SCS: Interrogation of Sanction

Log Title: SCSL Interrogation of Sanction Characters: Vortex Banshee Location: Tarn Date: 09-30-2018 TP:Non-TP Summary:Banshee has captured a Bot, and now Vortex applies his trade As logged by  Imager There's been a buzz of activity around Kommandozentrale der Luftwaffecon over the past day or two. Preparations, apparently, for 'ein special guest'. And that's all anyone will say. Security is beefed up - substantially. Several of the smaller AA guns up on Der Flakturm have been trained downwards towards the ground. Lurking behind the great concrete tower, even Trypticon has a gun or two aimed towards the gatehouse. Guards march back and forth - both Luftwaffecons and regular Decepticons - across the parade ground, eventually forming up in two rows leading to Banshee's revetment.

Banshee herself is already waiting, stood at rigid attention, waiting.

What she's waiting for eventually comes clear when the combined form of HannaMag rolls down that neat alleyway of guards. In the back of the half-track, in a full set of irons but seated in a comfortable leather armchair, sits Sanction.

Sprocket, Banshee's final gumbie, leads the half-track along, his holographic rider looking pleased as punch.

The Autobot Sanction is lead into the Luftwaffecon base. He's a short, blocky type, a repaint of Brawn almost, except bone white and tan. His arms clasped in irons, and with a modelock on him, the Bot isn't going anywhere. The mech is also suffering a few wounds from combat. "This is pointless..." He mutters, "just...just shoot me and be done with it."

He gets shoved forward, lead further into the base, where Banshee, and most likely an interrogator of choice would be found.

"You act like ve're monsters." The half-track replies, with a female voice. A male voice adds You're expecting us to be uncivilized.

Vortex meanders in once he hears that theres a prisoner. Hes all professionalism now. Hes on duty and has to make sure no one knows hes an Amateur interrogator. Its odd that there is one thing that hes professional about and this is it. Information gathering. "Well well. What have we here.." he looks to the Bot. "Tell me a little bit about who we have here. Who they are, why they're here. And we can get started."

Vortex looks to B anshee. "Probably. Maybe if you want to show me how its done.."

Sanction scoffs at Vortex, and tilts his head aside. Even as he gets set into the chair, "Feh. Vortex....the sadist. Yeah. Yeah we know about you. Damnable combaticons. Well...." He sort of raises his head a little, bristling at the thought. "Then lets be done with it. You get my name, function, and ID code. That's it. Safeguard. Hauler Slash Escort. AUL-0011463" He tries to cross his arms, but the restraints stop him.

Banshee sets down an energon cube. "And you think ve're zer monsters." She says. "Haff you been treated as anything other zan zer officer you are since you arrived?" She shakes her head, tuning her radio to a channel that plays soft classical music. She turns the top of the table so the energon cube is within reach. "You know if you tell me vot I vant to know... all ve vant is our fair share of zer energon reserves, and ve're not looking to fight. I haff ein drilling rig zat can be set up in a day... I only need to know ven is best to set it up. Be reasonable, unt ve can let you go. Suitably roughed up so zat you can sell zem votever story you like... ve'll even let you get drunk first if you vant. Or fight brawls. Ve're not unreasonable." GAME: Banshee PASSES a LEADERSHIP roll of High difficulty.

Vortex shakes his head. "Sadist. You have me wrong, my dear friend." he says. "I think you know the game, good cop bad cop, so Im going to play another one with you. Good cop and insane cop. You be good and tell my friend what she needs to know? And I wont take you for a flight.

Sanction humphs at Banshee. "So you're wanting a turborat, sell out my side. Get a bunch of Bots killed, but I get to walk away? You both know damn well that CI (Counter-Intelligence) would figure out the leak and put me down themselves." The mech pauses, letting that sink in. It /might/ be that he's asking for a bribe or something, enough to get him off-world and away from the Bots.

He raises a finger to Vortex, "And you too? You're playing at being civil? The knife nut Vortex? The one that drives people binary by how he flies?" He shakes his head, "This is ridiculous. You're both crazy. I have nothing to say."

Banshee shakes her head "I vant to avoid a fight entirely." She explains. "You tell me where the guards are around a few select energon deposits - we only need a four-day gap - ve sneak in, take vat ve need, and depart. It's not exactly fair zat you Autobots are hoarding all zer energon, ist it? Besides. If you co-operate I haff information Fraulein Imager vould be very interested in." GAME: Banshee FAILS an INTELLIGENCE roll of Immense difficulty.

GAME: Banshee FAILS an INTELLIGENCE roll of Immense difficulty.

Vortex shakes his head, pulling one of his rotots off his back. He doesn't exactly have handles for those. He just holds them in his bare hand like a freak, letting them cut into him, perhaps as more of an intimidation method. "See? Cooperate with us and Banshee will give you what you want. If you don't. I give you what *I* want. Now, you should know that we're used to that whole Im a heroic Autobot I'll never talk song and dance, so can we dispense with that? You're gonna talk. One way or another." GAME: Vortex PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of High difficulty.

Sanction is obviously unsettled by how Vortex was willing to cut himself. He tenses up in his seat. "I've no love for that over-framed Imager. She grouses as much as Huffer...but no matter what I do, you're going to do it anyway, aren't you? I give up any information, and you take me up anyway, and put one in the processor afterwards. I'm dead either way....Better to die than to run away." Sanction makes a Furmanism reference, as he looks for assurances from the Decepticons, as they move forward into their final push towards getting his cooperation...

Banshee smiles "Counter-Intelligence? Please, vot are zey gonna know?" She shakes her head. "By zer time you get back to Autobot lines, it's too late, ve'll haff got zer energon unt gone. esides. Zat's half zer point of roughing you up before letting you go. You can claim you vere tortured." At the accusation that he'd be killed either way, Banshee visibly tenses. /That/ one hit. For a moment, she looks like she's about to hit him with her riding crop. But she stops herself.

"You accuse me of being uncivilized. Look, it's simple. You giff me information I vant, now, you leave, vith a nice vedge of shanix if zer information ist gut enough." She takes a deep breath. " You stay quiet, I walk avay and leave you vith Vortex for a few hours. He /makes/ you tell me what I want to know, unt if zere's anything left of you afterwards it gets dumped out of a cargo transport over Iacon." GAME: Banshee FAILS a COURAGE roll of Immense difficulty.

Vortex chuckles a bit. "Oh I won't kill you right away." he says, leaning in. "I like to play you know. That reputation? Its all one hundred percent true." normally he'd be taking Banshee's role but if its time to be the threatening one? He'll side right into that.

GAME: Vortex PASSES an INTELLIGENCE roll of Extreme difficulty.

Sanction's oil reservoir drains as Vortex finally starts to let the monster within show. Banshee's offer of shanix sounds better and better. His optics turn from side to side. But how can he guarantee his own survival?

Sanction slumps, and Vortex can see the mech breaking. "L-look, its not...Its not even about the shanix. Oh hell with it, I don't owe them anything. I...I want transit first. I'll give you partial data after I'm off-system, and you can wire the shanix back in...but if you don't, then I don't give you everything you need...." He can't bear to look the two in the optics. He had just been bought...

Vortex puts his blade away. "I knew you could be reasoned with." he looks to Banshee. "And that's how you get someone to talk. Be freakig nuts."

Banshee folds her arms "Two thirds of zer data now, one third when ve get you off-world." She says, pausing a moment. She moves to the back of the revetment, pulling out her personal strongbox. SHe withdraws... nearly all of its contents, and offers them over to Sanction. All of her custom-made, Luftwaffecon-branded Shanix chips...." She nods to Vortex. "Zer carrot unt stick technique is vell proven. Especially ven you follow through vith both sides." She inclines her head. "This should suffice, financially, to set you up on any vorld that accepts shanix, or can be exchanged before you depart. Alternately, zey might be vorth a lot on zer collector's market."

It looks, for a moment, like it physically hurts her to hand the money over. It must've taken a long time - and a lot of expense - to get the branded tokens.

Because after all, what's a WW2 German without their secret gold stash?

Sanction keeps his head down, even as the Decepticons talk. He was bought, now all that mattered now was the method of transaction. He murmurs, "I've got...six caches...all part of the evacuation from Valvolux. Its...all recent." Already he regrets it, but of course, if he were to back out now. His optics rose to the shanix. It was all ash...