| abstract
| - Colossus has arrived. Guys! He's a plane, not a bird!" Pete shakes his head, and motions the rack offstage. This was not going well at all. "I have plenty of evidence to demonstrate Autobot misconduct, Raindance," Soundwave replies. "Numerous witness accounts of Decepticons claiming abuse, Autobot records retrieved from their secret prison, and... the Mangler." Who's The Mangler, you're wondering? Yes, Soundwave is hoping he got everyone's attention with that name... Abyss says, "The eval, I think it was." "Do you seriously believe that ridiculous story, Mr. Uraut?" Soundwave says, pointedly ignoring Raindance's insult. "No, The Mangler that I refer to, the REAL Mangler, is none other than... Quickswitch. That is what the inmates used to call him. It is, in fact, what the other Autobots at the prison called him. Everyone knew what was going on." Funny thing is, though, Soundwave made the name up. And before he came here, he made a note to talk to the inmates of the prison world so that they knew what to refer to the six-changer from now on. "And THAT folks, is what's known in the buisiness as a giant stinking pile of lies. Come on Soundwave, your job is lying, thats what you do. If we really wanted to torture our prisoners, we'd lock them in a room with a picture of your face for all eternity. And oh, all the witnesses are your troops, well thats conveniant! You are a liar, a fraud AND you hide in ladies toilets!" Fun fact: Soundwave, while in his tape deck mode, once accidentally fell into Fusillade's onboard latrine in her B-1 bomber mode. So, technically, he has indeed been in a lady's toilet. But he'd never admit that. NCC Residential Ribs A line of skyscrapers reach for the sun/stars here, their pointed fingers stretching far higher than human construction is capable of. Or rather, their ribs, for that is the body part these inward curved-buildings most closely resemble. The blues used in the city are at their palest here, like they've been bleached from exposure, and in daylight, striped shadows stretch across the area, casting the entire area into extreme contrast. Stretching from building to building are spun-metal walkways of gleaming silver, larger 'beads' shimmering along them like dew on a spider's web. The insides of these walkways are sturdier than they appear, while their outer edges are razor sharp, providing both defense against foes and challenges for daredevil Decepticons. Room Contents: Symphony's Quarters Blitzwing's Arsenal NCC DCI Office Building Mesa's Audio Room Special Advisor's Office Reflector's Dark Room Spoiler's Nickels Bandit's Bungalo Sweep Sanctum Deck 14, #8620 Strife's Quarters Ramjet's Bunker Battlecharger's Bordello Shellshock's Workshop Shark's Rib (Travel spam) You descend to Texas below. Texas Almost a country in itself, Texas offers sandy white beaches, heavy rains, and the temperate waters of the Gulf of Mexico in the south, bleak, barren scrublands in the west, breathtaking sunsets in the Panhandle, rolling hills and myriad lakes in the central region, and lush, towering pines in the east. Mountains, deserts, plains, forests, rolling hills, wetlands, coastal dunes, lakes, and rivers all mingle to form the Lone Star State. The nation's richest state in mineral resources, Texas is known for its oil and natural gas production, nor is it far behind in agriculture, second only to California. Room Contents: Catechism Abyss Fusillade Durango Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus Portable Camera Raindance Soundwave Durango rushes towards the camera as Snarl comes bounding forward. "And..uh...that's all the time we got! Thanks to Raindance and Soundwave for joining us, I'm Pete Urout for Interplanetary Dot Com, reminding you: If the truth is out there, the truth is in Interplanetary Dot Com!" He smiles for the camera for a moment, before the feed cuts out, to save everyone the chaos of a million "So and so has entered" messages. Raindance rotates round. "I was once a man!" he emits, looking for Soundwave, missile pods at the ready. "I think, Snarl, we won that debate!" he proudly beeps, giving a bob as a bow Pete Uraut rushes towards the camera as Snarl comes bounding forward. "And..uh...that's all the time we got! Thanks to Raindance and Soundwave for joining us, I'm Pete Urout for Interplanetary Dot Com, reminding you: If the truth is out there, the truth is in Interplanetary Dot Com!" He smiles for the camera for a moment, before the feed cuts out, to save everyone the chaos of a million "So and so has entered" messages. Portable Camera is no longer listening. Durango switches the TV camera off Quickswitch has arrived. Fusillade leans forward, wingblades whipping out to their full span, even as her arms lock backward in place as the rear fuselage. Her torso folds out to the become the cockpit of a Terran B-1B Lancer, ready for flight! The sleek bomber rears up, wings collapsing onto hips even as the rear fuselage splits to form arms. The horizontal stabilizer slides up, the forward fuselage folds up accordian style, and Fusillade hops up on thrustered feet. Abyss seems to throw herself forward, her body rapidly reconfiguring in mid air, only to land as an imposing artillery vehicle. Air Raid has arrived. Focus has arrived. Portable Camera is now listening. Durango switches the TV camera on OUR SCENE: The Astrodome! Transformer-sized podiums -- two, exactly -- have been setup on stage, with chairs on either side of the platform. In the middle sits Dan Rathernot, with a giant screen behind him, which will show the ongoing action from multiple camera angles! The audience begins to move in, awaiting the arrival of the two debating sides. Raindance arrives! Everyone's favourite hero! But he wont' be doing much for his player is sleepy! But he beeps, looking out for Soundwave so he can give him a post-debate missiling... I mean talking to Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus follows Raindance, and parks himself next to the chairs. On the wrong side. He doesn't seem to notice, and if he notices that he's on the 'Decepticon' side of the stands, he doesn't care. His stomach has already touched the ground, and any Autobot can tell you that few things will make him move. Snarl, for the record, is also not technically supposed to be here, but he just followed Raindance in anyway. A black F-15 Eagle swoops low over the open top of the stadium, pulling up in a dazzling aerial display, transforming into Air Raid before landing neatly, and looking around. "Huh. Let's see. Hey, Snarl. Did you switch sides again, big guy?" He goes towards the Autobot area, "Man, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker really ought to be at a shindig like this." Focus is sitting atop one of the dome's walls hunched over and crouched down, much like a gargoyle hanging off the side of a building. With his advanced sensors, he can spot or hear things coming in from miles away and all around. He's here for security and it's his first posting since moving over to Operations. A small twitch of the neck is the only movement he gives. At least he's alive. Quickswitch enters the studio without any fancy fanfare. He just enters and walks over to the Autobot side, removing one of the huge oversized chairs and stands at the end of the row. DECEPTICON Soundwave had waited for quite some time before the Autobots lost interest in him, then finally transformed into his robot mode. He hoists himself up into the air on his anti-gravs and comes in for a gentle landing one of the oversized seats. As his palms settle on his knees, his optic band locks onto Quickswitch's optics, and he quietly staaaares at him.... Rumble descends from the skies above. Rumble has arrived. Not privy to visuals currently, Abyss uses her imagination to visualize the proceedings as they're described over the radio. Her artillery cannon is raised, however, already having triangulated directly on the Autobot podium...and hoping that the humans hadn't changed things at the last moment. Her first round, rather than her standard mass destruction round, is in fact a smoke round...designed to buy her fellow's some time to get out of the way of her -real- rounds. Catechism just had to to show up for this. She has a few things she'd like to say about Autobots and torture. There are more things she'd like to do her specific interrogator, most of which are banned in civilised planets and tend to involve kerosene, tacks, and a Swiss Army Knife. Catechism is flexible, however. She could settle for napalm, a chandelier, and a screwdriver. The tall purple Decepticon commander walks into the studio. Shockwave? Here? Doesn't his logic processor prevent him from being here at all? Strange... Shockwave scans the area for it's occupants and walks towards a comfortable spot to observe the proceedings and make sure the Decepticons are on their best behavior. Not that he really believes in any of this but this project seems to be important to his fellow commander so... Rumble has been here ever since Soundwave arrived. Seriously. The fact he's hiding beneath the seats planning something Devious has nothing to do with anything however. Not like he can fit into one of the seats anyway... Dan Rathernot stands at his own human-sized podium; his image being shown on the backscreen for the benefit of those too far away -- either distance or height -- to see him properly. "Good evening, viewers; and welcome to members of the Autobot and Decepticon forces, who have joined us for tonight's civil debate. Our process shall be this: we shall begin with an opening statement, from the Autobots, then the Decepticons. I shall then ask questions, in turn, of each side. Gentlemechs, please, let us keep our tones civil, and our weapons at bay. I need not mention that this is being broadcast world-wide. That being said, welcome one and all, and I invite the Autobots to open with their statement." He sits. Before anyone else can walk up to the podium, Snarl -- who, if you'll recall, had parked himself on the Decepticon side out of either ignorance or laziness keeping him from walking all the way across the stage -- marches up to the Autobot podium. Still being in Stegosaurus mode, it's obviously far too tall for him, so he whacks it with his tail and it tips over neatly and yet does not break in any other way and need only be stood back up to correct it. Speaking into the upturned mic, Snarl bellows, "ME SNARL! ME DINOBOT! DINOBOTS STRONGEST OF ALL TRANSFORMERS! US DINOBOTS CRUSH DECEPTICONS BECAUSE DECEPTICONS WEAK! US DINOBOTS MELT FACES, US DINOBOTS SMASH LEGS! US DINOBOTS..." and it seems like he's going to go on like this. Blitzwing has arrived. Geo has arrived. Slag descends from the skies above. Slag has arrived. Quickswitch meets the crimson visor of Soundwave with a hard glare across from the Decepticons side of the debate. Soundwave's chestplate suddenly opens. Air Raid blinks his optics for a moment, then yipes and stands, walking across to the podium to yank it back up to its proper position. That it gets it away from the Dinobot's mouth is purely coincidence. Really. He flashes a sheepish grin at the camera. "Sorry about that, folks. The Dinobots are basically fun-loving, peaceful 'bots. They just...don't much like Decepticons and tend to get a little carried away." He pauses for a moment. "That, and it's difficult to get the Dinobots to understand what a debate is about. Well, Grimlock would probably understand." He shrugs then. "But I digress. I'm not sure why I'm here myself, to be honest. I'm Air Raid. My function is as a warrior in the Aerialbots. And I've never met an Autobot who would ever torture anyone. Anyone for anything. I could tell you the number of times I've seen an Autobot save a Decepticon, because they asked for mercy. I could tell you a lot of things, really. But I could also talk about Decepticon propaganda. About the number of times they've used dirty tricks to convince you that we're the bad guys." He shrugs. "But I'll settle for reminding you that similar things have happened in the past, and the Autobots were always proven innocent." He glances at the rest of his fellow-bots. "Did I miss anything?" Focus shakes his head and gives a thumbs up from his perch, then does a quick sweep of the area with his sensors. Slag has been here a while, seriously. He glares at Air Raid for taking the microphone from Snarl, but doesn't do anything. Just letting his annoyance shown And from the chestplate, there's a rather large fuscia leaps from the thing, transforming and unfolding in mid-air. When it lands, everyone can see the robotic form of the Cassettecon Geo. She blinks her odd blue optics, and nods to Soundwave. at that, she quickly darts under a chair, to settle next to Rumble. "You're not getting into trouble are you, Rumble?" she asks her blue brother. As Air Raid pulls the podium back up, Snarl is still yelling. "NO JAIL CAN CAGE US DINOBOTS! US DIN-- HEY! YOU SKYDIVE PUT BACK! ME SNARL IS /ESTABLISHING DOMINANCE/!" When Air Raid just starts giving a speech anyway, he harrumphs -- his face isn't expressive enough to show anger -- and lays down on his stomach, right there in the middle of the stage. Dan Rathernot expected...difficulties, but is glad when a reasonable mech finally takes the podium away from the Dinobot. "Thank you, Autobots. Decepticons, you have the floor." Rumble smirks at Snarl on the stage. "Nah, just complainin' bout the seats here and waitin' fer the Autobots to slip up so I can worsen everything" Soundwave nods to Catechism, encouraging her to take the floor. Then his gaze meets with Quickswitch's again. Oh, yes, he wants tension. He wants that six-changer to just EXPLODE with anger... Catechism strides up to the podium, a proud martial air to her. After adjusting the microphone, she grabs the podium and leans out over the podium. She regards the audience with red optics fierce with old anger. Her words are flat, dead as she speaks, "You want to know what it's like to be an Autobot captive? My name is Catechism. I was built a Decepticon, and I have served my people loyally since my creation. I've been an Autobot captive. The Autobots want freedom for all sapient beings except for Decepticons, the other half of their own species. Captured during a battle in our Civil War, I was stripped of my weapons, modelocked, and my radio was disabled. My interrogator, Red Alert, threatened to inject with me with a chemical, that he had on hand in a syringe, that would destroy my mind and leave me a gibbering, twitching wreck, so that I would pour out what I knew and be permanently mentally scarred, useless for anything else but sobbing. Only the timely intervention of my fellow Decepticons with a prisoner trade deal saved me. Me? I'm just your average Decepticon. If Autobots would do that to me, I can't imagine what they'd do to an officer. People of Earth, thank you for hearing me out." BAWHAMM. A sudden explosion of dust and debris sails up in a cloud as Blitzwing arrives next to Soundwave by the expedient method of just falling out of the sky. He crosses his arms and puts on a nonchalant expression as if to say he's been here the whole time. Geo nods sidelong at Rumble, idly pulling out a datapad and engaging the holodisplay, wherein it displays a rotating green gridwork of an asteroid. "I suppose you'll want the most likely local geological destruction points, such as fissures and plate divisions, Rumble?" Rumble would respond to Geo, however he is hit by a piece of large debris from Blitzwing's entry. "Oh for slaggin' out loud, who the smelt did that?" he curses, rubbing his head, before turning to Geo. "Yeah, sure, incase we need to leave this place with a bang". He then smirks, evily Air Raid turns and frowns at Catechism. "Oh? Then I suppose it slipped your memory that you once kicked my aft on Cybertron, then left me for dead, and probably radioed back to Lazerbeak to tell him where to find me! If it hadn't been for Foxfire driving that buzzard off...." Then he shakes his head, looking back at the rest of the Autobots. "Anyone have anything constructive to add? Quickswitch?" Soundwave taps his knees, somewhat irritated at Blitzwing as he drops in right next to him. Of course, Soundwave isn't surprised by his sudden arrival--he heard him coming. "How fortunate that you could make it, Blitzwing," Soundwave mutters. Shockwave ponders saying something to raise the temperature a bit but keeps to himself for the moment being waiting for the most opportune moment where a single comment can light the fuse to this poweder-keg. Catechism looks back at Air Raid coolly and reminds, "You were in Decepticon territory, and I was on patrol. As a Decepticon soldier, it is my duty and responsibility to engage the enemy to the best of my ability. Note that I did not kill you when I had you at my mercy and consider that well." "Skydive," Snarl interrupts, talking to Air Raid, "Me Snarl not sure if you listen because her Decepticon really boring, but me Snarl think her Decepticon just threaten to kill you Skydive." He sounds like he's sure of what he's talking about, which is questionable. Quickswitch was listening to both sides of the debate, crossing his arms over his chest and shaking his head without comment. A brow raises as the Decepticon speaks, and a doubting frown appears on his face, "I--No, Air Raid," so much for backing his team in this, as he grinds to a halt. Air Raid shrugs. "I could point out that you weren't exactly all that concerned about my well-being, either. For all I'm able to determine, you flew off and left me for scrap." Then he points a white finger off in the general direction of Autobot city. "And you'll have to take that up with Red Alert. Given his paranoia for security, I suspect he may have been exaggerating. Prime, Optimus OR Rodimus, would've probably thrown HIM in Prison had he gone through with it." Then he glances down at Snarl. "Air Raid. Skydive's the other one." "Me Snarl not sure you Skydive should debut if you Skydive not even know you Skydive's name." Snarl stage-whispers that, as if concerned for his side, although that can't possibly be the case, because he's an ass. Slag snorts in general displeasure. "All them Aerialbots look same..." he mutters to himself Geo nods a little. "I will transmit coordinates of the fissures and plate splits to you, then." She stands up, and moves forward then, holding her little datapad and walking up next to Soundwave. It's very cute, the image of the little fuschia tape. Until she lifts off the ground and more or less lands on TOP of the Decepticon podium, holding her little datapad. "Ahem. May I?" When Catechisn aquises, she says, "Thank you. Fellow Decepticons and people of Earth. It is with a heavy heart that I must share this information." She holds out the datapad, where it produces a green hologram of an asteroid. "Waht you look upon now is Autobot Penal Colony 74762-B." The hologram enlarges, showing an asteroid filled with holes. "Although that name is misleading, it should be termed 'Autobot Alien Infestation Colony 74762-B. If you will look closer." The hologram enlarges, AGAIN, showing holographic xenomorphs (yes, those things) wandering the tunnels, and here and there a bits-and-pieces of Transformers. "This colony was studied in depth by me on a geological scale some months ago, when the xenomorphs became a threat. It is now revealed that this place is where the Autobots sent those Decepticon -- and other races, such as the Nebulese or the Skukksoids, for torture and death. Observe." And there's a green, and rather gory, image of a xenomorph attacking a Transformer. "I have data and files pointing that such action was sanctioned by Autobot leaders for only their WORST prisoners." Rumble smirks from under the chairs. Ah, sweet Decepticon justice. He also goes over the geological data, incase of emergency earthquakes. Because you gotta look out for those emergency earthquakes Dan Rathernot tries to wave everyone down, which is difficult, when one's a human amongst robots..nevertheless, he tries. "Now, if we can move on with the questions...our first question is for the Decepticons, although we may have already recieved our answer. We wish to know what proof you have of these allegations?" Catechism repeats patiently, as if speaking to someone really dense, "This is a war, Air Raid. It is not unheard of for soldiers to kill each other in wars. That said, you can excuse Red Alert's actions all you want, but what he said and wanted to do me remain the same and quite more horrific than mere death." Then there is a question to address! She replies to the human, "If you'd like, you can check my medical records. I had burn wounds, multiple laser wounds, and a snapped turbine blade when the Autobots traded me back to the Decepticons. I am told there was also intercepted radio chatter recorded from my time incarcerated." Soundwave stands, approaching the podium next to Geo. "We have a living witness, right there--" He gestures to Catechism. "Red Alert will not deny what happened to her, even if the Autobots pretend they were merely 'exaggerating.' A feeble excuse. Then, there is the information we gleaned from the prison planet P-19170167. Prisoners were routinely abused by the guards. For instance, the Autobots' own records show that Cranklift, a Decepticon inmate, was slapped 13 million times, pushed 8 million times, and punched 3 million times over the course of his incarceration. And then, there is the issue of The Mangler." He stares at Quickswitch. "Correct, Mangler?" Shockwave finally pipes up "Watch your tone Soundwave. It appears at first glance that an irresponsible Autobot officer has actually let 'The Mangler' loose in a public area without supervision. He then glances at Air Raid at least...no supervision that can stop him if decides to try and end your life." The huge grey and green Transformer snaps into his feline mode nearly instantaneously and snarls toward Soundwave, vocorder taking a feline rasp, "You're a lying piece of slag!" No, not you slag! He crouches, so angry he's trembling, as if he's going to uncoil and leap. Presenting the datapad, Geo nods. "The Mangler, the actions of autobot 'security officer' Red Alert, the scans and data mined from the Autobot-controlled xenomorph colony designate Prison Colonly 74762-B, and many other offenses should be more than sufficient evidence to show that the Autobots are ruthless and monstrous. The data I have mined, incidentally, is available for stream at IP 12.918.182.1." She holds the datapad up and shuts it off, nodding slightly. Soundwave nods agreeably to Shockwave. "Indeed, we must be cautious. He is..." He glances at the raging feline. "Uncontrollable." Dan Rathernot does his best to remain impartial, and for his part, shows no reaction to any of the allegations. He turns to the Autobots. "Autobots, ten minutes to respond to this." Rumble continues smirking from beneath the seat. Everything's going exactly to someone elses plan Snarl nudges Air Raid with his tail, which more or less consists of slapping him with a part that's not spiked. "Hey. Skydive. Hey. You Skydive. /Skydive/. Hey. Hey. /Hey/. /Hey you Skydive/. HEY YOU SKYDIVE," he finally bellows. "Them Decepticons make all that up. That not real colomy." Snarl sounds dead sure of this. It's easy for him to be taken seriously, too, because he can't make any facial expressions. Air Raid considers for a moment, thinking hard, and thinking fast. "I'm not sure how to respond. Hold on." His mind is racing for information. "I do know that this isn't the first time this has happened." He turns and looks directly at the camera. "Several times in the past, we've been painted in a negative light, by the Decepticons, who seek to discredit us. Always before, it was proved to be false. That's why they're called Decepticons. From your own language, people of Earth, Decepticon is a name justly given. It comes from the root deception...which means to deceive. They are masters at sowing disharmony among allies, and making friends...become enemies." Since he himself has no actual information relating to what the Decepticons have shown, he'll go with what he remembers. "I know prior to the death of Optimus Prime, the Decepticons worked with a human to disguise themselves as Autobots, and attack human installations in order to force you to ask that we leave the planet. As soon as we did so, they began the systematic enslavement of your race. There are ample data files in your own computer storage systems to verify this." He pauses for a moment. "And yet, the moment one of them stands up and says something like this, or shows images that could have been doctored or messed with....I'm currently working to have more information presented, but as I said before. I am merely a warrior. Not a speaker, or much for information." You send a radio message to Soundwave: If any 'single' autobot makes a violent move I will incapacitate with an EMP blast. Hold back the troops if this happens. If it all falls apart well...subtlety will take a backseat. You receive a radio message from Soundwave: Understood. Blitzwing snickers at Blueshift over something said privately, glancing at the stage only occasionally; he's not paying Air Raid a great deal of attention obviously. Sky Lynx descends from the skies above. Sky Lynx has arrived. Slag is still doing bodyguarding in the audiance, though he's not sure who he's guarding or for what reason Dan Rathernot turns to the next paper in his stack. "This next question is for the Autobots. Given these recent allegations, and without discussion of the merit or truth thereof, can you speak to your beliefs about the ethical nature of torture, and whether or not it remains a justifiable tactic in times of war?" Air Raid actually CAN answer this one, without burning out a circuit in the process. "Yes, Dan, I think we can. Autobots are absolutely one-hundred percent against torture. Optimus Prime certainly didn't believe in it. And I know Rodimus Prime certainly doesn't. Since Rodimus Prime is our leader, the official stance of the Autobots is that torture is wrong. I don't think it's ever 'justifiable.'." Geo asides, "Isn't Rodimus Prime the REASON why Optimus Prime is dead?" Blitzwing nods somberly. Someone else whispers "I thought Rodimus Prime tortured Optimus to death" Soundwave holds out an extended palm to Geo, letting her know to wait her turn until the Autobots are done. Rumble would nod to Geo, having been there in the battle of Autobot City, but he's under the chairs still Snarl knocks the podium over again, like a complete creep, without even asking. If Air Raid was going to say more, Snarl doesn't care. He talks into the mic from his misbegotten beak of a skull: "Me Snarl say that torture not in Autobot vocabal... vo... Them Autobots not know meaning of word. Torture dumb. Torture take too much time and them Decepticons can't even fight back because they losers and suckers. Us Autobots smash them in battle and in fights like real winners do. Me Snarl take no prisoners! No jail can hold me Snarl's enemies, because them enemies get heads cut in half! ..." He continues to rant until someone stops him. A third person mutters, "I heard Rodimus Prime helped Megatron shoot Optimus from behind the grassy knoll." The person sounds like they're standing right behind Blitzwing, who has his hand over his mouth. Air Raid sighs again. "This is rapidly growing futile." He mutters to himself, as he bends and once again tries to right the podium. "Snarl, if you want to say something, transform." Then he frowns as he looks for the voices that are speaking. "Optimus Prime died as a result of wounds taken during his battle with Megatron. Rodimus did not become Prime for quite a few astrocycles afterwards. This is all documented fact." Here he glances at the Decepticons, sternly. "Any attempts to claim otherwise are futile." Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus harrumphs again, but transforms. Strangely, he still doesn't move, just standing there vacantly. The metal stegosaurus lifts and opens into the robot form of Snarl. A boom of sound can be heard in the sky, however this shuttle already detected human pressence, and decepticons, autobots-- something was different. His radio communications gear picked up the radio transmission off the television broadcast, is this why Air Raid wanted him? To talk-- to the humans? Bloody all, ah well, at least he could be amused and see what this was all about. In mid air, shutting off his rockets, he transformed. The large draconic autobot swooped downward landing, amazingly softly on the street-below somehow managing to not damage anything around him. Gears can be heard turning, and mechanisms unlocking and relocking as parts attach and detach. Soon rises with large draconic neck upward highly and proud, looking before what surrounds him, and the stance stating true authority over his domain. Dead End descends from the skies above. Dead End has arrived. Dead End strolls into the room. Dan Ratherson looks from the Autobots to the Decepticons. "Thank you. And now, your turn to respond, Decepticons." You send a radio message to Rumble: When the occasion arises be 'nice' and go put the podium back to it's rightful position. It would be the 'nice thing' to do considering the dinobots cannot behave. Rumble begins sloooowly sneaking through the chairs. Has he got a plan? Of corse he does, he's Rumble Soundwave stands, pointing a finger at Air Raid. "The only futility here lies in your attempts to dismiss the overwhelming documentation that proves the Autobots utilized torture for their own purposes. Just ask your friend, The Mangler, about torture." He stares at the six-changer, optic band gleaming. "Do you hear the voices, Mangler?" Soundwave begins to use his new skills in ventriloquism to make whispery voices pop up all around Quickswitch. "Do you hear them? They are your victims! Pleading for mercy!" The voices become louder, and they do indeed sound like inmates--but the actual audio is an utter forgery. Someone else in the crowd whispers. "I heard that The Mangler killed Optimus Prime. To death!" Dead End had arrived with the other Decepticons but as he has all the dynamism of a machine cog with missing teeth he stands at the outskirts of the crowd in his robot mode, arms folded over his chest, apparently as backup in the case of further trouble as the dicussion goes on. Rumble takes the oppertunity to go over to the Autobot's side of the podium and put the microphone back up, before heading back to his seat. He's such a thoughtful cassette, unlike those big brutish Dinobots Rumble , back at his hiding spot, checks his soundfiles, looking for his good ones that deal with generic gasps of shock and horror Dan Ratherson seems a little surprised when time is up for this round of questions. "Well, uhm.... to be honest, we didn't expect this debate to go this long without someone pointing at someone and shooting at things, so...I guess I'll adlib. Decepticons, this question's for you. Five minutes to respond: Have you at any time employed, or would you in the future, employ torture for the purposes of security or saving of lives?" Soundwave holds out his hands placatingly to Rathernot. "At times we use "rough" interrogation techniques to encourage Autobots with vital information to speak. Perhaps we will prevent from engaging in a recharge cycle, or deprive them of certain fuel additives, leaving them with only straight energon. Other times we will loudly play Earth music at them. But we do not use--quote unquote--torture, especially not the forms of torture employed by the Autobots on a routine basis." Of course, all of that was an outrageous lie. But the Decepticonz fans out there will lap it up. Catechism speaks up, "After my incaration, I took up interrogation, because I didn't want to see us doing that to our prisoners. So as a Decepticon interrogator? We don't." They use pliers, not drugs. Er. Blitzwing nods piously. Big lie. Big fat lie. Nobody could possibly believe him saying such a thing, which is of course why Soundwave is the propagandist; his voice has no inflection, no intonation, so he can lie through his equally nonexistent teeth and no one can tell. And just then, a red, white, and blue gumby-tape leaps onto the podium, shouting, "The way you Autobots treat prisoners is un-American... IN AMERICA!" Dead End would look surprised at the patriotically colored tapebot leaps up onto the podium. He begins to move around the perimeter of the ground in case this is a prelude to something less absurd involving flames. Dan Rathernot turns to the Autobots. "Would you care to respond?" "You Soundwave lie," Snarl yells, pointing dramatically. "You LIE! YOU LIE!" He transforms into his Stegosaurus form, and starts marching out, tail swinging wildly. "YOU DECEPTICONS ALL LIE! YOU DO NOTHING BUT LIE! YOU LIE LIE LIE LIE LIE! YOU DECEPTICONS WEAK SO YOU LIE! STOP LYING, DECEPTICONS! STOP! LYING!" Snarl's really upset. He starts smashing his tail against the ground and stamping his feet. The ground begins to buckle where his feet are leaving huge squarish imprints. "STOP TRYING TO BE LYING GAMMA-WEASELS AND TELL TRUTH AND /FIGHT/" stomp "/LIKE/" stomp "/REAL/" stomp "/ROBOTS/!" STOMP. The ground cracks, one last whack of his tail causes the stage to cave in completely, which is unlucky for anyone who happens to be on it. Snarl's body rearranges as it falls, convering into a stegosaurus. Sky Lynx approuches the large structure where the signals were comming from, and he-- even in this state continued to listen. Decepticons, how typical of them to attempt to make things look 'good' for themselves while attack the autobots, well-- he can see why Air Raid indeed called for help, so-- He noticed the Dinobot standing outside and nodded his head to him. "If you excuse me.." The entrance way was to small for Lynx to enter, however, lynx leaped into the air once more, and headed over the large structure, entering into the large building and onto the field. He wasn't trying to be flashing as he kinda hovered downward to the field below where this cameras were running and people were watching. But it also didn't help he was such a large transformer. He landed gently on the ground and cranned his head over to the others. He hrms softly and his large gold optical band flashes before he listens in for a moment sitting down on his hunches. At least he picked a spot out of the way of people watching on the field. However listening to this he shakes his head and stands up speaking up as he walks over, "I beg to differ on this, /chaps/. We autobots do not harm that of our prisoners, we also support all causes for freedom and justice. That is our way, which if I am correct, is the american way. Freedom, justice, and the rights of men, women, and children. To torture someone would be to break that rights of freedom, however like all times of war, things do happen, just as many wars you humans have faced." Snarl strikes you with American Bandstand for 8 points of damage. Snarl unleashes his American Bandstand attack on Air Raid, Shockwave, Geo, Blitzwing, Rumble, Snarl and Soundwave, striking Blitzwing, Snarl, Air Raid, Soundwave, Geo, Rumble and Shockwave. Air Raid turns and holds up his hands. "No, no, Snarl, not now. Let them lie all they want to. We've exposed their lies in the past, and we will this time. "We can't fight. We can't let them goad us into fighting. It's what they want, Snarl. It's what they want us to d-erk!" Yes. He was still on the stage. Yes, he falls when the stage gives way, bending and twisting to reach Dan Rathernot. Hey, if the whole stage is going to give, it means the human may need help. When the stage explodes... dear GOD does it explode. Geo takes shards of metal and stone pretty much to the face and chest, ripping out one optic and part of her helmet, leaving her with a screech of pain as she rises into the air, landing a few feet away. "GWAH..." she yells, before quickly rising into the air and hovering AWAY from the Dinobot. Rumble , along with his sister and most of the other Decepticons, is smashed by some reletively hard debris. "Smelting dumbaft Dinobot!" Rumble yells, his arms turned into piledrivers already, in case of emergency roof reconstructions needed Soundwave stumbles as the ground cracks under his feet, falling forward and bouncing his head against the podium. He clutches the dent as he tries to get his footing, but instead stumbles on the rubble and pitches forward onto his chest. Americon falls onto his back soon after, groaning, "I am in a lot of PAIN... in AMERICA!" "Oh my Primus, it's COMING RIGHT FOR US!" shouts Blitzwing in what is hopefully very convincing terror as he unlimbers his rifle in what is clearly self-defense! As The dinobot attack, Sky Lynx hisses in frustration in sheer speed uses his massive body to protect the humans from the explosion. The peices of material slam against his body as he yells to the crowds, "Get down and stay low!" Slag braces himself for the impact, and is notably undamage. "Hnnh, that could have gone better..." he says, looking at the devastation Dan Rathernot falls from his chair, heading straight for the.....hand of Air Raid. Oh, thank Primus. This should at least help the public perception issue, provided one of the cameramen makes it out alive to tell the tale. Shockwave gets clobbered by debris from the collapsing stage as the dinobot franticly waves his tail around. "Decepticons! Cover me while I restrain the dinobot before he injures any humans with his 'criminal negligence'." Ohhh yes the dinobots keep saying they are American citizens welland allowed to vote but with citizenship comes rights and duties and restrictions. Shockwave leaps into the air transforming into a massive space-gun and unleashes and electro-magnetic pulse at Snarl hoping to slow him down and possibly restrain him. With the traditional sound, Shockwave transforms into a giant space-gun. You successfully strike Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus , who is now temporarily incapacitated. Catechism is unhurt! She is just that cool. Or that lucky. She moves to go check on some of the camera people and asks, "You guys okay? Need me to call that number... 411? No, that's not right. 911?" Reaching into her hip holster, Geo pulls out a laser pistol and sticks an attachment to the end of it. She lifts it and points it at the Dinobot. "This ay, good people! Please leave in an orderly fashion and noone will trample the others. Catechism, Dead End, please make sure the humans evacuate unharmed!" Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus is blasted by Shockwave so hard that he's knocked off his feet and lands on his side. Unfortunately, he has a weirdly-shaped body and stubby, squat legs. Even if he weren't suffering from the EMP, he'd need a good few minutes to right himself anyway, so he's stuck. Rumble returns his arms to their normal state and draws a laser rifle, keeping it facing Snarl in case of any more Dinobot craziness "Gotcha, Dan." He says, protecting the human as the Aerialbot gets to his feet. "Ugh. Slaggit, Snarl." He then blinks as Shockwave transforms. "Oh, this is going to get very ugly. C'mon. Let's get you out of harms way." He begins to stagger towards Sky Lynx and the crowd of humans he is rescuing. Dead End shrugs as he turns around to face the crowd if no doubt severely startled humans before he begins to pick up and place off to the side pieces of debris to clear the way for the humans who want to run away. He works at this with a sullen sense of purpose that show he's doing this becasue he was instructed to but, hey, helping is helping right? Soundwave slowly pushes himself up, shaking his head. Debris--including Americon--slides off of him as he stands, and he appears groggy, cupping his forehead with one hand. But that's a ruse--he's not that badly hurt. In fact, he's currently assaulting Quickswitch with a sonic pulse. It sounds like a loud crack, but that could be from anything, right? And it's not like people can see the sound coming from Soundwave's chest and hitting the guy. This isn't a cartoon, you know. Or... is it? Catechism continues to try to be generally helpful to the humans insofar as she can be, since no one has attacked her. No, she doesn't give rides. Blitzwing whips up his carbine and fires a blaze of blue ion pulses into the Dinobot, shell casings spraying over the rapidly emptying seats nearby. "Won't somebody think of the human larvae and put this savage beast down!" Blitzwing strikes Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus with Pulse Carbine (full auto). Space-Gun transforms back into his more versatile robot mode and points at Air Raid with authority "Let the world see you for what you are. Belligerant hypocrites. Now stand aside while we pacify and restrain this berzerk monster." With that Shockwave heads for Snarl's location but he knows the odds and is more than ready for what is to come. With the traditional sound, the space-gun unfolds into Shockwave's robot mode. Rumble moves slightly from his position, and is that his arms turning into piledrivers again? Rumble, using his small size to his advantage, creates a small "aftershock". If anyone noticed that its only disrupting the ground around the Dinobot, then they... Something Rumble unleashes his Earthquake attack on Snarl, striking Snarl. Soundwave strikes Quickswitch with Loud Crack. Red Alert has arrived. Sky Lynx looks toward the humans, "Move-- move!" He said, as he watched the choas before him. He watched a beam start to fall, and quickly moved to block, being slammed to the ground by it, however protecting the humans, forcing himself to shove against the very beam. "..this-- is... madness..." However what Sky Lynx didn't realize that by saving the humans, he injured his wing from the beam, oh-- he felt it after the fact which caused him to snarl from the pain. However turning himself around, he bit down on the beam and started to brace it into the ground, hoping it support the structure some, at least long enough for the humans to get out. "Decepticons, if you truely care so much for the humans leave Snarl alone and help us out! Your just waisting your energy on him.." He huffs and makes his way to the downed Dinobot. If a decepticon dared made another attack, he would shield Snarl.. which is why he was going over there now. "..bloody primus.." The earthquake pounding the ground around Snarl sets off a complicated system of levers and pulleys and stuff, like the ending sequence of Happy Gilmore when Adam Sandler wins at the 18th hole. Snarl has never seen this movie, so he cannot appreciate the novelty. The end result is that he's lurched off of his side onto his feet again, where the first thing he sees is Rumble. And if he could make a mad face in stegosaurus form, it'd look like this: >:( as he turns with surprising swiftness to try and smack the little man with his tail. Snarl strikes Rumble with slap. Slag stands up and draws his sword from subspace, stomping towards his fellow Dinobot. "Me Slag here now, you Decepticons back away from him Snarl..." Slag growls, glowering at the nearest Decepticon. (No attack) Air Raid sets Dan down. "Here you are sir. Please try to get out of here as soon as you can. Although...I know you're a reporter and all, so if you do want to stay and record this...make sure you find a safe place to do so." Then he's off and running, moving as fast as he can to leap in front of Shockwave. "Enough, Shockwave. Call off your dogs, and let's depart this place. I think it's pretty obvious by now that you Decepticons are going to do whatever you can to incite the Dinobots into doing just what they're doing. But if you want to attack Snarl again, you'll have to go through me. I'm just a warrior. That's all I am, all I aspire to be. But I do know that Rodimus Prime and the Autobots are here to protect the people of Earth from the likes of you. I know it is true, every molecule of my spark tells me that it is. I've never been good at making serious speeches, or debating, or whatever. I do as I'm told by those who DO make the serious speeches. And right now, all I want to do is go home and report to Red Alert that I've failed to do what I can to fix this." Nodding slightly across to Sky Lynx, Geo hovers down and gently lifts a woman who is cradling a baby away from the carnage. She ahems, her voice abruptly amplified through Soundwave's speakers. "Attention humans. Please pay attention to the flying pink robot. She will get you out of here safely, if you FOLLOW her instructions. Please step lively, but not too quickly, to the exits immediately on your right and left. The floor will be settled momentarily, the seismic fallout from the Dinobot Snarl's assault has settled now. Please make your way out in an orderly fashion!" Quickswitch's claws shred long gouges into the studio floor. His ears flick back as the solid manifestation of sound slams into him, sending his massive feline form against some toppled chairs. He shifts up into his pistol mode, hanging in the air as he aims for Soundwave's chest along the length of his crimson barrel, "Get the hell out of here. /Now!/" he has given the despicable Decepticon more than enough quarter. Rumble crashes through a wall after being hit by Snarl. Presumably once outside he gets his bearings, however he's not coming back in for a while. Guess Americon gets to live another day! Rumble begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Security Sports Car, Dead End, Sky Lynx, Slag, Geo, Blitzwing, Air Raid, Quickswitch, Shockwave, Catechism, Fusillade, Durango, Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus , Soundwave. Dead End glances over at the struggle still going on with the Dinobot as he continues to walk in front of the crowd while pushing any obstructions out of the way. He stops in front of the doors before knocking out the doors and stepping aside to let the crowd flee in droves. He then begins to make his way back to the other Decepticons. Red Alert shifts into his car mode. Catechism snorts at Air Raid's speech. Sure, go report to Red Alert. Report that you failed to cover up what the Autobots are really like, is more like it. She continues to be generically helpful to the humans in the background. Quickswitch shrinks down into his seriously pistol mode. Soundwave holds up a hand to Quickswitch, defensively, backing up. He looks all the world like a horror movie victim recoiling in terror from the slasher of the flick. In fact, that's exactly what he's going for. "No, do not kill me, as you did so many other Decepticons, Quickswitch! At the very least, spare my Cassetticons this fate!" "Yeah!" Americon mutters weakly, standing up. "Killing him is un-American! In AMERICA!" "..shut up, you fool!" Soundwave mutters. Shockwave is mentally stunned that his calculations about the latest astro-seconds were wrong! Something is fishy here, the Autobots are up to something. As the cyclops closes on Snarl, Air Raid leaps infront of him making his big speech. Shockwave simply looks down at him "We did not incite anything. Your dinobot has been behaving in an unstable fashion from the very beginning." He runs a quick calculation regarding Air Raid's proposal. "I accept your proposal to go through you in order to restrain the out of control dinobot." With a surprising speed Shockwave's hand darts towards Air Raid's arm to grab him. The cyclops spins sideways while yanking hard in order to flip Air Raid out of the way. Shockwave succeeds in grasping Air Raid, throwing him off-balance. Seeing Quickswitch about to fire on Soundwave, Geo frowns, continuing to rush humans out of the building. "Don't kill him, please, Mangler!" she calls out. If Sky Lynx could show emotions, it would be one of disgust. He stopped in mid-step, and in sheer frustration lowly growled. Humans scantering about, decepticons and autobots alike helping.. expect for two-- mindless-- dinobots. "Dinobots-- STAND DOWN!" He said with a roar of authority and in his sheer size it rather echoed in the dome. However as Air Raid gets tossed over by Shockwave, he quickly cranes his neck over, grumbles, sneers, and sighs. "...bloody-- this war.. is madness.." He murmurs to himself. "Quickswitch!" Sky Lynx calls over to the sixchanger, "Help the humans, ignore Soundwave or give me a hand with calming down Snarl before he makes this place into nothing!" With that said Sky Lynx turns his attention back to Snarl. Air Raid goes flying. Shockwave is quite a bit larger than he is, afterall. He lands hard in the debris of the stage upside down. His fist slides in, and a single laser slides out, and he raises it, aiming it at Shockwave. "I said to leave him alone while /we/ get him under control, you one-eyed sociopath!" He fires his null-ray at Shockwave. You are temporarily incapacitated by Air Raid's Null-Ray attack. Security Sports Car is peeling out down the highway, he pulls up to the location that all the Autobot signals are coming from...doing a full donut. He spins several times before the fire chief's sports car springs up into the air, transforming into Red Alert. He lands in a combat crouch, rifle slung across his shoulder but not in any kind of ready position. His enhanced senses, newly tied into his combat computer, start reaching out and reading the situation both inside and out...little red reticules appearing all over the place. He mumbles to himself, "Slaggit. This has SNAFU written all over it if we don't get it under control." Red Alert shifts into his robot mode. This is, indeed, war and madness, and the two have rarely found a better combination than the Dinobot dynamo that men call Snarl. Anyone who's seen him in a fight know that he's -- well, a machine. You point him at something and he keeps going until it's flattened. This is actually working to his detriment right now, but he's never been a 'big picture' guy, it seems. When he's not sitting in the sand dunes doing nothing, he's fighting, and there aren't any dunes in this stadium. "HHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGHHH" he screams, licks of flame flaring from his mouth, as he sets his eyes on anything in his way. Seeing Dead End approach, he assumes the Stunticon is getting ready to attack, so that's where the streamer of fire goes. Snarl misses Dead End with his fire attack. Slag glares at Shockwave, as if daring him to attempt to perform the same technique on him to get closer to Snarl, but then... Snarl goes after Dead End. Slag stands around instead, looking confused (No attack) Laser Pistol 's form expands back into his enormous robot mode. He gives a disproving glance at Geo, then back at Soundwave, "I'm not about to kill you--which is more than you deserve," the Sixchanger abrubtly dismisses them and calls in the direction of Snarl, "Snarl--STOP! YOU MORON!" he shifts back to puma mode and leaps right in the path of Snarl's flames--to deter him and stop this insanity. Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into a mecha-puma. Catechism looks out and out terrified by Red Alert's arrival and, in fact, dives behind the camera crew to hide behind them. She doesn't actually fear Red Alert like that. She hates him, and she wants to hurt him, but humans are suckers for traumatised females. Catechism whimpers and quivers, wings trembling. And look ma, no devastation! Shockwave makes another mistake of dismissing the aerialbot so quickly after simply flinging him harmlessly into a pile of now empty chairs. The little one is smarter than he looks using a similar tactic on him that he used on the dinobot. The Professor's systems slow to crawl for a few seconds his movements becoming erratic. Shockwave tries to fight off the effects but it will take him a few astro-seconds to do so. Shockwave's brain starts to kill off any useless process and activate the sub-routines in the combat folder. Namely the one for combat against multiple opponent with terrain restriction of sensitive area and the condition not to harm the humans. Quite a feat to achieve all in one shot but if someone can it's him. Soundwave's head swivels as Air Raid blasts Shockwave with his null-ray. Obviously, Soundwave knows that attack merely stuns, not harms--but the audience watching at home may not know that little detail. "NO!" he shouts. "Do not harm Shockwave, Autobot!" He pulls out his Concussion Rifle from subspace, and lets the Aerialbot have it--KRAK-THOOOOM! barks the rifle as the bolt rips towards its target. Soundwave strikes Air Raid with Concussion Blast. Sky Lynx succeeds in grasping Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus , throwing him off-balance. Air Raid writhes as the blast from Soundwave strikes him, punching a hole through his chest armor. "Slaggit, Soundwave, you know as well as I do I used my null-ray on him! Stop hamming it up for the camera you monotone-voiced trashbin!" He staggers to his feet, turning himself over and pushing himself up. His rifle comes up then, leveled at Soundwave. "But since my stun-ray is now on recharge, guess what, Soundwave. You get to be hit with something else. He doesn't fire for a moment, taking careful aim. At Soundwave's rifle. A blast of energy leaps from his own, hoping to at least disarm the Decepticon. Air Raid strikes Soundwave with Torque Rifle - Low Power. Sky Lynx does what he can, which is place his paw down on Snarl in a very calm fashion and just enough force behind it to pin the Dinobot down. "Snarl-- listen to me.. and calm yourself.. or Kup will be very.. very angry with you. You don't want him to be angry with you, do you?" Slag continues standing around angrily, keeping an eye on Snarl. "Me Slag say you Snarl calm down or him Kup no tell you stories!" he says, in what is possibly considered a pleading tone for him. Slag isn't very good at it It must be hard to put a paw down on Snarl. Even an ungraceful form like his has a shot of wriggling free, because really, his top side is covered with those gorgeous, gleaming solar reflector plates. "Kup would /fight/," he shouts back up at Sky Lynx. "Him /Kup/ not a /sucker/!" With that, he tries to wrench himself free of Sky Lynx' paw. Snarl misses Sky Lynx with his grasp attack. Autobot Shuttle Ol' Rusty arrives from Mexico to the southwest. Autobot Shuttle Ol' Rusty has arrived. Red Alert looks around the outside of the location and smirks as his battlefaceplate slides in. He can only hope they remain distracted enough not to notice him. He hasn't had normal lead time...but at least, due to his OCD, he has studied the pysch profiles of those inside...both good and bad. And realizes the best course of action. Though he really wishes he had normal lead time. This is so much easier when you have normal lead time. He aims his commando rifle at the roof and a hook fires out. The hook drags him up to the roof and his enhanced audials help him to feel out the situation inside. He moves quietly along the roof and comes to his spot, a drill coming out of his arm. He drills a large hole in the ceiling, pulling it out and sticking his rifle and scope through the hole. He starts to take in the scene, readying a sniper blast for when the humans are clear. He thinks to himself oO( Come on guys, get out of there. Give me a clear shot at the sons of bitches) Cyber-Puma remains where he is, on all fours, chuffing down at Slag and keeping his optics trained on the Decepticons. Not currently engaged. Not. Currently. Engaged. You bastards! From Autobot Shuttle Ol' Rusty, Kup lands in a clear area about 1/4 mile from the action. He exits and secures the shuttle and heads up towards where things are hapening. Kup leaves the Autobot Shuttle Ol' Rusty Kup has arrived. Kup transforms with a sound that predates its "classic" counterpart by several centuries into his likewise out-of-production Cybertronian truck altmode. Geo FLIES AWAY with the last of the humans! Geo begins retreating, leaving herself vulnerable to parting shots from Kup, Autobot Shuttle Ol' Rusty, Red Alert, Sky Lynx, Slag, Blitzwing, Rumble, Air Raid, Cyber-Puma , Shockwave, Catechism, Fusillade, Durango, Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus , Soundwave. Soundwave is shot right in his gun hand, and he drops it, grunting in pain. He rubs the smoking wound there, but even as he does so, appearing to be taking a break from fighting, his right shoulder hums, then finally lets loose with a loud sonic boom, aimed at Quickswitch--clearly another attempt to provoke him! And yet again, it's very difficult for most people to tell where that attack is coming from. Soundwave misses Cyber-Puma with his Shake, Shake, Shake Your Arm Off attack. Blitzwing stays beside Shockwave, as if guarding him (which he is because of the closet cleaning business with Brawl). Shockwave finally recovers from the null-ray attack and pushes his mathematical co-processor into overdrive as he begins to compile the data generated all around him in order to pick the optimal decision. Shockwave moves towards Soundwave in order to back him up in case things get more violent. While doing so he keeps his weapon-hand aimed squarely at the aerialbot. He then addresses Air Raid "See what you did? Catechism is terrorized at the idea of her torturer being on his way here. Soundwave is destabilized by the thought of 'the Mangler' getting ahold of his tapes and on top of that you have a rabid dinobot tearing up the place. Can't you see the sheer psychological scars you inflicted on my comrades?" Kup lands from one way in the shuttle. A few minutes later, from the opposite direction, comes rolling up on Red Alert's position as indicate by the transmission. He transforms and comes alongside his old friend, He speaks quietly, "What's the sitrep, lad?" Sky Lynx keeps the dinobot pinned.. somehow, thank primus for it. His attention turns to Shockwave with a sneer-- the last of the humans starting to make it out, however cameras still rolling, so Sky Lynx barked over at the camera crew, "Get out of here while you can! Shoo! Go go!" he said flicking his tail slightly toward the exit, before turning his attention to Shockwave, "Scars hmm? Let us not talk about the sweeps and the vampirism." Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus continues to wriggle and struggle, unhappy and making it obvious. Air Raid would roll his optics if he could. "Please, Shockwave. Soundwave is hamming it up so badly for the camera it's amazing he's not actually dripping with actual meat. Catechism's act is straight out of the best soap operas, and whatever feelings they may have have not kept them from doing their level best to provoke every Autobot here." He keeps his rifle covering Soundwave, Shockwave, and Blitzwing. "Tell you what. If we're so horrible, and you've got soooo much to fear, why don't you leave? I won't shoot at you." Red Alert might, but Air Raid won't. Red Alert looks down from the roof and the whole he has cut in the ceiling...aiming down at the Decepticons below. He takes his optic off the scope only to nod down at Kup who is moving up towards him. "They're all down in there. Playing us for the fools. They're making us look like real asses. The humans haven't cleared out...or I'd have already taken a shot. But I think that's what they want anyway. If I could just get a secure message inside to Sky Lynx...I could drop a smoke bomb and we could get in there and move the rest of the humans out unimpeded." Slag turns to face Snarl. "Him Kup coming here, me Slag say you wait for him Kup before try to destroy them Decepticons!" He then turns to face the Decepticons, holding his sword ready. "Me Slag am think you Decepticons listen to him Fireflight" he says Dan Rathernot, being the seasoned, hardened journalist that he is; having weathered wars and pestilence, natural distasters and revolutions, spent most of the night under a table, before making a run for it about an hour ago. Cyber-Puma 's form compresses into his relatively small pistol mode and clatters to the ground, avoiding the sonic barrage from that monotonous slagheap, "Don't they realize they'll get killed? They're not like us," part of the top of the gun flashes green as he speaks. He shifts back up into robot mode, "No luck so far, Soundwave... you missed the moment," he says, oddly. Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode. Shockwave turns to Sky Lynx "Sweeps and vampirism? Just like an Autobot to pick on sickly mechs. The sweeps have a 'condition' and we are working with medical personel to cure them of it. Of course they are not 'perfect' like you Autobots or dinobots of course. They simply need compassion and understanding. With the right help we -can- make them better into better cybertronians." Allright Shockwave does not beleive any of this crap however he came to the conclusion the charade must be maintained and given as much credibility in order for Soundwave's op to gain success. All in the optic of a successful mission. For the moment he seems to be ignoring Air Raid's comment and focusing on Sky Lynx's biggotry towards 'special' cybertronians. Soundwave scowls at Quickswitch for a moment, thought his disdain isn't obvious. And though he muses that Shockwave would indeed like to "fix" the Sweeps--permanently--he hides that, as well. "Hypocritical criticism. We have already seen that many of your soldiers are violent, unstable rejects." He gestures at Snarl. "The Sweeps, in contrast, are highly disciplined and not prone to random destruction." "A real serious condition," mutters Blitzwing. Sky Lynx succeeds in grasping Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus , throwing him off-balance. Quickswitch shrinks down into his seriously pistol mode. Faster than the eye can follow, Quickswitch transforms into a mecha-puma. "And love ripping out laser-cores and tasting the very mech-fluid from their pray, at least the Dinobots have some form of dignity." Sky Lynx then reaches down and picks up Snarl in his mouth. Yes-- in his mouth, lifing the dinobot off the ground and trotting him out. Some dignity this was-- but at least get him out of here. Since he was indeed the true cause of the problem. Motioning to Quickswitch with his tail, then pointing it toward the media in a silent way of saying, 'get them out of here.' Conspicuous Metal Stegosaurus is trotted out, mouthly. Air Raid lowers his rifle, turning away from the cons, back to the humans of the media. "I think it's time we said our good byes. This doesn't look like it's going to end anytime soon." He grabs two who aren't moving, lifts them, and begins to walk towards the exit. Slag heads out towards the exit with the other Autobots, picking up some not-moving humans along the way along with... GASP, Americon! Slag appears to not notice that he's got a cassette rather than a human Cyber-Puma snarls at that one-eyed logical monstrousity, "They aren't even CYBERTRONIANS!" Meaning the Sweeps, of course, "They're abhoritions," Quickswitch calmly pads in a slow semi-circle to where the media is located, "Listen, I'm the one Soundwave called 'the Manglar," he utters through fanged teeth, "If you leave right now, I'll give one of you an exclusive interview." Red Alert looks through his scope and zooms in quietly on the back of Soundwave's head, clicking in magnification to get a very specific part. The vision and hearing control center. It will only disorient him for a second of two if it hits...but it might give them enough time to get everyone out unhurt without serious shots being fired. Humans included. He keeps his sight focused, "All right Kup...remember this trick?" he reaches one hand into his hip compartment and pulls out a large smoke bomb, popping the top and dropping it in into the astrodome, "The old pick and cherry." he then takes aim with his rifle and snaps off the shot at Soundwave's control center. It's an electrical disruption blast. True commando style. Sneaky little Red Alert. "Let's hope they can get them out. That smoke bomb will only last about thirty seconds in an area this large..." Red Alert strikes Soundwave with Commando Rifle . Cyber-Puma turns to the camera, giving a toothy feline grin, "I'm civilized." Cyber-Puma picks up a human in his mouth and lopes away toward the exit. Woot. Rumble soars upward to the Sky above the Central United States. Rumble has left. Kup hops down from behind the building and comes out, as if coming from the direction he landed the shuttle in. In the smoke, he moves quick to find members of the media and his fellow Autobots and start getting them to safety. "C'mon, people, we gotta move - it's about to get very ugly in here very quickly." Soundwave hrrrkghs as everything suddenly goes black, and his audials go out, too. Oh, Primus, is he dead? Well, judging from the pain in the back of his head, and the fact he's still intercepting radio transmissions, not quite yet. Someone must've made a pinpoint strike on his cerebral control centers, and while his self-repair systems will take care of it soon enough, he won't be able to tell much of what's going on until they're back. So he simply falls forward into the rubble, hoping somebody helps him up. Meanwhile, Americon protests his "rescue," legs kicking out wildly. "You can't kidnap me! Do you know who I am? I'm an AMERICAN! In AMERICA!" Shockwave watches as Soundwave collapses next to him victim of a hidden assassin. "Traitorous dogs! You preach about peace and place assassins inside a building with humans! I am appalled and I only hope the humans will have the good sense not to follow you and to leave on their own. I can only imagine some will be tortured until they validate -your- story." He crouches down and picks up the fallen form of Soundwave while facing a camera. "Another victim of Autobot hypocrisy. How many more must suffer this fate before the world wakes up?" he says before flying out with his fellow commander. Shockwave begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Kup, Autobot Shuttle Ol' Rusty, Sky Lynx, Cyber-Puma , Fusillade. Blitzwing transforms and swoops away after Shockwave, flying escort. "This would never happen if Decepticons held a press conference!" Blitzwing unfolds and reconfigures himself rapidly, wings snapping out and locking into position as he assumes his aerial form. Blitzwing begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Autobot Shuttle Ol' Rusty Once outside, Sky Lynx is noticably favoring the side where his wing was damaged, sparks flicking from the joints, and interestingly enough effecting his transformation where he couldn't transform into a shuttle. It was between the joints of the shuttle wing and the blue part of his dragonic wing, metal bent, cut, and pierced right through. Mech fluid gently dripping from the wing along with some energon. Once outside, Sky Lynx lowers Snarl to the ground and grunts softly, "At least-- that has been delt with." He remarks softly to himself, the pain now starting to get to him, but doing his best to ignore it. "..and the humans are all safe." The problem Lynx realized was how he was going to get back. Like this, he was to large to ride on the shuttle and if he couldn't transform, then that didn't help either. Blasted all-- why in such a vital area? Slag stares at Americon. "Wait, you no human! You tricked me Slag!" Slag then throws Americon towards the retreating form of Shockwave, just because. He then lowers the humans to the ground and looks around Red Alert turns around on his back and slides down the astrodome, as he hits the bottom of the roof he latches his little hook thing onto the edge and slides down the rope to the ground. He lands in a crouch, shirking his smoking rifle to subspace as he shakes his head, "Oy. This is bad. Real bad. But at least we got everyone out of there alive and unhurt." Snarl, meanwhile, is annoyed that the fight has been taken away from him, but really, he's not the kind of bitterly hold grudges. As if someone had hit an 'off' switch, he just complacently rests on his belly wherever he's dropped. Air Raid sets down the humans he rescued, then stands up to lean against the building, trails of smoke still rising from the hole in his chest. "Yeah. Bad doesn't even begin to cover it." Sky Lynx looked over to Red Alert, "The media, from an old song, loves dirty laundy--" glances over to one of the camera man and stares at him for a moment. "But-- we should hold discussions for the latter at base." Sighs softly and starts walking, "I suppose I will see everyone back at base. It will be a long walk." Snarl succeeds in grasping Shockwave, throwing him off-balance. Cyber-Puma drops the human he was carrying once he's a safe distance away from the building, "You get an interview. Contact Autobot City--now get out of here!" he growls with a feral edge before transforming up into his big green hulk of a robot mode. He brings his fingers to his chin, sighs heavily and wonders just what the frag they're going to do now, glancing around at the smoking building and retreating Cons. Quickswitch springs up into his massive robot mode. Red Alert hehs and shakes his head, stowing his gear in various different compartments. His faceplate slides away, revealing a grim look. "Who said anything about walking?" he transforms and revs his engine, "I'll be looking into nipping this in the bud." Red Alert drives off Kup comes over to where they're at. "They've tried this thing before, ya know. Making themselves look like victims when they were at their victimizng worst. They haven't tried it here because they weren't any lesser of two evils things going on here. Now they think they can implicate us in a string of horrible things, starting with this torture business." Sky Lynx looks back at the group and over at Kup, "Torture Buisness? When did that start and how?" Kup shrugs, "I dunno, but I heard 'em talking about it while I was coming on scene." Slag shrugs. "Me Slag hear that what debate was about, so me Slag come along for bodyguarding because it involve Decepticons" Air Raid nods. "I know, Kup. I know. I wasn't around then, but some of the stunts they've pulled in the past are pretty heavily written into public record. But....I was coming to this thing tonight to show my support for Quickswitch. It's been in the reports. Don't you guys check those? But I didn't realize I was going to end up being the keynote speaker. I ended up in a battle of wits against Soundwave and Shockwave. Even at my best, that's beyond what I'm able to do." Kup nods, "I know Air Raid - I'm not sayin' ya did bad. I'm just saying they are presenting a series of misconceptions and half truths." Sky Lynx hrms and continues walking, wincing a little as he does as sparks fling from his wing. His tail nearly hovering just a few inches from the ground. He wasn't happy about his own personal situation, now even more so with the media. Not only that, but how many autobots it seems forgot just what it ment to be an autobot-- he was right, there was a true division, and if the division continued, there would be a storm, a very bad one. He didn't want his calculations to be right, he wanted to be wrong, but it was the nagging feeing. You take off and soar upward to the Sky above the Central United States. ***** *** * * * * * * *** *** **** * * *** * * * * *** * * *** *** ** * * ** * ** * *** *** *** * * *** *** * * * * *** **** * * *** * * * * *
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![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)