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May 7, 2011 22:26:28 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 7, 2011 22:26:28 GMT -5
Month 1, Week 2, Day 1, directly after "Counsel for the Defense", brig, semi-private
His lawyers are gone. Hook doesn't put his faith in them. He puts his faith in the blueprints unfolding in his mind. He'll have to make this escape device in under a minute, using only materials found in his body, using only tools he can re-purpose from his own body.
It's almost artwork, these constraints.
Hook doesn't expect that anyone much will bother him and disrupt his dark dreams of devastation, but there's one Autobot he wouldn't object to. Just one.
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May 8, 2011 20:59:12 GMT -5
Post by Long Haul on May 8, 2011 20:59:12 GMT -5
Spy Shot 6. Clearly, Hook wouldn't object to Spy Shot 6. How could anyone object to someone so adorable?
Unfortunately, it's not Spy Shot 6 that enters the outer area of the brig, but Long Haul. He moves hesitantly, far more hesitantly than he usually does, and hangs back from the cell. He looks up, checking to make sure that Hook's all right, and then his gaze drops.
"Hey, Hook. They... they treating you all right?"
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May 8, 2011 21:32:21 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 8, 2011 21:32:21 GMT -5
Hook could find flaws even in Spy Shot 6. He's a perfectionist that way.
Hook appears to be uninjured, physically, anyway. His head jerks up, and he stands and stalks over to the bars to look at Long Haul. Hook hasn't seen Long Haul since, well... since Omega Supreme crashed.
Hook mutters, disgruntled, "They appointed me lawyers." He doesn't take his optical band off Long Haul once.
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May 9, 2011 7:01:31 GMT -5
Post by Long Haul on May 9, 2011 7:01:31 GMT -5
Long Haul tilts his head to the right and lifts his left hand to his chin, rubbing it as he considers Hook's complaint.
Finally, after a few moments of thought, he pronounces, "I'm pretty sure that don't normally count as 'mistreatment of a prisoner,' Hook, though I guess some allowances gotta be made depending on who the lawyer is."
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May 9, 2011 10:49:23 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 9, 2011 10:49:23 GMT -5
Hook admits, sniffing, "Dinobot and Ultra Magnus. I suppose I am well enough. They haven't even tried to feed me to a car crusher yet or anything..."
After an awkward moment, he asks, "Does it wear on you? The... tedium?" There's an almost desperate look to Hook, how he holds his hands up half-clutched, grasping something that isn't there, though his natural haughtiness suppresses it and keeps it from being disgraceful.
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May 9, 2011 22:58:21 GMT -5
Post by Long Haul on May 9, 2011 22:58:21 GMT -5
Long Haul lifts his head to stare at Hook quietly for a long moment. Finally, he lifts his hands part way, though not far, palms towards Hook.
"Hook, I'm a logisti- logist- I do supplies. I always done supplies."
Seriously. Tedium? Hook is asking Long Haul about tedium?
"It always did, but that ain't nothing new. Hell, this place's prolly been the most exciting bit of my life. Always did want to do some exploring. Now I get the chance to." Then he lifts his hand to scratch the back of his head.
"Involves more supplyin' than I was expecting."
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May 9, 2011 23:13:10 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 9, 2011 23:13:10 GMT -5
"I just mean, the... peacefulness," Hook corrects, his lips curling into something of a sneer. "Wouldn't you rather be doing something more exciting, like... fighting?"
The Long Haul that Hook knows would. A tiny little part of him hopes, like a flickering candle in the wind, that Long Haul would really like to go fight and conquer and be a Decepticon with Hook. If Long Haul wanted this, it would validate to Hook that, maybe, just maybe, he would have made this choice on his own, anyway.
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May 10, 2011 8:55:42 GMT -5
Post by Long Haul on May 10, 2011 8:55:42 GMT -5
Ah, but this is not the Long Haul that's spent several millions of years as part of a society that puts warriors above all others! No, this is the Long Haul for whom the occasional bar room brawl was enough, the one who dreamed of being an explorer instead.
The Constructibot shrugs and shakes his head. "Not really, no. I mean, the occasional rumble or whatever, that helps change things up a bit, but I had that before. This whole big mass battles what we got here, though, with shots flying everywhere and stuff..." he trails off. He's not going to admit that they frighten him, oh no. Long Haul's not afraid (except he is). So instead he says, "Can't say I like them much."
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May 10, 2011 10:10:44 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 10, 2011 10:10:44 GMT -5
Hook seems a bit disappointed, and so he sniffs disdainfully. He continues this tact, "Why not? Why don't you like it? You're strong, you're superior; you could wipe the floor with half the crew here if only you so applied yourself, I'm sure."
Where's the Long Haul that Hook knows? Surely, one can't wake up and become a totally different person overnight. There must be someone in this Long Haul that Hook knows, something he can relate to.
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May 10, 2011 16:21:57 GMT -5
Post by Long Haul on May 10, 2011 16:21:57 GMT -5
"Imma builder, not a tear-downer!" Long Haul answers stubbornly, crossing his arms and lowering his head, a move that brings to mind a bull ready to charge. "An' that's what my strength is for! 'Sides, a good old fashioned brawl every once in a while is well and good, but I ain't never been interested in doing permanent harm to the folks I was fightin', and permanent harm's what's called for in what you're talking about!" He lowers his arms, thinking back to his fight to that bootleg who calls himself Bonecrusher, to the realization that if he didn't take that guy out, he and Swerve would both be killed themselves.
"I don't like being put in a situation where I gotta kill or I get killed!" he declares.
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May 11, 2011 11:40:04 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 11, 2011 11:40:04 GMT -5
Hook doesn't move. There are bars between them, and if Long Haul charges, Hook is right.
Instead, he continues, on the edge of desperation, "Why not? Why do you care? They're not worth it."
Who cares if Long Haul does permanent damage to some nobodies? Why does Long Haul care? It's so... pointless.
Hook says softly, "Long Haul, the universe belongs to us. Just reach out and take it."
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May 11, 2011 21:19:34 GMT -5
Post by Long Haul on May 11, 2011 21:19:34 GMT -5
"But... it's ours without taking it," Long Haul says softly, hands lifted, palms towards the ceiling, as he takes one step towards the cell, left foot leading. "In order to take it, you gotta break what's there, and it's just... seems to me there should be a way of building off what there is without breaking what's there. Like... if you make the universe yours by taking it from folks, then that's all there is to it, because there's just what you've got. But... the universe is already theirs and ours and everyone's, and that's a lot more universe, that way."
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May 11, 2011 21:53:37 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 11, 2011 21:53:37 GMT -5
This is... progress? Maybe? Hook squints, lip curled. He's not sure. Hook suggest brightly, "Oh, but you don't have to break it in the taking! Only if they resist. If they just recognised our superiority, we wouldn't have these problems, Long Haul."
That makes sense, he thinks. If the humans would just hand over all their oil to the Decepticons, no one would get hurt.
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May 12, 2011 9:35:26 GMT -5
Post by Long Haul on May 12, 2011 9:35:26 GMT -5
"Never minding that 'only if they resist' don't mean much when folks always resist because no one likes having their stuff taken, it means even less 'cos it ain't even true. Sometimes the Decepticons break just to do some breaking, and you know that," Long Haul counters, jabbing a finger towards Hook. After all, what was Crystal City but breaking just to break?
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May 12, 2011 9:51:04 GMT -5
Post by Dr. James Hook on May 12, 2011 9:51:04 GMT -5
"Oh, but Bonecrusher's always done that," Hook says dismissively, and he waves a hand.
Crystal City was a waste of space and monument to the foolishness of peace and decadence, and it was a breeding ground for pathetic pacifists.
In other words, a threat.
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