Kick Him When He's Down

Log Title: Kick Him When He's Down Characters: Delusion, Soundwave, Tonka Location: Harmonex Date: December 27, 2018 TP: Harmonex TP Summary: Soundwave is worried about his missing tape. Naturally, Delusion chooses now to test his patience. As logged by  Delusion

Log session starting at 18:03:55 on Thursday, 27 December 2018.

'''Soundwave is out by his crystals as always. But then he hears some transmissions. He starts to move away, his optic band glowing brightly, hands formed into fists. "Harbinger.." he says softly to himself. He rarely shows emotion but he sounds alarmed, concerned and..well very angry.'''

Delusion wanders into the city, strolling through the crystals with her hands clasped behind her back.

Tonka has equipped his jetpack, and has found a way to occupy himself by using the crystals as an obstacle course, happily zipping between them and performing some acrobatics in the process.

'''Soundwave is normally very vigilant about who is joining him in Harmonex, but today? No. Today hes pacing, as if waiting for something or another. "Send a shuttle. I will find her. And if the Autobtos have destroyed her, there will be no stopping my wrath." he says loud enough to be heard into his radio.'''

Delusion arches an optic ridge and strolls up behind Soundwave, testing just how distracted the spymaster is today.

GAME: Soundwave FAILS an INTELLIGENCE roll of Extreme difficulty.

Tonka perks up a bit as he overhears, and heads in that direction to hover nearby, curious.

Delusion reaches out to tap Soundwave on the shoulder.

'''Soundwave doesnt see her behind him. He knows it will take time for shuttles to be ready and hes as impatient as an enraged Megatron right now. There are few things that would get him into this mode but whatever it is has him on the edge. He flails out as he's tapped, spinning to face Delusion, his optics bright in rage. He then gets himself togehter enough to remember where he is and what is going on. "Ah. Delusion." He greets. "How long have you been there?"'''

'''Delusion smirks. "Long enough," she says enigmatically. "You seem on edge, today."'''

'''Soundwave murmurs lowly. "She's gone." He says. "Perhaps deactivated or worse. Soundwave is waiting on a shuttle. He does not trust the empire's compentency to find her. Its taking too long.."'''

'''Tonka floats over a bit closer. "Who's gone?"'''

'''Soundwave murmurs lowly. "Harbinger."'''

'''Delusion arches an optic ridge. "And you're certain she didn't just play in a minefield again?"'''

'''Soundwave pauses. "She was last seen in battle elseworld. I told her she wasn't ready."'''

'''Delusion ahs. "And so you plan to dash off to this other world all by yourself, then."'''

'''"A battle?" Tonka says. "What happened?"'''

'''Soundwave pauses. "I've already sent Decepticons who were present. What else should I do? I shouldnt have left her alone." He almost sounds paniced. "Ask the Autobots. Tonka. Have you heard any reports concerning Harbinger?"'''

'''Tonka takes a moment to access BotNet(TM), and his eyes widen a bit. "Uh... yeah.. she's.. in the brig." He says rather hesitantly, and braces himself.'''

'''Soundwave looks to Tonka. He takes the news almost too calmly. "Alive?"'''

Delusion folds her arms and leans against a crystal, watching the interaction.

'''"Yes, and well." Tonka says. "Though I don't know where."'''

'''Soundwave pauses. "Send this message to the Autobots. She will be returned to me immediately. Or Iacon, the Earth and Nebulos are forfiet."'''

Delusion chuckles softly.

'''Tonka widens his optics. "Uh... sure thing."'''

Soundwave looks to Delusion "You find this humorous? You do not think I am capable of carrying this out?"

'''Delusion smirks. "All on your -own-? No, I don't."'''

'''Soundwave says lowly. "I would walk into the mouth of Unicron himself for her. For any of them. I have an army at my beck and call."'''

'''Delusion chuckles again. "And it'll be just that -easy- to carry out the threat? As if the only thing keeping the Empire from conquering those places was a lack of motivation?" She tsks and shakes her head.'''

'''Soundwave pauses. "They have not been my top priority." He syas. "If I make them my top priority, there will be no stopping my wrath."'''

GAME: Soundwave FAILS an INTELLIGENCE roll of Immense difficulty.

'''Soundwave does have just enough sense of mind to not hit one of the crystals. He turns to the nearst wall and slams a fist into it hard. "Making arrangements.."'''

'''"If Prime says she'll be well cared for, she will." Tonka says. "You can count on that."'''

'''Soundwave snarls "This has cost us a valuable bargaining chip. Nebulos is not lost. But it has turned our victory. You will find nothing if you interrogate her. She knows no information." he shakes his head. "Megatron will not be pleased."'''

'''"One thing you Decepticons never seem to get is we aren't like that. She might be asked questions, sure. If she doesn't know, then she doesn't know." Tonka says. "We're not the kind to resort to torture or crap like that, that's just... barbaric."'''

'''Delusion spectates. Nothing like watching two other people argue.'''

'''Soundwave turns away a bit. "So the rhetoric says. SOundwave does not trust the Autobots with her for any length of time."'''

'''"It ain't rhetoric, it's truth, but that's the problem with war, the propaganda tends to color the waters, distorting truth." Tonka says.'''

'''Soundwave pauses. "There is no truth in war." says the master of deception. "Now, all we have to do is make the arrangements and wait." he sits down'''

'''Delusion shrugs. "Truth is a property that is not owned by either side, and therefore inconvenient."'''

'''"Doesn't change anything." Tonka says, offering his own shrug.'''

'''Soundwave puts a hand to his temple. He sounds rather unhinged tonight for whatever reason. "She better not have been injured."'''

Delusion walks away to work on some of the power conduits, but she's listening in case there's more interesting tidbits to pick up.

'''Soundwave simply sits...still for a moment. He places hands to his temples brining his head to his knees for a moment. He seems at the edge of his sanity at the moement.'''

[Dominicon] Delusion says, "Soundwave is quite upset tonight. Misplaced a minion."

'''Soundwave just says quietly. "Just have towatch and wait."'''

[Dominicon] Discretion says, "He really should be more careful with his things."

'''Delusion begins to hum as she works.. a tuneless hum that hovers just flat compared to the notes of the crystals around her. It's enough to set even an ordinary person's dentae on edge. For a music lover, it's torture.'''

GAME: Soundwave FAILS an INTELLIGENCE roll of Extreme difficulty.

'''Soundwave twitches a bit. He hisses, digging his fingers into his helm. "Try to match the crystals at least." He murmurs."'''

'''Delusion doesn't act like she heard Soundwave. Of course she did, but she's not going to act like it. Instead, she just keeps on working, tapping an irregular beat with a tool that doesn't match the slightly flat hum or the pulsing of the crystals.'''

'''Soundwave tries to pretend it doesnt bother him, though he pulls one hand from his temples. Therse an obvious dent in the side of it in the shape of his fingers. He starts to thrum a hand to the beat of a nearby crystal trying to focus on that and not the disharmony.'''

'''Delusion continues her work for a while, splicing cables while tapping and humming. Then, "whoops," she says, and a metal panel slips through her grip, just slowly enough to scrape against her fingertips like nails on a blackboard. How clumsy of her.'''

'''Soundwave jumps backwards, almost falling into the wall as silence goes to clanging. "Delusion, be careful!" his voice sounds a lot more paniced then normal. Hes actually..shaking. Something's amiss. Normally he'd just move away but today. Hes very close to just snapping.'''

'''Delusion chuckles and just picks up the panel to settle it properly. "Oh, don't fret so," she says patronizingly, then resumes her humming.'''

'''Soundwave murmurs. "Don't fret..theres everything to fret about." He goes back to holding his head a bit. "Your music is off key."'''

'''Delusion pauses. "Is it?" she asks. She hmms, then begins to hum again.. just a shade sharp this time.'''

'''Soundwave realizes now this might be purposeful. "I will choose to ignore it." He turns his back to her almsot to show her hes ignoring her, focusing on the crystals.'''

'''Delusion keeps at it. She's a patient sort. Her humming begins to glide back and forth from flat to sharp while she goes about her work. It's simple work that takes almost no concentration.'''

GAME: Soundwave PASSES an ENDURANCE roll of Immense difficulty.

'''Soundwave holds his temples tighter, but those crystals. If he can concentrate on them fully...'''

'''Delusion glances at Soundwave obliquely, monitoring his efforts. MmmmmMMMMmmmmMMM... Tap.. tip tap..tap tap tap.. tip.. tip tap..'''

GAME: Soundwave FAILS an ENDURANCE roll of Immense difficulty.

'''There is a loud SNAP-buzz sound from somewhere in Soundwave's helmet as some poor circuitboard finally gives out. He looks alarmed for a moment before stnading calmly. "I am going to return to Trypticon." He doesnt fly off as usual. He starts to walk back home, with a slight limp to his right leg. Whatever is happening with him, he doesnt want to happen in front of everyone in Harmonex.'''

'''Delusion gives Soundwave a wave. "Take care," she says cheerfully.'''

Soundwave gives a slight nod as he continues to stagger off.

'''Delusion works on making connections, replacing parts, and getting systems up and running. Who knew she was such a mechanic?'''