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Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

“Wait, really?! They found Prime? Wow, that’s great news!! I wasn’t stationed here on Earth at the time he disappeared, but from what I heard he went missing during a massive explosion at the former Decepticon headquarters. No body was ever recovered, so there was always the real possibility he would return. As far as psychological issues are concerned, that's news to me. Regardless, this is still great for all of us! Our leader is back and now we can really take it to the 'Cons and defeat them once and for all!!”

Swerve whirled around at the sound of Bluestreak’s familiar voice. The red minibot grinned at his fellow chatterbot’s jubilation before frowning for a moment. “But…but wait. Why didn’t you guys, oh I dunno, let anybody know that happened to Optimus?! Seems kind of important. I mean sure, it sucks that he went missing, but don’t you guys think everyone deserves to know? Or deserved. Guess it doesn’t matter too much now. Still!”

Swerve stepped closer to Bluestreak and leaned in toward the taller Autobot. “Maybe we can go visit him whenever we get a break. Or at least sneak a peek. What’dya say, Blue? Ratchet might take our heads off with that wrench of his though…” Swerve shivered with fear for the crotchety CMO of the Autobots. “Okay, so maybe not. Nevermind. I mean what would we really say to him anyway? Get well soon? We can just give up some innermost energon for that. But I guess if we did that every time Prime got hurt, we would all run out.”

Peruvian Valley–-Near Mine Entrance

Kup listened attentively as Huffer went over his concerns. All in all, they seemed pretty reasonable. The makeup of this planet left a lot to be desired, that was for sure. It was a much easier prospect to plan construction on solid, unforgiving surfaces and perfectly calculable angles and distances. This planet left more to the unknown and thus required more imagination.

Huffer's perspective on the pyramids, too, was noteworthy but not overly so. In his short time on this planet, he'd seen--either on holos or in person--a pretty wide array of structures that didn't quite make sense. But they were there anyway. Kup wasn't going to worry about a few freestanding Terran structures until he had taken care of some higher priorities.

Around the same time that Huffer had been speaking, Swerve apparently also thought it was a good time to put in an appearance. Great. Two chatterbots. Oh well. No awkward silence down here for a good while.

“Hey there, Kup! New marching orders from Mags. Oh, and guess what I heard fro Mags! Pretty juicy tid bit, I’d say.”

Yeah, yeah. Very thrilling. Swerve had likely heard Blurr was going to organize a new race or somethin' and-

“Optimus Prime is back in town! Yep, the big ole red and blue bot we know and love. By the way, where was he? Seems like he’s been gone for a while or something. Prowl sure acted like it. Grimlock didn’t seem to care though. What’s with that? I mean, Mags also said something about psychological issues maybe? I didn’t really understand. I mean, just how long has Prime been gone?”

Kup's vocalizer dropped a couple centimeters and his cygar slipped out and hit the ground.

"No way..." he muttered instinctively. He had really doubted he would ever hear the words "Optimus Prime" again, at least when talking about him in the present tense. Of course he'd held on to a slim hope that Optimus had survived. A soldier's hope for any of their fallen comrades. But Kup hadn't just heard about it. He'd been there.

Kup's hand went to his mouth, trying to gather himself and his thoughts as he knelt down and picked up the cygar, brushing it off.

"I mean that's...wow....that's fantastic!" Kup roared, the first genuine smile crossing his face in a long time.

"Too long," Kup added finally, answering Swerve's question as he accepted the datapad that had apparently come from Ultra Magnus. "We had a big battle in the midst of one of this planet's volcanoes--Mount St. Helens. We were fighting and he and Megatron were just...gone. I figured there was some sort of malfunction with Megatron's fusion cannon or some other Decepticon crackpot technology and it cost us both out leaders, but..."

His optis skimmed over the datapad. Ark-22. Aerialbots. Rehab. All right. Reasonable stuff. But as his optics continued further downward, he had another pause. So...they not only recovered Prime, but Megatron too? This was getting to be too much. Apparently they had the tyrant in some kind of captivity and Ultra Magnus clearly intended to keep it that way. Kup certainly had no intention of disappointing them. Prime was back, and he certainly didn't need to worry about either an escaping Megatron or a horde of Decepticon lackeys coming to free him.

"Something the matter Kup," the words filtered through Kup's multiple distractions. He looked up from the datapad and over at Huffer briefly, his face blank. His vocalizer open. No words, just a tidal wave of circumstances crashing over him. But soon enough, he started to get it together.

"Uh--nah. Nothin'. Just....Prime, y'know? That's somethin'," Kup stammered, closing off the datapad and reactivating its security encryptions. "Anyway, we got a lotta stuff Magnus wants us to take care of down here. We need a functional rehab suite and a max level containment cell. We'll expand on both when we can, but this place needs to be ready to get our guys back 'n th' field and also be ready to hold whatever other big bads we manage to capture. And I'm talking Grade-Alpha, triple-filtered. This thing needs to be able to hold Sixshot cuz, well, he's one of the ones that's still out there."

He felt bad holding back intel like this regarding who the cell was really for, but Magnus was right to keep a tight lid on it. If word spread, and it easily would with both Swerve and Bluestreak here, it probably wouldn't take more than a few orns, if not breems, for word to get back to Soundwave. And this place was far from defensible for the time being.

"I'm gonna try'n see if I can reach Grapple and Hoist. They built some good stuff for us over the vorns and might have a few ideas that can speed things along."

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

Bluestreak listened to Swerve ramble on and on about the return of Optimus Prime and why they didn’t inform anyone else outside the Sol System of his disappearance. The red minibot then suggested that maybe they could go and visit Prime when they had a chance, even give him some innermost energon or offer him a ‘get well soon’ or whatever. Swerve was definitely high strung with plenty to say and barely enough time for an intake of air. Was this how the gunner sounded to the other Autobots? That would explain why many covered their audio receptors when the chatterbot went on one of his numerous tirades. Of course, around the metallurgist, it would be more difficult for the dark blue and silver mech to get a word in, let alone several. Nevertheless, he was up for the challenge.

“Well, Swerve, I’m sure Ultra Magnus and Prowl didn’t want to hurt the morale of all those Autobots outside this system,” Bluestreak began to say without stopping. “Morale around here had been pretty low after Prime went missing, so I’m sure the higher ups didn’t want that to spread elsewhere. Plus, we really didn’t know what had happened to Optimus. He was just missing. No body or anything to say what exactly had happened to him. We didn’t know if he was dead or alive and thus it was better to wait to find out more before telling the entirety of the Autobot forces everywhere in the known universe. And we didn’t want rumors to start spreading, either. That could cause even more harm than good.

“As for visiting Optimus, I’d love to, but we’ve got a lot of work down here to get done first. I’d be happy to give him my innermost energon if it would help, but I doubt any regular ‘bot will be allowed anywhere near Prime until he is fully healed and at 100%. Best to let him rest for the time being. That way his internal repair systems, along with Ratchet, can work faster and get him back on his feet and leading us again all the sooner. I’m sure we’ll have are chance to see him at that point. Until then, we should just try and focus on the multiple tasks at hand.”

Bluestreak finally stopped his latest chatterfest and glanced over at Kup when he heard the old timer talk about how Prime vanished before mentioning all the stuff that Ultra Magnus wanted them to complete as part of Autobot City. One of the big things on the to-do list was to build a maximum level containment cell that would be capable of holding even Sixshot. “Really?! Sixshot?! Wow, that would be impressive if we were able to catch him. I don’t see that happening, I’m afraid. It would take the likes of Omega Supreme or even a combiner like Devastator to bring a Phase Sixer down and we don’t have either one of those at our disposal. The Fallen did the trick, too, but again we don’t have another demigod hanging around. Heh.”

Kup then said that he was going to try and bring Grapple and Hoist down planet side in order to help speed things up. “That’s a great idea, Kup! Those guys are marvels at building and engineering. I’m sure we’ll get this Autobot City up and running in no time with them involved. Maybe we can also get a bunch of those Construct-bots to assist us. They helped repair the Ark-22’s generators after the Fallen’s heralds destroyed them so they know what they're doing. Unless, of course, the Construct-bots are already down here. I haven’t seen them yet, so I don’t know.”

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

“As for visiting Optimus, I’d love to, but we’ve got a lot of work down here to get done first. I’d be happy to give him my innermost energon if it would help, but I doubt any regular ‘bot will be allowed anywhere near Prime until he is fully healed and at 100%. Best to let him rest for the time being. That way his internal repair systems, along with Ratchet, can work faster and get him back on his feet and leading us again all the sooner. I’m sure we’ll have are chance to see him at that point. Until then, we should just try and focus on the multiple tasks at hand.”

“Oh…yeah. Right, right,” Swerve replied, a little disheartened. “Probably for the best, you know.” There were likely dozens of Bots more suited to visit the Autobot supreme commander while he was recuperating anyway. Yeah. Bluestreak managed to stop in time not to talk over Kup who had the order of the day. Apparently on the docket was constructing a prison strong enough to hold Sixshot. Wait. Swerve’s optic went a little wide.

“W…wha….Sixshot…is…” Swerve glanced around. Bases weren’t just being constructed in phase six of the Cons’ infiltration protocols were they? “He’s here? Isn’t…it…early? I mean…it doesn’t look like the Cons are in the part of their plan where they just nuke the planet…” Swerve stopped. Wait. He’d heard something weird.

“And what’s a combiner? Who’s Devastator?! Demigod…” Swerve rubbed the back of his head. “Maybe I was better off at Cas Collar…” As Swerve began to regret his decision to get in a few winks aboard the Trion, Kup mentioned something about calling in Grapple and Hoist down to help speed things up.

“So, what can I do to help, Kup?”

Peruvian Valley: Near Mine Entrance

Huffer's optics darted from the pad resting in Kup's hands as the old timer reviewed whatever it was Magnus had decided to adjust to the original plans, and quickly swept over the former merchant with a skeptical glare. "Don't go trying to sell me that used piston oil Bluestreak. I am versed enough in these earthling construction habits, abilities and techniques that are presently employed on this planet, and in its relative past. Humans stacked toy blocks and managed to cut a few shallow tunnels into caves in desert rock... By their primitive standings its probably quite impressive." Huffer snorted briefly as he pivoted away from Swerve and Kup. "But Terra-forming a valley in the middle of a glacier field? Course I don't have actual tangible proof that this valley was totally artificially created, but it still defies logic... at anyrate, if they had Terra-formed this valley, its far and above any level of technology these humans possess now let alone a thousand years ago plus."

The minibot waived his hand dismissively, not entirely discounting the ingenuity of the native inhabitants of the world in which they now dwelt. But neither did he embrace them on face value. Huffer had read the initial reports and debriefs while he waited for the Construction Patrol to arrive. The city underneath the relatively small yet deep glacial lake was nothing but miraculous in its construction. While he had not directly investigated the temple at its heart or the broken pathways or buildings that were submerged beneath the near still waves, Huffer recognized early influences when he saw them.

He bellowed out orders to several of the engineers working to clear the remaining rubble from the expanded entrance to the mine, stepping over one of the freshly cut trenches to do so. Quickly he dispersed a handful of loaders so that Wedge could break from the entrance and deposit his load straight into the Matter Reformatting Device. As the debris plummeted from the large transport's bed, another engineer made its way over to the controls. Huffer ordered the machine to begin manufacturing titanium plates and beams that would be used to stabilize the opening of the mine shaft... though perhaps mine shaft no longer applied to the squared out maw that had replaced it.

As the first set of materials began to emerge from the rear of the MRD Huffer looked back over to Kup. "May as well get that little surprise underway. Before this little cut of ours collapses on our audio receptors..."

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

Bluestreak’s attention shifted away from Swerve for a moment and back to Huffer as the orange and blue minibot insisted that there was no way humans could’ve terra-formed this valley utilizing what technology they had now let alone what they had available to them thousands of years ago. Huffer did admit that he had no real tangible proof but that didn’t stop him from simply dismissing the chatterbot’s theory altogether. Still, the blue and silver mech didn’t see any harm in offering up a viable alternative.

“Sorry, Huffer,” Bluestreak began to say, shrugging his shoulders. “Just trying to interject a different perspective. That’s all. I'm not saying you’re wrong or right. And, yes, the pyramids in Egypt are basically just big stone blocks, which for us is nothing at all to move around, but for the humans at that time period it was a marvel in engineering and construction. Of course, I don’t know the specifics of what you’ve found here in this valley, so maybe there was an alien influence of some kind here. You know, from what I’ve read about this planet, there are conspiracy theories abound that aliens had visited Earth many times in the distant past and helped guide the native population. Of course, most humans don’t believe in that kind of thing, but maybe there’s something to it, you know.”

The Autobot gunner’s attention was then drawn back to Swerve as the red and white minibot began asking questions regarding Sixshot, Devastator and the Fallen. “Ah, yes, you’ve missed a lot, haven’t you, Swerve?” Bluestreak replied as he took a deep intake of air. “Well, I’m not really sure why Sixshot is here. I can only assume he was brought in to help fight the Fallen. And, yes, I’m talking about that Fallen, the Fallen Prime of legend. His dark spark took over Hot Rod’s body when we were on a mission to Cybertron. Once we got back here to Earth, the Fallen revealed himself and took control of two Autobots and two Decepticons. Together the five of them waged a violent battle against us in a place called Uluru in the nation-state of Australia. Their goal was the extinction of the Cybertronian race. Now, believe it or not, Autobots and Decepticons actually called a temporary truce and worked together to defeat the Fallen and save our comrades. The Fallen’s dark spark was eventually ripped out of Hot Rod and will be disposed of shortly if it hasn’t already. Sixshot was there but even he had a difficult time fighting the Fallen and was defeated in battle.

“As for Devastator, well, he’s a gestalt made up of the six Constructicons combined. Unlike Monstructor, Devastator seems to be stable and controllable but not too smart. Scrapper and his men somehow figured out the combiner process and they used Devastator to help in fighting the Fallen. However, the big green behemoth was ultimately knocked apart by the demigod’s powerful energies. So, even a gestalt wasn’t enough to defeat a demigod. It took the combined efforts of Hot Rod fighting from within and a spark extractor wielded by Prowl to defeat the Fallen. I also think Trailbreaker helped with his force field to hold the possessed Hot Rod down, and I suppose the 'Cons did some things to help, too, but in the end it was mainly us that saved the day.”

Bluestreak finally stopped his summation of recent events and let out a slight chuckle. “I guess maybe it was a good thing you were at Cas Coller during all that, Swerve. It did get pretty intense around here for awhile. But, all that’s over with now and we’re back to fighting the ‘Cons again as we should be. To tell you the truth I didn’t like the whole truce thing with them. I never trusted the Decepticons and knew that at the first chance they got they’d turn on us and of course they did. Thankfully, everything came out okay after all was said and done and now that Prime’s back things will be even better than they were before!”

Peruvian Valley - Near Mine Entrance

Another bright light had flashed upon the Peruvian sands indicating a successful bounce and two more mechs stood in the red sand that covered the valley. Tracks gazed down at his feet and pouted a little at the sight of the dirt already clinging to his pristine metal coating.

"I thought we were done with sand back in Australia." The corvette complained as he scanned the area for familiar faceplates. "I thought these humans had more pavement placed along their planet. Either that or the survey team has atrocious taste in real estate."

Stepping forward from where they had just arrived, the two Autobots approached Kup and the rest of the gathered Autobots, Swerve and Bluestreak by the looks of it, to inquire about their next course of action.

"Salutations my fine Gentlemechs!" The deep blue Warrior greeted as he interjected himself into the conversation, "Got your call about needing a team there, Kup ol' friend. Looking if you could point me in any direct-" Tracks froze mid-sentence as his optics locked on Bluestreak standing across from him looking a tad more... blueish in color scheme.

"Bluestreak! My oh myyy I'm really digging the new palette there! What made you decide to switch over to a more fashionable color? And don't tell me it's because you were jealous I was rocking the deep Navy sheen too well, now! Hahaha!"

"Blue..." Tailgate murmured beneath his breath as he slowly and instinctively backed away behind the Chatterbox's field of view, his memory recalling the last time he saw his fellow Autobot is when he was tugging at his rifle before the two got closelined off a mobile Magnus trailer by an airborne Vehicon during the battle with the Fallen.

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

“Really?! Sixshot?! Wow, that would be impressive if we were able to catch him. I don’t see that happening, I’m afraid. It would take the likes of Omega Supreme or even a combiner like Devastator to bring a Phase Sixer down and we don’t have either one of those at our disposal. The Fallen did the trick, too, but again we don’t have another demigod hanging around. Heh.”

"Yeah, I don't even know why the 'Cons have a Phase Sixer in this sector. From th' looks of everything they're barely scratchin' Phase Two. That's far enough as far as I'm concerned, but we're sure a fraggin' long way from Phase Six unless someone's gone and messed up the game plans what with Megatron bein' gone n' all."

Of course, he wasn't technically gone anymore, was he? But at least the Decepticons didn't have him.

"As for Sixshot, well, I'm not worried about catching him. So long as we can build a cell good enough to hold him if we do, I think the uppity-ups'll be happy. Any cell that can hold Sixshot can easily hold Starscream or Soundwave or whoever else me might get our hands on.

Like the big, silver killing machine himself... Kup thought, ruefully.

“That’s a great idea, Kup! Those guys are marvels at building and engineering. I’m sure we’ll get this Autobot City up and running in no time with them involved. Maybe we can also get a bunch of those Construct-bots to assist us. They helped repair the Ark-22’s generators after the Fallen’s heralds destroyed them so they know what they're doing. Unless, of course, the Construct-bots are already down here. I haven’t seen them yet, so I don’t know.”

"Heh, yeah. I hope so. Anyway, I went and sent 'em an RFP. I know Magnus and Prowl usually keep both of those guys pretty busy, but maybe one or both 'em just happen to have an opening in their project list. Primus willing."

By that time, other Autobots had started steadily responding to the call he had sent out before bouncing down here. Definitely some good hands so far. Hopefully there'd be more, but this was a good start.

"Well Swerve, Bluestreak here mentioned something about Construct-bots up on the ships. I dunno how many we have and how many Prowl is willing to part with, but if you two could figure that out and get 'em down here, that'll make a lot less grunt work for all of us. We're gonna have plenty to go 'round as it is."

"Salutations my fine Gentlemechs!" The deep blue Warrior greeted as he interjected himself into the conversation, "Got your call about needing a team there, Kup ol' friend. Looking if you could point me in any direct-"

Aha. Tracks. Fantastic. He'd be a bundle o' help so long as they kept his paint clean. Oh well, any help was good help as far as this project was concerned. It needed to be done, that cell at least, ASAP.

He then noticed Tailgate backing away tentatively, not far from Tracks.

"What's his glitch?"

Deep Mines

The Construction Patrol continued on down the mine shafts taking in the recordings and analyzing them. They slowly cleared the shaft making it wider centimeter by centimeter making sure nothing collapsed. To preserve their lives or at least functionality, they didn't let Crumble do any of the clearing instead forcing him to do all of the scanning.

>>Huffer, this is Takedown. My team have been exploring these tunnels and very carefully and deliberately widening them as we go. The rock and ground is quite durable for Terran quality but as we go deeper, we have to be extremely careful. I hope any of the extra help which beamed down hasn't given you too much trouble.<<

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

“Yeah, those guys are always busy,” Bluestreak replied to Kup when he mentioned having sent an RFP to Grapple and Hoist regarding their availability to assist. The old timer then suggested to Swerve about getting some of the construct-bots down here to help out, as well.

“Yeah, we can certainly do that, Kup,” Bluestreak interjected. “In fact, I’ll radio Prowl right now and ask for the extra mechpower. I mean, what’s the worst he could say, ‘no’? Heh. Always possible, I guess. It is Prowl, after all, and there isn't a bigger prick-bot than him.” Bluestreak then managed to shut up long enough to open a secured comm line up to the Guardian:

>>Prowl, this is Bluestreak down at the construction site in Peru. We were all wondering here if you wouldn’t mind sparing some of those Construct-bots. We could really use the added help in getting Autobot City built and the area ready for the Ark-22’s landing. Also, Kup mentioned something about sending an RFP before to Grapple and Hoist. If possible, could you send them along, too? Thanks so much!”<<

After several moments, the gunner finally received a non-verbal response, granting his request. “Well, that was rather painless,” Bluestreak commented as he turned to look back at Kup. “Prowl’s gonna send Grapple and some of those construct-bots down ASAP. Hoist may be with them, as well. Not bad, huh?”

A flash of light then pulled Bluestreak’s attention away from Kup and the others as a bounce beam deposited two more Autobots into the ancient valley. The taller of the two mechs quickly approached the group and offered his greetings. It was Tracks and by the looks of things he was quite unhappy about being around sand again even if it wasn’t quite as much as in the Australian desert. The deep blue corvette began speaking to Kup before noticing the chatterbot’s new color scheme. Tracks seemed to like it, asking why the gunner had decided to change his palette and if he had been jealous of Tracks’ own navy colors.

“Hahah, very funny,” Bluestreak replied with a wide grin. “No, no I wasn’t jealous of you, Tracks. The change in my colors was actually a little prank that Howlstrike played on me while I was getting repaired in a CR chamber after the battle with the Fallen. He never understood why I was called Bluestreak when I wasn’t blue. I tried to explain it to him in the past but he never got it. Still, after thinking about it I’ve decided to keep the blue and silver. I mean I used to look like this back when I was a merchant before the war. I only changed to mourn the loss of all those who were killed when my home city was destroyed. But now Howl, of all mechs, has made me see that it’s time to stop mourning and start remembering and honoring their sacrifice. And the best way for me to do that is to keep the look I originally had when they were all alive. I’m not sure if that makes any sense to you, but I think it does to me. Just don’t tell Howl I said that. That mangy Pred won’t ever let me live it down. You know? heh.”

Bluestreak stopped for a brief moment, noticing the other, much smaller mech trying to hide behind Tracks and out of the gunner’s line of sight. The chatterbot craned his neck plates around and walked to one side so that he could see the minibot better. “Oh, it’s you, Tailgate,” Blue said, trying to keep a straight faceplate. He understood why the tiny blue and white ‘bot appeared scared of him. It was Tailgate, after all, that had distracted him and caused that collision with the flying Vehicon during the Fallen battle. The dark blue and silver Nissan had suffered just enough damage during the crash that it ended up taking him out of the fight for good, and Tailgate clearly knew it was his fault and was fearful of Blue’s reaction to him now.

“You must have some mighty big ball bearings to show your face around here after what you did,” Bluestreak said, approaching the minibot and staring down at him, grimly. The chatterbot spoke in a serious tone, or at least he was trying to, but in reality Blue was only kidding around with the little guy. “So, what do you have to say for yourself? Hmmm?” The gunner demanded as a frown remained etched across his visage. After a few astroseconds passed that frown began to recede and was quickly replaced by a wide smile.

“Ahhh, I’m just kidding with ya, Tailgate! It’s all good!” Bluestreak exclaimed, leaning down and giving the minibot a great big hug. “No worries, little buddy. You didn’t mean any harm. It could’ve happened to any of us.” The gunner then released the small ‘bot and stood back up to his full height. After giving Tailgate a friendly wink, the chatterbot moved away and back towards the main group where his attention returned to the tiny metallurgist.

“Well, Swerve, if you still need something to do, you can always grab another photon shovel and help me widen those trenches over there. What do you say?”

Peruvian Valley - Hills

The sleek, athletically built white bot looked over the operation below out of her sniper scope. They were Cybertronians, no doubt about it. But we're they Autobots?

She'd just arrived and hadn't gotten a good look at any insignia that the bots below had. She didn't want to walk in the middle of a group of 'Cons. She wasn't that good of a fighter. Well, maybe she was, but she didn't want to push her luck.

One of the bots below turned and she got a look at the insignia. Ah ha. Autobot. She took her rifle and put it on her back. The nimble sniper jumped off the hilltop, sliding down to the group that had gathered in the entrance of some cave.

After reaching the group, she zeroed in on the only Autobot she recognized, Kup. Saluting the old 'Bot and said cheerfully, "Hello, sir! Name's Pinpoint, and I'm reporting for duty!"

Peruvian Valley-–Near Mine Entrance

Kup quickly got the answer to his question as he watched Bluestreak bear down on Tailgate. He almost thought he would have to break up a scuffle or some other such nonsense when all of the sudden Bluestreak changed his tune and let the smaller mech know that he was just playing around. Kup had clearly missed something, but he was just glad that everything was good.

More importantly, Prowl had apparently got back to Bluestreak even faster than Kup would've guessed. Not only were they getting the Construct-bots they were requesting, but it looked like they were going to get Grapple personally. Well slaggin' A, that would sure smooth a few gears and keep this project rolling.

"Best news I've heard all day, lad," Kup said.

"Hello, sir! Name's Pinpoint, and I'm reporting for duty!"

Kup turned to assess the new arrival, looking the femme over.

"Welcome t'Earth, kid. Yer ID tells me you're a sniper. Good. Might have need of that at some point. Meantime, Huffer here's our point man 'til Grapple shows up. We got a city t'build."

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

Bluestreak’s explanation of the situation set Swerve’s head spinning. He’d kinda forgotten what a chatterbot he could be. At least it was thorough, but Primus, Blue could learn to shorten it down a tad bit. Fortunately, Bluestreak eventually stopped. Swerve wasn’t sure he would. But he did. And Tracks and Tailgate popped in! Nice to see those two, but Tailgate seemed a little…subdued.

"Well Swerve, Bluestreak here mentioned something about Construct-bots up on the ships. I dunno how many we have and how many Prowl is willing to part with, but if you two could figure that out and get 'em down here, that'll make a lot less grunt work for all of us. We're gonna have plenty to go 'round as it is."

“Back up to the ship already…?” Swerve whined. He’d just barely gotten over the bounce sickness, and now he had to go back? He was gonna purge his tanks. It wasn’t going to be pretty. It was then that Kup noticed something was off with Tailgate. Bluestreak had a handle on the whole construct-bot situation. It even seemed like they wouldn’t have to go back up, something for which Swerve was grateful for.

But it did seem like Blue and Tailgate had some kind of beef. Or. Not. Seemed like something had happened, but it was all water under the bridge.

“Well, Swerve, if you still need something to do, you can always grab another photon shovel and help me widen those trenches over there. What do you say?”

“Sure,” Swerve replied with a shrug, “Might gimme a sense of what ores are around here anyhow.” Grabbing a photon shovel, Swerve moved to do just that when a new face appeared. A femme. “Hey Pinpoint, you can come join us if you want!” Swerve offered with a big grin plastered on his faceplate.

Peruvian Valley-–Near Mine Entrance

Alright. Things were movin' along. Kup liked the can-do attitude of everybody that had been dispatched down here. Maybe it wouldn't be a throwaway assignment at all. Every flash of light that indicated a bounce brought with it more productive hands. Autobot City was really gonna happen.

To his relief, Kup didn't have to wait very long for even more assistance. Bluestreak hadn't been kidding when Prowl had agreed to assign additional resources to their work down here. Additional bounce flashes were happening almost one after the other now. The first had deposited the familiar, goldenrod architect known as Grapple. The subsequent ones were depositing pretty sizable deposits of Construct-bots in a variety of shapes and functions. Kup grinned and walked over to meet the new project lead.

"Welcome to Earth, Grapple. I see ya got my RFP, heh," Kup said, outstretching a hand. Grapple appeared to have his attention engrossed in a datapad he was holding, but quickly looked up and returning the gesture, greeting the other Autobot warmly.

"Yes! Indeed so, indeed so. I was actually somewhat surprised by the nature of the project, given what I'd heard of our intentions to remain under the radar of the native populace, but, I'm not one to argue. Prowl caught me pretty quick and, well, here I am haha."

"Right, right," Kup said, clapping Grapple on the shoulder and leading him back to the main grouping of Autobots, some of whom were already in the midst of dispersing to work on the various necessities that Huffer had already indicated. "So you think it's going to be doable?"

"The base itself? Certainly. I've had prototype blueprints drawn up for ages, based on the idea that our forces might need places with varying functions to make camp on foreign worlds. I've just been tinkering with one such design, changing up a few dimensions and so forth in order to accommodate the, well, unique terrain we find ourselves on here."

As Grapple looked around at the variety of Autobots that had already arrived, he couldn't help but smile. He hadn't had this much non-automated assistance on a project in a good long while.

"So good to see everyone able to do something besides....well...besides fight for our lives for a while, don't you think?"

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

Bluestreak twirled the excavation shovel in his one hand as Swerve agreed to help him with the drainage trenches near the old destroyed human encampment. “Fantastic! Two mechs are certainly better than one, wouldn’t you say?” Before the gunner could say more, another ‘bot joined the party. The femme’s name was Pinpoint and was soon being recruited by the metallurgist to help with the trench work. “Even better! Three mechs are even greater than two! I’m sure there’s another photon shovel for you to use around here, Pinpoint. It’s also very nice to meet you. My name’s Bluestreak and most around here would say that I talk a lot, but I like to think that I’m just very friendly. Heh.”

The dark blue and silver gunner then turned and began walking towards the first drainage trench. “So, Huffer says we need to expand these trenches and also clear away the debris from what’s left of the native camp over here by the mine entrance. The humans did a pretty good job destroying their camp before they evacuated the area, but there’s still a lot of junk they left behind that we now need to get rid of,” Bluestreak explained to Swerve and presumably Pinpoint, as well, assuming that she would decide to join them.

As Bluestreak approached the edge of the first trench, a series of bright flashes from numerous orbital bounces drew his attention away from the task at hand. “Whoa! That’s a lot of bounces!” The chatterbot commented as he shielded his optics from the intensity of the lights. Once everything had calmed down, Blue was able to focus on who had just arrived. The first Autobot he recognized was Grapple, who immediately began conversing with Kup. The rest of the new arrivals were dozens of Construct-bots. “Eureka! More help! Hey, you Construct-bots! I need about six of you to help us out over here right now!”

A half dozen Construct-bots wasted no time in responding to Bluestreak’s request for assistance and broke away from the main group. “How can we assist you, sir?” The lead C-bot asked the gunner once he had arrived by the trenches.

“Do you see that wrecked camp over there?” The C-bot nodded and Bluestreak continued. “Have three of your men clean all of that up and deposit the debris into the matter reconstitution trough which is located down there at the far end of the box canyon. Meanwhile, you and the other two Construct-bots can help us out with widening these four drainage trenches. You guys work on those three over there while my friends and I will widen this one here. Got it?”

“You got it, sir!” The head Construct-bot replied before then relaying Blue’s instructions out to the rest. As directed, three of them moved over and began clearing away the debris from the destroyed human camp while the others transformed into various earth-movers and got started on widening the other trenches.

“I wish I could turn into one of those,” Bluestreak commented as he looked back at Swerve and Pinpoint. “It would make things so much easier for us. *sigh* Oh, well, I guess we should get started. Otherwise, it’ll never get done. Heh. I assume you both know how to use a photon shovel? It’s okay if you don’t. I didn’t either until Huffer showed me how. Just follow my lead and you’ll be fine.” The chatterbot then jumped down into the first trench and plunged his photon shovel’s energy emitter deep into the dirt wall on an angle. He carefully adjusted the settings to move a greater amount of earth before activating the excavation device. A crimson beam erupted into the trench wall, and Blue wasted no time in pushing the tool along the edge as dirt and small rocks were slowly pushed up and out of the ditch. “See? Not so hard at all. Now, you guys try widening the opposite side while I work here. And if you need any help, just feel free to ask. Okay?”

Mine Entrance

Pinpoint was ecstatic. She'd just gotten there and she was already making friends, and given work to do. She was a bit nervous, being the only femmebot there, but put it to the side and replaced it with a cheerful smile. She glances first at Kup and solemnly nods, saying respectfully, "I won't let you down, sir."

Pinpoint then turns to Bluestreak and chirps cheerfully, "Hello, Bluestreak. What a pleasure to meet you. And yes, in fact, I do know how to use one of these shovels."

She smiles to the ever-ginning Swerve and picks up a shovel. The sniper is about to move when a group of bots bounce down. She glances at the group and asks, "Is this our help?"

Peruvian Valley: Near the Mine Entrance

Huffer's attention was fully fixated on the Matter Reconfiguration Device as the first wave of aggregate was thrown into the mixing bins on one of the supporting hover sledges, of which had been brought down by one of the support teams from the Battleship Trion. At first the engineer had instructed the device to format the rubble into serviceable ingots of metals that were pulled from the ores and reinforced through chemical means, as well as larger blocks of stone and thermocrete. Brilliant flashes of crimson and turquoise could be seen from the two ports of the device, each now equipped with their own conveyor levitation band to send the newly formatted materials to the supply yard just to the left of the cobble stone road.

As Swerve and Bluestreak, as well as the other new arrivals began to make headway in clearing out the rubble and ruins of the human camp, Huffer adjusted the M.R.D.'s configurations to accept a new chemical formula. Its internal tanks began to administer several small amounts of a hardening chemical that served to reinforce softer metals, and fuse them with various silicates to create something akin to Nano Carbon Fiber Ceramic. The minibot engineer instructed the machine to mold the new ceramics into massive I Beams and to begin construction on a set number.

The device went to work as a new wave of bounce effect flashes cast towering shadows off the port side of the device. It did not take Huffer a single glance to recognize the box tiered silhouette. The grand architect, Grapple, had been pulled out of cold sleep to take control over the construction command and design of Autobot City. Just as well, Huffer was in no direct mood to over see every single detail in the work.

The semi cab former reached up and twisted a dial to activate an acceleration protocol. He stepped back from the M.R.D. as it began to rev up to a higher level of productivity, sending a new wave of I Beams and Nano Carbon Fiber sheets down towards the cashe of metal ingots. Pivoting towards the new wave of construction supplies, Huffer paused briefly as a secured communications line activated. "Takedown?" he started and then glanced over to where Kup and Grapple deliberated the next phase of construction. He then glanced over towards Bluestreak and Swerve, Tailgate and Tracks... finally settling on the newly arrived sharp shooter Pinpoint. "Trouble is about all I seem to find. Grapple just joined the operation and as ranking engineer, he'll be taking over direct control of project development. In the meantime, in Prowl's report there was evidence of compacted carbon strata as well as crude oils in that region of the mines where you are currently exploring. Mark the taps you find and we can send a convoy in to harvest at least some of the natural coal... at least until the Solar Towers are operational."

Peruvian Valley – Near Mine Entrance

As Bluestreak explained their tasks and more Autobots arrived – construct-bots specifically – Swerve picked up a photon shovel. An old, familiar instrument. He’d used it several times on several different planets as part of his function. So, instead of waiting for Bluestreak’s demonstration, the red metallurgist went straight to work, digging out the trench.

“I know how to use a photon shovel too, Blue,” he commented as he drove the excavation device into the earth and lifted up a small load of soil. Before tossing it aside, he grabbed a pinch of it and rubbed it between his digits. Hm. Swerve wondered what the soil composition was like. From that he could usually make an educated guess about what ores they would find deeper beneath the earth.

“See? Not so hard at all. Now, you guys try widening the opposite side while I work here. And if you need any help, just feel free to ask. Okay?”

“That side?” Swerve asked more to himself than Blue as he looked up and glanced over. “Got it.”

Pinpoint’s smile wasn’t lost on the red minibot, and he shot one right back at her.

"Is this our help?"

“Looks like,” Swerve said, following Pinpoint’s optics. “We’ll have this done in no time with those guys helping out! But, we can’t let them do all the work. C’mon, Pinpoint.” Swerve beckoned, waving his arm as he walked over to the other side of the trench. He adjusted the photon shovel’s settings slightly and set to work.

Peruvian Valley-–Near Mine Entrance

"I won't let you down, sir," Pinpoint had said, cheerfully, before setting off to work with the others. Kup just smiled as he took another drag from his cygar.

"I'm sure ya won't, kid."

"So good to see everyone able to do something besides....well...besides fight for our lives for a while, don't you think?" Grapple said.

"Yeh. Hope we can make it last," Kup said, looking up at the sun shining in the distance, a picture-perfect blue sky overhead with a few puffy white clouds dotting the atmosphere. "I'd hate to see what the Decepticons could turn this planet in to."

Grapple just nodded, his attention focused on the data pad in his hand as he perused one image after another, tweaking figures on the device here and there.

"Oh, speakin' of which," Kup said, moving closer to the chief architect. "I'm gonna need ya to give priority attention to, um, that blueprint in particular."

Grapple looked momentarily confused.

"Oh...um...the detention component? I mean, well, of course it will be constructed using the latest intelligence we've received from the field regarding successful cell technology, I just-"

"No Graps, I mean get it done first, if ya can," Kup said, knowing full well that he was speaking to a mech that could.

"Ahh, I see," Grapple said, clearly understanding a little bit more. "May I ask why? It seems a little outside the standard order of operations."

"Yeh, heh. Ya can. I just can't tell ya. Just know this comes from the top. We need that cell and we need it to be able to detain anyone. or as close to it as y'can come."

"Well," Grapple said, flicking through a few more images on his datapad. "O-Of course. I'll start work on it myself while the others are busy."

Kup nodded as the engineer walked off to wrangle himself some Construct-bots.

"And just lemme know what I can do t'help ya," Kup said, but Grapple did not respond, obviously fully engrossed in his work again.

"'Cause I sure don't know...." he muttered, more quietly.

Peruvian Valley - Near Mine Entrance

Orbital jump was quite possibly Mirage's least favorite form of conveyance. It always left his fuel processor bubbling unpleasantly, and made his cranial module absolutely swim. First Aid had once hypothesized that the spy's electro-disruptor circuitry somehow interfered with the parts of orbital jump technology that kept the matter being transported from breaking apart in transit, giving Mirage a bumpier ride than most Transformers received. He remembered being simultaneously offended and pleased when the Autobot doctor had referred to him as an 'outlier' for his unusual ability. The doctor had been unable to provide any remedy for the unpleasant effects, however, and the notion of his atoms breaking apart mid-jump provided Mirage with plenty of morbid thoughts each time he prepared for an orbital jump or bounce.

Outlier or not, Mirage suffered the usual side effects of orbital jump as he appeared in a flash of light a few dozen meters from the mine's entrance. Refusing to allow the others to see his discomfort, he composed himself immediately and strode toward where Kup and Grapple stood.

'Kup,' he greeted the grizzled Autobot curtly. 'Reporting for duty.'

Mirage looked over at Grapple. 'It is good to see you again,' he said somewhat more warmly. He believed he understood Grapple's plight somewhat better than most Autobots. The artist had seen his talents pressed into wartime service, his gifts stifled by endless demands for monotonously brutish, death-gray fortresses and fortifications. He, like Mirage, did not belong here.

He looked around the area, seeing numerous Autobots toiling away with photon shovels and other construction tools. Producing a datapad, the blue and white Autobot handed it to Kup with a tight smile.

'My transfer orders. As per usual, there is a standard omega-level prohibition on my assignment to any labor details.'

I don't do photon shovels.

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

'Kup, Reporting for duty.'

Kup looked over at the new voice. New, but familiar. Mirage. Well, he just couldn't wait to hear about all the things he wasn't-

'My transfer orders. As per usual, there is a standard omega-level prohibition on my assignment to any labor details.'

"What the frag..." Kup grumbled as he looked over the datapad. "What cockamamie glitch would send ya down here with orders like that? Well, you ain't gonna be any use to us if ya can't pick up a shovel so you might as well just bounce yourself right-"

"No!" Grapple interjected, coming between Kup and Mirage before tensions rose any further. "Don't worry Kup, I can make use of him."

He motioned for Mirage to come along with him since he was already heading off to complete his own piece of this massive construction puzzle. Kup just shook his head beleagueredly and headed off to assist some of the Construct-bots that were already at work. Grapple turned his attention back to the somewhat notorious Autobot spy.

"It's good to see you too, old friend. This is a far cry from designing you a turbofox hunting estate, eh?" the architect said pleasantly. "This planet is beautiful, but it certainly presents some unexpected complications in terms of materials fabrication and blueprint layouts. Ah well, just more stuff for me to worry about. So...who did send you down here? This doesn't seem like an assignment matched up to your skillset at all."

Peruvian Valley - Near Mine Entrance

Mirage suppressed a chuckle as Kup fumed. While it was indeed good fun to rile up the no-nonsense old warrior, Mirage knew that the ancient Kup was still highly formidable - and probably not above taking a swing at the spy's chinplate if sufficiently aggravated. He followed Grapple as the architect led him toward another section of the area that would soon become a more permanent Autobot base.

'Yes, this planet will present some unexpected complications,' Mirage echoed the architect's sentiment as he walked with him. 'It's a strange place, to be sure. There's no planetary government. Hundreds of individual nation-states, some more democratic than others, some more prosperous than others...some more well-armed than others. Did you know that several nations on this planet maintain massive stockpiles of dirty atomic weapons? Enough to obliterate all life on the planet hundreds, maybe thousands of times over?'

The spy looked around at the lush greenery and imposing cliffs of the valley. 'This is a very dangerous planet. Its inhabitants have the capacity to be absolutely lethal to us. They're a paranoid lot, too. I don't know if I've ever encountered a species whose governments devote so many resources to spying on their own citizens.'

He watched for a moment as the other Autobots labored away around the mine's entrance. 'I've been watching the surveillance feeds from the humans' satellites during my time on the Ark-22. I suspect there may be more Transformers on Earth right now then we realize...and they may not be acting on anyone's directives but their own.'

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

Grapple lead the way until they reached the area right about where he imagined the cell was going to be constructed. Between looking at the blueprint he had crafted and using his own mind's eye, he could see what the surrounding walls and room space would ultimately look like once the detention area was complete.

'Yes, this planet will present some unexpected complications. It's a strange place, to be sure. There's no planetary government. Hundreds of individual nation-states, some more democratic than others, some more prosperous than others...some more well-armed than others. Did you know that several nations on this planet maintain massive stockpiles of dirty atomic weapons? Enough to obliterate all life on the planet hundreds, maybe thousands of times over?' Mirage said. Grapple listened with increasing interest. Mirage had clearly found an opportunity to debrief himself in greater detail about the culture of this world than Grapple had found the opportunity to do, thus far.

"Yes, I had overheard that this species was rather warlike, but given our own circumstances I suppose it's hard for us to claim any sort of moral high ground. Your observation on the weapons stockpiles though....that's interest. And frightening, I guess. I just.....I don't know. I can't begin to understand what they imagine they could possibly need with that much ordnance," Grapple responded, requisitioning a portion of the Construct-bots for his own personal use and sending them off to gather the raw materials he would need to begin assembly of the cell.

'This is a very dangerous planet. Its inhabitants have the capacity to be absolutely lethal to us. They're a paranoid lot, too. I don't know if I've ever encountered a species whose governments devote so many resources to spying on their own citizens. I've been watching the surveillance feeds from the humans' satellites during my time on the Ark-22. I suspect there may be more Transformers on Earth right now then we realize...and they may not be acting on anyone's directives but their own.'

Grapple looked up as Mirage finished his latest thought.

"NAILS, er, non-aligned mechs? Here? You think so?" he asked, semi-rhetorically. "That would be curious indeed. What would draw such individuals here, I wonder? The fact that our main faction leaders chose this planet as the next theater of our war? Or...something to do with that strange ore that has been haphazardly discovered here and there? Lots of possibilities, I suppose, but it does make one wonder about their motivations if they're not reporting to the likes of Ultra Magnus or, well, whoever claimed Megatron's mantle after his death."

Peruvian Valley - Near Mine Entrance

'It's true,' Mirage said. 'Trouble does seem to follow our sad little race wherever we travel. Hopefully, we'll make it off this violent little rock with our chassis intact.'

He looked around the area, watching for a moment as Bluestreak, Pinpoint, and Swerve toiled away with proton shovels. He supposed their dedication to the Autobot cause was somewhat admirable. They were quite willing to engage in menial labor despite the fact that it had nothing to do with their primary functions, and despite the fact that there were plenty of automated construct-bots crawling around the site of the new base.

'A gunner, a sniper, and a metallurgist digging ditches,' he remarked to Grapple. 'Seems like a misuse of resources, no? We must feel awfully safe here if we have Bluestreak playing in the dirt instead of on combat patrol.'

He nodded in Kup's direction, quite sure that the old mech was out of audio receptor range. 'Of course, I'm not the one in charge here.'

Peruvian Valley--Near Mine Entrance

"Agreed. And hopefully with minimal to no impact on the planet's native species, regardless of how warlike they are. I worry that our war would decimate this planet's ecosystem if it were to spin too far out of control, rendering it uninhabitable...but...I guess that's for the Jetfires and Perceptors of the world to know for certain."

As Mirage's attention turned elsewhere for a moment, Grapple returned his to the datapad, feeding information into the programmable contruct-bots that would allow them to start preliminary foundation construction on the cell once they had finished retrieving the raw materials.

The first of said contruct-bots had just rolled up and began churning up a molten, polysteel compound that would serve as the base material of the cell.

'A gunner, a sniper, and a metallurgist digging ditches. Seems like a misuse of resources, no? We must feel awfully safe here if we have Bluestreak playing in the dirt instead of on combat patrol. Of course, I'm not the one in charge here,' Mirage continued. Grapple looked up from his pad and then over in the direction of Mirage's current gaze.

"Well, true. But he isn't either. He just got assigned, like I did. This was Huffer's project. But Prowl caught me during an off moment back on the Guardian and told me to take over--supervise the ongoing construction of what will be our Autobot City. I think this assignment was just an open-call, and these are the volunteers," Grapple said, attempting some form of explanation for the situation at hand, as best he understood it himself. "But yes, it seems a little haphazard...different than Prowl's usual style.

"This cell though," Grapple said, referring back to Kup. "Prowl had to have told him something. Something he couldn't tell the others. Something he couldn't tell me, and I'm building the blasted thing. But he said this containment cell needs to be capable of holding a Phase Sixer. Struck me as an odd request, given I haven't seen any intel about such types in this region...well, apart from Sixshot. I had heard that he was present at the Fallen battle."

The Autobot architect then looked over at the spy.

"I don't suppose you have any extra intel you could share? Classified information doesn't tend to find its way to the personal terminals of architects. But I don't mean to pry either. We all have our functions."