MORE DRAMA THAN A SPANISH TELENOVELA
So, we do have some Transformers in our community. And some many months back, a few of the Decepticons attempted to create war mechs based on various tech (a lot of it their own personal designs). They worked with some other bad guys to try and sell these new armaments to North Korea in the hopes of making money; some of the Wingboys were involved in finding out the plan and mobilizing in modified suits (some of Iron Man's old abandoned Sentinels upgraded to resemble the MS of their home world) to stop it cold. Long story short, they managed, and Starscream hated them for it. Except one moment in which Duo blew up popcorn in a parking lot with explosives. Otherwise, though.
Some while after that, Trowa--who has been steadily taking advantage of the freedom of not being in their home world's war presented to him by the City, and with a LOT of help from Quatre, to explore the possibility of allowing himself some emotions and/or a remote semblance of normal life/what the Wingboys might have had if not pressed into the soldierhood--decided to help 04 start up WEI in the City. If under the new name, Winner Corporation. It took some time, but it's very much getting off the ground now and is well on its way. The problem with that, of course, is that the Decepticons might recognize both boys (as Duo and Heero had been Ported out for the first and second time respectively) and try to cause trouble. Not to mention that he considered Starscream an enemy. Also included: the fact that Trowa desperately needs to seek answers to personal questions to figure out what to do with himself from here.
An opportunity to question a particularly dimwitted and new imPorted Decepticon led Trowa to a moment of pretending to be one that had retained his original body as his power within the City; he pulled some information free that he would not otherwise have gotten. And, as Trowa is wont to do when presented with an opportunity to sneak in to an enemy organization in order to learn more, he promptly persuaded Quatre to help him out with an idea of his. Disassembling some of the older mobile suits they'd made in the City, Trowa and Quatre set to work secretly making a mech reminiscent of Heavyarms Kai but very much Cybertronian in appearance, and capable of transforming into a HUMVEE. In the meantime, Trowa anonymously and secretly contacted Waspinator, aware that the ex-bot had declared himself factionless and that he had a hate-on for Starscream. Striking a secret deal with the Predacon, who even to this very moment has no idea who the spy really is, he received an enormous amount of data on the various Cybertronians, their society, and aspects of their lives, in order to help him infiltrate the Decepticons.
After a couple of months, they finished the suit and he began the effort to worm his way into their faction. While protecting the interests and lives of those he holds dear and/or collecting more information/tech to be used for themselves was the main purpose, he did also go into it wanting some few questions answered (Is it always betrayal? Can there be peace without war? Is it possible to have emotions and succeed? Can a soldier become anything else? What is loyalty? etc) and with the promise of taking Starscream down a few more pegs.
It succeeded at first, due to the fact that he never showed up in person and mostly contacted them in private--often with encrypted posts--through text, with rare occasions of audio or video of the suit talking (in Treize Khushrenada's voice, btw). Calling himself 'Arsenal', Trowa managed to pry a hell of a lot of information out of Starscream and/or direct his plans for him through careful use of suggestions and flattery (sometimes in fashions providing himself a degree of amusement). He got Shockwave to be iffy about him, but somewhat willing to speak, Slipstream to occasionally talk at him, and a few others to respond now and then.
However, Trowa had the most success with speaking to/interacting with Soundwave, due to similarities in personality and their search for self in the City.
...Unfortunately, because Trowa is at a point where he's a weaker soldier and a stronger human being, and desperately wanting to both prove Quatre's optimism right and/or understand himself, he began to get attached to Soundwave as not-quite-a-friend but someone who gets it, and was supportive of the Decepticon's personal struggles--even despite being aware of the things the Decepticon army had done before, and what Soundwave was personally capable of. After several attempts to be kind to and/or gain the trust of the communications officer, they were at a relatively pleasant place as far as such acquaintanceships go. Quatre, on the other hand, was concerned that Trowa would slip up some time. And he did. However, trying to keep everything from going into a tailspin, Trowa calculated that the odds were better for his survival if he continued to be honest and/or trustworthy, and told Soundwave a fair bit of the truth after the other exposed him in private as being a human. He was allowed to live, due to Soundwave's confused loyalty issues, and even trusted Trowa with watching over his newly-imPorted son.
Shockwave figured it out shortly afterwards upon realizing that Trowa could not read or understand any Cybertronian languages. He also allowed Trowa to live, if more because the boy was fascinating and good for Science and/or stalking. Which was relatively acceptable, since Trowa knew Shockwave has no real loyalty to Starscream at all and wouldn't turn on him until it became logical to do so--so there was time to figure out what to do.
Somewhere in here, Trowa got trapped into necessarily going out as Arsenal to help the Decepticons pull in two of their deserters. One was accidentally killed; the other brought in through force. At the time, he viewed it as a necessity to stay alive, much like destroying Deathscythe, but now he has a lot of issues about that. He was also accidentally turned into a robot, and made the mistake of letting Shockwave examine him for the data it provided him--Shockwave used that opportunity to steal memories from Trowa without his knowledge.
Continuing to pull one over on Starscream while communicating with the other two--although somewhat less privy to the more seekrit details of what they were doing--Trowa tried to seek a way to put Starscream out of commission. Unfortunately, he slipped up for the last time and Starscream put all the bizarre little pieces together, figuring out who he was and ordering Soundwave (who had to comply to some degree out of loyalty) to tell him everything. Trowa, playing speed chess, figured out that Starscream knew and was acting as though he didn't, and tried to give Soundwave an out from getting hurt for keeping the secret as long as he had--after all, there were only two robots keeping him alive, and only one out of a weird little semifriendship. Soundwave told Trowa to pretty much eff off after that, telling 03 not to thank him, because he had done nothing to be thanked for. Trowa obeyed.
Quatre has been trying to do his usual "I'm going to be your friend partially because I want to and paritally because it'll get me information and an in" thing with them as well since then, looking for a way to save both their skins and possibly get them and the ones Trowa has gotten attached to still intact.
Starscream was, through Trowa's suggestion to lie, not given the whole truth, and had to keep watching to get the whole story. Eventually figuring it out, he confronted Trowa at a recent holiday dinner party, and while Trowa didn't admit to anything, Starscream forced him into a knock-down, drag-out fight in which both ended up beaten to hell and back, with Remus Lupin turning one into a toy robot and the other into a fat little kitten. This was not before Starscream basically said "HE'S USING YOU AS REPLACEMENT FAMILY" which threw Trowa back to talking to Soundwave, since he desperately wants something resembling such things right now and is not in the best control over his own mindset to not take it when presented.
Afterwards, Starscream went home and cornered Soundwave again, who had no choice but to be honest that time. He ordered Soundwave to pretend to be Trowa's friend and lull him into a sense of false security, declaring the intent to leave the faction and overthrow Starscream and such, and then kill Trowa when he had the boy perfectly wrapped around his finger. Soundwave agreed, but--being so very not loyal to Starscream these days anymore--went straight to Trowa and told him everything. They agreed to pretend to go with the plan until somet other plan could be made. In the meantime, Starscream changed his mind, and told Shockwave that the plan would be to CAPTURE Trowa--possibly to try and re-robot him and brainwash him into being one of Soundwave's Decepticon Cassetticons as delicious irony--but that they were not to let Soundwave know about the change for a few days in order to agonize him some.
Shockwave, being far more loyal to the other and HATING STARSCREAM SO MUCH ARGH, immediately went and told Soundwave. Trowa is unaware of this change in plans so far.
There is now a hideous standoff going. If Starscream is killed, it would save just about everyone--but Starscream would be able to jump from body to body, possessing anyone in his path, and becoming far more dangerous that way. If Soundwave is killed, Shockwave will blame Trowa and come after him with the unleashed bottled emotion fury of a thousand suns--possibly using Quatre to break/bait him in the process, since knowledge of the blond is some of what he stole. If Shockwave is killed, Soundwave will do much the same if in a more horribly cruel fashion, and he loses anything he's gained as far as pulling Soundwave away from his old life and into a newer, more peaceful one and/or as replacement family. If Starscream does something to hurt Ravage, Soundwave will do much the same--both to Trowa AND Starscream. If anyone hurts Trowa at all, Quatre will likely flip his lid and go ZERO on all of them. And if anyone finds out that Waspinator was helping in the first place, well, Trowa will never forgive himself for what'd happen.
Neither Quatre nor Trowa have been able to find a way out of this, despite massive arguments, deliberations, planning, looking for loopholes, and trying to find friends from other, more Autobotty angles.
Sliding backwards and considering himself not worth as much as all of the people he's put in danger through his own actions, and knowing it's probably going to blow up in his face but unable to find any more ways out, Trowa has agreed to go to Shockwave and let the scientist experiment on him again--this time in his normal and/or shapeshifted non-robot forms--in exchange for knowledge on how to kill Starscream WITHOUT Starscream being able to bodyjump. And make it as permanent as the City's death system will allow, either until it sticks, or he's done it enough times that Starscream forgets just about everything and is no longer a threat to ANYONE.
The problem with this is that Shockwave is going to lie and give him false information, not expecting him to try and use it.
He's 99% likely going to try and use it. And get his ass kicked this time when it fails. Which could spark another 'everything blows up around everyone's ears' of its own when Trowa makes it publicly clear that Shockwave gave him false info.
Oh--and if Thundercracker or BlackArachnia find out that he was the one who helped crush their deserting dreams and brought them back to Decepticon justice to save his own skin? Yeah. They'll probably kill him, too.
Not to mention this Perceptor guy, who Trowa genuinely likes... who will probably kill Soundwave the first chance he really gets to do so. Which Trowa will not like. At all. Possibly even after he hears the story of why Perceptor did it.
And that's where we stand now.