Protihex-City state

[FrostWhisper]

Silentsong made her way out of the ship to see the bot of unknown faction. As she stepped out of the Bloodrust, Silentsong heard a bit of what he had said. Silentsong didn't like the tone of his voice, and she could tell just by looking at him that he was planning something. Silentsong didn't loke the way the bot acted, and if it were her choice, she would leave him in Protihex to rust, but it wasn't her choice, so she kept her mouth shut and watched and listened to the bots warily.

[Cutlass Rebooted]

Cutlass laughs. "I work for free and take what I need to survive. All I do is for my pleasure so I could care less for the size of the bounty, though it is a bonus. My ship don't have a brig in which to hold you as I don't bother with taking prisoners so you be outta luck on that one. I don't see you as being necessary on this voyage so I'm more than happy to leave you behind. As for what you say to be the hard way... Ha ha! That's how I do everything!" Cutlass draws his blade pointing it at the bot's throat a grin on his face.

[Laser]

With a surprisingly delicate tailspin landing, the mighty Guardian landed amongst his comrades, causing a shake in the surface and an unsettling in dust. He cast his great blue eyes on the scene before him. There was a newcomer, an Autobot. The other newcomer was of unknown origin and faction. Cutlass had his blade at his throat in haughty triumph.

Laser didn't bother saying anything. He simply looked over to Silentsong and tossed her the prestige sniper rifle. His look said "A gift for a stealthy character, I hope you can find use of it." He could tell special op soldier when he saw one. Returning his gaze to Cutlass and Fear, he did nothing. He didn't know the story here, but Cutlass was the boss now. This was his ship. And this was Vibro's squad. This poor fellow didn't seem to be someone they liked, as he was being tagged by Aegis, threatened by Cutlass, and held at gunpoint by the newcomer bot, Carmana.

And now his strength would be tested under Laser's deathly gaze.

[fright]

"Hard way it is."

With that, Fear immediately slipped out of his chains, knocking the blade away from his throat in doing so, and lunged himself towards Cutlass in an almost barbaric way. The gentlemanly way in which he had conducted himself earlier was almost immediately disposed of as he quickly got up to resume his back up plan.

He suddenly began advancing mercilessly towards Silentsong, lambasting Vibro with a ruthless blow to the head as he walked past him as well. Grabbing her by the arm quickly enough than before anyone could respond, he revealed the pistol he stole from Carmana, as well as several easily concealable improvised explosive devices armed around his waist, and pointed it directly at her neck. After his violent rush, he once again composed himself in a respectable and scholarly way. Addressing the rest of the bots, he spoke as if he was giving students a lesson.

"Now, I'm going to offer you all a choice. At the moment, this unfortunate bot has found herself in my grasp and myself in a gaming mood. I want to make you Autobots question everything you stand for, to prove once and for all this war is just another pathetic attempt to gain power over this dying world. There is no honor in war and I seek to prove this today.

"Currently there are hundreds of military grade explosives planted in almost every single major prison facility in Kaon and Iacon. The resulting detonation will undoubtedly kill hundreds of thousands of the worst criminals on the planet imaginable. However, in letting these people die, you will have betrayed the Autobot way and proven that you are no better than the Decepticons. You will have gone against the fair trials they were given and the political system you are fighting to defend will have been disregarded.

"Now, flipping the equation, you can exchange half a million lives for this expendable one. You can give me the order to shoot Silentsong right here right now and in the process you will avert the deaths of all those otherwise innocent prisoners, but you will have the intentional murder of this woman on your conscience for the rest of your pitiful lives. If anyone tries to stop me, the explosives armed to my body will detonate, killing anything within a 20 mile radius. And do not believe Decepticons are exempt from my little game, they will get theirs soon enough. But one thing is certain: someone here today is going to die and there will be nothing you can do to stop it.

"However, you have one final option. You can call off this expedition to Iota, you will return home and pretend like nothing happened. I represent a group of people that have devoted their lives to the protection and security of the Allspark. I have been personally appointed by the Enlightened One for this mission and if I fail he will have my head on a silver platter to be sure. We have powerful connections in the political arena and have been manipulating this war from the beginning. My identity as a prisoner was a fiction created to convince you I was on your side.

"As for myself, I am the feeling you are experiencing at this present moment. I was there when this war began and will be long after it ends. I am what you experience in the final moments of your life, up until the very last breath you take. My name is Fear.

"Now, what shall it be?"

[Laser]

It all happened in less than 5 seconds.

Fear was a blur. He was child of the night. His movement through the Autobots was a dance of practice...of patience...of determination. He appeared confident. He seemed noble and scholarly. Fear was incredibly dangerous. He nearly held all the cards. He couldn't be stopped now. Not by force, and not by words. But when Laser looked at Fear, he saw exactly that. Fear. Desperation. Before him, holding Silentsong, was a sad, confused little man.

A man that WOULD be respected.

A deep laugh rumbled from Laser's throat as he broke the awkward silence. He even clapped three times, producing an obnoxiously punctual crunching sound.

"Excellent. I applaud you, Fear. You have achieved our audience...now you have our attention." He began careless unloading the weapons he brought, setting the ones for Cutlass aside. "Your bold claims are so explicitly meaningless they have failed to float to my audio processors. Did you not say something about planted explosions? Ah yes. The City of Kaon. Dangerous words...but worthless with out any form of proof. Don't misunderstand--a man as armed as you are is a serious one. I'd give my own life to prevent such a disaster you described. Had you proof, you would be a prophet and a martyr. But you have none, and instead you are a crazy man with a gun and 4 tons of highly exaggerated explosives."

********
Spironok submerges.

********

"Perhaps I must be daft...I seem to understand that you lied to us...using the identity of a prisoner to get thus far. You are part of a manipulative organization that claims to have caused this pathetic war. Yet you expect us to believe the statements you have made about your connections and intentions." Laser stepped closer now, walking up to Fear but maintaining a respectable distance. "You beat down my comrades, turn one hostage, and place a bomb threat on our shoulders we cannot possibly survive--"

*******

Spironok stealthily positions himself beneath the surface beneath Fear. He readies himself for a spiraling attack for the inner cortex. He would pull his spine...and kill the functions...

*******

"--And you ask of us safe passage on our ship. Strapped to the teeth in danger. Carrying with you the psychopathic aura of a thousand twisted minds."

He kneeled here, leaning closer to Fear and staring with his powerful eyes. "You offer us nothing. Nothing but death and destruction. Your future is puny. Weak. Just like you. And you insist to drag others with you. Whether we comply with your absurd conditions or not, it makes not a damned difference. You will still be hot with explosives. You might as well kill us now. If you aim to end our future, then so be it."

But he whispered now, fearsomely.

"But know this, Fear. I am not your victim. I am not your slave. You do not own this moment. Give me one reason to believe I have the upper hand--one chance to see you slip...and you will not dare me twice. I will drag you to hell myself."

He then backed away. Done with it. His next question would be to Fear, but also to everyone as well. He had made his move, and soon this would be over.

"Now, what will it be?"

********
Spironok waits...

[Cutlass Rebooted]

Cutlass moves aside as quickly as Fear lunged at him. He would have swung his blade at him had he not moved past him to grab Silentsong.
Cutlass' optics narrow as he listens to Fear's words. Since he wasn't a big fan of the prisons or authorities in either city, there was only one thing he cared about... "Fear? No, what you are is a dead man if you dare to so much as move to hurt her." Swiftly replacing the sword on his back he immediately draws one of his own plasma pistols and points it at Fear's head.

[carmana]

Carmana, saw his pistol in fear's hand, and lost it. He drew both of his swords and got ready to cut into fear's wrist, causing him to drop the pistol. If it works Carmana will fire one shot attempting to hit fear in the back of the knee. "Never. Touch. That. Pistol...EVER!"

[Towreck]

Towreck, unaware of the action taking place outside, wandered around the ship, looking for a workbench to place himself at. After wandering around he finally found a room that had a big enough space for him to lay out his tools and weapons and get to work. Towreck set down the rifles, scatterblasters, and Cutlass's soon to be gunblade, and got to work modifing them, including fixing the overheating problem that the gunblade had.

[FrostWhisper]

Silentsong had caught the Sniper rifle that Laser had tossed to her and she was about to thank him when Fear made his move. Silentsong stayed quiet as the others conversed. Fear was right, Silentsong was afraid, but not as much as Fear should be. She was a little peeved when Laser laughed, from what she had seen he had a lot of confidence in himself, but still, the laugh was a bit much. She was a bit concerned as the others began to get out of control. "Hey, can we all just calm down a bit here?" Silentsong asked with a tone that was much more confident than she felt. "Fear, whatever happens, you will lose. You must know this, the odds are against you. If they are unable to save both me and the cities, then I will be the one to die, but my death will be no one's fault except yours, and my death will be avenged," as Silentsong spoke she slowly and carefully tried to disarm the explosives attached to Fear. "Every bot here is willing to give their life for the Autobot cause. We intend to protect the Allspark, just like you. Now you can either ally with us to help us rescue the Allspark and Cybertron from the Decepticons, or you can refuse our help and face the Autobots' wrath. It's your choice."

[fright]

Fear could only relish in the different reactions he was receiving. Perhaps it was the anger, the confusion, or even the combination of such that appealed to him the most. At his core, insignias and factions were irrelevant to him. They were only tools that allowed him to unleash his inner monstrosities, excuses to wreak as much havoc and mayhem as he so pleased. And in moments like this, he was most certainly in his element. He immediately shared eye contact with the only Cybertronian who dared show any kind of superiority during this tense situation. Laser.

"Oh I like this. I think you and I were destined to cross paths. However, in this present moment, the fact that we did may or may not be quite so beneficial to you. Now, it's clear to me that you are not afraid to die and that there's only way to truly motivate you to do what I want you to do. I think I'm going to make this much more simpler for all of us."

He shot Silentsong. The blaster fire went right through her neck and she immediately fell to the ground, limp and lifeless. As far as anyone there knew, she was dead. He noticed she had been removing some of his explosives and had to eliminate her as soon as possible. He then looked up at the crowd.

"I'm only going to say this one more time. This woman is going to die unless she receives medical assistance in the next few nano-cycles and unless you make up your minds very soon I will personally make sure that that doesn't happen."

He placed one foot on her back as she struggled for life to demonstrate just how serious he was.

"It's either her or half a million others like her. Make up your minds or they all die!"