Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on May 1, 2011 8:57:18 GMT -5
OOC: Month 4, Week 2, Day 1. Open.
Strapped in, optics shut off – they granted him that bit of leniency at least – Flame lies and waits for the spark extractor to do its work. As much as he rails at this fate, unjust, harsh punishment his thanks for the lives he saved, he is resigned to it. In a way, he welcomes it. He wants to know what it's like to be without body, without sensation, without the old aches and the memories behind them. He can almost imagine it. He lets the idea of it carry away his mind as the clamps latch onto his breastplate.
He imagines it to be quiet and warm, neither light nor dark, a comfort after the cold and noisy and painful world, chaos-riddled, war-torn, full of screaming and fire and suffering, shadows stark black on a backdrop of plasma tracers. No more of that for him; no more. He smiles faintly. Let it come.
It doesn't come. There's no warmth to accompany the silence that falls upon him after the first jolt of the extractor paralyses his motor circuits. He's suddenly no longer strapped into the machine; the surface beneath him is uneven, edges digging into his back, some sharp and some rounded, all ragged. He hazards an upward glance into blinding lights and winces. Something is not right. He force-restarts his motor controls so he can sit up, heaving himself clumsily onto his knees. He doesn't recognise his surroundings; it isn't the extraction chamber. Something is not right. He looks at himself, at his hands, at the rubble around him in this alien chamber. This is not where he should be. Horror and grief seize him simultaneously, ripping his processors in opposite directions, gutting anything like reason before it can take root. Logic, training, and the strange room he's in are forgotten in an instant of all-consuming, despairing panic.
He was almost free.
Flame clutches at his head, curling in on himself amid the shattered stones and the last shards of hope left him now crumbling away, and he screams.
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Post by Spinister on May 1, 2011 9:29:33 GMT -5
Screaming Autobots are nothing new to Spinister, but they're always a pleasure. He's ever so faintly disappointed that he isn't the cause of the scream, but he'll deal with it. Spinister is slouching insouciantly against the wall, arms crossed.
Optics almost slide off him, because he radiates a perfect aura of bored confidence. Spinister belongs here, and there is nothing to see. When he moves to hit the forcefield button and make sure the Autobot won't escape like Twin Twist did, it's hard to say when Spinister moved or if he moved at all. Maybe his arms weren't crossed; maybe his hand was always hovering over the the button.
Maybe Singe was always in Spinister's other hand, too, out and ready, training on the space where an arrival would be, now tracking Flame's head.
Spinister approaches no closer, but his head tilts slightly. Is that a Flame? Could be. Spinister'd better find out. This looks like a live one, which means a full interrogation. Spinister looks forward to that. Maybe he'll even pull rank for it; sorry Phobia and Vortex.
Spinister will definitely pull rank after the interrogation. Hunting a live Autobot down in the sim room over trackless hours sounds like an excellent way to kill time (and the Autobot).
He directs the other guard, //Don't fire,// because some Decepticons are stupid enough to shoot a forcefield, and given Spinister's luck, the shot would bounce somehow, fry out the forcefield controls, and the Autobot will escape.
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Swindle
Major
This space for rent.
Posts: 571
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Post by Swindle on May 1, 2011 10:39:56 GMT -5
//You got it, chief,// Swindle transmits back to Spinister over the short band. The arms dealer is actually pretty good about being on rock watch, in that he actually watches the rocks. Most of his attention is on the finances he's juggling in his head, but his freakishly huge optics are watching for new arrivals nonetheless.
He leans forward in his chair, hands on his knees, and rises to his feet to get a better look at the new arrival. //I take it you know this guy? Friend of yours?//
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on May 1, 2011 20:45:13 GMT -5
Flame is oblivious to Spinister, to Swindle, to the field trapping him, to anything but his own suffering. He isn't supposed to be here, wherever it is that here happens to be. He shouldn't feel, shouldn't see or hear, he shouldn't still have his body. He shouldn't be. His scream falters and breaks into low sobs, each one making his whole body shudder.
"No, no," he chants as if that will somehow make things right.
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Post by Spinister on May 1, 2011 21:23:07 GMT -5
Swindle is perceptive, and Spinister glances at the merchant of menace sidelong, though Singe stays locked on Flame's head. Spinister corrects, //Not a friend.// Spinister's only Autobot friend is Scoop, and that is a long story. //Think it's a Flame.// Autobots don't get real pronouns today. //The Flame in my reality was... crazy, but he hated Emirate Xaaron's guts enough to try to kill him, so that's something.//
Spinister will render respect where it is due.
He takes one step forward, hoping the movement will get Flame's attention, and he asks, louder than he would like, "Are you Flame?"
//Normally, you'd report this to... me. So. What kind of restraints do you have?//
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Swindle
Major
This space for rent.
Posts: 571
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Post by Swindle on May 2, 2011 17:15:19 GMT -5
//You know, for advising me not to fire, you sure are pointing your nuclear flamethrower at that forcefield, Spinister,// Swindle comments. //And hey, I hate Emirate Xaaron's guts too. We'll have something to talk about,// he adds jovially.
The merchant takes a moment to stretch his arms over his head.
//On me? I've got the Sonic Jammer 3000, a few pairs of stasis cuffs, oh, and some . . . restraints that Duskwing sold me. Though they now also dispense circuit-dissolving toxins via microscopic barbs. I got the idea from a documentary on jellyfish.//
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on May 2, 2011 17:32:28 GMT -5
It's sound, an unfamiliar voice filling the raspy silence between soul-racking sobs, that reaches Flame, not the movement that his screwed-shut optics don't see. He expected a voice, he thinks, the low boom of the Chief Justice or even the Emirate's sinuous tones perhaps, but not one he doesn't recognise. He looks up slowly from the frame of his arms, hands still clutched to his head as if he can hold in his unravelling mind, and his eyes find an apparition. An apparition wearing the brand of the Decepticons.
Dimly, he realises he sees Death.
"You're… going to kill me, aren't you?" he replies without answering, very much aware of the symbol emblazoned on his own chest but voice dull and matter-of-fact, unafraid, expectant.
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Post by Spinister on May 2, 2011 17:47:59 GMT -5
//I am not firing. If I was firing, you wouldn't know where I was, and then people would be dead,// Spinister explains, tone leaden. Spinister is posturing in stone cold killer fashion in order to intimidate. He explains a bit more, //The Flame in my reality nearly blew up Cybertron. While he was on it.//
'Crazy' didn't really describe it.
//Anything that'll leave him able to answer questions and feel pain?//
So not the PokeBall. It is hard to waterboard an Autobot in a PokeBall.
Spinister takes another step closer, half-turning to present a wraith-like profile. He nods and says simply, "Yes."
After a moment, he adds, "You have to answer some questions first. What is the last thing you remember?"
Spinister shouldn't have admitted he was going to kill Flame. Now Flame has no reason to answer his questions. Spinister doesn't care. If it comes to that, he can ask Swindle to Nice Cop. Swindle looks all Autobot-y, and he's friendly and a good liar. Spinister bets Swindle is a great Nice Cop.
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Swindle
Major
This space for rent.
Posts: 571
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Post by Swindle on May 3, 2011 19:29:49 GMT -5
//You know, it just warms my spark to see you acting like yourself again after that horrible experience on Pz-Zazz. It's a shame your memories of that wonderful place will be tainted.// Pause. //You really should have let me add a motion-canceling rifle mount to your wheelchair. You could have still played sniper when your servos were shaking.// Swindle has done business with the Vok and horrible things with tentacles. Spinister's 'I am a scary guy' routine does not phase him. He might try 'I am a creditor' instead. //Trying to blow up a planet while he was on it? Rookie mistake.// Swindle only ever gives people the activation codes for doomsday weapons once he is safely in orbit.
//You want him to answer questions and feel pain at the same time, or just either/or?// he transmits, pulling a pair of stasis cuffs and Farlane's reengineered restraints from his drawer and handing them to the Mayhem. (Yes, Sentinel Prime, Swindle has stasis cuffs. Maybe he'll sell you some if you're really nice!)
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on May 3, 2011 19:58:00 GMT -5
Death is inevitable; Flame is not so lost in his own pathos that such fact escapes him. He slowly sits straight, resting his weight on his feet, and when he feels secure enough that his memories won't come spooling out like wires from his audio receivers, he lets his hands fall to his lap. He will die, so what has he to lose by his compliance? What has he to gain but a sooner end to this continued misery? He feels no shock to see restraints being brandished; these are Decepticons, after all. Why should they leave him unfettered?
"The spark extractor," he says quietly, voice level, optics seeing now into a few moments ago. "That is the last thing I remember. The clamps were fastened and the process had begun."
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Post by Spinister on May 3, 2011 20:12:52 GMT -5
Swindle can take his schmooze and shove it. Spinister do death and taxes, if need be. He corrects, //Flame was not trying to blow up the planet. He wanted to activate its engines and use it as a starship.// Ani Megatron wanted to do that too, kind of. //His calculations were off. The planet was going to blow up. We sent Trypticon and Flywheels to kill him.//
//Trypticon turns into a city.//
//Both.//
Spinister takes the restraints in his free hand warily, waiting for Swindle to tell him which of the two does both.
Okay, this is not Spinister's Flame! Spinister's Flame was sparkless, literally. He asks, "Why?"
Little does Spinister know the kettle of fish he is opening with that little question - 'why?' doesn't work so well when the one being questioned is incapable of understanding why.
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Swindle
Major
This space for rent.
Posts: 571
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Post by Swindle on May 4, 2011 19:43:50 GMT -5
Spinister can just be that way, then. //Oh, just like Megatron,// Swindle comments. //A city, huh? He'd be even bigger than the Omega Sentinels. Not very energy-efficient, I imagine.// Though the concept of a weapons platform that size makes Swindle see dollar signs nonetheless.
//You'll want the ropes and clamps for that, then. Stasis cuffs are pretty humane.//
//You want me to cover him while you open the forcefield and do your thing?// he asks, brandishing the Sonic Jammer 3000 and moving into position in case Spinister says yes. He probably won't, being a magenta ninja badaft, but it doesn't hurt to offer.
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Flame
Rookie
Causam ago dementia
Posts: 198
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Post by Flame on May 5, 2011 14:19:57 GMT -5
"Because that was my sentence," Flame answers, "obviously. It's a sentence reserved only for the worst criminals put through the trials." His voice remains flat, but he looks at Spinister, and then at Swindle as he moves more fully into view, with an expression the Decepticons may or may not find strange, and one he isn't entirely sure he's wearing. Flame looks confused, not upset, not resentful at his evaded fate – baffled and uncertain. "I had my trial and I was found guilty and sentenced for what I've done."
But even now, he doesn't truly grasp the wherefore of it. The things they accused him of sounded only vaguely familiar in some cases. He did inject some Decepticon captives with rust, he remembers that clearly enough, but that was a pittance after Babu Yar.
"And then I was here," he adds, gesturing helplessly with his palms upturned and fingers spread wide.
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Post by Spinister on May 5, 2011 15:00:25 GMT -5
//Yes,// Spinister answers Swindle. Spinister can be a surprisingly good team player, and turning down offered help is stupid. Spinister tries to avoid stupid.
In the moment that Flame turns his hands upward and spreads his fingers, Spinister turns off the forcefield and then springs, like a snake, trying to hog-tie Flame, arms and legs behind his back, with the rather dubious restraints that Swindle has given him.
Once he's relatively sure of the restraints, Spinister turns his mind back to questions. Flame never lived to see trial in Spinister's reality, sparkless or not. Spinister decides to inquire after that matter, "What were the charges?"
He'd like to ask whether it was an Autobot court or a Decepticon court, but if it was a Decepticon court, Spinister might be expected to know about the trial. Just asking about the charges might give that away, but if it was an Autobot court, it hopefully won't. He doesn't think it would have been a Decepticon court, anyway. Spinister likes to think Decepticons would just straight up kill Flame, instead of yanking his spark out.
That's also why Spinister hasn't asked Flame if he has a brain module or not yet. That gives too much away.
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Swindle
Major
This space for rent.
Posts: 571
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Post by Swindle on May 5, 2011 21:35:10 GMT -5
Swindle extends his shoulder-guns and trains them on Flame. He'd use his Scatter Blaster, except that it is a Scatter Blaster, and he'd risk hitting Spinister. Shooting the Mayhem in the back would be a bad idea. (Swindle would take offense at the implication that any of his products are 'dubious.' All of his stuff is great. It's the payment plan where he gets you.)
//Just use the dial there if you want to dose him. I wouldn't turn it more than two notches, though, unless you want to kill him,// he transmits, moving into a better position to shoot the Autobot, just in case.
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