The Energon Pub

Motormaster surveyed their surroundings with a clear hint of disinterest on his face. He had no interest in this lush, organic forest that many others – Transformers or humans alike would feel a marvel to behold. There were no roads beyond several narrow trails he had spotted as they had landed. And the sheer amount of trees of all sizes all around them made the alternative forms of the Stunticons pretty useless beyond those pathetic trails.

”Magma aside, outside appearance of occasional local fleshbags that are easily crushed, what kind of trouble we could possibly get in here?” The large Decepticon grunted, ”The Autobots haven’t been able to track our shuttle movements before, why would they now? Might be better if we just concentrated our efforts of getting the frag out of here as fast as possible.”

No, he really didn't look up to all the complaints he was certain to hear from his wimpy minions. Mud, moisture and volcanic ash were plentiful around here and none of it was exactly ideal for cybernetic life forms of any kind.

[Forest near Mount Nyiragongo]

Offroad watched as Breakdown and the rest of Motormaster’s cronies decided to bumble their way into the mining site. The daredevil figured he’d stick around for a bit and explore, particularly the magma and volcanic activity that Razorclaw and Motormaster were discussing. He stood behind the Stunticon commander silently, not saying a word.

He was in his element now. Excellent.

Whilst walking toward the site of the volcano, the daredevil spotted Bonecrusher and some others already ploughing through the forest, presumably on their way to make a tunnel as was apparent by the drilling equipment behind them. Offroad took a few steps before compacting himself into his alternate mode, a heavy-duty gray truck. Perfect for this kind of environment. His momentum gave him a rolling start as he revved his engines quietly and started driving through the flora.

Tantrum wrote:“Anything is better than waiting. I say we test their worthiness on being here,”

”Mhm, sure. Maybe we should set ‘em up like they do on Wipeout? Throw some stuff in their way and get them to fall on their tailpipes!” Rampage pawed the ground lazily. They had patrol duty, sure, but what really was the point of patrolling when there wasn’t anything special around. He kicked some mud backward with his hind leg. So booooored. He kicked more mud backward, before feeling the itch to smash something.

Except, luckily, he always had some videos downloaded. There was this one show that he’d recently gotten into, that he found quite amusing. It was called Peppa Pig. It was simple and didn’t have much going on, so obviously Rampage found it great. He quietly booted up one of the downloads into his HUD, losing himself to the wonderful adventures of the British cartoon.

Offroad’s tires were unfazed by the roughness of the terrain, or the sloppiness of the mud. As was part of his job, he was going to investigate just how much volcanic activity there was, and if there was any pyroclastic flow. He cruised through with ease, and just then he remembered Breakdown. Oh, how he had said he’d keep a watch on him. Oh, how he hadn’t realised who he’d said it to.

The daredevil looked through his rear view mirrors and saw Breakdown hanging out with Drag Strip. Once he was smaller in the mirror, Offroad opened up a comm. >>”I assume that you’re keeping watch, yes?”<<

Forest near Mount Nyiragongo

Rampage wrote: ”Mhm, sure. Maybe we should set ‘em up like they do on Wipeout? Throw some stuff in their way and get them to fall on their tailpipes!”

Wipeout? What is he talking about? Tantrum’s temper surged and he swung his head towards his comrade — his horns lowered so they’d pierce Rampage’s hide if they clashed — then back toward the new arrivals. He understood the last part of Rampage’s idea, and he liked it.

“Finally, you say something that makes sense.” His hoof pawed at the ground, digging a narrow trench with each pass. “Which one shall indulge us, Rampage? Any preference?” he asked.

Forest near Mount Nyiragongo

"Excellent, Scrapper. And, no, we haven't encountered any trouble thus far. I have my Predacons patrolling the area just in case,” Razorclaw informed him. Scrapper nodded. That was good news. Little if anything would slip past the Predacons' notice.

“Furthermore, the vehicons have already begun drilling down into an old lava tube that scans indicate leads directly to the Ore-13 deposit underground. We must be careful, however. This volcano is still very active and there are numerous magma veins that stretch out beneath the surface. One wrong move and the ore chamber will be flooded with hot lava. If that happens, we could have a very volatile situation on our hands. We may also need to divert lava away from the site if it comes too close.”

"Very good. I've got more Vehicons en route to assist them and expedite this process," Scrapper continued.

"As Razorclaw mentioned, the work area will be sensitive, so I had best oversee their labors," Hook added. Scrapper nodded and motioned for Mixmaster to follow.

”Magma aside, outside appearance of occasional local fleshbags that are easily crushed, what kind of trouble we could possibly get in here? The Autobots haven’t been able to track our shuttle movements before, why would they now? Might be better if we just concentrated our efforts of getting the frag out of here as fast as possible,” Motormaster said.

"Fleshbag witnesses should be our only concern. As you said, the Autobots have shown no capability of tracking our movements. I only worry about the ore-13. If the Autobot scientists have come to the same conclusions we have on where it is most likely to be unearthed, there are only so many locations on this planet where that can occur. I'm sure Megatron is aware of the destruction of the undersea base. I can only imagine that he does not want a repeat of...erm....my failure there."

Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

Scrapper wrote:"Very good. I've got more Vehicons en route to assist them and expedite this process,"

“Ah, excellent, Scrapper,” Razorclaw replied happily. “The quicker we can extract the ore the quicker we can move on to the next deposit. This ore has already proven to be quite the power kick in the form of ultra energon. With this stuff flowing through our circuits we will have a distinct advantage against the Autobots just as long as they don’t procure it, as well."

Motormaster wrote:”Magma aside, outside appearance of occasional local fleshbags that are easily crushed, what kind of trouble we could possibly get in here? The Autobots haven’t been able to track our shuttle movements before, why would they now? Might be better if we just concentrated our efforts of getting the frag out of here as fast as possible.”

Razorclaw nodded to Motormaster as Scrapper then responded to the Stunticon Commander.

Scrapper wrote:"Fleshbag witnesses should be our only concern. As you said, the Autobots have shown no capability of tracking our movements. I only worry about the ore-13. If the Autobot scientists have come to the same conclusions we have on where it is most likely to be unearthed, there are only so many locations on this planet where that can occur. I'm sure Megatron is aware of the destruction of the undersea base. I can only imagine that he does not want a repeat of...erm....my failure there.”

“The failure there lies with me,” the Predacon Commander conceded to Scrapper. “I was Supreme Leader when we lost the undersea base. I take responsibility for it’s destruction. Lord Megatron would not have allowed that to happen. However, there will not be a repeat of those events here. If those Auto-slags do somehow manage to find us, we will protect the ore and show them the way to the after-spark! There will be no retreating this time!”

Motormaster shook his head at Razorclaw and Scrapper both guilting over the destruction of their underwater base. It was useless waste of time. And a show of weakness as far as the Stunticon commander was concerned.

”That’s what you say now.” The brutish Stunticon grunted. ”We will see.”

Having said his piece, Motormaster headed for the nearest entrance to the mines, raising his voice to call out his minions, ”Stunticons! Into the mines! We have work to do!”

[Forest near Mount Nyiragongo]

Tantrum wrote:“Which one shall indulge us, Rampage? Any preference?”

Rampage was already distracted by the cartoon on his HUD. ”Mm… what? Oh. I dunno about preference, but it'd be fun to go tipping over one of those Stunticon boys. Hey, their paintjob looks like a pretty solid shot if you ask me.” Rampage idly tapped his paws on the dirt. Being on patrol duty was really quite boring. He mimicked the growl of a cheetah, and emulated exhaling in order to let out some frustration. Even his cartoon wasn’t enough to keep him from being bored.

So boooooored!

[Forest near Mount Nyiragongo]

Offroad didn’t have to listen to Motormaster’s command for heading to the mines, for he was no Stunticon. A blessing in itself. He almost pitied the four poor sparks under his command, but they were hapless folks either way, so it didn’t really matter. Everyone on that team was a bit insane in some way, much like Offroad himself. But he didn’t care, for he revels in his sociopathic behaviour. It moulds him, and he lives with it.

The grey truck continued rolling up the side of the hilly terrain, the volcanic rock slowly getting steeper and steeper. Not like it mattered much, because he was here to do his job and that was to be in the extreme environment, said extreme environment being volcanic no-mech’s-land. He found a few interesting rock formations that he hadn’t previously seen, although this planet was rather unique in its composition anyway. A fine planet with good terrain. A shame that it’ll be ruined eventually.

Forest near Mount Nyiragongo

Tantrum was running out of patience with his friend, if one could call Rampage that.

Rampage wrote: ”Mm… what? Oh. I dunno about preference, but it'd be fun to go tipping over one of those Stunticon boys. Hey, their paintjob looks like a pretty solid shot if you ask me.”

Tipping over? We don’t tip over, we crush! The thought blazed through Tantrum’s head and his optics glowed a bright red before fading back to their usual hue. This was something different. He wasn’t angry, at least, not in the way he was normally angry. It was more like… annoyed.

Yes, annoyed. I’m scrappin’ annoyed! He swung his head from side to side as his gaze shifted from Razorclaw, Scrapper, and Motormaster to Rampage, and back again. At the moment, he didn’t know who to be angry with over their current situation, so he’d have to settle for annoyed. And that caused his ire to raise.

Snorting at Rampage, he turned and made his way toward the group of Stinticons gathered. He didn’t have a particular target in mind, but seeing them milling about while he and his fellow Predacons were relegated to guard duty added more fuel to his fire. So much the better, he thought, snorting again as he drew within range and… charged.

His hooves dug into the earth, tearing out large clumps as he headed right for the center of the Stunticon group as they finally started to head toward the mine. Lowering his head, he called out, “We’re here to work, scraps!”

Forest near Mt. Nyiragongo

Scavenger happily went about to work as Scrapper had told him to. The excavator was impressed by the Predacon bird's gathering of supplies. He seemed strong for a flying mech. Not as strong as a Constructicon like himself though. Still, a little thanks was in order, and the tall green and purple mech spoke to the red, black, and yellow one,

"Thanks, Bird. You did a good job. This material looks great.", hesaid, and with that, he turned his t-cog and transformed into his excavator mode and began hefting the supplies to be moved.

"Where do you want this, Scrapper?", Scavenger asked their boss. With more instructions, Scavenger could begin to build what they needed to start mining the ore-13, or at least begin to provide the material so his other teammates could do it.

Besides this, he had looked about the area. Like the others who had just arrived, he found this land disgusting. The ground was soft and the dirt was getting into the grooves of his tracks. There was one thing at least....the land was really green, so him and his crew pretty much blended in.

Forest near Mt. Nyiragongo

Scrapper gave a nod to Razorclaw and Motormaster.

"Indeed. With our three teams here, I'm not nearly as concerned about any potential vulnerabilities this site might otherwise have."

He paused for a moment before rubbing his hands together.

"One other thing just struck me, friend Razorclaw. If I remember correctly, you were part of a team that reacquired our cyberforming technology from Shockwave's Tower. Do you suppose we might get authorization to employ it here?" the Constructicon Commander said as he began fine-turning Vehicon workloads.

"Where do you want this, Scrapper?"

"We'll keep a supply pile over there by the mine entrance," Scrapper replied. "That way we and the Vehicons can all pull from it and see what we need to replenish."

Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

Motormaster wrote:”Stunticons! Into the mines! We have work to do!”

Drag Strip almost jumped out of his frame at the sudden bellow of Motormaster. He simply shrugged it off like it was nothing before giving his commander a respectful salute. “You got it, boss!” The yellow racer replied as he then tugged on Breakdown’s arm. “Come on. Let’s go before we’re made a permanent part of this jungle.”

Drag Strip then headed for the mine entrance which the vehicon miners had recently dug down deep into the earth. However, before Drag could enter or even get that close, he heard a loud snort and then an angry, “We’re here to work, scraps!”

Turning towards the sound, the former race champion saw the form of Tantrum raging directly at him and the other Stunticons. “Awe, scrap! Look out! Rogue Predacon coming our way!” Drag Strip shouted the warning so that the other Stunticons would hear him. The yellow mech tried to dodge, but unfortunately for him, the charging mechanical bull caught Drag on the right side and sent him spinning around and ultimately into the dirt.

Drag Strip lifted his cranial unit up and spit out a clump of grass before getting back to his feet and checking to see what damage was done to his chassis. Thankfully, Drag’s new, more bulkier Rally Fighter alt mode gave him a bit more protection from attacks. Thus, there was little damage beyond a deep dent on his right side. It was nothing to be concerned about.

The yellow Stunticon then looked over to see who else might have fallen victim to Tantrum’s little tantrum.
________________

Scrapper wrote:"One other thing just struck me, friend Razorclaw. If I remember correctly, you were part of a team that reacquired our cyberforming technology from Shockwave's Tower. Do you suppose we might get authorization to employ it here?"

After Motormaster had moved away to yell at the other Stunticons, Razorclaw returned his attention to Scrapper and the question he had just asked. “You do remember correctly, my friend. We did retrieve the cyberforming tech from Shockwave’s tower on Cybertron and it has been brought back here to the Sol System. As far as I know, it’s under lock and key in a very secured facility on the Thanatos. It may even be in Shockwave’s Lab by now. Either way, it would ultimately be up to Megatron to decide when and where we will use the tech. I’m not even sure if it’s ready for use, yet. Shockwave would need to determine that.”

Suddenly, there was a shouting coming from the group of Stunticons who had been moving towards the mine. However, this time it was not due to Motormaster’s wrath. No. It was due to a bored and enraged Tantrum charging in his bull mode directly through the group of Stunticons.

“TANTRUM! Control yourself!” Razorclaw turned and shouted at his unhappy subordinate. “You will reframe from attacking the Stunticons or any other Decepticon for that matter. Motormaster will keep his team in line as he sees fit, not you! Now stand down immediately!”

Tantrum’s sudden temper tantrum took Motormaster by surprise. He had hardly expected a Predacon charging at his men, let alone when he was present himself. The hilarity of the situation though made the self appointed king of the roads chuckle. Tantrum, covered in flesh coating and miniaturized to pass off as an extremely large cape buffalo didn’t exactly appear as threatening as he usually did. But the Predacon was no less dangerous as his collision with Drag Strip proved out. And with Drag Strip spitting soil out of his mouth as an aftermath, why wouldn’t a fiend like Motormaster enjoy the sight?

There was another side to Tantrum’s actions though. Through attacking the Stunticons he had invoked Motormaster’s wrath. And Motormaster did not forget. There would be payback for the bull’s actions. Even with Razorclaw present. And despite of Razorclaw’s roars aimed at Tantrum. Motormaster was not satisfied.

”If it is a game of turbo chicken you want to play Tantrum, I dare you to come at me!” Motormaster rumbled with a chilling tone in his deep baritone. This was not the first time he had laid the law down on one of the Predacons. Nor Tantrum or Headstrong could take him on one on one. Both had found themselves in a ditch more than once after making a bad decision and getting in the way of the king. This time was no different. If Razorclaw wasn’t going to give Tantrum a lesson in pain, Motormaster was more than willing to do so.

Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

”Stunticons! Into the mines! We have work to do!” Motormaster had roared.

You mean the greenies have work to do, Breakdown thought--a thought he dare not express out loud. Even so, he didn't want to be stuck doing the Constructicons' jobs for them.

That quickly became an afterthought, tho, as the Predacon Tantrum was suddenly barreling down on what appeared to be him and Drag Strip.

"Oh now what the fr-!"

Drag Strip took the brunt of the blow with Breakdown catching some sidehorn that sent him crashing backward into the mine wall.

Given that it hadn't been a head-on collision--something Breakdown might not have minded in other circumstances with a raceway involved--it wasn't too hard to shake off the Predacon's semi-glancing blow. As he pushed himself back to his feet, he heard their boss menacing threats being hurled, but this time it was at the Predacon responsible.

"Heh. Heh heh. Yeah. Gonna ram him ya overgrown sheep?"

Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

“You do remember correctly, my friend. We did retrieve the cyberforming tech from Shockwave’s tower on Cybertron and it has been brought back here to the Sol System. As far as I know, it’s under lock and key in a very secured facility on the Thanatos. It may even be in Shockwave’s Lab by now. Either way, it would ultimately be up to Megatron to decide when and where we will use the tech. I’m not even sure if it’s ready for use, yet. Shockwave would need to determine that.”

Scrapper nodded. All of Razorclaw's points were valid. He was just glad that the technology was here. If the technology worked like it had on other worlds, Scrapper was beginning to get ideas about how it could be deployed here. He would share them with Megatron when the opportunity arose. As far as he knew, the Emperor of Destruction was involved in a direct mission himself and Scrapper would dare not interrupt.

"Good, good. Just what I needed to know. Well, with that bit of business handled, I should assist Hook and the others to expedite this mining process," Scrapper said, politely taking his leave of the Predacon Commander.

Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

Drag Strip wrote: “Awe, scrap! Look out! Rogue Predacon coming our way!

Tantrum barked out a laugh as the Stunticon called out his warning to the others. It wasn’t like Tantrum wanted to hurt any of them. Well, that wasn’t entirely true. If they ended up damaged, then they’d learn from it and not stand around expecting him and the other Predacons to do all the work.

Got you! he thought, snorting in Drag Strip’s direction. A shame I missed him, he thought, eyeing Breakdown.

He had to admit, that was fun. Though he doubted his message got across to them or the others.

Razorclaw wrote: “TANTRUM! Control yourself! You will reframe from attacking the Stunticons or any other Decepticon for that matter. Motormaster will keep his team in line as he sees fit, not you! Now stand down immediately!”

He grunted and snorted, the gasses exiting his snout turned the vegetation the touched brown, then black. Who did Razorclaw think he was to order him around like this? Bored and angry were two emotions that made it unhealthy for anyone around Tantrum, and Razorclaw of all mechs should’ve known.

Maybe a gore to his side will settle him.

Motormaster wrote: ”If it is a game of turbo chicken you want to play Tantrum, I dare you to come at me!”

The gruff voice of the Stunticon leader reached Tantrum and his optics narrowed. Sure, they’d had their run-ins before, but he’d always given Motormaster as good as he got. So what if Tantrum had needed extensive repairs? It wasn’t like the Stunticon hadn’t limped away.

“There’s no roads for you to prance on here, Motormouth.” Tantrum pawed at the ground, ripping out hunks of grass, dirt, and rocks as he readied himself for Motormaster to transform. If this motorized loudmouth wanted to challenge him, then Tantrum would bury a horn in his coils.

Breakdown wrote: "Heh. Heh heh. Yeah. Gonna ram him ya overgrown sheep?"

Tantrum glanced at the racer and snorted at him before turning his attention back to Motormaster. He’d deal with this one afterwards.

[Forest near Mount Nyiragongo]

Rampage’s little prank with Tantrum worked, and the best part was that he had virtually no affiliation with it at all. All according to keikaku. He had learned that phrase in one of his many discoveries of the network system on Sol-3. Rampage’s feline form made an expression that vaguely resembled a smirk, but really, it just exposed his fangs more than anything else.

Razorclaw wrote:“TANTRUM! Control yourself! You will reframe from attacking the Stunticons or any other Decepticon for that matter. Motormaster will keep his team in line as he sees fit, not you! Now stand down immediately!”

Funnily enough, the reverse cow tipping act got him plenty of scolding from big ol’ Motormadman and good ol’ Razorpaw. Rampage would’ve joined in, but it was too late by the time the scoldings had come out. Aww man. He’d have to pretend to be on task now, patrolling or whatever, but gosh, he just wanted to watch his next set of downloaded holovids. Maybe he’d have them open in the side without Razorclaw knowing. He started pawing the ground and patrolling the area.

Breakdown wrote:"Heh. Heh heh. Yeah. Gonna ram him ya overgrown sheep?"

Just before he could get anywhere with his job, some Stunticon decided to call Tantrum an overgrown sheep. That made him chuckle, but it also made him angry. “Oi, watch what you’re saying, you dusty old rattletrap.” He just had to return the banter. He just had to. Couldn’t contain it, no, because frag that one Stunticon in particular.

While Tantrum accepted Motormaster’s challenge, Rampage started circling around the knocked over Stunticons. “How about a little Simba strike for ya?”

[Forest near Mount Nyiragongo]

Once Offroad had reached a steep enough angle on the side of this volcano, he pulled himself into a neutral gear and began grinding his wheels to dig himself a foothold, or rather, a tirehold of some sort. He’d be able to get a good look at the surrounding area as well as the volcano here. He was an extreme-conditions operative, after all. This place would feel just fine to him.

He turned on his internal scanners, looking for thermal signatures forming beneath the igneous rock. Active. He should have expected this from the plumes of smoke he saw earlier, but this volcano was an active one, and a particularly active one at that. They were going to have to hurry along with the mining, unless, of course, they preferred their Ore-13 with a side of lava. He didn’t mind personally, of course, but this might be a rude interruption to their operation.

The daredevil opened his comms, still in alternate mode, to Razorclaw, Motormaster and Scrapper. >>”It would be wise to move things along as quickly as possible down there. I would give it about four and a half breems before the pyroclastic flow starts to emerge.”<<

“There’s no roads for you to prance on here, Motormouth.”

It was all Motormaster needed to hear. Maybe Tantrum was right. Maybe there was no road here to exploit for traction but it wasn’t like he actually needed one to teach the Predacon a lesson in pain. Especially now with modified alternative mode of an all-terrain military truck with 8x8 wheel drive that could make as good use of the soil available as Tantrum if not better.

The moment Tantrum made the mistake of being momentarily distracted by Breakdown – Motormaster was on the move. There was no reason to play it fair. The dirtier the fight, the more he enjoyed it. Engine roaring ominously, the massive Decepticon charged at his target with nigh impenetrable force field being projected across his front section. Tantrum was tough – Motormaster was ready to acknowledge that much but the Predacon was not built to take collisions like him.

The bull was going to get his horns bent. The fool had had the audacity of getting in a way of an unstoppable force and Tantrum was hardly an immovable object.

"I don't need a damn road to crush you!" Motormaster roared only a moment before he smashed into Tantrum who was sent comically flying backwards from the force of the impact. The Predacon had not taken in account the fact that due to the size change all five Predacons had went to better blend in the jungle had made his a flyweight in comparison to the Stunticon leader - something that Motormaster took gleeful satisfaction out of before transforming back to his towering robot form - never letting Tantrum out of his field of vision.

>>”It would be wise to move things along as quickly as possible down there. I would give it about four and a half breems before the pyroclastic flow starts to emerge.”<<

>>"What the slag made it suddenly so unstable?!"<< Motormaster roared back into the comm-channel they all were listening to. >>"Four and half breems ain't nearly enough to collect what we need! DO something Scrapper or this stockpile is done for!"<<

Jungle near Mt. Nyiragongo

Razorclaw had had enough of this ridiculousness. They all had a job to do down here retrieving the Ore-13 for Lord Megatron. The Predacon Commander wasn’t about to let it all be jeopardized by one of his subordinates who couldn’t keep his anger in check. After Motormaster had knocked the mechanical bull for a loop, the lion-former made his move.

“I said ENOUGH, TANTRUM!!” Razorclaw bellowed even louder than before, grabbing the bull by one of his horns and pulling him up to within inches of his leader’s faceplate. “Stand down NOW or I’ll personally throw you into that volcano! We’re here to work not fight each other!” Razorclaw then tossed Tantrum back to the ground as Offroad’s communique came across their comm lines.

Offroad wrote:>>”It would be wise to move things along as quickly as possible down there. I would give it about four and a half breems before the pyroclastic flow starts to emerge.”<<

Once Motormaster had issued a response of his own through their shared comm line, Razorclaw then did so, as well.

>>”Scrapper, before we all panic, check Offroad’s readings and make sure he’s correct regarding the lava flow. If he is then devise a plan to divert the flow into another, safer, direction away from our work so that we can successfully complete our mission.”<<

Once his message was sent, Razorclaw noticed that now Rampage was taunting the Stunticons that had already been knocked down by Tantrum. “Rampage, DON’T!”
_______________

Drag Strip managed to pick himself up off of the ground once Tantrum had knocked him and many of the others down. He then watched as Motormaster unleashed his rage on the out-of-control Predacon. At least, ol’ Motorhead isn’t beating the slag out of us this time, the yellow racer thought to himself as he caught sight of Rampage out of the corner of his optic.

Rampage wrote:“How about a little Simba strike for ya?”

“I don’t even know what that means,” Drag Strip replied to Rampage as he backed away from the mechanical tiger. “But it sounds bad so, no, I think we’ll all pass.”

Drag Strip then watched as Razorclaw finally stepped in to regain control of his minions, chastising Tantrum for getting into a fight with Motormaster before then warning Rampage not to start anything, either.

Mt. Nyiragongo

The Constructicons were working diligently, all true to their alt modes. This was an unstable region of the planet and it was all the more likely that it was the ore-13 making it so.

>>”It would be wise to move things along as quickly as possible down there. I would give it about four and a half breems before the pyroclastic flow starts to emerge.”<< Offroad transmitted.

"Hook?" Scrapper asked his second-in-command, his shovel clearing away a huge chunk of the subterranean interior.

"Not quite; however, that doesn't mean we have time to waste," Hook responded.

Unfortunately, it seemed like Offroad's offhand assessment had triggered the panic button in the other con commanders. Transmissions came flooding in.

>>"Four and half breems ain't nearly enough to collect what we need! DO something Scrapper or this stockpile is done for!"<<

>>”Scrapper, before we all panic, check Offroad’s readings and make sure he’s correct regarding the lava flow. If he is then devise a plan to divert the flow into another, safer, direction away from our work so that we can successfully complete our mission.”<<

>>"We're going to release some 'pressure valves' in about one breem. This instability is all factored into the process. You gentlemechs relax up there. We've got this,"<< Scrapper transmitted back.

"Bones, finish clearing that path and give Mixmaster the go ahead."

Mt. Nyiragongo

From the safety of his perch on one side of the mountain, Divebomb watched as the Stunticons and some of his fellow Predacons antagonized one another.

These yokels entertain me to no end, he mused.

"That insufferable brute certainly had his wires all riled up.” Hook harrumphed to Scrapper while marking yet another fracture point for Bonecrusher to demolish. ”But what can you expect from a bunch of thugs and hooligans heeding the call by an amateur who’s clearly spooking them just for cheap chuckles.”

Hook shook his head and continued his work. ”Sometimes I swear...”

[Ascending Mount Nyiragongo]

Heh. They obviously knew that there was going to be pyroclastic flow. The Constructicons weren’t stupid. It was the reactions of others that Offroad was fishing for, and he definitely got what he came for. Good entertainment, better for efficiency as it sped everyone up and actually got mechs going. He was no miner himself, but even he knew the dangers of handling materials and equipment in an actively unstable region.

He turned his wheels around to take a look at the surrounding region, and he wouldn’t make the mistake of underestimating the extremities on this mudball. Having a fresh supply of energon, and to that extent, Ore-13, was definitely something they were going to relish. The daredevil smirked. Up, or down?

Probably best to go up, to avoid the idle banter of the other Stunticons. He gripped his tires tighter and continued his ascent.

[Jungle near Mount Nyiragongo]

Razorclaw wrote:“Rampage, DON’T!”

Aw, slag. All work and no play made Rampage a dull protoform. “Fine, whatever you say.” Rampage figured he didn’t want to appear too idle in front of Razorclaw, so stuck his beast mode’s tongue out at the Stunticons and went back to ‘patrol the perimeter’. Of course, he was just going to continue watching his holovids.