Old Confrontations Revisited (Ironhide, Autobots)

[Barricade]

Barricade played idly with the blades of his weapon, checking them over for damage, as he responded. ~"'M right here. Just grew up some."~ He replied. Some of the attitude was there. ~"Still growing, too. Not near as old as your rusty aft, y'know."~ There was more attitude, but none of the spite. ~"Primus help me if I ever get that old. I'll end up sounding like you."~ He vented again. ~"So, what, do I wait until the war ends before there's a trial, or will there even be any kind of trial? What?"~

[Ironhide]

Ironhide was glad Barricade hadn't chosen to verbally attack him, and he lowered his hand from his chest as he turned to look at the younger mech. ~"Trial, yeah, soon most likely. Then I dunno."~ he responded, his voice still low, as if still talking to his friend thousands of years ago before their falling out. ~"Prime'll be fair t' ya, only weighin' what ya actually done, not rumors n slag."~ He lowered his gaze then, knowing he should deactivate Barricade's weapons, coms, and transformation systems, though he suddenly found that he hated having to do so. He then vented a heavy sigh and smacked the controls with the side of his fist, opening the door and stepping back into the cell again. ~"Ya know I gotta do it, 'Cade, procedure."~ he said regretfully. ~"I'm sorry, fer all of it..."~ he added more softly and gently set his hand on Barricade's shoulder, getting ready to shut down those three systems and hoping Barricade would let him do so without fighting him on it.

[Barricade]

Barricade chuckled, though there was a twinge of bitterness in the sound. ~"Yeah, and he'll prolly try to convince me to leave the Decepticons, and blah blah blah."~ He shook his head. ~"Ain't going to happen. Just once, I want to see what I've started the whole way through."~ His secondary set of optics looked up at Ironhide when he placed his hand on Barricade's shoulder, the main set focused on the gyro flail. ~"Yeah...Was debating on telling you, then I decided to see if you'd remember."~ He shrugged, the weapon folding back up to its mount on his wrist, hidden as an innocent tire. ~"You know, 'f I get the chance to scram, 'm outta here, right?"~ This was still a war, and Barricade, while tired of it, was unwilling to give up.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide nodded solemnly and once the gyro flail was retracted, he plugged into Barricade's control systems and code locked down Barricade's weapons, coms, and transformation abilities as gently as he could. ~"Would it really be so bad?"~ he asked, referring more to the idea of the two friends reconciling and starting over, rebuilding what they once had together. He lowered his gaze and nodded in response to the fact that Barricade would take off first chance he got. ~"Yeah, I know. Once a Runner, always a Runner."~ he answered softly, more referring to his old name rather than insulting him. He knew Barricade was no coward, but he also knew the younger mech's self preservation instincts were incredibly strong, something he helped Barricade focus and use rather than letting it control him and make him seem like a coward.

[Barricade]

~"Maybe after whenever the hell it is my punishment ends."~ Barricade replied. ~"Told you, want to finish the slag I started for once, 'n that means the punishment too."~ He snorted at the use of his original name, wincing as his transformation was locked down. ~"'S still not my name anymore."~ Was all he said in a habitual response to the name.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide nodded as he finished locking down what he had to. ~"I know, 'Cade, I know."~ he replied softly, almost tenderly and gave the younger mech's shoulder a slight squeeze. He thought for a moment then, remembering the argument he overheard Barricade having earlier. ~"Maybe, if ya got a foreign personality ya want taken out, maybe we can help ya, if ya let me."~ he offered softly then. ~"Is yer choice though, n ya got time ta think on it."~ he added and stepped away towards the cell door. He paused in the cell door then, and glanced back over his shoulder at the smaller mech. ~"He might've deserved it, but it weren't yer right ta punish 'im fer it. I hope some day ya learn n accept the difference."~ he stated in a more gentle and advisory type tone, not accusing or admonishing Barricade. He had accepted it finally, and had come to realize that, while Barricade did go after Anna, the reason was desperation for his own survival, not malevolent intent, and had come to terms with what had happened earlier that day, as well as other things that had happened between them. He then stepped out of the cell and let the door shut and latch again. ~"Ya know yer safe in there, n ya'd be safe here with us... with me... if ya wanted to."~ he said then. He wanted to reconcile with Barricade, he wanted to end the war and rebuild so badly it hurt, physically hurt, and he felt that the first step he could take towards that end was getting back an old friend he thought he had lost forever. To do that, he had to forgive Barricade and hope Barricade would understand and do the same.

[Barricade]

Barricade snarled when Ironhide spoke about a foreign personality, his anger rising. ~"There's nothing in there, and if there was, it wouldn't be your business!"~ A nerve had been struck with Barricade at the mentioning of Meta. He loathed the programing that had somehow developed personality of its own, but he wasn't willing to tell anyone about Meta or Combat Control, especially not Autobots. Fighting and killing each other in war was probably one thing to them, but Combat Control was something they would view as a violation of a bot's free will. Added to that fact the little note that Decepticons were not the only ones with receiving codes implanted in their processors. It was on Autobots that the codes were first used and perfected, and after that they were used in the missions just like a Decepticon, with the exception that the higher-ups tended to care a bit less when an Autobot "puppet" was destroyed as opposed to a Decepticon one.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide vented a heavy sigh then and turned away, heading back out to the outer chamber again without another word. Even though he still held out hope that maybe there was some small chance of redemption and reconciliation with Barricade, he had to accept that it was far more likely that the Decepticon Scout would be put to death, though it would be quick and likely as painless as possible. Ironhide wasn't sure if he wanted to be the one to pull that trigger, but would Barricade request it of him, insisting that his Spark be extinguished by his old friend? The thought of it made Ironhide shudder. At one time, the burly mech would have killed Barricade without hesitation, but now, the idea just seemed cruel, evil, hateful. Perhaps Barricade wasn't the only one who had grown over the course of the endless brutality of the war after all.

[Barricade]

Barricade growled lowly and stood up, pacing once more. He was restless again, and agitated. He'd calm down eventually, after clawing up half the cell's walls several timed over. Part of him sincerely hoped that another Autobot did not walk through his cell's door. As it was with his temper at the moment, he was quite likely to attack them. At least, until he cooled down. Well, according to his chronometer it was time for most of the base to be in recharge, so he had some time to simmer and stew before he would decide to recharge.

[Ironhide]

Ironhide left Barricade be for the time being, letting the smaller mech vent and rail at his containment cell all he wanted. With a heavy sigh he headed out and up to his own private quarters, thinking to get some recharge time, though it took him a while to relax even a little and ending up forced to self interface just to release the stress and tension that had built up in him over the course of the day's events. When he did finally get himself to relax, he drifted into recharge soon after, letting his dreams go where they may.

[Leathurkatt]

Thread Complete

``````````````````;,_`````````````,``````````````````````````````````````
`````````````````_uP~"b``````````d"u,````````````````````````````````````
````````````````dP'```"b```````,d"``"o```````````````````````````````````
```````````````d"````,``b`````d"'````"b``````````````````````````````````
``````````````l]`[````"``l,``d"```````lb`````````````````````````````````
``````````````Ol`?`````"``"b`"=uoqo,_``"l````````````````````````````````
````````````,dBb`"b````````"b,`````"~~TObup,_````````````````````````````
``````````,d"`(db.`"`````````""`````"tbc,_``~"Yuu,_``````````````````````
````````.d"`l`T'``'=``````````````````````~`````""Yu,````````````````````
``````,dO``gP,````````````````````````````u,```b,_``"b7``````````````````
`````d?'`,d"`l,````````````````````````````"b,_``~b``"1``````````````````
```,8i'`dl````l`````````````````,ggQOV",dbgq,._"```l``lb`````````````````
``.df'`(O,````"`````````````,ggQY"~``,`@@@@@d"bd~```b`"1`````````````````
`.df'````"```````````-=@qgpoy""`````(b``@@@@p`db`````Lp"b,```````````````
.d(``````````````````_```````````````"ko`"=d_,Q```,_``"``"b,`````````````
Ql`````````.``````````"qo,._``````````"tQo,_`""bo ;tb,`````"b,```````````
qQ`````````|L```````````~"QQQgggc,_.,dObc,opooO```"~~";.```__,7,`````````
qp`````````t\io,_````````````~"TOOggQV""""````````_,dg,_`=PIQHib.````````
`qp`````````Q["tQQQo,_``````````````````````````,pl{QOP"'```7AFR`````````
`````````````tb``'""tQQQg,_`````````````p"`"b```````````.;-.`Vl'`````````
`````````````"Yb```````"tQOOo,__````_,edb``````.__```/`/'|``|b;=;.__`````
````````````````````````````"tQQQOOOOP""`"\QV;qQObob"`-._`\_~~-._````````
````````````````````````````````""""````._````````/```|`|oP"\_```~\`~\_~\
`````````````````````````````````````````~"\ic,qggddOOP"|``|``~\````\~-._
``````````````````````````````````````````,qP`"""|"```|``\``;````\````\``
```````````````````````````````_````````_,p"`````|````|````\`;````|````|`
```````````````````````````````"boo,._dP"````````\_```\`````\|````\```;``
``````````````````````````````````"7tY~'```````````\```\`````|_```|``````
```````````````````````````````````````````````````````~\``|`````````````