weren't all bad, and he was sure Cybertron had pretty cool when it was online and busy. It couldn't have been much different from Earth now, better even. Maybe. It had enough injustice to start a war, but otherwise it must have been awesome, right? Alright, he wasn't sure, but he did know that humanity, at least, despite crime, war, and all that bad stuff, had lots that was pretty amazing.

But the girl's further questioning put Jeff on edge. Hiw DID Starscream get put in charge? He'd seen the guy fly, and he was good, but what else did he have that secured him Second? Jeff didn't know, and his very hidden, very private Inner Bitterness was reluctant to come out and hypothesize.

"Um...I dunno," he shrugged again. He tried to be casual, but it was probably obvious he felt awkward talking about his superior with unknown eyes and ears possibly listening in. "He's, uh, pretty cool when - uh. Well, he's a pretty good strategist, I hear....And, he lets us Vehicons take votes once in a while."

He bit his tongue, so to speak, on the ass kissing. With the way Starscream groveled, Jeff wouldn't be surprised, but even thinking that thought seemed traitorous, and he was terrified of being branded.

He tried to change the subject, "The other Vehicons and I have a lot of free time when we're not on duty, and most of us are not allowed to leave the ship unless it's for patrol. So, most of us plug in to the human networks. A lot of us are fans of your media and stuff, so that's probably why I know some things. I'm just not in charge cuz, uh, um... I'm nothin' special." Yet another shrug. "Just do what they tell me to do."

There. That was more comfortable ground.

[Deleted]

Soledad wasn't fooled for a moment. " 'Just do what they tell you,' huh?" she repeated wryly. "Who told you to get into Pokemon? Not that I'm complaining." She nodded at the tiny Tentacool still held between two fingers (sharp as swords, she couldn't help but notice). "You're not some mindless - robot," she continued, climbing up the recently-disturbed dirt pile, "if you'll excuse the expression. Believe me, I put up with enough mindless wastes of air back at school-" She swallowed down a sudden edged lump of pain in her throat. "-to know one when I see one, and you're not one."

She finished her climb, and leaned with one hand gingerly on the upended tree's roots. To her relief, it didn't budge. "Look, I'm not telling you to start a revolution or go on strike or something." Although she would dearly love to see that, if only to watch Starscream's head explode. "Just - talk to me regardless of who else is in the room, huh?" She gave him a crooked smile, trying for sympathy, though the tactic rankled. "Bad enough I'm a captive. Being ignored hurts."

[jefferson]

Oh, boy, now he felt like he was being grilled. He tried to correct her.

"Uh, no one told me to - to ... " He glanced at his Tentacool, holding it gingerly with his digit tips, then set it aside. " Nah, not a robot, more like a - autonomo - autono - School?" He asked, and paused just as she did, then thought about her statement. He didn't ask about why her voice went weird there, or what she meant. He'd seen enough romances and dramas to recognize a forced swallow when he heard one, and the leap in his spark that was a tell tale sign he'd end up weeping if he asked. He didn't tell anyone, ever, about the sap he watched in his free time, but being vulnerable to those genres meant he was more sensitive about dramatic situations in real life. It made being a good listener for those who really needed one difficult. So he dared not ask about the 'mindless wastes of air,' though he could identify.

Jeff looked away, feeling uncomfortable, before saying, "Ahh...I can't promise you that. You are a captive, and I guess you're Starscream's property now. And he's my superior on top of that. If he's in here, I can't speak to you. I already pushed it more than I usually do just now..." He stopped, inwardly frowning. "But I can try. And I can... continue to try to speak for you. As a prisoner, an experiment, you don't really have a voice..."

He knew the risks in speaking up to Officers, especially unpredictable ones like Starscream. But he was cannon fodder anyway, he reasoned, what was the harm in putting his life in a little danger, really? And it was the least he could do. No one spoke up for Vehicons around here, 'cept maybe Breakdown. There was no need to continue THAT perpetual cycle by not feeling a little empathy for someone else, even if it was human.

At that thought, his insides twisted as he reminded himself that humans were the 'lesser' species. But those instinctual feelings were the result of eons of conditioning by the Decepticons. He wasn't sure what was right, and he lacked the ability to analyze his inner conflict with any accurate depth. He pushed that away and looked back the human with sympathy nonetheless.

"Hey....before you ask..." This wasn't as hard to say as he thought it would be, and it spoke volumes, even to him, of his own fatalism. He knew it hurt to hear that things couldn't be better, but then at least she'd know the truth and not get her hopes up. She was stuck here like anyone else, and her only shot at freedom, the Autobots most likely, would probably never find the Nemesis in time to get an unknown human lab rat back to the wild. "I can't rescue you. I can't take you out and let you go. If I do, I'll get sent to ER in pieces. I think. At least. You're...kinda stuck here."

Jeff didn't fear death as much as he feared Michael Myers and his ilk, but he still wasn't willing to sacrifice himself for a prisoner's freedom. Risk a scolding, a few cut energon lines, some scratches, or something, to the Seeker's or anyone else's fury, sure. But not end his life doing something heroic that was destined to fail anyway. Nope. Especially for someone he just met.

"I'll keep ya company, though..." He added quietly with a meek shrug.

[Deleted]

Soledad narrowed her eyes, and quickly turned away before she could show Jeff which was stronger. Anger... or fear.

I won't die. I will escape. Somehow. I'm going to get out of here and I'm going to survive until then and I will. Not. Die. Her fingers curled against her arms, nails biting into skin, and she welcomed the pain. It was better than crying. Anything, absolutely anything was better than crying.

She probably ought to thank Jeff for offering to be her advocate, but she wasn't in a state to be anywhere near that charitable. Instead, in a barely audible voice, she asked, "Would you really kill me?"

[jefferson]

Jeff's unease only increased when the girl turned from him and his spark leaped again. What did he say!?

Only the most depressing thing a hopeless prisoner could hear.

He mentally smacked himself. He didn't know what else he was supposed to say, but at the same time he wished he hadn't said anything. What did hedo? What would he want to hear in her position?

But before he could scrounge his processor for an answer, little Soledad asked a loaded question. Would he kill her?

His silence probably stretched a little too long, but Jeff really needed to think. His first instinct was yes, but he couldn't tell if that was just an automatic thread of coding in response to even the imagined order given, or a true response. Immediately following that thought, he wondered if it was possible he'd hesitate.

Maybe. This was just so sad, and Jeff didn't do 'sad' very well. So, that on top of the tiny living organism looking so down and scared...He probably would.

But would he spare her?

...He just didn't know.

"I....I'll be honest," Jeff said guiltily. "I don't know. I wouldn't just squish you for no reason, but I can't let you go either!"

She sounded...Well, her tone was forced and she looked stiff. Those weren't good signs. If she cried or yelled at him, he'd probably be crushed for the rest of the day. But he just couldn't think of anything he could tell her that wasn't a blatant lie to make her feel better.

[Deleted]

Soledad had been hurt, over the course of her young life. She had known humiliation and disappointment, bitter anger and black loneliness, she had borne the weight of terrible secrets and the sick ache of bruises. But never, not once, had Soledad's heart been broken, until now. She tilted her head back with a soft hiss, afraid for a moment that she would lose the battle to keep her tears in. Her nails dug deeper into her flesh, until she was sure she would draw blood, and the pain, after a stretched-out, stretched-thin moment, brought some measure of sanity and clarity.

"Well," she said, once her voice was sufficiently under her control to only rasp, not crack. "Thanks for your honesty, I guess."

She liked Jeff, she really did. Despite the terrible circumstances, she wanted to be friends with him. But it was clear now, clear as the daylight she might never see again (don't think like that, stupid, if you lose hope you really will die!), that she could not trust him.

Well, that was fine. She was used to that.

She spared only a moment to scrub her eyes, just in case, then turned back to him, knowing her smile was crooked at best and wouldn't fool anybody, but what the hell - Jeff didn't even have a face, so what did he know about smiles? "All right, then. Let's see about those Pokemon figurines, huh?"

[jefferson]

"Uh...you're welcome."

Despite the thanks, Jeff didn't feel any more relaxed. She still seemed...

She turned misty eyes to him, looking strong but afraid and haunted.

Suddenly, Jeff's confidence in his ability to guard her crumpled and he felt like disappearing into the darkness of the shadows and never coming back. He'd still feel guilty, but at least he'd never have to see those little eyes again.

It was strange feeling so repulsed by kinda-gross stuff like watery, squishy eyeballs looking at him, and yet also feel his spark casing clench in his chest at the same time. Humans felt so much. They didn't even have sparks and yet Jeff could relate to them better than his own kind.

Something occurred to him then, a small thought, really, and somewhat unrelated. If there was anything the humans should be grateful for, it was that no matter what, each and every human on the planet had their own life, their own identity, and no one could limit it except by how the human was raised. No one could tamper with what they were capable of and a human with enough will power could bypass pretty much anything. This particular human was freer than any Vehicon on the ship and she didn't even know.

Automatically, Jeff's mind started ticking for a way he could help her more but he found nothing except doing something crazy like getting the other Vehicons to sneak a ground bridge to somewhere and dropping her off.... He stopped. Was that a bad idea?

..........................He shook his head. It probably was. Soundwave could manipulate a ground bridge from anywhere on the whole ship without even being at the controls. It would most certainly grab his attention if the Vehicons tried to orchestrate an escape using that.

Maybe he could sneak her out? Take her and leave? No, that was stupid. Again, Soundwave was probably watching. Besides, how would he carry her? He wasn't really built to fly in primary mode, and he didn't have a cockpit. It was difficult for a mech to fly the ship off duty, and who knew when Starscream would return and find her missing?

...Wait. Wasn't he just convincing himself rather bitterly that he wouldn't - couldn't - help her at all? Ugh. He was such a push over with these things...

He just did not know what to do, and truthfully, his feelings on the matter were so mixed up he didn't know what to think. He could almost keen right now he was so mixed up. All cuz of those eyes. She looked SO sad, so helpless! So hopeless.

"Yeah, those pokemon..." he said weakly, taking out the little figure again and sucking in his EM field. He didn't know if humans could feel those, but realizing he was projecting all over the lab wasn't only embarrassing, it was potentially dangerous. "What else you have in there?"

He made a vague gesture to the dirty pile of discarded meals.

He didn't really want them anymore.

[Deleted]

Huh. Soledad was no expert, but it kinda seemed like good ol' Jeff had gone over all depressed all of a sudden.

Good. That makes two of us.

It was with a certain grim satisfaction - maybe not fair of her, but it wasn't fair that she was a prisoner either! - that she turned to the rest of the Happy Meals. She dug past the food, ignoring it for the moment - most of it seemed salvageable, if stockpiling burgers wasn't a guaranteed ticket to The Wonderful World of Botulism - and pulling out the toys. One by one the plastic sheeting was torn off and tossed aside, along with the little paper insert inviting the reader to Catch 'Em All, and Soledad arranged the eleven little figures on the trunk of the tree so that Jeff could see them.

She had promised, after all.

"Okay," she announced. "You got Tentacool, so it's my turn to pick. I choose... Sandslash." She plucked up the named Pokemon and cradled it in her palm, unable to help a grin. "This little guy saved my butt more than once."

[jefferson]

Nope. He didn't want to be there anymore. Soledad had gone from highly interesting and exciting to dull, in a bad and depressing way.

He pointed unenthusiastically at the tiny Raichu taking up middle spot in the line up. "It isn't Pikachu, but it's awesome in its own way."

His mind was still spinning, but the only plan he could come up with that wasn't insane was to decorate the enclosure so she wasn't living in a little sty. And to get her more food. She hadn't said anything, and he was no expert, but he was pretty sure a few Happy Meals wouldn't feed her for long. Organics were kinda gross in that only some of their fuel was used, and the rest...well, it was disposed of elsewhere. This meant, logically, that that pile of food wasn't going to cut it.

Food was a priority, for sure. Yes, the shelter and the litter box was important, so he'd need to get those too. But the dead trees and the lumpy dirt needed to change. Humans lived in houses, not in caves anymore. He'd have to speak with the others. They may have ideas and the ground models may be able to run errands he couldn't.

((OOC: We gonna end it soon? Anything that needs to happen or info shared before then? ))

[Deleted]

"Okay, that's an electric type to go with your water type..." Soledad handed Raichu up. "And in that case, I need protection from water. Bulbasaur, come to my bosom!"

Soledad had no idea why she was so into this. Maybe she was just distracting herself from the hopelessness of her situation. Maybe the lack of moving air was getting to her. Maybe they drugged the food - she wouldn't put it past Starscream.

...Maybe she just wanted a friend.

((I don't have anything in particular left to impart. The ball's in the Radcons' court now as far as Flip My Terrarium is concerned - if you want to play that out or just handwave it, it's up to you and Steve and whoever else. ))