Robotropolis- Hard Bargains

[DB]

Doom stood quietly in the cell, his gaze scanning over his surroundings.

Having surrendered, he willingly allowed the robots to bring him to this cell. And technically, he was now their prisoner. But only technically. Due to their methods of containment, he could leave at any moment he wanted to. Which is what he’d been expecting, really. The bars of this cell certainly wouldn’t prevent him from leaving when he wanted to, seeing as he had the ability to melt away as he wished.

As for why he allowed himself to be captured… it was fairly obvious to him that this world was not the same as the one he was at before. He’d hoped in allowing himself to be detained, he’d be taken to whoever was in power here. However, he also felt no great need to actually speak to this person, but only to investigate.

His gaze fell on the slowly thawing form of PS 27, a grumbling ‘hrm’ sound emanating from him, despite that he had no mouth. There was really not much he could use the experiment for at the moment, seeing as it was both unconscious and… well, still encased in ice. That was definitely a big factor.

His gaze shifted around the room a bit more, noting it’s design and it’s filthy squalor. Whoever’s building this was either didn’t care much for cleanliness, or didn’t care much for giving their prisoners any luxury. Though, from what else he’d seen of the city on his way here, he decided the former was more likely, though the latter may not be out of the ballpark.

And, finally, his gaze turned to the cell across the hall from him. Three figures were contained within, only one currently conscious, though the other two seemed to be stirring back to wakefulness. But mostly, his attention turned to the white figure.

Shame, he hadn’t died. Perhaps, however, that can be rectified…

One of his hard crystalline ‘ears’ jerked suddenly, hearing a sound approaching from the hall.

...But later…

And with that, he melted away, creeping into the shadow of the cell’s cot to hide himself, hoping to overhear whatever happened next.


And indeed, with the footsteps came a very, very large man accompanied by even more robots. The man took a quick glance in Doom’s cell, and, only seeing one very frozen and very bizarre creature, shifted his attention to the fuller cell and it’s one conscious inhabitant.

“I suppose that you’d be from the ‘other dimension’? We’ve been having a lot of… visitors… from there as of late, it seems. I do hope we can... work things out, however..” He smirked as he spoke.

[Riyami]

Isis sat quietly in the cell, She had been trying to regain the use of her arm on her own but only received the lingering tingling sensation in her shoulder from the last recoil, much like if an organic limb had fallen asleep combined with a dull pain. She inwardly cursed before hearing the heavy footsteps of the large man who now walked in front of her cell and spoke.

Isis simply looked toward him with a cold gaze.

"What do you want?, human."

[Jamie Lee]

At the sound of the voices resonating off the walls, one of the previously unconscious figures, a black and white pangolin slowly began to stir.

"Urg..." he groaned, shifting from where he'd been laying on the floor, his limbs feeling heavy and his movements sluggish. He made a motion to adjust his glasses and realized his arms still weren't working properly. At least his glasses managed to remain on his face this time. He slowly blinked his ton weight eyelids and glanced at the foreign of the two voices, one eye twitching when he realized he was laying in a jail cell. He slowly pushed himself up into a seated position and eyed the man carefully. He looked different from the man he recalled from his world, but the trace amount of trademark features were unmistakable.

"Am I to presume you're Dr. Robotnik?"

[DB]

"What do you want?, human."

"At the moment? Information."

"Am I to presume you're Dr. Robotnik?"

Ah, a more intriguing question. Interesting that someone from another dimension would know of him... then again, it caused a small spark of pride to glimmer within him at the thought that even those from alternative dimensions knew his name. Now if they'd fear it, he'd be very happy indeed.

"Yes, I would be. And who would you be, and how would you know who I am?"

[Riyami]

Isis glanced away. Her benefactor was always more suited to negotiations than she was, as well as the simple fact that she disliked humans in general.

[Jamie Lee]

The pangolin staggered to his feet, chuckling in spite of himself at his own situation. Of all the rotten scenarios he could have found himself in!

Once he was up and had his balance, he made a formal bow to the tyrant "Do please forgive my clumsiness. I'm rather useless after a nap before I've had my coffee," as he straightened, his expression sobered into a more serious tone "My name is Dr. Finitevus. I'm a world renowned scientist who specializes in a combination of robotics and genetic engineering."

He then motioned to his two cell-mates "These are my associates Isis and Julie. We come from an alternate world called Earth. As for how I know who you are... It's a bit of an amusing story, really. A young monarch from this world, named Sally, managed to find herself in my laboratory. When I asked her for information about her world, she told me about you," he grinned slightly "Judging by her description we may have a thing or two in common."

[Leda]

Around then, the still unconscious Julie let out a low groan and a long string of gibberish. "AwoifjO*!#J)!ILKmq... what the hell happened..?"

[DB]

Robotnik raised a brow at the mention of Princess Sally, and it stayed up for the remainder of the pangolin's speech. "With everything else she most likely had thrown into the description, I find it... interesting you would say that."

It was because he didn't count on the princess to skip any gritty details, or give a glowing account of him. So to hear someone say that even after such a description... well, either they were telling the truth or they were lying to suck up and hope that the worst doesn't come. Either wouldn't matter in the long run anyway- he treated everyone as if they were liars, and it'd never served him wrong.

He rubbed one of his chins as the pink pangolin stirred back to consciousness, but didn't give her so much as a glance.

"But perhaps so, if you do know anything about robotics."

His eyes slipped from the pangolin to regard the mechanical appendages of the three. For a moment, the thought slipped by that perhaps the pangolin owned a roboticizer- a small amount of inspection revealed that it was most likely not the case. On the jackal, for instance, there was obvious scarring around the area one of her arms were attached. Roboticizers do not scar. Which would mean... these were all prosthetics? He scoffed slightly. What a sorry bunch this was in that case- a flock of crippled animals. But still, the one was apparently a scientist. That could prove useful.

"So what do you know of the portals that have been occurring lately?"

[Riyami]

Isis glanced to Julie as she started to stir and stood up walking up behind her and hoisting the female pangolin to her feet as soon as she was steady.

Isis took a step back again and glanced about the cell, still paying attention to the exchange between Finitevus and Robotnik but at the same time looking for anything that could help in case the group needed to escape.

[Jamie Lee]

Finitevus glanced at the other pangolin for a moment, deciding to ignore her for now since Isis was already seeing to her. At the tyrant's question his features became rather annoyed looking as he cleared his throat.

"Ah. So you have an interest in them, do you?" he inwardly smirked "Unfortunately, I don't know as much as I would like. I was in the process of studying one of them when I was attacked by my world's military and forced through it," You'd think having such a high profile hostage would have made them think twice... he sucked up a deep breath "Anyway, in case you're not aware yet, there happens to be a third dimension - called Sol. I've already created a transit portal from my world to it, and with the sufficient amount of data I was planning to alter the design to work for this world as well. Unfortunately," he spoke in a mockingly pitiful tone to goad the tyrant "It now seems I'm separated from my resources."

[Leda]

Keeping her one organic hand against the nearest wall to help keep steady, Julie waited out the effects of the sleeping gas, listening carefully to the conversation between the two doctors. She didn't really know who Robotnik was, but was fairly certain he was someone she ought not to screw with. The pangolin's face scrunched as she examined the tyrant. What does he do, eat all his prisoners?

[DB]

Robotnik raised his brows in a concerned expression.

"Really now? Such research happens to be just what I've been looking for! And I happen to have a great deal of data collected from the portals as well! Perhaps... we could collaborate?"

He paused, then acted as if he'd suddenly realized that his 'guest' happened to be in a prison cell.

"Goodness, forgive me!"

Robotnik gestured to the SWATbots besides him, and they stepped forward to unlock the cell for the pangolin.

"I do apologize, though I must explain- a great deal of the... visitors we've been having lately have been extremely destructive. I hadn't wanted to take any chances. But please, do come with me! I'd like to show you around."

[Jamie Lee]

Now there was a dramatic change in attitude. The pangolin's inward smirk just widened, did this human think he was that gullible? Regardless, he smiled pleasantly and matched the tyrant's innocent tone "Oh, it's quite alright, I understand completely! I had had a spot of trouble with unpleasant visitors myself, nasty business they can be, wouldn't you agree?" and then, turning to the girls "Come along then, Isis, Julie. We wouldn't want to keep our host waiting. I'm sure he must be quite a busy man."

Of course, instead of taking that moment to walk out himself once the cell was unlocked, he stood and waited for the two to precede him.

[Riyami]

Isis looked toward Finitevus and closed her eyes for a moment before stepping forward.

[Leda]

They were being let out? Kick ass. Julie stepped forward to exit the cell while absently fiddling with her still unresponsive mechanical arm. I wonder if this guy could get our prosthetics working again, she idly wondered, since he seems pretty on top of robotics anyway.

[DB]

And basically instantly, the SWATbots moved to block their escape from the cell.


"I believe we have a misunderstanding here. The invitation goes out to you, not your companions."

[Riyami]

Isis stopped and took a step back. There were always catches.

[Jamie Lee]

"Ah, I see. Well then, I'm afraid that's a problem," he said, backing up a couple of steps and sitting down on the cell's cot, one leg crossed over another. He continued on with his pleasant smile "You see, I never travel anywhere without my cohorts, so I'm afraid this means I can't cooperate."

[DB]

"I'm afraid you also misunderstand what I mean by invitation."


And with that, another SWATbot entered the cell and roughly yanked the pangolin up by the arm.


Robotnik grinned. "Now, lets be going then." And with that, he turned and walked down the hall, the SWAT with Finitevus following and the other two bots locking the cell behind them.



And a certain (currently) puddle of goo was quite amused.

[Leda]

"HEY, LET GO OF HIM!!" Julie screamed fiercely, making a bold attempt to retreive him from the Swatbot, only to find herself unceremoniously shoved back by another. The pangolin stumbled onto the floor, but was on her feet again in no time -- but not fast enough to make it out of the cell. Julie rattled the door furiously and glared as she watched Robotnik and his 'bots steal Finitevus away down the cell block. "Oh no you DON'T!!"

Thrusting her organic arm through the bars, Julie hastily began covering over the exit with a thick layer of solid marble.

[dice=6][rand=081440833833705647106108514314937951474354507657206903249273266787]

[DB]

[dice=6]
Or not so solid. The SWATbot easily kicked it down after a moment of confusion.


And Robotnik made a note to investigate that later. First portals. Later weird things.[rand=60880463688208334908218058336037703581991220987088747171485991]

[Jamie Lee]

Finitevus rolled his eyes into his head at the failed rescue attempt. And then smiled when the group was out of the room, beginning to hum a merry little tune to himself and bob his head to and fro.

Also amused.

[Riyami]

Isis growled under her breath. "Should have known..."
She looked around the cell for any other means of escape, glancing to the adjacent cell where she noticed the ice covered figure.

While the frozen casing distorted the image slightly, she found it very fammilliar and if she was right, it could be very useful indeed.

Isis turned her head back towards julie and pointed toward the bars seperating the two cell chambers.

"You. Try making a formation of rock inbetween these bars to bend them apart."

[DB]

When the pangolin had been taking away, Doom had followed. Goodness forbid something happened to Finitevus that Doom wasn't witness to.


The ice on the frozen experiment made a faint cracking noise. 27 had woken up by now, and was slowly, but groggily, coming back to his senses- however, being encased in ice was a bit of a surprise for him.

He generally did not like surprises.

[Leda]

The pangolin let out a frustrated huff; she'd been too late to make the marbling strong enough. In addition to her concern for their benefactor, it was also a hard blow to her pride.

"Sure," she muttered lowly at Isis' instruction, turning toward the bars in question. In the back of her mind, Julie hoped that she'd be able to do even this; she'd already exerted so much power in the scuffle with G.U.N. that, as illustrated just a moment ago, the rocks she formed at the moment weren't her best. Still, she had to at least try. Focusing hard, Julie manifested a pebble betwixt the bars, which quickly began to grow.

[dice=6]
(to see if she's strong enough to bend the bars right now)
[dice=6]

The bars had just started to give way under the pressure of her formation, but just before the bending would have been enough to break them, the pangolin's energy depleted itself. Julie had to flop down onto the bench at the back of the cell, panting slightly in her exhaustion. "Sorry, Isis... I'm wiped out. I don't think I can make any more rocks for a while." Silently, she cursed herself; this sort of inefficiency was just not acceptable to her by any means.[rand=58035537806198419333261006479281920654904608893534150632909154244]

[Riyami]

Isis turned away from Julie and looked back to the frozen experiment. While these event did prove to be a bind, the jackal still had an ace or two up her sleeve.

Lets just hope it remembers her.

[DB]

With a louder crack, the experiment was free from the thin shell of ice that was left coating him. He took a few, shaky steps; freeing the leftover shards of ice that clung to him, letting them fall to the ground with nearly silent tinkles.

He shivered from the cold, his body aching painfully from the prolonged freeze. It was definitely uncomfortable, but there really was nothing he could do about the feeling but wait for it to wear off. Nothing, of course, but get very, very angry. So, much like a baby unable to placate its teething pains, the experiment threw a temper tantrum. The difference being that a baby did not have the strength to lift a bus.

With a angry, guttural shriek, 27 lunged at the nearest thing in the cell- a cot. And once he'd taken a hold of it, he then proceeded to beat it against the wall. Hard. Very, very hard. All whilst shrieking.

[Riyami]

Isis stood by the bars silently, letting the experiment vent most of it's unease before trying to get it's attention.

"Calm down!"

[Leda]

@segajulie@ Still resting on the bench, Julie couldn't help but stare at the creature as it went postal on its cot. After several moments of blank silence, the pangolin finally said, "What the hell is THAT?"

[DB]

With the sound of Isis's and Julie's voices, 27 spun around quickly, snarling angrily and even foaming slightly at the mouth.

However, in seeing Isis, he blinked a few times, almost in a comical fashion. His vicious expression quickly changed to one of gleeful recognition.

"FISH!"