Spotlight: Turntail Pt1 (The Briefing)

 Turntail says, "Turntail here, wonder if Nightbeat's available for a brief meeting?"

 Nightbeat says, "The door's always open, except when it's not. Of course, it's not so much as a door as a..."

You receive a radio message from Nightbeat: ...manhole, at the moment.

You send a radio message to Nightbeat: Ah. City's a big place, sir, any particular manhole you'd recommend?

You receive a radio message from Nightbeat: You know up north, uptown, how the placy is so prissy that the manholes are gilded? There.

Sacred Way

The sacred mountains that lead up to the Temple of the Bird are riddled with underground tunnels. At one time, developers considered expanding the subway to use to tunnels, and the two routes do link up, but public outcry was against secularizing the tunnels. Now, the sacred way is forgotten, as the corrupt priesthood doesn't bother with wandering in the dark.

Contents: Nightbeat

Turntail really wished Nightbeat hadn't said that. He was pretty sure which one he'd be pointed to, but really? The idea of slipping down into an abandoned subway is bad enough, but one that is quite probably being used as a metro system for evil Decepticons, and any (even more terrifying) pets of theirs. It wasn't worth thinking about. Especcially not as the large blue Autobot makes his way into the darkness, his metallic fingers at his helm as his scouting visor slides down over his optics, allowing a personal nightvision as he wanders through the tunnels. In his hand, gripped tightly, appears to be a small datapad.

Nightbeat is out wandering the twisted, dark tunnels under the rot-ridden planet of Pz-Zazz. Somehow has to check them out, and it might as well be him. As abandoned as they are, he's still expecting company. He doesn't have his wrist-mounted headlights on, because he can navigate well enough in the dark on his own, and he doesn't want to tip anyone off that he's here sooner than he has to. However, at the sound of Turntail walking the tunnels, he flicks those headlights on, illuminating the dark, and he looks over his shoulder, asking, "What can I do for you?"

 Saboteur Foxfire says, "...As a what?"

 Nightbeat says, "Y'think I'll say where I am on open freq? How about... 'no'.?"

Turntail reacts suddenly, bringing his arm up to cover his optics with a yelp as his high-powered nightvision sensor adjusts to the bright light. "N-Nightbeat, sir. Hope I'm not disturbing you from your, uh, business here," Lowering his arm, the scout fixes an impassive look about him, nodding curtly to his commanding officer. "But I felt with the latest reports coming in from all over Pz-Zazz.. this couldn't really wait." Stepping forward, the Autobot raises the datapad to Nightbeat, arching an opti-brow as he summarises, "Energy signatures of enemy movements taken from orbit, an inventory of the police deperatment's equipment down here, a couple witness statements from Decepticon abuse on the locals.. and.. well, a little plan of mine." Putting on a modest smile, he leans over, offering the datapad.

 Saboteur Foxfire says, "Yeah, yeah..."

 Roadbuster says, "you should know better Foxy."

Nightbeat knows how painful it is to be suddenly blinded without warning - his own optics are pretty sensitive, and he notices that arm movement of Turntail's. Hmm. Interesting. He shrugs and replies, "If you can hunt me down, you deserve my time." He wishes that Turntail would just cut to chase, though, rather than playing these games, now that he has Nightbeat's attention. He skims over the other reports and thumbs down to this plan.

 Saboteur Foxfire says, "Bah."

Turntail nods sharply, "Of course, sir." Nightbeat is a tricky one to read at times, but he's not totally blank. He's left the scout a gap, a chance to explain. Best to exploit it, for nothing else than to make sure the Detective doesn't get the wrong end of the stick with the plan and think Turntail's the hero- Primus forbid. "..the Decepticons are far too at home here. If its not them prowling the streets, its their thugs, stealign cars.. trashing market stalls.. you know the sort. I say we get in where they think they're safe, raid the place, see if we can't find some sort of plan lying around. Start with a single infiltrator.. get him inside, and have him open the gates for a full-out raid." A shrug, "I figure Mirage has the skills for this sort of thing."

Nightbeat is the author of his own book, and if you're reading something between the lines, it's because Nightbeat wrote it there, sometimes in invisible ink, sometimes via microfiche dot. The detective rubs his chin, and he replies slowly, "Y'know, that's not a half bad plan, but the thing is... Mirage is otherwise occupied." Of course, he can't go into details. "Given that it's your plan, I'm putting you on the case. It'll save explaining it again, and the less people involved, the better. Get to it." He moves his hand away from his chin and snaps his fingers.

Turntail freezes in horror, his jaw quite visibly gaping for a moment as he stammers, "B-But sir! ..I'm no hero, this plan calls for someone experienced.. someone.. someone able to take the form of a car a thug will want to own, rather than trash. For someone who can.. act the part. Who can operate machinery.. Sideswipe! I could track him down, a skilled warrior and a devilishly fine prize for a gangster, hm?" It's true, for most, this could be mistaken for modesty, rather than the servo-wrenching fear deep in his processor.

Nightbeat looks Turntail over and snorts, "Base price of $585,000 way back in 2006? And now, you're practically vintage? If you think you're trash, you got some issues, kid, and this is coming from a Porsche 959." He looks on the verge of either laughing or hitting Turntail, and it's hard to tell which. "The last thing this mission needs is some big damn hero who is gonna transform and pop the first Decepticon he sees. In order words, it doesn't need Sideswipe. It needs someone who can stay hunkered down in car mode as long as it take to find where these Decepticons are running their operations. Someone quiet. Someone patient. That's you, kid."

Clearly Nightbeat's not seen Turntail on the battlefield, nor on the racing track. There's enough swearing, screaming and roaring from this 'Bot to fill a football stadium, but for the most part - He's got a point. Patience is bred into every single scout worth his rivets, and this one's hidden from more danger than Galvatron's smacked a Sweep. Optics wide, the Autobot attempts to process what's just happened. This wasn't happening. But.. what can he say? "Y-Yes, sir. I won't let you down.." Primus, he's in trouble. Maybe if he fakes a fall.. damages a servo beyond repair? No.. No that won't work. "if that is all, sir, I will get ready immediately!" Flashing a well-practiced smile, the scout snaps a smart salute, all eagerness.

Nightbeat actually does laugh now, as Turntail swears. However, even as his optical band twinkles with amusement, it narrows. Turntail wanted to be in Intelligence so very badly, claiming he wanted to do investigation work, but now that the kid gets a chance at the bit, he tries to fob the job off on everyone from Mirage to Sideswipe. What's his deal? Most peculiar. He hears that stutter in Turntail's voice, too. The kids clearly doesn't want this job. However, Nightbeat's going to stick Turntail with it anyway. Not just to be a jerk, though that's there - he has to make sure that Turntail is cut out for Intelligence. If not, Turntail's Kup's problem again. "Yeah. That's all. Lemme know what you come up with." He replies to Turntail's salute with a slightly sloppy slaute. Nightbeat's been doing this way too long to cross every T.

Turntail nods smartly, "Will do, sir!" before turning on his heel - and marching out toward the surface. His metallic features wide and agape as he contemplates his mission, processor racing as he tries - and fails - to consider a way out of this. A good steady slug of energon should do the trick.. yeah.. let's go with that.

Nightbeat calls out to Turntail as the scout leaves, a smirk quirking on his face, "I'll buy you a drink when the mission's done, Turntail." There, a little motivation, and he didn't call Turntail 'kid'. That said, he flicks off his headlights and trudges off into the darkness. Nightbeat's going to know this city like the back of his hand, by Primus.