Running Aground

[Runamuck-3]

OOC Note: Takes place in day 12-13, during the search for the good Autobots. They won't actually be found here, this is just for interaction and such. Primarily for Decepticon-3 ground-pounders, but since patrols may have been mixed in between arrival and now, the scene is open to any Cons-3 that want to poke in.

Humming along with some random Earth tunes, Runamuck careens idly across a torn-up road. Whether a victim of fighting at some point, tectonic instability, or maybe that big sinkhole off to the side, the metal path is buckled and torn, with plates at odd angles jutting into the air.

Runamuck lets out a loud whoop, accelerating suddenly with a peal of burning rubber and rocketing up a sharply angled chunk, flying into the air. He braces for a landing....

....only to have the landing panel buckle under his tires, tilting sideways and sliding towards the sinkhole. Runamuck yelps, screeching his tires and fishtailing, jumping off the sliding panel to the ground on the far side from the hole.

Silence for a moment. Then exuberant laughter. "That would've been so much cooler if I'd actually planned it!" the Battlecharger crows, a grin in his voice.

[Dead End-3]

Dead End, hot on Runamuck's tail, leaped the same angled chunk of metal, then rolled in mid-air to land next to Runamuck--

Skidding sideways, his tires just skimming the metal without traction as he spun away from the sinkhole and away. He fully touched down as he spun onto stable ground, and let friction bring him to a halt.

"The trick, Runamuck," Dead End said, "is not to let anyone know that you didn't plan that the whole time. Have you ever studied the common Earth house cat? They will attempt a dramatic jump, and if they stumble, recover and sit down and commence grooming themselves non-chalantly as if to say 'I planned that'."

"Don't let anyone fall into that; it will delay us unconscionably." Dead End revved his engines, impatient to continue. Every moment wasted was another moment closer to death and the failure of their mission.

[Shortround-3]

Shortround was, thankfully, keeping his distance. And as such, he was alerted of the sinkhole by the two cars speeding ahead.

However, while normally a risk taker, Shortround was feeling somewhat annoyed. Here they were in a city with Autobots, and yet they were prohibited from blowing them to pieces. Annoyed, the hovercraft accelerated, and managed to leap a fair distance, before smashing back onto the ground near the two cars, his hoverskirt causing sparks for a few seconds before managed to get back to a normal hover. His turbines slowed down slightly as well, in order to keep pace.

"Let's just get this over with, I wanna see something burn already... Maybe a couple of Autobots" Shortround muttered, his turret doing a slight swing around, just to see if anyone was nearby that could be blown up without too much.

[Runamuck-3]

Runamuck's door panels shift up and out in an imitation of a shrug. "Didn't have too much free time on Earth," he replies to Dead End. "Kinda makes me think of the pets some of the locals kept on Mumu-Obscura, though." The thought that he's the oldest and most traveled in a group is always strange. He sure doesn't act it much. "Besides," the grin returns to his voice, "if I seem like a screwup, people underestimate me, so when I pull out some masterful tactic, they never see it coming."

Runamuck's engine revs, turning around to face the direction of travel again, ready to move out with the others. "Easy, buddy, we'll have plenty of fighting before we're done here," he says to Shortround.

[Dead End-3]

"Fair enough," Dead End replied. "It's not a common tactic--everyone seems to want to be known for their skill in battle back home--but there were some... Soundwave was always underestimated."

The dark red Porsche swerved around some debris in the road. "Do you suppose that explains Duskwing?"

"More than enough, I think," he said in reply to Shortround and Runamuck's comments. "I fear some of us will never leave this reality on-line. We'll be lucky if any of us do."

[Shortround-3]

"Bah, I would have loved some free time, but no, the Autobots had to cause trouble non stop and pretty much force everyone off Cybertron so they could be the big heroes..." Shortround mutters, in response to Runamuck's conversation

"It's not about leaving this place online..." Shortround started, before glancing around. "It's about how many Autobots you take down with you! Make sure they don't leave in one piece!" The hovercraft then giggles slightly, following slightly behind the two cars.

[Runamuck-3]

Runamuck decides not to point out to Dead End that he was joking. The Stunticon had no sense of humor anyway. "I don't think anything explains Duskwing," he replies instead. "Nice bot, but a few microchips short of a motherboard."

Runamuck rolls along quietly for a moment at Shortround's short rant, swerving slightly to avoid a fair-sized chunk of rock. "At least we haven't found any Bots from my world yet." Yes, he pronounces the capital letter. "Those're some slaggers I wouldn't mind melting into a puddle." He leaves his own ranting out; he's sure he's complained enough about the slavery, the attempted extermination at Kaon, sabotaging Thunderwing's experiments, all that stuff. Even he's sick of hearing about it by now.

The white car chuckles morbidly at the other thread of conversation. "Never did wanna live forever. Besides, there's not much point taking life too seriously, you'll never get out of it alive anyway."

[Cannonball-3]

"Oi, I swear t' Primus, I always wind up with a bunch o' death-embracin' pessimists" Cannonball grumbles, having cleared the hole with little trouble. "Where's ye lot's Decepticon pride? Y' don' need to be lookin' at the big picture so melancholy. Remember that we're out here t' do some good, fight th' good fight against those smelt-snortin' Autobots!"

Cannonball revs his engine, grinning inwardly. "Put some spirit in it, lads!"

[Dead End-3]

Oh, listen; Shortround was raving again. Dead End reminded himself to duck when Shortround got to shooting at something. He was as bad as Misfire some days.

"Hmph. I'm simply being realistic, not pulling-the-sunshade-over-my-eyes stupidly optimistic," Dead End told Cannonball. "If you know you don't have forever, you're less likely to put the important things off for 'later'."

Dead End gunned his engine, breaking out in front of the pack. "So, anyone seen anything yet?"

[Shortround-3]

"I got plenty of spirit into it! And I put plenty of explosives into any Autobots I come across!" Shortround protests to Cannonball.

"... I've seen a lot of buildings and debris, but nothing that counts as an Autobot" he then responds to Dead End's question.

[Runamuck-3]

"The big picture is pretty bleak if Roddy gets his way," Runamuck replies to Cannonball. For one thing, they all might have to start using such nonsensical names. What the slag is a Rodimus? "But that's why we're here, playing cavalry and all. If ya can't beat 'em, join up with somebody who can."

The Battlcharger speeds up to keep pace with Dead End. "Lots of broken stuff, lots of ruins, and lots of nothing else. Got anything on radar?"

[Cannonball-3]

The captain chuckles a bit at Dead End. "Well, a lil' optimism will do ye good, lad. Makes life more enjoyable."

Then he drops back a bit, alongside Shortround. "Aye, ye do got lots o' spirit, Shorty. In fact, I'd wager you might 'ave jes' a wee bit too much at times" he answers. Hopefully that spirit will let him take a bit of good-natured ribbing.

Then his expression goes a mite Grim at Runamuck. "Ye 'ave a point there. Looks like we'll jus' 'ave to make sure that Rodimus goes home cryin' to his manufacturer."

Then his attention goes back to Dead End. "Nothin' so far, an' it's startin' to worry me."

[Dead End-3]

"Indeed. Perhaps it's time to see if anyone else has found any clues," Dead End replied as his radar surveyed the surrounding area.

"Not so much, Runamuck. I'd push it out further, but we've strict orders to avoid detection, and they can 'hear' my radar twice as far as I can hear reflections from it, so..." Dead End pointed out.

// Dead End reporting. My Prince, we have found nothing in Quadrant Alpha. Has anyone else picked up any clues that might want following up? //

[Shortround-3]

"Can never have too much of a good thing" the hovercraft responds to Cannonball. His turret makes a sweep of the area, doing another look around.

"Hope we find something soon, my trigger's getting itchy..." Shortround adds.

[Runamuck-3]

"Yeah, rather not get swarmed under out here without backup in range," Runamuck replies to Dead End. "Our Autobots would love to find a few grounders out in the open like this. Although we could always throw Shortround at 'em to soften 'em up first." Whether he means "send the hovercraft in first" or literally "throw the hovercraft at them" is arguable. Either way, a minibot throwing explosives all over the place tends to be pretty distracting. Who needs grenades?

Not being overly familiar with the specifics of how Dead End's physics-defying radar works, Runamuck does his best to keep his pace steady to avoid undue interference. At least, that's how he's justifying to himself his efforts to not go jumping off of more random obstacles.