Lurker in the Depths

[SceneMod]

OOC: Freezing the thread for a bit sounds like a good idea!

---

The guard continues to be distracted for a moment, missing Whirligig's theatrics, and then he announces, "Okay, back to the barracks, kiddoes. You're going to sleep early today, heh - but don't think you won't be doing a double-shift to make up for it!"

The overseers don't look too happy about the news but get ready to herd to the urchins off.

All around the tunnels, the scene is similar - they need guards to go check on that coal seam, and they can't guard and check on a coal seam at the same time.

The team that is already after Hellbender continues to search for him, but stragglers catch up and join them, as they're freed up from other duties.

[Hellbender]

Finally! Hellbender reached a wide-enough junction to turn around, and thus transform. The transformation was a bit rough, thanks to the blast damage--he slammed his shoulder against the stone wall, snapping it back into position--but he managed. Once in robot mode, Hellbender flexed, freeing up any joints still binding on themselves.

"Thet was plumb annoying," he growled to himself; the worm-former was not in a good or friendly mood.

He listened intently to the hurrying steps of guards going down their own tunnel to the front of the blasted coal seam, and their loud exclamations. Someone had found a gap between their blast debris and Hellbender's own tunnel in back--now they knew someone else had been digging here.

Hellbender padded up the branch tunnel, one of several he'd dug to let him move around and between the miners' tunnels, until he reached the point where it very nearly debouched on the main shaft. Very nearly; there was a thin sheet of native rock between his tunnel and theirs, concealing the tunnel until it was needed. Now, he needed it.

His cutters might be down for the moment, but he still had mass and strength to match Astrotrain's. Hellbender doubled his fists and brought them down, smashing through the thin screen of rock with brute strength. Rock tumbled down the main shaft, and probably hit the mine elevator at the bottom. Oops. That might complicate things for any guards trying to come back up.

Hellbender floated down the shaft on his lifters, and landed near the mouth of the drift going to the new blast zone. His shoulder-gun hummed softly, a third red eye glowing in the dark. As the big Decepticon strode down the tunnel, he caught up with a straggling guard near the third set of frames shoring up the tunnel.

The guard turned, raising his shock-rod in one hand--

Hellbender shot him through the head. He studied the tunnel roof, listening to the vibrations in the rock, probing the texture of it with his sonar. Yes, this part was under load, too much load. He stepped back and back again, then, with three quick shots, burst each timber in the frame. He turned and ran as the ceiling groaned, a horrific basso noise like the planet itself was in pain, then rock cracked and broke loose and boulders bounced off Hellbender's armored helm and spanged off his armor-wings and dust and gravel got in everywhere as he reached the main shaft and lifted for the top of the pit.

Behind and below, the tunnel mouth leading to the newest drift finished collapsing, choked with broken rock. No one was getting out that way without a lot of heavy equipment. Perhaps in the other direction, trapped guards might widen the gap between the blast debris and the ceiling of the tunnel, and escape via Hellbender's own tunnel. Perhaps. In time.

[Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh]

OOC: Shall we resume?


Whirligig had originally planned to smack the guard in the head with his pick-up while he was distracted, but waiting for all the guards to leave and then going after one of the overseers during transit seems like it might be a safer option. Which isn't to say that he's not terribly tempted to go with the less safe option, but considering that he's not exactly rolling in combat experience he thinks that choice would cross the line from 'fun risk' to 'pure idiocy'. Especially since he's not the only one at risk of dying here. Got to remember those slave workers. And see about getting some more combat training when he gets back to the ship.

So he plays at innocent, obnoxious little urchin for a little while longer, waiting for the right chance as the overseers herd them off-

The mine shakes around them. Cave in! Not here, though several chunks of rock rain down on Whirligig and his group, but somewhere in the mine, a tunnel has collapsed. Luckily, it doesn't seem like this tunnel is going to follow it. Seems like as good a distraction as any, though, and Whirligig springs towards the nearest overseer, his tiny thrusters flaring to life to help him get a bit more height out of his jump, and attempts to give his target a righteous smack upside the head with the flat of his pick-axe.

Using the sharp part would probably be more effective, but he's pretty sure that as an Autobot he's not supposed to go around killing people. Except maybe for Decepticons. He should probably get some clarification on that or something. Not that he's particularly interested in killing anyone.

[SceneMod]

The overseer is knocked out by Whirligig. The guards immediately all take aim at Whirligig. Most of the kids all look at Whirligig in stupefied horror. They will surely be whipped and beaten for Whirligig's impudence.

But a few of the new kids, who haven't had their spirits broke entirely yet, wonder if, just maybe, Whirligig has the right idea. But they're cagey and street smart, so they'll see how he handles those guards first.

The trapped guards play poker. This is clearly the thing to do while the air supply is running out.

[Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh]

OOC: Skipping Hellbender do to time-out. /late

Whirligig drops to the ground and rolls. You don't need to be a veteran of war to know not to stay in one place when people are pointing weapons at you. Even as he rolls, a hatch on his thigh is popping open and he's groping for one of his explosive discs. With a stream of data, he tweaks the charge and timer on the explosive, and as he comes out of his roll he tosses the disc at the guards.

The explosive is timed to go off in mid-air with a force that Whirligig is certain won't destabilize the tunnel. As long as no-one is dumb enough to try and catch it, there shouldn't even be any exploding of limbs! Isn't he considerate? There will be a lovely explosive flash, boom, and enough concussive force to (hopefully) knock around anyone nearby.

As soon as the explosive is out of his hand, Whirligig is throwing himself back away from it.

[Hellbender]

Sorry for the late

Hellbender doesn't have Whirligig's restraint, plus he's still in a bad mood over having his cutters blasted out of alignment. Oh, he's already stopped and slammed them back into their tracks, but that didn't help his mood much. Plus, it hurt like hell. Anybody that sticks his head out in Hellbender's way that's over a certain height gets it blown off--especially if they come up waving a weapon.

If the first shot doesn't get them, Hellbender doesn't stop longer than it takes to rip off a head or limb with his bare manipulators. Finally, he's in sight of the exit tunnel; dim light filters in from outside.

// You there, kid? // What the hell had he been calling the 'Bot? That blast must have knocked a few memory chips loose. // It's mostly clear from the main shaft to the exit. Get your aft out of there, and if you got any demo charges left, set 'em in the exit tunnel. These people piss me off. //

[SceneMod]

These are miners. They are familiar with the idea of explosives. They all run like blazes when Whirligig starts throwing around explosives. Some of them ending up trampling each other, and there is much screaming, confusion, and panic.

And then they get knocked off their feet and other appendages by the concussion wave. Some are injured. There's more screaming.

There's also a lot of panic and screaming around Hellbender. Gangsters, they can deal with. This monster commando soldier is just freaking weird.

[Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh]

Whirligig begins to cackle madly as he regains his feet after the explosion. Raising his pick above his head, he shouts, doing his best to be louder than the screaming, "Rise up my oppressed brethren! Rise up and head for freedom!"

What can he say, explosions make him giddy.

He takes off running, but not for the exit. He has things to do! As he goes he keeps up a steady stream of, "Jailbreak, jailbreak, jailbreak!"

//Jailbreak!// he shouts cheerfully to Hellbender as well. //I'll be up when I'm up! Gotta clear the place out first.// Or try to anyway. //Say, if you're at the exit, just what is this pit under anyway?//

"Jailbreak, everybody out!" He continues yelling to anyone within earshot. "And where the slag do they keep the explosives?!"

His main goal is to free all the slaves, but he'd really like to do is wipe this disgrace of mine from below the surface of the planet.

[Hellbender]

Panic and screaming suit Hellbender just fine. May all his enemies do that; it makes his job so much easier.

// Looks like a range of foothills, like you'd expect for uplifted coal strata, // Hellbender replied in that slow Southern drawl. Well, at least he would expect it on Gillanan III, according to the mining robot programming he'd acquired. This planet could be weird. // Lotta panicky guards running around, they're apt to shoot anything that moves. // Like the flaky minibot, hopefully.

Hmm, was that some kind of antenna on that building over there? ZAP! Not any more. Hellbender turned slowly, studying the installation. That was a generator shed, from the sound of it. The building that formerly had an antenna looked like some kind of headquarters building, and those other buildings over there looked like vehicle hangars or equipment sheds. He debated further remodeling, then decided to wait and see how the situation continued to unfold.

// They got some buildings up here--generator shed, vehicle hangars, office, I think. Looks like they're too far out in the boonies for wire-based communications or power, // Hellbender added on the low-power General band he'd used to communicate with Whirligig.

It was time to post a report to Shockwave, finally, now that he was above ground.

[SceneMod]

The slaves looks pretty confused by Whirligig. They're not in jail. Depending on the jail, jail might be better than this. Or a heck of a lot worse. Once the confusion wears off, they resume being terrified and running every which way. Via sheer Brownian motion, some of them make it outside, while others just get hopelessly lost in the tunnels. Some are brutally put down by guards or overseers, but it's not a lot, since the guards and overseers also tends to be running in a panic.

No one seems to be willing to tell Whriligig where they keep the explosives, if they even know. He's scary juju! But maybe he can swipe a tunnel complex map off one of the guards...

[Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh]

Yeah, Whirligig is pretty bad at this whole slave rebellion thing, he has to admit. This wasn't at all the dramatic unified uprising again their oppressors that he'd hoped for. Perhaps he shouldn't form expectations based on fiction. Even if fiction is terribly entertaining.

//Awesome!// he says to Hellbender, even as he puzzles over the conundrum of panicking miners. That means there's nothing particularly important or populous to be destroy if the ground in the area suddenly collapses!

Unfortunately, even if he does manage to find the stock of explosives, Whirligig won't be collapsing anything as long as the mine remains full of people. Well, the guards and overseers can stay and rust, or rot, or whatever their particular species does, they totally deserve it.

"Hey! Hey!" he shouts, trying to catch the attention of any slaves. "Run outside! Out! Up! Up and out! Go! Go free and frolic in the fields! Hey! And like, work together! Fight the oppressors! Rah rah!"

A leader of the people, he is not.

[Hellbender]

Hellbender was outside, and the Autobot was still stuck in the tunnels somewhere. His next move was obvious, so why was he hesitating? Why the raw anger at the mine owners, and the urge to get their free slave labor out? It wasn't very Decepticon of him. The mine owners weren't his business in the first place.

He had to do something about the Autobot. No orders in reply to his report, so he supposed his actions and excuses to this point were adequate. Still, the Autobot...

// Get them out as are gettin' out. Looks like the shoring at the entrance could give way at any moment, // Hellbender radioed on the short-range General band. // It's been damaged. //

Well, it was about to be damaged. Hellbender judiciously used his shoulder gun to weaken the main entrance shoring and then waited, lurking behind the generator shed. One glimpse of that Autobot's shape, and his final shot would bring the entrance crashing down. Of course, he might find his way out Hellbender's auxiliary tunnel, but the entrance to that was some way down.

If he did, well, he'd probably be loud enough that Hellbender could locate him and deal with him.

[SceneMod]

At Whirligig's encouragement to go outside, there do seem to be more people headed outside, at the very least.

He might just stumble past a locked, heavy metal door labelled 'explosives' while doing his Spartacus impression, dun dun dun...

Some people in the surface offices are scrambing and trying to figure out what to do about this mess. Where are the submachine guns when they need them? (Answer: In the violin cases, of course.)

[Whirligig/Wednesday Gilgamesh]

//I'm doing the best I can, but it's like herding dust motes!// He's tried that before. He was really, really bored. //Wait, entrance damaged?// Those are two words no miner likes to hear side by side. //Shore it up, scrappy, there still loads of diggers down here! You're a big, strong worm monster, I'm sure you can handle it.//

The strange sentient piece of mining machinery he just met and knows almost nothing about wouldn't leave them all trapped down here, would he? Surely not! They're all brothers in diggery, after all!

Raising his voice even louder - and he prides himself on his ability to be obnoxiously loud, especially when sneaking up behind distracted people - he shouts, "Main entrance is fixing to collapse, everybody that wants out better get out! Head in the direction of most of the airflow, move it, move it!" Whirligig is more familiar with proper mine evacuations than slave revolts. "Don't panic, proceed in a quick but orderly manner to the nearest exit tunnel!"

He doesn't really expect anyone to, but he does his best to usher things along, jogging down another tunnel to try and clear it out until- "W'hello!" That door sure does say 'explosives'! Screeching to a halt, he stares at it with an intense glee that probably borders on frightening. He re-orders his priorities. Acquire explosives first, then get everyone else out. Then... big finale time, yes!

Now, to deal with that lock... Eyeing the lock dubiously, he wonders if he could pick it. Then, giving a shrugs, he decides it doesn't really matter and decides to stick with his motto: When in doubt, apply explosives. Fishing out one of his remaining charges, he takes a moment to dial it down before adhering it to the lock. Backing to the other side of the tunnel, he waits until the area is clear before detonating it with a small boom. When the smoke clears he'll see if that did the lock in.

[Hellbender]

// Well, get the squishies out first, then! You can take a little rockfall, can't you? Ah could dig you out, if necessary, but these here squishies tend to, ah, squish if they git under a bunch a rock. // Of course, without a direct order from Shockwave, Hellbender is unlikely to consider it 'necessary' to dig out the (hopefully soon-to-be) trapped Autobot.

Now what were those other idiots getting up to? Hellbender heard a lot of clattering about in that headquarters-looking building, and didn't see enough people fleeing in vehicles. Enemies not fleeing==Enemies soon to cause trouble. He blasted a couple of shots through the headquarters building to encourage fleeing.