Apox Box Part Two: Intermission

Laboratory

Lab equipment fills this room: equipment hanging from the ceiling, sitting on the benches lining the walls, and on the table in the middle. Also on the table in the middle is a terminal connecting to the main computer of Autobot City. Assorted projects lie scattered about amongst tools and other miscellaneous objects that you can't identify.

Over in the North East corner of the lab sits a large security coded vault, where all the discoveries deemed too dangerous or too sensitive for general release are stored. While to the North West corner resides one of the Lab's more recent additions. The experimental Cold Fusion Reactor that drives Metroplex's faster than light systems. A number of monitors and display readouts are connected around the reactor, technicians constantly checking the experimental device.

Nightbeat walks in grimly, padd in hand. "Thought I'd find you in here." Especially since I checked the sensor logs to track where you'd last been seen, he leaves unsaid.

Monstereo lkooks up from a minor side project, he is straightening a slinky. "Peekaboo?"

Nightbeat heads over and shows Monstereo the padd. "The stuff we got back from Clakta - I had a little snooper program running to crunch through and look for anything out of the ordinary. That didn't work...plus I got distracted by this whole Russian thing. But anyway! I finally went through the records by hand and I see something interesting. If I'm not mistaken, the Vanderdecken made at least three unauthorized trips to a little planetoid called Forestinia." He stops and looks up for a reaction. "Ever head of it?"

Monstereo sets down his slinky, the poor thing has had enough torture for one day. He drapes a rag over the vice holding the project and gives his full attention to Nightbeat. "Forestinia? Nnnnnnnope can't say I have. Does it have a Starbucks?" The Junkion eyes the padd.

Nightbeat smirks. "Oh absolutely. And Whirligig and other science types are a good idea, but remember what happened last time? With those two mystery transformers? Well, this time we're gonna go this with a little more manpower. Whirligig and a couple of other scientific experts for starters, but maybe a few others for intel, or a warrior or two."

Monstereo nods slightly, recalling the road warrior encounter. "If not for a case of gullability, we might not have made it off that Bug-World. Squashed on their windshields." Nightbeat snorts. "A Starbucks? Somehow I doubt it. And no, I've never been there either, but they say it's a mostly forest world. Hence the name. But the Vanderdecken stopped there, and it wasn't on the official records. Might be the only lead we've got."

Nightbeat smirks. "Oh absolutely. And Whirligig and other science types are a good idea, but remember what happened last time? With those two mystery transformers? Well, this time we're gonna go this with a little more manpower. Whirligig and a couple of other scientific experts for starters, but maybe a few others for intel, or a warrior or two."

Monstereo looks around. Whirligig isn`t around. No other science types here either. "I wonder if anyone wants to come aboard the Soul Train on this magical mystery tour"

Nightbeat nods. "Exactly. I ran those guys' car modes through a couple of galactic defense forse databases that I have access to. Nothing came up." He stops and thinks about it. "If they were even guys. Still, with all the blacks and dark earth-tones, I think it's safe to say they were mechs and not femmes." What from another robot might come across as Transformer sexism, from Nightbeat goes a step further into cold, hard gender profiling.

Monstereo rubs his chin and furrows his optic brows. "Hmmmmmmm." Puzzling tone. "Another question about them... were they there waiting for us or did they follow us to Clakta? Or were they there on their own business and just happened to get wind of ours and didn't like the smell of what we were cooking?"

Nightbeat nods in grudguing approval. "You're asking all the right questions, Monstereo. If you ever decide this whole Junkion thing isn't working out for you, you've probably got a decent shot at a career in Detective work." He clasps his hands behind the small of his back and paces back and forth. "I'm starting to wish we'd spent a little more time following up on those two. But by now, the trail might be cold." He says off-handedly, "I'll assign Eject or Raindance or one of the others to check it out just in case."

Monstereo blink-blinks. "I... You... what the... riiiiiight." He shakes his head and files that under strike 1 for slants against Junkions. "I'll stick to SCIENCE! Mwahahaha!" He cues a thunderstrike sound bite and flickers his headlights.

Nightbeat waits patiently for the show to end. Then he breaks out a brief smile, it's obviously pasted on but at least it's a step in the direction of 'interpersonal skills'. "Well...I'm gonna go get together a team for our little trip. We gotta do this right. Get the right mix of people together, but not so much to weaken the war effort in Russia."

Monstereo says, "The A Team will be there." He thumbs up and cues a machine gun sound bite. "Pending good weather."