"So… what do you want to talk about in my assault?" Dead End questioned them.
"Well, do you remember anything about it?" Jazz questioned him.
"No, I'm afraid not. The drugs in my system have left me a bit… flighty," he told them.
"Consider yourself lucky to still be awake. Nautilator sure isn't," Bludgeon murmured gravely.
"Yes, he is. A shame…."
"Well, let's just talk about people capable of doing the act," Smokescreen recommended.
"Shut it!" Perceptor ordered.
"Woah, okay, sorry," Smokescreen apologized quickly.
"Now, let's talk about people capable of committing the act," Perceptor recommended.
"Didn't I just-"
"Did I give you permission to speak?" the scientist questioned him, glaring daggers at him. The serial killer gave a sigh before keeping his mouth shut. "Now, let us talk about it."
Nonstop Debate!
Ammo Available: Wildrider's Theory, Monobear #5, Dead End's Severed Arm, Tourniquet, Bludgeon's Testimony, Alibis
PERCEPTOR: We're looking for the person that could've assaulted Dead End.
PERCEPTOR: Who could've possibly done it?
HOIST: I bet it was Smokescreen again.
HOIST: He attacked Dead End once.
HOIST: Could've done it again to keep him quiet.
SMOKESCREEN: Speaking up to defend myself for this one.
SMOKESCREEN: I was at the announcer's booth since the race started.
SMOKESCREEN: All of you heard me and even Monobear can vouch for me.
MONOBEAR: I can confirm that he was in the booth the entire time.
MONOBEAR: We announced the race like bosses.
SMOKESCREEN: See? Alibi is rock-solid.
HOIST: Grr…
SMOKESCREEN: You really don't like me much, do you?
ONSLAUGHT: What about Bludgeon?
ONSLAUGHT: He's the only one I recalled not being at the race at all.
BLUDGEON: I'm not foolish.
BLUDGEON: Attacking Dead End would leave me the obvious suspect.
WILDRIDER: Maybe no one did it.
WILDRIDER Isn't that a possibility?
JAZZ: What you getting on about?
WIDRIDER: Just a suggestion.
WILDRIDER: We're all searching for the truth here.
RATCHET: I agreed.
Ammo Used: Alibis
"You know, Wildrider does have a point. I don't recall anyone leaving the stands when the race was going on, Smokescreen was up at the announcer booth, and Bludgeon isn't stupid enough to commit the crime, along with the fact that he hadn't clean himself recently," Ratchet told the group.
"There was a bunch of energon splattered around the area, so it makes sense for the culprit to at least get some on themselves," Skywarp muttered. "If Bludgeon hasn't showered recently, then he couldn't have been the one to assault Dead End."
"If that's true, then who could've attacked Dead End?" Blurr questioned.
"I have a hunch. Want me to point the person out right now?" Ratchet told them.
"Of course. I want to get Smokescreen's execution underway," Swindle told him, shifting his glare to the gambler next to him.
"Alright. The person who assaulted Dead End was…."
Make an Accusation!
Jazz
Brawl
Mirage
Dead End
Bumblebee
Mixmaster
Blurr
Skywarp
Counterpunch
Bludgeon
Drift
Nautilator
Hoist
Blast Off
Rewind
Wildrider
Chromedome
Onslaught
Beachcomber
Swindle
Smokescreen
Knock Out
Ratchet
Scavenger
Perceptor
Shockwave
Hound
Vortex
Nightbeat
Soundwave
"…is Dead End himself."
"Huh?" Swindle grunted, confused. "You're saying it's a suicide attempt?"
"Exactly."
"Hmm, are you sure?" Dead End questioned him. "I sure don't remember that."
"Don't lie to me, Deady! I'm sure you did it to yourself," Wildrider yelled at him.
"And I have no recollection of it," he insisted and the maniac was getting annoyed.
"Oh, really, Deady? You're going to play dumb, someone which you're distinctly not?" he questioned him.
"Let me guess. You're the one who suggested the idea of suicide in the first place, right?" Dead End questioned his gestaltmate.
"Hmm-hmm, of course I did."
"Why do you idiots continue to believe the crazy person?" he asked the trial members.
"Hey, calm down," Onslaught ordered. "Let's just talk about it like we normally do, okay? No arguing between you two."
"Urg, fine," the cynic agreed with a nod from the maniac.
"Good, now let's talk about this hypothesis of Ratchet and Wildrider's and see how it holds up," Onslaught ordered everyone.
Nonstop Debate!
Ammo Available: Alibis, Ratchet's Surgery Notes, Bludgeon's Testimony, Wildrider's Theory, Glass Container, Dead End's Severed Arm
ONSLAUGHT: So, you say Dead End's assault…
ONSLAUGHT: …was actually a suicide attempt?
REWIND: That's a very odd claim.
SCAVENGER: How could he chop it off?
DEAD END: Why do you continue to humor there proposition?
BEACHCOMBER: Well, everyone else has alibis for the time of it.
MIXMASTER: It might be pointless…
MIXMASTER: …but if you did it to yourself…
MIXMASTER: …then we need to confront you about.
JAZZ: It's for your safety, Dead End.
JAZZ: Just work with us and we can help you.
DEAD END: Help me?
DEAD END: With all the things I know…
DEAD END: …I'm sure that won't happen.
BUMBLEBEE: Come on. Really?
BUMBLEBEE: Just put your cynicism aside and let us help you!
DEAD END: There's nothing to save except a painful existence.
DEAD END: I wished the person who attacked me…
DEAD END: …would've just been thorough.
SKYWARP: Ugh, I swear…
SKYWARP: …just listening to you speak is making me depressed.
SKYWARP: Stop it!
RATCHET: That 's wrong!
Ammo used: Dead End's Severed Arm
"Chop it off?" Ratchet questioned Scavenger. "What makes you think that?"
"Huh? I mean, it makes the most sense? If you're attacking someone and taking one of their arm off, than it would make sense to slice the arm off with a slicing motion," Scavenger told him.
"That's true, which is why Dead End's severed arm is odd. Judging by what happened to the wires, the arm was severed via a sawing motion," the medic informed him.
"It was?" Scavenger questioned. "That's very strange. If you're attacked by someone and had your arm chopped off, presuming you give a fight, it would be chopped off . Being sawing off indicates the person was either really still or they somehow attacked him with a chainsaw."
"Oh, the chainsaw sounds so awesome, I almost want it to be true," Wildrider grinned.
"The wires were sawed off in a back-and-forth way, indicating a bladed weapon being used to go back and forth. No chainsaw in the foreseeable future," Ratchet remarked quickly.
"Aw…."
"Well, did you at least recover a weapon?" Bludgeon questioned them.
"Yeah. It was a kitchen knife. Not exactly the best weapon to use," Skywarp answered. "We didn't have enough time to check on whether or not it came from Dead End's room or not due to the whole bomb situation, so no luck tracing that to him."
"That isn't necessary, since it seems obvious that Dead End did to himself," Perceptor muttered. "As has already been established, everyone except Dead End and Bludgeon had alibis for the assault, and it's highly doubtful Bludgeon would be foolish enough to attack Dead End when he's the only one capable of it."
"Aside from that, it's foolish to think I would leave a survivor of my attacks," he told them. "If I did attacked Dead End, he would be dead. Nothing more."
"How honest…," Beachcomber murmured.
"So, to conclude, the knife was used to saw Dead End's knife in a sawing motion, correct?" Scavenger asked again.
"Correct," Ratchet agreed.
"You're wrong," Dead End muttered.
"Really? Still insisting on that?" Knock Out questioned. "Listen, we got an execution to pull off here and you're stubbornness is keeping me from enjoying it."
"Keep it up, Dead End," Smokescreen encouraged.
"Please, give up, Dead End," Perceptor butted in.
You people are incessantly annoying," Dead End growled. "Besides, there's a good reason why I didn't do it."
"Oh, there's a reason? Pray tell?" Skywarp beckoned him.
"With pleasure."
Nonstop Debate!
Ammo Available: Alibis, Ratchet's Surgery Notes, Bludgeon's Testimony, Wildrider's Theory, Glass Container, Dead End's Severed Arm
DEAD END: There is one good reason as to why…
DEAD END: …I couldn't have kill myself.
SKYWARP: And what is that?
DEAD END: Simple.
DEAD END: As you know, my body has taken…
DEAD END: …a bit of a toll due to the drugs and my first assault.
BLUDGEON: I understand.
BLUDGEON: Nautilator has still not woken up from his coma.
DEAD END: Exactly my point.
DEAD END: My body has been so damaged…
DEAD END: …that I couldn't move about.
DEAD END: Wildrider can even admit that.
DEAD END: I got to the trial room based solely on his help.
WILDRIDER: That's true.
WILDRIDER: He is really weak right now.
DEAD END: Exactly.
DEAD END: It's for that reason…
DEAD END: …that it's foolish to think I killed myself.
RATCHET: That's wrong!
Ammo Used: Bludgeon's Testimony
"Dead End, I understand how much pain you must be in, but claiming you were unable to get around is impossible," Ratchet told him.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Dead End questioned them.
"Because I saw you moving myself," Bludgeon told him, surprising him. "Before your second 'assault,' I saw you moving about in the mall."
"Man, Bludgeon. Your presence has ruined more than one person's testimony today. Impressive," Smokescreen praised him.
"You're like jungle rot," Beachcomber muttered.
"Anyway, Bludgeon can confirmed that you were up and about, which means that your claim of being unable to move about on your own is a lie," Ratchet informed Dead End, who looked annoyed, before speaking.
"Fine, I lied about that part, although I genuinely can't move about much now," Dead End told them.
"That's what happens when you cut your own arm off!" Wildrider yelled at him.
"I didn't do that."
"Dead End, we can get you counseling. Just work with us here," Ratchet tried to appeal to him.
"That would be effective if I actually did it," he told them.
"Your denial of the facts is starting to grate on me," Hoist muttered. "I want to end this trial quickly, so just give up."
"I didn't cut my arm off," he told them. "I have no memory of the assault, so quit asking me about it."
"Is there any way to confirm that he had any recollection of it?" Jazz questioned. "If his action indicate that he had to have act on it, then maybe something he did would show that he had to be involved in it."
"There isn't anything. I have no recollection of the event. How many times do I have to say that?" he questioned them.
"Hey… Ratchet, you think something about the state of Dead End's body when we found him could indicate that he had to know what happened to him," Skywarp asked the medic.
"I believe I have an idea," Ratchet agreed.
"Your ideas are those of a fool. I don't remember anything," Dead End insisted.
"You do, Dead End, and I'll prove it!"
"No you won't!"
Machine Gun Talk Battle!
Ammunition Available: Monobear #5, Energon-Stained Kitchen Knife, Tourniquet
SHIELD X8
DEAD END: You are insane!
SHIELD X7
DEAD END: Sophist!
SHIELD X6
DEAD END: You can't help me.
SHIELD X5
DEAD END: You're lacking reason.
SHIELD X4
DEAD END: Let's be realistic.
SHIELD X3
DEAD END: We're doomed!
SHIELD X2
DEAD END: Shut up!
SHIELD X1
DEAD END: There's nothing to help.
Shield Destroyed
DEAD END: I wasn't aware of my attack!
RATCHET: This proves you did.
Ammo Used: Tourniquet
"Wildrider and Bludgeon, when you found Dead End, he had a tourniquet on him, correct?" Ratchet questioned the two of them.
"Yes, he did," Wildrider confirmed.
"He speaks the truth," Bludgeon acknowledged. "We found him unconscious with the tourniquet on him."
"Right, which leaves us with a question. If Dead End was unable to remember anything, how would he be mentally capable of putting a tourniquet on himself?" Ratchet questioned everyone.
"You got a pic to go with that?" Smokescreen questioned him.
"I do," Wildrider told them, bringing his electroID out and quickly getting to the picture before passing it around. As he was doing this, Dead End was hunched over, gritting his denta and clenching his single fist in anger. When everyone was done looking at it, Ratchet spoke up again.
"So, Dead End, I find it strange that you claim that you can't recall a thing strange since you were level-headed enough to applied a tourniquet to yourself," Ratchet told him. "It was done really well too. Metal was pressed tightly to dent the arm in to cut off the energon-flow, giving me enough time to save you."
"If Dead End was attempting to kill himself, why did he apply the tourniquet to himself?" Bumblebee questioned. "I find that odd."
"He probably regretted it," Wildrider told them. "This isn't his first suicide attempt, even though this is his most successful."
"Has he ever been to a therapist?" Jazz questioned.
"Decepticons don't have any forms of therapy," Knock Out told them the sad truth. "It part of the reason a high amount of the soldiers experience some form of mental instability."
"So, Dead End, how about you just finally admit that you cut your own arm off," Perceptor told him. Dead End glanced at the room, looking nervous, and was keeping his hand on the podium to balance himself. Ratchet could tell that he was conflicted. He's dealt with injuries from suicide attempt before, and they were always reluctant to speak about it.
"Dead End, you don't have to talk about it if you want to, but it's impossible to deny that you did saw your arm off," Ratchet told him, earning his attention. "Just tell us that you did and we'll end the trial." Dead End looked uncertain, and Ratchet knew he was thinking through carefully. He just had to say it and they could end this trial.
"Yes, I did it" he finally admitted. "Can we finally vote?" The crowed was silence as they looked at each other, silently talking to each other.
"I would have no problem that," Hoist spoke up, glaring at Smokescreen. "We have an execution to undertake." At that, everyone else silently agree, barring Smokescreen, who was keeping quiet, seemingly contemplating something.
"Alright, if you are all sure this time," Monobear said, sounding a bit more cautious this time. "Go away and take your electroID out and place your-"
HOLD IT!
"Gwhm!" Monobear grunted again. "Nmt agmpt!" The room was shocked at another interruption before getting annoyed at the identity of who interrupted them this time: Smokescreen.
"Oh, what do you have to say this time? An apology for all of your misdeeds at a last attempt at sympathy?" Hoist questioned him.
"Huh, you think I do that?" Smokescreen questioned. "I see no reason to justify my actions."
"Then what do you have to say?" Swindle questioned him, sounding ticked off.
"Well, it's simple. Dead End's suicide attempt has a baffling inconsistency," Smokescreen told them and that surprised everyone.
"What do you mean?" Ratchet questioned everyone.
"Ratchet, think about the order of efforts of Dead End's suicide attempt if it went exactly as he wants us to think," he told him.
"The order of events?" Ratchet muttered thinking it through
Logic Dive!
Question #1: Which would come first?
Getting the knife
Sawing the arm off
Applying the Tourniquet
…
Getting the Knife
…
Question #2: What would happen next?
Applying the tourniquet
Wildrider and Bludgeon finding him
Sawing the arm off
…
Sawing the arm off
...
Question #3: What would happen after cutting his arm off?
Wildrider and Bludgeon finding him
Applying the tourniquet
…
Applying the tourniquet
RATCHET: This is the order of events.
"First, he would have to get the knife and bring it back to the operating room. After that, he cuts it off and apply the tourniquet after that before falling unconscious and Wildrider and Bludgeon find him," Ratchet told him.
"Exactly, so why is one of those out of order?" he questioned him.
"Huh?"
"Think about it. I haven't investigated the suicide attempt at all, so what could I object over?" he question him.
What is it that Smokescreen could object over?
When Dead End got his knife.
When he cut his arm off.
When he applied his tourniquet
When Wildrider and Bludgeon found him
"It would be when he apply the tourniquet. After all, Wildrider passed the photo around, so you could've seen it," Ratchet answered his question.
"Exactly," Smokescreen acknowledge.
"You know… I've had an odd feeling about it as well," Ratchet told the court.
"But what's the problem with it?" Wildrider questioned.
"Something is on it that really shouldn't be there," Smokescreen told them.
"There is? What's wrong with it?" Blurr questioned.
"I think I understand now," Ratchet told them. "The problem is…"
Epiphany Anagram
E/ _/ _/ _/ G/ _/ _/ - S/ _/ _/ A/ _/ _/ E/ _/
E/ N/ E/ _/ G/ _/ _/ - S/ _/ _/ A/ _/ _/ E/ _/
E/ N/ E/ R/ G/ _/ _/ - S/ _/ _/ A/ _/ _/ E/ _/
E/ N/ E/ R/ G/ O/ N/ - S/ _/ _/ A/ _/ _/ E/ _/
E/ N/ E/ R/ G/ O/ N/ - S/ P/ L/ A/ _/ _/ E/ _/
E/ N/ E/ R/ G/ O/ N/ - S/ P/ L/ A/ T/ T/ E/ R/
ENERGON SPLATTER
RATCHET: This is it!
"…the energon splatter."
"The energon splatter? What's wrong with that? If you cut your arm off, you can expect it splatter a lot of energon to splatter quite a bit," Skywarp rejected his claim.
"But, that's the problem. You can see two types of energon on it. The energon splatter and a large energon stain from the energon pool," he told him. "The large stain, I'm okay with, but the splatter? That indicates that the tourniquet was already made when he cut his arm off."
"That's not the only thing odd about it. Look at how the splatter is angled. Droplets with streaks going away from the cut-off point of Dead End's arm. That indicates that the tourniquet was already on at the time he cut his arms off," Smokescreen told them.
"Wait, what," Wildrider stumbled, not knowing what's going on. "Why the frag would anyone do that?"
"Isn't it obvious? What are tourniquets use for?" Smokescreen questioned.
What would Dead End use the tourniquet for?
To keep himself from bleeding out
To fake a suicide attempt
"To keep himself from bleeding out. If you have to cut your arm off in an emergency situation, then you make a tourniquet before doing so," Ratchet explained.
"Which is exactly what Dead End did, which begs the question of why did he apply the tourniquet before attempting his suicide attempt?" Smokescreen told everyone.
"That… doesn't make any sense!" Bludgeon growled, glaring at the poet. "What is the meaning of this confusion?!" Dead End didn't say anything, keeping his head down as they were decoding this whole thing.
"I have no idea why it's like that… but it's clear there's more to Dead End's suicide attempt than we first thought," Ratchet announced, getting ready to figure it out, but he couldn't help but have a bad feeling about all this. This was completely abnormal. Whatever it was, he had to figure it out before Dead End could hide from the others.