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Gifford National Park military base

Landgrab hadn't really known what to say at Psychout's appreciation of his observation, so he didn't say anything. He didn't absorb compliments of any form all that naturally. They were few and far between within the Decepticon ranks as it was. And when your commanding officer was a mech like Shockwave they were almost nonexistant. Or painfully hard to understand.

That, too, suited Landgrab just fine. He'd just as soon complete his objective and move on to another one with no one really being the wiser.

To that end, he had lumbered off after Crueljaw--as directed--and found himself to one of the power relay stations inside. As far as he knew it was just "one of". It could just as well be the "only".

As he attempted to patch himself in, he ran in to a myriad of roadblocks. So many that he had to pause.

"Wait...what am I doing, again? Psychout wants power back in the old 'Con base? Is that what he wanted?" Landgrab asked, his questions genuine. He thought about it some more as he analyzed the systems. "That's.....that's just not gonna happen. This place is a shell."

The Decepticon looked at the ground, already disappointed in himself.

"Sorry..."

Team Midget Earthbase There's somthing down there
Crueljaw made it to the power generator room beaten to it by Landgrab leaning against the bulkhead wall sounds emanated from within. Landgrab could be heard moving around inside checking relay’s and muttering about the system being deader than a mech who’d been fed to a pet Scraplet.

Crueljaw listened to the reply from Vindicator his larger colleague had that hint of what lesser mechs called fear in the tone of his voice . Crueljaw called it a luxury that couldn’t be afforded by cons on combat or grey ops thou it did have some surprising effects sometimes driving timid mechs into the most uncontrollable bezerkers rage out of desperation. His optics dimmed as he contemplated the information “fulcrum.02 the data core for the base” he muttered as he added it to the list of things to do.

Reopening the link to Vindicator he spoke again >>Remember Vinny everyone is out to get you even the dead look at the amount of times screamer has been presumed dead and popped back up to annoy Megatron or whoever is in charge. He’s like the decepticon equivalent of Grimlock but with a better vocabulary<<

Closing the link Crueljaw opened a separate link to Landgrab >>Hey Landgrab I’ll be back here shortly the data core is nearby I’m gonna go see if its intact I’ll keep the link open if you need my help<< Crueljaw turned to leave but stopped he could of sworn he heard movement metal grinding against metal with a noise that could rival dirge’s engine note.

Crueljaw dismissed it Vinny had mentioned that there was no survivors so baring humans moving equipment the place should be empty. He peered into the darkness his optics flicking visual modes to make sure he was alone his FoF locator on his optical feed map was showing Vinny and D-fire a fair way off to his left somewhere circling around so it wasn’t them. He shrugged causing his huge shoulders to bob as he turned and walked off his train of thought was set on checking the route to the Data core as he walked off something In the darkness stirred.

The whif of energon had wafted past an offline corpse shortly after a pair of tired optics started to come back online dimly at first getting brighter by the second the cracked optic lens focused sharply. Like a puppet on a string the creature rose to a standing position armour plating hanging from various parts of its body. The shambolic corpse staggered down the corridor its leg dragging behind the walking off-liner found the hot pink seeker that Crueljaw had torn the head off its ruined neck stump was leaking energon the shambolic creature’s optics widened in glee before diving on the corpse like a vulture feeding on a corpse or a vampire of human myth. It’s ruined face rose from the corpse its optics burning white as energon dripped from the corner of its mouth but was soon sucked back into the famished mech. Uttering its first words in vorns the voice grating like rusty nails on a metal plate due to its degraded vocal processors “E-e-e-en-en-energonnnn”

Team Midget Earthbase.

Psychout was concentrating on the radio chatter outside the volcano, it would appear that they may have visitors shortly, so they were running out of time. He transmitted a few stalling orders to the security personnel but knew they couldn't hold these guys up for long.

Landgrabs whining didn't help matters. "Then FIND a way. Establish an alternative power solution or I will take you offline and wire you in as a power source myself. Crueljaw can attest that you wouldn't be the first. You have 10 minutes to radio me back with an answer I want to hear, understood?" his tone of voice was meticulously clear that this was not an idle threat.

He turned his attention back to the humans at the base. Most of the Facsimle recalls were still a few hours away yet, but he had scanned a bunch if datafiles about the the various visitors these bases get, their interests and their businesses. If he could Establish a controlling aspect here, ownership of these fledgling should be pretty simple, but keeping to the protocols wouldn't be easy. Luckily, he still had one ace to play, bit that had to wait for now.

"Vindicator? Have you and Darkfire found anything yet? We're about to get visitors..."

Gifford National Park military base

Landgrab looked over at Crueljaw briefly as he mentioned what he was going to do, nodded, and then quickly returned his attention to his work. What was he going to do? Argue? Maybe other Decepticons would have. It would have taken much more severe circumstances than this to prompt such a reaction from Landgrab. The worst that could happen would be a few fleshies wandering this way--necessitating a transformation and a delay in his work. But he didn't even see any reason to worry about that for the time being. The fleshbags seemed to be content working their own areas, with only the occasional military scout or security patrol wandering outside of the boundaries where the higher ranked meatsacks had stashed themselves away.

Psychout's transmission, however, had prompted an entirely different reaction from the habitually obedient Decepticon. He could already feel his circuits beginning to freeze. He was typically happy to comply with any request his superiors made of him. After all, it would bring Megatron's vision that much closer to success if he did. But normally the requests made of him were orders that he could achieve.

This base...it had been obliterated. Whatever battle had taken place here had been one of monumental proportions. The fallout had decimated everything. That was likely why the humans' curiosity in this site really only seemed to be piqued and there wasn't a full-scale military base being suddenly constructed on top of it.

Maybe once they dug a little deeper....

In any event, the shell that remained was nothing akin to the base that had once been burrowed within this volcanic site. All that being true, Landgrab still didn't want to find himself being sacrificed in some sort of effort to bring the base back online, futile though it would ultimately be. Even Vector Sigma couldn't get this place running again. Not without the Constructicons starting from scratch and giving the legendary super-processor something to work with.

And so, his transmission back to Psychout contained nothing of his doubts regarding the diminutive mech's current expectations. Not until he could get back to Shockwave. Then he would be a little bit more forthcoming about his findings.

>>"Understood, Psychout. I'll keep working."<<

For whatever good that does. Just find some fleshbags to facsimilize and let's get the slag out of here......

Team Midget - A Leisurely Walk

Darkfire felt a modicum of disgust at being termed as "Lady" Darkfire. The pet name did not appeal to her and suited her less, but...she would allow to pass for now. They did have more pressing matters to attend to. Although, the assassin devoutly hoped that Vindicator would not become more creative with his little pet names. They would probably need to have a "chat" if he did. As it was, the assassin simply leaned over to get a better view of the holomap.

>>"Interesting. Still, it shouldn't be a problem. And watch your step, ya big lug. Wouldn't want to step on any other organics,"<< Darkfire added with a hint of a derisive smile.

The assassin followed Vindicator toward the door, frowning as she saw its condition. Several red warning flags went up in the assassin's mind. Immediately put on guard, she examined the intact door and the fragments. The mountain's eruption could have blasted the door down the hallway, but that wouldn't account for the negligible damage to the other door. Why only one? Something did not add up.

Darkfire continued into the inky darkness ahead cautiously, cringing at every crunch and crack of the shattered glass on the floor. The sound was absolutely deafening in the otherwise silent base. The assassin moved to the side of the hall, where the glass shards were less concentrated to avoid making more noise than necessary. She tuned his audio receptors for any signs on threats lurking within the darkness.

Perhaps she was being overtly paranoid, but it never paid to be caught unprepared and unaware. Besides, any humans in this sector might be alerted to their presence by the noise. Darkfire would begin to feel better after they had passed the glass. It would be easier to hunt when every other step was not accompanied by a tinkle of crushed glass. Silence was the sound of a predator.

>>"Vindicator, I don't like this. I think something went through that door. Avoid stepping on the glass if you can. If there is something, we do not want to announce our presence. We can't have vermin hearing us either,"<< she warned.

Receiving Psychout's transmission, Darkfire deliberated whether or not she should mention her suspicions. Best to be thorough. She opened up a communique to Psychout.

>>"We've almost reached it, but there is something that concerns me. One of the doors on the path back seemed torn down. It could have simply been an effect of the pressure build-up from the eruption, but I have my suspicions that we are not alone in here."<<

Team Midget Cracking Cores

The door erupted inwards flying from its runners and hitting the deck with a resounding boom through the now vacated doorway stepped the surly bodyguard of the tiny Psychout his red optics taking stock of the situation at hand something had been behind the door holding it closed. Crueljaw had wondered why the door hadn’t opened when he unlocked it using some of his onboard fuel to power it. All he could see leaking out from behind the fallen door was fluid dribbling out he wasn’t sure what it was and he wasn’t concerned with it. His major concern was getting the computer core back online and the facsimile chambers prepped.

Crueljaw stepped forward just before he reached the console a scanner beam shot forth from above and started to scan his form. Though not the most tactful decepticon ever made in his vast experience it was less painful to stand and allow the scanner to finish rather than attempting to shut it down. There was a chirp and a computer voice announced “Operative: Crueljaw, Function: Close Protection access granted” the bodyguard would of smiled if able as the computer core started to power up however something reflected in the blank screen in front of him caused him to turn rapidly his hand outstretched connected with something that vanished back out the room quicker than it entered.

>>Crueljaw to team midget be aware we got interlopers something just got a face full of my fist don’t think it was the midget. In other news the computer core is active. Stay Frosty out there<< Crueljaw was regretting his jibe about spark eaters and the corpses walking cause whatever he’d just launched out of the computer core room was starting to stir again but Crueljaw started his work to locate the facsimile pods and get them prepped.

Gifford National Park Military Base - Lurking in the Dark

>>Crueljaw to team midget be aware we got interlopers something just got a face full of my fist don’t think it was the midget. In other news the computer core is active. Stay Frosty out there<<

Fan-tastic, Darkfire groaned internally. She did indeed utterly loathe when her hunches proved to be correct. Something was down here with them. Lurking within the darkness. This could prove to be a problem. Crueljaw was a competant warrior, of that she has no doubts. He would only face complications if whatever it was that was down here took him by surprise.

Glancing over to Vindicator, she assessed that their group was likely the safest out of the three. Vin was a tried and true warrior, and she was an assassin, knowing the art of the hunt like the back of her actuator. Psychout, however, was diminutive little Decepticon, and Landgrab, Darkfire did not know. Perhaps a reallocation of resources would serve them best. She opened up a private comm link to Vindicator.

>>"Vin, perhaps you should head back. If Psychout gets attacked, he will have only Landgrab as back-up. I will go on ahead and secure the command center."<<

Without another word, the assassin increased her pace, sidestepping as much of the broken glass underfoot as she could. She knew not if Vindicator would do as she had requested or persist in accompanying her in some misguided attempt at chivalry. Finally, Darkfire cleared the shards of glass, much to her relief. She continued on in silence. The sooner they were finished with their operations in this husk of a base, the better. As much as the assassin did not care for being exposed out in the open, she cared even less for potentially being trapped underground.

It wasn't long before Darkfire came across the fissure that Vindicator had mentioned before. It was a massive crack in the floor of the base. Magma bubbled a few meters below the floor line, illuminating the dark space with an angry, violent, red glow. She could feel the heat rising up in waves off of the molten earth. Suffice to say, she did not enjoy the proximity of the magma to the hallway. It seemed stable enough for now though. Kicking on her thrusters, Darkfire easily soared over the gap, landing delicately on the other side.

Before too long the doors to the command center were within sight - and standing open. She detected several biometric signatures within. The humans had penetrated the base this deeply had they? How...annoying. They would have to be dealt with before they could report their findings to any other fleshlings. Fortunately, the assassin had the perfect solution that solved the security breach and the requirements of their mission: Facsimiles.

Kneeling, Darkfire materialized her holomatter avatar once more to approach and investigate the human activities. This time, however, she kept her own senses primed in case that something down here approached her. Controlling her avatar would be marginally harder without her full concentration on its actions, but she would have to manage. She couldn't afford to be taken by surprise. The assassin decided to report her progress to the others.

>>"Darkfire here. I've reached the command center, but the humans are crawling all over it. I'm going to infiltrate and subdue them. They'll make fine facsimiles. How goes the preparation of the pods?"<<

The fingers of Crueljaw floated across the keyboard of the computer core he knew the basics of prepping the facsimile chamber. The lines of code floated up the screen in front of him he had one optic on the blank screen to his right using it as a rear view mirror. He didn’t like surprises and he wasn’t sure what had tried to jump him earlier he found the facsimile protocols the bodyguard started the chambers they had their own power supplies.

>>"Darkfire here. I've reached the command center, but the humans are crawling all over it. I'm going to infiltrate and subdue them. They'll make fine facsimiles. How goes the preparation of the pods?"<<

Crueljaw’s ministrations to the computer core was going well he was finishing off sorting the various gestation programs when Darkfires message came through.

>>The pods are starting up I’m just bringing the bio organic vats back online should be a few breems and ready for useDarkfire What the sla......<<<

Crueljaw’s reply was cut short by something jumping on his shoulder the bulky Decepticon grabbed whatever it was on his shoulder and ploughed it into the ground. He then stepped on its back keeping it pinned however sounds of more movement forced Crueljaw to swing around and find more heading his way. “Oh you’ve got to be yanking my crank”

>>I got friends here might take slightly longer than anticipated to get the vats online<< just before his link closed the distinctive ‘Whoosh’ of his plasma blade igniting sounded across the link as its ruby glow illuminated the once fallen now walking offline the glint of madness in their optics.

The officers trekked quickly down the large cavern corridors, flashlights in tow.

"The energy spike came from this direction!"

"Yeah, I saw. We're not stupid."

"I'm just sayin'!"

It looks like it's..."

"Whoa..."

"...who left that parked there?"

The trio of officers came upon the oversized piece of equipment. It looked mobile. And it looked vaguely like something the Army might have produced. Two them started to climb aboard while the third continued to shine his flashlight in various crevices.

"Where's the keys?"

"I dunno. There's probably just a 'on' button somewhere."

As one of the officers began to fiddle around on the dashboard control panel, a scanning beam activated and ran itself over the officer.

"Hey, what the hell...?"

"Eh, guess you three'll do, for starters," the machine said, before locking the two officers in place and reaching out to seize the third. The headlamps on the front end of the vehicle kicked on and the bulky Decepticon rumbled off down the corridor.

>>"Got some facsimile candidates. Not the highest officers on this little installation, I don't think, but workable."<<

Team Midget - They're touching our stuff...

One good thing came out of Crueljaw's transmission. The knowledge that whatever was hunting them was still stalking its original target. That was, if there was only one of them. She needed to take care of these humans quickly. Landgrab's own transmission soon followed Crueljaw's. Excellent. The excavator was proving himself. All the better. Hopefully, they would be off of this dirtball soon.

Darkfire continued forward as her avatar, scouting out the human encampment. There weren't too many of them patrolling surprisingly. She supposed that they assumed that whatever had been in here was dead. The assassin's avatar overtook two guards and incapacitated them easily. She moved forward to where a work area with a few pitched tents was located. Lights circled the perimeter, filling the outer darkness with light. How these humans did so love their light.

The avatar approached stealthily from behind a tent, watching the shadows of the humans inside cast on the canvas as well as the few humans still standing about outside of the tents. The guards outside would have to be dealt with first. Fortunately, two of them were standing adjacent to each other talking about something of little import.

“When do you think the docs will be done with this place?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care. As long as I’m paid, I’m good.”

“I don’t like it here. Docs been tinkering with some controls or whatever on that platform up there and who knows what else they’ve found with since we got to this place.”

“Not our business. We’re just the help.”

“But-“

Crack. Thud. Thud.

The avatar looked down at the two bodies, scowling. That had been a little more force than she had intended. They probably had fractured skulls. She’d have to be gentler. It was easy to forget how fragile these humans could be. The avatar grabbed the bodies to begin dragging them into the darkness.

“What? Who are you? What are you doing with them?!”

The avatar’s head snapped back up to see that one of the scientists had left the tent and more were coming out to investigate the commotion. Darkfire’s actual fist clenched into a tight ball with frustration. Her avatar dropped the bodies and leaped forward in an animalistic pounce, landing heavily on the scientist that had discovered her, grabbing one standing behind him and throwing him over her shoulder into a tent.

Stomping down on the human’s skull, the avatar sprang into the tent where she’d thrown the other scientist, dealing with the tent’s occupants decisively before stepping out to witness the sole conscious scientist sprinting away into the darkness. Fortunately for Darkfire, he ran down the hall where the assassin was actually located. The avatar dissipated into nothingness as Darkfire returned completely to herself just in time to snatch up the human. He screamed in abject terror until the assassin flicked him once on his head, knocking him out.

Darkfire let out a terse woosh of air from her intakes. Chiding herself for being so careless, Darkfire stored the human that she had captured and moved on to the human encampment, collecting the incapacitated humans. From what she had overheard, the humans had been meddling with cybertronians technology. Who knew what damage they had wreaked? Whatever was prowling about the base now had probably been released by these idiotic humans.

Crushing the lights under her foot, Darkfire moved over to the main control console, destroying the human scaffolding with a sweep of her hand. She tried to get the console to activate, but her efforts seemed to be in vain. No matter what she did, there was no reaction. This place was a dead husk. They should place charges at critical points in the remaining structure and simply finish what the eruption started. The human facsimiles could report that it had been a natural instability that caused the collapse. She opened up a communique to the others.

>>”I’ve captured the humans. I have more than enough. Some of them are disposable, but others may actually prove useful. It gets us a foot in the door at the very least and the facsimiles can take it from that point. The bad news is that this place is dead. Nothing is responding anymore and if it had been before, the humans have thoroughly ruined it.”<<

>>”Everyone, what are your statuses?”<<