Scene #890: Something Wicked This Way Comes

Owner	Pose
Optimus Prime	The evening was dark over the ruin'ed area. Though people have started to call this place home, there was still some areas that lacked proper security, it is these areas that a red semi-truck of some type roams across the slightly broken old roads. The engine at times echoing against the quiet area of the night against the old stone buildings that lie in either a state of rebuild or still in a state of ruin. His headlights light the area ahead of him. For Optimus Prime is here for one reason and one reason alone--- ---Making sure the area is secure and safe.
Zathlarne	It's a service that the locals probably appreciate a lot. I mean the Multiverse isn't exactly a safe place. Especially for the new fledgeling communities that can pop up in places like this... Roving heroes are usually welcome. Especially roving Union heroes that are built Ford Tough. But Optimus isn't the only thing that's on the prowl in the Region tonight, which is probably easily evidence by the trio of airships in the far distance, firing on something that's huge, thrashing and giving off the occasional howl of bestial rage. It's also not what's Hunting Optimus. Which is why when something flows across the surface of the water, up the side of a nearby building, and then coalesces into a large cloaked figure as Optimus Drives past he doesn't notice. At first. Then it happens again three times in a row. As he goes driving past three seperate buildings some distance apart. "..."
Optimus Prime	Optimus is listening most likely to the audio chatter, if any is coming from those ships, but unless they go 'mayday' or something akin, the Autobot Commander is going to stick to this patrol route-- more so when he realizes by his sensors that... something isn't right. Perhaps after the third time, the semi at last comes to a much slower crawl, as the wheels slowly start to stop moving as he comes to an open intersection not far from an old broken peer over the water way. For a moment he remains there, engine just idling-- as if waiting to see if whatever it was, moves once more. His mirrors checking behind him in his blind spots and his own sensors doing a passive sweep ahead of him.
Zathlarne	There's a soft near silent hiss that echoes slowly across the waterway, from a number of different sources, before more of the rivulets of black twich across the surface of the water, seeming to slink across the surface of the waves without leaving even a ripple, before they form into a puddle in front of the transformer. At the same time, the oily black liquid drips down from the stoplight dripping down into the pool of liquid before a man rises from it's surface. "So." His words come out slowly and with a medium of disgust, "A guardian in these insipidly soft, pointless lands." Black empty eyes gaze at Optimus for a long moment, "I can taste the blood on your hands, the death in your weapons." He remains absolutely still, his furred cloak not even twitching in the wind as he asks his next question. "Why, Guardian?"
Optimus Prime	The strange figure rises before him. Optimus notes the dark goo in the area that came before the man appeared, but the semi does not move, the engine remains calmly idle. At first there was not even a response to the strange being's question. Yet a response did formulate and it formulated with a calm tone in the young leader's voice, "War is not without its price and sometimes, even when we try to prevent it.. that price is those around us.. but even that price comes to high."
Zathlarne	Zathlarne hisses softly, his expression never changing, before he speaks again in the same slow voice, "That is not my question Guardian." There's a sensation of bleak hatred, directed towards the inhabitants of the area, flicking across the water, before the trio of airships lift up and begin circling the area, apparently on a sweep pattern ... Looking for something. "Why," His eyes narrow a bit, "Do you bother, to protect them." His lips twich, "Their lives are empty. Devoid of purpose. Devoid of challenge. Devoid of form." He hisses again softly, "Why? If they do not fight to be, what is their purpose in existing?"
Optimus Prime	"Because everything living, everything sentient, has the right to live-- to exist." Optimus says calmly, noting the three aircrafts movements in the sky. "Perhaps they may not have a purpose now, but all things, at some time-- will have their purpose in this life." There was a pause in his voice for a moment, "..and are they looking for you, because for one who asks so many question. I am rather curious to know who it is I am speaking too."
Zathlarne	Zathlarne hissses again, "Useless..." He gives a soft slow snarl, "Life does not deserve to exist because it exists." His body language continues being ... non existant, though the fur on his cloak seems to twich slightly. "If it deserves to exist, it is because it continues to strive to do so." His eyes narrow slightly, "Who am I." He snarls softly and turns to look at the airships. "I am their master. They exist in service to the Empire." He growls, "The greater beasts and horrors that escape our world-" He smiles coldly, "They exist to prey and be prey. They are marginallly our responsibility. So we kill them when they escape."
Optimus Prime	"So then.." Optimus says calmly, though there is a rumble in the engine, hinted even in his voice a minor disgust for his realization of the type of man he now speaks too. "You are one who believes that only the strong have the right to survive.. or do I misjudge from your words?" "I knew some who had such a point of view.. and they were dealt with. The type of thinking is destructive and chaotic. It brings nothing but sorrow, pain, and suffering." The semi then only rolls back slightly, not to run, but to give itself room it would seem. "What kind of emperor would subjugate his people to such horror, but only those who believe that none is great then themselves..." There was then a pause in his voice, "..and I have seen such first hand... it is not an ending I would want to see for another."
Zathlarne	Zathlarne tilts his head back and begins to laugh, an obviously exadgerated motion, "The strong..." He continues to laugh for a few moments longer before he looks at Optimus and stops dead, "The people that /deserve to exist/-" He venemoously spits the words out, "-/are the ones that fight to exist/." He hisses softly, "The fools out here know only paradise, let them fight to keep it if they deserve it." His eyes narrow and there's almost a palpable sense of hate directed at a point out in the water, "Even still." He points his left hand at the water, "Our horrors, and the ruins of our world are not your concern." Black energy rips from his fingertips rippling through the air, before it impacts into the water ... and the water decays to nothing, before a giant serpentine creature lunges up out of the water screaming as it too visibly begins to rapidly rot. "They have you to fight for them ... Guardian." His eyes narrow before his head swivels back to face you. "They are not taking their lives for granted. Are they?"
Optimus Prime	Optimus headlights flare bright when the man before him strikes the water and the screams, though bestial break though the air. "ENOUGH!" He roars out, shifting from his vehicular form, to his robotic form. The massive several story machine then attempts to actually move his arm in the way of the decaying energy. To try and perhaps foolishly protect the very creature that the man is attempting to kill, if not already dead. Though putting himself, perhaps just as equally in danger... "They are not in your world's area of influence and have came here. As living sentience, I will see no harm done to them! Even if they are from /your/ world."
Zathlarne	Zathlarnes death energy is just a physical thing, which is to say it would be out like dipping part of your arm into something that promotes rapid molecular decay. In short, it probably hurts like hell, but there's no actual spiritual rot, or metaphysical damage involved. "A fool assumes that the corespawn is sentient..." His eyes narrow farther, and he hisses out the next words, with a sort of satisfied, yet venemously hungry voice, "...They can be clever. But nothing born in our world can achieve sentience on it's own..." The trio of airships come zooming up over the horizon in a formation visibly ready to attack the serpent, before Zathlarne speaks into a communicator. "Break off. They have a --- Guardian --- He has --- volunteered to protect this region." A moment later the airships break off, not before one of them fires a lance of heat energy at the serpent, and begin heading towards one of the nearby air-anchored warpgates. "...But they can acheive sentience yes. All of the horrors and great beasts can... If they eat enough of your ... villagers."
Optimus Prime	Optimus only grits his teeth behind the battle plate as he can feel the surge of pain running through his receptors in his armor. His hand clenches for that moment until it goes away. His true blue optics stare right at the man, burning with intensity of a warrior; Including even perhaps something far darker lurking behind it all. His optics narrow to the last words, the glow of the optics dimming ever so slightly to their normal level of light, "A human man may say the same about a lion, which he hunts for its pelt. How do I know your words only ring of the same value?"
Zathlarne	Zathlane laughs softly and raspily, "I don't care if you believe me or not." His cold smile returns, "While I could point you to several cities that were cleaned out by the corespawn, it would prove nothing. Dissect it if you desire." His voice is dry and acidic, "It doesn't matter to the Empire if the corespawn escapes, beyond the consequences of them bringing home a horde of stupid unprepared idiots, who are determined to storm the core and defeat the source of danger to their world." This time the hateful glance is given to the warp gate, but it's also tinged slightly by ... fear? "The core eats their flesh and devours their sentience every time they try." His hate filled gaze turns back to Optimus, "And all they accomplish is driving more of these creatures up to our settlements, or feeding a corespawn to the point that it becomes marginally more clever, and dangerous enough to escape into the rest of the Multiverse..." He hisses softly once more, while the fur on his cloak slowly writhes, "Do what you like. But if you don't kill the other two..." His smile is cold, "Then your precious lives will perish."
Optimus Prime	Those optics narrow intensely, before he slowly rises up to his fully height. Optimus then lets out a long sigh, before his right hand clenches then relaxes a few times before a soft, "..hmm.." escapes from him. Realizing in the moment the game perhaps now being played. For if this man was right, then this entire area could be in danger, which would leave the Union looking to be the criminals of the act, more correctly himself--yet a life was a life.. even if these beasts gained more intelligence from devouring another-- they were still /alive/. His optics dimmed further in his thoughts. Including the sharp reminder that also in this world, nothing works sometimes the way you believe it should. His hand only flexing again in his indecision now if he acted in haste or if he acted in proper choice... but with no data on this man... but was their data on this.. Corespawn? "Why do you care if they harm the people beyond your world.. beyond what seems to be an inconvenience for you keeping them under your control? What proof do I even have what you say is true at that?" Optimus swings his hand out behind him, motioning back to the town behind him. "That your words are nothing but slander from a corrupt man whom only wishes subjugation and control over what he deems as his own?"
Zathlarne	Zathlarne's smile is cold. It could freeze helium. Then the ancient horror reaches into his left hand, and pulls a data-crystal and throws it to you. "I have absolute subjugation over everyone and everything that I own." His voice drips vitriol, "They are born to Serve the Empire. They Live to Serve the Empire. They Die to Serve the Empire. They Re-earn their bodies in Service to the Empire, and are once again Born in Service to the Empire." He gestures to the side, causing his cape to flow up into the air around him, "Can you say you earned your life?" Zathlarne gives a soft hungry growl, "Watch the data crystal if you must know how they escape. Learn our 'secret'." The datacrystal contains a bit of weather data, and a time lapsed video feed... ...That shows a floating island, then a massive storm building, and just tearing across the island, upending twenty ton blocks and blowing things through a gate floating above the island ... the scene repeats twice, before one of the twenty ton granite blocks takes out the camera feed. He hisses softly, "And you're right. I don't care about the fools who live here. If they try to exist in the Multiverse without proper defenses, proper allies, and proper survival measures, then they're fools and deserve to be over ran by the first power that comes across them." His eyes narrow again, partially concealing both of the absolutely black voids, "But every emptied section of land makes them more powerful. More voracious. Which means eventually they'll come across the people who trade with us, or a group of fools who come crusading to our world, woefully unprepared, and all that they accomplish is feeding the next batch that escapes, or driving an entire horde of them into our defenses." His left fist clenches, and his voice is bleak, "My people. MY PACK. Deserve better. They earned their lives, and they should not spend them defending and resuceing stupid outsiders who only make things worse."
Optimus Prime	Optimus watches the footage on the data crystal which is far smaller in his blue metallic hand. Those optics remain dim as his teeth only clench slightly and the jaw gears strain under the choices that are being weighed heavily every moment that the man before him speaks. Orders were given though the Evac the people out of the area, orders that soon would become seen in the background. If there was a danger to the people, they were-- if nothing else-- first priority. These creatures were, second. "..I was informed your spawn are a hazard by it seems one who has record of your world.." Optimus then gently tosses the data crystal back to the man. "Once everyone is evacuated from the area..." his teeth clench ever tighter as he realizes what he has to commit too. What he has to agree too. He inhales deeply before he continues, his voice lacking any emotion within it, holding back his own anger to what he actually says. "You may continue your hunt." He goes to turn away from Zathlarne, "Your point has been made and is understood..."
Zathlarne	Zathlarne hisses softly and his fist unclenches. "Reasonable." His body language turns unreadable again, "It's unnecessary to evacuate anyone." His smile this time is hungry, "You are alive. Food. Bait. Just like your ... people ... are." His eyes narrow, "Just be more appetizing then they are. It's not hard. You're larger then they are." His eyes narrow, "You have scanners, and they're saturated with necrotic energy. Drive or lure yours away from your protectorate Guardian. Then kill it somewhere they won't be endangered." He hisses softly, "The other one I will deal with, and your people will not be harmed. Consider it..." He hisses softly, "A gesture of respect. You understood. Many fail to."
Optimus Prime	Optimus listens to what the man has to say and inhales deeply. "Agreed." He say ever so calmly, before he starts to walk away. "I'll be the target and deal with the one.. you do what ever needs to be done with the one you are after.." He then transforms once more and takes off further down. Nothing like self-sacrifice and playing bait...