An Unexpected Find

Security Walkway

This security walkway doesn't seem like it gets much, if any, use. The lights are low, poorly spaced, and sometimes even flicker, but only erratically and not all the time. There is almost a strobe effect, but it isn't that reliable. When enough of it is illuminated that the walkway can be properly seen, it is just a narrow passage, perhaps behind other rooms, that a guard could use to check on the underground complex. There are a few doorways here, but opening them is another story entirely.

Fleet tiptaptiptaps lightly across the floor. Omega Supreme has promised that the Decepticons could keep anything interesting they found in these tunnels, and so he's down here looking once again, but he's not so foolish as to go down alone. He's put the word out for the other Decepticons... surely /someone/ will be interested enough to try some treasure hunting!

"Basically we've been given rights to anything we can find that is not important to Crystal City itself..." Brief pause. "... Or that they know we took."

That was Blast Off's explaintaion/temptation in coaxing a certain teammate into coming along on the little exploration trip. Because he sure as heck doesn't want to have to crawl around underground with a couple of Seekers by himself! Though he's just being impassionately indifferent outwardly instead of voicing that little matter personally.

If there was anyone who had use for anything 'interesting', it was Swindle. Though, in his case, having a use for something usually means being able to sell something to someone for a much inflated price. Same thing in the end really. He still gets something useful out of it. But it was a good enough excuse to get Swidle to venture into the underground passages.

"I see. So pretty much, 'anything that isn't bolted down'," Swindle replies, quirking one optic a little wider than the other in a sort of sly fashion. He pauses a moment, then pulls out a heavy duty wrench out of his subspace storage. "I wonder how many things aren't 'bolted down' down here."

Backfire comes running up, bringing up the rear of the group. A large oversized construction helmet sits on his head with a large rectangular flash light. The stream of light bounces down the hall as the Seeker simpleton catches up to the group.

"Greetings comrades, I ... BACKFIRE, glory of the EMPIRE am pleased to be of service!" he cheerfully chirps, turning towards Fleet. "Skydancer, are you the one leading this expedition?"

Fleet blinks at Backfire. He blinks once. He blinks twice. And then he doesn't correct Swindle. "Leading? Oh, no, not me. I'm just, uhm, just a soldier." He looks at the new arrivals. "I'm certain one of these Combaticons are more suited."

Blast Off just shakes his head a bit as Backfire bolts in... well, at least a moron present means they have someone to 'look' for booby traps... By springing them, most likely. He doesn't even really -like- being underground, but someone has to make sure there's no screwups by the peanut gallery. Gives a general wave down the passage. "Have any of these exits been examined yet, or is this exploration 'attept' that far behind in actually accomplishing anything?"

"As far as I know, the North and Northwest branches have already been explored," explains Fleet.

Edging closer to Fleet, Backfire whispers. "Combaticons? Surely our Lord Galvatron's will would be served best by his stewards? The Seekers are the pride of the Decepticons ... we should be leading this journey." he muses, getting excited towards the end of the speel.

"But of course, I respect your authority and guidance Skydancer!" Backfire offers, a bit more calm. Inching away, the Seeker shoots Blast Off and Swindle matching smiles. "I must concur with comrade Skydancer, Northeast seems to be the last tunnel that stands in our path!!"

"I'm much more suited for keeping my circuits focused on 'scavanging'," Swindle notes as he begins to turn his optics up and down the walkway, "So don't bother me with leading.' He's probably already looking for bolts on the light fixtures so he can pick them up as they leave. Or something. Never know with him. Though really, he's probably attempting to scan for any traps set up. Never know, with these underground passages. "Well, if North and Northwest are already explored, that makes it a bit easier."

Blast Off would scowl farther at Backfire if he had actual facial features beyond a mask and visor. Or maybe he is and the facegear is there to cover it. "Well, if -someone- must keep this little endevour in order." And then the ego overrides the annoyance, and Blast Off walks over to inspect the Northeastern door.

Fleet watches Blast Off head Northeast. He's all for letting someone else take the lead.

They're the ones to set off any traps that way.

Rest assured, Blast Off fully intends to kick one of the Seekers in front of him if he sees any hints for a trap, but for now, he's arrogant enough to take the lead to get this going, grabs the door and gives the handle a few shakes to test if its actually locked or not

Now that Blast Off is safe through the door, Fleet decides to follow him.

"Don't worry, Blast," Swindle says as he follows up the others towards the north east area, "If you trigger and traps, I've got enough metal to sell you some armor replacements." Of course, Swindle isn't really brave. Greedy, but not brave. That's why he's not offering to take first position. Instead, he just follows.

Disposal Area

This place stinks. Even to robots who may not have a great sense of smell, the area positively reeks of filthy, corroded, and rusted metal and chemicals that never should have mixed. The disposal area has dissolution vats to break up refuse, filters to get rid of the large chunks, and one big drain in the middle that could go down to the very core of Cybertron, for how deep and dark it looks. Tossing a scrap of metal down it doesn't even return a sound. On the other side of the room, there is a door marked 'Deep Storage - Do Not Disturb'.

Backfire struggles through the doorway after the others, but finally arrives at the tailend. "Geez, that was a doozy. I pushed and pushed until my servos were about to give out. Then I read that 'pull' sign, and well ..." he rambles, losing his train of thought.

Fleet looks around. "Not the most pleasant of locations." He tiptaps lightly, as though trying to avoid putting his feet down as much as possible. "I... imagine there's something useful down here. People often throw away useful things!"

Blast Off eyes one of the vats of likely acid or some other harsh chemical for breaking stuff down, and looks up at some chains and hooks hanging overhead. To dump refuge in, of course. Yeah, like it was meant for -just- trash. "Vortex would probably enjoy it," he comments off-handedly to Fleet. Idly he engages his own anti-gravs so he doesn't have to walk on the hideous dirty floor.

It's a good thing that there's the promise of things to be pilfered, because otherwise, there's a good chance Swindle wouldn't be here in the first place. He ughs, peering down at the refuse at his feet. "Maybe there's something NOT rusted over down here," He mutters in annoyance, as he activates his anti-gravity unit to begin to hover a few feet off of the ground. A pause, as he glances back at Backfire. Maybe if he started selling 'intelligence' some decepticons would buy it. Head shaking, he then turns his gaze towards the center of the room. "Now that is a hole."

Blast Off was going up to look in one of the vats, but after he gets enough height the sniper's keen sight picks up something across the room. "There's a notice on the wall over there," he remarks, pointing a finger in the direction to show the other Decepticons.

The keypad bleeps.

Backfire wades into the room, giving each and everyone an odd glance. "Why are all of you utilizing anti-gravs underground?" he asks, the headlight on the helment shaking wildly. Looking down, the Seeker realizes he's ankle deep in garbage and rust. "Why me?" he softly mumbles to himself, activating anti-gravs and scraping some trash from his feet.

Door Notice

Stuck to the Deep Storage door, there is a notice that reads:

I fly without wings. I heal all things. I wait for no robot, and cannot be caught. Kill me in boredom; I can't defend, but don't rejoice, I'll get you in the end.

There is a keypad next to the door. +key answer to try to open the door.

Fleet finally gives up on the walking and activates his own antigravs. He frowns at the notice. "Some sort of... riddle, it would seem?" He shakes his head. "This world's tunnels are just odd."

"Just think about who was originally in charge of maintenance for the original Crystal City, and it makes a bit more sense," Blast Off grumbles drly as he hovers down, but doesn't land, to inpsect the notice on the door. "Hmmm." Turns to look to Swindle. "Hey, you have loads of otherwise rediculous items, got a book of riddles in one of your storage hideaways Swindle?"

"Huh?" Swindle shifts about from looking at the hole to no-where to peer back where Blast Off was pointing. "Oh good, another door! Let's see what's behind door number two, shall we?" Hovering that way, he peers at the notice that comes in to view. "'Deep Storage, do not disturb'. That's not ominous at all." Then frowns a little at the riddle. "Riddles. I guess they figure that we can crack a code too fast. But this riddle isn't so bad." He snaps his fingers once, and shakes his head a bit at Blast Off. "Oh, loads. But I don't need one for this. It's 'Time'."

Hovering over towards the Deep Storage door, Backfire ceases his anti-gravs and reads a small notice pinned to the door. "Comrades, I've found a clue!" Reading over the riddle, the Seeker slumps his shoulders and thumps back against it. "Aww jeez, first a PULL only door ... now a riddle? Why does this happen all the TIME!!" he shouts out.

Like magic, the door hisses as it unlocks and the unlucky Seeker falls in!

Deep Storage

The deep storage room is beyond chilly, and only wan blue lights provide any guidance. Despite the poor lighting, it quickly becomes clear that the Deep Storage room is, in fact, a graveyard. Dead robots of all kinds and sizes, but all coloured dull greys, line the racks and aisles, sealed away in clear tubes. Frost tracings have crept over the tubes, obscuring the contents, which may be for the better. Some of them seems to have died peacefully, but some obviously went violently, their last screams still on their faces.

Backfire falls through the doorway and onto his head down the stairway, the cold chill of the room settling in instantly. "Urguh...I'm alright!" he declares, not that anyone asked.

"At least the idiot has -some- use," Blast Off rumbles as Backfire accidently gets the door open. "At least we know you're answer was right without trying it ourselves and risking a trick," he adds to Swindle, waiting until he's in the doorway before landing on the floor. And using one of the sprawled Seeker's legs to scrap some of the much off his heels before continuing.

Fleet just follows the ohters as they open it, and then he stops suddenly and his optics flicker. "This... this place is certainly unpleasant." He peers at a nearby body. "Useful, though. We've hit the jackpot for spare parts."

This is the blessing and curse of a Seeker. A Seeker is the most common build among the Decepticons. This means, that any battle they survive is littered with spare parts for that exact same build, in the form of their fallen comrades. Over millions of years of war, not all parts can be made fresh, and the Decepticons have never been the most sentimental bunch. What this means is that any Seeker that survives long enough is eventually made, largely, of dead Seekers.

Pleasant, no?

And right on cue, Swindle is interrupted by Backfire. "... What he said," The combaticon admits, shaking his head as he follows into deep storage. Stepping on the seeker instead of over. "I should charge you for stealing the words right out of my mouth." Though it really should be called cold storage. The brows of his optics raise a little bit, as his gaze drifts through the room. "... Unpleasant isn't the word I'd use. Macabre, maybe. But still, just parts."

Folding his arms over his chest, Swindle eyes the odd 'casket' out, the crystal one. He can just tell something is more expensive than others pretty easily. He nudges his head a little at it, "That one's a bit different from the others. Wonder what that one did to get a better seeing off gift."

Crystal Casket

One casket is different from all the rest. Rather than a simple tube, it seems to have been made out of some clear, hard material that was shattered into many pieces and fragments of violet quartzite. It looks something like a bed of overgrown crystals or spikes. The figure inside is hard to make out, given the frost. It might just be a trick of the light, but whoever it was, it almost looks blue, rather than grey. There is an inscription on top, reading simply, "To a true and honest friend." The font is very dated.

"Macabre, I haven't seen that guy in vorns!" Backfire shouts, getting up to his feet and giving himself a proper dust off. Wandering around, the Seeker peers into some of the caskets by wiping a think grime that's accumulated on their crystal windows. "You think anyone important is in here?" he asks no one in particular.

And this is why Blast Off pestered Swindle into coming along. If there was something of value or use to be found, he'd find it. "... I wonder if its the body of a former deligate. Or governer, prehaps. Crystal City did try to stay neutral, after all, and likely would of honored those that tried to support that ideal." He snorts, sounding disgusted at the whole 'ideal' of neutral in general. War and conquest was much more satisfying, although messy and foul.

Fleet follows behind, finally touching down and once more walking in his usual mincing tip tap tip tap. He peers into the casket, frowning. "That /is/ unusual. Everyone else is..." He tilts his head. "That's... this one's not gray."

".. That is curious. Wouldn't that mean that he's not..." Blast Off turns to look to the others. "... Some sort of stasis containment?" The thought and the memory that comes with it makes even the master of ego shudder at it, though. Brrrr. Stasis.

Swindle quickly glances around to the other tubes. Sure enough, all gray. He rubs at his chin a little. "Odd place to go in to stasis, among..." He nudges his head slightly at the gray shells all around them. He steps closer, peering over at the inscription on the top. "'To a true and honest friend'. What the slag does that mean?"

"Not you, that's for sure," Blast Off retorts dryly, though he'd be smirking with the sarcastic tone to his teammate if he had a visible mouth. "Now now, I am a true and honest friend," Swindle replies loftily. Then he starts to grin, "... So long as someone has enough money."

Fleet hmmms. "Should we open it up?" He asks, then leans forward and prods at it. "I don't think I can open it up, actually."

Blast Off folds his arms across his chest plate. "Despite the expectional technical skill posessed by Swindle and myself... this may be a bit out of even our league. It would be best to make arrangements with the city to have this room partitioned off in 'pending further investigation' so the Autobots don't stumble into it, and get one of our actual scientists or medics down here to see to it that our... newfound friend here is properly restored."

Backfire's attention is turned towards the mysterious casket and it's occupant. "Who do you think it is?" he questions, approaching the center of the room and the others. "Surely this glorious find will be rewarded by Lord Galvatron!" And suddenly it dawns on him, looking around the room.

"What if it's not a Decepticon?"

Fleet shrugs. "Then we kill him and have even more spare parts available."

"I almost hope that he's not a Decepticon, then," Swindle replies, folding his arms up over his chest. "But it's not a total loss. The parts alone in here WITHOUT blue boy here is more than enough to make up for the time rummaging around down here." He glances aloneside at Blast Off, and shrugs, "He's right. I'm not familiar enough with stasis pods to open it. ... Though I'm sure I have a few contacts who'd pay good money to get their hands on one this nice."

"Surely being recovered and restored to life by the Empire will be more than enough to make them see things our way," Blast Off replies. "... Or that." Then gives Swindle a pat on the shoulder. Probably to make up for his earlier vocal jab. Despite the sarcasm he -does- have an appreciation for the specific skills of his teammate. "Correct. Regardless, the matter should be taken care of post haste.. there's still possibly Autobots poking around down here as well, and we definately do not want to lose our potential prize to them."

Fleet hmmms. Then he looks at Blast Off and smiles. "Well, Blast Off, as the, erm, leader of this expedition, you would be the one who makes the report, right?" He looks around. "Although I'm sure Swindle would want to get a chance to really go through this first."

Blast Off nods his head a bit. Swindle -technically- outranks him.. but he was more or less leading. And Swindle will likely be.. occupied, to say the least. "Very well. If only to expediate the process of getting it done."

Backfire amuses himself by tracing lines in the grime over the corpse's faces. They are a myriad of different people, all grimacing faces and childlike artwork. Cackling to himself, he shoots a ammused grin towards the others. Ah, the mind of a child.

Swindle grins slyly, as he stretches his arms out in front of him, making a show of 'cracking' his knuckles. Which sounds like he's snapping metal, but he's really just stretching the servos in his fingers. "Oh, of course. Leave me to me, I'll make sure that we find all the prof-er, treasure that this room has to offer."