1301/Something Lurks Beneath

**Swivel has posed:**
After some recent seismic activity in an area left rather delicate due to the changes wrought by the heating of the southern hemisphere, an unusual energy signature began to eminate from deep within Cybertron. It'd taken a while for teams to mobilize. There is something very mysterious about the signature, prompting further investigation. The race is on to discover it - but it means going underground. And there's no telling how deep the source is, so it may lead one off the beaten paths.

It's only natural, since Swivel has been extensively mapping the undergrid to correct changes made since Simanzi that she is included in the Autobot team. As they head down into a natural opening that makes the most logical entry way, she turns on her headlights, looking around, getting her bearings and trying to decide the best course of action. Of course, as she isn't the ranking officer here, it's not for her to call the shots. Just give suggestions.

**Nightlash has posed:**
Nightlash is here? OF COURSE SHE IS! And she's absolutely hating every single moment of her existence in this dismal, horrible, absolutely Primus-damned place. Enough that she's TOTALLY NOT SPRAYPAINTING FROWNY FACES ALL OVER as she trudges along behind the other Autobots.

"I don't get why they made me come down here... this is planet-y movey stuff, not planet-y weathery stuff, I can't...map wind and current patterns and pull up some kind of future forecast of when to expect a thing to happen, you know...."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off is NOT going down there. Nope, nosiree bob. No, not the Insecticon Bob, just... never mind. The Combaticon shuttle is under orders to help Goth should he acquire assistance but he certainly has no desire to go down into some cramped underground smelthole. Claustrophobic cramped underground smelthole.

Besides, his armor is still setting from his recent repairs, not to mention his reaction speeds are a bit subpar and he's still low on fuel. He's not yet in tip-top fighting shape and he knows it. Nope, he aims to be as lazy- and safe- as possible. "<< Hurry and find out what's down there, Goth, and DO locate it before the Autobots decide to show and mess everything up? >>" He radios the bat somewhat impatiently from the rim of the underground hole.

**Goth has posed:**
     Goth, being one of the active DEcepticon scientists was sent down to check out this activity, that, and, well, he's naturally made for this sort of terrain, night vision, cloaking, sensitive senses... All lead to him having a much better grip on exploring the undergird. .. Or they would be if someone would move their fat-shuttle-aft!

      Goth wasn't that far in when he gets the radio and lets out a groan and comes out of the entrance and crosses his winged arms at the shuttle, his optics settling into a half-lidded position. "....This would go much quicker if you would actually be following me." he'd chuff before spinning his wrist as he pointed at Blast Off. "Is the great Combaticon really that fearful of a little dirt?~" he'd smirk.

**Blurr has posed:**
    Blurr is also to head down with Nightlash and Swivel. He peers down the hole, then glances back at a readout. "There should be a decommissioned freightlifter two klicks south of this opening." he says, pointing in the general direction. Just a short jump down. He takes the lead, confidently leaping down into the subterranean sectors. Well this area wasn't too uncivilized, as it was not too far from the surface. But that's just how the Undergrid goes. The deeper down you go...the more dangerous it is.

**Swivel has posed:**
    "We've worked well together on these sorts of missions in the past, Nightlash. Let's just try and get this done. With Blurr around, I'm sure it will go quickly." Swivel says as encouraginly as she can while she onlines her seismic sensors. She places a hand on the wall of the tunnel they are following as she tries to keep up a brisk pace behinb Blurr. That is when she feels it.

"We've got some seismic activity. Maybe we should pull out and come back la-"

Swivel doesn't really get a chance to say much more before the ground beneath her doesn't just shake, but is rent open. And it's not just beneath the Autobots. The 'fat-aft' shuttle and accompnnying bat will feel an odd sort of heaviness moments before the very ground they are on splits open. And this is not a tiny scratch on the surface, but a gouge large enough to swallow even a shuttle whole.

A fissure might be something one could fly out of, once they got their bearings. Or when acting with quick reflexes. But as the gaping maw comes open with great force, an equally great and opposing force pushes against it, causing it to close part-way, narrowing the only means of escape. This happens a few times like some geological mastication. With all the turmoil, large chunks of break-away metal begin to fill in the newly-made gap, tumbling over everyone caught within it and pushing them down further as it buries them deep in the bowls of Cybertron.

While this seismic event caught a large breadth of the surface, eventually everything, and everyone, in it is forced down some sort of natural funnel and dropped into a natural chamber of sorts. Debris of all shapes and sizes settles, and the sound of more making their way down can be heard. Or, is that something else entirely moving in the walls?

**Blast Off has posed:**
Said fat-aft shuttle snorts at Goth's reply. "<< HUFF! I'm a space shuttle, I don't belong down in the dirt and dark, I should be up in the- >>" He stops as he feels the vibrations getting stronger. "<< Actually, on second thought, I'll get skyborne and you just come fly up to me when- Aiiiiigh! >>"

This is when it gets bad, for Blast off- in shuttle mode, no less- suddenly finds himself falling and before he can engage thrusters and get airborne he's getting knocked and pummeled by debris that sends him crashing down, down, down.... welp. Hope nobody gets flattened by flailing fat-aft shuttle. COMIN' THROUGH! CRASH! CLANG! BOOOM.

**Nightlash has posed:**
"Yeah, but...well, I mean, what if there's uh...I don't know, a giant worm, or a cave in, or a giant worm that causes caveins? Or...like...some pit just opens up to swallow us because Cybertron's really a living planet that just got hungry for a snack and lured us in here with a convoluted series of tremors and seismic activity because it knows us all that well that we'd be silly enough to actually walk down here like it's some kind of all-knowing being..."

She then gasps. "WHAT IF CYBERTRON /IS/ PRIMUS!" She looks at the graffiti left behind thus far.... "Eh. That's stupid. Mech-eating planet sounds cool, though..." She chuckles a bit and then blinks some, pausing to listen a moment. "Huh...hearing things..." And, with that, especially now that they're more in a chamber, she cups her hands around her vocal emitters. "HELLOOOOOOOO! ECHHHOOOOOOO... THE DECEPTICONS SMELL LIKE GRIMLOCK'S BUUUUUNK...."

And then Cybertron absolutely tries to eat them, and Nightlash's string of curses are probably enough to make Primus all the more angry with her for spraypainting graffiti on his interior.

**Blurr has posed:**
    Blurr had dashed ahead of everyone as per usual with him, having arrived at said freight lift. He stands there impatiently. Ugh, why the frag is everyone else so -slow-? Sigh. He checks the control panel, seeing that it is still operational, though barely. The speedster pokes at the holopanel and the doors groan open.

    Hmph, might as well wait for them in there, he thinks as he steps onto it. That's when everything starts shaking. "Scrap!" As the terrain around the shaft crumbles, there is a crack, cables breaking, and the lift falls into a deep, deep abyss...

**Goth has posed:**
     Wait what was that about Grimlock's bunk? Goth looked back with a raised ridge, before he would fall onto all fours when the quake started, attempting to hook his claws into the metal below only.. well, to see the whole ground tear open beneath him and Blast off! He'd start flapping his wings in an attempt to at least catch himself! Looking up to see the cavern close he lets out a curse, well that was more than just a little bad luck! however there is now material falling down onto him, /large/ material at that, that clips his winds!

**Swivel has posed:**
It's probably just as well that Swivel didn't have time to engage Nightlash in a debate about the nature of Cybertron and its depths. But all that rambling somehow has fled from her mind as groans and tries to process what just happened. Her optics come online and she glances around groggily. As she lifts her head another piece crashes right onto her helmet causig her to let out an undignified squeak. Swivel curls up, pointing her tires towards the trickling debris, and tucking her head down as a few more trickling pieces of debris bounce off her back. But then the sound of something BIG and INDIGNANT falling through causes her to look up. In the lighting she isn't entirely sure if she is seeing what she thinks she is seeing, but she isn't going to stay there and wait. Swivel rolls out of the way as a shuttle crashes down where she had previous been.

"Is that..." Swivel is a bit stunned. But she's also more alert now. Quickly, Swivel crawls away, trying to access her radio. She just gets a sharp feedback painful to her audials. "Is... is everyone alright? Hello?" She doesn't care if everyone includes Decepticons right now. She just needs to know whose there (and concious) before she can even begin to formulate what might happen next.

With the shuttle, anf the last of the debris settling, it definitely seems that straight up, where everyone came, is not an option. The shaft which once held the freighter lift is also mostly caved in, and the elevator box itself is lying on its side, having been spat out of narrow tunnel like a peach stone. Said tunnel is also mostly collapsed. But there do seem to be one or two round tunnels leading away from this lowermost chamber. Suspiciously round.

**Nightlash has posed:**
SURPRISE BLAST OFF AND GOTH! Nightlash pulls out a blaster and starts shooting randomly in spite of the nice, hearty-looking gash in her chassis where some bit of debris is protruding... the joys of falling on things.

Fortunate for Goth and Blast Off, it's not a blaster, it's just her spray-paint. ... yeeeep, that's just gonna speak for itself.

As for Nightlash, as before...her fall was broken by a nice, sharp, pointy thing, and it's currently found it's way through her armor and given her a nice spikey appearance, especially where something managed to hit the side of her head and appears to be pressing up against her optic. Oh and she's bleeding. Ow.

<<I am NOT alright, Cybertron is trying to eat me and there's Decepticons and as far as worst things go THIS IS THE WORST POSSIBLE THING EVER! ...and I fell on sharp things.>>

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off falls hard, helpless to break it and only able to hope it doesn't break HIM. He's certainly damaged from the event, more armor sloughing off as debris pummels him- and he think he may have pummeled a few others on the way down? He finally hits solid ground with a crunch, causing further damage as the whole world seems to collapse on him. It sends him into a panic, thrusters revving even harder as he tries to obtain the thrust he needs to rocket skywards. But... there's no skywards to go to.

Instead, all he manages to accomplish is blasting icy white smoke out into the terrain of the collapsed tunnel, probably making everything look hazy and making it even harder to tell what's going on. Nightlash's paint goes unnoticed amongst all the still-pelting debris. However, even in his panic, Blast Off picks up that voice calling out in the dark. Huh? "<< Swi- ?>>" And then someone else babbling about Cybertron trying to... what now?!"<< WHAT DO YOU MEAN CYBERTRON IS TRYING TO EAT US-.... I mean YOU? >>" The shuttle blurts out, not even sure WHO he's talking to anymore. But if they're claustrophobic like he is, they are KIN. ...Right? In this moment, maybe.

**Blurr has posed:**
    Being in that gravlift meant that Blurr was protected from the falling debris. But it also meant being trapped in there because the doors were now jammed shut from getting buffeted about by said falling debris so much. Slag.

    << Nightlash, Swivel--do you read me?? What's your status? Is everyone all right? >> he asks on the comms, hoping that someone will hear him.

**Goth has posed:**
     After a few moments pass and everything settles, Goth lets out a groan and a string of /pained/ Eukarian curses, before he starts speaking cybertronian propper. "What is with this damn planet and burying me alive..." he' grumble. This is what, the THIRD time?! "<<Could you stop yelling?!>>" The bat snaps, having a helm ach from everything, as he finally attempts to dislodge himself from the debris that fell on him. He too is leaking energon, and his left wing has been completely crushed by the debris that had fallen on him, he's not getting that up and going any time soon!

      His ears were ringing form stuff falling on him, the sound, and the yelling wasn't helping, he'd shake his helm ears flopping as his nightvision kicked in, optics glowing a much fuller green, allowing to see down here better and.. Oh scrap Nightlash!

      Goth lets out a hiss and starts backing away, clutching at his right arm.... He also has a white spot on his chassis from where Nightlash got him.

**Swivel has posed:**
"Alright... first thing we need to do is remain calm." Swivel slowly stands up, turning off her high beams. It will only reflect off of the many tiny crystals that forms the mist Blast Off created. She just lets her optics adjust as she looks around.

A hissing sound catches her attention and she immediately looks to the source, half expecting to see some hideous undergrid monster. Instead she sees Goth. Had she not already encountered the bat once before, she may have assumed he was native to these depths.

"Hold! Stop! Nobody fight! A fight could bring another cave-in and doom us all!" Swivel says in as authoratative of a voice as she can - rank structure be damned. Speaking of rank structure, where is Blurr?

It's then a faint sound is heard over the comms and Swivel strains to hear it. She returns, her voice weaving in and out of static. <<"Blurr? I can't see you? Where are you?">>

Swivel also tries to discretely tight beam Blast Off. <<"Yes it's Swivel. Can you transform? There are no openings big enough for a space shuttle to fit through. Your best chance at survival right now is to transform.">>

**Nightlash has posed:**
<<I AM CALM! I'm CALMLY ENGAGING THE ENEMY!>> And...her paint runs out, and she just blinks, staring at the can a moment before pushing herself up, tossing the empty can to the side, brushing herself off, and casually strolling away from the two Decepticons.

"I was totally right about the planet eating us, too... I want to make /sure/ that is included in the report." She huffs and reaches up for the pointy-thing still stuck in her head and, without too much ceremony, just pulls it out. "OWWWWwwwww....that wasn't smart... and now my optic is twitching."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Swivel's tight beam gets through to the shuttle. The revving and general flailing stops as the Combaticon regains some of his senses. Wha... At least he's not making any more mist. He now becomes aware of Nightlash nearby, warning sensors starting to go off.... but Swivel is right. Lasers, starting to come online, switch to a maintenence state before finally, after a long pause, the shuttleformer transforms, and suddenly there's a lot less space being taken up. Blast Off rubs his dented helmet and looks around squinting. "<< Where are you? >>" He radios back to Swivel, before adding a more general, "Goth?" Then he pauses, squinting hard as... did Nightlash just pull something sharp out of her HEAD? Eww.

Speaking of ewww... he glances down at his ragged armor. Blink. "...Since when am I white?"

**Blurr has posed:**
    Blurr hears -someone- on the comms but can't quite make out who it is or what is being said. There is far too much interference. "Slag it." he curses, figuring this was useless. He's going to have to find a way to get out of this on his own.

    Thankfully, the gravlift is pretty old and rusty, so he manages to blast the doors open. Unfortunately, the noise must have attracted something, because as soon as he steps out, he is met by a pair of giant glowing golden optics...

    The rest of the group would hear a yelp and a hideous fuel-congealing screeching coming from the other side of the cavern near where an old gravlift had fallen. From that distance they can make out something massive scuttling across the wall and drilling into it, creating a large, round hole not unlike the other very round holes around here...

**Goth has posed:**
     Goth snarls at Nightlash, his faux fur having fluffed up in an attempt to make him look larger than what he really was, but doesn't engage, yet, mostly due to his injured wing which he is dragging a crossed the ground as he moves. Though when Nightlash walks away after using..spray paint? He'd relaxed some and looked down and let out a grumble, attempting to at least wipe SOME of it off to keep it form matting his fur!

      Upon hearing Blast off he'd quickly get over to Blast Off, the shuttle former probably feeling Goth's fur brush up against him as he got near, and attempted to sling his arm over his shoulder, like he would had he normally been furling his wings around him.

      Goth's ears shot way up when he heard that and looked to the direction from where it had come, he was very much on high alert. "Oh for the love of Chela..."He'd groan out, this really must of been one of his more unlucky days.

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel isn't terrible squeamish, but she does wince just a bit when Nightlash pulls a sharp object out of her head. Swivel's hand goes out as it to try and do something, but she immediately retracts it. She doesn't know what to do, and fears she might make the injury worse. "Nightlash... you..." Swivel doesn't even know what to say. "...Try not to make it any worse." She finally concludes lamely.

As the haze subsides somewhat, Swivel flicks on her lowlights, revealing her current location. She gets a better look at Goth as he leans on Blast Off, who seemed, for the moment, to have come to his senses. And then... there is that horrible sound. Swivel swirls around, optics black as she switches to her heat vision. She sees a heat signature of something scuttling, and the heat from the friction of a freshly drilled hole.

And she hesitates.

"...I hate to say it, but we might need to follow whatever that thing was. It is probably heading to a den or some sort. Dangerous, but likely a central location, with paths leading out." Swivel looks to the Decepticons. "And I'd rather be stalking it, than it stalking me. Who is with me?"

**Nightlash has posed:**
Nightlash blinks at Swivel. "Eh...it'll be fine eventually." She blinks a bit and then turns to just...look around a bit before muttering. "Droooone....ugh. Not helping!" She points upwards. "At least it knows where we were. Sorta. Staring at a wall of rock... Should, er, I send it back to the base or something?"

Oh, and the Decepticons are still there. She turns, staring at them both a moment before just sighing softly. "Follow...right, can I vote they go first?" She points at Goth and Blast Off. "You know... big gun, goofy ears, big eyes... I'd bet they'd totally see something before it eats them before we'd see something that would eat them."

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off is trying to relax, just a smidge, and suddenly there's a soft form touching him and "Aiigh!" The already on edge shuttleformer jumps back, wing elevons twitching nervously, but he realizes it was Goth. He tries bracing himself, but already-present and now exacerbated fatigue and joint stress nearly cause a leg buckle, and he has to catch himself. Frag.

Now trying to straighten up like nothing happened, he hears some energon-curdling scream and that just sends him backing up again, broadcasting his limp be damned. "You want us to go TOWARDS that? Are you DAFT?!" He demands, as if Swivel has gone mad. "How about we avoid /all/ stalking whatsoever by retreating \*now\* and..." He starts looking around, only seeing round tunnels that remind him of.... oh dear. Now he starts backing closer to Goth. As Nightlash starts speaking, he squints suspiciously at the 'Bot, but then turns his head to stare at Goth. "...Maybe \*I'M\* going mad now, too, but.... she's right." He looks at the bat expectantly.

**Goth has posed:**
     Goth squints at Nightlash, both flattered, and insulted, how the ever loving slag was that possible? ..And then Blast off AGREES WITH THEM! "...You must have hit your helm on the way down." Goth says dryly, and flatly, but he looks around, and logic was trumping his fear at the moment and he groaned out, stating something about how knowing his luck, he'll probably get tackled first before THAT happens.

      "...Fine." He'd groan with a roll of his optics and a grumble. "Seems I'm the only one /capable/ of handling caves such as this propper." He'd state indignantly as he started moving a head without issue in the low light. "I swear if I hear /one/ comment about my form, i'm kicking you into the nearest revine." He'd threaten to the group as he waited for their blind afts to follow him. Falling onto his working wing, he was now limping around on all threes! ...Moving much faster then had he been on the two he had been before.

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel stares Nightlash. "...Your drone is outside? And you can still link with it? I can't even get a radio signal out." Swivel seems genuinely surprised. "....As for sending them first, no. Both are injured." Swivel pauses, realizing she is possibly the least injured person present. There is a pause, a small clicking sound coming from her vents. "I....I.... guess that means..." She looks towards the freshly burrowed tunnel. "I will..." Swivel stops. Goth is taking the lead despite the treatment he received from Nightlash. Relief crashes over Swivel. She was working up the courage to volunteer, but now it is out of her power. "I'll take up the rear to make sure nothing comes up behind us." Swivel chirps. She won't even counter Goth's complaint that he's the only one capable of handing the underground. She just falls step, making sure, like she suggested, that she brings up the rear. However, she does point to a specific tunnel in case Goth didn't see the creature make it. "That's the one we need to follow - it's the most recent."

The aforementioned freshly drilled tunnel is a winding, weaving path through metal, and while some parts are even and smooth, others are jagged, with cut, sparking wires hanging out, ready to snare anyone not careful. Thankfully, the opening is big enough even for Goth in his bat form to work through. But anyone much bigger would have gotten horribly stuck. And mind over matter would not make them unfatter. Just a pack of hunger cybermorphs chewing at them.

**Nightlash has posed:**
Nightlash nods as agreements are indeed made, and she gives a triumphant 'huzzah!' before marching...straight to the back. "And I'll...watch the rear while trying to get the drone somewhere useful. Because broken optics don't make for good...y'know...forward scouty stuff." She nods. "Aaaand...if you all die? I can just collapse the tunnel and trap whatever it is where you are before it eats me. So...y'know...strategery."

Swivel's question is given a sort of incredulous look... "It's like...my brain. Can you imagine how crazy I'd be without it? Probably hallucinate all kinds of crazy stuff." There's an unsettling smile on her part, and with that, she moves to take up a spot in the rear and...well, to her credit, she does...stand guard. With a small holdout blaster, but is mainly distracted immediately tinkering away with a bomb... y'know. For Plan B. "Call me if you need meeee!"

**Blast Off has posed:**
When Goth surges forth, Blast Off wastes little time following. He instinctively knows the bat is better adapated, as he says himself, and being the only other Decepticon the Combaticon figures his odds are the best if he stays with his teammate. "Well, \*I'd\* never be one to comment about your form, obviously. Even if I \*am\* a space shuttle and you're simply a..." Pause. Wait. Um. "You're simply...." Blink. Uhhh.

"...Simply \*marvelous\* at finding your way out of tight spots like this, correct?" Buddy? Pal? :D Blast Off glances back at Swivel, wanting to say something but deciding no real reaction is best. He then goes to eye Nightlash suspiciously... "Wait, why are the Autobots all going to the back and letting US lead? I will \*not\* be petro-canary in a cave! Right, Goth? ....Goth? Hey, wait up!" Despite his protests, he's reluctant to leave the bat's proximity and rushes, limp and all, to scurry after him ....as aloofly as possibly. \*ahem\* "She better not shoot us in the back..." he grumbles.

**Goth has posed:**
     While they where grouping up, Goth would use his working hand to fiddle with his fuel lines and wring, rerouting the energon and sealing the leaking line skillfully enough despite having to fight with his elongated claw to do so. He'd let out a schuff, looking from where he was standing then to where he'd come, and been injured, to get an idea of just how much energon he'd lost thanks to all of that.. Was definitely to much for his comfort, being this close with the enemy at that... However Blast Off does earn a /look/ from Goth. "Best be, else you know I will simply /love/ to repeat what you would of Said to Dustoff." He smirks.

      He'd look to the tunnel and raised a questioning ridge at the mini-bot but chuffs out without a work and limps his way over, peering into the tunnel. "...I hate all of you." He says dryly as he sees just want that /thing/ did, and sighs, turning down (familiar to a few here) frequency of his, and lets out a squeak into the tunnel, ears swiveling forward as he listened to what the sound bounced off of... before slowly, ears pressing against his helm, moving forward into the tunnel.

      "I maybe down an arm but I am not totally without capability of shooting back if necessary." he grumbles back to Blast Off.

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel opts not to remark further about Nightlash and her drone, having seen the damage done when Nightlash didn't have hers. However, it would seem that her place in the rear is usurped by Nightlash. But Swivel isn't going to press the matter. It seems she'll be taking up a spot behind Blast Off. Which is just as well. Swivel isn't the worst person to have at your back.

Swivel scurries after Blast Off when he picks up the pace. "Don't worry. She'd have to shoot through me to get to you. And then I'd get her aft brigged when we get out of here." Swivel then lowers her voice a bit. "Besides, she seems preoccupied and a bit less murderous right now. You're good." Swivel gives Blast Off a double thumbs up if he cares to look back at her. Of course, there is also a big goofy grin included.

While the tunnel does wind, it doesn't connecl with any other passages. Which makes navigating it straightforward. There is the occasional distant sound of scuttlying or drilling that Goth may hear. But none of it seems to be heading towards them. Eventually, the tunnel opens out into a larger chamber. And as Swivel had predicted, there are several possible exits leading away from this hub. One of which has that more squared, secure look of a mech made tunnel. But that isn't even the most noteworthy thing. In the center of the room, around a large, prismatic pillar are dimly glowing, gelatinous sacs. There are also droplets of a moist looking substances strewn about, and appears as though it may be something thick and sticky. But an adhesive may be useful. Also, there is a vague silhouette in one of the sacs, suggesting that there just might be someone trapped inside. There are also some scrap parts lying around, leftovers from some beasts meal.

The pillar ancient Cybertronian glyphs on it, and some intricate circuitry. However, whatever it once was, it is cut off from any power source and stands just as a testament to old times.

Swivel looks around at the mess. "Think any of this could be used for quick patch ups to keep us going?" She asks. She wouldn't know. She's not a medic. But she looks around at the rounded tunnels, optics flickering and going dark again. She reads the faint heat traces indicating the most recently accessed one. She then looks at the sac that seems to contain someone. "...Is there a way to tell if someone in there is alive? We can't leave someone to such a horrible fate." She looks back at the tunnel she's getting heat signatures off of, as if making sure whatever used it recently did not return.

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off huffs and grumbles but doesn't snark back at Goth. Never tick off the medics. Alas. The shuttleformer just follows along behind, hand down where he can grab for his ionic blaster and still glancing all around, looking for foes- whether they be cyberworms or that crazy Autobot with the drone. He also steals a glance towards Swivel, catching the goofy grin. The shuttleformer doesn't respond in kind, fo course, have to be aloof and all. But his look lingers and she might catch that his expression has turned slightly warmer and more relieved. Not relaxed, but... yeah, he's not so worried with Swivel right behind him. "I... see. Very well." He finally replies in his usual cultured drawl, tension flickering about the edges still as he still tries to look less worried than he is.

There's reason to be worried, though, and a wing elevon clicks nervously on Blast Off's leg as he steps into thie opening. Eying the sacs and ervidence of feeding, his hand again tenses. "If whatever made that mess shows up, I \*am\* shooting," he states. Then he looks at Swivel and the sacs and ...wait, what? "I am NOT putting that nasty, dirty, unknown and obviously questionable codswallop on ME! I don't even know where it's BEEN." Oh HECK naw. He backs away slightly, though the glyphs do look interesting. But not interesting enough to risk those sacs. And general grossness, ew.

**Goth has posed:**
     Goth would pause at the sounds every now and then, his body posture going stuff as his ears flicked around, listening for where the scuttling was coming from, before moving on. Once in the center room he squints at the surrounding area. "Ah.. I believe we have found a nest" He'd state, course he knew that, was the one to live on a planet full of organics.

      He'd hobble over to the pillar, squinting at the Glyphs as he attempted to read them.. However when he femme brings up repairs.. Goth's furr bristles, oh hell no! there was no way these autobots were going to be /that/ close to him in such a.. vulnerable, form, all he could hope for, is for Blast Off to not volunteer him... And as expected, Blast Off freaks out at the organic slime. "Oh quite being such a protoform." Goth groans as he steps over to the sack, squinting at it, even /poking/ it with one of his claws. (notably not his extended index one) letting out a hem.

**Swivel has posed:**
For a moemnt, Swivel is sorely tempted to scoop up some of the sticky looking stuff on the floor and fling it at Blast Off. However, he is right in one thing. It is questionable. And there's no telling what sort of properties it has. Furthermore, seeing Goth bristle at her suggestion of repairs reminds her she's among people who have reason to distrust her. Any act of hostility, even in jest, would turn things south. So instead she squats down, a compartment in her forearm popping open. Any scientist worth their salt will recognize the caliber of vial she takes out as one made for taking samples of potentially hazardous materials. Which is what she does quickly and efficiently, using a tiny non-stick spatula to extract some and glob it into the specimen container, pops it into a lead casing, and puts it back in her arm compartment. Swivel just turned to the sacs when Goth looked like he was going to poke at it.

"...Oh do please be careful." Swivel pleads nervously of Goth. Goth will note the sac membrane seems resilient and self-sealing. "Think we can detach one of those from the pillar?"

Swivel then quickly begins looking towards one of the tunnels again. There is, again, a distant sound of scuttling. But this time, it seems to be drawing nearer. Not at an alarming speed, but nonetheless...

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off just looks at the two as if they're crazy. CRAY ZAY. The shuttleformer starts backing up as if rethinking hanging around \*any\* of these people, but then remembers Nightlash is back there so he edges back towards Goth. far away from the gross stuff, though. "Hardly a protoform! More like \*common sense\*. I'm sorry, hate to distract both of you ground-loving types from reveling in this SLUDGE, but SOME of us far prefer the clean, fresh, open sky and would like to get back up there \*soon\*." He HUFFs at both of them, venting at them rather than losing his cool entirely and just /running/ from here. But that would look less than refined, so... for now he stays. "Just hurry, do whatever it is you're going to, and let us get out of here before..." he hears something approaching and his trigger finger twitches. "....before /that/ catches up to us."

**Goth has posed:**
     "Hmph, regentive, interesting, perhaps some form of pre-digestive or gastroyal containment? Strange, I had thought this planet had no form of organic life." He'd muse, before Goth gives Swivel a flat look. "Please Autobot, ..Swivel, was it? Careful and I normally go hand and hand, and it typically stabs me in the back at any given chance." He'd say in a flat tone, possibly Blast Off would be the only person here to get as to why he would say that... considering the missile incident.

      Goth looked back to snip right back at Blast off, almost tempted to take a page from Vortex's book and attempt to SMEAR something on the shuttle, but he restrains himself, and his ears twitched to the incoming sound and then the pillar. "Perhaps." He'd state cautiously, taking note of the test tubes which... Unsettled Goth in some way, he would then let out another chirp, using his sonar to get an idea what at least the /shape/ of what was in there was. "I suspect we do not have much time though, given the velocity in which that sound is approaching."

**Swivel has posed:**
"So we're sludge loving grounders now? I love you too, Blast Off." Swivel responds flippantly, seeming to not even care that Goth is RIGHT THERE. But then, her tone drips with such facetiousness that such remarks could scarecely be taken at face value. Swivel stands up, turning to Goth. "Well... I guess that's something we have in common, then."

THe flashes of surface information that reaches GOth's hearing indiate a long bodied creature with many legs and some sort of drill-like fore-appendage. And it's big.

Swivel looks at the tunnel again with some apprehension. "The sac is coming with us. A life could hang in the balance." Swivel pauses. "Or at least, dragged somewhere safer where I can come back for it later." Swivel just realized no one is really in a state to be dragging another Cybertronian plus the weight of the sac very far. Nightlash is injured and... would probably drop the sac to free up her hands to fiddle with a bomb. Blast Off has never showed much physical strength in his bipedal form. And Goth. Swivel doesn't know, but he's got at least one appendage crippled. And then there is her. Small and weak. Swivel sighs.

"Well looks like Nightlash will get a chance to do her thing and collapse some tunnels. But let's get a head start." Swivel says, calling back to Nightlash with some instructions. Now to just hope the femme comes through for them. "I'm going mto get this thing down and roll or drag or push it if i have to as far as I can down that tunnel. Help me or don't. But Nightlash will be bringing the tunnel down behind us - and hopefully on top of the creature if all is timed right. I'll stash the sac in debris and come back for it with reinforcements. And then, I am hoping, we can work together to find a way out together. Will you enter a temporary truce with me until we see the sky again?"

**Blast Off has posed:**
Blast Off watches as Goth replies to Swivel, a bit nervous should the bat decide to go on the attack... but fortunately that's not Goth's aim at all. Yes, good, thankfully everyone here seems more focused on getting out than fighting each other, so that's some small relief. Except, there's not a lot of relief since they're all about to get EATEN BY WORMS. "Yes, yes, let's," he replies hastily, looking uncertainly over his shoulder and starting to move towards somewhere- anywhere- as opposed to simply waiting around to be EATEN.

Then there's talk about Nightlash collpasing tunnels and... HUFFF. "FINE." Blast Off grumbles, heading towwards the ...sac thing, but first looking for something-anything- to use like a glove to protect his hand. Just a few stray wires or tubes, if nothing else works. But did she say the T word? Why yes she did. "Yes, fine, truce. No point in getting into a shootout down here, right? Right. Fine. Fine, I'll help you drag it, if you MUST... but let's go!" He's not that strong, no, but working together he might help hurry things along some. Just anything to get out of here NOW.

**Goth has posed:**
     Goth's lip twitches upwards, the vampire clearly doesn't like the image he's gotten in his head of what his echolocation indicates. He'd just roll his optics and scoffs. "Please, if we're to do this, we're to do this right." He'd grumble, pulling from his sub space a jar of clear but greenish, like gel.

      He'd take a moment, sitting down and using the claws of his pedes to hold the jar as he opened it with his hand propper, dipping his claw into it, and reapplying the lead, hucking back into his subspace, and standing up once more, it's becoming ever clear this bat has had to learn to adapt to his situations rather quickly.

      He'd stride up on his hind legs to the sack and just (Probably to Blast Off's horror) sinks that sharp claw into the sack, and attempts to cut it open in one clean surgical tear, that would also start to sizzle from the acidic gel he's applied.

**Swivel has posed:**
Swievl watches as he tears open the sac. "But you said it had regeni...." well she wasn't going to argue with what she was seeing. Her mouth promptly closes and she steps back as the gel liquifies and gushes out. From inside the sac, none other than the missing Blurr falls out, completely prone and vulnerable. Swivel gasps, her optics zipping over to Blast Off, then back to Blurr. "Uh.... well... we ain't gotter toim ta... I mean time to... let's go!" Swivel, like a child trying to hide the broken lamp behind the couch tries to stand between Blast Off and Blurr. Pointless. Goth is there. Swivel sughs uneasily, tugging at Blurr's prone form, as if determined to try and carry him herself. The creature is getting closer, and Nightlash is already setting up her explosives.

**Blast Off has posed:**
UGHWHAT. WUT. WHAT IS GOTH- OH PRIMUS- "Auuugh!" Blast Off winces as the bat rips into the sac- "GROSS." He turns away, cringing, then glances back to where the sounds are coming from, then with a \*huff\* turns back and- stops. And stares. The Combaticon's trigger finger twitches again, his normally violet optics suddenly amplifying into a deeper purple, flashing more light into the room. His fists clench and he just stares as Swivel clumsily gets between him and the form of his enemy. His hand twitches again as his instinct is to go for his blaster.

There's a long, tense moment as the sniper looks like he just might pull out his weapon and start shooting, "truce" be slagged. The stare-and the twitchiness- continue. Uncomfortably.

**Goth has posed:**
     "Suspected as much." Goth would muse as he flicked the slime from his claw and onto the wall near Blast off. "I suspect you bots have long notice my claws are sometimes laced with an highly corrosive substance that tends to linger.. Is a gel and my mate concocted to not affect my specialized plating, but leave quite the burns on others.. typically allow it to dry first to allow multiple uses but this is a, ah... 'desperate' situation." he'd chuff as he explained.

      There was an amused smirk on the bats face. "one must make their own amusement in these situations after all~" he'd purr as he started moving forward to Swivel. "He wakes up, i'm knocking him back out." Goth says dryly as he looks down at Blurr and Swivel, before moving back to his 'tri-pede' stade to allow Swivel to move him onto his back.

      "And Please I can already know what you are to say, so spare me the lecture." He'd roll his optics.

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel sees that look, that murderous shade of purple in Blast Off's optics. She's ready to move between a kill shot and her teammate, that is obvious. But she doesn't have time for speeches. Goth is offering his back, and Swivel won't argue. She helps gets Blurr up on Goth's back, and wraps Blurr's limp arms about the Bat's neck and grabbing out something to tie them together. All the while she is watching BLast Off carefully. To Goth she whispers, "Don't worry, I'll knock him out myself. Thats just better for everyone." After saying this, there's the signal from Nightlash that they better get moving. "Let's go, or we're all going down in flames!"

**Blast Off has posed:**
The hard stare continues for a long moment, the Combaticon remaining deathly silent as Swivel stares back at him, then moves to get Blurr on Goth. Goth's easy acceptance of being the transport seems to snap him out of his more murderous leanings. But on the other hand... there's little voices in his head, little Onslaught and Vortex-like voices possibly, telling him a really /ruthless/, BAD AFT warrior wouldn't be so easily taken from his target. No, never mind what either of them think, just pull out his gun and shoot!

The voices wheedle at him, tugging and pulling.... until Blast Off finally snorts out a sharp \*HUFFF\*! and suddenly begins moving very quickly for ...anywhere but there. Pulling ahead of them, he looks set to lead... well, wherever is not here. He just is DONE. Flipping a hand as if to shrug this all off, he march-step-limps up... and away. Away from all... \*this\*. He knows Swivel isn't going to let ANY of her teammates be sacrificed to an enemy, even HIM, but... augh. Now he REALLY just wants to GO.

**Goth has posed:**
     Goth scoffs. "Indeed, I listen to these two bicker on the battlefield, don't need to listen to them bicker in close quarters." he agrees as he shifts his stance once Blurr is on his back.Goth's platting and fur bristles once more when he hears 'flames' and that is enough to get the bat quickly moving, but he does call back to Blast off.

      "Look on the positive side Blast Off, now they cannot blame us should that likely digestive fluid of killed him." He'd smirk. "That matter /I/ am also the one carrying such." he'd add on, indicating Blast off knows exactly what he'd do if they tried to double cross them.

**Swivel has posed:**
Swivel gets moving as soon as Goth does. Hot on their heels are a series of booms and tremors can be felt all around the walls. She picks up her pace and glances over. "Besides." Boom. "A proud warrior wants to take out his enemy in a proper battle, both armed and capable. That fight will come and it will be glorious." Rumble. "Why cheat yourself of that?" Swivel remarks, having to raise her voice and speak between the louder explosions. She glances behind to make sure Nightlash is bringing up the rear. Good. All accounted for. Swivel looks forward again.

After some running Swivel yells "I know this junction! I can get us out of here! Just follow me!" And she takes the lead with confidence to make sure everyone gets out safely.

**Blast Off has posed:**
Swivel's remarks are met with a soft, grumbling huff.... but her voice, for now, cancels out the Combaticon-like voices in his head. Yes, honorable combat. Gentlemechs. /True/ glory. Blast Off sighs and just shakes his head again gently... saying little more for the rest of the trip.