The Nose Knows

Meeting Room - Decagon

The Decagon's meeting room is large and spacious enough to comfortably house the biggest of Autobots. This room is commonly used as a briefing room and the southern section of the room is filled with several rows of seats for Autobot personnel to sit in. The nothern section of the room is reserved for Autobot military commanders such as Rodimus Prime, Ultra Magnus, Fortress Maximus, Sky Lynx, and Jazz.

At the center of the room is a holographic projector capable of displaying data from the Autobots' military networks all over the galaxy.

Arcee is seated here in the Meeting Room all by her lonesome, working on some things in her datapad. It seems somewhat strange that she would use this place as her own private office, so maybe there was a meeting in here not too long ago.

Padding through the corridor, Steeljaw sniffs his way towards the Meeting Room and through its large doors. With his snout high up in the air, sniffing for a scent, the lion-tape makes his way casually over towards Arcee and stops short.

That's when his optics come back online.

"Hah, told Eject I could find my way here without optics.. he so owes me that enernip." Steeljaw says aloud, looking around. "So, it just you? Your message sounded urgent, figured more would come right away."

Arcee turns to look as Steeljaw enters, and grins with a bit of surprise. "Yeah, it's just me, because Rod got called away and Prowl had Intel things to tend to. We had been in here discussing Tarn. I was really hoping you might volunteer, actually, because I need something located, very badly. We know the rebels in Tarn are getting supplies. Not ALL of those supplies are coming from the corrupt police department...as much as the rebellious faction has, it's being brought in by train. We're really, really certain the Decepticons have a secret railway line beneath Tarn. Problem is, we have to know exactly where it is before we can stop it."

"Well, you picked the right bot for the job." Steeljaw grins, idly playing with a chair's wheel. It's a cat-bot habit.

"Train, eh? It'll be difficult to isolate the distinct smell of a railway, especially hidden underground. Then you have to account for the layers of ground beneath that and the surface, masking the smell. Even suppose we get that far, it could literally be a maze of tunnels underneath if they're smart, keep it moving around."

"Oh, I know it won't be easy. It wasn't easy for us to discover it existed in the first place," Arcee mentions. "And I'm sure they don't leave it unattended, either. So this is serious business, that's why I won't send anyone alone. Trying to get a group together for this."

"It's definitely -not- going to be easy." Steeljaw agrees with her, lying down on the ground. "Unless you've got the best nose in the business sniffing around for you, that is." he smiles, obviously stroking his own ego.

Who knows, maybe he'll run into Ravage again and get to teach him who's boss cat-tape.

"Think small, you want something manageable. Anything larger than five to six would be too unwieldly." he comments, rising to his feet. "What other abilities did you need covered, besides mine?"

"Mechs who have had plenty of experience tracking down perps and locations, and have a proven track record of doing so," Arcee explains. "I'm not bringing any rookies on this trip. Nothing against them because we've all been there, but I just don't want to chance something going terribly wrong when so much is at stake. Mechs like...for instance, Hound, or Mirage, come to mind. And a few heavy-hitters, in case resistance is encountered. Maybe Sandstorm or Zipline, or both."

Zipline?

Zipline is not the first name that comes to Steeljaw's mind when Arcee says 'heavy hitters'. "Sandstorm is fine and all, but if anything.. he's Wrecker-Lite. We need real heavies like Roadbuster or Springer, Scattershot if we knew where he was." the lion-tape yawns. "Impactor, Nosecone, or Twin Twist would be invaluable given their underground alt-modes."

"See, here's the thing," Arcee explains. "There's two missions here. The first one is what I want you and zipling and Sandstorm and the others for, possibly. To track down the location of the train. The second thing...getting rid of the train? The Wreckers can do that."

"So when I say heavy hitter, I'm referring to her expertise for the particular mission," Arcee explains. "Not necessarily comparing her to the heaviest hitters in our faction."

"Well, whatever ragtag crew you can wrangle up.. count me in." Steeljaw smiles, "Just as long as you don't plan on bringing Landfill, MAN does that guy stink to high Primus." the lion-tape makes a funny face. "I can't decide who smells worse, him or Blot.. nor do I even want to find out first hand!"

"Right, I just hope you're not putting anyone in harms way.. Zipline is a good friend of mine, but I don't want her getting injured just to prove she can hang with the big bots."

"Right! Well...I'll try not to put any stinky mechs on the team, rule one is they'll need to hit the wash before they go," Arcee jokes. But she gets immediately serious when Steeljaw suggests that she would put Zipline in harm's way. "Steeljaw, I wouldn't ask anyone to do what I wouldn't do myself," she says with utmost sincerity. "I've seen her in battle. I've seen her stand her own against much bigger mechs. Tunnel work is not like work on the surface. It's going to require high senses, agility...I don't think I'm wrong in considering her for the team."

That's what has him worried: I wouldn't ask anyone to do what I wouldn't do myself.

Steeljaw's mind races back to Archa-9 when Arcee single handedly disarmed a platoon of Shockdrop Troopers by dropping a building on top of them. Or the time on Srilunkem when she tore out Shockwave's only optic with her teeth. And finally the time when she made the Wrecker's blush, reducing Blitzwing to a shaking proto by meticulously removing his limbs.

"Fine, as long as I have your word." Steeljaw shakes away all the memories of Arcee's highlight reel, setting a stern gaze on her. "And no mention of this to her either, got it? Don't need the cat thinking I've got a soft spot for her, it'll only distract her when her head needs to be in the game most."

"Oh no, not at all." Arcee smiles sweetly. Is she *really* capable of half the things she's been credited with? Making even her closest allies wonder is what she's all about. She certainly doesn't mind the notoriety that comes with such an infamous track record.

"...You wouldn't happen to be good at sniffind out booby traps or IEDs, would you? Or know someone who can, who isn't a Wrecker? Trying to get more of the rank-and-file involved."

"You won't need any other nose BUT mine." Steeljaw replies, looking elitist and hurt by the statement. "I'll go see if I can't round up some friendlies to help us search the underground."

And with that, the lion-tape pads out of the room.