This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things

The blues and violets that blanket the city darken here, edging into midnight blue and indigo. The suffusing, scintillating light dims, and only scraps and snatches of illumination are available, hinting at forms rather than revealing the truth of structure. Will-o-the-wisp lights flicker in and out, suggesting sparking wires or perhaps the sinister optics of the security cameras. When activated, the translucent turquoise force fields cast more light than anything else. The long shadow-silhouettes of bars fashioned like rib cages are cast on the ground. The filigreed manacles are deceptively slender, but pound for pound, their grasp is far stronger than spider-silk, nigh unbreakable. From the ceiling hang the various tools of torture, perhaps the teeth of an iron maiden here and the cage of a gibbet there.

Contents: Scourge Air Raid Obvious exits: South  leads to NCC Arena.

Air Raid punches the forcefield over and over until a few knuckles seem to break. "RRAGHH!" he roars, and jabs a finger at Scourge. "Oh, you know it! I'd blast your fast clear off, then stab you to death with the barrel! Wanna' try it? C'MON SWEEP!"

Scourge watches Air Raid's display and smirks, very much tempted to do just that. It would be easy to get a medic in here to repair him once more. But then, would it be worth the repercussions should Galvatron find out? "I will say you have some bravado, Autobot. But you wouldn't make it to the door before I had your internal components strewn out on the floor at your feet."

Darkwing slowly decends into the Dungeon to see how the Prisoner is doing. "My my, you certainly seem rather spry this morning." Darkwing says as he approaches the cell. I'm surprised you still not on the floor crying like a protoform begging to be left alone."

Air Raid glares hard at Scourge's optics, flexing fingers. He knows full well he wouldn't get two inches from the door without Sweep claws ripping into his fuel tanks. Tried to get by Tremor earlier, didn't work so well. When Darkwing approaches, Raid instantly backs away to the wall, his bravado melting away.

Scourge watches the sudden change in Air Raid's behavior, and turns to see Darkwing. How very interesting. With that display, he would have expected Galvatron. "I'm curious, Darkwing, why this thing in the cage cowers at your appearance, but seems intent on trying to taunt /me/ into ripping him to pieces."

Darkwing grins broadly both at seeing Air Raid back away from the cage, loosing all the bluster he had, and at Scourge's question. "Its becuase I remind him of how much of a failure he is, Around me; he sees the truth he can't stand to face. That he'll never be as good as real jet; just some knock off Optimus Prime made. If he was only on the right side, then maybe he would be a worthy warrior, maybe even Air Commander by now. But instead, he follows a coward that can barely get off the ground." Darkwing, quite simply, can be very good at breaking down other's mech mental stability just was well as he could break them physically.

"Ahh. So you've broken him?" Scourge chuckles, and then he turns back to Air Raid. "I would not be overly proud of that fact. Autobots break far too easily. A pity, though. I was rather enjoying watching him throw himself against the forcefield trying to get to me."

Air Raid /tries/ to retort, for what it's worth. "Shut up! Why don't you go lick Galvatron's feet! Don't you have anything better to do!?" He stays splayed against the cell wall, looking back and forth between the two Decepticons. The 'bot known for his fearlessness is now rather fearful of the next mere /word/ Darkwind might say. Primus, he could use some sky right about now.

You say, "They break easily, becuase they don't have the same fire within them. Its tempered and cooled, rather then grown. Even now he struggles to come up with the 'wit', if you could really call it that, that he had last night." Darkwing explains, its clear that he's having fun with the Aerialbot. "Its not pride of breaking him, I just enjoy seeing it when others realize the truth of their existance. If only Dreadwind was here, then we'd see what depths this Fuax-Seeker can plunge." He says and addresses Air Raid finally. "Anything better to do? You think there is something better in the universe then watching a once 'mighty' Autobot, cowering at my feet? Surely you don't think your better, that you wouldn't be gloating over me if it was I who was beaten and at your feet? Like Windshear said; you no better then us. Your just on the wrong side.""

Scourge laughs at Darkwing's words. Oh, yes, he would have made a wonderful Sweep, had he been with the batch of dead and dying Decepticons in Unicron's presence. Ahh, but such was not to be, and Darkwing was, instead, just a seeker with a knack for breaking the minds of others. "I disagree, Darkwing. This.../thing/, lying broken in his cell, is not merely on the 'wrong side'. He is truly a pathetic waste of energon. Even if he were a Decepticon, he would not be any better than he is now. No, he would have been terminated long before he reached this point."

Air Raid eventually sinks to the ground. Now Scourge has joined, apparently filling in for Dreadwind and kicking aft at it. "No..." he whispers, "That's not true... you don't know what you're talking about. Neither of you do! J-just some mindless drones, lucky to have sentience!"

That was probably the reasons those like Sunder and Dredclaw enjoyed his company so much. "There are good arguements for both sides, Scourge. He and his kinda were created in our image. Simple knockoffs, that will never live up to being a real Seeker. But if what skill and bravado he does, or did, have had been fanned by Megatron or other great leaders; he might just have had some REAL potential. But then, such concepts will be forever unknown to us. We never will be sure if he always would have been a waste of energon, or if he might have stood out among real seekers for his ruthlessness in combat. It just a shame to know that even Starscream was a better jet then he'll ever be."

Scourge shakes his head. "No, Darkwing, his 'ruthlessness' in combat, as you call it, was merely a facade. An attempt to make others think he was mightier than he truly is." Keying in the code to lower the forcefield, the Sweep steps into the cell and moves to stand over Air Raid. "Mindless drones, are we? Then what does that make /you/? Being beaten by an Insecticon, who probably just thought you were a tasty morsel?" Calling Scourge a 'mindless drone' was probably /not/ a good idea, as it seems to have pushed him past the point of just taunting, and into the realm of 'Please, swing at me so I have an excuse to rip out your internal components.' Not that Scourge really needed a reason, but he didn't want to have to drag another medic in here just because he wanted to gut an Autobot.

Air Raid would bore through the wall if he could, just to get /away/ from these winged demons. His optics track Scourge into the cell, and he scrambles upright. Angry, wrought with pain, and fighting back Scrapper's device-induced hallicunations, he foolishly lunges for the Sweep, praying that all of this would go away if he could just land a punch. Combat: Air Raid misses Scourge with his Punch attack!

Oh, how he would have rather just gutted this Autobot. Scourge restrained himself this time, however, and just stepped to the side, watching Air Raid lunge towards him. "And still he proves how truly pathetic he is. He can't even hit me when I'm standing directly in front of him." Oh, he wasn't going to /gut/ the Autobot, but he wasn't going to stand by and do nothing, however. So instead of just watching the Autobot lunge /past/ him, one of his clawed hands struck out to grab the fool by his throat. Combat: Scourge strikes Air Raid with his Grab attack!

Darkwing chuckles softly. "Either way, Surely you'd agree that it is more demoralizing to our enemies if one of their own came to our side. Realized that we were right all along. They EXPECT to be killed, they don't expect for their buddies to return to the battle feild, gunning down their former friends and allies. Its a much stronger blow to their mindset. Even if they do recover him and turn him back; they know that there is a chance others might start to question their cuase as well." Darkwing says and follows Scourge into the cage, makign sure to block the Aerialbot's means of escape. "Look at yourself, such pathtic slag. You can't even hit someone giving you a free shot."

Bonecrusher looks into the room in the dungeon where they keep the Autobot prisoners, concerned about all the noise. "Hey, what's going on? Prisoner get out or what?"

Air Raid is just trying to tune out Darkwing at this point, who keeps bringing up 'potential'. Scourge just doesn't seem to care. Speaking of! "Guhk!" Raid's grasped by the neck, and claws at Scourge's hands, thrashing to free himself. "Lemme' go - !!" He /tries/ to kick the Sweep in the shin. They're both in the open cell, by the way. Combat: Air Raid misses Scourge with his Kick attack!

Scourge looks up at Bonecrusher's entrance and smirks, holding Air Raid by the throat, lifting him off the ground and turning his cruel optics back to the Aerialbot. "No, Bonecrusher, we are merely reminding this pathetic excuse for a warrior that he is, indeed, a tremendous waste of energon." Laughing at Air Raid's futile attempt to kick him, he sneers at the Autobot once more. "And still you do all the work, proving my point. Darkwing, do you truly think that /this/ has anything remotely resembling potential?" Standing there holding Air Raid by the throat, he gives the Aerialbot a good shake, emphasizing his point.

Scrapper has a patient to look after. Until he gets in the supplies that he needs, he can't do much, but he does so try to be an attentive physician. He nods to Bonecrusher on the way in, and he looks over at the cell and sighs. One hand on his hip, Scrapper observes dryly, "Prisoners go on the inside. The rest of you, generally speaking, do not. What's the trouble now?"

Darkwing pulls out one of his blasters, Darkwing isn't much for melee attacks; least not compared to a Sweep. "Maybe we should just put him down. But then that would just cease the wonderful suffering that he has to put up with." Darkwing says with a soft chuckle. "Not any more, We've beaten most of that potential out of him. I'm surprised he's not leaking lubericant all over you at this point." Darkwing says and looks to Scrapper. "The Faux-Seeker though it was a good idea to call Scourge Mindless. I'm just making sure he doesn't try to make a break for it while he is tauaght a lession."

Air Raid grasps and claws, all for naught. He can't break free from that vice grip, so he stops struggling and decides to, at least, burn some audials. "Waste of energon!? YOU'RE ALL PATHETIC! Every fraggin' single one of ya', COWARDS! G'hh! Bunch' a sniveling tar bags!" He hasn't learned his lesson yet.

Scourge doesn't take those cold, crimson optics off of Air Raid while he replies to the others. "He is /not/ to be 'put down', Darkwing. His continued existence will further the Empire, in one way or another. Do not forget the purpose of his capture. Scrapper, I may be a few minutes. But you'll certainly be needed when I'm finished." And, still clutching at the Aerialbot's throat with one hand, the Sweep leader smirks and takes the clawed fingers of his other hand and pressed them to Air Raid's chest. Not doing much at that point, he laughs suddenly, draws his hand back, and then brings it forward sharply, so those fingers punch through the armor of his helpless opponent. Combat: Scourge strikes Air Raid with his Rip-out-your-innards attack! [Pulled -4]

Scrapper points out, "Mindless? That isn't even a very good insult." Then, he stops himself from going any further down that road, as it is probably unwise. Scrapper considers that there is no way that Air Raid should be able to get past Darkwing, let alone Darkwing and /Scourge/, plus Bonecrusher on the outside. So. Scrapper should /really/ be careful, because one in a million chances happen nine times out of ten. He says in a patient, soothing voice, as much as he can, given his rasp, "I can tell you're feeling very angry and stressed right now, Air Raid. That's... fantastic. It's going to speed up the mental breakdown you're having. You could, of your own free will, calm down and slow the mental trauma you're experiencing. You could give in, submit, and accept your fate. As your doctor, I do have to inform you that would be the healthier option than all this rage. Of course, full disclosure says that the healthiest option would have been to not offend Scouge."

Darkwing luaghs loudly. "Well, you certain;y seemed to have gotten a bit of your fight back; too bad that I have to agree with Scourge. At this point its just an act, becuase you know your never going to escape. Might as well listen to scrapper and just give in. You'll have a longer life then. A long life of knowing just what a miserable wreck you are and will always be. Any potineal you might have had wasted, becuase you mouthed off to the wrong sweep."

Well if anything will shut Raid up, it's this. Right after he howls in agony as his fuel lines are ripped through and some rather important looking components fall to the ground. "HhaHGH!" Scrapper's advice, while sound, is just a bit too late. No choice but to calm down now. His arms fall to his sides and he goes limp, shuddering.

Scourge tosses the suddenly limp Air Raid to the floor and turns to step out of the cell once again. "I don't believe he will forget my lesson anytime in the near future." Looking at Darkwing, he smirks. "Everything he does and says is an act, Darkwing. I believe I just proved that point." Looking at Scrapper as he steps out of the cell, "I am finished with your patient now."

Scrapper looks down at the components on the floor, pulls out a datapad, and writes a few notes. He asides to Bonecrusher, "Getting in the components to really get Air Raid into mint condition is going to be such a pain. Autobots don't machine their F-15 parts the way we do. If I just tried stock Seeker parts on him, he'd reject them, and there'd be these nasty cracks all over him as they fall off." He gestures with his hands. "Too many million years of different technical growth for full cross-system compatibility. I'm going to be stuck machining a lot of components by hand."

With a smirk and a chuckle, Scourge watches Scrapper taking notes on the components that he had just removed from the Aerialbot. "Go and take them from other Autobots. I'll bring you back a collection when I return from gathering the other Autobots we require."

Darkwing chuckles softly letting Scourge by, as he steps out of the cell. "True. You did a very good job at that Scourge. Though Air Raid here has tuaght me something." He says with a wide grin. "He's tuaght me, just how much fun it can be to guard a broken down prisoner. I guess its a good thing everything I learned about being a good Prison guard; I learned from Autobots. He should be proud that he's got a guard that is upholding their ideals when it comes to prisoners." Darkwing says and steps from the cells to let Scrapper in if needed.

Air Raid sprawls on his back, bleeding, and so very out of it. F-15 parts? What exactly did the psycho medic have in mind? Raid decides he doesn't want to know, and hopes he'll just back out soon. Darkwing, of course, doesn't help his mental trauma.

"Mint?" asks Bonecrusher, rolling his eyes. "Mint in box? Fresh paint and everything? Man, what a hassle. Stupid aliens, so demanding."

Scrapper does enter the cell, and he quietly kneels to collect the pieces of Air Raid on the floor, quickly sorting them into three piles: operational components he can just slot back in, parts he can fix with a bit of work, and lost causes to donate to Scavenger's junk collection. He replies eagerly to Scourge, "Autobot aircraft would be the best donors - Powerglide, Jetfire, those other pesky Aerialbots, any of their fake Autobot Seekers." He shrugs. "I've already started work on the cardback, and I'm thinking bridge steel cable for the twist ties."

Scourge looks at Bonecrusher and shrugs. "I honestly doubt that alien cares about paint. I will collect what I can, Scrapper. You should be well-supplied in a few days." Looking at Darkwing, he smirks. "Good. See that you continue to be such a 'good' guard for our prisoner.

Bonecrusher points out, "If we could catch the other Autobot fliers long enough to strip them for parts we might be able to capture them for the guy. How many Autobots do we need anyhow?"

Air Raid can't bring himself to vocally oppose the capture of his brethren; he finds he can't even move. So, he doesn't talk nor twitch! What a good patient.

Scourge watches Scrapper going through the parts he just tore from Air Raid, and replied to Bonecrusher's question. "I believe we only need two."

Scrapper, once he has shipped in all the parts, is totally going to paint up Air Raid so that he's all pretty! And then tie up Air Raid in a plastic blister bubble with steel bridge cable and seal him to a cardback with Air Raid's technical specifications on the back. That's clearly the right way to do this job. He hazards, "One or two? That, and tearing an arm off Powerglide is more tolerable than actually having to put up with Powerglide, you will find."

You say, "Three or four in all, but they've got to be 'unique' Specimins. We got a Combiner/Flyer. I dont think he'd want another. Least thats how it sounded from what he said to Galvatron.""

Pretty? PRETTY? Raid doesn't want to be pretty. He wants to go home and play World of Everquesting Starcraftwars and drink all the high grade he can handle. Alas. The pain finally drives him to sorta' zone out.

Scrapper agrees, "There is nothing particular unique about the rest of the Aerialbots. Rip-off of both Seekers and our combiner process." Having found the few usuable parts, he puts them back in Air Raid, and he stashes the rest to tinker with later or donate the hopeless ones to Scavenger. "Can't see why you'd want more than one, expect to make Superion." Combat: Scrapper prepares Air Raid for surgery, his COMBAT flag has been waived.

Scourge watches for a few more moments, then turns to leave the dungeon. "I believe that 'unique' Autobots can be found. There are more than enough Autobots to choose from."

You say, "Well I guess some might have to get them all. Isn't that the Collector mentality? I've seen humans flock over some stupid dribble becuase they needed 'the whole collection' even maiming others in the process of completing the set.""

Scrapper promises or perhaps warns, "I'll be back later. Try not to leak out in a puddle on the floor. Zombies aren't really 'in' this season, so I'd hate to have to do you up as one." That said, he exits the cell and the dungeon, off to work on some machining.

Bonecrusher leaves with Scrapper, as Constructicons usually do!