Ironhide (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
heavyweaponsbot) wrote2011-11-22 07:59 pm
heavyweaponsbot) wrote2011-11-22 07:59 pm
12th Transmission -- Audio
[Oh hey Keep. It's Ironhide again. And boy does he sound unhappy.]
Tell me, lord.
[There is so much derision in that word, it should be a curse, not a title.]
Where are those who go missing? Do you send them home, to their "vanished worlds"? Or are you keeping them locked up!
[Something big and heavy impacts a wall.]
Answer me!
[... Finding Lea missing isn't sitting well with the big old bot.]
Tell me, lord.
[There is so much derision in that word, it should be a curse, not a title.]
Where are those who go missing? Do you send them home, to their "vanished worlds"? Or are you keeping them locked up!
[Something big and heavy impacts a wall.]
Answer me!
[... Finding Lea missing isn't sitting well with the big old bot.]
audio;
[It's a young voice, female, and with a rasping, mechanical overtone.]
"Missing?"
audio;
[He grunts.]
People vanish. Here one moment, gone the next. Just like before.
[And then they turned up dead on the Shore.]
audio;
[It's familiar to Tali too, and not in a good way. But pinning this on Collectors would be a pretty long stretch.]
...what do you meant by 'like before?'
audio;
[Another grunt. He's bad at discussing this.]
... On the ship. The Elegante. People would vanish, sometimes they came back. Most of the time, they did not.
audio;
Another place, like this...
[But a ship, not...what ever you'd call this place. A patch of land with nothing to do with anything, and nowhere to escape from or to.]
Thank you. And I'm sorry, for whatever you've lost. Keela Se'lai.
[It's soft, and she reaches to cut off the transmission, close the record, but hesitates and silently leaves the line open. He might have something else to say, or not, but the quiet umbilical of sound can be comforting, she knows.]
[Audio]
Wh... who's-- who's gone?
[Audio]
[His voice is clipped and cold. It's not Xanth's fault, but he's never been good at directing his emotions.]
A child.
[Audio]
I--I-I'm... I'm sorry.
[Xanth never knew the boy, doesn't even recognize the name, but that doesn't change that this was a guest who's vanished into thin air.]
[Audio]
You are not the one responsible for disappearances.
[Audio]
But.
S-- Still.
[Xanth can't talk him down, not like Ratchet did. He doesn't know how. Even if he did know, he's not even sure he'd be able to. Ironhide's irritation, directed at him or not, really shuts down any desire to argue.]
[Audio]
[There's that hitting sound again -- Ironhide's found a wall to punch.]
Even the Captain had the spinal struts to do that!
[Audio]
[Granted, he didn't like Redd's way, either, but this complete silence from Deior is weird.]
H-He should-- say something. O-Or-- one of the-- the staff...
[Audio]
Maybe they all got scared.
[Despite his desire to throttle them all, the thought of the staff being afraid of him is a little amusing.]
[Audio]
[He's heard posts from some of the staff, though. Some of them, at least, seemed like better people than the crew on the Elegante...]
[Audio]
[... he's going to have a lot to apologize for, once he cools off. Exploding at Xanth isn't something he ever wants to do. But his charge is missing.]
[And no one running this place gives a damn.]
[Audio]
S-S-- S--- Sorry.
[His reply, short as it is, is delayed.]
[Audio]
[His own response is also delayed, and subdued.]
... Not your fault, boy. Should not have... said that to you.
[Audio]
[It was a shitty thing to say, when Ironhide just lost someone he cares about.]
S--Sorry.
[Audio]
Stop apologizing.
[Audio]
[He bites back another apology. Ironhide might not even consider it his fault, but he was still rubbing salt in the wound and that was just cruel.
That feeling when you've said something wrong, a verbal misstep, and everything that comes out of your mouth is just as wrong? Yeah, he's got it.]
M-Maybe-- m-maybe s-someone'll-- s-say something. I-- I-I don't know.
[Audio]
... They have much to answer for.
[Audio]
[Audio]
Were you on the ship for the mutiny?
[Audio]
N-No, I... I-I was-- I was only there r-right when the-- J-Jennifer, the, th-the ghost girl, r-right when she... y-you know.
[Right when she got out and rampaged. He was even there when it happened, though he has no scars to prove it.]
Th-there-- there was a-- a m-mutiny?
[Audio]
[Ironhide falls silent again -- that girl. He remembered her clearly. Her, and her destruction of the theater. She was the only one on the ship to ever have the dubious honor of claiming Ironhide's life.]
[... Taking his life, and leaving Ratchet behind.]
[Metal creaks.]
There was. Not sure how many answers we found. But it showed them we were tired of being strung along.
[At least, that's what Ironhide has to believe.]
Maybe we need to give these captors a wake-up call.
[Audio]
Wh-- wh-where-- where are you?
[Audio]
[But Ironhide just doesn't care anymore.]
Still looking for the boy.
Why?
[Audio]
W-What if someone h... hears?
[Audio]
[Audio]
[Audio]
[Audio]
[He sighs. He's in no mood to argue.]
B-- B-Be careful?
[Audio]
If they kill me, I will just return.
[Audio]
[You still die, Ironhide.]
A-And what if-- w-what if i-it's like on th-the... E-Elegante? It... it wasn't f-free passes for-- forever...
[Audio]
I can live with that. Only got one good one anyway.
[Audio]
F-For a while, a-at--- at least.
[But he hasn't met anyone who's died three times or more...]
[Audio]
[Audio]
[Audio]
[Audio]
[But Xanth breaks off. Ironhide has a point; someone should figure this out eventually. Xanth just wishes Ironhide didn't sound so damn determined to find out at his own expense.]
... I-- I don't know. I-It just-- i-it sounds... r-really d--dangerous.
[Audio]
What is one more risk?
[Audio]
[But he's lost the argumentative tone, and it's not coming back.]
[Audio]
[Yep, we're just avoiding the subject here.]
[Audio]
A-Are you?
[Audio]
Yeah. Everything is fine.
[Ironhide speak for "No, but I'm not going to say so out loud".]
[Audio]
But he lets it go.]
Okay.
[He lets it go, because that's all he can do.]