re_alignment | [Video] [Transmission originating from: Prison!]

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✘ tf: bayverse | barricade (crau)

[Video] [Transmission originating from: Prison!] - Eleventh Offense

[Oh look, it's Barricade! But he's looking a lot more like himself. He even has his firelizard perched on his shoulder... who is probably the one that got him his Link back, the dastardly creature.]

Mm. I don't suppose I could convince anyone to come let me out of lock-up by showing off these legs of mine. Could I?

Or this new-slash-old facelift of mine.

Well. Even if it don't, I'd be ever so glad f'r a visitor or ten. Does get awfully boring here.

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[It's not long before Wheeljack turns the corner, transforming mid-drift. He'd been on his way to the bar, to partake in...you know. What people usually do when they go through one of this!Cybertron's newest games.

Drink the pain away.

But when he gets to the cell, that head tilts, attempting a smile.]

Man, you got yourself into quite the scrapheap this time, Doc.

[If that had worked, Barricade would have been in a drunken stupor for several months a while ago. As it is, the best course of action is for him to get back to work.

Which is hard in jail.

Barricade flicks his wings, offering his own - tired - smile.]

What can I say? Even when I'm replaced I can't stay outta trouble.

[It's a nice thought, though. And it certainly has that temporary effect working for it.

Barricade's response gets a laugh out of the Wrecker, leaning against the wall and sinking down. So they're sitting near each other.]

Story of my life.

The other you seemed a mite friendlier than the other me, at least.

[He did try to murder Red Alert, after all. He settles onto the floor. His wings flick lightly.]

These're just the sorta things that happen in places like this. Can't let it get to you too much or it'll all wear you down completely.

I wanted to slaggin' deck the other me.

[Wow, Wheeljack, tell us how you really feel.]

All that tech-talk and scrap...it ain't me.

[He looks up at that advice, optics dimming slightly.]

Yeah. Can't say I'm too warm n' fuzzy about it, but it's day to day in this pit hole.

But it is him. Different circumstances breed differences in folks. Even folks from ostensibly the same dimension.

I've met enough versions of Knock Out t'learn that much firsthand.

[And it was not fun at all trying to figure that out. Or accidentally ending up with the reputation of another version of himself, either.]

C'mon. It's hardly a pit hole.

...Doc Knock? He's that popular?

[Personally, one Knock Out is enough for him. And he's met (technically) two.]

Yeah? What would you call it?

Well, 's the theory of the multiverse. Every decision branches off a universe where a different solution was chosen.

And f'r the record? The current Knock Out is much more tolerable than the first. And the first here was my second.

[Barricade taps his claws against his chin as he considers Wheeljack's question. His optics flicker and he smiles brightly for a brief moment.]

I'd call it a "quaint fixer-upper". 'S got its problems, but it ain't anything we can't deal with, with a little patience and elbow-grease.

Besides, the organics haven't decided that every non-organic is crazy or evil, so it ain't so bad.

Seems way too complicated. Ya think the universe would make things simple.

One timeline kinda thing. Frag, even a couple.

...

Guess you're pretty much used to this scrap by now, it doesn't phase ya as badly. That or I'm just tired of my head gettin' screwed with. It's like Shockwave usin' his little cortical psychic thing on ya at random.

Ain't fun.

Well, there's theories that a lot of 'em reconnect later down the line - havin' a ham sandwich instead of a turkey sandwich doesn't change much - but let's face it.

If there weren't more timelines, you'd be dealing with that other me all the time.

No. Difference is, I don't see it as my head being screwed with. Because I've had that actually screwed with, by folks as stuck as me. This is just all-powerful entities testing their limits. Seeing what they can do.

Trying to break us.

...

[He blinks at you, Barricade.]

I guess not, considerin' I don't know what the scrap either of those are.

[A humorous shrug. He'd take Barricade's word for it at least. They're probably at that 'trust your word on terminology' stage.]

Tryin' to break us...

[A scoff.]

Never thought of it like that.

[He snorts.]

It's a human thing. Food items that're largely the same except for a slight content difference.

[This sort of thing used to irritate him. Now he kind of enjoys how much it confuses people.]

Well. If it is who they say it is. Makes sense that he'd do anything t'make us give up.

Including what just happened.

[Yeah, this one's brand new to the human factor, 'Cade. About a month of exposure, and barely paying attention.]

...Point.

[And somehow, that gives him some incentive.]

If he even exists, I'm not gonna let him win this one.

You'd best not. It's just us raggedy lot standing between him and universal destruction, so we need all the stubborn folks we can get.

And you're one'a the more stubborn I know.

[That gets a smile (albeit tired one) out of him.]

I take pride in that.

'Cade, you've been here since the start, haven't ya.

Heh. I don't blame you. Stubborn's not a bad trait.

Not quite, but close enough to it, I guess. Why?

...

[He taps his fingers on the ground, head tilted up.]

Just wonderin' how many of us are left. It's a long haul.

[Barricade hums tunelessly, looking across at the cell wall for a few moments.]

Not as many as there were. That's how it goes, though. Folks show up and folks leave.

Seein' that wears on you more than the rest of it sometimes, it feels like.

[There's a breathless sigh, as if agreeing on that last part.]

That's it. That's the reason exactly.

It's hard seein' everyone else come and go and...

yannow. You don't.

Wish I could tell you it gets easier, but it doesn't. But...

[Barricade leans closer to Wheeljack, curling a finger in a silent request to come closer.]

Lemme tell you a secret.

Feels worse bein' the one that gets dragged away.

'Course it doesn't. That's makin' it seem like these places have mercy.

[But when he's beckoned closer, he tilts, audial pointed in that direction.

And upon hearing it, lets out a snort.]

Do ya even remember it? When you go back.

The rest of the multiverse doesn't have mercy, why would this one part of it be different?

[He shrugs, wings flicking.]

I did. Remember every time I've gone from one place to another. Suppose it depends on things.

Some are more gifted than others in said universes.

[His own wings flick too, optics dimming.]

's gotta build up after awhile. What keeps ya from flippin' your lid?

Truth. Then again, most universes have their bright spots too. Even ones like this.

[He snorts.]

Hopin' I run into some of the old friends, mostly. Hopin' I can make a difference to someone... or maybe to a whole planet.

...Point.

[There were a few things he could think of that made this mesh of worlds worth it. Some of the guys he'd met here...the ones who stuck by him since the start.]

...

[And at that last part, he puts his hand up to that hologram barrier. And a smirk.

That's it, nothing else to be said.]

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[Video] [Transmission originating from: Prison!] - Eleventh Offense

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