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| - The two Autobots - Eon and Ratchet - were sent down here by Prime as apparently the strange ship spotted outside of Crystal City had been seen in this area. So with several armed guards they were sent down here, with Eon carrying various equipment pieces and Ratchet... nobody knows why Prime sent Ratchet, but he did. The other two might have wandered by by chance, or heard again the voice over the radio. Eon is transporting who knows how much equipment with him, however, almost all of it is within his subspace compartment. In his hand however, is a fairly small appearing unit, a scanner. Indeed! The voice would draw in the ever serious Swivel, although she does not walk with her usual carefree gait. The idea of making the wrong step as she wanders along some of the cooled crusts was enough to keep her movements measured and cautious. Ratchet is beginning to wonder if Prime thinks he needs his armor re-molded, coming down here. "Anything alive, or barely?" he asks Eon as he resists the urge to try pressing a digit into his plating to see if it leaves a dent. Lift Off usually would avoid this area for the obvious reason of it being hot and a creepy. Being a larger than average mech, walking on the crusty top would be high on his 'stupid is as stupid does' scale. But that radio voice was at it again and it brought him to the edge of the pool. "Careful." he booms out to Swivel. "I'm a weapons tech, this isn't my usual area of expertise, sir.. That said, there are some other life signs showing up on the scanner. " frowning, he pauses, "That said, it's difficult to make them out. The walls around here are interfering with the signal. We may have to rely on our optics. " ... rumbleRUMBLERUMBLErumble... It was a lot like a passing train, but the transport trains were long shut down, and there were none around here. A strange life signal came from down the passage way, where it was cooler. "Face it, you were going to have to learn scanners someday," Ratchet starts to reply when the loud rumbling begins. Certainly he knows that on-the-job training is less than ideal, but there's no point in sending anyone to a training academy nowadays... He sighs and points. "IR has that end of the tube being cooler. We need to get closer." For our armor's sakes, he doesn't mention. Swivel was holding her own adequately, being a nimble femme. Yet, recent events had caused to make her much jumpier than she used to be, and the combination of a mech's voice shouting 'Look out' and the shortly occurring rumble causes her to temporarily lose her balance on the narrow bridge of solidified material she was walking upon. Her arms go out to catch her balance, and she sways precariously to one side. Swivel picks up the dicebag and rolls against her dexterity . Swivel's roll succeeds! Lift Off didn't quite expect Swivel to react like that, but then again he had such a nice view... ahem. Anyway, he huffs a vent of relief when she catches herself and moves along the edge of the pool where it’s obviously safer for him to travel. Nodding faintly, Eon sighs, "I know. and I can use scanners. Let's get moving then sir. No sense in allowing our armor to be weakened by these temperatures. I just hope those other life signs are not 'cons. " The rumbling comes again, and then passes. A little bit of ash and dust falls from the ceiling. An arm that was melted off (It looks like the body was probably in the pool of lava) is passed as well. "... Are you coming? " a voice radios. Ratchet snorts. "I don't think I've seen a scanner that's quite that sensitive," the Autobot medic says, "but even if we could tell, we're not in the best place for escaping if we wanted to. Sometimes it's better to assume it's a 'Con --" he stops and braces himself against the wall when the rumbling sets in, then runs his hand over his helm and shakes his shoulders as dust begins to drop. He eyes the disembodied arm with barely veiled disgust as he hears the voice over his radio. He decides to fish a little. "Coming where?" he asks, over his radio to all listeners, and aloud. Upon regaining her balance, she looks around to find the source of the non-radio voice, also becoming aware of the echoing voices of more distant mechs within the vicinity. Recognizing Lift-Off, Swivel waves to him and yells, without sarcasm, "Thanks!". She then turns to the direction of the voice. "Ya, I'm coming'!" she shouts. Despite her brush with danger, Swivel begins to sprint, hopping and skipping over pools of melted metal as she heads towards the source at increased speed, her footsteps loudly clacking against metal of varying hardness. Swivel picks up the dicebag and rolls against her agility . Swivel's roll succeeds! Lift Off watches where he is stepping, moving slowly and carefully just in case he misjudges a spot that could be softened by the heat of the area. "Oh yeah, we are coming all right." he mutters. His wings flex slightly behind him in a clear indication of an agitated state. A glance to the waving femme, "Uhm.. sorry." he notes. Continuing along, Eon nods now, his optics glowing faintly, even as a panel on his forearm slides open, to reveal a blaster. "Lamentably you're right, of course. Let's hurry on, shall we?" picking up his pace, he continues past the arm, careful as he can, though he could still make critical errors. The passageway up ahead is cooler now, much more sustainable for Transformer life. It was also pitch black, and echoed with footsteps. Curiously there was no dust here. It was perfectly clean. And a huge smooth wall sat blocking the passageway, rounded. It's a relief that the passageway is so much cooler, but Ratchet can't help but rev at exchanging heat for low and no visibility. He feels his pads slide on the clean substrate and adjusts his gait for greater stability, not knowing what's coming except for a massive, texture less barrier on his echo. Ratchet picks up the dicebag and rolls against his dexterity . Ratchet's roll succeeds! Lift Off stops himself short of the clean section of the passage, something about the cleanliness of it just seemed wrong and out of place in comparison to the rest of the area. Arrives into the cooler tunnels, catching up with the two Autobots with ease despite her smaller stride, what with just being a smaller femme. She eases to a jog and then finally makes it to a simple walk as she looks around at how clean the area, seems in awe for a moment. She peers at the two mechs for a moment, making a quick greeting, before something else catches her attention. Swivel stares at the rounded barrier, plugging the passageway. "Um... Diet... 'sat you thar?" Eon hrms, stopping at the wall, and he reaches with his hand to touch it, "interesting. What do you make of this Sir?" "I have no idea," Ratchet admits as he approaches the wall more closely. He feels his traction give way again and rocks sideways when he tries to regain his stability, then stops himself and braces his arm against the barrier when a painful strike registers on the left prong of his chevron. Ratchet leans himself against the barrier to stay stable while he gives his helm attachment a careful rub. "It's nothing I've come across before." "Yes, it is me... " The ship radios again. And then...
* RumblerumbleRUMBLRERUMBLERUMBLE* There's a loud CRASH behind everyone, and a sudden feeling of air not moving... of silence. The tunnel just collapsed, trapping them. Yeah. Lift Off cocks his head slightly as he peers at the rounded section of.. a ship. "Why is she down here?" he voices out loud to the others, "Is she stuck?" Then the rumbling again as the area shakes and sends debris down to block the way they came in. "Correction, now we are stuck with her." SHRIEK! Or perhaps, more of a squeal? At any rate, an unfathomably high-pitched sound erupts from the petite femme as more rumbling occurs. She swerves around, but even with her decent low-light vision, she's hard pressed to see the results. However, upon hearing Lift-Off's words, she makes another plaintive noise. "Wait, wha? Stuck?" Swivel rushes back to whence she came, her hands banging against the fallen rubble. "Ah..." she turns around again. "I... I... I dun like bein' stucked places!" As the tunnel collapses, Eon frowns, before shaking his head slightly, "Alright, now we are stuck down here. Still, I think we should be alright.. We have tools. I should be able to come up with something to tunnel with.. " Ratchet winces at the high-pitched noise echoing into his audios and grunts. None of this was what he'd intended when he rolled out of the repair depot this morning, and he began to wonder just how much Prime knew before sending him on this fool's errand. "Yes, stuck," Ratchet says. "And it's not my idea of a good time, either," he mutters before rapping on the side of the self-identified ship in annoyance. "We certainly could dig, or we can ask this massive pit-slagger what the frag he's doing shaking up the most seismically unstable site this side of Polyhex," he announces, raising his voice. "It’s not MY fault." notes the ship with a note of irritation in her voice "My engines are turned off." Lift Off's optics are easily compensating for the darkness, after all he is a shuttle and being in space it's a requirement to be able to see where one is flying. He turns on his running lights to offer some light to the others, "Perhaps if we all pushed on her she'd be freed and us along with her." he suggests. "Push me where? There is a dead end behind me." notes the Ship, puzzled. Swivel perches her hands on her hips and frowns disapprovingly, although it might not be immediately noticeable in the low, well, nonexistence lighting since the entrance caved in. That is until she flicks on her chest headlights almost around the same time Lift-Off turns on his lights. "Oy, no need ter go blamin ther ship! I bet she's as un'appy 'bout this as we aller." Then Swivel crosses her arms over her chest, then quickly unfolds them realziing she just covered her light source. "Wellum, oner ya did gwon say y'ave tools, yeah? Lessee what can be done..." Eon nods, "Yes.. I am a weapons developer by function.. I am sure that something I have can be modified for tunneling.. Perhaps.. yes.. " reaching into his subspace compartment, he pulls out a large blaster, and opens a panel in the side of it. "I will contemplate the situation and attempt to find a solution." then the ship goes quiet. Very quiet. Maybe she's just taking a nap Ratchet sighs and steps back, because there's only so much he can do. Getting someone ready to escape is his bailiwick. Clearing the escape route, he yields. He sits on a large outcrop of collapsed material and frowns. "Upshot, unless this stuff blasts fairly readily, it's time to settle in," he says. Lift Off frowns a hint to the reply from the ship, "Then I suggest we start digging ourselves out of here." he notes, checking where everyone is before he turns around and treks over to the debris. "Unless of course someone wants to scan this mess and give us news that it's too unstable to even move anything."
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