The weapon may be aimed, but it is not primed. Starscream makes no move to fire and instead stands at the ready, his spine straightening as Soundwave stands at last at his full height. The blaster follows the blue helm’s movements but makes no move beyond; it is more an idle threat at this stage than an actual attempt to kill.
An appraising glance lingers on Soundwave’s face, eyeing the sharp slant of his visor. What Starscream finds there is familiar, and he wants to lower his weapon. But it isn’t safe, not yet; Soundwave has yet to prove that this isn’t an attempt on his life.
He’s been free for such a short time. He can’t be caged again.
“If this is real, atonement comes in many forms. Prostrating yourself does nothing to prove a change to anyone, least of all me. Why do you so desperately desire my forgiveness when you’ve done nothing to provoke it? He hurt me, yes, but he extended the same courtesy to you as well. What could I possibly have done to make you think we are at odds? We bicker and antagonize as is typical for us, but I was under the impression that that is, quite simply, how we communicate. Has something changed whilst I wasn’t looking?”
While he speaks, he can’t help but use his free servo to help enunciate each turn of phrase, his blue optics focused on seeing a flicker of anything in the bright red line that serves as Soundwave’s visor. He wants to understand where this is coming from, his posture leaning towards the blue mech in lieu of a physical connection, and once he notices, he straightens himself again, maintaining that distance by force.
“If this isn’t real, then I will not stop until Soundwave is returned, whole, and I will kill you for daring to masquerade as him. That I vow.”
“.......” Soundwave calmed himself down, realizing that this was not going to be an outright fight between them, and he took in the moment to listen to those words. The fact of the matter was this, the both of them had been hurt by the same being, just in different ways. His trust had been broken, while Starscream had so much more than trust being ripped apart. The blue mech finally took a step back, and turned his gaze off to stare blankly at whatever was to his right, which was nothing but their boring, earthly surroundings.
“It is real.” His voice taking on a pitch that was even deeper, feeling quite a number of emotions go through him. The years of doing nothing but thinking of how he would get vengeance for his own hurt had blinded him to the feelings of others, or so it seemed. To have it being pointed out, so clearly, and at a time he did not expect. That he forced out into the open. Soundwave was at fault, and he knew he needed to resolve this. “... Nothing changed between us, Starscream. I think that I am still not over him abandoning the cause... For him to get this chance to be a whole different being, without the consequences for all that was done... It is so infuriating.”
Then he looked at him, again, a little flourish of a hand as he continued. “I made a fool of myself in kneeling to you... I had thought it would make you have a ‘moment of victory’ that could be yours... Perhaps, you could have taken your anger out on me. Perhaps, I had wanted for it...” Even that was hard to admit, and he felt more ridiculous - shameful, almost. To want to let the other have some control in his life, when all of that seemed so fleeting for the problems this war brings.
