capeandcowllogs | This is my own life keepin' me down [Semi-open]

This is my own life keepin' me down [Semi-open]

WHO: Starscream

owwmyspine, possibly others?
WHERE: DOWNTOWN?
WHEN: Wednsday
WARNINGS: VIOLENCE
SUMMARY: Starscream's desire is to be taken seriously as a Decepticon commander. A REAL Decepticon Commander CONQUERS PEOPLE. AND TERRORIZES THEM. CONQUERING AND TERRORIZING ARE GO. But Jamie has something to say about these shenanigans.
FORMAT: WHATEVER PEOPLE WANT. Just because Teal is TL;DR doesn't mean you have to be ssrly guys.
Notes: If you want to encounter Starscream during his little bitchfit, please IM me! I thiiink Waspinator and possibly Knives and Lust were interested...? I just don't want this to be too much of a clusterfuck. If you're in, tag in separate threads plz!

It was like there was something in his head, something pushing him. It had become urgent, suddenly. Get out of this skin. Make people respect him. A very tiny voice in the back of his head - the one that sounded a bit like Waspinator - was telling him that this was a terrible plan, but he ignored it. He would have recognition. He would have respect. And they would bow to him.

He pulled out the red-and-silver steel rectangle. It was about the size of a very, very old-model laptop, and weighed considerably more than its size suggested. Slinging it onto his back, he adjusted the straps on the front across his chest, making sure it was snug.

Then he spoke, in clear Cybertronian, "Code Primax 984.17 Alpha. Authorization: Commander Starscream. Transform and Rise Up!"

With a familiar sound, the rectangle unfolded around him, pieces locking into place as electronics were pulled out of subspace. Within a few seconds, he was completely suited up. The new subroutines he'd added just the night before (he hadn't slept in two days) plugged wires into the slots he'd implanted into his arms, his legs, his spine. No direct neural interface yet, certainly not. That would take more time than he had. But soon. For now, the implants would simply measure his muscle motions and let the suit react faster. Better. Like his own body. As it should be.

Of course, the implants hadn't completely healed yet, and already he was bleeding a little again. It all hurt and he didn't care. It was just human flesh. Something he'd soon be rid of.

He took off from his balcony with a roar, shooting into the sky, looking for somewhere to terrorize. Somewhere that he'd make an impression.

Well, Union Square was a good start, wasn't it?

Flying low, he descended right near the statue of George Washington, before cackling through the speakers in his suit:

"Citizens of the City! The Decepticon Army claims this planet as their own!"

The little rational voice was asking if he had some sort of plan other than blowing things up, but honestly, he didn't care. He needed to show them. Now.

And so he started firing into the crowd...

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Waspinator still didn't like crowds. But he was on a mission: to pick up some cheap food, and downtown was still the best spot to do that. Not too far from the apartment and cheap so long as you stayed north of the business district. So he braved rush hour and plunged into the masses, searching out a hole-in-the-wall he had only vague memories of from months past.

A blast of noise from above dragged him out of the thoughts of his quest, startled by the sound. He whipped his head around, staring up with eyes that only got wider at the word 'Decepticon'.

Frag. Well, it was a good thing he'd flown down here.

As Starscream began to fire, he hopped up and flew directly at the armoured 'Con, grinding his teeth. "Mrrzzz! Iz Traitybot glitching out? What part of 'robot in dizguize doezn't Traitybot get!?"

Edited 2009-11-05 03:28 (UTC)

What the -

"You've got to be kidding," he said. "And the time for stealth is over! The Decepticon empire must re-establish our presence."

His eyes narrowed. Waspinator had defected. The sniveling little insect, who did he think he was?

"And how dare you question me, traitor! I should kill you here and now for your insolence. In fact..."

The faceplate of his suit twisted into a wicked grin.

"I think I will."

With that, he fired a volley of lasers, aiming for Waspinator's wings.

Hovering a respectable few feet away, he darted forward to make sure he'd be heard. "Izn't empire, iz five botz that aren't even botz any more!" He snarled, bobbing nervously around in the air.

"Wh-" Waspinator blinked in surprise before coming closer to yell. "Wazpinator izn't traitor, Wazpinator quit becauze you're a terrible fragging leader!" Chest puffed up, he pointed directly at (what he assumed was) Starscream's face, teeh bared. "When leaderbot getz Wazpinator scrapped more often than enemiez, Wazpinator'z not staying on faction! Didn't do it for Megatron, why would Wazpinator do it for Traitybot!?"

He trailed off at the look on Starscream's face. Not good.

Waspinator didn't have time (or the brains, or the speed) to dodge those. His left primary wing took a hit, and in the attempt to get out of the way, he put his stomach right in the line of fire. He stumbled in the air, fighting to keep his altitude and desperately trying not to panic.

Edited 2009-11-05 21:15 (UTC)

Oh, that was the wrong thing to say.

"I DO NOT - WHEN DID I EVER - MEGATRON GOT YOU SCRAPPED MORE THAN I DID!" he screeched. Experiments nonwithstanding, apparently. "AND I AM NOT A TERRIBLE LEADER!"

He didn't even bother shooting Waspinator, he outright charged the Predacon. "I AM THE GREATEST LEADER!"

A grunt. "Nnhzzz! If Starscream wazn't a terrible leader Wazpinator wouldn't have quit! Szo th-"

He might have been able to get out of the way in time, if he wasn't caught off guard and already nursing laser hits. Starscream's charge was dead on target and Waspinator couldn't react quickly enough to get out of the way.

So he just ground his teeth and braced himself for impact.

Starscream barreled straight into the Predacon, heading straight for the ground, hoping to slam them both into the pavement. Starscream would be fine - a little worse for wear, his armor certainly dinged up - but Waspinator might not.

The crowds, perhaps sensing that the two flying metas' argument wasn't going to be concluded peacefully, had taken it upon themselves to get out of the way. Finally, a public that was aware enough not to stand vapidly while superpowers squabbled! Civvillian casualties could be properly minimized and the super's public images would suffer fewer great blows!

On the other hand, it meant that Waspinator had just gotten himself slammed into pavement instead of conveniently squishy human bodies.

He let out an involuntary yelp as he hit the ground, noting distractedly that his ribs would probably ache tomorrow. And the next day. And the next day. The usual, really. He should be used to this.

Trying to shake himself from a daze, he aimed a groggy kick at Starscream, trying to shake the armoured Seeker off him where he lay.

A little practice was all it takes, right? Come on, Jaime, you did this once before, you can do it again.

Jaime flew over the city, grimacing each time the Scarab pointed out a potential threatening person. It was great to have it back online, but...years of bonding was gone in a jolt of electricity. It made the desire to get back into the swing of superheroing even stronger, if only to show the Scarab how to do things right.

...Though there really wasn't any need to taser those carjackers.

Babysteps towards normalcy.

Civilian disturbance detected.

Jaime's eyes followed the scanner's signal, squinting to get the zoomed image to see...Who the heck is THAT?

Well, whoever he was, he wasn't doing anything good.

"Alright, let's take him out!"

He angled his body and dove down, fists forward. They bulged and rounded slightly--a better bludgeoning shape--as he closed in.

"That's enough of that...you!" God, I STILL suck at banter.

Warning. Proximity Alert. Warning. Hostile Detected.

Starscream had knocked over the statue and sent a number of people outright running - and thanks to Knives, a few people were quite dead. The square was almost clear, and he'd been about to go stalking for another place to haunt.

He didn't quite have time to sent a retaliating shot. Instead, he fired his boosters, trying to get out of the way in case this idiot was trying to ram him.

"Is that really the best you can do?" he sneered. "Come now, even Perceptor had better banter!"

Wait. This one... blue. This was familiar, very...

"You! HAH! I remember you!" he laughed. "If I recall you were barely even a challenge!"

Which was an utter lie. He'd lost an audial, after all.

Trivial, really. He floated backwards a few more feet and then unleashed a barrage of null ray fire, blue-violet beams hissing towards their target.

Jaime's first strike was about as lackluster as his entrance words, zipping past and spinning around to face the troublemaker as he retorted back about...preception or something. It was over Jaime's head. But that challenge remark?

"Bullcrap!" Jaime shouted back. "I don't even recall you! Now just clear out of here an--"

Incoming.

"I SEE THAT!"

Jaime's wings popped out of existance, dropping him below the enemy fire as his back reformed to a small, maneuverable rocket.

"Gimme something, here!"

The Scarab complied, reconfiguring Jaime's forearm into a weapon he had hardly the time to even ask what it was. So long as it got the job done and--No KILLING, okay?

It reshaped just a bit at that.

Jaime's return fire: highly charged and condensed, rounded and crackling.

Starscream was already jetting backwards away from his opponent - he was far, far more dangerous at range than up close. He recognized that crackling energy - he'd encountered that last time he'd fought this one. His onboard systems calculated the trajectory of the return shot, and he copied the Blue Beetle's own defensive tactic - stalling his engines, he dropped just below the shot. His HUD display actually fizzled slightly as the energy passed just over his head, causing slight interference.

I'll have to fix that, he thought, sliding backwards into a spin before righting himself. He re-activated his engines, fishtailing slightly before slipping into a wide loop around his opponent.

"What, are your circuits scrambled?" he snapped. "In April! You fought me! Granted, I was larger at the time but surely you remember..."

Enough banter, Starscream, stay on target...

He didn't have missiles, this time, and so he settled for charging his null lasers, hoping for a wide shot. He just needed a few seconds to gather power...

Larger...?

"Loud Angry Jet-Robot-Guy?" Jaime exclaimed with genuine surprise. Keeping tabs on these guys'd be so much easier with a Scarab that remembers things. But, now that he thought about it the voice was similar. Just not as...booming and mechanical.

Oh, this is gonna be good.

"Thanks for clearing that up-!" he started again, rocketing forward and firing another volley. "At least I don't have to ask why you're being a problem!"

The Scarab noted the power buildup. Suggested several interference options. Several fatal options.

For the last time, NO!

That shot clipped a wing, sending him into a violent spin which took a few seconds to right. He nearly crashed into a nearby building, only managing to regain control at the last second.

For once, he was thankful that this wasn't his body. Blows to the wings in his normal shape were extremely painful.

As it was, his flight patterns were now slightly off. Still, nothing he couldn't handle. Probably.

Twisting in the air, he clasped his hands together, index fingers pointing out. With a hissing click, various pegs and wires snapped into place as his arms seemed to fuse, his two shoulder canons also swiveling to point forwards.

With a cry, he let loose a crackling violet electromagnetic pulse beam.

Unfortunately, his damaged wing made it hard to keep the damn thing straight, so his aim was completely off. It looked impressive - actually hitting, well...

Jaime didn't even feel the wind on that shot, watching it flicker out of sight and out of harm's way (or to whatever poor soul's electronic device as it streamed past a skyscraper). He shot Starscream a smug look: white teeth glinting in a smirk from the distance he was.

"Really, dude?"

Time to clip this chicken.

--Wait, why didn't I say that out LOUD? That was almost GOOD.

Charging 68% complete.

"Close enough." Jaime propelled forward, taking aim at wing number two and firing.

"Oh frag."

That was all he had time to say. He tried to twist out of the way, but that shot took his wing clean off, sending him plummeting to the ground. He skidded for a good twenty feet along the pavement before crashing into a storefront in a shower of glass.

Warning. Wing damaged. Warning. Significant damage sustained. Initiating initial repair system. Warning. Subspace capabilities offline.

"Oh, shut it!" he snapped at the armor's AI. "I know!"

Jaime couldn't help but let out a sugar rush-induced whoop of victory, dropping altitude as his forearms meshed together to reform a much larger canon.

"You done playing Top Gun?" he hollered as he approached. "'Cause if you go quietly I'll l--whawait what? No, no--HEY!"

Impactor firing.

"Wait, waitwaitwaitWAIT, STOP!"

Jaime's feet swung forward in an almost comical gesture of skidding to a stop in midair, jerking his arms just as a massive energy surge exploded out of the suit. Starscream was soon to find hismelf lounging near a very nasty-looking crater, smouldering and tenderizing the concrete.

A moment of silence as Jaime tried to figure out what the heck that was about. Then, not wanting to lose the effect, he cleared his throat and landed, arms reshaping.

"...So, you give up?"

H-holy scrap.

"Er."

He was far from finished, but even the crawling, surging need at the back of his head shut up in the face of that.

He got to his feet (somewhat wobbily) and picked up his wing.

"I'll just be going then, right? Right."

Jaime exhaled, feeling pretty darn good about this--well, gigantic new pothole aside--when a thought popped into his mind and got him back into motion, hustling over.

"I don't think so--you don't get to shoot into crowds and go home after somebody makes a bigger boom than you. You're..." Bracing self for cheese: "under arrest."

"Oh. Well. You're perfectly correct. Silly me! I suppose I'll just turn myself in, right? Don't want any more trouble with that suit of yours..."

He put his hands into the air in a gesture of submission... before quickly swiveling his shoulder canons forward and firing two null-blasts straight for the Blue Beetle's chest.

WARNI--

A head full of static and a body full of ow: Jaime's suit crackles and sends him stumbling backwards and to the ground, twitching. Pieces flake off and regenerate as Jaime himself starts to get his senses back.

You son of a-, Jaime utters, which comes out more like "Khhaghh-!"

Starscream grinned, stepping forward over the rubble (trying very hard not to stumble), gathering the energy in his right arm as he went.

"Not so fond of that, are you?" he purred, pointing a single finger at the young human. "A shame I'm so fond of parting shots..."

He fired a second time, a much stronger pulse now, before, turning and limping away.

The ow upgraded to HOLYCRAPAUGH with the face full of null ray, halting the suit's reconstruction and leaving Jaime with more than the usual burning pain. With a groan, he forced himself to roll over--guy's not gonna get a chance to shoot the chest again--blearily watching a shape limp further out of view.

Oh, you are SO not getting the whole last laugh, evil guy walks away thing. I refuse.

Jaime moved his hand, clutching a fistful of half-melted concrete and threw as best he could, aiming for that jerk ass disappearing from sight.

Okay, it wasn't a crater-inducing canon of death? But Jaime felt that if the bad guy was going to walk away? This was fair.

As for him? The blacking out was starting to be unavoidable.

At the very least, Jamie was rewarded with a loud, "ARGH, FRAGGING SCRAP" before blacking out commenced. And perhaps the knowledge that Starscream's pride was at least a little bruised.

There's something in the air.

He'd suspected for days now, impulses that he tried to keep buried rising to the surface at the most inopportune times. It was like an itch he couldn't scratch, a hunger that couldn't be satisfied.

It was maddening, especially the knowledge that it could only be the influence of an outside force. He'd felt Delirium's influence, the power of the one of the Seven Deadly Sins, and now this.

He wanted to kill them. It was something he couldn't escape or deny, even on a good day, but now? Now, it's a need.

He resisted, though - was doing so even as he made his way back from one of the more isolated parts of the City. Being surrounded by nature usually had a calming effect, but today, it just wasn't enough.

So he was walking back, trying to avoid humanity in general; but it wasn't to be. Jis reverie interrupted by some imbecile overhead, and Knives peered up, his eyes narrowing at the sight of Starscream making his declaration. Then, however, he was firing (how the hell had he ended up around all the people?), and humans were rushing by him--

One of them touched him.

And in that moment, overwhelmed by disgust and the impulses that had been tormenting him for days, he snapped. Within moments, the offender was dead, cut to pieces by a bladed arm. People screamed, blood was shed, and Knives smiled for the first time in weeks.

Starscream had not been killing anyone yet - they were terrified enough as it was. Instead, he'd simply been shooting at their feet, making near-misses. Fear was the key. He hovered low to the ground, herding the fools into a flood of panic.

"Sheep, all of you! Nothing more than disgusting sacs of carbon molecules and water, you're unworthy to even walk the same planet as I!" he snarled. The tiny, slightly buzzing voice in the back of his head was wondering what the hell he was even saying.

And then he spotted the stranger.

This one was not afraid, and... rather clearly not human. And that movement, that almost lazy motion which had resulted in such a shower of blood...

He actually stared for a few moments.

"... who the slag are you?" he asked, suddenly, hovering about ten feet away, his engines making a low whine.

There was chaos in the streets, but Knives didn't care. It was right, familiar to him in a way that could only be described as coming home. Death, destruction, genocide - they were terms that defined him, shaping his very existence from the time he was a child. He's a monster and a killer, and despite how much he'd been forced to hide it here, it was very much in evidence now.

The humans were running, from him as well as Starscream now, and the look he gave the hovering form was supremely unafraid - a predator through and through.

"Knives."

She didn't have superenhanced senses--that was Gluttony's particular strength--but Lust was aware enough to hear so much screaming from a relative distance. She'd been expecting a more major outburst, truth be told; but that was normal from someone who watched the network as devotedly as she did, and kept such close tabs on their own cravings. It hadn't been so hard to see disaster coming, but running into this one in particular was a surprise. Honestly, this had been a day off--she was wearing pants, even--but if things were going to become interesting, she had no choice.

Without pause, she dropped her newspaper and walked in the direct opposite direction as the approaching stream of fleeing humans. Lust wasn't amazingly fast, either--that was Sloth's bad--but she was agile and mean enough to near Union Square and the budding chaos within in decent time. The robot was new, though it had precedent--but it (he? she?) wasn't the only thing they were running away from. There was someone else, male, more humanoid--oh. Knives was killing them again? What a surprise.

She pushed her way forward with just a bit more viciousness, her sole concession to the needling voice in the back of her head that was whining, practically begging her to spill blood, and she said absolutely nothing.

Starscream slowly smiled, the grin reflected on the faceplate of his armor.

"Knives. A proper name," he said, pausing to shoot the legs out from under a fleeing pedestrian. "Fitting form and function, as it should be."

In the back of his mind (the rational part), there was a little voice saying it was absurd to be standing in the middle of the street in broad daylight having this kind of conversation with this kind of decorum. He didn't care, though, couldn't care. It was too much fun.

"I found it rather ironic myself." There's that smile again, the one that said he loved it. "Enjoying yourself?"

Still making her way through the crowd--and the prospect of just killing them was growing more tempting by the second but she wouldn't let herself do it, not now, not in broad daylight in civilian clothes--Lust neared the figure she knew until, finally, she stepped into Knives' personal bubble: the void of empty pavement where, up to less than a minute ago, the humans had been.

"Friend of yours?" she called, her voice a little strained.

The crowd was rapidly thinning, giving the three a wide berth. Starscream was almost disappointed, that had been fun.

"Friend?" he said, idly shooting one fleeing man in the back. "Well, we've only just met... and you are..?"

Edited 2009-11-07 06:30 (UTC)

Knives watched the pedestrians flee, a glimmer of the same madness that had led him to slaughter millions shining in his eyes. He refrained, though, Lust's appearance making him focus on her, on this instead of bloodshed.

"Lust."

It was that expression that made her, for the first time that day, smile. She knew what he, at least, wanted--and it was tempting--but this was not the time, and she would wait. She had waited before, and she could wait now. Couldn't she?

"That would be me," she said, glancing with some interest at the... giant fucking robot. "Did I miss your introduction, or did you just not give it?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

This is my own life keepin' me down [Semi-open]

HAVE I MENTIONED THAT YOU'RE A WHORE

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WOW LOOK AT THAT HTML FAIL

Re: WOW LOOK AT THAT HTML FAIL

apologies i am tired and a little dazed. fasdfkjsd sh-short tag i'm sorry ;;

n key is still sticky so sorry if I fuck shit up here

look at me backtag like a pro!

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argh how does i write x_X

AS LONG AS WE'RE HAVING A GOOD TIME BB

Fffffffffff

:]

ilu jamie and your fail at banter

we are all made of a little fail in this thread c:

<3

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BEFORE JAIME SHOWS UP

... my writing sucks today and I apologize D:

fffffffffff IT DOES NOT

IT'S OKAY I CAN BEAT YOU BOTH OUT IN TAG SHITTINESS

:< SHORT TAG IS SHORT NOW

S'OK BB ILU <3

aaannnnd i meant to write "bag" in that first post instead of bad WTG SELF

Re: aaannnnd i meant to write "bag" in that first post instead of bad WTG SELF

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