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| - Contents: Ravage Turntail Autobot Shuttle Autobot Naval Platform Gauss Cannon Outpost Ravage pads soundlessly through the area, making the best use of whatever cover is available, trees, bushes, craters from the battle. Perhaps he's just here for some quiet time, but then again his course is taking him almost straight towards the newly constructed defences. Ravage spies the Autobot on somewhat lazy guard and starts to hug the shadows even closer than before. Turntail stretches out his servos as his metallic jaw stretches into a yawn, his wheels revving in reflex as he pulls himself to his feet, pacing slowly, the Autobot strides around the Outpost slowly, his optics scanning around himself as he takes a slightly more active role in his sentry duty. Primus, what a waste. Doesn't anyone realise Turntail is way above this dull sentry life. Never-the-less, it gets him out of the firing range! Ravage halts suddenly, maybe he's been spotted maybe not, still the Autobot is now on the move, his job is now either a lot easier as he may be moving away or a lot harder if he's actively patrolling. Ravage waits patiently in a deeper shadow gently sniffing the air and scanning his future route, he picks up something worrying well it would be worrying for someone other than him. ooO(Mines!)Ooo Tricked-Out Porsche drives out from the Russian city of Omsk to the Autobot outpost. Instead of going to the facility itself he stops in front of the shuttle parked nearby. Turntail halts before the Outpost's entrance, resting his hands on his hips as his trained blue optics turn from Ravage's direction to scan across the form of Nightbeat's Porsche cruise out toward the Shuttle. Pushing out his chest-plate, Turntail holds a firm posture as he looks out toward the Detective, his processors pondering on what bizarre investigation Nightbeat may be looking into. The sound of another vehicle draws Ravage's attention and also the Guard Bot, he would snarl in anger at the fact that his mission seems to be constantly getting harder to complete. Ravage chokes it back and realises that it's his opportunity to move forwards again, he bounds swiftly to his next position hoping that the new arrival will keep Turntail's attention and vice versa. Tricked-Out Porsche transforms and goes over to a spot on the underside of the shuttle. Reaching up, he opens up a small armored maintenance hatch, revealing a small monitor, keys and other techno-gadgets. Nightbeat plugs his ever-present datapadd into a port and starts manipulating the other controls. He looks over briefly in Ravage's direction when the Decepticon changes position, but by then Ravage is out of sight again. Nightbeat turns slowly back to his work. Now data begins to scroll by on the small monitor, and his pad blinks once in a while in response. Nightbeat transforms into robot mode. Turntail narrows his optic as he attempts to catch a peek at Nightbeat's activity, but, deciding it no longer interests him, turns and continues his patrol route. This time, his long strides taking him around the far side of the outpost, treading the ground back to his original position. Ravage again waits and takes note of the amount of time it took Turntail to complete his apparant patrol circuit a most important thing to remember should he actually manage to get close enough to enetr the building. Also it will make any later return attempts for sabotage purposes all the easier for him. Ravage would attemtpt to try and find out exactly what Nightbeat is doing with the shuttle but unfortunately he's got a job to do right now, time for fun later. Nightbeat disconnects his padd from the interface with the shuttle's systems, then triggers the command so that the maintenance hatch swings shut again. He glances back in Ravage's direction one more time, then walks over to the outpost and leans against the wall next to the main entrance. Nightbeat holds up his pad blackberry style and thumbs the controls, watching the screen on it. Turntail keeps an optic on the far horizon as he paces casually around the Cannon outpost, occasionally kicking a loose rock out of place as he purses his metallic lips and whistles an old Cybertronian war song, the cheery notes piercing the silence of the Omsk outskirts as he strides over the worn track toward the entrance. Ravage's optics narrow to slits as Nightbeat positions himself exactly in the way of where he wants to go. ooO(Coincedence? I don't think so, he knows i'm here or at least suspects someone is. This used to be so much easier when all i had to worry about was running into Bumblebee, still i'm not the best for nothing)Ooo Ravage pauses and tries to figure out a better route in, maybe he can loop around back and get in through a window or maybe through the turret top, the minefields shouldn't be a problem unless detonated remotely. Nightbeat looks over at Turntail as he approaches the entrance, then turns the datapad slightly to show his fellow Autobot what's on the screen. Even then, it's still turned so that it's juuuust out of view for Ravage from his current position... "Nothing too exciting. Just going over the black-box data from the shuttle, sensor logs and whatnot. But then, most times my line of work isn't exciting." He stops and looks a little closer at what's displayed on the screen then points it out to Turntail. "You see that?" Turntail blinks back from the sudden line of questioning, well, he wasn't expecting this sudden barrage. But then, that's the Fuzz for you. Putting on an expression of utmost interest, Turntail leans in close, his optics peering across the datapad's screen for a moment before he registers, "Pretty. From that distance it even makes this patch of grit slightly attractive." A smirk, "Anything particular I should be looking at?" Ravage won't be deterred from his task as soon as Nightbeat starts to move his hand to show Turntail the datapad he moves again, swiftly and surely now taking a somwewhat more circular route around towards the back of the facility. Unfortunately a loose rock is dislodged as he moves and skitters across the ground, no time to stop and curse his luck, Ravage barrels for his next hidey hole. Turntail starts at the sudden sound. This coward hasn't survived this long without picking up some decent audio sensors. Ignoring Nightbeat for the moment, Turntail spins on his heels, his hand reaching for his magnetically clamped pistol as he listens intently, "..did you..?" He directs toward Nightbeat as he takes a step forward. Nightbeat nods. "Hear something? Yeah." He pulls out his largish plasma blaster and thumbs a control to charge it up, although he holds the weapon at his side for now. Ravage scowls in displeasure at the guards being alerted, he can almost feel the warm gentle caress of blaster fire against his body, but it doesn't come, agonising seconds pass and still nothing. The silence is almost deafening, the anticipation has his energon pump racing, his dampeners working overtime to hide his energy emissions. ooO(Damned unstable planet surface, much too easily disturbed. I should attack, it wouldn't take long to remove those two obstacles, but then they'd know someone was here and we're not quite ready to tip our hand quite yet. The noise could still work to my advantage if it draws them away...)Ooo Turntail takes his pistol in his hand as he strides away from the entrance, his optics narrowing in on the sound as he swaggers away around the outpost's wall, "Let's have a look! Probably some of those damned children again." However, on leaving Nightbeat's line of sight, Turntail drops his act, his blue metallic chassis crouched low beside the wall as he cautiously scans across the local terrain, his hand resting on the outpost's wall as he glides around the turret. being this close to enemy territory can leave Turntail somewhat - overzealous with protecting himself. Nightbeat takes a few steps out...he stays close to the front entrance, but turns the other way from where Turntail went, so that he can cover anything that comes from that side while Turntail hopefully flushes out anything from his direction. Maybe it hasn't occured to Nightbeat that someone could enter the outpost from the rear. In any case, he raises his blaster and scans the area carefully. Turntail, in his quest to find Nightbeat, peers into the Outpost's doorway, calling out within, he hears his words echo back at him. Grumbling to himself, Turntail hears the clatter of rock and spins sharply. His optics narrowed as he scans outside, mumbling to himself, he speaks, "Just one entrance.. I'll be fine.. I'll be fine.." Stepping back, Turntail raises his pistol to his shoulder as he crouches down inside, his optics focussed on the entrance. With only one Autobot on guard it just got a whole lot easier to get in even if this one is cowering right inside the doorway, though it does nag at the back of Ravage's mind that Nightbeat might just be hiding somewhere to spring a surprise. Still, taking his chance he runs right up to the outpost walls hugging them as if greeting a long lost brother, moving swiftly he tries to spy another way in. Turntail pauses for a few long moments, his audio sensors straining as he listens for any further movement outside. With nothing to go on, the blue Autobot breathes a deep sigh of relief. Shaking his head module, Turntail pulls himself to his feet, mumbling, "This is ridiculous. It's only a few noises.. But then.." feeling a familar pang in his Central Processor, Turntail remains static within the Cannon's enclosed space, and activates his short wave radio, "Nightbeat? Nightbeat, are you there?" Nightbeat shifts his grip on his blaster so that he's only using one hand, and then uses his newly freed hand to reach up to touch the side of his helmet before responding. "Yeah I'm right here Turntail. What's going on?" He glances back in the direction he last saw Turntail. Turntail lets out a inward sigh of relief, the blue Autobot moving out to the doorframe as he makes his presence known to his comrade. "A lesser 'Bot would've thought you'd been abducted, my lad. Haven't spotted anything but.." That feeling again, "..I've not fought in these wars without knowing when you're being watched. Think you can give the place a decent sweep? I-I'll hold the fort in here.." Ravage spies a small exhaust vent no doubt linked to the cooling system, in no way large enough for a normal sized transformer to use to get in but large enough for a tape to slip through between the slats and with a little luck large enough on the other side to accomadate his bulk. Even if it isn't it will be a good place to stay a while and monitor Autobot activities while waiting for a better chance to get into the main building. Nightbeat smirks slightly to himself, but when he responds to Turntail it's in a perfectly serious tone. "Sure thing. I'll do a quick sweep of the perimeter." He starts to move cautiously but quickly around the outside of the outpost...but by the time he gets to where Ravage is, the skilled Decepticon is already inside of the vent! Nightbeat notices some disturbed snow on the ground where Ravage was running. He follows the trail towards the building, but of course there's no entrance on that side of the outpost, or any sign of anything out of the ordinary (he runs an optic right over the vent where Ravage made his entry but doesn't even think to look twice). So Nightbeat continues on his sweep. "Looks clear...but we both heard something, so don't let your guard down yet." Turntail nods to himself as he hears Nightbeat's transmission, relaxing his shoulder plates somewhat, the blue Autbot lowers his pistol to his side, "Alright.. we-" Stopping mid-sentence, Turntail strains to listen to one of the many vents in the Outpost. Did he just hear something? Continuing the transmission, Turntail moves toward the rear of the complex, "We're probably fine. No doubt this damned country is getting to us more than we think.. I'm just gonna check out something.. I'll be back shortly." Please, Primus, let it be a loose ceiling tile. Black tape opticly scans the inside of the vent and after a quick calculation figures that it's just large enough to accomadate him in panther mode, taking the risk he transforms back and starts to search the place. Hopefully the vents will hold his weight and offer some degree of shadows to hide in while he searches for the main control room. Nightbeat climbs into the outpost. His plasma blaster is still out, but he holds it at his side. He nods briefly at Turntail as the other Autobot walks out, then comes over to take his place at one of the consoles. Nightbeat lays his blaster down next to him and looks over the controls breifly, then starts up a variety of advanced sensor sweeps - but all of these are aimed at the exterior of the outpost. Ravage softly pads through the vents aware of how all to easily they could give way suddenly seeing as they are not designed to carry his kind of weight. Finally he comes across a grille that looks out onto the main control area, he scowls as he sees that one of the guards that he had thought left behind outside is now sat at the controls. Unable to actually reach the universal tape sized data port common to all Cybertronian technology he has to satisfy himself with mere visual observations of the outposts interior design and possible weaknesses. Nightbeat focuses the Outpost's External cameras on the area where Ravage was hidden earlier, zooming in and switching to magnetic, thermal, and other advanced viewing methods. "Hmm," he muses aloud. "I could've -sworn- there was something there, before. But it looks clear...must be the pressure." He shakes his head, then puts away his blaster and enters a few more commands, bringing up what was on his pad from earlier. It looks like aerial scans of the Russian landscape, probably taken from the Autobot shuttle outside as it flew in towards the Outpost here. The scans took in Moscow, but from a large distance so that you can't really make out any detail other than the buildings and streets. Ravage notices that Nightbeat is checking out some of the places he used to hide his approach to the base, but thanks to his internal systems there is little evidence to find except perhaps the odd footprint or two. Unless of course this is all a staged act by the Detective bot to lull him into a state of complacency, it might have worked on a more glory driven Decepticon but not Ravage he's not going to try anything spectacular, well at least not this time. Ravage carefully weighs his options oh staying to gather more information but each astrosecond he lingers the more chance he will be discovered. Finally deciding he turns and heads back to the vent with any luck he'll be able to slip away unnoticed if not then maybe there will be a body or two left behind. Nightbeat freezes again. Outside, with the sound of wind and the rivers and other outdoor noises, it might have been easier to miss the stealthy movements of an expert. But here, with only the white noise of the gauss cannon, there's nothing to mask the sound of something scuttling through the vents. Nightbeat turns his gaze up towards the closest vent, then runs it along the path of the duct until it disappears at the exterior wall. In a flash, the blaster is back out again, and Nightbeat slowly walks under the vent, looking up... Ravage meanwhile is unaware of Nightbeat's discovery of his location more intent on not falling through the side of the vent, finally reaching his exit point he pauses and waits after all Turntail might be patrolling directly on the other side. Having judged that nothing is stood directly outside or at least to the best of his knowledge he backs up slightly before leaping forwards and transforming slotting himself between the slats again with the practiced ease that only tapes seem to have, he falls to the ground, thankfully his size makes little noise on impact. Ravage flips, folds and shrinks down, changing into a small black cassette tape. Nightbeat whips his blaster up. This time he knows exactly what he heard - the sounds of transforming! Nightbeat opens fire, a quick shot that blows a hole through the vent in exactly the spot that Ravage was a second ago, when he transformed...but by this time the Decepticon tape has already exitted the outpost, and Nightbeat's blast blows through empty air (and the poor defenseless air filtration vent ducting that Hazard and Inferno took the time to install ;). As soon as he shoots, Nightbeat freezes again, listening for further sounds, peering through the hole he just made in the duct. Black tape having landed relatively unscathed except from a minor scratch or two to it's casing transforms quickly on hearing the blaster fire. Ravage sprints off, keeping low and in as much cover as possible, he however is not taking time to stop and hide now as he hurries home. Small black tape leaps up, expanding and unfolding into a large mechanical black panther. Nightbeat hears the transforming sound again - this time from outside. "Slaggit!" Nightbeat curses, then runs back for the console...he sees Ravage running off, and triggers the mines! Ravage nimbly darts through the minefields, not a single one disturbed, that is until they are remotely detonated, knowing full well that he is now under direct attack he braces himself as one mine goes off beneath him hurling him into the air and although damaged he doesn't come back down. Activating his flight systems he soars onwards off into the forests and safety. Nightbeat pounds the console with one fist in frustration. Then he logs an order for Firefox to replace all of the mines that Nightbeat just detonated. Ah, the priveledges of rank... Ravage has left.
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