Tape Crew Investigations

Now Playing: http://youtu.be/pIOOwhmkoLo

The Tape Commander, the main mech known as BLASTER is primed and ready on the shuttle that's carrying him and whatever members of the Tape Squad that don't want to be in his chest right now, towards the location that was secured in between episodes. Behold, the Power of Animation! At any rate, Blaster is stylin' and profilin' as he's jammin' out to his Get Ready music at this very moment, pretty much bouncing around to the music that's coming out of him.

"So here's the dealio. This Overlord mech is one bad mother muffler. The Deceptichumps ain't handlin' they business, so that's why we droppin' in. Y'know, to show 'em how the Tape Squad go hard." Blaster is talking to everyone both in and out of his chest. Just to give them the rundown. "Anyway. Here's the sit rap. We need to get all the information on Overlord, the DJD and whatever else is goin' down as we can. Jack into everything. Take pictures of everything. Record. Everything. Nothin' will be bad Intel. Trust and believe. We go in and out. No drama." Blaster then smiles. Just because. "I mean. Maybe a jus' a li'l bit. Haha!"

Spindrift isn't even really 'Intel' outside the fact that he is one of the Tape Squad. He's mostly here to protect against any sort of interruptions they may come across, and if necessary break anything they don't want people to be able to use afterwards. So for the moment he's just sitting here and listening to Blaster do his breakdown on what's going on.

Flightplan looks back from the pilot's compartment to the shuttlebay. "We're getting close to the source of the disturbances. I'm going to drop you off at the epicenter." The long-armed mech turns back to the controls, the windshieldwipers going due to mercury rain smearing all over the place. The mech remarks, "Ha ha, they said I was crazy to try to take to the skies in this sludge. Crazy? They actually said it." He laughs nervously, "Ha ha!" His head turns all the way around, on his long spindly neck. "Coming up on the seismic vibrations shortly, hope you all were rustproofed before you got aboard."

Eject is really excited to be here tonight to see this event. It's been quite some time since there's been a contest like this and all the contenders are looking at their peak. As the starting lineup's announced it looks like the opposition's got a few pitch hitters as well. It's certainly going to be one spectacular game tonight! It also sounds like they're about to sound the start of the first quarter. Eject waits anxiously.

Steeljaw listens to the instructions and gets to his position on point. The nose goes first. Steeljaw starts checking around his surroundings getting used to the current scents in the area. Fellow Autobots, shuttle exhaust fumes, local fauna. He keeps his back to the others and observes outwards waiting for the signal to get moving.

Small Orange Cassette  rumbles from inside Blaster's weird chest-womb. < > He growls. <>

Ruins of Nogginburg - Nebulos

One of the capital cities of Nebulos, Nogginburg was once a huge domed prosperous city. Now it has fallen into ruin, smoke rising from the remains of various parts, huge industrial structures where buildings and schools once were. Ruins of gigantic circular smelting pools are a huge feature of the land, each containing hissing, stinking liquid. This really was an evil place. However, Nogginburg is abandoned now, a forbidden zone kept so that the evil of the Decepticons can never be forgotten.

Contents:

Small Orange Cassette 

Arcee

Zipline

Eject

Steeljaw

Spindrift

Blaster

Obvious exits:

West  leads to Plains of Thok.

Down  leads to The Pit.

Zipline? Sit in a stuffy chest for who knows how long? That's not happening. The spotted cat-bot has been out and about, either pacing, checking out the view from the window, or calibrating her cannon. When in doubt, recalibrate. When the briefing goes down, Zipline is there though. "You got it, B-man," Zipline says, grinning fangily, "Get in, find out what we can, get out. No fuss, no muss." She nods appreciatively, "I likes me a simple plan."

The transport opens its hanger door with a slick 'whoosh' sound, immediately grey metal rain pours into the opened transport, coating anyone near the doors. The sky is dark and gloomy, with strange Nebulon weather components. Electricity, not unlike lightning, detonates in the skies, forming a strange, and dangerous strobing effect to any near it. The metallic sounds of thunder seem to warble like a firecracker in a tin can. The landscape is that of ruins, collapsed buildings and debris fill the scene, not too unlike Cybertron itself in the recent past. Nothing here looks usable except for shelter itself, but then again, if there was something to hide, this'd be a great place for it.

< Autobot > Steeljaw says, "Of all the..."

< Autobot > Spindrift says, "Tch. Almost a little -too- like home lookin' down there."

< Autobot > Steeljaw says, "I do not care about what it looks like...It's the rain that is bugging me."

< Autobot > Zipline says, "Yeah, consider me not a fan either."

Trying to restrain his enthusiasm Eject walks out in what he hopes is a calm fashion. Reaching out to whatever he can in the airwaves to find a carrier signal of some kind, something to tune into. He also looks down at the ground to look for the tell tale signs of cables buried there. Never know it could be an early lead for the good guys if there's something to find above or below. Rain isn't going to stop play on this one.

"Seriously? Seriously?" Blaster rolls his optics the moment he sees what's going on outside. "Hol' up." Blaster pulls a quick switch of the music and we get some more jams in the form of: http://youtu.be/hHcyJPTTn9w. With a nod, Blaster is leaping out for some epic dropping through the rain and skidding for some slick style points. When he collides with the ground, he immediately takes stock of the situation. "Scan for everything. And shoot anything that ain't us. Just in case." Blaster ain't having no scrap this mission. Not right now, anyway. As far as his own stuff goes, he's all over the local and far comms to see if he can't zero in on a signal to find where they should be headed. CALL TRACE.

As the shuttle approaches the landing zone, Zipline takes her position at the door. Her cannon materializes upon her back, the lightweight railcannon only making her dip just slightly. "Let's do this thang," She says, shifting paws for better traction to be at the ready. The door opens and...

And Zipline hesitates, staring at the downpour outside. "Oh, that's what he meant," She grumbles. Her tail flicks irritably, but the cheetah hurries outside despite the rain. She hits the ground on all fours, but slips slightly on the slick. Ugh, water. Her legs stabalize quickly, and she hurries out just ahead of Blaster. Eyes flick back and forth, noting the ruins and quickly checking for anything that seems suspicious. Or any place she can get a better view.

Rewind has arrived.

Steeljaw growls at the rain...<< I hate rain...I hate getting wet. Business first, griping later.>> The golden lion leaps out towards Blaster and gets in position slightly ahead. The tapebot scans the area for anything or anyone out of place. So much information to process.

Spindrift rolls his optics at the radio comments and trudges up to the opening hatch. "Well, if ya two wanna just pussyfoot 'round the shuttle because of a little rain..." He slides down to the end of the ramp and hops off.

Granted he's got an advantage here, just rolling up into a ball of armor to make the landing. With enough of an impact to make a small crater in the pavement from doing so. "Sorry road." He unrolls and crawls out of the indentation.

Small Orange Cassette  snorts. <>

It's difficult to make out anything in this thunderstorm, especially after everyone is offloaded and the transport takes to the skies, Flightplan remarks, < > Mercury rain splatters, leaving a presence of quicksilver everywhere. Optics are fuzzy, transmissions are weak due to the metal in the air, though Blaster does get the reassuring long distance chatter of Nebulos proper, if garbled. The search continues for an hour in the horrid environment, and that's not even factoring in the inability to refuel here! In short, it's a disgusting job, looking for what could have possibly caused seismic activity here.

At least until Eject finds something of interest! The Sports Enthusiast discovers a partially buried hatch, no doubt mistaking it for home plate, due to its low curved shape. The hatch is much larger than Nebulon make of course. Part of it is open, just a hand's width. It may be nothing, but its the best lead the Autobots have for now...

So far, for Eject, its a red flag and the pace car's out. Nothing. The air's dead and he doesn't see a hard line anywhere. It's a game of two halves, four quarters and other appreciable fractions though. All he can do is cover the spread and hopefully find a gap in the defensive line. Wait a minute! <> he transmits to the others as he reaches to open the hatch and see what's inside.

It's a dirty job, and that's just fine with Spindrift. Even if he doesn't really have much to do for most of the searching. Occassionally shove a piece of rubble that's too heavy for the others to move out of the way, but that's about it. Not a complaint comes from the dilligent dillo though, doing what he does as they search through globby streets and silver splatter from the skies.

Until Eject finds something. Looks like a hatch. Looks like it's possible stuck, too. Spindrift rolls over next to Eject, being careful not to splatter mercury puddles about with his movements. "Need a hand? Or claws as the case may be." He shoves his blade tipped forepaws under the edge to help lever it open.

Small Orange Cassette  grumbles about the music volume.

Steeljaw moves over to Eject's position to take a quick look at his finding and pulls back a bit to scan the area. Cool they found something but gotta make sure nobody sneaks up on team badass. << How does it look? >>

"Oh smelt yeah! Eject! My Mecha!" Blaster slides over and offers an immediate fistbump of justice towards the Sports Fanatic, whilst making sure that everything is looking on the up and up. "Chill mode, E." Blaster's reaching out to try and make sure Eject doesn't just go opening up hatches and what not. "I'll take point. Just in case this ain't as easy as it looks." Blaster stops and looks around at his Tapes, just in case they are looking at him crazy. Quick explanation. "Rewind made me watch Lost." Blaster takes some time to see if he can pick up on anything on the freqs down below. Checking for radio communications between 'Sweep Troopers' or whatever may be down there.

And Zipline thought earth weather was bad. After a few minutes of looking around, she starts sputtering. "Eew, guys, I think I got some in my mouth," She says, wiping the mercury goop of her muzzle with a paw. "Blegh. That's the opposite of anything good."

Staring at mercury rain and ruins is only so interesting for so long. So when Eject finally finds something, Zipline hurries towards his signal. "Score! Let's pop this cap and bust some caps already."

While the situation is hard to work with, Steeljaw knows his stuff, and has kept a sharp eye in worse areas. The city ruins show little to no sign of movement, indeed it is a graveyard. Blaster, having to filter out the excess echoing of mercury, has to take a moment to process it fully. The tunnel runs deep apparently, just from the reverb from the speech in the area. There's other noise as well, something mechanical, but hard to determine anything more.

The real issue is the trapped hatch that Spindrift identifies from his long training as a sapper. Being one with the dirt, he can piece together what may've happened. There were seismic events here earlier. Perhaps this hatch was open at one point in time, during an event, and the nearby rubble shifted, providing weight onto the hatch, not letting it close properly. While it is indeed partially open, large enough for say...cassettes or cassette players to be dropped through, it is armed and active, though a cunning disposal expert could take care of it though.

As Eject unwittingly reaches to open the hatch he hears Blasters substitution called out on the radio. As long as they make the conversion Eject's happy to step back and let someone else step up to the plate. There's no 'I' in 'team' after all! <> Eject transmits in acknowledgement. <> He notes to everyone in general.

Spindrift pauses after getting the hatch gap just enough for him to peak inside. "Hold on Eject. Somethin' ain't right here." A little compartment atop his head clicks open to produce a miner's style headlamp as he scrunches down, abiet it's not far for him, to peer through the gap. "Yup. Thought so. Thing's rigged, and whatever knocked the lid off kilter didn't disable it. Give me a moment..."

Letting go of the hatch lid, he instead digs his claws into the fram it would of been closed against, cracking off some of the foundation without moving the hatch so he can stick himself partway in the opening. After a moment a faint hum emits from the dillo-bot. "Okay," his voice echos faintly from the gap, "I'm puttin' my forcefield over the bomb trap. Ya oughta be able to get in now."

Why waste valuable time trying to disarm the device when the blast can just be contained instead, right?

Combat: Spindrift creates a forcefield shielding himself from damage.

Complications. Always complications! Zipline makes an irritated chuffing sound through her coolant system when Spindrift lets them know that the pipe is literally the bomb. She takes a guarding position a little away from the pipe, keeping an eye outwards while they work to diffuse and/or contain the bomb.

"All clear?" She asks, looking back briefly when she picks up Spindrift's muffled voice, "Good thinking, Dirty." She half turns, "I'm ready to check this thing out when you guys are."

With Spindrift's forcefield in play, and his knowledge of bombs, the bomb's blast is properly contained, a muffled explosion rips the hatch off its hinges, fragmentation spines attempting to cripple anyone in their unfortunate range! The shrapnel is all for naught, though. While the hatch is now a ruined piece of twisted metal, smouldering from the kinetic force, the tunnel is now open.

Now much easier to get through, the tunnel goes directly down, with only a modicum of places for people to land on. Small shelflike steps send the crew deeper and deeper into Nebulos. After the light dims away, it comes to pass that the team itself needs to start producing light...and it keeps descending, forcing the less capable Autobots to leap from one side of the tunnel to the other, and back like in some sort of platformer game.

The whirr of mechanics hits Blaster first, but soon everyone can catch the sound of welding, of metal on metal, and other various sounds of production.

Steeljaw hears about explosives and forcefields...<< Well...if nobody knew we were here. Now they do. >> The lion wanders away a hundred feet from the group to make a little security round. << What's the word on that hatch? >>

Eject watches as a teammate's is tagged in. He's mad, he's bad, he's looking to take back the heavyweight intercontinental championship belt tonight. . . but wait! The trap illegally tags in! Another twist! It's held back by a sudden forcefield by Spindrift! It's up to tonights challenger to go for the pin! 1..2..3! Instead of the belt awarded though Eject hears the noise coming from the tunnel. <> He transmits.

Some smoke rolls off after the blast, and Spindrift gives a shake to jarr loose a few of the spines that managed to lodge in the energy barrier. "Whatever is down here, somebody don't want somebody to find out. All the more reason to go look, ain't it?" He keeps the forcefield and his headlamp on, just in case there are any more surprises, as he drops down into the tunnel. "Goin' down. Basment floor, stank and rank and weird mechanical noises."

"You da' mech, Spins." Blaster says this to the 'Dillo and then its time to jump into the hatch. Which is pretty crazy of an idea. But whatever. He's kind of in it to get down with his bad self. And also get this intel. Platinum Priority and all that jazz. Haha, get it? Anyway, the moment his big ol' feet hit one of those platforms, he's making sure that his tapes are doing the same thing. "Stay frosty. Scrap is gettin' hot in hurr." Blaster steps back for a moment on his platform and reaches for his own chest, his finger pushing the correct button while he gets his announcement on. There's even a smile on his face when he says it. Because this is so cool, every time.

"Rewind, eject!"

<> Zipline says to Steeljaw. She turns back to the entry, and quickly makes her way back towards it. <> Zipline stops at the entrance, peering down below. "Now that's a drop. Incoming!" She slips through the entrance, and drops to the nearest available ledge. Then to the next, and the next, following after the others quickly with quickly calculated jumps.

Rewind leaps from Blaster's chest, transforming from a small tape into a... well, small robot. But bigger than he was as a tape, at least. Landing on the ground with a light thud, his camera is already on and recording as he looks around. "Sorry... just had to organize a bit of data first. So... uh, what's up? This place looks cool...." His camera flash comes on and lights the way before him so both he AND his camera can see.

Below is a catwalk that runs under the tunnel, it seems that there's some sort of retracted elevator disc as well, which explains the lack of ladders. Beneath, the area opens up into a frighteningly large cavern beneath Nebulos. It extends on seemingly forever in all distances. Small hovering utility drones, with their orblike appearance and small arms raise up a metal wall, an enormous wall of sheet metal. The sixty odd drones move in perfect unison as they move the plate towards a series of other sheets, before using red lasers to start welding them together.

Something is being created here, and it is quite large.

To those with the proper auditory equipment and enhanced senses, the basic dimensions are staggering for this object. It appears to be perhaps some sort of silo, or perhaps a tubelike ship being constructed down here. It's not alone either, as the starting infrastructure of a similar construct is being built nearby...

Also, check it out. A damaged drone at the bottom of the shaft, doused in mercury.

Combat: Steeljaw compares his Technical to 80: Success!

Combat: Blaster compares his Technical to 80: Failure :(

Combat: Spindrift compares his Technical to 80: Failure :(

Combat: Zipline compares her Technical to 80: Success!

Combat: Eject compares his Technical to 80: Failure :(

Combat: Rewind compares his Technical to 80: Failure :(

Spindrift trundles along a bit, then pokes his head under the railing of the catwalk to try and get a better look at what's going on. "Looks like they're buildin' something." Thank you mister obvious. It's a little out of his field, he knows more about breaking things than putting them together.

Steeljaw growls at Zipline << It's not a matter of getting plates in a twist. It's matter of proceeding in an efficient and orderly fashion. That's how we stay alive. >> The lion returns from his stroll and leaps down the hatch following the others. As he finally spots what is being built... << Tube shape...that size. I see 4 potential thing this could be the start of. What about you Zipline? >>

Blaster comes to a stop and gets his crouch on as he peers around to see what's going on. "Yo. Keep the lights at Barry White level. We don't need no company if we can help it." Blaster peers around and nods in agreement with Spindrift. "The smelt are we lookin' at?" Blaster's confused as all heck as to what they are seeing being built right before their optics. He looks between Steeljaw and Zipline because they are getting their Cat Chat on and then he leans over to Rewind. "You gettin' all this, right?"

As Eject descends behind the others he starts to feel the heat as well. Enough to stop play on any ice hockey field he can think of - that's for sure. Still scanning the wavelengths he sees the elevator disc. Must be a high dive event here. The number of drones must be a penalty for too many players on the field. There's a lot going on. . . maybe it's a pentathlon thing? He stays silent until he can get a decision from the fourth official.

Sky Lynx heads down the ramp that was reviled by the large doors opening into the darkness below. Now fully faded from view the doors close shut.

Zipline lets out a quiet whistle through her fangs as she comes up behind the others. She moves around Blaster's legs, peering up at the 'ship' to get a better look. Her optics quickly move across the tube, subconsciously checking it over for weak points. <<Yeah, it's missing something to be any ship I've seen>> She says, nodding at Steeljaw. The sleeker cheetah lifting a paw up to point at the 'ship'. < <I don't think these things are ships. Kinda remind me more of bullets, or missiles.>>

Rewind looks up at Blaster and raises a thumb. "Absolutely! Would I let you down?" He taps at the red *on* light on the camera at the side of his helmet, then starts stepping over towards the other tapes. Though he does look back. "But... going back to what you mentioned earlier... you LIKED LOST, didn't you? I mean... yeah, it got a bit confusing at the end but mech, what a great series! If we start seeing those logos and the strange videos, though... I'm outta here."

A questioning dramatic chord plays at Zipline's words?

Steeljaw looks at Zipline when he mentions the bullet or missile part. << I first thought about ships but something about the 'skeleton' is not right. That leaves a generator but...why hide it? An engine to move the planet but or a weapon. As for Zipline's guess...possible some sort of mass driver gun. >> The golden lion shuts up for a few and continues to observe in case something rings another bell. He looks for the environment around what is being built. Are there doors to let that thing out? Power cables? Computers? Or is this just a building yard?

The project here is enormous on scale, large enough it needed to be reiterated it. Somewhere down below, glowing red dots echo the sight of stars in the sky above, and are as plentiful. Could those be smelting pools themselves? Another detatchment of drones carry a length of cable, as big as Sky Lynx, from somewhere in the darkness to somewhere else in the darkness.

As the Autobots search for clues, lost in the enormous operation, Blaster receives some data from a fixed point, that he recognizes. Drone orders are generally encrypted of course, and sent through short bursts over an established frequency range, and this is the same sort of signal. The location is pinpointed a bit later, a nearby control room.

With the doors locked to the actual console, no doubt holding valuable intel for the Autobots, perhaps schematics or notes to help understand the situation, it would undoubtably alert whatever security this place has...

"It's a Janet." Blaster says with a smile as he moves to get the attention of the Tape Squad, standing up to his full height at this moment and nodding off in the direction of Control Room. Whether or not it is labeled 'Not The Control Room' or something, Blaster doesn't know. But his pings are never wrong. Okay, sometimes they are. But not this time. "Ms. Jackson if ya' nasty." Blaster is all happy now that they can get somewhere. Intel? Handle that. The rest of us will watch your back." And Blaster's Electro-Scrambler Gun is all up in his hands now. "Rewind. You're in charge in there." No pressure.

Sky Lynx heads back up from the ramp as the doors opening from the darkness below. Arriving to the surface at last, the doors close back up behind them.

Sky Lynx has arrived.

Buzzsaw goes home.

Buzzsaw has left.

"Did anyone else hear that?" Zipline shakes her head, "Gotta be my imagination."

Zip turns her eyes back onto the large 'ships'. "If that's ammo, I'd like to see the gun that fires it," She says. Her optics even light up a little, the gun nut that she is. "... Uh, preferibly aimed far, far away from anywhere I am at the time."

A grin creeps along Zipline's muzzle when the meat of the operation looks to be in their sight. She nods, and a gentle hum emenates from the railcannon on her back. "Yup, got your back. Any anything that threatens you won't have one left."

Spindrift looks at the doors. To the others lining up. Then to the doors again. Scrapes one set of claws on the ground as if stretching out. "Just say the word, boss. I'll break that door open lickity splitsville." His super-gyroscope would be audible to those with the hearing to pick it up as it's spinning up to speed in case he's got to make like a wrecking ball impression again.

Steeljaw observes the rest of the place as the other tapes are watching Blaster's back, he is watching his brothers back.

He's not quite sure how but Eject feels like he's waiting in the sin bin waiting for his time to be up. For some time he can't see what's running the mass drone offense or where their coach is. Nothing's coming through on the frequencies he can scan either. Fortunately the others have found the control room. Once he realises his friends are going for a strike on the door he hopes to pick up the split by recalling his rifles. He'll waiting for the shooting event to start and help that way.

Rewind approaches the doors, camera flash sweeping around and chasing away the shadows. He nods to Spindrift, commenting, "Sounds good to me. Just get me in so I can start recording... and maybe play computer hacker, if there's some tech in there..."

"Yo VIP! Let's Kick It!"

Yeah. That's Blaster's 'signal' to start the dramatic action of door busting and formation forming for battle.

The doors are dented by Spindrift's spindash attack, leaving a crater'd hole in it, but not enough to punch through at first. Immediately all the lights in the area, what there are of them turn red. The constructor drones shift from their methodical, precise pace, their optics flickering red. With the sudden precision of a viper, construction drones start to converge together, firing welding lasers at the assembled Autobots at the door. Far from the only defense of this large construction site, they are the first line of defense. Several of the larger drones, with spinning Buzzsaw blades and rivetguns, brandish their weapons as they move in to assault.

On the second try when Spindrift hurls himself forward into the wrecking ball, the doors buckle against his mechanized cannon attack. Screens inside immediately start turning blue, as data within starts to be purged. A hologram framework of...was that a digital representation of Skullgrin?...disappears in the same instant, though recorded on Rewind's log for later analysis. Precious data is being deleted from the computer bank at a rapid speed. Rewind has only a scant few seconds to decide the best way to get the needed intel, before its all gone.

Steeljaw sees all the drones starting to converge. << Oh slag...in a non dinobot way. >> The tape bot dashes out of hiding and goes for the larger drones using his powerful jaw from his namesake in order to snap as many weapons off as possible...Clinging for dear life with his claws. He leaps from drone to drone buying as much time as he can. << Going to buy as much time as I can. Work fast! >>

Now Montaging: http://youtu.be/p2YuVnYsfog

Blaster doesn't particularly seem to be too worried about anything. He doesn't know anything about what's going on inside the control room right now, as he's focused on the fact that he's got to keep his Tapes alive. He uses his Electro-Scrambler Gun like some sort of epic slow motion weapon of justice, taking shots at drones as they swarm in their direction. He's more worried about keeping the drones from overpowering and outnumbering his tapes. He's sticking close to the Control Room's missing door, occasionally looking inside.

Skullgrin? Aw smelt naw.

Blaster has no idea if his jamming systems can help with slowing down the data purging but he switches them on and focuses his attention back on blasting drones in the face, the moment they get too close to swarming a tape. He's definitely in the mix and in sync with his tapes because that's just how they do. None of his shots are finishers, though, as he's more worried about setting up his Tapes to get the kills. He's the DJ, they're the Rappers.

Eject starts firing, setting his rifles to more overload the drones drive systems rather than damage them outright. Forcing the healthier ones to slow to the pace of the slowest at the front is the best he can do to buy a little overtime on this play. He just hopes the others can get the ball into the endzone in time.

Combat: Blaster compares his Technical to 90: Success!

Spindrift drops his forcefield so he can put all his energy into his spin cycles. He rebounds off the first impact, though the recoil just gives him a chance to ricochette off a few surfaces to get a longer charging distance and slam back into the doors with twice the force the second time around. Sparks and metal shards fly in a cacophony like a dozen grinders being shot out of a cannon, and that's pretty accurate for what the results look like as well.

But to say he's not stopping there would be an understatement. He's already got the momentum going and no intention of letting it go to waste. Like a manic pinball he bounces around the control room, using his exceptional control to keep from hitting any of the important terminals. Or Rewind.

And then the spinning form comes rocketing back out of the busted doorway. Right towards the packs of drones descending in on his teammates.

Spinning out of his armor-ball as he slams into a drone Spindrift grabs on, letting it topple over into the crowd, shots from Blaster and the others flying about. The thrumming is audible as the resonation from the gyroscope reverbs through his entire body, until the vibrations result in a massive sonic shockwave radiating out from him and through the crowd. What doesn't get blown up thanks to other's weakening hits are going to be left dazed and disorganized from the disorienting effect of the sonic vibrations, all the easier for the others to take out.

Combat: Spindrift's forcefield protecting himself vanishes.

"That got their attention," Zipline says, a grim smirk forming on her muzzle. The energy flowing through her railcannon starts to glimmer at the end of the rails. "Hey, big guys! Intruder alert!" She doesn't bother waiting for the full charge, she just fires when there's enough for a burst of energy. It slams into one of the nearby smaller drones, scrambling its circuits. Zipline's tensed hydrolics release, and the cheetah rushes forward even before the drone hits the ground.

Claws are unsheathed, and the little cheetah lunges at one of the bigger bots and she latches right onto its chest. "How'd we get in?" She claws right up its chest as it tries to buzzsaw at her, and she leaps up and over its head. When she hits the ground behind it, her cannon is charging again. This time, with a slug in the chamber and the stabalizing rails extended.

"Intruda window?" THWOOM, Zip's cannon releases its slug in a burst of energy. The next instant, the bot is comically looking down at Zipline through a hole in its chest, before it collapses.

Rewind looks over at the drones as he waits for Spindrift to do his magic. He watches Blaster work hard to help his tapes, and Rewind realizes there's something he can do as well. The tapebot takes his Light Beacon out of subspace, and starts adjusting the controls. "Look out, guys.... I don't want to flash you." There's a pause and he ponders on that word choice, then shakes his head and goes back to adjusting the light. "Alright- no peeking!" He suddenly flashes a huge strobe right at the drones, trying to see if that'll blind them at all.

Then Spindrift does his thing, sending Rewind stumbling back from the vibrations. But he's soon on his feet solidly again, and races inside... heading towards anything that looks important. "Thanks Spin! I owe ya!"

The Cassettebots work like the team they are, not a father and his sons like OTHER payloaders, no, these cassettebots know their places in a fight because they have TRAINED to do so. As Eject leaves himself open to an assault from the side, it's Blaster who fires over his shoulder, guarding his flank. When the six-optic Beholderdrone appears, with rivet launchers, Zipline provides the distraction needed for Spindrift to build up the speed to shatter it. Rewind, though the least combat capable, personally saves Blaster's life simply by overloading the optics of Chopperdrone-2300 (complete with Ginsustabbers), even as he desperately yanks a hard drive from the system, eliciting sparks in his wake.

By the time that is done, it was Ramhorn who cleared a path for Steeljaw to start up the disc-like elevator.

When all personell are aboard, it rises up, sealing off the drone assault beneath.

It was a path into the unknown, and while not their most dangerous mission, there were a great deal of questions that needed answers, and Blaster's team were the ones who were hopefully going to supply answers.

It would take days to analyze everything retrieved here, Thunderwing's encryption being what it is, but thanks to Blaster's planning and quick thinking, extra data was recovered.

...

And while not everything needed, the Autobots have recovered approximately half of what they need...

to make their own Pretenders.