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| - Directly above the central shaft of the Bellum is the Command Spire. Five ports in the ceiling of the shaft each lead to a spiral staircase that winds up around an enormous cylinder at the base of the spire. This area serves as a prison block for those awaiting trial. Cells line the outside of the cylinder. Speakers and monitors throughout the area, none of them actually inside the cells, broadcast the trials for the other prisoners to see. There's a stirring in one of the other cells. A distinctly non-synthesized groaning. Sounds like another human prisoner is waking up. Angel is asleep for now, having finally passed out from exhaustion; he's been afraid to sleep. And for good reason. The Cobra sniper is murmuring in his sleep, distressed. Lowdown shifts uncomfortably as he slowly swims back toward consciousness. He remembers being on patrol, and hearing Temera shriek... running through Los Angeles as spotting the Quintesson operative... then a lot of pain. Radiation. Skin blistering. He suddenly sits up with a start, almost hyperventilating immediately. He looks himself over... not even a scratch. "What the..." >>BWEEEE!!!<< "Oh, me Snarl no should party." The dinobot's optics start to glow, coming back online. Rising up, he looks around, growling, "Where are we?" The laser bars causes him to groan, "Did me Snarl get put in brig again?" Angel moans quietly in his sleep, curling up a bit. The dinobot's words startle him enough to wake him up, and he groans, sitting up slowly. "...." The Cobra blinks wearily, and looks over to Lowdown. "...Lowdown?" he asks, sounding confused. "...Dammit, I was hoping I'd wake up, back home..." Lowdown is rather surprised to find himself no longer suffering from the lethal effects of neutron radiation. Pleasantly so. He looks around his own cell, the other voices not registering just yet. He notices the only other occupant of his cell is Temera and checks to make sure she has a pulse. That's about when he hears his name... Lowdown does not recognize the voice, "Who's out there?" Blast Off lies in his cell, optics dim. The shuttleformer was taken by Seawing after Bruticus was defeated in an epic battle on the beaches of Japan by Piranacon the other night. Seawing had remembered how the Combaticon had recently (nearly) single-handedly taken down the Quintesson ship he had been piloting- and Seawing wanted revenge, apparently. Blast Off has some signs of battle- his part of Bruticus took some damage and there are tears and cracks on his armor. The Combaticon's violet-gray optics slwoly start to come back online. Snarl rises up, looking around, "Whedre is me Snarl?" "It's me, Angel. We were holed up together in LA, remember?" the Cobra sniper calls from his cell. He pauses as he hears what sounds to him like a drunken Cybertronian grumble. "The Quintessons are holding us... for some reason." he answers, hopefully loud enough for the Cybertronian to hear. Lowdown takes a few moments to let the information sink in, still primarly focused on making sure that his fellow Joe is alive and relatively healthy. The other voices are starting to filter into the moment, "Angel... yeah, I remember." Satisfied that Temera isn't going to implode or melt at a moment's notice, he stands up and goes toward the laser bars, "Snarl. Good to hear your voices. Who else is in here?" Snarl grahs!, "ME NO WANT BE PART OF SQUID HEAD JAIL!" The dinobot transforms, and starts pacing the cell, his thagomizer showing off just how agitated he isSnarl twists and lies down, transforming into his dino mode. Blast Off continues to lie there for a moment as he returns to consciousness. Violet optics are fully bright now as he sits up, rubbing his head. Slaggit. Prison? Again? The previous Renegade Decepticon and Mercenary is no stranger to prison, but the last few times he was captured really did not go well for him. Having his body destroyed and his mind placed in a box for several millions years is not an experience he cares to repeat. He hears voices and, getting up, takes stock in his situation. He hears Lowdown's question and replies, "Snarl? You mean I'm stuck in here with an Autobot... and some fleshlings, from the sound of it? Great." "There's an Alley Viper in here with me, but she hasn't woken up yet." Angel reports from his cell, getting to his feet. "...Any idea why the Quints captured us? I... really hope it's not to be experiment subjects..." he gulps quietly checking to make sure his suicide pill is still there. Lowdown was genuinely pleased to hear Snarl's voice, which is unusual for him. He's not fond of the Transformers, but Snarl has actually earned a degree of appreciation from him, maybe even respect. Then Blast Off goes and ruins the moment. Ignoring the Decepticon's distaste, he goes on to report, "I've got another Joe in here with me... As for what they're planning to do with us, if there aren't any other prisoners in this area, they've probably got something special planned for us." Snarl goes over to face the cage where Blast Off is, "ME SNARL GLAD ME NO IN CAGE WITH BLAST OFF! ME WOULD THAGOMIZE JUST FOR QUIET!" Turning, he goes over to where Lowdown is, "Me think they may put us on trial. If can call tossed to Sharkycons trial!" Blast Off looks around his cell, trying to find a weakness, but with no success. Hearing one of the humans speak of "expiriment subjects" doesn't make him any happier. He replies to Lowdown, "Oh, I'm sure they do have something special planned. I single-handedly destroyed one of their ships... though has anyone else accomplished such a magnificent display of battle prowess? I would think not..." Then Snarl rages at the Combaticon. He huffs, "As if. I would run circles around a slow simpleton such as yourself." But Snarl's mention of a Sharcticon trial is less than pleasant to think about... Angel pales a bit, though no one awake can see him right now to verify the fact. "What?! Fed to... those mechanical monsters?" He's not happy, an that's a huge understatement. He takes a couple deep breaths, trying to calm down. "..." Lowdown forces himself to remain calm, not really sure what's going to happen next. Maybe this is that 'one last time' he's always making peace with. And if his comrades panic, that can be a series detriment at the wrong time, "Just stay focused, Angel. What's your cell look like?" Temera awakens just a little bit, shifting slightly. Lowdown hears his cellmate shifting and turns around, kneeling down beside her, "Hey, you alright?" "Uh, it's... empty, sparse. I think it was built for a Cybertronian." Angel says. Forcing himself to focus on his surroundings helped calm the fidgetty sniper. "It's just me, and the Alley Viper here..." Snarl goes over to where he hears the squishies, "Me think the squid heads had construct special cages for humans." Temera moans softly and glances up. "Er... I'll be okay. What happened? I was hit with an electric charge, dont remember much after that." Blast Off leans against the wall of his cell. The shuttle has looked it over for any signs of weakness or means of escape, but there are none to be found. Now he has nothing to do but wait, apparently. The space shuttle is used to long periods of nothing to do, given all his time flying through vast stretches of space. He just wishes he were in space right now, and not here. Lowdown glances around the room again, speaking to Temera, "That guy hit me with something... nasty." He actually shivers at the memory, "I think they brought us into that tower after they knocked us out. We're in some kind of prison..." Snarl finds spot to start to gnaw on, thagomizer swishingTemera droops at that and nods. "Great." There's a faint sound echoing from above, outside the cells. A tromp of heavy metal feet. Angel sighs. "Another captive?" he wonders aloud. Lowdown stands up, moving to the laser bars, his head tilted to one side. He listens intently for a few moments, "Don't think so... Footsteps sound too identical..." Blast Off looks towards the sound, but remains silent, leaning against the cell wall with crossed arms. Snarl looks up, having gnawed the corner off some armor. He looks up, "Me think squid heads have infestation!" Angel snickers slightly at Snarl's comment. "They /are/ the infestation." he remarks. Blast Off can't help but give a soft chuckle in agreement with Angel. Temera frowns a little at that. An entire squad of Bailiffs come marching down the spiral staircases, coming to stop in front of the captives' cells. Most of them carry tall pikes with glowing heads, but a few hold odd-looking rifles in their hands. The first aims into Angel's cell and fires an energy band at the Cobra sharpshooter. The band wraps around Angel tightly... not crushingly so, but far from comfortable. "What the-Ahhh!" Angel doesn't have time to react as the creature fires a restraint at him; he manages to keep on his feet, barely. "I can't move my arms!" Lowdown looks up as one of the toad-faced Bailiffs stop in front of his own cell. There's not a whole lot he can do right now. He just stands up, looking defiant and waiting for the inevitable. One of the Bailiffs gestures to the unconscious Alley-Viper, reaching a pike handle through the bars. It croaks, "Wake up!" Meanwhile, two of the others level the glowing ends of their pikes at Snarl, "You! Transform!" The binding energy bands are fired into the rest of the cells. Snarl looks at the guards, at the glowing pikes, "You serious? Me no think so!" He growls, moving toward the guards and the cage, thagomizer swishing! Temera sighs as she opens her eyes a little more to see that. "Great..." Lowdown was prepared for restraints as soon as the idea of being fed to Sharkticons is brought up. He braces for the energy band, grunting slightly as it tightens around him. The Alley Viper slowly gets up, groggy. She doesn't get a chance to orientate herself before the energy band wraps around her. She lets out a small cry of suprise, but quickly falls silent. Temera braces for the restraints around her, somewhat, as well. Blast Off watches quietly from his cell. Two of the Bailiffs focus on Blast Off, just in case he decides to play difficult. As for Snarl, one of the Bailiffs growls, "Transform now! Or else!" Dials are played with on the other restraint guns, and the energy bands around Angel begin to tighten further. Talk about being on the horns of a dilemma. As a dinobot, Snarl wouldn't give a scraplet's butt worth of care about the humans. But, as an Autobot, he can't let humans die. It takes a few moments, before he growls, glares at the Bailiffs, and transforms, standing up. "Me so want kick stoopid bot's butt."The stegosaurus flips backwards, shifting into his robot mode. Angel lets out a whimper of pain as the energy bands tighten. "Oww!" He instintively struggles against the bands, panting with the effort. It takes a fair bit of effort just to not fall over. Blast Off glares at the bailiffs, still leaning quietly against the wall. He seems almost relaxed... but he is a Decepticon sniper, after all, and appearances can be deceiving. As Snarl complies, the Bailiffs take the pressure off of Angel. And once Snarl is in robot form, he is subjected to the same treatment as the rest. (Although his bands are considerably wider...) Once all six of the captives are in restraints, the Bailiffs lower the bars and step back. The one who seems to be in charge growls, "Step out!" Angel mutters some nasty French cursewords under his breath, and slowly steps out of the cell, the Alley-Viper following behind him. Snarl struggles a moment, before stepping toward the opening. It would be easy to say that one can watch the cogs running in the dinobot's skull. Lowdown complies with the Bailiffs' orders. Without his weapon, there's really not a whole lot he can do. Not having any weapons, and no opportunity to attack, Blast Off lets the bailiffs secure the restraints. He continues to regard them with a cold, distant stare, however. Just give me an opportunity, his gaze seems to say.....and you will find why I'm called a Combaticon. Temera gets trudged out, sighing very softly at the situation, staying not far from Lowdown if she can. The Bailiffs take posts between the various prisoners, with the majority of them at the rear of the parade. The group is summarily led up one of the spiral stairways...
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