The Carving Board

[Drift]

Drift lagged, because he was trying to radio in...and all he heard was some nonsense about Black Dust. Which he was about to convey to Guzzle when Guzzle decided to roar ahead and blow holes in everything.

Well, Drift couldn't complain. Hand Cannon Vs Rubble was more effective than Sword Vs.

"This," he mutters, leaping over some of the rubble, blades drawn, "is why I lead." He nods at the new mech, and a less enthusiastic nod at Mirage. Not really looking his best, more or less dripping with Lithone goo.

Probably doesn't smell so hot, either.

He smirks at Mirage. "Rescue party's here." Because that's what this is, right?

[Mirage]

Mirage falls back as ordered without complaint. Override makes sense, and she ranks him, in a way. Perhaps there's a ghost of a frown on his face, but that is all. Mirage may be a spy, but he often plays scout and is used to being front line. It rankles a little to be sent to the rear.

Suddenly, Mirage finds himself pinned to the floor by Override as rubble rains down around them both. She's off of him even before the dust clears, so by the time Drift and Guzzle actually makes it around the corner, she's on her feet.

Mirage is on one knee, making a show of brushing dust off his armor. He's got a nasty slash in his side, but doesn't seem to notice it.

He smirks up at Guzzle and Drift, "Why yes, we are. Though you both seem to need a washroom more than you need a rescue party."

---

OOC: Override posing with permission.

[Override]

The lights go out completely, but Override had had her headlights on since arriving on this ship, anyway. As the self-destruct counter starts and then stops, her face twists into a scowl, visible only by whatever dim lights the Autobots have provided themselves.

"I'm gonna assume they find a way to get that going again, which mean we don't got time to stand around and socialize," she states flatly, then considers. Who does she have with her...? Race car, race car, race car, car car (hi, Slider!), and... tank. Great.

She collapses down into vehicle mode almost instantly. "Guzzle, climb on top of me, hold on, and blow the hell out of anything that gets in the way. The rest of you, follow me. We drive, and we don't slow down." She's fairly certain that even with the added weight, she can far outpace the other three, so she doesn't plan on going her top speed. Even so, there's only so much she's willing to coddle them - assuming Guzzle does as ordered, she's off with a screech of tires, leading back down the way they came.

[Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle]

"Feh. I'll manage. Ain't the dirtiest I've ever been."

Guzzle is distracted instantly when that call goes out over the radio. He even has his optics brighten in excitement, turning on his heel and ready to run, only to have his shoulders slump when the self destruct is deactivated. Slag it.

When Override gives him the order to climb on top of her, he gives her a funny look for exactly one second before shrugging and doing as ordered. He hops on, twisting himself to make sure that he won't fall off, while raising one hand so he can aim and shoot. "Feh, alright. You drive, I shoot, gotcha. Just make sure I dun get caught by any over head obstacles with my cannooooooooon[/size]!" And awaaaay they go!

[Drift]

"WE are the rescue party." Drift glares at Mirage, and may or may not flick one of his gore-covered blades in Mirage's general direction. "Should remember how this goes. Saved your diodes before."

He frowns. "Who put you in charge?" DRIFT should be in charge. As the only one with apparently a lick of strategic sense in this.

But...nobody answers, and his complaint is drowned out by Guzzle climbing on top of her and bellowing in that....Guzzly way he remembers.

Frag. They roar off, leaving Drift no choice but to follow. Bringing up the rear. Which he hates. So MUCH. Good thing he drives impossibly recklessly.

[Mirage]

"Sentinel did, when he dispatched us to the fore," Mirage does answer before transforming and speeding after Override.

Mirage doesn't add what he's thinking, which is that Drift a) needs to check his damned mission debrief because neither of the four groups were actually sent in to be a rescue party, and b) that Drift needs to look up the word sarcasm in the dictionary and maybe get the definition tattooed on his arm for later reference.

//I'm worried about Sentinel's group,// he says over Autobot band, //They were working on setting the self-destruct. If they started it, but it was canceled....//

[SceneMod]

They're in space. The ship has on-board gravity generators. Generally, the gravity generators are pretty good at faking this whole 'on the surface of a reasonably sized rocky planet' business.

There is a curve in the hallway ahead, a blind curve. The gravity generators in this hallway are doing something odd - the gravity is strongest at the inside of the curve, pulling passer-bys toward the inside, and weaker at the outside.

Is this just the ship malfunctioning?

Is it a trap?

With the lights out, it's dark and hard to see, and there's still that blind turn. What's around there?

[Override]

Mirage explains who put Override in charge nicely, so Override doesn't have to, so instead she just drives.

As the ultimate racer, Override responds at the speed of thought to changes in road conditions. But she's been down this path before, when she was heading the other direction, and she knows that gravity wasn't this way the first time.

As she pulls towards the turn, she picks up speed, and yells, "Trap! Stay on the outside of the turn! Guzzle, hold tighter!" As she hits the turn itself, she drives up on the wall, whipping around the blind turn sideways relative the ground.

[Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle]

//Hrn. Springer an' Impactor's with them. They'll be alright.// He hopes. He really does.

He doesn't pick up on the anomaly as quickly as Override does, but the second she says that he clings tighter and presses himself as flat as he can against her while keeping an arm straight. Taking no chances, he starts firing blindly into the corner's dark shadows, just in case there's more of these freaks lurking in there.

[Drift]

Drift merely follows. There's nothing to do but try to catch up and he knows when nobody wants to hear him. Maybe they'll run into something to stab soon.

(ooc: skippable)

[Mirage]

Mirage does not have Override's reaction time, but he is still a racer build. It's natural and easy, the way he swings to the outside of the curve. The gravitational pull is more than he expected, though, and his front tires start to slide toward the inside.

At the speed he's running, there's only one outcome: Mirage's spins through the turn, but he still makes it around. He makes it around, but he does make it.

It will just take him a few seconds to pick himself off the wall and keep going after Override.

[SceneMod]

Guzzle's shot in the dark bears fruit: a Lithonian Reaver shrieks and falls, clutching her new sucking chest wound. She drops what she was holding - a bucket full of caltops, perfect for shredding tyres.

The caltrops scatter across the hallway, but they cluster the most tightly along the gravity-high inner wall. Better stay away from that inner wall, unless one wants a blown tyre!

[Override]

Override had already been driving on the opposite wall, so avoiding the first few caltrops is pretty easy. However, Mirage's troubles force her to slow - she doesn't like doing so, but she's learned enough to understand that leading on the field isn't like leading on the racetracks - here, it's important to know that the rest of the pack is still out there.

She finds herself back on the floor, though still remains on the outside of the hallway. "Watch the tires!" she shouts back to the other three. Then the self-destruct countdown starts. Again.

"And pick up the pace!"

[Gertrude Huldon/Guzzle]

The gruff wrecker lets out a victorious laugh at the Lithone that comes stumbling out of the shadows, and it encourages him to keep firing, try and force those who are hiding to jump out. Preferably with a nice, round leaking hole right between the optics!

When the self destruct starts up again though, he only gets more giddy. He comes to life, a fresh rush of energon pumped through his systems, and he loudly taunts the Lithones while clinging tightly to Override's top, the sounds of the Judge mixing with her roaring engine to form a loud and rocking symphony.

[Mirage]

Once free of the turn, Mirage puts on as much speed as he can manage. He keeps to the outside, and so avoids most of the caltrops.

Override might be in the lead, but right now, Mirage is the pace car. And that voice on the intercom is counting down to the finish.